Our Stories

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.

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 …

April 22, 2011

Friday Finds: Where's the (Tainted) Beef?

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Bacteria-resistant meat leaves beef lovers nauseated A recent study found that nearly half of all beef, chicken, pork and turkey purchased at grocery stores across the country contained drug-resistant bacteria, reports Wired. Even worse, 52 percent of the meat contaminated with the common pathogen Staphylococcus aureus was resistant to at least three antibiotics commonly used …

April 21, 2011

Saving Our Wild Places: Protecting the Wolverine

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Northern Rockies Office

(This is the fourth in a series of Q & A’s on the Crown of the Continent, a 10-million-acre expanse of land in northern Montana and southern Canada. Earthjustice is currently working to protect several wild creatures in the Crown like the wolverine. To learn more about this wild place and how Earthjustice is working …

April 20, 2011

Saving Our Wild Places: Conservation Activist Gene Sentz

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Northern Rockies Office

(This is the third in a series of Q & A’s on the Crown of the Continent, a 10-million acre expanse of land in northern Montana and southern Canada. Gene Sentz is co-founder of the Friends of the Rocky Mountain Front, one of the organizations whose activism resulted in the banning of oil and gas …

April 19, 2011

Saving Our Wild Places: Research Ecologist Dan Fagre

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Northern Rockies Office

(This is the second in a series of Q & A’s on the Crown of the Continent, a 10-million-acre expanse of land in northern Montana and southern Canada. Dan Fagre is a research ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey who has spent 15 years working to understand how climate change will affect mountain ecosystems like …

April 18, 2011

Saving Our Wild Places: Earthjustice's Tim Preso

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Northern Rockies Office

Over the past decade, Tim Preso has spearheaded Earthjustice's work to protect this untouched wilderness.

April 14, 2011

Friday Finds: Highway to the Dementia Zone

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Freeway pollution could make you forget you’re in traffic As if living next to the sound of constant honking wasn’t enough, a recent study has linked freeway air pollution with brain damage, a finding that has health implications for those living near the nation’s highways, reports the LA Times. The study’s authors found that exposing …