There’s no doubt, at this point, that something of enormous consequence is happening with the planet and our climate. You could probably feel it in the air, if you lived in one of the parts of the United States that just went through a record-warm winter. Of course, it’s always important to note that weather is not the same thing as climate, but those record highs along the Eastern...
Today marks the 5-year anniversary of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant. In today’s distracted world — where the worst cases of attention-deficit disorder belong to the mainstream news media — it feels as if these annual anniversaries are the only way to bring attention to any ongoing environmental crisis, from the our...
Do you think that you had a bad year in 2015? I can almost guarantee that economically, it wasn’t as bad as it was for BP, the British oil giant behind the worst oil spill in American history. This week, BP officially it announced its earnings for the quarter and for the year — but the term “earnings” is something of a misnomer. Indeed, the Big Oil icon lost a whopping $6...
When it comes to environmental outrages in the Gulf of Mexico, I thought I had seen and heard everything…until today. The issue at hand is the so-called Taylor Energy oil spill off the Louisiana coastline — a slow motion ecological train wreck that’s been taking place for more than a decade. Now there’s no question that — when it comes to sheer volume and amount of...
Something truly remarkable is happening in the American South. The states that I’m talking about are so-called “red states” — some of the most politically conservative geography in these United States. They are places with Republican governors and mostly Republican state legislatures, where environmental regulations are typically scorned and policy on oil exploration has...
In the fall, I told you about my friend and associate Jerry Cope and his fantastic effort to enlist some of the world’s top pop music stars to build popular support for a real solution on the issue of climate change. The first step toward solving any problem — even one as complex as greenhouse gas pollution by the world’s industrialized nations — is raising public...
A season of upbeat news about humankind’s struggles to combat climate change and to turn the tide on our addiction to fossil fuels reached its crescendo this past weekend. That’s when the world’s leaders — 195 of them — signed off on a landmark agreement to curb greenhouse gas pollution. Some critics say that the plan — which aims to limit the rise in global...
In 2010, I was part of an alliance of environmentalists and others who pleaded with the federal government to work with BP in ending the widespread use of the toxic chemical called Corexit. This dangerous substance was being sprayed, in large quantities, to make the crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe disappear. It seemed clear from Day One that simply spraying another poisonous...
Over the last five years, a series of scientific studies have clearly documented the enormous consequences of the 2010 BP oil spill on fish and wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. From the majestic and endangered Kemp’s ridley turtle to the sensitive shrimp and oyster beds, exposure to the more than 4 million barrels that flowed from the worst oil spill in American history, or to the toxic...
You may have heard on the news that a major hurricane — Joaquin — is currently gaining strength off of the Bahamas and is expected to barrel up the Eastern Seaboard this weekend. The latest reports suggest Joaquin will stay out to sea and that would be welcome news. This is the last thing that these regions of the Mid-Atlantic coastline need right now. You may recall that we’re...
