The builders of the mammoth Three Gorges reservoir in China are poised to begin another project. The giant hydropower company plans to dam China’s famous Tiger Leaping Gorge, where the sheer cliffs of snow-crested peaks flank the thundering Jinsha River to form one of the deepest and most majestic canyons on Earth.
I’m appalled at the NIMBY ("not-in-my-back-yard") opposition to wind power projects like Cape Wind in Massachusetts. How do these graceful wind turbines destroy our view? Are they worse than the endless power lines that stretch across the country, the coal plants and oil refineries, the offshore oil rigs and tankers (and their spills), and the ominous nuclear towers that have become symbols of another impending Chernobyl?
The Cape seemed deceptively tranquil on a recent visit. Seething passions were just below the surface. The latest attempt to scuttle the project had just been made public: an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act introduced by Senator John Warner (R-VA), which would have required Congressional approval for any offshore wind project in the U.S. If it had been adopted (it was, instead, withdrawn the next day), it would have forced Cape Wind back to the beginning of what had already been a three-year regulatory process.
Wind energy is zero-emissions energy, a renewable resource that is one of our last, best hopes for staving off devastating climate change. Wind energy is the fastest-growing energy source in the world, mushrooming 28 percent annually over the last five years.
With military costs mushrooming, the Bush administration has had little cash to tend to the ailing national wildlife refuge system (see "Seeking Sanctuary," features, March/April 2003), according to a new report by Defenders of Wildlife. "The threats to the system are larger in scope, more difficult to control, more damaging and more costly than ever […]
While the Bush administration considers the recent completion of toxic waste clean-up efforts in Niagara, New York’s Love Canal neighborhood to be an environmental success story, Lois Gibbs (see "Be Safe! Lois Gibbs" New Campaign Urges Caution on Toxic Chemicals," Currents, July/August 2003) begs to differ. Gibbs, the mom-turned-activist who unearthed the pollution at Love […]
The fate of that symbol of the plains states, the prairie dog, still hangs in the balance (see "Open Season on Varmints," cover story, July/August 2004). Last August the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) removed the black-tailed prairie dog from the Endangered Species Act official candidate list, where it had sat awaiting funds for protection.
A Norwegian environmental group is defying mainstream environmental thinking by supporting the controversial process known as carbon sequestration as a short-term way of tackling climate change.
The wolf plays an integral part in Romanian culture and psyche. Today the Carpathian wilderness is home to more than a third of Europe’s large carnivore population, or 3,500 wolves, which is nearly as many as found in the entire U.S.
Hawthorne Valley Farm is home to dairy cows, some piglets and a team of biodynamic farmers. There’s also a high-energy bunch of nine-to-15-year-old urbanites cheerfully turning the compost, helping bake sourdough bread in the bakery, milking dairy cows and rising at six a.m. to feed the animals.
