Environment and Health
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....
A Raw Deal from TransCanada and the Texas Railroad Commission
Arrogance is an unpleasant trait. When overlaid with ignorance, it really gets ugly. Meet Arrogance: TransCanada Corporation. The Calgary-based $1.3 billion pipeline giant is now demanding a U.S. permit to run its Keystone XL pipeline right down our country's center...
A Deceptive Win on Plan B for Women
Good news for advocates of sensible birth control policy: The Obama administration announced that it's dropping the fight to impose an age restriction on sales of Plan B One-Step, the emergency contraception pill. Reproductive rights advocates are celebrating this...
A More Sustainable Future for Us All
Like many great Americans, Sierra Club founder John Muir was an immigrant. It's only because the Scottish-born environmentalist visionary, who arrived in the United States at the age of 11 after a six-week sea voyage from Glasgow, was able to take advantage of the...
Cleaning Up Our Portfolios
Climate change may one day cause us to run low on food. Scientists don't like to talk about it, but there's a chance that the disruption we've caused by burning fossil fuels may even render life on Earth no longer viable for the human race. Sure, that sounds grim. To...
