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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.

A sugar beet farm
July 14, 2011

OMG, GMOs: Pesticide Expert Charles Benbrook

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Mid-Pacific Office

Earthjustice is challenging the USDA's decision to allow genetically engineered sugar beets and alfalfa onto the market.

July 13, 2011

OMG, GMOs: Earthjustice's Paul Achitoff

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Mid-Pacific Office

Why are genetically engineered (GE) crops bad for the environment?

July 8, 2011

Friday Finds: Environmental Bach Lash

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Michelle Bachman drills down to solve the energy crisis As the Republican contenders for the 2012 election begin to emerge, a old theme among the crew is arising deep from within the ashes of the failed McCain-Palin 2008 presidential run: Drill, baby, drill. The most recent aspiring president, Michelle Bachman, recently said that energy can …

July 6, 2011

Going Overboard: Q&A with ship pollution activist Gershon Cohen

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Oceans Program

Earthjustice successfully defended an Alaskan ballot initiative which called for cruise ships to stop discharging waste into Alaska's pristine waters.

July 1, 2011

Friday Finds: Follow the Money

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Climate change skeptic awash in oily money A Greenpeace investigation has found that climate change denier Dr. Willie Soon, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, has received more than $1 million in payment from major U.S. oil and coal companies over the past decade, reports the Guardian. Though Dr. Soon denies that any …

June 24, 2011

Friday Finds: Dumpster Diaries

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Dumpster diver documentary details discard diet Americans need to stop tossing out more of half of their food and start donating it, reports dumpster diver Jeremy Seifert in Grist. Seifert, who’s been diving into dumpsters and pulling out edible food for several years, recently created a documentary detailing our wasteful society and the dumpster diving …

June 17, 2011

Friday Finds: Burn Notice

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

New sunscreen rules keep consumers from getting burned After 30 years of sitting in the sun, this week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced new rules for sunscreen that help protect consumers from misleading claims, reports the New York Times. One of the rules requires “broad spectrum” sunscreens to protect against both UVA and …

June 10, 2011

Friday Finds: Deforestation Barbie

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Greenpeace battles Barbie for bulldozing trees Mattel, the world’s biggest toy company by revenue, is under fire this week for using Barbie doll packaging that allegedly comes from Indonesian rainforests, reports the Christian Science Monitor. According to forensic testing commissioned by Greenpeace, Mattel and other toy companies used packaging made by Asia Pulp and Paper, …

May 13, 2011

Friday Finds: Schoolhouse Shock

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Coal company tries to brainwash school kids Scholastic Inc., whose books and educational materials dominate the American classroom, is distributing fourth-grade curriculum materials paid for by the American Coal Foundation, reports the New York Times. Not surprisingly, the industry-funded class materials have drawn the ire of groups such as the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood …

April 28, 2011

Friday Finds: Fib, Baby, Fib

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Drilling more won’t make summer vacation cheaper Summer is near, which means that trips to the beach and to baseball games, and a fresh round of “drill, baby, drill” are all just around the corner, but that last item won’t make the first two any cheaper to get to, reports CNN Money. That’s because even if …