Environment and Health
The Hairball That Gagged a Fracker
Imagine a political campaign against environmentalists that's so negative, so ridiculously slanted and downright dirty, that it actually repulsed executives of some of America's biggest fracking corporations. It's got to take a big wad of ugly to gag a fracker. But in...
Wine over Brine
My home near Seneca Lake in New York is famous for a lot of things — good wine, fine food, and the Finger Lakes region’s beautiful scenery. Now, though, Crestwood Midstream — a Houston-based company that drills, stores, and distributes fracked natural gas — wants to...
It’s Not Easy for Obama to Prove He’s Green
President Barack Obama’s spokesman, Josh Earnest, recently boasted that his boss will “go down in history as the greenest president we’ve ever had.” Yes, cars, trucks, and buses will increasingly burn less fuel because of this White House. If the courts don’t spike...
Life in Anxietyland
Greetings from Anxietyland. Or as some might know it, graduate school. I've got just a few weeks left of teaching and taking classes before the semester ends. You might see that as hectic yet manageable. It's not exactly fun, but it's only temporary. Logically, I can...
Blowing Past Political Turbulence
The gaggle of workers in Montana’s Carbon County hacking at the barely thawed ground in late December were on a mission: Secure Mud Springs Wind Ranch’s eligibility for a green-energy incentive. Why were they racing to catch a tax credit in that sparsely inhabited...
Thawing Cuban Relations Could Prove Good for Your Health
As soon as President Barack Obama announced his plan to thaw long-frozen diplomatic relations with Cuba, the speculation began about what it would mean for the island. Would it help the Castro brothers? Empower activists? Create jobs? There’s no question that the...
Addicted to Stress
Not long now until freedom — or temporary freedom, anyway. I'm just one month away from the end of my first year in graduate school. It's my first year out of a projected six, if I complete my PhD. In theory, it was a great idea to move from California to Wisconsin to...
The Hazards of Your Daily Commute
Stuck in standstill traffic in downtown Baltimore, I catch this message emblazoned across the side of a city bus: "Did you know? This bus operates in ‘zero emissions’ mode on battery power up to 40 percent of the time." Maybe I should be impressed or encouraged....
Talk Climate to Me
Guffaws punctuated a Florida legislative hearing the other day. Lawmakers and onlookers chuckled as Florida Division of Emergency chief Bryan Koon tied his tongue in knots to avoid saying “climate change” while talking about — well, climate change. Reveling in this...
Saving Tax Dollars by Treading More Lightly
I can’t easily reduce my own footprint on the planet in some of the ways that I’d like. Sure, I can walk and take the bus instead of driving some of the time, and I can turn off the lights when I leave a room. What about the big stuff? I’m talking about retrofitting...
