The strikingly ineffective chemical regulatory framework of the status quo has no doubt given rise to some larger systemic issues. Most problematic are “the three gaps”: the chemical data gap, the safety gap and the technology gap.

In a sense, the TSCA was always a bit behind the game – it was constructed as an inherently reactive rather than proactive policy. The primary reason for this is obvious: tens of thousands of environmental chemicals had already been on the market, in their various forms, prior to it even entering its nascent stages. Largely as a result, members of Congress only found it feasible to establish some sort of general public oversight over the daunting number of chemicals in commerce.

In what was seemingly his former life, Florida Governor Charlie Crist instructively warned that “the conditions of weather and rising water levels will have the most profound impact on [his] state than any other.” Being a low-elevation peninsula, surrounded by both the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Gulf of Mexico to the west, sea level rise undoubtedly represents the state’s biggest threat.

Water is a lost issue in the contemporary environmental debate. The issues that dominate are climate disruption, biodiversity loss and destruction of the ozone layer. These are all often thought of global issues and global problems. Society as a whole has a moral obligation to stop them. Water, on the other hand, is a local issue, [...]

According to my good friend Rand Paul, the Deepwater Horizon disaster was an accident and accidents happen.

Let’s get one thing straight. This was no accident.

Alarming as it may sound, when it comes to the vast majority of the over 81,000 chemicals we can encounter in our daily lives, not only do chemical manufacturers know almost nothing about their associated human and environmental hazards, but federal regulations require almost nothing in terms of pre-marketing test data, labeling, or even the full public disclosure of ingredients.

Does your school, company or organization have an adequate sustainable building policy? If not, use your voice to pressure them to implement one!

With no end in sight, the worst oil spill in United States history continues. It may very well rank as our worst environmental disaster when all is said and done.

In just a few short hours, I will embark on my journey to the historic Land of Kings, Rajasthan. As my trip is extremely relevant to the purpose of this blog, I hope to use the opportunity as a forum to give first hand accounts of what I am seeing and hearing and then start [...]

In today’s race to become the greenest nation in the world — the 21st century’s equivalent to the epic space race between the Soviets and Americans — the Brits are having a good time looking at us in their rear view mirror. As fun as it would be to attribute this to some overhyped cultural [...]