Environment and Health
Celebrating the Season without Worshipping Consumerism
The holiday traditions are starting already. Here's mine. My mom called me because she found a great deal on a paring knife at Williams Sonoma. Do I want it? I assured her that I'm getting along fine with the knives I have but thanked her for the thought. And I have...
Islands in the Storm
Shortly after the extent of the damage of storm known as either Super Typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda became clear, the United States got to work sending much needed aid to the Philippines. With winds up to 195 miles per hour, it left more than 5,200 people dead and four...
A Better Grip on Climate Change
Earth to climate change deniers: The vast majority of Americans are worried enough about global warming to want our government to help stop this scourge. This good news for people who believe science should drive our climate policy comes from a series of surveys...
A Typhoon Tax
Americans are generous by nature. About half of U.S. families contributed to earthquake relief in Haiti in 2010, and millions of us have already supported typhoon aid for the Philippines. But there’s a golden opportunity for our country to do much more. We can help...
These Rhinos Need Their Own Guns
Have you ever heard of the rabbit hunter's nightmare?A guy dreams that he and a few of his buddies have fanned out across some brushland to scare-up and shoot a few hares. They kill a couple, but then, one of the hunting buddies who'd headed down a slope into a...
Will Congress Blow This Chance to Propel Green Jobs?
Are you tired of the political brinksmanship, eleventh-hour deals, and avoidable financial crises that characterize business as usual in Congress? So is the wind energy industry. Once again, one of the few mechanisms in the tax code designed to reward clean-energy...
Health Care Hypocrisy
And now, Dr. Hightower offers this advice for improving your mental health: Don't fume about the GOP's lunatic effort to kill health care reform — just laugh at their farcical show. Take Sen. Ted Cruz's 21-hour blabathon, in which he said he would stop the Affordable...
The Affordable Care Act: Bad for the GOP’s Political Health
Whacking yourself on the head with a ball-peen hammer would be stupid. Doing it again and again? That's insane. Welcome to your House of Representatives, presently led by a pack of tea-partying Republicans. They loathe the Affordable Care Act so much that they...
Cleaning Up Campaign Finance to Save the Environment
America's best idea is in trouble, and I don't mean our national parks. Yes, our parks are closed, which is a crushing disappointment for millions of would-be visitors and an economic gut-punch for neighboring communities — to the tune of $76 million dollars a day....
Colorado’s Fracking Disaster
As the people of Colorado are presently learning, it's horrendous enough to suffer the ravages of a natural disaster, but it's doubly horrific to then be faced with a more devastating unnatural disaster. First came the epic floods that recently ripped through the...