Today, I did something crazy, rash, and even a little bit scary. I agreed to try to live on just 4 liters of water a day. Before you say, “What’s the big deal?” consider this: Most Americans, including me, actually consume around four HUNDRED liters of water a day. We don’t think twice when we […]
Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota Republican Member of Congress who’s running for President, vows she’ll cripple the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency if she’s elected. Maybe if she spent a week in China like I recently did, she’d change her mind. I’ve just returned from a seven-day trip to Beijing, China’s capital, and Xi’an, the country’s cultural […]
I don’t like to exaggerate the impacts of the many environmental issues we face. But it’s impossible to overstate how dangerous fracking is. Fracking stands for “hydraulic fracturing,” a highly polluting process for tapping underground pools of natural gas. It involves drilling a hole a mile deep and thousands of feet long, then pumping down […]
7.8kviewsBeing able to get clean, safe drinking water straight from the tap is a right we’re all entitled to. Yet today’s news stories report, once again, that the water we drink every day may contain dangerous chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, and other illnesses. This time, the chemical in question is a compound called […]
As I pointed out previously, we’re drinking the same water Cleopatra drank. That’s another way of saying, the world just doesn’t make more water. What’s here is what’s always been here. And it’s what’s always going to be here, even though there are more and more people using the limited water we have. Which is why we […]
4kviewsDid you get a drink or throw in a load of laundry before starting to read this blog? You probably could have, given the easy access most of us who live in developed countries have to clean water. One person of every three on the planet today isn’t nearly so fortunate, according to the International Water Management […]
The current debate about health care seems seriously lacking in one important way: there’s no focus on the environmental problems that make so many of us sick. Just scan the front pages of this week’s New York Times if you need to be convinced. “Health Ills Abound as Farm Runoff Fouls Wells,” documents instances of children contracting […]
The Pepsi company has an impressive sustainability effort underway. It’s working on improving the packaging of its snack brands like FritoLay so the bags can biodegrade quickly once they’re thrown away. Pepsi is reducing the carbon footprint of its production factories and offices. The beverage giant is encouraging employees to adopt personal sustainability goals. I spoke at the FritoLay headquarters for Earth Day, […]
