Our Burdened Bodies
by Elizabeth Sawin
— March 3, 2003 —
Scientists call the accumulation of chemical contaminants – like PCBs, mercury, and pesticides – within a person’s body their body burden.
Body burden is just a number – a concentration in parts per billion or micrograms per liter. But, technical as it is, the term calls forth an image too; an image of a body [...]
Why Are Agricultural Trade Disputes Trapped in Biotechnology?
by Hal Hamilton
— March 1, 2003 —
The weed-killer Roundup and “Roundup-Ready” biotech crops have become dominant features of U.S. crop farming as well as the subject of trade disputes with the rest of the world. Do we really want our negotiators promoting the products of a few chemical companies? Shouldn’t they be promoting a wider range of solutions for agriculture [...]
A Truly Sophisticated Economy Would Pursue More Than One Goal
by Elizabeth Sawin
— March 1, 2002 —
I have a young friend who, I think, will never eat another banana without knowing a great deal about its history.
On a trip to Belize, Hannah and other homeschooled teenagers saw monkeys, the rainforest, and Mayan villages. But the memory that seems to stand out the most vividly is of a banana plantation.
The workers [...]
Closing the Barn Door on POPs
by Donella Meadows
— December 14, 2000 —
However environmentally permissive a Republican-controlled United States may be, other parts of the world are pioneering attitudes, technologies, and laws that could carry us safely through the 21st Century. As this week’s happy example, I offer the new global agreement on POPs, plus Sweden’s even better policy on the same topic.
POPs is the hot [...]
Scientists, Fluoride Loonies, and the Evidence
by Donella Meadows
— October 12, 2000 —
Back when I was a chemistry major, my professors told me in no uncertain terms that water fluoridation is a boon. It prevents millions of children from getting cavities. People who oppose it are hysterical know-nothings.
We budding chemists absorbed both the specific and the general lesson. Fluoride is good. Scientists know best.
At just that [...]
