Tobin Hack
Tobin is an NYC-based freelance writer. She blogs for BigThink on sustainability, green policy, and environmental health.
If you haven’t yet had an iPod, Mac computer, or other Apple product expire on you (hopefully not mid-jog, as mine did – a real let-down), you’re in a small […]
A study published yesterday in Environmental Health Perspectives revealed that phthalates – plastic softeners that have weaseled their way into the ingredient lists of everything from hair spray to hand […]
Last month, Dr. Jack Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University, released a national study revealing which US cities (population greater than 250,000) are, by his measures, most literate. Those […]
To boil down the philosophy behind today’s burgeoning biomimicry field: mother nature knows best. Biomimicry subscribers believe that nature knows (far better than do we technology-obsessed humans) how to get […]
Planet Green ran an interesting countdown today: “6 Lessons the Green Movement Can Learn from MLK (in his own words).” Each bullet point is an MLK quote – most of […]
The world’s focus right now is on immediate aid to Haiti, as it should be. But it never hurts to look down the road, too: when the repercussions of Haiti’s […]
This September, I traveled with a group of 20 environmental journalists from around the world to attend the World Climate Conference, in Geneva. The international conference was hosted by the […]
Yes. There’s snow in Spain. And in the south of France. Yes, it’s recently been cold in places that aren’t usually cold, and yes, Florida residents have been wearing parkas […]
Last month, the EPA finally, officially, publicly, decided that greenhouse gas emissions do pose a threat to the environment and to human health and wellbeing. Groups like the Environmental Defense […]
Normally, I like words a lot more than I like numbers. For example, let’s talk about my quantitative score on the GRE. Actually, let’s not, and just say we did. […]
Losing sleep over the bleak future of real estate? You might do well to look into hooking your home (new or old) up to use geothermal energy. Experts are saying […]
They say you shouldn’t make huge, quixotic resolutions at New Years. Pick something small, something gradual, something you’ll stick to. Instead of swearing you’ll get down to a size zero, […]
Kudos to Matthew Urbanksi, the principle landscape architect (Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates) charged with mapping the natural layout of a new $3.8 million Manhattan playground. Urbanski thought to consult experts […]
Exciting news for Gen-Y back-to-the-landers this month. If you went upstate after college instead of to Wall Street, if you’re growing carrots and raising beef to sell at local farmers’ […]
You’ve gathered up all your quaint eco-wrapping (newspapers and last year’s ribbons), and you’ve put it out with the recycling. You’re getting down to the dregs of the organic eggnog […]
Imagine you’re a citizen who cares a whole lot about stopping climate change. When it became clear that a hugely important climate conference would take place in Copenhagen in December […]
“Hold tight,” said UNFCCC secretary Yvo de Boer yesterday at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen. “Mind the doors. The cable car is moving again.” De Boer – who has […]
Everyone’s running their mouth about COP15 this week. No progress will be made; great progress will be made!; developed countries won’t put enough money on the table; developed countries will […]
Two happy developments surrounded day one (yesterday) of COP15, the international climate summit taking place this week and next in Copenhagen. First, it was announced last Friday that President Obama […]
“If nothing matters, there’s nothing to save.” It’s the thesis of novelist and writer Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book, Eating Animals (Little, Brown), and a maxim his grandmother once told […]
“Very refreshing! DOW Chemical Pesticide Water! Free samples! Very refreshing!” Volunteers with non-profit Students for Bhopal gathered yesterday at the entrance to New York’s Union Square Whole Foods Market to […]
How many friends do you have who, under the “religious views” section of their Facebook profile, list “environmentalist,” “nature,” “mother earth,” “dirty hippy,” “dirt-worshiping treehugger,” or some variation thereof? Well, […]
For the first time in a long time, there’s almost a glut of good news flooding green media: not only did Obama commit last week to attend December’s crucial climate […]
“Would you please turn the lights up,” Robert F Kennedy Jr. asked the stage crew as he took the floor of New York’s Town Hall in Times Square, about to […]
Spare some change? This past Thursday, the New York Times ran a special section on giving, the big front page story of which was all about giving small. You know, […]
What if you could clean a load of dirty clothes and linens with just a spoonful of laundry detergent and a single cup of water? As soon as late 2010, […]
Grammy-award winning singer Carole King has been raising her voice on the radio lately—not in song, this time, but in a plea for the Rocky Mountains. King hails from the […]
Just about a month remains before December’s culminating UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen (COP15) – the last five days of pre-COP15 talks are taking place this week in Barcelona. The […]
Maybe it’s because the healthcare debate has been getting so hot lately. Maybe the battle cries generated by Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth are inconveniently echoing off into the distance. Maybe […]
Today was the last of three days of hearings this week on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (CEJAPA), introduced by John Kerry (D-Mass) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) […]