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.

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 …

April 8, 2011

Friday Finds: Coffin' Up Green

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Consumers dying to snatch up wooly coffins Eco-conscious consumers looking for a greener afterlife can now be buried in woolen coffins, reports Time magazine. Recently, a hundred-year-old family run mill in West Yorkshire, England, started making the wooly coffins in an effort to find new revenue sources amidst Britain’s diminishing textile market. So far the …

April 1, 2011

Friday Finds: Toilet Talk

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

California flushes carbon emissions down the toilet The California Energy Commission has its head in the toilet, but surprisingly, that’s a good thing. Human waste is a huge pollution problem in the U.S. In fact, Californians alone produced 661,000 dry metric tons of biosolids in 2009. But instead of getting rid of the waste by …

March 25, 2011

Friday Finds: Mutually Assured Madness

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Nuclear power industry experiences public fallout As the nuclear crisis in Japan worsens, concerns about nuclear power’s safety are spreading, prompting news agencies to take a second look at the inherently risky technology. As the Christian Science Monitor recently reported, last year U.S. nuclear plants had at least 14 “near misses” that occurred with “alarming …

March 11, 2011

Friday Finds: Single Serve Stupidity

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Del Monte sells individually wrapped bananas Last week, processed food giant Del Monte unveiled its latest product invention, a single banana wrapped in plastic, reports the Globe and Mail. The move, not surprisingly, drew ire from many who point out that the banana already has its own, biodegradable wrapping, the peel. Ironically, Del Monte told …

March 4, 2011

Friday Finds: Walmart Extinguishes Flame Retardants

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Walmart blazes trail in banning flame retardants Fed up with feds dragging their heals on banning a controversial flame retardant, retail giant Walmart recently enacted its own ban, reports the Washington Post. Known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDEs, this class of chemicals is found in everything from pet supplies to furniture and electronics, and …

February 25, 2011

Friday Finds: BPA's Bearded Ladies

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

EU moves forward on chemical regs while U.S. gets bearded females The European Union recently announced that it will ban six toxic substances under its Registration, Evaluation, Authorization & Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) program, reports Chemical & Engineering News. The landmark move, which includes phasing out three plastic softening chemicals and a flame retardant, stands …