Other writing

April 2021

Air pollution kills millions every year, like a ‘pandemic in slow motion’

COVER STORY: Dirty air is a plague on our health, causing 7 million deaths and many more preventable illnesses worldwide each year. But the solutions are clear.

December 29, 2020

This landmark law saved millions of lives and trillions of dollars

FIFTY YEARS AGO, a group of Democratic and Republican senators spent months working together to tackle a danger they all agreed was harming Americans’ health and lives. The bill they produced won unanimous Senate approval.

April 1, 2021

In Europe, a Backlash Is Growing Over Incinerating Garbage

For decades, Europe has poured millions of tons of its trash into incinerators each year, often under the green-sounding label “waste to energy.” Now climate concerns are prompting the EU to ease its embrace of incineration.

December 19, 2020

2020 Was Supposed To Be Our Best Last Chance To Save The Planet. So How Did We Do?

As wildfires and storms raged, and even the Arctic broiled and burned, scientists’ dire climate warnings came to life in frighteningly vivid fashion in 2020. With political leaders and the public preoccupied by COVID-19, the world careened closer to the brink of environmental catastrophe.

March 25, 2021

Europe’s plastics industry is about to boom. U.S. fracking is driving it.

Even as the European Union rolls out aggressive plans for reducing plastic waste, countries are importing cheap ethane gas to fuel their plastics industries.

October 26, 2020

With Justice Barrett, a Tectonic Court Shift on the Environment

The accession of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court cements a conservative majority that is likely to give polluting industries freer rein, limit the ability of citizens to sue, and call into question the very basis of the EPA to issue and enforce regulations.