Free Republic

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Wednesday unveiled her plan to address “environmental injustice” and “environmental racism,” which includes a $1 trillion investment into minority communities affected by “industrial pollution.” Warren argues that “justice” plays a massive role in properly addressing the climate change “crisis,” citing studies that suggest that black and Hispanic families are disproportionately affected by air pollution caused by white people: A more recent study found that while whites largely cause air pollution, Blacks and Latinxs are more likely to breathe it in. Unsurprisingly, these groups also experience higher rates of childhood asthma. And many more low-income and...

STAATSBURG, N.Y. -- Many were lured by the music, but most of the folks in Mills-Norrie State Park on Saturday had one thing in common. "My daughter knows all about recycling because of Sesame Street" said Lara Vitello. "Ride my bike to work everyday" said Don Kent of Red Hook. "Sustainable food, sustainable energy and really preserving the Hudson River and this whole area" said John Kroner, owner of Terrapin Restaurant. Kroner says he co-organized the Hudson Valley Green Festival with the same theme behind his Rhinebeck restaurant. "We don't want the entire world to become a cesspool because we...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Overwhelmed and saddened by the gargantuan size of the Gulf oil spill? A little mathematical context to the spill size can put the environmental catastrophe in perspective. Viewing it through some lenses, it isn't that huge. The Mississippi River pours as much water into the Gulf of Mexico in 38 seconds as the BP oil leak has done in two months. On a more human scale, the spill seems more daunting. Take the average-sized living room. The amount of oil spilled would fill 9,200 of them.

In a victory for environmentalists and a setback for big U.S. coal-burning utilities, a federal court ruled on Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency must fundamentally rework its mercury rules for utilities. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the EPA violated the Clean Air Act in 2005 when it exempted coal plants from the strictest emission controls for mercury and other toxic substances like arsenic, lead and nickel. The EPA's "Clean Air Mercury Rule" would have created a "cap-and-trade" program to allow utilities to swap rights to emit mercury to comply with overall limits...

<p>PHOENIX (AP) -- A government plan to protect an endangered owl has upset housing developers who say the proposal will hurt the economy and question whether it would even help the bird.</p> <p>The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed that 1.2 million acres in the Tucson area be set aside as the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl's "critical habitat," which would bar or severely limit development even on private land.</p>

SYDNEY, Australia, November 7, 2002 (ENS) - Men definitely get a lift from the anti-impotence drug Viagra. Now there is evidence that threatened animal species may also benefit, say two researchers. Since the blockbuster treatment went on sale in 1998, there has been a marked drop in global demand for animal products used in traditional Chinese medicine - like Alaskan reindeer antler velvet and Canadian seal penises. Bill von Hippel (Photo courtesy University of New South Wales)"The evidence is still merely suggestive," says Bill von Hippel, a psychology professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia. "But it'll...

<p>BENONI, South Africa (AP) --  Some of the world's top judges swapped ideas Tuesday on how to best enforce environmental laws at a meeting ahead of the World Summit on Sustainable Development.</p> <p>The U.N.-sponsored conference brought together judges from countries as diverse as Costa Rica and Tanzania to discuss ways to enforce environmental legislation, such as establishing an international environmental court or setting up training programs for judges in environmental science and policy.</p>

<p>PHOENIX (AP) --  The Flagstaff City Council approved a proposal to sell Arizona Snowbowl treated wastewater to cover bare ski slopes, despite protests from environmentalists and American Indians, who consider the San Francisco Peaks sacred.</p> <p>Snowbowl wants to pump 1.5 million gallons of the water to its ski area midway up Agassiz Peak, in what general manager J.R. Murray said is an estimated $9 million project.</p>