Environment and Health
Kiss of Death
Sharron Camaratta bites her lips. She never thought of this as a major problem until 2007. That's when she read that certain brands of lipsticks contain lead, a substance that can cause brain and nervous system damage. So she stopped wearing the problematic brands —...
As the World Drowns
Warming doesn't Bother me, Just turn up The old A/C. Expensive news, everyone: The worldwide cost of the melting Arctic ice may total up to $60 trillion dollars, according to a University of Cambridge study. That's nearly a year's worth of global economic output we'll...
Reproductive Rights Get Gutted Again
Despite the reproductive rights uprising inspired by Wendy Davis' heroic filibuster, lame-duck Texas Governor Rick Perry has continued his anti-choice rampage. By signing a contentious measure into law, Perry has made it much more difficult for Texan women —...
What’s Driving America’s Flagging Vital Signs?
Let's talk life expectancy. The stats first. They tell a shocking story: Americans now live shorter lives than men and women in most of the rest of the developed world. And that gap is growing. Back in 1990, shouts a new study just published in the Journal of the...
Eat Well, Walk More, Live Longer
We just got some bad news. Or maybe it's some good news. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that Americans don't live as long as citizens of most other rich countries. How is that good news? Because many of our top risk factors...
A Deadly Power Surge
Jacki Schilke was suffering from symptoms ranging from rashes, pain, and lightheadedness to dental problems and urinating blood. The formerly healthy, 53-year-old cattle rancher's body was under assault from a list of toxic chemicals as long as your arm. But Schilke's...
The People ‘Hijack’ Democracy in Austin
Who should make medical decisions about pregnancies? Women? Their doctors? Their ministers? The macho Republican autocrats and theocrats who control the Texas state government say they are the ones to decide such deeply personal matters. How embarrassing for these...
Minding the Nuclear Fault Line
Southern California Edison's recent decision to permanently close the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) transforms that power plant into a storage site for radioactive waste. It houses one of the largest concentrations of radioactivity in the United...
Oh Say Can You See Through the Frackers’ Big Lie?
Big Oil's frackers are wrapping their shameless profiteering in our flag. In shale fields across the country, you'll see fracking rigs festooned with Old Glory, and they even paint some of their rigs red, white, and blue. This ostentatious patriotic pose is part of...
Giving a Big Story the Cold Shoulder
It's summer — time for barbecues, family vacations, and July 4th fireworks. Unfortunately, summer has also become a time for wildfires, drought, triple-digit heat waves, catastrophic storms, and other deadly reminders of the impact climate change has on our planet....
