Environmental Health

Are you a worried mom or dad? EPA is listening

Why are you worried about clean air and/or climate change? What questions and suggestions do you have? Me? I worry about the toxins and greenhouse gasses in the air that provoke breathing problems and also contribute to climate change. I worry because my daughter, Cole, was severely asthmatic from...

It’s October. Are you Beyond the Pink?

The color of October used to be orange, as leaves died and pumpkins arrived on the scene. But now the color of October is pink, in the form of pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness appearing on everything from yogurt, Sharpies, football helmets, cereal and more. It’s time to move beyond the pink...

The Toxics Train That Could

One of my all-time favorite children’s stories is The Little Engine That Could . As the little engine slowly and with great effort pulls himself up that steep mountain, he tells himself, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” Then, after trying really hard… and pushing himself… and not...

Honeybees and Groundwater: Canaries in the Pesticide Coalmine

Researchers increasingly draw links between pesticides and serious illnesses like cancer, Parkinson’s disease, birth defects, and a host of others, as well as impacts on aquatic life, such as the Potomac River’s very own intersex fish. Lately the mystery surrounding worldwide beehive loss is leading researchers to question when, where and how pesticides are used and how they affect bees. Maybe the beekeepers’ demand for the most basic pesticide information could be a tipping point in the quest for a reporting database.