Latest Articles
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Frontline explores “Poisoned Waters” of Puget Sound, Chesapeake Bay
Photo: ehpien via Flickr.Views like this are one of the reasons we Seattleites suffer through our long, cloudy, rainy fallwinterspring season. But the beauty can be quite deceptive. Beneath that reflective surface flow poisoned waters, contaminated with chemicals from agricultural runoff, prescription meds, cosmetics, industrial pollutants, and more — reflections, you might say, of modern […]
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LCV targets GOP Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri in new ad
The League of Conservation Voters is taking a swing at Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) for not supporting climate and energy legislation, accusing him of being short on patriotism. In a new television ad launched on Monday, LCV argues that Blunt does not believe in American ingenuity and the ability to develop new, clean energy sources, […]
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The New York Times Magazine’s take on environmentalism is more interesting than most
It’s Earth Week, so the MSM is trotting out its obligatory parade of environmental coverage. The New York Times Magazine‘s green issue is better than most. Check it out: The cover story by Jon Gerter asks, Why isn’t the brain green? “Scientists are trying to figure out why it’s so hard for us to get […]
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Eustace Tilley says ‘Screw Earth Day’
Ok, the New Yorker magazine’s cartoon mascot didn’t really say that. The New YorkerBut Elizabeth Kolbert, the magazine’s star journalist covering the climate crisis, has a very interesting essay on Earth Day at the front of this week’s issue. In it, she bemoans the fact that Americans seem to be unenthusiastic about the environment in […]
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Vilsack names former head of Iowa’s Health and Human Services as new USDA nutrition chief
Phil Brasher at the Des Moines Register is reporting that USDA chief Tom Vilsack has named Kevin Concannon the new Undersecretary of the Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, i.e. the head of the federal food and nutrition programs — which include food stamps and the national school lunch program. Concannon ran Iowa’s Department of Health […]
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The business of Earth Day
Len SauersProcter & GambleDoes Earth Day still matter? Sure, it does — absolutely. But the reason for the day should have evolved for all of us. Instead of simply planting a new seedling and moving on, we should be looking at Earth Day in a new light. Earth Day should no longer be a jump-start […]
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House Republicans bring strange theories and wacky witnesses to climate hearings
Democratic leaders in the House are pushing hard to get a comprehensive climate and energy bill passed by summer, with discussion of their draft bill slated to begin this week. But at hearings designed to discuss the particulars of climate policy, Republican representatives and their witnesses have been bogging down the proceedings with skeptical rants […]
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Obama’s carbon-cap plan tests Democratic coalition
This piece was originally published in the Omaha World-Herald. Democratic gains in the Plains, the interior West, the Rust Belt and the Old Confederacy have transformed the political landscape. But one primary goal of the Obama administration is straining the geographic diversity of the new Democratic coalition: capping carbon pollution to avert a climate crisis. […]
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Environmental Organizing as Solution to Family Discord
This weekend, The New York Times Magazine ran as its cover story an article entitled “Why Isn’t the Brain Green?” (i.e. why humans don’t generally make environmental choices automatically, even though it’s good for us in the long term). And a front page Monday story in The Washington Post, chronicled how “going green” could lead […]
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Pare down the pesticides
Tip #7: Be a picky eater. Pare down the pesticides in your diet (without cutting too far into your food budget) by focusing your organic purchases on the “dirty dozen” fruits and veggies that tend to be chem-laden to the core. Buying local and organic as often as possible is a good way to help […]
