Eco Euphemisms Confuse Our Understanding of Environmental Destruction

What’s in a word?

In his now-classic essay, “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell warned: “Political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. … But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and…
» Read more

(1) Comments

by: Jason Mark – March 28, 2014

Sharecropping 2.0

Institutional investors eyeing US farmland. Beginning farmers often priced out.

There’s a global land rush underway. While human population continues to grow, the amount of arable farmland on the planet is essentially a fixed resource, and in recent years worries about long-term food security have spurred a drive to snatch up agricultural…
» Read more

(0) Comments

by: Jason Mark – March 3, 2014

A Hopeful Tail

One afternoon last summer I was hiking in the hills above Berkeley, California with a friend and talking – as it just so happened – about the nature of wildness when my companion stopped and pointed downward. There, fastened to the trunk of a coast live oak at about shin height, was a wildlife camera trap. We bent down to inspect. The motion detector-activated camera had a sticker from the US Fish…
» Read more

(1) Comments

by: Jason Mark – Spring 2014

Outgoing Greenpeace Executive Director Reflects on Lessons Learned

Exit Interview: Phil Radford

Last month Phil Radford announced that, after five years on the job, he was stepping down as executive director of Greenpeace USA. Before serving as ED, Radford was Greenpeace’s organizing director, during which time he more than doubled the group’s membership. In…
» Read more

(0) Comments

by: Jason Mark – February 14, 2014

In Wake of State Dept Report on Keystone XL, Enviros Pledge to Keep Fighting

“The President has all the information he needs to reject this pipeline,” Keystone opponents say

A general rule in Washington, DC says that if news is breaking on a Friday afternoon, it’s usually bad news. Officials in the capital know that if they want to avoid negative attention on a decision or announcement, then the eve of…
» Read more

(1) Comments

by: Jason Mark – January 31, 2014

“All of the Above” Still a Big Disappointment

Greens largely unexcited by State of the Union

About a third of the way through tonight’s State of the Union address, as he tackled the issues of climate change and the environment, President Obama proclaimed, “The shift to a cleaner energy economy won’t happen overnight, and it will require tough…
» Read more

(0) Comments

by: Jason Mark – January 28, 2014

Secretary Jewell Targets Nature Deficit Disorder

Twenty-first Century Conservation Corps gets off the ground

I’ll admit that in the grand scheme of Washington politics, the news yesterday out of the Department of the Interior isn’t exactly earthshaking. During a news conference at the FDR Memorial in DC, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced that retailer American Eagle…
» Read more

(5) Comments

by: Jason Mark – January 9, 2014

← Recent   Older →