Environment and Health
This Election, We Can’t Afford to Ignore the Climate
Our great coastal cities could be flooded within the lifetime of children born today. That's the conclusion of researchers studying the West Antarctic ice sheet — a mass of ice larger than Mexico that could rapidly break apart over the next century. Meanwhile, our...
The United States of Flint
The horrible, preventable crisis in Flint, Michigan shows that when the government shortchanges our infrastructure, people pay the price. Flint has become a living hell for its residents. The water is brown, poisoned with lead, and too corrosive to use on skin or...
A Curbside Crisis
Do you cross the street to put your soda can in the recycling bin or avidly pluck plastics and paper from your neighbor's trash cans? The current state of recycling in the United States may surprise you. It’s in trouble for many reasons, including two straightforward...
Torching the Truth
America’s military adventures — and, just as often, its misadventures — have inspired thousands upon thousands of books. But the military isn’t just in the business of inspiring books: Sometimes it bans them, too. The Pentagon recently announced that it was refusing...
Toxic Teflon
Teflon, you might have heard, may cause cancer. The culprit was a toxic, now retired compound called PFOA. Also known as C8, the chemical became the subject of a major lawsuit accusing DuPont — the manufacturer of the popular nonstick coating — of sickening thousands...
The Cocktail Option
Over half a million people in the United States will die of cancer this year — more than 1,500 a day. It’s so common that we’ve grown numb to the risks. But this could change sooner than you might think. President Barack Obama has put Vice President Joe Biden in...
You Don’t Matter to Drugmakers
If you wonder why Congress critters keep ignoring what the people want them to do — while doing things that people don't want them doing — take a peek at the unique PR campaign now being run by the pharmaceutical industry. The public is dismayed and disgusted by the...
The GOP Experiences Extreme Weather
A Greener Leap Year
What if an extra hour somehow slipped into your day? Aside from most Arizonans and all Hawaiians, Americans get to ponder this question in early November as Daylight Savings Time gets underway. I usually fill this gap with some combination of reading, cooking, and...
Scalia’s Ghost Can’t Save Oil, Gas, and Coal
Bleak news for fossil fuels is piling up higher than an icy Washington snowbank in the capital's most precipitation-challenged state. Peabody Energy, the nation’s biggest coal company, is limping toward bankruptcy after its shares sank 99 percent over the past two...
