The New Republic

The Pentagon is resisting the EPA’s orders to clean up its contaminated military sites, the Washington Post reports today. The danger? The Defense Department owns more Superfund sites than anyone else, as well as more than 25,000 contaminated sites nationwide, where the department's toxic legacy could pose serious risks to public health and the environment. READ MORE >>

The Economist warns us this week that coal is going to become an increasingly tempting energy substitute as oil prices continue to hit new records. Why? Because the alternatives to coal--natural gas, fuel oil, and diesel--are all tied to oil. Coal remains America’s most abundant energy resource, and the growing call for the country to assert READ MORE >>

The National Intelligence Council recently completed its classified assessment of climate change-related security issues through 2030, and, yesterday, briefed the House Intelligence Committee on its findings, describing how future environmental disasters will lead to water scarcity, food shortages, and forced migration in some of the most economically depressed regions of the world. READ MORE >>

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met with Bush at the White House yesterday--the third major Vietnamese leader to be received by the U.S. since diplomatic relations were normalized between the two countries in 1995. Though the Congressional Caucus on Vietnam called READ MORE >>

Over a month after Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma's southern coast, the country’s ruling junta continues to restrict international efforts to assist the disaster's victims, so domestic ad-hoc groups are taking the lead in funneling aid through back channels. The organization of these impromptu relief efforts speaks to the surprising resilience of civil society in a brutally repressive environment, showing how, despite the junta's stranglehold on Burmese society, grassroots networks and alliances have emerged within the country. READ MORE >>