Lower Canyon Creek Lake. Photo: Sam Edmondson

I took my first backpacking trip six years ago. It drew me into the granite heart of California's Trinity Alps, to the rugged bowl that holds Papoose Lake. I carried many expectations on the 14-mile hike from Hobo Gulch, but what I discovered at the trail's end was altogether unexpected.

After more than a mile of difficult scrambling at dusk, the lake came into view. I froze. The sheer granite wall that rose like a palisade above the lake's surface seemed projected from the haze of a half-recalled dream. Déjà vu washed over me in waves as I approached the lake, uncertain whether I'd arrived by somnambulism or design.

The experience of arriving in a familiar place to which I'd never been inspired a mixture of elation, awe, and fear. I've since returned to the Trinity Alps a half dozen times in pursuit of those feelings. Over the Labor Day weekend this year, I hiked into the Canyon Creek area. Like all of my annual trips to new corners of the wilderness's alpine meadows, craggy peaks and heavenly lakes, this most recent trip felt a bit like going home.

Mountain goat at the Hidden Lake overlook. Photo: Sam Edmondson

The imprints of Glacier National Park's eponymous treasures define every captivating view in the park: towering arêtes cast shadows over cirques and U-shaped valleys, opalescent lakes extend like fingers between summit and valley floor, and glacial melt cascades from hidden valleys over rock banded with shades of yellow, purple, red, gray and green.

In early August, I took a backpacking trip in Glacier to see the crown jewel of the continent with my own eyes. I was not disappointed.

The glaciers of the last ice age were among the world's greatest sculptors, chiseling perfection into Glacier's sediment like Michelangelo did with marble. The scenery they created is as priceless as any antiquity in any of the world's museums. But sadly, the park's remaining glaciers, built up by the 19th century's little ice age, are the last icy remnants of these architects of magnificence. And they are disappearing fast. Soon, perhaps within a decade, a carved masterwork will be the only evidence that they ever existed.

In 2011, the EPA is expected to propose the first-ever limits on global warming pollution from coal-fired power plants—good news, considering these pollution giants are responsible for a third of CO2 emissions in the United States. To the industry lobbyists and their mouthpieces in Congress who are resorting to all sorts of fear-mongering to smother these critical efforts: take heed—the American public isn't on your side.

A new poll from the Benenson Strategy Group, commissioned by NRDC, polled 1,401 registered voters and found that 60 percent support the regulation of global-warming gases from power plants and refineries, another significant source of such pollution. And in a vote of confidence for the EPA, 54 percent expressed confidence in the agency's ability to control the emissions.

Along with a suite of other pollution control rules the EPA is and will be pursuing, the forthcoming rules to limit global warming pollution from coal plants provide a tremendous opportunity to protect our health and planet while building a clean energy future. Those on the payroll of big polluters will try to keep us stuck in the past, but a vocal American public that demands strong action on global warming from the EPA and the Obama administration can help carry us forward.
 

City-dwellers are intimately familiar with the pros and cons of living with neighbors. Their heavy footsteps thunder overhead, their loud music penetrates the walls, and strange odors sometimes drift down the halls. These are nuisances, no doubt, but not all neighborly disturbances are so innocuous.

Consider, for example, communities across the country that live near chemical plants, paper mills and other polluting industries. Air pollution from these industrial neighbors often results in higher rates of asthma and other serious illnesses in local communities.

Sadly, a recent rule proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could leave such communities exposed to unregulated toxic emissions from the burning of scrap plastics, used chemicals, and other industrial wastes. These emissions contain pollutants like mercury, benzene, lead and dioxins that can cause respiratory illness, birth defects, cancer and other serious health problems.

For nearly 90 days, oil from the BP spill has been plaguing the Gulf of Mexico. The oily wound left by an explosion that killed 11 rig workers on the Deepwater Horizon platform has now bled as much as 180 million gallons of crude oil into our waters.

It's almost hard to believe, but a few hours ago, the flow into the Gulf finally stopped. BP installed a 75-ton cap that—for the time being—is preventing any more crude from escaping. This is a hopeful sign, but given how much has gone wrong with previous efforts to stem the flow, we're clearly not out of the woods yet. Additionally, the cap, even if it holds, is only a temporary solution. Two relief wells, expected to be complete sometime in August, are the only method for plugging the spill for good.

The fact that oil has stopped leaking is nonetheless a significant and welcome development. We're hopeful that the cap will hold and that the ever-expanding spill has finally reached its maximum. But reports today that hundreds of oiled pelicans and terns have turned up in Louisiana's largest seabird nesting area are a sad reminder of the extensive damage already caused by the spill. Gulf residents, businesses, wildlife, and ecosystems will take a long time to recover from this tragedy, and they need our support in the process of rebuilding.
 

In 1970, the Clean Air Act first took aim at toxic air emissions from industrial facilities across the United States. Forty years later, it finally hit a major target.

Actually, 28 major targets. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today agreed to review and update Clean Air Act rules that rein in emissions of nearly 200 hazardous air pollutants released by 28 kinds of industrial facilities.

All those numbers will translate to one important thing: fewer toxic pollutants in our air that are linked to cancer, birth defects, anemia, nervous system damage, lung and respiratory ailments, and other illnesses. The 28 categories of industrial facilities include pesticide production operations, pharmaceutical plants and lead smelters.

Clean air advocates, many sporting "Don't Trash Our Lungs" t-shirts, spoke out yesterday at public hearings in Los Angeles and Houston for much-needed reductions in toxic air pollution. Held by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the hearings focused on recent EPA proposals to cut emissions of hazardous air pollutants like mercury and other toxic metals at nearly 100,000 facilities nationwide.

While aspects of the EPA's proposals will result in significant benefits to public health if finalized, the agency also made an irresponsible and dangerous offering to industry in the form of a loophole that would allow many facilities to burn industrial wastes without any meaningful oversight or pollution controls.

I attended the L.A. hearing to ask that EPA issue final standards that are maximally strong and protective of public health and ditch the loophole that endangers communities across the country. Hundreds of Earthjustice supporters in the L.A. area, which is notorious for its poor air quality, also submitted comments asking for the same, and I was able to read excerpts from many of these during my testimony.

The star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet.

Juliet once said to Romeo: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Were Juliet as concerned by toxic air pollution as love, the fair Capulet might have instead philosophized: "That which we call hazardous waste by any other name would pollute as much when burned."

I have a good reason for butchering Shakespeare's poetry. Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finally abandoned a dangerous exemption that allowed industrial polluters to store, transport, and burn hazardous waste without meeting crucial requirements to protect public health and the environment.

A tar ball. Photo: USGS

Fresh off a "Larry King Live" appearance (see below) in which he said "BP has to shut down this well," a "furious" President Obama flew to Louisiana today to meet with regional officials and beleaguered local residents as new events unfolded in the BP oil spill saga. The president hooked BP with fresh barbs, criticizing a $50 million TV ad campaign designed to salvage the company's image when what truly needs salvaging are the oil-soaked beaches, wetlands, wildlife, and businesses of Gulf Coast states.

President Obama's third visit to the Gulf since the spill's start transpired as tar balls began peppering Florida's sandy beaches, just hours after BP installed a "top cap," the company's latest attempt to contain the hemorrhaging well.

Aerial view of a chemical plant in Louisiana.

Breathing isn't a choice. Everyone does it, no matter where they live. But for many Americans, where they live has a tremendous impact on the quality of the air they breathe.

Take a look at Mossville, Louisiana for instance, which is home to 14 chemical plants. The town's residents are plagued by severe health problems like cancer and kidney disease attributed to pollution from these local facilities.

Tonight at 8 PM ET/PT, CNN will profile the toxic plight of Mossville and its residents in "Toxic Towns USA," which is part of a two-night special investigation called "Toxic America" that culminates a "year-long, stunning look into toxic chemicals, health and the environment," according to the network. The investigation will continue tomorrow night with "Toxic Childhood" at 8PM ET/PT.