Environment and Health
Atrazine on the Rocks? No Thanks
Let’s see. If a potentially toxic weedkiller were polluting your drinking water, would you want the EPA to ignore independent studies about this or prefer that the agency just follow reports carried out with funding from companies that have a financial stake in this product.
Look Out, BP’s Doing It Again!
Okay people, nature needs us to focus. All of us who love polar bears, whales, seabirds, and other wildlife should put our minds together to send an urgent telepathic message to the animals in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska. Our message is blunt: Flee! As fast as you can! BP is coming!
Put Your Money on Climate Change
Al Gore did his best. So did the nation’s environmental community. They convinced a majority of Americans that climate change was both real and serious. Back then small cars enjoyed a spurt, curly light bulbs grew hip (and amazingly have held on), windmills found a big new fan base, and many folks set their heating thermostat cooler and their cooling thermostat hotter.
The Lineup: Week of June 28-July 4, 2010
Here’s what you’ll find in this week’s OtherWords editorial package, which features a Donald Kaul column on Rep. Joe Barton’s foot-in-mouth problem and a Martha Burk op-ed about a potential threat to Social Security. The cartoon accompanies the op-ed by Philip Mattera about BP’s weak corporate ethics. You can get it all in your inbox by subscribing to our weekly newsletter. If you haven’t signed up yet, please do.
Joe Barton’s Honest Mistake
A clever politician can get away with a lot; standards in the profession aren’t high. But if there is one thing Americans will not put up with from their elected officials, it’s complete honesty. The only truly unforgivable sin in Washington is sincerity.
BP’s Ethics
Spilling Subsidies to BP
BP’s catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrates how risky oil and gas drilling really is. For the 11 crew members killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion, Gulf communities, ocean water and wildlife, the impacts were immediate. The long-term repercussions will also be devastating. Stopping the leak, cleaning up the mess, and restoring the economic viability to the Gulf’s many industries that rely on clean, healthy water is going to be an enormous challenge.
It’s Time to End our Dependence on Oil
What I have seen during my visits to the Gulf of Mexico is shocking, horrifying, and heartbreaking. One bird, covered in oil, struggled again and again to take off from the water. It’s the kind of image you want to share, not because it’s beautiful, but because you want so badly for people to understand.
It’s Your Fault
You. Yes you there, wearing your complacency like a suit of medieval armor, proud that you only have three cars in your family and that you keep the thermostat at 70 degrees in the winter.
Oil Begins to Hit Florida Beaches; Disaster May cost BP $37 Billion
