Environment and Health
Fragrances Can Really Stink
A loophole left by the 1973 Fair Packaging and Labeling Act means the FDA doesn’t require manufacturers to list all the ingredients in “fragrances” as is required for other cosmetics.
American Power Act
In introducing the “American Power Act,” one would think that Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) would be mindful of the various public relations disasters the industries favored in their bill had suffered in recent weeks.
What Would Palin Do?
I know she’s not an oil engineer, but she’s recently stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and is a Fox News television commentator to boot. She knows things. Moreover, she is one of the most vocal advocates of indiscriminate oil exploration. Remember the cries of “Drill, Baby Drill” that rang through her campaign rallies a year and a half ago? That’s her mantra.
Let’s Treat the Planet Better
Who would believe that modern-day pirates are some of nature’s best friends? It seems that those troublesome Somali buccaneers have scared off the cursed international factory trawlers from a long stretch of African coastline, thus allowing fish stocks to revive. This is a bonanza for local populations.
Energy Disaster
Crime Pays for BP
It turns out crime pays. Big time. BP, the oil company responsible for what may become the largest oil spill of all time in the United States has been breaking the law, again and again. And each time, the company formerly known as British Petroleum has learned its lesson: Keep breaking the law. Corporations can get away with murder and environmental devastation, and make billions doing it.
Assessing the BP Oil Disaster
“This disaster is a wakeup call,” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said during a visit to the Gulf Coast. “We need to stop the expansion of offshore drilling, immediately.”
Mothers Shouldn’t Have to Fear for their Lives
Perhaps it is because the birth of my child was such a joyous occasion that I am struck by the latest statistics about maternal health around the world. While my biggest fear during pregnancy was that I wouldn’t master breastfeeding, in many parts of the world pregnant women fight against appalling odds that they–or their babies–won’t survive labor and delivery. More than 526,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth every year. That’s one death every minute.
What’s so Great About Freedom from Health Care?
The tea party is made up of a lot of disparate elements–anti-abortion, anti-taxes, anti-immigration, anti-health-care expansion, anti-government in general. If it weren’t for guns, they wouldn’t be pro anything.
Congress: Rescue the Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act protected the nation’s waters for decades, from the Great Lakes and Mississippi River, to small headwater streams and associated wetlands. Yet Congress and the Supreme Court have allowed the act to falter for the past nine years.
