E Word

The numbers tell it all. In 1995, according to the Nexis data base, there were 24,142 U.S. newspaper stories about O.J. Simpson, and 1,592 about what is arguably a bigger threat to mankind-global warming.

I’m appalled at the NIMBY ("not-in-my-back-yard") opposition to wind power projects like Cape Wind in Massachusetts. How do these graceful wind turbines destroy our view? Are they worse than the endless power lines that stretch across the country, the coal plants and oil refineries, the offshore oil rigs and tankers (and their spills), and the ominous nuclear towers that have become symbols of another impending Chernobyl?

It’s called "conservation medicine," but perhaps a better name would be "conservation health." The science is complex, but most people would find the theory intuitive: Human health is fragile, and dependent upon the larger world around it. Yes, it is about AIDS, SARS, mad cow, West Nile, malaria and monkeypox, but it is also about the interconnectedness of all life and the fact that human behavior has consequences.

There’s hardly an issue where Bush’s rhetoric isn’t diametrically opposite to his actual policies. This is especially true in his doublespeak on women’s issues. While Bush proclaims, "the advance of liberty and the advance of women’s rights are ultimately inseparable," he pursues an ideologically motivated anti-choice agenda at the expense of women’s lives and the planet.

As with the highly questionable intelligence alleging Iraqi weapons of mass-destruction that led us into war, hunting continues on the strength of some long-debunked myths, thanks to leaders who kowtow to the gun industry, the National Rifle Association and others.

A recent University of California-Berkeley study found that information stored electronically grew by a whopping 80 percent between 1999 and 2002. And even though less than one tenth of one percent of that data was printed, the amount of printed matter still grew by 36 percent during that same period. Not surprisingly, the U.S. is the biggest paper muncher, accounting for 33 percent of all printed material.

WIC, A Federal Food Program, Gets Supplemental Common Sense.

In a recent issue of Car and Driver, columnist Patrick Bedard opined that population growth had ceased to be an issue in the U.S. because we’d achieved a replacement-level fertility rate. So the U.S. population has stopped increasing, right? Wrong! Bedard’s column is proof that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. If fertility rates […]

In 1995, 18 million American children under 10 lived in areas of ozone “non-attainment,” meaning the air they breathed didn’t meet minimal federal standards. That number is higher today. What’s a parent to do? The Natural Resources Defense Council has some ideas, which include limiting your children’s outdoor exercise and participation in school sports on […]

You don’t have to be liberal to believe in birth control. U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican, and Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, recently joined forces to introduce a bill that would require insurance companies that cover prescription drugs to also cover prescription contraceptives. In the House, a similar bill was introduced by the […]