Burger King pledges to end use of caged pigs, hens

On Wednesday, the Miami-based chain committed to serving 100 percent cage-free eggs in its U.S. restaurants by 2017 and to buy pork only from suppliers with documented plans to end their use of gestation crates for breeding sows.McDonald's, the top U.S. hamburger chain by sales, vowed in February to work with its U.S. pork suppliers to phase out the use of gestation crates. Domestic pork producers confine millions of sows in cramped stalls while they raise piglets.Wendy's Co, which recently edged out Burger King to become the No. 2 hamburger chain in the United States, made a similar announcement in March.

Maldives: In a Troubled Paradise, Time Runs Out on Environmental Deadline

The Maldives are a group of islands in the Indian Ocean. They are a very popular vacation spot and the industry is growing at a rapid rate. It seems that the Maldives are a paradise. But underneath the tropical weather and beautiful hotels is an environmental disaster. Water pollution is destroying the corral in the atolls that scatter the archipelago. Also the majority of the maldives is an average of only 1.8 meters above sea level. This poses a great problem for them due to global warming. If the water level rises only a few feet, all of the islands could vanish. 

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2097119,00.html

Old Power Plants Need New Rules

 The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal earlier this week to reduce greenhouse gases from new power plants was hailed by many environmentalists, but unless steps are taken quickly to bring existing plants under the rule, it will create a perverse incentive for companies to keep running older, more heavily polluting power plants. That’s bad economics that could lead to dirtier air. The proposal would regulate carbon emissions from future power plants but leave existing sources untouched. This is yet another instance in a more than 40-year pattern under the Clean Air Act in which old and outdated technology has avoided new environmental standards. The result is continuing unhealthy levels of pollution.