NewsTrust - Environment - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

New beach water rules: Enough to make you sick - latimes.com

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Mark Gold - Feb. 07 (Opinion) - ..it's highly unlikely that much will improve.

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How Climate Change Has Driven Evolution

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:40:00 -0800

Time - Dec. 27 - This painting by artist Carl Buell depcits a scene from the late Eocene of North America. A new study shows how climate change drove species diversity in the past. We are the products of our environment — and that goes for egrets and elephants as much as

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Op-Ed Columnist: Springtime for Toxics

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Paul Krugman - Dec. 25 (Opinion) - The E.P.A. just did a very good thing in releasing new rules on mercury and air toxics for power plants. And, of course, Republicans are furious.

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Toward Healthier Air

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:00:00 -0800

New York Times - Dec. 21 (Opinion) - Resisting strenuous last-minute lobbying by some of the nation’s biggest utilities, the Obama administration announced on Wednesday a final rule requiring power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants by roughly 90 percent within

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Bad Theory, Bad Legislation

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Nyt Editorial - Nov. 07 (Opinion) - The House’s campaign to undercut environmental laws has now migrated to the Senate. Rand Paul, a Republican of Kentucky, is expected to offer a resolution this week to block a new federal regulation requiring cuts in soot- and smog-forming gases from power plants ..

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Is capitalism broken... and what is the world going to do to fix it?

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Yvonne Roberts - Nov. 06 (Opinion) - Louise Cooper, Will Hutton, Mark Littlewood, Tanya Paton and William Taylor join a round table discussion on the issues raised by the global Occupy movement T here is no doubt that it has been an extraordinary three weeks. It began with Occupy LSX taking up residence around St Paul's, a protest that exposed the dithering of the Church of England. Occupy LSX has since sparked a remarkable national debate about the kind of society in which we want to live, its priorities and values. In that spirit, the Observer brought together several opposing voices to continue the great debate. Yvonne Roberts So, can capitalism be fixed, Louise? Louise Cooper It's all a question of balance and I think it's moving the pivotal point back a little. Capitalism is clearly the only way that economies work. Capitalism works in the biggest communist state, China. So, as with everything, there needs to be a balance between the returns to those that supply capital and those that supply human capital. Maybe ...

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Ocean acidification is most urgent threat to marine conservation

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Bill Dewey - Nov. 05 (Opinion) - Guest columnist Bill Dewey writes about a new and serious threat to marine conservation and resource management: ocean acidification. The tools and strategies to reverse this trend that is detrimental to marine life are available, proven and even profitable.

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In a cloud over ozone

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Eugene Robinson - Sep. 03 - GOP falsely blames EPA for the jobs shortage.

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A Rosa Parks Moment: Climate Activist Tim DeChristopher Sentenced to Prison

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Rolling Stone - By Jeff Goodell - Jul. 28 (Opinion) - Once in a while, the moral insanity of the world we live in reveals itself to anyone who cares to look. One such moment came yesterday afternoon, when 27-year-old Tim DeChristopher was sentenced to two years in prison for disrupting a federal auction of oil and gas leases in 2008.

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Congress should reject proposed trade agreements and insist on better policies

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Lynne Dodson, Kathleen Ridihalgh - Jul. 27 (Opinion) - The proposed U.S. trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama would continue to undermine the American economy, write guest columnists Lynne Dodson and Kathleen Ridihalgh. Washington's congressional delegation should reject them in favor of better policies.

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What a population of 7 billion people means for the planet

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - Jul. 18 - With global population expected to surpass 7 billion people this year, the staggering impact on the environment is hard to ignore Demographers aren't known for their sense of humor, but the ones who work for the United Nations recently announced that the world's human population will hit 7 billion on Halloween this year. Since censuses and other surveys can scarcely justify such a precise calculation, it's tempting to imagine that the UN Population Division, the data shop that pinpointed the Day of 7 Billion, is hinting that we should all be afraid, be very afraid. We have reason to be. The 21st century is not yet a dozen years old, and there are already 1 billion more people than in October 1999 — with the outlook for future energy and food supplies looking bleaker than it has for decades. It took humanity until the early 19th century to gain its first billion people; then another 1.5 billion followed over the next century and a half. In just the last 60 years the world's population has ...

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Global warming disease

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salt Lake Tribune - By Sherman Bloom - Jul. 12 (Opinion) - If your granddaughter has a fever of 105, is comatose, and has symptoms of meningococcal meningitis, do you wait for still more proof of the disease, or do you start treatment immediately? If you wait one day, the child may be dead. You want treatment now! How about a planet undergoing scientifically diagnosed global warming ...

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The Earth Is Full

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Thomas L. Friedman - Jun. 08 (Opinion) - We are in denial about the severity of the climate crisis and just how big of a response is going to be needed.

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Sustainable management of tropical forests has a long way to go

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Nature - By Anjali Nayar - Jun. 08 () -

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Opinion: Don't rush to abandon nuclear energy

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

San Jose Mercury News - By editor@mercurynews.com (

By Patrick Moore

Special to the Mercury News) - Jun. 08 - In the wake of events in Japan that damaged Fukushima Daiichi's nuclear reactors, Americans must resist the temptation to make hasty conclusions about the future of nuclear energy.

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Former Interior secretary calls out Obama on the environment

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - Jun. 08 - Bruce Babbitt says Obama has failed to defend against Republican and industry attacks on environmental safeguards.President Obama has failed to answer Republican attacks on environmental safeguards "forcefully and persuasively" and to articulate his own vision for conserving American wilderness and water, former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt charged Tuesday.

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Agitator by trade unhappy with Obama

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Hill - By Vicki Needham - Jun. 07 (Interview) - Wallach had hoped Obama’s election in 2008 was the moment when her years of advocacy on trade policy would pay off. She expected the pending U.S. trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama would be renegotiated with workers in mind. But that optimism is dead and gone. “The president is on the wrong side,” she said.

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Project to sort out why birds crash into buildings

Tue, 31 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - May. 31 - A different type of bird-watching project in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul is working to figure out why birds crash into certain buildings, and promote ways to prevent the collisions.

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Mississippi flooding: Let the river run

Wed, 25 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Pal VanDevelder - May. 25 (Opinion) - What began on the upper Missouri River in 1951 is playing out this month in the flooding of the lower Mississippi and dozens of communities in its delta.

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New Orleans trembles at the power of the Mississippi

Tue, 17 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Jim Gabour - May. 17 (Opinion) - The drama of drowned pets and submerged homes to the north, coupled with cutaways to worried looks on the faces of New Orleanians to the south, makes for excellent ratings.

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The Return of 'Drill, Baby, Drill'

Sat, 07 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - May. 07 (Editorial) - With the country again facing $4-a-gallon gasoline, the time would seem ripe for a grown-up conversation on energy. What we are getting instead is a mindless rerun of the drill-baby-drill operatics of the 2008 campaign, when gas was also at $4 a gallon. Then, as now, opportunistic politicians insisted that vastly expanded oil drilling would bring relief at the pump and reduced dependence on foreign oil. Then, as now, these arguments were bogus.

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Wolves endangered by political predators

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Brenda Peterson - Apr. 29 (Opinion) - A provision in a federal budget bill signed into law this month takes wolves in several Northwestern states off the Endangered Species List. Guest columnist Brenda Peterson says that returning management of wolves back to states could have dire consequences for habitat and other wildlife.

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When conservatives choose God over science

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Alyssa Battistoni - Apr. 29 (Opinion) - When Texas Gov. Rick Perry officially declared three days last week to be "days of prayer" in response to the wildfires and droughts that have been plaguing the state, many progressives reacted with a mixture of disbelief and ridicule.

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Fixes: A Scorecard for Companies With a Conscience

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Tina Rosenberg - Apr. 12 (Opinion) - The law states that the duty of a business’s directors is to maximize profits for shareholders. Obviously, there are many ways to maximize profits; even costly socially responsible activities can do just that in the long term. But when a business is on the block, there is often no more long term for shareholders. The difference in the prices offered by Hot Fudge Partners and Unilever offered was too great. The directors of Ben and Jerry’s felt that if they had accepted the lower offer, they could have expected a lawsuit from shareholders — which they would likely have lost. The company was acquired by Unilever in April 2000. Ben and Jerry’s is far from alone. The typical pattern for a new, successful, triple-bottom-line company is that it quickly gets gobbled up by a major corporation

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Why nuclear power is still a good choice

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Mark Lynas - Apr. 10 (Opinion) - Perspective is needed when deciding between nuclear and other power sources. Renewable energy and conservation aren't enough in the real world. And burning fossil fuels will only worsen global warming. What a strange turn of events. Instead of uniting the environmental movement in renewed opposition to nuclear power, the Fukushima disaster in Japan has divided it still further. An increasing number of green advocates, including some very prominent voices, have declared their support for nuclear power as a clean energy option, even as radioactive water accumulates and the timeline for cleaning up the contaminated areas extends by decades. Can they be serious? They can. The irony of Fukushima is that in forcing us all to confront our deepest fears about the dangers of nuclear power, we find many of them to be wildly irrational — based on scare stories propagated through years of unchallenged mythology and the repeated exaggerations of self-proclaimed "experts" in the anti-nuclear movement. As the British environmental writer George Monbiot has pointed out, if we took the scientific consensus on nuclear energy as seriously as we take the scientific consensus on climate change, we environmentalists would be telling a very different story.

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