Environment and Health
Fukushima Is So Yesterday
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) isn’t about to blow the whistle on the industry’s shortcomings and neither is the media. The agency is stacked with members who know better than to rock the corporate boat, and the media values those big-spending advertisers in the energy business.
A Recipe for Climate Action
I relocated to California for several weeks last year to avoid the dog days of summer in the nation’s capital. During my sojourn, state officials announced that ‘they were closing Los Angeles’ infamous 405 Freeway — America’s busiest highway — for a July weekend. The authorities warned inhabitants of the car-crazed city to stay off the road to avoid the impending “Carmaggedon.”
Ohio Earthquakes Underscore Fracking Dangers
Add yet another new concern to the growing list of reasons to oppose hyraudlic fracturing, the natural-gas extraction process known as “fracking”: Earthquakes.
What I’m Giving Up in 2012
I generally make New Year’s resolutions in hopes of becoming a better person — more disciplined, healthier, or, at the very least, less pathetic. Some of these resolutions last until nightfall. Some don’t. None ever sees February.
A Fracking Miracle
Climate Change Disaster Has Struck
Rats. I’d been counting on climate change. By some genetic quirk, my Scandinavian-bred body has always suffered badly from the cold. It’s a good thing that my grandfather settled near New York City rather than boarding the “Swede train” for Minnesota. Connecticut’s winters are bad enough.
Three Cheers for the Nine-Spotted Ladybug
Great news, people! A colony of nine-spotted ladybugs has been discovered in Amagansett, New York.
We’re Not Even Paving a Road to Nowhere
The term “American transportation policy” is an oxymoron. The United States has no policy regarding the nation’s transportation networks, no strategic plan, and no capacity to carry one out. We harbor only competing special interests.
Mitt’s Personhood Problem
During the presidential election season — which, in case you haven’t noticed, has already begun — it’s up to reporters to link major state-based political events to positions of the presidential candidates. One such event of late was Mississippi voters’ defeat of a constitutional measure known as a “personhood” amendment.
Durban Diary: Repaying Climate Debt
A major flashpoint at the UN Climate summit in Durban is how nations in the global north should deliver the money that they’re supposed to give countries in the global south to support efforts to deal with climate change.
