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Yes We Can (NY Times)
By BOB HERBERT
The thing about visionaries like Al Gore is that they don’t imagine what’s easy. They imagine the benefits to be reaped once all the obstacles are overcome.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Even as residents and government officials have become more conscious of the dangers of climate change, the region's cars and power plants are making the problem worse. The report projects that the region's emissions will grow by 33 percent by 2030 and 43 percent by 2050.
The wolves survived the extermination efforts by the island's few inhabitants, who in the 1950s and '60s saw them as mortal enemies. And they survived an outbreak of deadly canine parvovirus in the 1980s. Now, scientists tracking the wolves in the world's longest-running "single predator-single prey" study fear that the Isle Royale wolves could become extinct because of global warming.
Mideast Facing Choice Between Crops and Water (NY Times)
Some countries in the region import 90 percent or more of their staples, but the worldwide food crisis is making many of them rethink that math.
TO COLDLY GO . . .
Here, huddled in the basement of a hotel in Crystal City, is a group of guys who hate the dull, sweltering dog days of summer even more than most. They cool themselves down with a good old game of Remember When.
POLLUTION
Under the plan, half of Beijing’s 3.3 million cars will be removed from city streets on alternate days for the next two months.
The Hudson River may be at its cleanest and most desirable since federal clean-water laws were enacted nearly 40 years ago, but its future health is still uncertain.
FOOD SAFETY
Before it was Marvelous, now it's Organic. Casual cafe Organic to Go is continuing its Washington expansion with the acquisition of the Bethesda Row Marvelous Market.
CONSERVATION
Al Gore received an enthusiastic welcome at Netroots Nation, the annual conference of progressive bloggers.
Two Million Acres of Wilderness (NY Times)
The Bush administration has mainly regarded public lands as a commercial asset, exploiting them for resources like natural gas.
Judge Returns Gray Wolves to Endangered List (NY Times)
Gray wolves in the greater Yellowstone area of the northern Rocky Mountains were again put under the protections of the Endangered Species Act by a judge in Montana.
Another Species in Danger (NY Times)
The Fish and Wildlife Service has become a hostile gatekeeper, denying refuge to species, like the wolverine, that desperately need the government’s full protection.
Californians are sweating out drought by debating conservation versus usage.
Opposition to quarry is rock solid (LA Times) Workers at an ecological reserve near Temecula oppose the proposed gravel pit, saying it would damage a fragile ecosystem. Backers say it would have no ill effects -- and be an economic boon.
WATER SUPPLY
By CARY LOWE
California's continuing water crisis may mean the end of the state as we have known it.
Cary Lowe is a land-use lawyer and urban planning consultant.
ANIMAL RIGHTS
Chimps Aren’t Chumps (NY Times)
By STEVE ROSS
Chimpanzees face a severe threat in the wild: their numbers have dropped to about 20 percent of what they were a century ago, as their habitat in equatorial Africa is deforested and they are hunted as bushmeat. And once you know this, it can become more difficult to view chimpanzees as silly subhuman caricatures. Misrepresentations of chimpanzees are a benchmark for our society’s moral progress.
By comparing the common mind-set that has produced both the past injustices against humans and the current abuses of animals, we can and do inspire debate and convince many people that it is a human obligation to speak out against injustice to all beings. Animal suffering and human suffering are undeniably interconnected.
FUEL PRICES
Baltimore, San Diego, St. Louis and two Florida destinations are among the cities affected as the carrier grounds a third of its fleet to counter soaring fuel costs.
As Gas Prices Rise, Police Turn to Foot Patrols (NY Times)
As gasoline prices soar, police chiefs in towns and cities across the country are ordering their officers out of the car and onto their feet in a budgetary scramble.
ENERGY POLICY
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
We are addicted to dirty fossil fuels, and this addiction is driving a whole set of toxic trends that are harming our nation and world in many different ways.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Pushing Back on Immigration (NY Times)
Employers have finally begun to engage in the fight against the country’s merciless campaign of immigration enforcement.
Women's struggle spawns political movement that leads Montgomery to pass labor protections.
Failing Zimbabwe (NY Times)
Unless Russia, China and South Africa can be shamed into bringing real pressure against Robert Mugabe, he will settle in for another term of disastrous misrule.
Unions around the world criticized what they see as the negative effects of leveraged buyouts on workers.
Geezers Doing Good (NY Times)
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
If we boomers decide to use our retirement to change the world, rather than our golf game, our dodderdom will have consequences for society as profound as our youth did.
SUSTAINABILITY
To lower food prices, the USDA should allow farming on some conservation land.
Consumers looking for ways to save money on utility bills have signed up for a Con Edison service that provides discounts for using electricity during off-peak hours.
The approval of the planned web of transmission lines that will run from remote parts of Texas to major cities is a major lift to the development of wind energy in the state.
Through a host of small efforts by residents, the seaside town of Hove has become a prototype of a green village.
By PETER S. GOODMAN
The ultimate reassurance about the national economy: If debt stopped Americans from consuming, the pain would go global.
Soaring prices for corn feed have led to painful decisions for the nation's catfish farmers.
AND FURTHERMORE...
A Disappointing Truth (NY Times)
By LAWRENCE DOWNES
If the job to tackle global warming is as huge and urgent as Al Gore claimed in his speech on global warming last week, why is his ad campaign so pedestrian?
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