E Magazine articles from January 2003

E Magazine archives from January 2003

Our WTC proposal. (E Word).
January 1, 2003... There's been much talk this past year about how to re-build the World Trade Center. The New York Times has examined numerous design proposals, and regularly updates readers on the lingering debate over what they should look like and how they...

Corporate bullies and the EPA. (Letters from our readers).
January 1, 2003... Thank you for publishing the cover story on green purchasing ("Buying Green," September/October 2002). It was thrilling to read about so many efforts underway to use institutional spending to create or expand markets for safer, less-toxic...

Retread lightly. (Letters from our readers).
January 1, 2003... Thanks for all the information in your cover story "Buying Green." I absolutely agree with your statement, "Green purchasing... is certainly one of the most important battles to be won for the environmental movement." Unfortunately, our own...

Purchasing for animal rights. (Letters from our readers).
January 1, 2003... Congratulations on your article "Buying Green," which showed the power of governments, hospitals, colleges and corporations in moving towards environ mentally friendly purchasing. The New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) and its...

Toxic towns. (Letters from our readers).
January 1, 2003... Please extend my compliments to Becky Bradway for her wonderful essay, "Ill Winds, The Chemical Plant Next Door" (Features, September/October 2002). I really enjoyed her photographs and her heartfelt expression of her personal situation in...

Shooing swans. (Letters from our readers).
January 1, 2003... I read the article by Sally Deneen on the problems posed by exotic and invasive species ("Going, Going...," Features, May/June 2002). I wanted to send my compliments for a well-balanced piece. I wish she had been a little more forceful about...

Dirty cigarettes. (Letters from our readers).
January 1, 2003... Three articles in the September/October issue of E relate to tobacco issues. "Battling Blood Sugar" (Your Health) informs us, "Dioxin exposure may be the most significant environmental risk factor for adult onset... diabetes." The article...

Learning to love bats.
January 1, 2003... On summer nights at dusk in Austin, Texas, people gather like hobos under the Congress Avenue Bridge. Children run around while their parents sit on blankets. What's the attraction: an ongoing fireworks extravaganza? No, it's the nightly...

Environmental justice in Alabama.
January 1, 2003... If the planned relocation of Alabama's Greene County jail goes ahead as scheduled, prisoners may be sentenced to inhaling toxic waste as part of their incarceration. Greene County is mostly poor and African-American, in the heart of...

Death in the Klamath.
January 1, 2003... Last summer, it was the farmers at the upper end of the Klamath River basin of Oregon and California who made news. Upset that the subsidized water to which their farms had become accustomed was cut back due to drought and protections for four...

Nantucket's green grazers.
January 1, 2003... Thirty miles off the coast of Massachusetts is a modest little island with a talent for attracting the glitterati. Once a seafaring capital that prospered by strip-mining the global whale community, the island today is an ultra-chic summer...

The whale killers: Japan fights international opinion to continue hunting cetaceans. (Currents).
January 1, 2003... From Jonah to Moby Dick, whales have long been one of our great planetary symbols. They are not only majestic but clearly intelligent. Whale watching has become a billion-dollar industry. And, since human hunters nearly drove many whale species...

Undermining lives: longwall mining produces that sinking feeling. (Currents).
January 1, 2003... To step inside Lee Shields' greenhouse is to cloak your senses with the spectacular sights and smells of French lavender, lemon eucalyptus, curly spearmint and hundreds of other unusual plants. Tucked away in the far southwestern corner of...

A taxing state of affairs: Lester Brown's new group links the media and economy. (Currents).
January 1, 2003... Lester Brown is excited but cautious. Since May of 2001, when the world welcomed the birth of the Earth Policy Institute (EPI), the co-founder and president has already witnessed enough to make him both laugh and cry. Brown, described by...

Behind the label: how well is the Forest Stewardship Council protecting trees? (Currents).
January 1, 2003... Outside San Francisco's high-tech Sony Metreon complex, environmental activists are rallied around a 200-year-old redwood stump they've rolled onto the sidewalk. Inside, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is having its annual...

Cities that smell: some urban centers use common scents. (Currents).
January 1, 2003... There's a place in Gary, Indiana where you can stand with one foot on a Lake Michigan sand dune and admire fragile wildflowers. With the other foot, you step on a pile of steel-mill slag and watch oil refineries belch orange flames. Most people...

Organics: one hand clapping. (Updates).
January 1, 2003... The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) organic labels hit the shelves on October 21 (see "Food Porn," Currents, May/June 1998). A week earlier, the Center for Food Safety and others filed a legal petition to force the USDA to create a peer...

A Lead setback. (Updates).
January 1, 2003... Cities and towns have unsuccessfully sued the lead industry for years, seeking accountability for millions of lead poisoning victims, mostly children of color who ingested paint dust or flakes in aging homes (see "Lawyers vs. Lead," In Brief,...

All-terrain vehicles make slow progress. (Updates).
January 1, 2003... Many environmentalists, including the group Bluewater Network, were disappointed last September when the Bush administration issued what some considered to be weak emissions standards for personal watercraft--such as Jet Skis--snowmobiles and...

The hydrogen economy: after oil, clean energy from a fuel-cell-driven global Hydrogen web.
January 1, 2003... More than a year after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon, the worlds is a mope dangerous place than ever before. And, at the heart of our collective fear is the struggle to control oil, the one critical...

Amory B. Lovins: building the hydrogen economy. (Conversations).
January 1, 2003... Amory B. Lovins co-founded the Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) in 1982, and it has grown from a small energy-related think tank into a major global research institution with more than 45 full-time staff. The peripatetic and...

Power plays: fuel cells are reaching the market, in what could be a $100 billion industry.
January 1, 2003... Depending on whom you talk to the fuel-cell revolution is either 20 years down the road or right around the corner. In a sense, both views are correct. Fuel cells are no longer tomorrow's technology, the stuff of science fiction and space...

James S. Cannon: China at the Crossroads. (Conversations).
January 1, 2003... James S. Cannon's 1995 book Harnessing Hydrogen was one of the first to explore the potential of this element as a sustainable energy carrier, and his 1998 report for INFORM Inc., China at the Crossroads, was a groundbreaking investigation of...

Hijacking hydrogen: will big oil, coal interests and the Nuclear Industry control the next energy revolution?
January 1, 2003... Whether or not hydrogen becomes "the people's energy" depends to a large extent on how it is generated and transported in the current, early stages of development. This sustainable gas can be generated locally via renewables like wind, biomass...

Drugging our water: we flush it, then we drink it. (Your Health).
January 1, 2003... Birth control pills, estrogen replacement drugs, ibuprofen, bug spray, sunscreen, mouthwash and antibacterial soap: all of these products could turn up in your next glass of tap water, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS)....

Pasta preferred: America's favorite dish goes organic. (Eating Right).
January 1, 2003... During the dark days of winter, one of the best ways to warm up is with a steaming bowl of pasta. Consumed worldwide, this wheaten staple is uniquely versatile, simple to make and always satisfying. Italians boil it until it's al dente, Chinese...

Shades of green: stock tips for environmentally motivated investors. .
January 1, 2003... If you have some money to invest, you may want to put it to work doing double duty, both promoting a healthier environment and incubating your nest egg. Some carefully selected stocks will yield immediate results for the environment; others...

Let it flow: permeable pavements prevent water runoff. (House & Home).
January 1, 2003... It happens every time it rains. Water runs down driveways and sidewalks, cascades across parking lots, courses through streets, all flowing toward the nearest gutter, retention pond or river. As the rain persists and reservoirs back up, homes,...

A green getaway: the Virgin Islands' Maho Bay puts conservation first. (Going Green).
January 1, 2003... Set on the edge of the U.S. Virgin Island land's largest national park, Maho Bay Camps is positioned perfectly for its role as one of the world's most innovative eco-resorts. Maho Bay offers guests the use of some 114 tent/cabins built on...

The natural smile: new toothpastes clean without the chemicals. (Consumer News).
January 1, 2003... Like Lily Tomlin in The Incredible Shrinking Woman, most of us are exposed to hundreds of synthetic chemicals every day, many of them coming from the products we routinely, use to clean, scent and groom ourselves. Though most of us aren't...

A snack the doctor ordered. (Tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action).
January 1, 2003... Health nuts and chocoholics rejoice... Dr. Soy has taken the guilt out of eating candy. The Healthy Snacker ($1.49, available at grocery stores) is a tasty alternative to the everyday chocolate bar. Fortified with calcium, antioxidants and soy...

(Organic) flower power. (Tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action).
January 1, 2003... For those who love giving or receiving flowers but are concerned about the possible dangers of the pesticides they're doused with, Organic Bouquet now offers a simple and lovely solution: organically grown flowers. Half of U.S.-sold flowers are...

Enjoy your soy. (Tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action).
January 1, 2003... Meals just got easier with Pete's Tofu ($1.69 to $3.89). It's available plain or flavored, including Lemon Pepper and Very Berry, and in a range of consistencies, from soft to super firm, for all your tofu needs. Each package also features...

Wiser water. (Tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action).
January 1, 2003... What's in your water? If you drink tap or bottled water, there could be all sorts of impurities you don't know about. But Waterwise promises that its purifiers remove 99 percent of the sediment, heavy metals, pathogens, chlorine and other...

Eliza vs. the poachers. (Tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action).
January 1, 2003... A cartoon that vilifies poachers but supports the environment and animal rights has to be good news, so E readers should stand up and cheer for the release of The Wild Thornberrys Movie, a feature based on the popular Nickelodeon series. As...

Our feathered friends. (Tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action).
January 1, 2003... Birds have always inspired people to sing. More recently, they've inspired us to conserve wilderness. Both these impulses meet in Birdsong, the new CD by Laurie Lewis (Spruce and Maple Music, $16.99). The Berkeley-based, Grammy-winning...

Mind-body-earth balance. (Tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action).
January 1, 2003... Look to your inside to care for your outside. Based on an ancient Indian tradition called Ayurveda, Body Bistro strives for a mind-body beauty treatment. The first step of your cleansing regimen is to take a quiz to figure out your dosha, or...

Pooper scoopers for the eco-pooch. (Tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action).
January 1, 2003... Oops! That old grocery bag you used to pick up after your dog had a hole in it. Scooping poop can be hazardous for your hands--but the plastic bag, and its contents, are hazardous for the environment. Now two companies offer a cleaner, greener...

Homeopathic remedies for animals?
January 1, 2003... Cindy Engel, a lecturer for Open University in Great Britain, marvels at elephants that trek miles seeking clay to counter dietary toxins. In her new book Wild Health (Houghton Mifflin, $24), Engel explores this and other behavioral strategies...

Eat, drink and be wary.
January 1, 2003... From deadly bacteria to saturated fat to pesticides, there's a lot to think about in what we eat. But with so many conflicting reports about food, consumers often throw up their hands in despair. Now, armed with a copy of Is Our Food Safe?...

The real Ralph.
January 1, 2003... What makes Ralph Nader tick? Though a household name for decades, this famously private man has so successfully eluded journalists and biographers that to this day no one can say for sure where he lives. But with personal accounts from hundreds...

A woman's-eye view.
January 1, 2003... Judith Boice compiled the first edition of Mother Earth in 1992 to give women a voice in the often male-dominated field of nature writing and photography. Now, in this tenth-anniversary volume of Mother Earth: Through the Eyes of Women...

The battle has just begun.
January 1, 2003... On a clear autumn day in 1999 thousands of protesters converged in Seattle to shut down the World Trade Organization (WTO), one of the most powerful institutions in the world. Ten years after people had shoved pieces of the Berlin Wall in their...

Conversations on the fringe.
January 1, 2003... In the tradition of Emma Goldman's and Alexander Berkman's anarchist monthly Mother Earth, the magazine New Settler Interview has for more than 15 years published conversations with people who are proud to be labeled "counter-cultural." Fifteen...

Ask the Bugman.
January 1, 2003... Got a question about pests? The Bugman has an answer. Exterminator Richard Fagerlund, the Ann Landers for the pest-plagued, helps desperate homeowners get rid of uninvited guests with four, six or more legs in an environmentally conscious way...

Where does this road lead?
January 1, 2003... "At four o'clock in the morning, the squad cars streamed north. A river of headlights flowed for more than a mile along old Highway 55." So begins Our Way or the Highway (University of Minnesota Press, $16.95), the story of a road, a field and...

The diaper debate, shrinking beaches and shingle recycling. (Ask E).
January 1, 2003... Which is better for the environment, disposable or cloth diapers? --Barbara Fritts, White Lake, MI The "disposable vs. cloth" debate has raged among environmentalists for 20 years. Non-degradable disposable diapers can sit for decades...