High fructose corn syrup gets a makeover. Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Corn industry sugarcoats syrupy sweetener
This week, the Corn Refiners Association petitioned the FDA to change the name of high fructose corn syrup, an ubiquitous sweetener that can be found in everything from whole wheat bread to canned vegetables, to simply "corn sugar." The association's move is an obvious ploy to trick consumers who aren't too sweet on HFCS's negative health impacts into unknowingly buying foods with high fructose corn syrup in them, inspiring a whole new term for such a bitter marketing technique, cornwashing.

Pennsylvania tracks treehuggers
Whale lovers and tree huggers may want to steer clear of Pennsylvania for awhile. ProPublica recently reported that the state was found to be using a consulting service that kept tabs on gas drilling opponents and labeled them as "environmental extremists." Though Pennsylvania's governor quickly apologized, gas drilling in the state, which has caused sinks to "spit methane and catch fire," continues despite widespread public opposition and Earthjustice's efforts to put a brake on the dangerous practice.

Cruise ship docked in Washington

Washington cruise ships dump on Canadian waters
It turns out that cruise ships subject to ship pollution standards in Alaska and Washington State have found a way to cruise around the new rules by dumping their waste in nearby Canada, a practice that's currently legal thanks to a patchwork of inconsistent and lax international cruise pollution regulations. Earthjustice is working to curtail the rude and un-neighborly practice, which mucks up the ocean and harms marine life.

New Nike ad has enviro activists kicking and screaming
A new Nike promotional ad featuring a West Virginia University football player in front of a mountaintop removal mine has ticked off environmentalists, who argue that the ad is endorsing a destructive form of strip mining. The WVU athletic department disagrees, saying that the ad is meant to honor the victims of the Upper Big Branch mine explosion in W. Virginia last April, yet that explosion occurred in an underground mine, while the ad denotes a surface mine. The devil's in the details.

Bedbugs take Manhattan
Okay, so the tenaciously itchy pests haven't consumed Gotham City just yet, but bedbugs do seem to be quickly making their way across the country, wreaking havoc Arachnophobia-style. The pest problem is so bad that many a desperate home and apartment dweller have begun spraying toxic outdoor pesticides inside their homes—all in the name of a good night's sleep. But spraying pesticides indoors can cause major health problems, so the EPA has begun warning people to keep outdoor pesticides sprays where they belong. Of course, outdoor pesticides can also contaminate your groundwater and harm wildlife, which is why Earthjustice has asked the EPA to set safety standards for outdoor pesticides. Sweet dreams!

Egg industry cracks under latest recall, begins blaming consumers
Public outrage over the latest recall involving salmonella-tainted eggs has the egg industry fighting back. This week a spokesman for United Egg Producers blamed consumers for the outbreak, arguing that people should be cooking their eggs thoroughly or risk getting sick. But egg-over-easy fans aren't buying it.

As we get ready to gas up our grills in a final hoorah to summer this Labor Day, an exhibition highlighting war-era food posters at the National Agriculture Library reminds us that simple acts like growing our own food and conserving food supplies for those in need were once thought of as our patriotic duty, rather than small steps towards a socialist agenda.

During both world wars, the government asked people to use food efficiently so that there was more meat and potatoes left over for our soldiers to eat. Patriotic citizens responded in droves by planting victory gardens…

350.org cofounder Bill McKibben says it's time to change tactics in the global warming fight. Photo courtesy of 350.org.

If you're ticked off about the Senate's failure to vote on, much less pass, climate legislation this summer, you're not alone. Climate activist Bill McKibben recently published a provocative op-ed on TomDispatch that reflects the anger and disappointment felt by many Americans eager to keep the planet from melting.

McKibben, like many others, has been sounding the alarm on global warming for decades, yet in many ways we're no closer to preventing a global climate catastrophe now than we were in 1988 when James Hansen first testified to Congress that global warming was already underway.

Now that climate change legislation has once again been shelved, where do we go from here? McKibben offers a few intriguing answers to this question in his latest article. He argues that the time to endlessly pander to the industries and legislators intent on weakening the climate bill just to get something passed is done, over, finito. That strategy obviously didn't work, so let's try a new one.

David Guest (right) in Florida Everglades

As managing attorney for the Earthjustice office in Tallahassee, David Guest has been knee-deep in Florida's water pollution and protection issues for more than 20 years. It's not surprising considering that Florida itself is mostly water, with more than 1,000 miles of coastline, almost 20,000 streams and rivers and the second biggest freshwater lake in U.S., Lake Okeechobee. Recently we sat down with David to talk about his latest water case, the BP oil spill in the Gulf. Read the full Q & A here.

This past weekend I gathered with my neighbors at a nearby beach to attend a local Hands Across the Sand event, a worldwide effort to oppose offshore drilling and champion clean and renewable energy. The movement began, eerily enough, in Florida. Just a few months before the tragic BP oil spill, thousands of Floridians joined hands to protest the local and national governments' efforts to lift the ban on oil drilling off the shores of Florida.

Not surprisingly, today that movement has spread far and wide as people witness daily the threat that oil drilling presents to America's coastal economies and marine habitat. On Saturday, protestors around the world gathered at one of the more than 800 events held to clasp hands, drawing both a metaphorical and actual line in the sand against the threat of offshore drilling.

Some top stories from the past week at Earthjustice…

This week, Earthjustice scored a big victory for our lungs with the announcement that the EPA is finally abandoning a dangerous rule—granted by the Bush administration—that would permit the unregulated burning of hazardous waste.

BP's latest effort to clean up its soiled image took it into even murkier waters after the oil giant recently began buying search terms like "oil spill" on Google and Yahoo search engines so that the company's official web site would be the first link to appear on a search page.

Amidst a vote on Sen. Murkowski's (R-AK) resolution to bail out big polluters, Earthjustice President Trip Van Noppen called on the Senate to put aside partisan politics and protect the American people by voting against this bill. Thankfully, the Senate has voted 53-47 against the bill.

Campaign manager Brian Smith reported on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's recent announcement of a memorandum of understanding to establish the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium, which has the goal of tapping into the estimated 1 million megawatts of potential wind power that exists off the east coast.

Earthjustice was curious to know just what's in all of those chemical dispersants that we're dropping into the Gulf of Mexico by the millions of gallons, so we filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get more information. Here's what we found (hint: it's not good).

The company formerly known as "Beyond Petroleum" is at it again.

In its latest effort to lasso the messaging on the disaster in the Gulf, BP recently purchased several phrases like "oil spill" on Google and Yahoo search engines so that the first item people see when searching these terms is BP's official Web site.

"Learn more about how BP is helping," reads the text alongside the link to the BP site, positioned at the very top of a Google search page. After clicking on the link, users are drawn into BP's sanitized version of the spill, complete with inspiring images of cleanup workers and men and women looking appropriately concerned about the issue at hand.

According to a spokesperson for the oil giant, BP's motive for purchasing the search terms was completely innocent.

Some top stories from the past week at Earthjustice…

It turns out that pesticides aren't just dangerous in agricultural use. Last week, the U.S. EPA called for clearer labels and tighter regulations for flea treatments after the agency noticed an increase in adverse reactions from pets treated with the pesticide-laden products.

The father of energy saving techniques, Dr. Arthur H. Rosenfield, may soon join the countless other people whose names have since been transformed into units of measurement. We think the term Rosenfield as the new unit for energy savings has a nice ring to it.

Campaign director Jared Saylor examines the Obama administration's mixed message decision to halt oil and gas leasing in Bristol Bay off Alaska's southwestern coast and to postpone future lease sales in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, while allowing exploration drilling to move forward in both seas starting as early as this summer.

This week, Earthjustice celebrated two big wins on the environmental front. First, the Department of Energy announced its adoption of strong water heater standards, which is set to cut both energy usage and energy bills. Not to be outdone, the EPA made its own announcement with its adoption of new guidelines designed to prevent continuing harmful environmental impacts caused by mountaintop removal mining.