Are any professional athletes vegetarians? Billie Jean King, who racked up 20 wins at Wimbledon, won the U.S. Open 13 times and dealt a blow to male chauvinism when she beat Bobby Riggs in a 1973 tennis match, was powered by a vegetarian diet. She is not alone. The list of vegetarian athletes is several pages long and includes names like bodybuilder Andreas Cahling, football star Desmond Howard, Ironwoman Ruth Heidrich and sprinter Carl Lewis.

While dermatologists continue to remind us that long-term sun exposure can harm our skin, causing wrinkles, burns, age spots, actinic keratuses (layers of skin overgrowth resulting in red, scaly spots), and more seriously, malignant melanoma, many people still yearn for that sun-worshipper look.

How much of our waste is recycled compared to what is “disposed of”? Who keeps track of this? —Anita Knight, Wheaton, IL The amount of waste produced in the U.S. had been rapidly increasing over the past three decades, until it peaked in 1994 at 209 million tons. Every year, a greater percentage of that […]

Stopping Sprawl, Reusing Printer Cartridges and Respecting Wildlife In your article “Troubled Homecoming” in the March/April issue, it was mentioned that a 24-year-old worker, Tricia Wyman, was killed by wolves. Could I have more information on this? —Paul Tipple, Corner Brook, NE and Mark Thompson, Inver Grove Heights, MN Though most people believe that wolf […]

How can I find out how environmentally responsible a company is? —Michael Waldron, Ithaca, NY Ever wonder how “green” that new shirt really is? Or what kind of organizations are receiving money from your long distance phone company? Do you know if your favorite beverage company is using recycled plastic? A little detective work can […]

The park our children use is routinely sprayed with the herbicide Roundup. Is that chemical safe, especially for children? Ewa Bialkowski San Jose, CA The Center for Ethics and Toxics (CETOS) lists glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, as the most widely used pesticide by volume. The Monsanto Corporation, makers of Roundup, claims there is no evidence […]

How can I use my car in more environmentally friendly ways? The best thing you can do, of course, is to leave your car in the garage and take mass transit. But if you have to drive, start by filling up at night. In hotter temperatures, which typically occur during daylight hours, more gasoline evaporates through the fuel opening, allowing potentially dangerous hydrocarbons to enter the atmosphere.

One rarely thinks of cosmetics as toxic substances. However, as author Kim Erickson writes in Drop-Dead Gorgeous, "Many of the poisons that pollute our environment — from dioxin to petrochemicals — can be found in the jars and bottles that line our bathroom shelves."

The Channel Islands National Park and Island Conservation recently united in a $1 million project to remove non-native rats from Anacapa Island in an effort to protect critical nesting habitat for seabirds. Rat predation had reduced one of the largest breeding colonies of Xantus murrelets to just a few pairs, earning the seabird a potential spot on the federal Endangered Species List.

How serious is the problem of soil erosion, and what can be done about it? —Brandi, Fort Worth, TX © Chris Murphy The "dirt" beneath our feet plays a variety of supporting roles. It gives plants a foothold so they can root, filters rainwater and provides a record of environmental change. But excessive cultivation, erosion […]