Articles by Tom Philpott

Decades after Silent Spring, pesticides remain a menace — especially to farmworkers

In 1962, Rachel Carson published her landmark Silent Spring, which documented the ravages of agricultural pesticides, particularly DDT, on wildlife. The book inspired wide outrage and helped spark the modern environmental movement. It eventually led to a (now-controversial) ban on DDT. But since then, use of other pesticides has boomed. Sign of the times? Photos: […]

An interesting thesis on why the disgraced Congressman suddenly switched on Cafta.

Did President Bush and the House leadership not only know about Mark Foley's predilection for page-chasing, but use their knowledge last year to blackmail him to vote "yes" on Cafta?

Forbes’ ‘Energy Outlook 2007’ makes bracing reading

Investment rags exist to fetishize the bottom line. They promise insights and information that can make their readers rich. People on the hunt for lucre need a clear-eyed view of how the world works -- the better to exploit conditions for profit.

That's the progressive case for monitoring the financial/business press. It's true, as far as it goes, though financial journalists are as susceptible as any others to hype, as their generally euphoric reaction to the dot-com bubble shows.

Business publications are also worth reading because they offer a window into the minds of captains of industry -- the people who yank the global economy's levers.

Forbes recently published a special issue titled Energy Outlook 2007. It's worth a look.

New food column opens with a look at a superlative coffeehouse

Note: This post marks the launch of Mad Flavor, in which the author describes his occasional forays from the farm in search of exceptional culinary experiences from small artisanal producers.

Three Cups in Chapel Hill, N.C., offers what might be the nation's finest non-espresso coffee experience.

I can't say so definitively. Nearly every U.S. city now has at least one café lorded over by a coffee-obsessed madperson; I've by no means sampled them all, though I'd love to try. Every time I go to a new town, though, I seek out the best coffee, and I've found nothing that matches Three Cups.