Public

"Despite being orchestrated by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, novelist Kenzaburo Oe and other prominent figures, the Sayonara Nukes 100,000 Rally held on the July 16 national holiday in Tokyo often looked and felt like conventional old-left demonstrations.

The rally to demand a nuclear-free Japan drew a large number of labor union members, consumer and other old-time activists, waving flags of their organizations, among the estimated 170,000 participants in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.

"WASHINGTON — Ten consumer groups that helped promote a landmark food safety law passed in 2010 say the Obama administration is holding up the rules that would put it into effect, a delay they say could cost money and lives this summer, the peak season for food contamination outbreaks."

"WASHINGTON — Federal health officials faced pressure from Capitol Hill and outside groups on Monday to investigate a wide-ranging surveillance program that the Food and Drug Administration mounted against a group of its scientists who raised warnings about the safety of medical imaging devices."

"WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency won't adopt a proposed rule that would have required large livestock farms to report information about their operations."

"More than 50 percent of the United States is under drought conditions right now, putting 2012 in the same category with some of the worst droughts in the nation's history."

"Apple Inc rejoined the EPEAT environmental ratings system on Friday, acknowledging that its decision to stop participating in a program that rates the green credentials of electronic products was a mistake."

"There’s a term biologists and economists use these days -- ecosystem services -- which refers to the many ways nature supports the human endeavor. Forests filter the water we drink, for example, and birds and bees pollinate crops, both of which have substantial economic as well as biological value."

"Four years ago, something started to change. First it was slow, and then this past month that change became dramatic. Coal now generates just 34 percent of our electricity, down from about 50 percent just four years ago."

"It took less than an hour last month for a Montana wildfire to reduce Scott McRae's ranch to thousands of blackened acres devoid of the grasses that were to sustain hundreds of cattle."

"Shell has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen air pollution requirements for its Discoverer drill rig, which is planning to begin exploratory drilling operations off the North Slope of Alaska early next month."