Given recent history, it's nearly impossible to avoid some cynicism about this: "when will the other shoe drop?" "election year pandering!" and so on... but I prefer to suspend such thoughts for the moment, and savor some of the first good environmental news in years. Onward to the Wild Sky and others...

Quoted: President Bush today will create the world's largest marine protected area, a total of 140,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean surrounding a necklace of islands and atolls that stretch from the main Hawaiian Islands to Midway Atoll and beyond, senior administration officials said.