SFGate – The Thin Green Line

SFGate: Dispatches from the environmental battlefield. : The Thin Green Line

Dispatches from the environmental battlefield.

End of The Line on SFGate: Looking back, looking forward 9 Sep 2011, 6:43 pm

Today is The Thin Green Line’s last day on SFGate. I will be continuing to write about local environmental issues: Make sure to follow me on Twitter and Facebook to get formal word on a new web home within the next week or two at most. Like the media landscape, the environmental battlefield…

Source: SFGate: Dispatches from the environmental battlefield. : The Thin Green Line |

Is there nanotech in your sun block? 8 Sep 2011, 7:00 pm

In June, the FDA announced some long-awaited new rules for sunscreen . But the agency declined to weigh in on the use of nano-particles in sunscreens, even as health concerns related to the technology are mounting. Scientists have discovered that tiny particles of materials have different…

Source: SFGate: Dispatches from the environmental battlefield. : The Thin Green Line |

New Mexico will build renewable energy ghost town 7 Sep 2011, 6:18 pm

It won’t be New Mexico’s first, or even 20th, ghost town. But it will be the first to be built intentionally . The blandly named Center will occupy 20 square miles, complete with highways and houses and commercial buildings in newer and older styles. It will be home to 35,000 hypothetical…

Source: SFGate: Dispatches from the environmental battlefield. : The Thin Green Line |

Pthalates pose danger to babies in the womb 6 Sep 2011, 7:06 pm

A lot of pregnant moms-to-be are steering clear of plastic these days. A new study suggests they’ve got good reason to do so. Children who had higher levels of prenatal exposure to pthalates had lower motor skills test results at age 3. Girls with higher exposure levels also tested lower for…

Source: SFGate: Dispatches from the environmental battlefield. : The Thin Green Line |

Obama’s smog #FAIL 3 Sep 2011, 6:53 pm

Earlier this week, President Obama announced that the EPA would drop efforts to bring ozone limits in line with what science says is safe. Ground ozone is the key ingredient in smog. During the Bush administration, scientists said the safe range was 60 – 70 parts per billion. Instead, Bush…

Source: SFGate: Dispatches from the environmental battlefield. : The Thin Green Line |

Presented By: 3 Sep 2011, 6:53 pm

Source: SFGate: Dispatches from the environmental battlefield. : The Thin Green Line |

Wine threatens redwoods and heirloom apples in Sonoma 2 Sep 2011, 8:13 pm

With wine sales continuing to grow despite the recession, wineries have become an economic bully in Sonoma County. Farmers growing the prized (and delicious heirloom) Gravenstein apple are folding , while farms growing pinot noir grapes are expanding. Local foodies, like the folks at Chez…

Source: SFGate: Dispatches from the environmental battlefield. : The Thin Green Line |

Locals, others in D.C. protesting plan to import more Canadian oil 1 Sep 2011, 6:31 pm

All this week protestors have been out in Washington, D.C., rallying against the Keystone XL pipeline that would bring crude oil from Canada’s tar sands into the U.S. and to the Gulf Coast for international export. 706 people, including Bill McKibben and Darryl Hannah , have been arrested…

Source: SFGate: Dispatches from the environmental battlefield. : The Thin Green Line |

Rally today over farmworker rights and toxic methyl iodide 31 Aug 2011, 5:28 pm

The United Farm Workers will conclude a 200-mile march to Sacramento on September 4, demanding that Governor Jerry Brown act on issues that affect them, including the legal status of the cancer-causing agricultural chemical methyl iodide and Brown’s recent veto of the Fair Treatment for…

Source: SFGate: Dispatches from the environmental battlefield. : The Thin Green Line |

Why are endocrine-disrupting antibacterials still on the shelves? 30 Aug 2011, 8:03 pm

We have covered the health risks of the antibacterial ingredient triclosan on this blog before. The ubiquitous ingredient , says the FDA, doesn’t offer any more germ protection than do simple soap and water. On the down side, it is an endocrine disruptor that affects thyroid function and has…