What is behind much of the effort to stop human activities like mining, drilling, and logging?  Well according to a recent report by the Capital Research Center, it is a radical philosophy known as Deep Ecology.  Deep Ecology traces its origins to a Norwegian philosopher named Arne Naess who rejected the notion that some living things have greater value than others.  The movement's eight principles include the idea that human intervention in the natural world is rapidly worsening, and that the flourishing of non-human life requires a lot less people around.  A Foundation for Deep Ecology has been giving [...]

What would have helped better evacuate people from New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina? Well some have suggested better buses or mass transit. But according to Ian Murray on TechCentral Station, car ownership is by far the most significant factor determining whether people stay or leave. To see this, he suggests one need only compare the evacuations in Houston and New Orleans. Among black households alone, nearly one-third of those in the New Orleans area had no access to a vehicle, compared with just 16 percent in the Houston area. Since car ownership also improves economic opportunities by opening up [...]

Who is being hurt the most by the anti-biotechnology policies of the European Union? Well according to a recent article by Ron Bailey of Reason magazine, it's the poor in developing counties who need biotech the most. He notes, for example, that while bananas and plantains feed nearly 400 million poor people and surprisingly rank fourth among staple crops behind rice, wheat, and maize, plant diseases have already dropped their yields in half in some countries, and their best hope for a rebound comes from genetic engineering. Even more striking is the fact that nearly half-a-million people per year [...]

Is man-made global warming producing more powerful hurricanes like Katrina and Rita? Well not according to an article by Dr. Sterling Burnett of the National Center for Policy Analysis. Hurricane strength, he notes, is largely driven by differences between ocean and air temperatures, so that even if global warming modestly increased ocean temperatures in the coming years, this would have little impact since there will be virtually no increase in air temperature near the equator where hurricanes form. Since the National Hurricane Center further asserts that hurricane cycles are caused by natural ocean circulation patterns that produced a lull [...]

To graze or not to graze, that is the question.  For years, an ongoing dispute has taken place as to whether livestock grazing is harmful to the environment.  Now comes a new study stampeding out of the University of Utah which seems to answer this rangeland question.  The researchers examined 16 enclosure sites which have been perfectly preserved from 1934 without any sheep or cattle grazing and compared them to surrounding lands which have been disturbed.  The results indicate that not only are the grazed lands not damaged, but that munching livestock actually helps the ecology by increasing plant [...]

Another annual report, another increase in genetically modified crops.  Yes, despite the often shrill opposition of certain environmental groups, farmers around the world continue to plant GM crops in record numbers.  According to one agri-biotech research group, 145 million acres were planted with GM crops in 2002, with significant increases for soybean, cotton, and corn.  And of the 6 million farmers involved, 5 million were those working on small farms in developing countries where insect pests increase costs and result in an estimated loss of 52 million metric tons of corn alone.  So here's hoping the beneficial use of [...]

Proponents of wind power contend that this renewable source of energy will help reduce emissions of c02 and other pollution.  But is this true?  Well not according to respected British energy expert and scientist Richard Courtney, who has this to say: "Electricity is constantly needed, but wind farms only provide it when the wind is strong enough, but not too strong.  Thermal power stations offer it all the time, using fuel and releasing emissions.  They provide electricity when wind farms are not working, and they operate spinning standby when wind farms are working.  Wind farms don't provide useful electricity.  [...]

Coral reefs, which are found in the clear and shallow waters of tropical oceans worldwide, are among the most diverse and productive communities on earth.  But for years scientist have been alarmed by signs that these ecosystems are endangered.  Now a new study published in the Smithsonian journal should help allay these fears.  Scientists from the University of Miami spent three years examining some twenty coral reef areas in the Western Atlantic, and found, contrary to expectations, many of these reefs had 26 percent living coral cover.  This is considered healthy, and comfortably above the 15 percent coral cover [...]

As rush hour commuters know, traffic congestion remains a troublesome problem in many metropolitan areas -  and how to put the breaks on it has eluded policy makers for decades.  But at least in two cities, those of Los Angeles and Houston, a novel solution seems to be working.  The concept involves something called the high occupancy toll lane, or hot lane for short, which charges solo commuters a variable toll for using what used to be hov lanes.  This toll increases as more traffic pours on to the restricted hot lanes, thus ensuring they never become too congested.  [...]

When you think of soil erosion, you probably think of it in negative terms.  But according to scientists at the USDA, soil erosion may actually prove to have an important environmental benefit – that of slowing down the greenhouse effect.  Yes, believe it or not, when soil erodes it carries with it carbon, a noted greenhouse element, and deposits it in nearby wetland areas. When the scientists examined a 25 meter grid in Maryland, for instance, they found the carbon content of the farmland soil to be at 1 percent, but at nearly 20 percent for the nearby wetland.  [...]

Frat parties, homecoming, and final exams are all well known parts of college life.  But now it looks like strange, environmentally-friendly lifestyles are also becoming a common part of the campus experience.  This, according to an article on the Junk Science Home Page, which notes that North Carolina's Warren Wilson College, for example, will soon open a solar-powered residence hall featuring composting toilets, waterless urinals, and plants and shrubs that will all be edible.  At the University of Vermont, students can top off their diesel cars with five gallons of recycled vegetable oil from local restaurants.  And at Humbolt [...]

Will increasing emissions of carbon dioxide spell doom for the tropical rainforests?  Well according to some researchers writing in the publication Global Change Biology the answer is yes, and they cite growing numbers of climbing vines, known as lianas, as proof.  The researchers claim that more CO2 is feeding the lianas, increasing their growth, and choking new plants in the rainforest.  But critics of the study note that, while it is true CO2 has stimulated vine growth, rainforests seem to be doing quite fine - as accelerated growth of trees in the pantropical regions has been observed ever since [...]

Could water splashing off a solid surface one day power our cities?  Well not anytime soon, but there's still waves of excitement over a new source of water-generated electricity that recently trickled in a lab at the University of Alberta in Canada.  According to the Canadian Press Agency, two engineering professors were able to light a small bulb by simply squeezing a syringe of ordinary tap water through a glass filter of microscopic-sized holes.  The idea came from the realization that when water comes into contact with certain solids like glass or stone, a microscopic electric charge takes place [...]