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Sad Day for Appalachia: Mountaintop Removal Approved
Appalachia’s mountains never seem to get a break. First, back in 2007, a district court judge ruled in favor of a lawsuit we brought on behalf of some West Virginia groups that stopped five mountaintop removal mining permits from going forward because of the permanent destruction they would have done to Appalachian streams and headwaters.…
Read MoreFlorida Bill Greens Lawns Not The Environment
One of the most difficult things we face every legislative season is a bill that looks good on the surface but turns out to be rotten at the core. We are urging Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to veto just such a bill, deceptively titled, "Protection of Urban and Residential Environments and Water Act," right now.…
Read MoreIn Obama's Hands: The Future of the Arctic
The Beaufort Sea, off Alaska’s northernmost shores, and the Chukchi Sea, which separates Alaska from Russia, are home to one in five of the world’s remaining polar bears. These icy waters are crucial feeding and migration zones for bowhead, beluga and other whales, seals, walruses and migratory birds; for thousands of years they have also…
Read MoreGreen Will Suffer From California Tax Rejection
I worked in the polls on Tuesday, during the special election asking California voters to approve an enormously complicated and controversial set of measures aimed at averting fiscal catastrophe. All but one failed, by nearly two-to-one. The one that passed (by three-to-one) limits lawmakers’ raises. The election itself was a bit of a farce. Turnout…
Read MoreHow Technology Might Shape the Future of Our Cities
The future is now — at least, the future is now in theaters. And what the future looks like, particularly, our cities in the future, is highly disputed in the pop culture realm. Take this article contrasting Star Trek‘s vision of San Francisco with Terminator: Salvation’s view of same. One movie envisions a future where…
Read MorePart 2: 'Easy Things' for Obama to Do Now
Last November, as Barack Obama won the election, we recommended a list of "easy things" the new president could immediately do to cement his promises about being a pro-environment president. This is our second update on how he’s doing. The new president’s greatest achievement clearly is the abrupt reversal of the Bush-era philosophy favoring those…
Read MoreVain Obstructionism
On May 13, Senate Republicans managed to block confirmation of David Hayes to the number two job in the Interior Department via filibuster, with three Democrats (Kennedy, Kerry, Mikulski) absent. Hayes spent eight years in Interior under Bruce Babbitt, one strike against him, defended Secretary Ken Salazar’s decision to yank 70-odd gas leases in the…
Read MoreBloggers Unite over Fight to Clean Up Cement Kilns
People around the Web and across the country are talking about our Cleaning Up Mercury, Protecting Our Health campaign to raise awareness about the serious health risks of mercury poisoning and to support the recent EPA proposal for cutting mercury pollution. Here are some of the comments making the rounds: Jack E. urged: Should you…
Read MoreOf Pikas and Cuteness
A victory came Wednesday in the case of the pika. This tiny, threatened alpine creature now has a shot at endangered species protections. The pika is eligible because its habitat is warming, and it is the first mammal in the lower forty-eight to be considered for that reason. But if you know only one thing…
Read MoreFlying With Air Google Over Toxic Hot Spots
As part of our campaign to clean up sources of toxic mercury pollution, we experimented with Google Earth to tell the story of how pollution from cement kilns is hurting local communities. Below is a video we produced that features two cement kilns right along the water in Seattle, WA. Let’s get a quick show of…
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