Latest Articles

Advice on heating tiny urban dwellings

OK, Umbra, I live in a building in Brooklyn where, in typical Brooklyn style, we do not control our own heat. That is, there is no thermostat in our apartment. Thus, our only options for regulating the temperature in the winter are turning off the radiators or opening the windows. Obviously the latter is an […]

Umbra on packaging peanuts

Dear Umbra, I was wondering whether you could provide me with advice about packaging materials. You see, I was recently married and my wife and I now find ourselves buried under packaging peanuts, Styrofoam, and other such materials, much as we tried to avoid the fate (of receiving loads of store-bought gifts, that is, not […]

Apocalyptic Pentagon report on global warming could spur action on Capitol Hill

We’re having a heat wave … Image: NOAA. A hair-raising Pentagon report [PDF] on the potentially imminent and colossal national security threat posed by climate change has been making its way around the Internet since its release in late January, and this week it picked up considerable speed. Fortune magazine was the first major news […]

Garbage Cans and Garbage Can’ts

Federal Court Rules EPA Incineration Emission Standards Insufficient Federal standards governing emissions from garbage incinerators are inadequate and must be rewritten by the U.S. EPA, ruled the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., yesterday. The controversy over incineration emissions began in the 1980s, when garbage incinerators became common nationwide. The EPA issued a set […]

Rotterdam It

Convention on Dangerous Chemicals Goes Into Effect The Rotterdam Convention, an international treaty meant to protect developing nations from dangerous chemicals already banned or restricted in wealthy nations, went into effect yesterday, after garnering support from 50 signatory countries, as needed to give it the force of international law. Many toxic chemicals, particularly pesticides for […]

Pipe Down

D.C. Issues Warning Over Lead in Residential Pipes Washington, D.C., health officials will announce today that pregnant women and children under the age of 6 who live in homes in the city with lead service lines should immediately stop drinking unfiltered tap water and have their blood tested for lead. D.C. Water and Sewer Authority […]

Get the word on seafood that’s safe to consume

The dish on fish. It’s been a winter of bad news for seafood lovers. A joint draft fish advisory from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. EPA added tuna — America’s second-most popular seafood after shrimp — to its list of mercury-containing fish that should be restricted in the diets of pregnant […]

GM: Unsafe for Any Seed

Much of U.S. Food Supply Contaminated With Genetically Engineered DNA Most ordinary crop seeds in the U.S. are contaminated with strands of genetically modified DNA, and unless federal regulations and farm practices are tightened considerably, the entire U.S. food supply will soon contain GM elements, says a report released yesterday by the Union of Concerned […]

Wham, Bam, Thank You, Dam

Embrey Dam Removal Heralds Larger Trend The Army Corps of Engineers blew up the Embrey Dam in Fredericksburg, Va., yesterday, allowing the Rappahannock River to flow unmolested from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay for the first time since 1910 — and making it the longest free-flowing river feeding into the Chesapeake, a […]

Bad Crops, Bad Crops, Whatcha Gonna Do?

International Battle Over GM Food Continues In other genetic modification news, skirmishes over the safety and labeling of GM foods are erupting this week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as delegates from around the world convene to discuss the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The U.N. accord, which went into force last September, governs cross-border trade in […]