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The Latest by Jessica A. Knoblauch

Senior Staff Writer

Jessica is a former award-winning journalist. She enjoys wild places and dispensing justice, so she considers her job here to be a pretty amazing fit.

September 12, 2011

Scoring Some Ink: Earthjustice in the News

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Welcome to the first edition of Earthjustice in the News, a weekly blog that highlights Earthjustice press hits in local and national media outlets. We hope this blog will provide you with a window into the world of Earthjustice and the hard-working efforts of our attorneys, policy and legislation counsel, and communications team. Please email …

September 9, 2011

Friday Finds: Bankers to Blame for Boost in Gas Bills

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Wall Street speculation increases gas prices Subscribers to the “drill, baby, drill” mantra may want to set their sights on bankers rather than environmentalists as the culprits driving up gas prices, reports Mother Jones. According to confidential regulatory data first leaked to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Wall Street speculators that hold investments in millions of …

September 2, 2011

Friday Finds: Daryl Hannah Gets Her Hands Dirty

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Daryl Hannah faces off against tar sands pipeline She may have lost her other eye in a standoff against Uma Thurman (aka “The Bride”) in the movie Kill Bill, but when it comes to facing off against environmental evil-doers, actress Daryl Hannah has chick-kicking staying power, reports Mother Nature Network. Her latest standoff resulted in …

August 19, 2011

Friday Finds: Herbicide Overkill

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Monsanto’s herbicide harms plants it’s meant to protect Monsanto’s popular herbicide Roundup may be harming more than just weeds, reports Reuters. A recent study by US Department of Agriculture microbiologist Bob Kremer found that repeated and widespread use of Roundup, which contains the active ingredient glyphosate, on crops genetically engineered to withstand the pesticide is …

August 11, 2011

Friday Finds: SpongeBob's Global Warming Conspiracy

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

FOX News attacks climate change believing sponge A sea sponge is the latest target of the FOX News climate denial-sphere, reports ThinkProgress. In a recent episode of FOX and Friends, the hosts rip into the popular kids’ cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants for its segment on climate change, which points to humans as the source of Earth’s …

August 4, 2011

Friday Finds: (Corporate) Welfare Queens

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Dirty energy industry takes handouts despite record profits Last week, oil and gas companies announced billion-dollar profits in their second quarter, reports the New York Times, even as they continue to receive government subsidies. BP, the infamous oil company that wrecked the Gulf’s economy and environment last year with an unprecedented oil spill, reported about $5.6 billion …

July 29, 2011

OMG, GMOs: Food Safety Attorney George Kimbrell

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Mid-Pacific Office

This is the final part in a series of Q & A's on genetically engineered food, which harm the environment by increasing pesticide use, creating pesticide resistant superweeds and contaminating conventional and organic crops.

July 28, 2011

Friday Finds: Tequila Transformation

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Tequila takes a shot at decreasing gasoline use A new study that looks at the life-cycle analysis of agave-derived ethanol has found that the desert plant produces relatively few carbon emissions, positioning itself as a possible biofuel and substitute for gasoline, reports the Guardian. Though agave is best known for its use in distilling tequila, …

July 22, 2011

Friday Finds: Predator vs. People

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Environment loses in predator versus people standoff A new study has found that the decline of the world’s largest predators is wreaking havoc on the rest of the ecosystem, reports the Washington Post. Nature abhors a vacuum, and by killing off large sums of the world’s wolves, lions, buffalo and wildebeest, humans have inadvertently opened …

July 15, 2011

OMG, GMOs: Organic Seed Farmer Frank Morton

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Mid-Pacific Office

This is the third in a series of Q & A's on genetically engineered food, which harm the environment by increasing pesticide use, creating pesticide resistant superweeds and contaminating conventional and organic crops.