Eyes on the Prize
I've written a lot about the consequences of relying on fossil fuels for energy, but the chemical spill into West Virginia's Elk River still comes as a shock. Almost a week later, thousands are still...
View ArticleWest Virginia Spill Highlights Need for Toxic Chemical Reform
Policy debates in Washington can feel a world away from people's daily lives, but an unfortunate event in West Virginia is bringing home just how important they can be. Earlier this week, more than...
View ArticlePublic Water Systems Can Help the War on Poverty
No army can win a war without good quality water. Dysentery took more lives in the U.S. Civil War than battle wounds. Likewise, the War on Poverty won't be won without healthy and affordable water. The...
View Article10 Reasons Neil Young is Right About the Tar Sands
To say that rock legend Neil Young has been making waves on his ACFN 'Honour the Treaties' tour would be an understatement. His comments about the horrors of the tar sands have made front-page...
View ArticleClik here to view.
2013 a Year for Green Accomplishments: Looking Ahead as New Mayors Take the Helm
At the end of every calendar year, publications are filled with surveys of the past year's news and accomplishments, trends and surprises. And along with the reviews, there are often predictions of...
View ArticleObituary For the Original Dog Who 'Ate My Homework'
For Immediate Release ATTN: Women, Animals, Pets It's said that when the cat loving ancient Egyptians were given a choice by invading conquerors: either surrender your cats, or your city, they chose to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Members of Congress, Farmers and Businesses Call on Obama to Fulfill Campaign...
A morning press conference offered a beacon of hope for farmers and activists on Capitol Hill today as members of Congress and 200 organizations demanded Obama fulfill his 2007 campaign promises to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who Owns West Virginia's Water? A Cautionary Tale
It took a few days after a state of emergency was declared across nine West Virginia counties and one-sixth of the state's population was told not to drink or bathe using their tap water for the...
View ArticleUnchaining the Elephants of Nepal
As part of my work with animals I meet some extraordinary people. One of them is Carol Buckley, the Founder and Director of Elephant Aid International. Carol has worked with elephants since she was a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Seventy Years Is Enough: It's Time to Put the Draize Test Out of Its Misery
2014 marks a morbid 70th anniversary. It was in 1944 that U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) toxicologist Dr. John Henry Draize invented the now-infamous "Draize test" to evaluate the safety of...
View ArticleChicken From China? Why You Should Be Worried
In March 2012 I launched on The Lunch Tray a Change.org petition seeking to remove lean, finely textured beef ("LFTB," more widely known as "pink slime") from the ground beef procured by the USDA for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Did You Hear the One About the Serious Environmentalist?
Environmentalists don't get the joke. The situation is too dire -- extreme weather from a changing climate, toxins in our food, endangered species dying off -- for this to be a laughing matter. At...
View ArticleHow the SEC Can Fight Climate Change
Several corporations sit on the boards of powerful business and trade organizations that take positions contrary to the companies' purported stance on climate change, finds a new Union of Concerned...
View ArticleClik here to view.
'Green News Report' - January 14, 2014
TWITTER: @GreenNewsReport FACEBOOK: Green News Report The 'GNR' is also now available on your cell phone via Stitcher Radio's mobile app! IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Tap water ban lifted in West Virginia...
View ArticleClik here to view.
'Green News Report' - January 16, 2014
TWITTER: @GreenNewsReport FACEBOOK: Green News Report The 'GNR' is also now available on your cell phone via Stitcher Radio's mobile app! IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Unprecedented drought & wildfires...
View ArticleNY State Working Hard to Catch up With CA's Energy Storage Requirements
Battery storage is gaining more and more traction in the distributed energy resources community. Last fall, California passed the first statewide energy storage directive in the United States. Issued...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Trouble Down in Texas #1
A Recurring Series of Observations on Ignored Problems Oh yay, we are growing. Everybody is excited. Texas supposedly gets upwards of 1,300 to 1,500 new people a day and Austin reportedly acquires 150...
View ArticleFinding the Promise in Promise Zones, Part 1
President Obama's designation of five localities as Promise Zones is the latest in a long history of efforts by his predecessors to wage the war on poverty in communities where the war is needed most....
View ArticleGame Over? Obama Gifts Big Coal $1 Billion for FutureGen in Illinois
In the same days an entrepreneur went on federal trial for fraud over an unproven "clean coal" scheme, President Obama's Department of Energy gave a game-changing approval for a $1 billion gift to...
View ArticleFinding the Promise in Promise Zones, Part 2
If a region's strategy for economic renewal was turned over to its people rather than controlled by its traditional power brokers, what would be the result? One example grew from a project that Oberlin...
View Article