Our Stories

The Latest by Sam Edmondson

Campaign Manager

Sam Edmondson was a campaign manager on air toxics issues from 2010 until 2012. He helped organize the first 50 States United for Healthy Air event. His desire to work at an environmental organization came from the belief that if we don't do something to change our unsustainable ways, we are in big trouble.

June 15, 2011

What's Asthma Like? Try Breathing Through a Straw

By Sam Edmondson

Sarah Bucic, props in hand, defends right to breathe before Congress

June 13, 2011

Height—Good For Basketball, Bad For Air

By Sam Edmondson

In the world of professional basketball, height is good. Look no further than Dirk Nowitzki, the 7-foot Dallas Maverick whose combination of stature, speed and shooting ability was a decisive factor in his team’s championship victory over the Miami Heat last night. Go Mavs. In the world of coal plant smokestacks, however, height is bad. …

June 9, 2011

Polluting Our Kids' Report Cards

By Sam Edmondson

The report card was a jumble of Cs and Ds. As my coworker gazed over his kid’s latest performance in school, a mixture of anger, disappointment, frustration, guilt and uncertainty flooded him. “Where did I go wrong?” he mumbled. No doubt his kid felt a mixture of emotion, too. Report cards can be grueling for …

June 8, 2011

Can I Get a Witness Who Cares About Kids' Health?

By Sam Edmondson

The hearing room on the 4th floor of the Dirksen Senate Office building was packed—so packed that some onlookers stood in the back of the room to see the action unfold. All had gathered earlier today for “Air Quality and Children’s Health,” a hearing before members of two subcommittees of the Senate Committee on Environment …

May 24, 2011

"Smell of Death" Described at Clean Air Public Hearings

By Sam Edmondson

Environmental Protection Agency hearings today in Philadelphia and Chicago drew crowds of clean air advocates—including a man who described the “smell of death” from a coal-fired power plant in his town. The hearings are focused on a proposal to clean up mercury and other toxic pollution from coal-fired power plants, our nation’s worst polluters. While these citizens are …

May 23, 2011

Will Deadly Air Pollution Settle in Virginia?

By Sam Edmondson

Jamestown, VA is a fixture of American history. Founded more than 400 years ago, it was the first permanent English settlement in what became the United States. Today, not far from there, The Old Dominion Electric Cooperative is looking to make history of a different kind. It wants to build what would be the largest …

May 11, 2011

Why They Fight for Clean Air

By Sam Edmondson

We talk about the importance of clean air a lot on these digital pages, but I could never express that sentiment as eloquently as the Clean Air Ambassadors who went to Washington, D.C. last week. Take, for example, the words of Dr. Lynn Ringenberg, a pediatrician from Tampa Bay, Florida. Lynn Ringenberg: This photo really …

May 10, 2011

Get Your Free Puff-Puff Inhaler From an Industry That Cares

By Sam Edmondson

Coal cares. It really does. So we’re told, at least, by a new website that offers free inhalers to asthmatic youngsters. The Puff-Puff inhalers come adorned with all sorts of kiddie icons: Elmo, Dora the Explorer and a little old heartthrob by the name of Justin Bieber, who takes breath away in a different way. …

May 4, 2011

Dancing for Clean Air, Basque Style

By Sam Edmondson

Question: What happens when you mix Lady Gaga, clean air and a Basque flash mob? Answer: This video. Gipuzkoa Zero Waste, a group organized against a waste incineration plant that will be built in San Sebastian, Spain, spent seven months organizing the song and dance routine—which is set to the tune of Lady Gaga’s “Bad …

May 3, 2011

Air Pollution Sickens, But It Also Unites

By Sam Edmondson

The Clean Air Ambassadors who arrived yesterday in Washington, D.C. have some amazing stories to tell, and I spent the better part of yesterday hearing them. Alexandra Allred from Midlothian, TX described a day she spent outside with her son Tommy—a day when he didn’t suffer his usual respiratory issues and could play carefree, like …