Environment and Health
A Luxury Vacation with No Modern Conveniences
When you read this, I'll probably be out in the wilderness on a 220-mile hike along the John Muir Trail. Embarking on this journey through California’s breathtaking Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia National Parks reminded me of a conversation I had in Mexico five...
Pixar’s Lesson for Kids — and Adults
Pixar's latest flick holds some major life lessons for kids — and adults, too. Inside Out takes place inside the head of an 11-year-old girl, Riley, as she and her parents move from Minnesota to San Francisco. The main characters are cute personifications of the main...
Francis vs. Washington
Pope Francis, the humble yet bold leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, has offered an inspiring 21st century vision to all people. It's a vision that's been sorely missing in the halls of power. In an encyclical focused on the environment, he details how we...
Solar-Powered Friars
If you visit the Franciscan Friars Conventual of Ellicott City, Maryland, you’ll notice a large solar array standing in one of their fields. The friars have dramatically reduced their electricity bill, but that’s not the primary reason they invested in renewable...
5 Key Things Pope Francis Says about Climate Change
Pope Francis just released an “encyclical,” a fancy word for a sort of intimate letter that is meant to serve as a guide to understanding our personal relationship to some of the most complex issues of the day through religious doctrine. This particular encyclical is...
A Noxious Double Whammy
Here's the good news: President Barack Obama has committed to reducing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 17 percent by 2020. The bad news? A rise in fracking for natural gas could make the United States fail to keep this pledge. Unfortunately, a big...
Taking Our Sweet Crude Time
After a quarter-century of buzz over global warming, the climate talkers are at it again, doing whatever it is they do. Visitors to the next big climate change summit, in an act of glorious irony, will pack Paris-bound jets flown by Air France — one of the meeting’s...
We’re All Taking Dirty Pictures
Maybe you're not the type to take dirty pictures with your phone. But even if you only snap photos of your dogs and what’s for dinner, there's a good chance your images could be up to some pretty dirty business. When you post a photo on Facebook or Instagram, that...
A Green-Energy Founding Father
When historians get around to identifying who greened the national grid, Scott Sklar belongs on their list. The energy consultant and former solar lobbyist with a wild white beard has spent more than 40 years bolstering industries that tread more lightly than fossil...
Faking It While the World Burns
Rex Tillerson, of all people, just did the climate movement a big favor. He didn’t hand the Sierra Club tens of millions of dollars to fight the coal industry like former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg. Nor did the chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil follow former...
