EHN Originals

NAPA, Calif.—Sonny, a 10-month old, crawls through the tunnel of a playground surrounded by fresh cedar wood chips as the sun sets in October. His 4-year-old sister, Lenny, climbs the rungs of the jungle gym as their parents, Rebecca and Omar Chowaiki, keep watch. “He is the happiest baby. He is so smiley,” Rebecca Chowaiki…

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Last Thanksgiving, I cited a dozen U.S. environmental journalists that deserve our thanks. Since there are dozens more, let’s make this an annual thing. Ken Ward, Jr One must only watch Joe Manchin’s servility to Big Coal in West Virginia’s politics to know how very, very difficult it must be to stay independent. Ward has…

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Last month, the White House outlined new and ongoing federal efforts to combat nationwide per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) pollution, especially agency actions to address the legacy of PFAS pollution in our water, air, food, and communities. We commend the Biden-Harris Administration for taking these important steps to clean up the mess that has resulted…

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The founder and chief scientist at Environmental Health Sciences makes his case for a new set of R’s around plastics: rethink, redesign, reform. We know the 3 R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle). In this podcast series, Trace Material explores the myth of plastics recycling. Myers has decades of experience in the chemistry of plastics, particularly with…

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Walls of red, walls of gold. Stratified hillsides exposing 270 million years of Earth formation with ribbons of cocoa, caramel, burned orange, and white. Hoodoo rock formations playing tricks on our minds as massive boulders appear to teeter atop eroded, pencil-thin spires. We walked under natural arches that gloriously framed the desertscape. Petrified wood shimmered…

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Movie buffs generally agree: The Godfather, Part Two, is possibly the only cinematic sequel that’s every bit the match of its original. If you don’t believe me, go ask Ron Burgundy. Last week, I profiled some of the most colorful past Interior Department leaders. So this week, I’ll tempt fate: Environmental Protection Agency administrators of…

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Are we just going to keep making plastics and other endocrine-disrupting products until the environment is irreparably compromised and future generations are sterile? Terry Collins, Teresa Heinz Professor of Green Chemistry and the Director of the Institute for Green Science at Carnegie Mellon University, recently laid out the case for revolutionary change in Amsterdam, at…

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ATLANTA—It is a typical Saturday morning in downtown Atlanta. On one block, I see about a hundred people sitting on a wall and staircase across from Hurt Park, eating meals provided by community members and organizers; perhaps the only meal many will eat that day. I walk a block up the street to find a…

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An investigation into the mental health impacts of air and water pollution in western Pennsylvania found alarming evidence that residents throughout the region are likely suffering changes to their brains due to pollution in the surrounding environment. Reporting also uncovered the growing gap in mental health care as more people are traumatized by worsening climate…

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This is part 1 of our 5-part series, Pollution’s mental toll: How air, water and climate pollution shape our mental health. PITTSBURGH—Melanie Meade has become the face of clean air advocacy in her community, which sits in the shadow of one of the most heavily polluting industrial sites in western Pennsylvania. For eight years she’s…

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