health

The natural foods giant stumbles into an E. coli outbreak

In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages from the meat industry. Suddenly, Whole Foods can’t get a break. Its share price has plunged about 70 percent since the end of 2005. Its marketing execs are scrambling to shed the company’s reputation for premium-priced offerings — a market position they once reveled in. The […]

Why smoggy skies over Beijing represent the world’s greatest environmental opportunity

The Atlantic Monthly‘s James Fallows, now living in China, has written a glass-is-half-full (air-is-half-breathable?) article, “China’s Silver Lining.” While I think he is a bit soft on China from a climate perspective, I think it is well worth reading because Fallows is terrific and thorough writer. And you have to like any story on energy […]

Umbra on diet soda

Dear Umbra, My name’s Jon and I’m a diet pop addict. My diet right now is 70-80 percent local, organic, or both, but I just can’t help myself when it comes to getting my fix. I drink several 20-ouncers a day of diet and just can’t seem to stop. Is my habit hurting the earth? […]

Another reason to fear the factory farm

Superbugs. An alarming story in this week’s The New Yorker focuses on man-made new diseases that cannot be eradicated with conventional antibiotics, even inside hospitals. The writer quotes Michael Pollan to explain the connection to your local meat factory: “Seventy per cent of the antibiotics administered in America end up in agriculture,” Michael Pollan, a […]

Low doses of radiation can cause harm; coal plants worse than nuclear plants

The effect of radiation is not a subject I blog on a great deal, although it is a subject I have studied a great deal. Indeed, my uncle, a former nuclear physics professor at MIT, started our family Radon testing business, which was sold off years ago.

I asserted that people should be worried about low doses of radiation, especially cumulatively over time. Charles Barton of The Nuclear Green Revolution commented, "Your low doses over time assertion has been repeatedly falsified by empirical studies." Quite the reverse is true. As the National Research Council's Committee to Assess Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation (!) reported definitively three years ago:

Notable quotable

"Listen, I'm skinny but I'm tough."

-- Barack Obama as quoted in a Wall Street Journal article that questions if he is too fit to be president.

A buzzworthy review of DEET-free bug repellents

Itchin’ to scratch that itch. They say the ants go marching one by one. That may be so. But the flying, nibbling critters — the mosquitoes, the gnats, and the flies — come in swarms. How to keep them at bay? Unfortunately, many of the insect repellents on the shelves today contain the chemical DEET. […]

How to green your funeral

Not dead yet? There’s still hope for a green funeral. There’s no getting around it: One day, we’re all gonna die. And while most of us won’t have much control over the circumstances of our deaths, there are things you can do before you go to ensure that your funeral and earthly remains are as […]

Umbra on air mattresses

Dear Umbra, We live in a small house, and when we have guests, the bed situation is limiting. Convenience tells me that an inflatable bed would be ideal. However, the “no vinyl, that’s final” rule reigns supreme in our household. What sort of options can you suggest for a sleeping surface that is easy to […]