You can help put an end to the environmental destruction that is taking place every day, both in our own neighborhoods and elsewhere in the world. This page contains helpful news and tips updated several times each week. Please read these tips, explore this site, and share what you learn with your friends. You can click on the bar above to navigate to different pages of this site.
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Membership
 __The World Environmental Organization offers an online membership form. Simply click here to become a member. Members receive a subscription to the World.Org Newsletter. Become a member today and learn lots of ways that you can make a difference.

Clean Energy Exhibition & Research Center
__World.Org will soon open a Clean Energy Exhibition in Oconee County, Georgia. The Clean Energy Exhibition will feature an educational center where visitors will be able to learn about alternatives to traditional energy sources and experience products that utilize alternative fuel technology. The Clean Energy Exhibition will host multiple installations for those seeking cleaner and more environmentally sound ways in which to live. Some of the highlights from among the exhibits will be a solar-powered home including an underground living area and above ground solarium, a solar powered greenhouse, electric and hybrid automobiles for visitors to try, and wind and hydroelectric power demonstrations. Vistors will gain an understanding of how renewable energy sources work, how renewable energy products can be used in day to day life, and how each of us can do our part in achieving a cleaner environment. Please click here for more information about the exhibition.

144 Acre Nature Preserve in Oconee County, Georgia
 __An area of 144 acres of mixed forests, meadows, creeks, and springs located on rolling hills in Farmington, Georgia in Oconee County, 30 minutes south of Athens, Georgia is being turned into a nature preserve. This land is being protected to preserve a delicate ecosystem containing hundreds of species of diverse plants and animals. There is a small Organic Farm and an Endangered Plant Propagation Center located adjacent to this nature preserve. At the propagation center about 1000 types of endangered plants are studied, propagated, and distributed to universities, botanical gardens and wetland restoration projects worldwide. The center specializes in carnivorous plants. Click here to take an online tour of the nature preserve now.
1,000 Useful Environmental Web Sites
__Editors at the World Environmental Organization have located over 1,000 of the most useful environment related Web sites. These sites have been arranged into eleven lists, each containing 100 sites:

Climate
Energy
The Environment
Sustainable Growth
Pollution
Recycling
Telecommuting
Transportation
Wetlands
Carnivorous Plants
Wildlife

Would you like to suggest a Web site to include in these lists? E-mail your suggestion to: Editor@World.Org
Scientific Research into Nutritional and Herbal Therapies
__The World Environmental Organization is participating in the launch of a new publication called Wellness Review. It is widely known that many nutritional and herbal supplements can have significant medical benefits, however, it is often difficult to distinguish those nutritional treatments with a sound basis in science from those that don't work, or that can possibly even make a medical condition worse. Scientists will review evidence published in peer-reviewed medical journals regarding nutritional treatments for diseases and publish them in reports to be made available to medical doctors, veterinarians, and other healthcare professionals. Two sample reports have been made available online, one describing treatments for cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure, and arrhythmias, and the second describing treatments for fibromyalgia.
Dolphin Project
__The capture display of dolphins for entertainment and profit has become a huge international industry. With over 1,000 dolphins currently in captivity, the dolphin trade is constantly growing and more and more dolphins are being captured from their natural habitats every year. In order to stop the exploitation of these incredibly intelligent marine animals, Richard O'Barry and Fred Neil created The Dolphin Project on Earth Day in 1970. Over the last thirty-two years, The Dolphin Project has been instrumental in the release of 14 dolphins back into their natural aquatic habitats.

The main goal of The Dolphin Project is the end of the exploitation of dolphins. The methods that they are employing to achieve this are relatively simple. The first step is educating the public about thge plight of captive dolphins. The second step is stopping the capture, trafficing and breeding of the animals. They also wish to improve the conditions of captive dolphins that can not be released back into the wild. The final goal is the release of every suitable captive dolphin back into the wild. You can help by visiting their website and by refusing to support the dolphin trade by not purchasing tickets to shows where dolphins perform and not supporting any business that exploits dolphins.
California Offshore Drilling Blocked By Court Order
__The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that would block the exploration for oil off of the California coast. The ruling is a blow to the Bush administration which had sought to allow thirty-six offshore exploration projects to begin in California. Environmental groups joined the state in its lawsuit which called for the halting of any offshore prospecting until environmental reviews can take place. The Department of the Interior, one of the parties named in the suit, is still considering whether to appeal to the full court.
Senator Jeffords Criticizes Bush On Environmental Policies
__The Chairman of the Senate environmental panel, James Jeffords, an Indendent from Vermont, gave sharp criticism of President Bush's environmental policies over the weekend. The Senator, who will step down when Republicans take control in January, said that Bush's policies constitute a huge step backwards in regards to clean air, clean water and public health. The Senator also statted that the President was putting special interests ahead of national interests and that allowing increased oil exploration and easing Superfund restrictions would equate to an increase in childhood asthma and other illnesses that can lead to premature deaths.
Nature Conservancy Likes To Be Under The Sea
__The Nature Conservancy has made its first acquisition of land that is completely submerged underwater. The land, which is valued at approximately $2 million, is located in New York's Great South Bay, and was donated by the Bluepoints Company. The Conservancy says that it does not plan to prohibit fishing on the waters atop the lands and that it plans on educating shell fishers about the most environmentally friendly way to maintain the protected area and to harvest the fish and oysters in such a way that they will be able to sustain their population.
Zambia Distributing Food To Starving Wild Animals
__In response to one of the worst food shortages in the southern African nation's history, Zambia has begun distributing food to some of the millions of wild animals that are starving and dying. The food shortage, which is also affecting the nation's 11 million human inhabitants, has been taking its toll on the nation's animals to such an extent that the food distribution was necessary to ensure the survival of the animals. Due to the mobility of the wild animals, there are naturally some difficulties in getting the food to the animals, but officials have said that placing the food near some of the newly diverted waterways is helping the animals to get the nourishment that they need.
Greenpeace Shuts Down ExxonMobil Stations Across US
__Greenpeace picked up its demonstration against the world's worst polluter today by shutting down stations in New York, Los Angeles and fifty other cities across the country. The protestors chained themselves to pumps and succeded in shutting down the stations for close to two hours before they were arrested. Greenpeace is urging people to use their pocketbooks to express their discontent with polluters such as ExxonMobil by not buying gas from the stations and to contact their congressmen to let them know that environmental enemies are not the types of groups that should be influencing national environmmental policy.
Canada To Double National Park Land
__Canada anounced that it was going to create 10 new massive national parks and 5 marine conservation areas in an effort to protect some of its rare and beautiful natural resources. The new areas account for about 39,000 square miles, which nearly doubles the size of all existing national parks in the nation. The parks will be established all over the country from the arctic regions in the north to the lush islands off the western shore. Some of the animals that will receive protection in the new areas include polar bears, falcons, moose, wolves, and caribou. The parks services welcomed the announcement but called on the government to devote more funding for the parks so that those already in existence as well as the newly established parks can be properly maintained.
US Citizens Question "Frankenfoods"
__With the proliferation of genetically modified foods on the market it is difficult for one to know exactly whatt they are eating. Everything form square watermelons to glow in the dark vegetables are available now and consumers often have no idea what kind of modifications are being made to the food that they eat. But voters in Oregon have a chance to find out exactly what is going in to their tomatoes and other combustibles. On the Novemeber ballots will be a referendum calling for the labeling of all foods that contain one tenth of one percent of genetically altered material. The bill faces strong opposition from biotech food producers, but despite the huge financial outlay of the opposers, several other states including California, Colorado, and Vermont are considering similar items for their ballots.
Ozone Hole Shrinks and Splits In Two
__The hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica has shrunk to a size of about six million square miles, which is about one third the size that it has been in recent years. Typically the ozone hole has been about 9 million square miles, but because of bans on ozone depleting chemicals and higher than average temperatures, the hole has made itself smaller. Experts claim that the hole will gradually continue to shrink and that it should begin repairing itself by 2005, provided that industrialized countries continue to enforce bans of ozone causing agents. The hole is expected to completely heal itself within fifty years if all of the protection efforts proceed as planned.

Satellite images also show that the ozone hole has split into two sections, which is being attributed to unusual wind patterns this year and say that the split does not indicate any strengthening or worsening of the ozone hole.
Use of Anitbiotics in US Livestock Falls
__For the third year in a row, the amount of antibiotics that is being fed to American livestock has decreased. The decrease comes in response to consumer demand for meat from animals that have not been drugged after scientists started reporting that the bacteria the antibiotics were supposed to fight had begun developing immunities to the drugs. With the new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria present in meat, people began to develop illness that normally would have been much easier to control. Bills have been introduced into Congress that would limit the amount of antibiotics sold for use in livestock if it was also given to humans.
Congress Approves Higher MPG Requirements
__Congressional negotiators agreed on Thursday to reduce the amount of gasoline used by vehicles by five billion gallons a year over the next seven years. The mandatory reduction will affect all passenger vehicles including light trucks and sport utility vehicles, forcing automakers to improve their mileage per gallon rating by approximately one mile per gallon for each vehicle produced between 2006 and 2012. While Republican lawmakers are hailing the measures as a positive step, critics contend that the bill does very little to actually reduce the amount of gasoline consumed in the United States. The United States is the world's largest oil consumer, with American drivers using about 119 million barrels of oil every day. The fifty billion gallon reduction translates to about two weeks worth of oil consumed by Americans. Congressional Democrats were hoping for much more stringent reductions in oil consumption, there is still time for revision before the bill is passed by both houses of Congress.
Mobile Phone Recycling Begins In Britain
__British company Shields Environmental announced the introduction of a plan to recycle the fifteen million mobile phones and accessories that are discarded by consumers every year. The program, dubbed Fonebak, has been endorsed by Britain's five largest cellular phone companies as well as the British government. The program hopes to significantly reduce the amount of landfill space that old phones take up, which currently runs to about 1,500 tons per year. The program's founder, Gordon Shields, hopes that the cooperation between corporations, government, and environmental groups can be extended to other countries in helping to reduce the number of phones thrown out.
Look for Smartwood Products
__If you want to help ensure that rainforests are being protected, then the next time you buy anything made from wood, look for the SmartWood seal. The certification, which is issued by The Rain Forest Alliance insures that the wood used in the product conforms to their rigorous guidelines regarding the growth, harvesting and manufacturing of the products as well as the working and living conditions of those who make the products. To learn more about what products have earned the Smartwood seal, click on the link above.
Largest Environmental Cleanup in the Country Underway
__Construction has finally begun on a waste treatment complex at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington. The Hanford reservation has been storing nearly one million gallons of radioactive nuclear waste for decades, while debates lingered as to the best way to dispose of the material and who would do it. The new plant, which will cost approximately four billion dollars, is scheduled for completion in 2005 and will dispose of the waste by combining the discarded plutonium with glass forming agents and then sealed in tanks in underground trenches on the reservation. For materials that are considered highly radioactive, the same process will be used except that the material will then be shipped to a national repository, most likely the Yucca Mountain reserve. Environmentalists in the area hail the construction of the plant as a positive step in handling the cleanup of the radioactive material which has simply been sitting in storage tanks with no plans for disposal until now.
Mass Transit Use Hits Near Record Levels
__Public transportation use in the United States hit near record levels in 1999, surpassing 9 billion trips for the first time since the creation of the federal transit program nearly four decades ago, according to a new report by the American Public Transportation Association released this week. Despite recent surveys that revealed American workers still prefer a solitary drive into the office to carpooling or taking the bus or train, APTAÍs latest figures showed public transportation jumped 4.5 percent last year, outpacing all other modes of travel.

"The equivalent of more than a million new trips on public transportation were added each day in 1999," APTA President William W. Millar said. "An investment in public transportation infrastructure by the federal government has worked to create high quality services and the expansion of existing services for more choice in meeting AmericaÍs mobility needs."

Increased use of mass transit has become a major goal of the environmental movement in the past two decades as U.S. cities continue to expand and hundreds of auto-dominated ñedge citiesî develop around the country. Moving more Americans out of their cars and into buses and trains protects the environment through energy conservation and improvements in air quality.

For more information on this topic, please visit these sites:
How Much Pollution Does Your Electricity Produce?
__The Electricity Label Generator by the Environmental Defense Fund will show you how your electricity is produced and tell you how much pollution is created in the process. To see the facts about your electricity, simply enter your state and the amount of your monthly electric bill on this web site.

America's Wetlands Report by the EPA
__The America's Wetlands online report by the United States Environmental Protection Agency will give you a better understanding of the rich variety of wetlands, their importance, how they are threatened, and what can be done to conserve them for future generations.æ You can also request a free printed version of this color report by calling the U.S. EPA at (202) 260-6531.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
There are three important steps to follow to minimize the amount of materials that end up as trash in landfills:

Wetlands Preservation Project
 __The World Environmental Organization is working hard to protect endangered wetlands throughout the world. Recently the director of World.Org traveled to South Georgia searching for wetlands to protect. Click here to view photographs taken on this trip. The World Environmental Organization is helping to preserve wetlands in many ways. In some cases World.Org purchases wetlands and turns them into preserves. In other cases World.Org works with existing landowners, helping them to obtain conservation easements to protect wetlands on their property. If you know of any wetlands that are threatened, please e-mail us.
How polluted is your community?
Zip Code:
__Enter a U.S. zip code above to find out about companies releasing toxic chemicals in your area, learn about health risks, and find out what you can do about it. (Courtesy of Scorecard.)
Funding for Wetlands Restoration
 __The United States Department of Agriculture will pay 75% of the cost of restoring wetlands located on private property in the United States. This is a terrific opportunity for private landowners to restore or enhance wetlands. For more information, please visit the Wetlands Reserve Program web site.
Some Road Construction Projects Not Worth the Wait
 __A new report finds that motorists can lose more time in road construction delays than they will save in years of driving on the newly "improved" roads. The national report, Road Work Ahead: Is Construction Worth the Wait? by the Surface Transportation Policy Project, was released Thursday, Sept. 23, 1999, and uses case studies to examine whether road expansion projects are ultimately worth the wait for drivers.
__The report says traditional transportation planning leaves the perspective of individual drivers out of the road building equation. As a result, projects may meet the goal of increasing the number of cars on the road while doing little to improve the commute of those driving now.
__In addition to the delays caused by road widening projects, the additional highway space also can attract more drivers, a phenomenon known as "induced travel." This can reduce any time saving benefits even further. In one of the case studies, I-15 in Utah, STPP found that in just ten years such extra traffic could slow rush-hour travel to pre-construction speeds.
__STPP suggests, among other things, increasing train and bus service, and building communities so people can drive less.

Lightning Strikes Help Protect Wetlands
__Lightning strikes the earth approximately 100 times every second. Lightning strikes are very important to wetland ecosystems in the Southeast United States. Lightning causes fires which burn small pine trees before they grow large enough to take over the wetlands. This process of fire from lightning helps smaller wetland plants, such as carnivorous Pitcher Plants, Venus' Flytraps and Sundews, to thrive. When lightning fires are put out before they do their job as intended by nature, trees continue to grow, and delicate wetland savannahs eventually transform into pine forests. It is, therefore, essential that wetlands are allowed to naturally burn every few years. Conservation groups often conduct controlled burns to preserve wetland ecosystems located close to developed areas. Click here to view thunderstorms photographed recently in the State of Georgia, USA.
Try this!
 __The way the human mind works, sometimes people don't always see or hear things accurately. People can subconsciously block themselves from taking in certain bits of information. We can miss things, even when we read something or listen to someone attentively. Please click here for an amazing demonstration of how this can happen.
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