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We’re all gonna die

Look out below: Infectious diseases are emerging faster than at any time in history, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in a report on Thursday that urged closer global cooperation to tackle the growing health threats of the 21st century. The WHO underlined that the threats knew no boundaries and included not only epidemics, but […]

You won’t find a better review of the Yamaha CP300 anywhere!

If you happen to be perusing the newest issue of Jazz Times — available on newsstands! — flip on over to the Gearhead section and check out the ace review of the Yamaha CP300 Stage Piano. It’s written by a young piano prodigy who’s tearing up the D.C. jazz scene. You can hear some of […]

Janisse Ray says that greens need to ‘be the change’ in moving toward sustainability

The wonderful southern environmental writer Janisse Ray (Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, and others) has a new piece in Orion magazine of interest to Gristmillers, called "Altar Call for True Believers," where she wonders why even the so-called choir seems to be failing at making great strides toward sustainability. It starts out with this startling vignette about greens and air travel:

Is Our Children Greening?

Students and colleges starting to go green It’s school time again, and you know what that means: pencils, books, teachers’ dirty looks, and ambitious eco-minded students. Thanks to the influence of today’s yoots — a generation accustomed to sorting their trash and hyper-aware of global warming — schools across the country are greening up education. […]

Refine! Be That Way!

EPA rejects stricter emissions standards for U.S. refineries Following a review of the refinery pollution rules it issued in 1995, the U.S. EPA has decided not to improve the 12-year-old rules because the analysis found that “the risks to human health and the environment are low enough that no further controls are warranted.” As the […]

No Peaking

Bush administration eases restrictions on mountaintop-removal mining The Bush administration has given a big thumbs-up to mountaintop-removal mining, the practice of blasting the peaks off of mountains and dumping the rubble into watersheds and valleys. A proposed rule issued today will exempt mining waste from an inconsistently interpreted 1983 rule that disallows mining activity within […]

The Branhams’ mining permit protests

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This week, Gabriel Pacyniak and Katherine Chandler are traveling throughout southern West Virginia to report on mountaintop removal mining (MTR). They'll be visiting coalfields with abandoned and "reclaimed" MTR mines, and talking with residents, activists, miners, mine company officials, local reporters, and politicians.

We'll publish their reports throughout the week.

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Driving to the north end of Mingo County, W.Va., we get lost and arrive late, which is pretty much par for the course. (Sample directions: ... after you get out of that little town make a right after the bridge, go about a mile and half, make a right after the scenic bridge ... ) Fortunately, Donna and Charlie Branham don't seem to mind, and neither do we. The six-mile drive up the hollow is a pleasure: we're listening to "Coal Country Radio" ("The best country music countdown on Earth") as we wind our way past everything from single-wide trailers with chicken coops to custom-built stone homes.

Entrance to Donna and Charlie Branham's homestead. (photo: Katherine Chandler)

With a Cherry on Top?

Judge allows Klamath River lawsuit to go forward If we may paraphrase: Energy company PacifiCorp has asked a federal judge, “Pretty please, can you dismiss a lawsuit claiming our Klamath River dams are polluting the river and killing salmon?” and the judge has responded, “No, sirree, see you in court.” The Klamath, which runs along […]

Living in Deforest

Amazon land settlement said to increase deforestation The Brazilian government is looking into accusations that sketchy sustainable-development deals may have led to increased logging in the Amazon rainforest. After an eight-month investigation, Greenpeace has reported that Brazil’s national land-reform agency housed thousands of poor families in rainforest areas valuable to the timber industry, then looked […]

Are cougars coming back to the Northeast?

I just returned from a glorious week in Maine in time to see another cougar sighting reported in the local paper. Though mountain lions are listed as extinct in Massachusetts and all of the other Northeast states, this sports writer makes a habit of collecting and regularly publishing accounts like this one in his weekly outdoors column. The state's biodiversity is on the rise, with all manner of previously extirpated critters reentering its borders, from moose to bears and fishers, so it makes sense that they're here. But don't tell a state biologist that. Though the grassroots group Eastern Cougar Network has recorded 11 confirmed sightings in the east in recent years, state agencies steadfastly refuse to admit they're here.