Dow Chemical Company and a group of environmental activists have completed a two-year collaborative project to cut the production of toxic chemicals and reduce their release into the air and water. Despite deep skepticism on both sides, the project has achieved reductions of more than 35 percent in both areas. The challenge was to determineContinue reading "Calling All Chemicals"
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The Nature Conservancy, well known for protecting habitat for threatened plants and animals, is taking a fresh look at ways to fulfill its mission. Surprisingly, gas drilling on one of its preserves seems to make a lot of sense right now. The Galveston Bay Prairie Reserve near Texas City was donated to the conservancy inContinue reading "Calling All Chemicals"
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The sight of 600 cattle crammed onto an acre of ground might cause even a certified urbanite to wonder about the quality of land management. But according to Land Renewal, Inc. of Albuquerque this is actually a healing process for lands that have been severely disturbed by the likes of mining, construction, and fire. ReclaimingContinue reading "Calling All Chemicals"
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While there has been no lack of news coverage on the sad state of our national parks, there is still not enough money to shore up the buildings and patch the roads. To help fill the gap, two energetic entrepreneurs turned their disappointment over a canceled trip to Yosemite during the 1995 government closure intoContinue reading "Calling All Chemicals"
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In Brazil’s Atlantic coastal forest, farmers are finding they can make more money by protecting the trees than from agriculture. The golden lion tamarin, a rare monkey, makes its home in this forest and attracts ecotourists from around the world. Scientists have relocated monkeys who are barely surviving in small isolated forest patches to larger,Continue reading "Calling All Chemicals"
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One of the Clinton administration’s first major environmental policy initiatives was to call for a shift to ecosystem management. In a nutshell, ecosystem management means that the federal government makes protection or restoration of the health, integrity, and sustainability of ecosystems the primary goal of its activities. The Forest Service, for example, now intends toContinue reading "Calling All Chemicals"
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One technique proposed for combating “urban sprawl” is increasing population densities. Government planners are beginning to require new residential developments to house more people per acre. Even existing low-density suburbs are supposed to be rebuilt to higher densities. The “smart growth” plan for Portland, Oregon, considered a model for anti-sprawl policies, calls for increasing theContinue reading "Calling All Chemicals"
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Celebrated by market enthusiasts and conservationists alike, land trusts have become the instrument of choice across the nation for conserving farmland, sensitive habitat, and open space. Recently, however, free market environmentalists have been raising a few questions about them. For years, friends of the market such as PERC associates have cheered trusts because of theContinue reading "Calling All Chemicals"
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EPA cleanups of superfund sites cost an average of $12 billion for every cancer case prevented. Most people are aware that we live in a world of scarce resources and act accordingly. Not so with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). When it comes to cleaning up Superfund sites around the country, recent research suggests thatContinue reading "Calling All Chemicals"
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