Environment and Health
ExxonMobil’s Mayflower Mess
Several weeks after ExxonMobil's Pegasus pipeline gushed at least 500,000 gallons of tar sands crude and water into the Arkansas community of Mayflower, many of the evacuated families still can't return to their homes. Sierra Club organizer Glen Hooks, who grew up...
The Army Goes Off the Grid
Do you know about "net zero"? That's the wonky phrase attached to an elegant idea: converting communities to total renewable energy, complete recycling, and a culture of conservation to bring humankind's carbon footprint into a sustainable balance with a healthy...
Texan Turf War
Turf wars can be the silliest of all scuffles, and no place does silly with more zeal than Texas. For example, the fine people of Dallas recently fell into a doozy of a turf tussle between the natives and foreigners — and the foreigners are winning. The...
Fracking Free Speech
It's one thing for Big Oil to bust into our communities, groundwater, and economic well-being with the hydraulic fracturing natural gas boom. Now, in addition to poisoning the environment, this fracking fad is busting the free speech rights of locals who dare to speak...
Barnyard Sex Education
In 2009, an interim Texas school superintendent declared that sex-education classes were unnecessary in his rural district. Most of the area's school kids live on farms, he explained, therefore: "They get a pretty good sex education from their animals." It's this kind...
Making Death Less Painful
Spare me, Lord, From those who say That I need pain, Till my dying day. There's no quick path to a new personal freedom. Whether it's civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, reproductive rights, or the right to die with dignity, winning is not easy. There are always...
Carbon Divestment
President Barack Obama is on a rhetorical roll on the issue of climate change. "The 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15," Obama pointed out to Congress and the American people in his State of the Union address. "Heat waves, droughts, wildfires,...
We’re All Guinea Pigs
A few years ago, my world changed when I began dating a single dad whose youngest child was a toddler. Bonding with and loving his two kids has been the single most enriching and rewarding — and sometimes frustrating and exhausting — experience of my life. During the...
It’s Time to Move Forward on Climate
As President Barack Obama's second term gets underway, Americans are expecting big actions from him — especially on climate disruption and clean energy. The decision to block the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline should be the cornerstone of his positive,...
A Key Proposal for the Administration’s Second Term
After avoiding the topic of climate change throughout his second presidential bid, Barack Obama renewed his commitment to the climate in his first news conference following his re-election. "I am a firm believer that climate change is real, that it is impacted by...
