Tom Philpott – Scientists Say Supposedly Miraculous Ingredients in Weed Killers Don’t Actually Work

Before pesticides go from the laboratory to the farm field, they have to first be vetted by the Environmental Protection Agency. But they’re commonly mixed—sometimes by the pesticide manufacturers, sometimes by the farmers themselves—with substances called adjuvants that boost their effectiveness (to spread more evenly on a plant’s leaf in the case of insecticides, or to penetrate a plant’s outer …

A growing number of charter school teachers want to unionize, the American Prospect’s Rachel M. Cohen tells Salon – Elias Isquith

When you think of charter schools, there are probably a few people and concepts that come to mind: Michelle Rhee, “grit,” Bill Gates, Eva Moskowitz, KIPP, etc. And if you happen to think of teachers unions at some point during this education policy reverie, you’ll probably have them in the role they’re traditionally assigned by the media — as anti-charter …

EPA study whitewashes the effects of fracking By Philip Guelpa

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the final draft of a study last month on the effects on drinking water of fracking (high volume hydraulic fracturing for the extraction of oil and natural gas). The study had been requested by Congress in 2010. An earlier, 2004, EPA study had found that fracking had no adverse effect on drinking water. …

Study: Groundwater from aquifers important factor in food security

Thirsty cities, fields and livestock drink deeply from aquifers, natural sources of groundwater. But a study of three of the most-tapped aquifers in the United States shows that overdrawing from these resources could lead to difficult choices affecting not only domestic food security but also international markets. University of Illinois professors of civil and environmental engineering Ximing Cai and Megan …

National Plutocrat Radio – Corporate One-Percenters dominate NPR affiliates’ boards By Aldo Guerrero

For a public radio service, NPR is notoriously known for its lack of diversity within its staff, audience and guests invited onto their shows—problems that NPRhas itself acknowledged (6/30/14). A new FAIR study finds thatNPR’s diversity problem also extends into the board of trustees of its most popular member stations: Two out of three board members are male, and nearly three out of …

Failure To Prosecute Bush For War Crimes Threatens World Peace By Sherwood Ross

President George W. Bush did much to turn the world into the lawless battlefield it is today, and as he has not yet been prosecuted for his crimes, other terrorists will only continue down his path. The late Vincent Bugliosi, the famed Los Angeles county district attorney, wrote, “Bush should be prosecuted, in an American courtroom, for first degree murder …

Walmart Accused Of Using Its Charitable Foundation To Build More Walmarts By Chris Morran

There are more than 4,500 Walmart stores in the U.S., but the nation’s largest retailer continues to expand. The company, once associated with rural communities, has recently made pushes into urban markets. And a new complaint to the IRS accuses Walmart of wrongfully using its tax-exempt Walmart Foundation charity to get a foothold in those cities. In a lengthy and …

Rich Californians balk at limits: ‘We’re not all equal when it comes to water’ By Rob Kuznia

Drought or no drought, Steve Yuhas resents the idea that it is somehow shameful to be a water hog. If you can pay for it, he argues, you should get your water. People “should not be forced to live on property with brown lawns, golf on brown courses or apologize for wanting their gardens to be beautiful,” Yuhas fumed recently …

Boreal peatlands not a global warming time bomb

To some scientists studying climate change, boreal peatlands are considered a potential ticking time bomb. With huge stores of carbon in peat, the fear is that rising global temperatures could cause the release of massive amounts of CO2 from the peatlands into the atmosphere–essentially creating a greenhouse gas feedback loop. A new study by researchers at the University of South …

The Politics of the California Drought by ARUN GUPTA

As if in compensation for a historic drought, California is being deluged by expressions of grim satisfaction that it is finally getting its comeuppance for environmental sins. Judgement was especially swift after California Gov. Jerry Brown imposed a 25 percent reduction in water usage for urban areas. The media asked if this is “The End of California?”, as well as declaring “So …