EHN Originals

As natural wonders go, swamps are not high on my list. I’ve spent less than 48 hours each in the Everglades and the Okefenokee. Between the bugs, the nearly-liquid atmosphere, and the overall gloom, I’d prefer to admire their ecological grandeur from afar. So, feel free to call me a dilettante. Give me Yosemite, Yellowstone,…

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Particulate matter pollution emitted by Pennsylvania’s fracking wells killed about 20 people between 2010 and 2017, according to a soon-to-be-published study. Pennsylvania is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the U.S. after Texas. Between 2010 and 2017, there were 20,677 permitted fracking wells in the state, about half of which had been drilled. Fracking,…

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Plastics: we can’t live without them, or so it seems. While using plastics in some cases may be unavoidable, we can take steps to reduce our constant consumption and discarding of the chemical-laced material. The U.S. produces 234 pounds of plastic waste per person per year, and hardly any of it is recycled. Here’s a…

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When you’re a member of the media you receive notice of a lot of “days”—Pancake day, National Lame Duck Day, Textiles Day. But today is World Bicycle Day, and that means something to me. And, if you care about the environment, it should to you as well. I love bicycling. As a child it was…

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A thousand feet above the winter landscape, a golden eagle is on the hunt. Riding the wind, the bird careens over scrubby contours and rolling hillsides. It’s late April and the days are growing longer. The snow melted weeks ago, revealing the dormant vegetation beneath. Suddenly, the eagle spots a shock of white on the…

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Last year was quite the year for 50th anniversaries. Woodstock. The moon landing. The start of the environmentally historic, politically benighted presidency of Richard M. Nixon. The Beatles recorded their last two albums. As a 12 year-old growing up in the New York suburbs, 1969 reigned as the year the Jets won the Super Bowl…

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With unemployment approaching Great Depression levels, the nation is waving the white flag on controlling the coronavirus. It appears not to shock the senses at the White House or at many governors’ mansions around the country that the 76,000 deaths from COVID-19 in three months could fill the Superdome with coffins. Instead, these leaders are…

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On April 26, our President suggested that reporters who earned “Noble” (sic) Prizes for reporting on “the Russian hoax” return their awards. The President should have caught his own misspelling, since he’d be a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in Twitterature, if it weren’t a Fake Award. He also should have known that it’s…

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With the outbreak of COVID-19, our society is reeling. Sadly, the uncertainty, displacement and fear you may now feel has been the common, everyday experience for many Native American people for a long time. But first, we could all use some good news— and fortunately, some exists. Within the past few weeks, Indigenous communities in…

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With the outbreak of COVID-19, our society is reeling. Sadly, the uncertainty, displacement and fear you may now feel has been the common, everyday experience for many Native American people for a long time. But first, we could all use some good news— and fortunately, some exists. Within the past few weeks, Indigenous communities in…

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