Our Planet back issues from April 2008:
Amazon soy moratorium: so far, so good.(THIS WEEK)(Brief article)
Apr 08, 2008; ... April 8, 2008 A two-year moratorium on the purchase of soybeans in newly deforested parts of the Amazon rainforest put in place by Greenpeace, working with the Brazilian Vegetable Oils Industry Association, seems to be working: no new soybean plantations were detected in any of ...
Commentary: the plight of the elephant: it's not only poaching that is bringing pachyderm populations to their knees.(COMMENTARY)(International Elephant Foundation)
Apr 08, 2008; ... The International Elephant Foundation, a nonprofit corporation working to support the long-term survival of elephants, has announced a slew of new conservation initiatives. The IEF uses its resources to fund a variety of national and international research and conservation projects. Each ...
Rushing the border fence.(THIS WEEK)(installation of a 470-mile-long fence along the United States/Mexico border)(Brief article)
Apr 08, 2008; ... April 8, 2008 Last week, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that the Bush administration was waiving compliance with some 30 environmental and land management laws to expedite the completion of a 470-mile-long fence along the ...
The ABC's of unrelenting waste.(statistics on United States's aluminum wastes)
Apr 08, 2008; ... Last June, the aluminum industry reported that the 2006 recycling rate for aluminum beverage cans (known as ABCs) was 51.6 percent. Slightly better than half of ABC cans are recycled today, but it's a figure hardly worth boasting about. In the 1990s more than 60 percent of them were ...
A leafy retreat: treehouses provide communion with nature.(GREEN LIVING: HOUSE & HOME)
Apr 14, 2008; ... The deserted summertime nest of a New Hampshire field mouse, a mound of woodchips and chewed cloth, once plugged the stovepipe of a treehouse abode. It's the happy coexistence with the natural world that happens with treehouse living. "Abundant natural resources allow us to build with ...
Commentary: fighting words: a Connecticut sister and brother launch ZeroOout, a fashion-forward anti-global warming campaign.(COMMENTARY)(Sam and Phoebe Allen)
Apr 14, 2008; ... During the school week, Sam Allen will sometimes skip his classes at Connecticut's Weston High School and walk to the elementary or middle school down the street. One morning in February, he made his way into Weston Elementary School struggling with a green bag and six poster boards all ...
Curing congestion: variable toll pricing gets cars off the road.(CURRENTS)(Michael Bloomberg's proposal on congestion pricing)
Apr 14, 2008; ... Across the country, air quality in big cities suffers from an onslaught of daily commuters in cars. Some government officials are tackling traffic congestion head on. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced a congestion pricing plan last year that would have discouraged automobile use ...
Endangered salmon: priceless.(THIS WEEK)(Brief article)
Apr 14, 2008; ... April 14, 2008 Last week, the federal government announced it had come to terms with four Indian tribes, agreeing to pay some $900 million to spur the recovery of endangered wild salmon runs across the Pacific Northwest. In return for the money, the tribes agreed to back off ...
Selling off the parks.(THIS WEEK)(park funding)(Brief article)
Apr 14, 2008; ... April 14, 2008 The nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) reported last week that 1.8 million acres of private land within 55 existing U.S. national parks--so-called "in-holdings"--are on the National Park Service's "wish list." If the parks don't acquire the ...
Commentary: sea changes: there's little time left to save coastal regions.(COMMENTARY)
Apr 21, 2008; ... The debate over whether our global climate system is experiencing changes at an accelerated rate seems to be over, even if the extent to which human activity is a primary cause remains in dispute. Climatologists are not yet able to model the full scope of changes we will be experiencing; ...
Greens bash new White House climate plan.(THIS WEEK)(George W. Bush's environmental policy)(Brief article)
Apr 21, 2008; ... April 21, 2008 Environmentalists were quick to criticize a new climate action plan announced by the White House last week as being too little too late. In a Rose Garden speech, President Bush called for halting the growth of U.S. emissions tied to global warming by 2025. He ...
Happy feet: children's footwear takes an eco-turn.(GREEN LIVING: CONSUMER NEWS)(Buyers guide)
Apr 21, 2008; ... Kids outgrow shoes at an alarming rate. And gone are the days of the all-white walking shoes that live on as bronzed bookends or pencil holders. Kids' shoes are a quickly expanding market, filled with mini adult versions of everything from flip-flops to slippers to heeled dress shoes ....
Iceland's abundance of energy: can Iceland build a future on hydrogen and geothermal?(CURRENTS)
Apr 21, 2008; ... We see Iceland as the world's laboratory for a decarbonized future," says Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, the country's foreign minister and former mayor of Reykjavik. Of course, many countries say similar things, but Iceland has a head start, because it's partly decarbonized already. Some ...
Salmon crisis on the west coast.(THIS WEEK)(Brief article)
Apr 21, 2008; ... April 21, 2008 Federal fisheries managers in charge of the West Coast announced last week that, the commercial salmon fishing season was being closed off the coasts of California and Oregon, and that catch off Washington State would be severely restricted. The decision from the ...
A leafy retreat: treehouses provide communion with nature.(GREEN LIVING: HOUSE & HOME)(Forever Young Treehouses and Out 'n'About Outfitters)
Apr 28, 2008; ... The deserted summertime nest of a New Hampshire field mouse, a mound of woodchips and chewed cloth, once plugged the stovepipe of a treehouse abode. It's the happy coexistence with the natural world that happens with treehouse living. "Abundant natural resources allow us to build with ...
Bush fiddles with science (again).(THIS WEEK)(George W. Bush's interference on scientific researches)
Apr 28, 2008; ... April 28, 2008 A new survey of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists adds further fuel to the growing firestorm over political interference by the Bush White House on scientific matters. The nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists polled some 1,600 EPA staffers ...
Commentary: Captain Planet returns! A new venture in fundraising for the eco-hero.(COMMENTARY)(Captain Planet Foundation)
Apr 28, 2008; ... Captain Planet is back. He was last seen in the mid-nineties battling eco-crooks on his own cartoon TV series, sporting a green mullet and sky-blue skin. Formed of the powers of five "Planeteers," the earnest superhero set out to right the planet's wrongs battling villains like the ...
Great Lakes invaders.(ban on cargo ships)
Apr 28, 2008; ... Every year, the St. Lawrence Seaway welcomes hundreds of foreign freighters carrying steel to Great Lakes ports. But these "salties," as the oceangoing ships are called, often bring a less-welcome cargo. Since the Seaway began operating in 1957, dozens of foreign species have stowed away ...
Thinking electric.(THIS WEEK)(electric cars)(Brief article)
Apr 28, 2008; ... April 2, 2008 Make way for a new entrant in the greenest car on the road contest. The retooled Norwegian carmaker Think is partnering with two of Silicon Valley's top venture capital firms--Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and RockPort Capital Partners--to put consumers behind ...