Environment and Health
There Are No S—hole Countries
We recently learned that Donald Trump referred to African nations and Haiti using a derogatory and profane term. (Accounts differ, but all seem to agree it ended with “hole.”) Writing off an enormous percentage of the world’s landmass and population as inferior isn’t...
When Companies Deny Climate Science, Their Workers Pay
After decades spreading misinformation about greenhouse gas emissions’ role as a driver of climate change, the deceptive tactics of the fossil fuel industry are slowly beginning to backfire. In December, for instance, General Electric announced major cuts to its...
When’s the Last Time I’ll Go Home for Christmas?
The time has come again for making spirits bright. Whether we’re singing Merry Christmas or Feliz Navidad, the familiar cheer confirms the holiday season has arrived. Yet amid the illumination and ornamented evergreens, an unsettling anticipation looms. It is the...
Cat’s Pajamas and Other Signs of Holiday Endtimes
Your cat doesn't want to wear pajamas. Really. This shouldn't be a revelation to anyone who's ever seen or met a cat. And yet there are now advertisements for cat pajamas. Apparently, according to the advertiser, you should buy your entire family matching pajamas for...
Skip the Slip This Holiday Season
Everyone's familiar with the typical holiday waste we’re left with every year after the festivities end — wrapping paper, uneaten food, disposable cutlery, among other things. But something we often don’t consider is that as purchasing skyrockets from Thanksgiving to...
Forget the Nordic Diet. Try their Tax Plan.
You’ve heard, no doubt, of the miraculous Mediterranean diet, which is said to keep Italians and Greeks living healthy lives into their 80s and beyond. The Japanese diet is popular, too, as the Japanese live the longest lives in the world. Then there’s the Nordic...
Tax Cuts for the Rich Are Threatening America’s Sacred Places
Right now in Washington, D.C., Congress is making decisions that will affect my future and that of my people — the Gwich’in Nation of Alaska and Canada. A critical part of our ancestral homelands, the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — one of the...
The Pain Behind Opioid Abuse
Donald Trump recently declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency. At first I thought, is this the first time I approve of something Trump has done? Alas, no. And here's why: Nine years ago, I lost my brother to a heroin overdose. My brother and I...
One Way to Weather Extreme Climate
If There’s a War on Coal, Coal Already Lost
"The war on coal is over," according to Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt spoke these words in a speech to coal miners in Hazard, Kentucky, where he announced the formal repeal of Obama’s Clean Power Plan. What he failed to mention is...
