A burly grizzly bear strode across a meadow in Yellowstone National Park last spring, barely noticed by grazing herds of elk and bison. The bear, weak from hibernation, was focused on procuring an easier meal, such as scavenged bison carcasses and the tiny white blossoms that speck the forest edges. A keystone species in several […]
As Terry McDonald, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) Society of Lane County, navigated the congested Oregon Interstate 5 traffic near Portland, he was taken aback by mountains of broken pop bottle green glass unceremoniously dumped by the roadside. Destined to end up as dangerous litter or landfill waste, the glass was what […]
If laid out head to toe, every person buried last year in the United States would form a line stretching from Los Angeles to New York City. Since Britain’s low-impact "green burial" methods (see "Dust to Dust," Currents, November/December 1998) have yet to catch on in the U.S., most of these bodies are embalmed with […]
Every year, thousands of birds are electrocuted when they collide with power lines. Leo Suazo, special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in Colorado, says bird electrocutions have been documented in all 50 states, but they may be worst in the West, where there are fewer trees for birds to perch on. […]
With rustic cabins, sailboats bobbing in the mist and brilliant sunsets over sandy beaches, the University of Michigan Biological Station looks, at first glance, like a sleepy summer camp. But the researchers at this Northern Michigan retreat are making waves in the field of global climate change. The Michigan team began studying the impact of […]
Atlanta, once a "city of trees," has lost some 20 percent of its forest cover in the past quarter century. Now an estimated 50 acres of greenspace disappears daily to development in the metro area. The city is so choked with gridlocked traffic that the Clinton Administration withheld federal highway funds. According to the Trust […]
For nearly a century, cattle and antelope competed for grazing rights in southeast Oregon on what is now Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge. In 1994, after a long court battle by environmental groups, the federal government stopped cattle grazing on Hart Mountain for a 15-year study period. The result has been a natural paradise. Pronghorn […]
The five islands in Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, are a state treasure: Despite such close proximity to heavily populated Southern California, they have remained relatively undeveloped. There are 2,000 species of plants and animals in the park, 145 of them unique to the islands.
The water-saving benefits of many aging low-flow toilets are spiraling down the drain. According to a new University of Arizona study, poor design and the tinkering of do-it-yourself plumbers have reduced the toilets’ effectiveness. There"s no question that low-flow toilets save water, but they"re under attack for not working properly.Briggs Subject to potshots by Jerry […]
The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird in the world, and can travel the length of a football field in a single second diving for prey. The spectacle is no longer reserved for country skies, however; today, city residents, too, have a chance to catch the birds in action. Peregrines are responding to the city’s […]
