E Magazine articles from May 2001

E Magazine archives from May 2001

The Rivers' Sad Song.(river pollution, United States)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... "I've known rivers," wrote the great African-American poet Langston Hughes, "ancient, dusky rivers." He "heard the singing of the Mississippi" and watched "its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset." Today, the Mississippi is the most...

LETTERS FROM OUR READERS.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2001... DESIGNER GENES I just read your cover story on the human genetic blueprint ("Designer People," January/February 2001) and agree with the scientist who said that many traits are the result of nurture, not nature. In my opinion, altering...

CORRECTION.(Correction Notice)
May 1, 2001... The web site address for Nature Boy and Girl is www.natureboyandgirl.com. E regrets the error. THANKS E would like to thank Doug McCarthy and the World Wrestling Federation of Stamford, Connecticut, for their generous donation of...

Growing the Greens.(Green Party, United States)
May 1, 2001... Is There Life After 2000 for America Biggest Third Party? When Ralph Nader announced he would run for President in 2000, few people thought he would register very high on the political Richter scale. Now, in the wake of an election so close...

IN HIS OWN WORDS.(Ralph Nader, U.S. politician)(Interview)
May 1, 2001... Ralph Nader Responds to His Critics When it comes to post-mortems of the 2000 Presidential race, there's certainly no shortage of anger at the Green Party's candidate, consumer advocate Ralph Nader. "This changes his legacy as a person,"...

Green Warriors.(ecologists to be awarded for their work in protecting the environment)
May 1, 2001... The Goldman Foundation Recognizes Environmental Activists "Some well-respected scientists are worried. They cite studies which show injecting cows with BGH changes the milk we drink and that it contains a higher level of another hormone...

IN BRIEF.(protecting bears from harming people or themselves)
May 1, 2001... USING DOGS TO SAVE BEARS Bears that threaten people or wreak havoc foraging for food are a little harder to deter than the average pest. In the usual scenario, they are trapped and relocated, and if the bear returns, it must be killed--not...

Burning Down the Houses.(Earth Liberation Front tries to stop urban growth in rural Long Island)
May 1, 2001... The Earth Liberation Front Targets Long Island Sprawl An hour east of New York City, along the former rural Route 25A, the occasional roadside nursery and peach farm stand out like orphans among the business strips and office tracts of the...

Chainsaw Environmentalists.(landowners and timber management)
May 1, 2001... Independent Landowners Cut Down Trees to Save the Forest Although its southern half is dotted with sprawling suburban corridors, northern Maine is as empty and dark as a velvet stage curtain. The mixed forests--tall white pine, bristly...

NOT FOR THE BIRDS.(ban of use of antibiotics on poultry)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... The Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) has proposed to ban the use of a class of human antibiotics--fluoroquinolones--in poultry production. The CVM has determined that the overuse of this specific drug in...

WATER WARRIOR FIGHTS ON.(Chad Pregracke, environmentalist)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Chad Pregracke single-handedly began cleaning up the Mississippi River in 1997 (see "Captain Cleanup of the Mississippi," In Brief, November/December 1998). Since then, a handful of paid assistants and scores of volunteers have helped him...

ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST IN DANGER.(more species need to be added to the group)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... At least 6,000 species need immediate protection under the Endangered Species Act, according to Jasper Carlton of the Biodiversity Legal Foundation, but only 1,235 are listed as threatened or endangered (see "The Last of Their Kind," cover...

TROUBLED WATERS.(efforts to rescue the most endangered rivers)
May 1, 2001... America's 13 Most Endangered Rivers: Can They be Saved? Peter Lourie, a chronicler of river life, says that rivers are living mysteries, linking the past to the future. Today, that link has been largely broken. Through damming, dredging and...

SCORCHED EARTH POLICY.(environmental policy of the George W. Bush administration)
May 1, 2001... When environmental leaders talk about the Bush Administration's team--Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Christine Todd Whitman and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham--the operative word is "scary." ...

Relief is in Sight.(keep away those allergies)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Natural Remedies to Make Allergy Season a Little Easier It's springtime, and a young plant's thoughts turn to pollination. This shouldn't be a problem, since pollen isn't actually bad for you. But it can certainly make you miserable. ...

Spice it Up.(cooking, United States)
May 1, 2001... Let Organic Seasonings Add Flavor to Your Day Maybe it's our growing appetite for spicy ethnic and foreign cuisines, or maybe it's just that our palates thrill to the zip added by seasoning anything thrown on the grill. Whatever the reason,...

Got Clout?(Shareholder Action Network)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Use Your Investor Status to Pressure Companies for Change Home Depot and endangered wood, Wal-Mart and sweatshops, Monsanto and genetically engineered foods. Besides being the targets of activist protesting, these companies have all had...

Whose Grass is Greenest?(lawn care, United States)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Building a Pretty Lawn without Toxic Chemicals The Great American Lawn, a coast-to-coast carpet of green, inspires $6 billion in annual spending. Lawn care companies do $1.5 billion of business a year in the U.S., applying up to 50 million...

North to Alaska.(tourism, Alaska)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... Treading Lightly is the Green Alternative to the Cruise Ship Scene When it comes to Alaska, half the challenge is getting there. The Alaska Wilderness Recreation and Tourism Association (AWRTA) reports that more and more travelers are...

Bloomin' Hazard.(pesticide use in the flower industry, United States)
May 1, 2001... Is There More To Your Bouquet Than Meets The Eye? Above the perfumed surface of much of the cut-flower industry lies an unlovely cloud of toxic pesticide use. With Mother's Day nearly here, what's a concerned consumer to do? The...

TOOLS FOR GREEN LIVING.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2001... Resources for eco-awareness and action DO THE ELECTRIC LOCOMOTION An innovative, northern California-based company, Zapworld.com, is offering a wide array of clean-air alternatives to polluting internal-combustion vehicles. The Zappy...

Life Stories: World-Renowned Scientists Reflect on Their Lives and the Future of Life on Earth.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... GETTING PERSONAL "All I ever really wanted to be was a twentieth-century version of a nineteenth-century biologist," confesses Thomas Lovejoy. He and 15 other scientists share their personal and professional reflections in Life Stories:...

Powder Burn: Arson, Money and Mystery on Vail Mountain.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... ARSON ON THE MOUNTAIN In Powder Burn: Arson, Money and Mystery on Vail Mountain (PublicAffairs, $25), Daniel Glick traces the underlying forces and events leading up to the 1998 arson attack on America's largest ski resort. The colorful,...

The Nature of Frogs: Amphibians with Attitude.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... AMPHIBIANS ON THE COFFEE TABLE The Nature of Frogs: Amphibians with Attitude (Greystone, $24.95) is a spectacular photographic collection of frogs and toads in their natural habitats. Harry Parsons complements the full-page, glossy images...

Walking the World in Wonder: A Children's Herbal.(Review)(Children's Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... CHATTY CHIVES Listen closely, and you will hear the oak tree tell you about its medicinal uses or the chives suggest themselves for a salad. Of course, it helps if you happen to be exploring the woods with Walking the World in Wonder: A...

Reaping the Wind.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... WARS OVER WINDMILLS According to author Peter Asmus, "wind power will need to play a major role if we are to stave off catastrophic global climate change." In Reaping the Wind (Island Press, $24.95), Asmus examines the detailed history of...

Triumph of the Mundane.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2001... LIVING IT UP While much emphasis has been placed on large-scale environmental problems such as global warming and deforestation, less consideration has been given to the underlying social trends that may have led to such degradation. In...

Seeing the Light, Setting Standards and Piping Oil.(letters)
May 1, 2001... I've heard that leaving a light on for a given length of time may use less energy than turning it off and on again. Is this a myth?--Allison Nelson, Glen, NH Leaving a light on to save energy is not a bright idea. This myth arose in the...