Pesticide Studies Won E.P.A.’s Trust, Until Trump’s Team Scorned ‘Secret Science’

SALINAS, Calif. — José Camacho once worked the fields here in the Salinas Valley, known as “the Salad Bowl of the World” for its abundance of lettuce and vegetables. His wife still does. But back in 2000, Mr. Camacho, who is 63, got an unusual phone call. He was asked if he wanted to work for a new project studying the effects of pesticides on the children of farm......read more

Coal Is Killing The Planet. Trump Loves It.

If we keep burning coal and petroleum to power our society, we’re cooked — and a lot faster than we thought. The United Nations scientific panel on climate change issued a terrifying new warning on Monday that continued emissions of greenhouse gases from power plants and vehicles will bring dire and irreversible changes by 2040, years earlier than previously forecast. The......read more

Hope In The Era Of Trump's Climate Foolishness

One year ago, on June 1, President Trump dismayed the world by announcing his intention to withdraw the United States from the global Paris climate agreement. He has since shown no inclination to ease up on his efforts to nullify virtually every initiative the Obama administration took to limit greenhouse gases from power plants, cars, trucks, and oil and gas operations. His......read more

Renewable Energy Booming in Several States

With fossil fuels meeting the vast majority of America's energy needs, our clean energy future is a long ways off. But in the last decade, renewable power use has taken off, with some states now meeting over 20 percent of their energy needs from wind, solar, biomass and other alternative fuels. At Co.Exist, Ben Schiller points to new data from the Energy Information Administration that shows the......read more

Keystone Pipeline Decision Delayed

Putting off important decisions is rarely considered a good thing, except in  politics, where procrastinating on important decisions can mean the difference between being in and out of office. Yesterday, the Obama administraton put the delay tactic to use, announcing that it will postpone its decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline until after the 2012 election. "Because this......read more

Feds to Fund Offshore Wind Farms

Pursuant to the U.S. President's stated goal of generating 80% of all electricity from renewable sources, the Obama administration announced this week a game plan for wind energy development off the Eastern seaboard. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar paired up Monday to announce federal funding for offshore wind farms to the tune of $50.5 million over......read more

Washington Responds To Oil Spill

With workers struggling to contain the growing oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, the White House has the declared the situation a disaster of "national significance." The designation paves the way for an all-out federal response to the potential environmental disaster. Yesterday, top officials were dispatched to the region to help coordinate defences against the leak. Meanwhile, the......read more

Leaked Document Exposes Obama's Climate Strategy

The Guardian has published the text a leaked document revealing the US government's increasingly controversial strategy in the global UN climate talks. The document was left on a European hotel computer and passed to the British newspaper. The text unveils the Obama's administration's hardline, "take it or leave it" approach to the agreement, signaling that the US intends......read more

The Sheriff's Back

In addition to the economic woes of the “noughts”—the years from 2000-2009—it was also a lawless era for environmental protection in the United States. Bush administration efforts at “dismantling safeguards, ignoring climate concerns, marginalizing sound science and catering to industries that endangered Americans’ health and natural heritage” meant......read more