We know plastic is harming marine life. But what about us? In National Geographic.
Is burning plastic waste a good idea? It depends on who you ask. In National Geographic.
Innovative alternatives to plastic packaging. In National Geographic.
“The Gorillas Dian Fossey Saved,” about the primatologist’s legacy and what more gorillas in a small space mean for Rwanda. In National Geographic, for September.
“Nearly a Billion People Still Defecate in the Outdoors. Here’s Why” — my feature about India’s struggle to shift the cultural preference of many millions — in National Geographic, for August.
“The Compost King,” about converting food scraps to energy, in addition to fertilizer, through anaerobic digestion, in The New York Times Magazine.
Could Massive Storm Surge Barriers end the Hudson River’s revival?” Environmentalists tend to think… yes. In Yale e360.
“The Hidden Rivers of Brooklyn,” about the potential for using nature to un-pervert urban hydrology — especially in the Gowanus watershed — in Harper’s magazine. (Email me if you can’t access it.)
“Too Good to Waste,” on the efforts of campaigner Tristram Stuart to slash the 2.9 trillion pounds of food we annually squander, in National Geographic magazine.
“Flexibility Test,” about the mixed blessing of pouch and other flexible plastic packaging, in OnEarthmagazine.
“Vultures Are Revolting: Here’s Why We Need To Save Them” — a feature in National Geographic Magazine on these incredibly charismatic but acutely threatened birds. Amazing photos, of course.
“New York’s Fresh Kills Landfill Gets an Epic Facelift,” in Audubon Magazine.
“Urban farming is booming: but what does it really yield?” It ain’t just food. From Ensia Magazine.
A review of Cynthia Barnett’s Rain: A Natural and Cultural History” in Elle.
“The High Cost of Food Waste,” a global perspective and some cool solutions, in National Geographic.
“Clawing Their Way to the Top” on invasive green crabs in Maine, in OnEarth.
“An Accident Waiting to Happen,” about the potential for crude-oil unit trains to derail in Glacier National Park, in OnEarth.
“The Remains of the Night: Sex, trash and nature in the city,” a rumination on collecting used condoms in a public park, in Medium.
“The Post-GMO Economy,” about commodity corn growers reverting to conventional seed, in Modern Farmer.
“Our Most Surprising Export” in OnEarth magazine, a review of Adam Minter’s Junkyard Planet.
“Grumpy Old Man and the Sea” in Outside magazine, a profile of young-adult author Gary Paulsen, master of the loner-in-nature suffer-fest. Parental guidance suggested.
“What Lies Ahead for 3-D Printing?” in Smithsonian magazine, about the bold claims for this “new” technology.
“Pennsylvania’s Frack-tured Landscape,” an essay with big beautiful photographs, in OnEarth magazine.
“Fracking the Amish,” in OnEarth magazine, about energy companies leasing oil and gas rights from the plain-living Amish of western Pennsylvania.
“Fracking Our Food Supply,” in The Nation, about ranchers in heavily fracked regions who are watching helplessly as their livestock suffer and die.
“Fresh Food for All,” in OnEarth, about the potential for Catskills farmers to revolutionize how metro New York eats.
“Rowing the World’s Oceans,” a profile of environmental campaigner Roz Savage in Environment: Yale.
“Strategies for a Changing Planet: Water,” in Popular Science, about how we earthlings will live within our freshwater budget.
“Not a Drop To Drink,” about nitrate contamination of drinking water in California’s Central Valley, in OnEarth.
Two profiles, of CAFO watchdog Lynn Henning and biogeochemist Samantha Joye, in Whole Living magazine.
“Growing Food & Urban Farmers,” about New Haven’s Urban Foodshed Collaborative, in Environment: Yale.
“The Perky Provocateur,” profile of environmental activist and Story of Stuff creator Annie Leonard, in Elle .
“The Last Drop,” closing essay intended to leave readers feeling hopeful after reading special features on freshwater scarcity, pollution, and other ills, in National Geographic magazine.
“Canis Soup,” on eastern wolf genes in eastern coyotes, in Outside Magazine.
“Street Farmer,” on urban agriculturalist extraordinaire Will Allen, of Milwaukee’s Growing Power farm, in The New York Times Magazine.
“Tapped Out,” on freshwater shortages, in Elle.
“Meet the Zero Waste Zealots,” in Mother Jones.
“A Tall, Cool Drink of… Sewage,” in the New York Times Magazine.
An Op Ed in the New York Times on public water fountains.
An article in Grist about the impact of agriculture on drinking water.
An article in the New York Times about tap water in New York City.
An article in OnEarth on Disney, Waste Management, and designing for the dump.
An article in OnEarth on the Katrina clean up.
An article in Gourmet on sustainable agriculture.
An article in Gourmet about composting in San Francisco.
An article in Smithsonian on the pros and cons of corn plastic.
An article in OnEarth about drugs in our drinking water.
An OpEd in the New York Times on electronic waste.
An OpEd in the New York Times about Fresh Direct’s environmental impact.
An article in Discover about endocrine disrupters in water.
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BOOK REVIEWS BY ME IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
“The Poisoned Earth,” review of William Souder’s On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson, September 14, 2012
Signs of Life, review of Dick Teresi’s The Undead, March 30, 2012
Here’s Looking at You, Katydid,review of Marlene Zuk’s Sex On Six Legs, September 2, 2011
Toys At Sea, review of Donovan Hohn’s Moby-Duck, March 6, 2011
Tragedy in Black and White,review of Fen Montaigne’s Fraser’s Penguins: A Journey to the Future in Antarctica, December 10, 2010
At Close Range, review of John McPhee’s Silk Parachute, March 18, 2010
Urban is Good, review of David Owen’s Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability, September 8, 2009
Roger and Me, review of Charles Siebert’s The Wauchula Woods Accord: Toward a New Understanding of Animals, July 29, 2009
The Caged Bird Speaks, review of Irene M. Pepperberg’s Alex & Me, November 7, 2008
The Unbird, review of Courtney Humphries’ Superdove: How the Pigeon Took Manhattan . . . and the World, September 5, 2008
Night Moves, review of Marie Winn’s Central Park in the Dark: More Mysteries of Urban Wildlife, June 22, 2008
Of Crime and the River, review of Bruce Barcott’s The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird, February 17, 2008
Girl of the North Country,review of Nancy Marie Brown’s The Far Country: Voyages of a Viking Woman, October 14, 2007
Trail of Tears, review of Melanie McGrath’s The Longest Exile: A Tale of Inuit Betrayal and Survival in the High Arctic, April 8, 2007
Nature Girl, review of Jay Griffiths’ Wild: An Elemental Journey, February 11, 2007
Roots, review of Colin Tudge’s The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter, October 15, 2006
The Mollusk That Made Manhattan,review of Mark Kurlansky’s The Big Oyster: History on the Halfshell, March 5, 2006
The Anti-Joads, review of Tim Egan’s The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, December 25, 2005
No Ice, No Us, review of Mariana Gosnell’s Ice: The Nature, the History, and the Uses of an Astonishing Substance, December 4, 2005
The Codless Seas, review of John Gimlette’s Theater of Fish: Travels through Newfoundland and Labrador, September 11, 2005
Pass the Raw Seal, review of Gretel Ehrlich’s This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland, November 18, 2001