Articles by Sarah Laskow
Sarah Laskow is a reporter based in New York City who covers environment, energy, and sustainability issues, among other things.
All Articles
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One day, we’ll water plants with our pee in public restrooms
Everyone remembers that deathless scene from Waterworld where Kevin Costner pees in a jug, filters it, drinks some, then spits the rest into a plant. (EVERYONE REMEMBERS IT, I SAID. But if you’ve been living under a rock, you can watch here -- start around 1:30.) Well, that may soon become a reality. For now, at least, we’re still not drinking processed urine -- on a societal level, anyway; what you do on your time is your own business. But one ingenious conservation junkie has come up with a urinal design that filters pee in order to water plants.
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More birth defects in mountaintop removal mining areas
Babies born in West Virginia regions where mountaintop removal mining takes place suffer from higher rates of birth defects than those born in non-mining regions. Mining regions tend to be low-income and deal with the slew of problems correlated with that, but the birth defect rates are higher even when accounting for "socioeconomic disadvantages."
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Critical List: U.S. nuclear plants leak radioactive materials; Big Oil is the bad guy in Cars 2
Three quarters of nuclear power plants in the U.S. have leaked radioactive tritium.
The White House promised to put solar panels on its roof by the end of spring but didn't. Come on -- the environmental community can’t even get a symbolic gesture now? Throw us a bone, dude!
Global warming was supposed to save a few lives by creating milder winters in which fewer people would freeze to death. But by 2040, deaths from heat waves will outstrips lives saved in the winter. -
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Rick Perry signs weirdly reasonable fracking disclosure law
Rick Perry must have a secret plan to recapture George W. Bush's long-squandered image as an aisle-crossing Texas governor and run for president to the left of the Tea Party-addled Republican field. Or maybe he just decided to something right for a change. Whatever his motivation, the Texas guv signed into law a bill that requires natural gas drillers to disclose the chemicals they're pumping into ground during hydrofracking.
