Debating GM
The British government hosts a national debate and website on the pros and cons of genetic modification.

Nature - what is it good for?

Converting green into green is the sole value of "messy nature," writes Paul Kingsnorth in a tongue-in-cheek critique of economic globalisation. In our quest to continue growing, we need to continue finding worthless things to turn into money. And when you look around you, wherever you are in the world, what do you see? That's right, a whole load of worthless, green, messy, wet, dirty stuff - nature - just crying out to be turned into value and added to GDP.

Scientists say no to GMOs
 

Toxic farms
The massive sewage lagoons near industrial hog barns don't just stink, say doctors, patients and scientists, they sicken.

Around industrial hog farms across the country, people say their sickness rolls in with the wind. It brings headaches that do not go away and trips to the emergency room for children whose lungs suddenly close up. People young and old have become familiar with inhalers, nebulizers and oxygen tanks. They complain of diarrhea, nosebleeds, earaches and lung burns....
Mrs. Thornell said her husband had lost his energetic smile. Now he speaks slowly and often loses his train of thought. He does not drive far from the house by himself, because he often gets lost...."It's the price we pay for cheap food."

Researchers from the University of California find that organically grown fruits have up to 58% more of a potentially disease-preventing class of antioxidants called polyphenolics.

The polyphenolics in the organic crops were at levels you would expect to see in wild plants, suggesting that pesticide use reduces the need for plants to make these chemicals... 

A Nobel prize for sustainable development?

Peace may be one foundation of the good life. But without sustainable development, there will be nothing left to live off. With that in mind, a group of legislators from around the world is sending a letter to the Nobel Foundation this March to ask for a new prize for sustainable development - and they want you to sign it too.

We, people from many different nations and with different backgrounds, ask you to consider the possibility of installing a Nobel Prize for Sustainable Development. This goal could be reached by installing a new Prize or by adapting the Prize for economics to the Prize for economics and sustainable development. We would like to invite the Worldbank and the IMF to help us find ways to finance this new prize. 

Canada's most popular scientist issues a road-to-Kyoto "nature challenge" featuring "the 10 most effective ways for individuals to help conserve nature."

". . . most of us have forgotten that it is nature that supports everything that we do,” says Dr. Suzuki. “By leaving nature outside of our day-to-day decision making we are seriously damaging the environment and threatening our quality of life."

The Sierra Club releases a two and a half-year investigation of the criminal record of America's factory farm industry. It's enough to make you lose your lunch.

"Environmental violations by the meat industry add up to a rap sheet longer than 'War and Peace,'" said Ed Hopkins, director of the Sierra Club's Environmental Quality Program.  "Unfortunately, unsafe working conditions,recalls, massive pollution, inhumane treatment of animals and other violations have become a common feature of industrial livestock production."

Denmark's "skeptical environmentalist" gets the skeptical treatment from a hit squad of academic heavyweights.

A Texas power plant designer says he's invented a cheap, clean new way to turn underground heat into electricity. But at least one geothermal energy expert believes there's a cork at the bottom of Doyle Brewington's still untested Power Tube. Read the story at Wired and a detailed interview - print and audio - with Brewington at EVWorld

Brewington said full-size Power Tubes will produce 10 MW, enough to light up a small residential town. Unlike old-fashioned geothermal sites, which onsume up to 10 acres of land, Power Tubes will have only a small maintenance shed on top. And because Power Tubes run silently, homes and offices could be built over them. . . .
"If not (in) a month, maybe after a year, and he'll be out of heat. I don't think the process he has in mind is going to work very well."

. . .from Wired

For over 20 years the Rainforest Information Centre has fought to preserve the habitat of roughly  half the Earth's species. Now, with the help of dozens of Australian musicians and a roster of corporate sponsors, the Centre has created a website where you can listen to some of the best Aussie music while you learn about the Ecuador rainforests and perhaps buy a CD or two to benefit the cause. 

Fresh organic produce, locally grown, every week. That's what you get from summer through fall if you become a shareholder in the Earthshare Agricultural Cooperative of Central Americans, Ltd., east of Winnipeg.

Canada is the world’s second largest producer of the toxic industrial mineral responsible for lung cancer and other ills. Scientists from an independent international environmental advocacy agency are calling for an immediate worldwide ban. Other experts say "not so fast."

University of Manitoba researchers discover that what's poison to crop pests is food for E. coli, Salmonella, and other food contaminants.

Major Australian newspapers are gearing up to hand their subscribers audio e-books and phone them the news every day. Somewhere, trees will not fall in the forest. Read all about it.

Environmental chemicals threaten your health and your children's. But most vulnerable are the unborn. Soaring rates of hyperactivity, autism, and other developmental disorders could be the result, says a new report by the Nobel prize-winning group, Physicians for Social Responsibility.

RELATED: Pesticides in Produce - still way too high for children
Consumer's Union analyses recent USDA data and makes some strong recommendations for reform - and consumer self-defense. Read the latest (with links to earlier features) in Consumer Reports.

Hydrogen power is coming of age, promising to turbo-charge everything from your car to your laptop with environmentally clean, super efficient fuel cells. You'll even be able to roll your own and jump to the pump in your garage - or living room.

Listen to the Quirks and Quarks in-depth report.

E/The Environmental Magazine focuses on the advent of the hydrogen fuelled car.

"The promise these cars hold--to be both environmentally friendly and technically superior--has fueled an international race to get a fuel cell car to market....It's an exciting development that in many ways closely resembles the switch from horse to horseless carriage at the end of the 19th century."

An interview with Amory Lovins, "hydrogen's true believer."

The penalties are stiff and the incentives are generous. But will the Species at Risk Act's conciliatory approach leave too many foxes lurking 'round the hen house?

The Skeleton in the GMO Closet

Did Genetic Engineering cause the Tryptophan-EMS Disaster of 1989?

A cautionary tale by journalist Ingeborg Boyens.

. . . a message from your local Cancer Society -- brought to you by the makers of those toxic chemicals. The Sierra Club studies the fine print:

"The primary sponsor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, AstraZeneca (formerly known as Zeneca), is a British-based multinational giant that manufactures the cancer drug tamoxifen as well as fungicides and herbicides, including the carcinogen acetochlor. Its Perry, Ohio, chemical plant is the third-largest source of potential cancer-causing pollution in the United States, releasing 53,000 pounds of recognized carcinogens into the air in 1996. . . . Any mention of what role such chemicals may be playing in rising breast cancer rates is missing from Breast Cancer Awareness Month promos.

Read Mother Jones magazine's 1994 cover story on breast cancer and the environment.