Nation Topics - Environment | The Nation

The article provides short reflections to United States political news stories. News stories looked at include the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing concerning the National Security Agency surveillance scandal, the investigation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Vice-President Richard Cheney's hunting accident, requests for replacement of Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown, and ways to lessen the effects of global warming.

The article looks at a budget reconciliation bill written by Republicans in the United States that will lead, the author contends, to more tax cuts for rich people. The budget allows states to impose premiums and increase co-payments on low-income Medicaid recipients. Congress could have saved billions by reducing the amount that Medicaid pays for pharmaceutical drugs. The budget also cuts child support enforcement, foster care programs, and student loan programs. The author references the book "Off Center," by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson.

The article notes the fortieth anniversary of the publication of Ralph Nader's book "Unsafe at Any Speed," a volume that inspired the consumer movement. Also discussed is the American tendency to attribute reform in Russia to the influence of the United States. "The Weekly Standard" is criticized for letting former US ambassador for nuclear arms negotiation Max Kampelman's claim that he organized the first meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev and Andrei Sakharov go unchallenged.

This editorial discusses the relation between the oil industry and the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. The author reviews a recent article in the "Washington Post" which detail a meeting between the oil companies and aids to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. The article discusses the relationship between the oil industry and the war in Iraq. The issue of American oil consumption is also discussed.

Argues that automobile owners should fill their cars with gasoline from Citgo service stations. Report that Citgo is owned by the Venezuelan national oil company; Claim that gasoline consumption helps keep up overall oil demand and oil prices; Claim that the U.S. issues public propaganda against Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez; Opinion of the author that oil is not about to run out and that humans have no role in causing global warming; Reference to the book "The Deep Hot Biosphere," by Thomas Gold.

Argues for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq based on the view that the war is making the U.S. less safe and doing little to stabilize Iraq. Criticism of moderates and liberals in Congress who support staying the course; Claim that the war in Iraq is creating more jihadi terrorists daily while diverting resources from more urgent needs inside the U.S.; Observation that the insurgency has steadily grown more vast and sophisticated, Iraq produced less oil and electricity than it did before the U.S. invasion, unemployment has increased to more than 50% and an overwhelming majority of Iraqis oppose America's military presence.

Offers a look at the human disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast of the United States. Reference to a press conference with U.S. President George W. Bush regarding the loss of Senator Trent Lott's house in the hurricane; Reference to an interview with Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff on National Public Radio regarding the conditions at the convention center where hurricane refugees were being held; Devastation for African American property owners in Louisiana; Readiness of officials to label African American neighborhoods in New Orleans, Louisiana as poverty-stricken; Methods used in the evacuation of New Orleans residents.

The article presents an investigation into the effects of oil exploration on the people of Ecuador. When Renee Arevalo purchased a small plot of land just off the main road to Shushifindi several years ago, it seemed like a great opportunity. A rectangular block of freshly plowed dirt off the well-traveled route toward one of Ecuador's oldest oilfields, the sizable lot looked like the perfect spot to build a small house for his family that would double as a tire repair shop. But then the rains came. The hard, driving rains of Ecuador's Amazon basin have made this rainforest region one of the most ecologically spectacular places on the planet. But at Arevalo's new home, the rains brought only a foul smell, sort of like a gas station. Then Arevalo noticed that the puddles of water that blotched his dirt yard had thick, multicolored swirls on top. When he poked a wooden stick a few feet down, thick black sludge bubbled to the surface. Arevalo is just one of thousands of Ecuadorians left angry in the wake of decades of oil exploration that began in the 1960s and continues, albeit in a more modern form, today. He's also part of a growing force of poor and indigenous people across the country, from the peaks of the Andes to the lowlands of the Oriente, who have grown suspicious of Ecuador's government.

Discusses the issue of global climate change in light of the forthcoming Group of 8 (G-8) summit meeting in Scotland. View that humanity is drifting toward unparalleled catastrophe because climate change is on track to kill millions of people in the twenty-first century by increasing temperatures, causing sea-levels to rise, parching farmlands and crashing ecosystems; Suggestion that British Prime Minister Tony Blair's dream of an historic breakthrough on climate issues will come only if G-8 leaders are willing to defy the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush and plot their own course.

Looks at the reaction of Christian conservatives to the potential release of a vaccine that protects against the sexually transmitted disease known as human papilloma virus (HPV). Development of the vaccine by pharmaceutical companies Merck & Co. Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline PLC; Comments regarding the vaccine from Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council, who states that giving young women an HPV vaccine could been seen as a license for them to engage in sexual activity.