UK Energy Policy, Nuclear Optimism, and the Future
The prospect and pursuit of long-term sustainable energy security has caused progressive anxiety among fossil fuel dependent countries as they come to grips with dwindling supplies and an unstable Middle East. Increases in the cost of uranium and fossil fuels, expanding populations, finite energy supplies, and the globally swelling demand for energy factor into a […]
The Last Mountain: Understanding the Toxic Side of Coal
At last year’s Sundance Film Festival, a movie premiered entitled The Last Mountain. At the time of writing The Last Mountain is available for streaming via Netflix – and it is a must watch for all of us. The film’s director, Bill Haney, previously directed and produced the documentary A Life Among Whales, which takes […]
Pollution, Prevention, Protection: Throwing Your Money Down the Right Drain
Thirty years ago, an unprecedented number of children in Woburn, a community just north of Boston, were diagnosed with leukemia. This unfortunate incident sparked an environmental revolution of sorts, highlighted in the film A Civil Action. Although decades have passed in the cleanup through efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the site has yet […]
Massachusetts Fishery Management Plans: A Public Field Hearing
This article is written in reaction to the author’s attendance of the October 3rd, 2011 public field hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to review Massachusetts Fishery Management Plans. It can be easy to forget in our modern metropolitan world, the long history of the New England fisherman. The ground-fish industry […]
Somali Piracy: When Short-term Solutions Turn to Long-term Problems
Kidnappings and hijackings off the coast of Somalia have been the topic of sensationalist media attention over the last few years. When Americans Jean and Scott Adam, Phyllis Macay, and Bob Riggle were killed this past February in a Somali hijacking, most saw a one-dimensional report of a crime committed by a barbaric people.[i] The […]
Feeding the People: What Has Lead to the Global Food Crisis?
Rising global food prices do not only threaten the lives of individuals but threaten the political stability of entire regions. High food prices have been cited as one factor behind the current instability in Africa and the Middle East, and a spike in food prices this year risks the potential of even more widespread problems.[i] […]
The Real Value of Vermont Yankee
Vermont Yankee (VY) is the only nuclear reactor in the state of Vermont and the second oldest in the country. While President Obama has committed his administration’s energy agenda to galvanizing a nuclear energy renaissance, on February 24, 2010 the Vermont Senate decided, twenty-six to four, in favor of concluding VY operations.[i] Unless the Senate […]
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World
As with so many of our natural resources, we are slowly coming to the realization that nature’s bounty is not as limitless as we once so naively thought. Less than a century ago, fishing for cod was a staple of the fishing industry. While it was a gruelling job, there was a lot of pride […]