Stories by Stan Cox
Stan Cox is a plant breeder and writer in Salina, Kansas. His book "Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths about Our Air-Conditioned World," will be published next June by The New Press.
Natural gas is "clean" only in contrast to coal -- just as a bacon cheeseburger can only be regarded as healthful compared with a double bacon cheeseburger.
Posted on Nov 5, 2009, Source: AlterNet
Those expensive juices with exotic ingredients promise a healthy body and a fat income. But can they pull you through a recession and a health-care crisis?
Posted on Aug 24, 2009, Source: AlterNet
The feds are spending $18 billion to stimulate the Internet -- and that means a huge increase in energy consumption.
Posted on Mar 20, 2009, Source: Prairie Writers Circle
A thousand people a day move to Florida, but with development gone wild, the state's natural systems have passed the brink of sustainability.
Posted on Jan 15, 2009, Source: AlterNet
Christmas after Christmas, polls show that clothing, the most popular present among givers, is ranked as the 'most disappointing gift.'
Posted on Nov 29, 2008, Source: CounterPunch
If we scale down economic activity -- especially if the rich do -- we could all live in a cleaner world.
Posted on Oct 25, 2008, Source: AlterNet
As our consumer goods travel thousands of miles by boat, train and truck, they're leaving a trail of soot and cancer in their wake.
Posted on Sep 5, 2008, Source: AlterNet
20% of Americans are subject to homeowners associations, which have sweeping powers to dictate almost anything you want to do to your own home.
Posted on Aug 13, 2008, Source: Prairie Writers Circle
SUVs and big pickups are waddling off into the sunset, leaving Americans with no more excuses for the nation's profligate oil use.
Posted on Jul 10, 2008, Source: AlterNet
The corporate agriculture industry would like nothing better than to see us spend all of our free time in our gardens and not in political dissent.
Posted on Jun 23, 2008, Source: AlterNet
Our obsession with dieting, including the low-carb Atkins fad, may be good for our economy but it's a nightmare for the environment and our health.
Posted on May 28, 2008, Source: Pluto Press
Can the pumping of ethanol into American fuel tanks really make it harder for parents to feed their families?
Posted on May 9, 2008, Source: AlterNet
As long as an investing class makes all major environmental decisions, no new sources of energy will replace even one barrel or ton of fossil fuel.
Posted on Apr 28, 2008, Source: AlterNet
Five states are locked in fierce competition over a proposed bioterror lab that will host the world's most feared human and animal pathogens.
Posted on Mar 29, 2008, Source: CounterPunch
Agribusiness and politicians are sucking our country dry with mandates for biofuels.
Posted on Mar 22, 2008, Source: AlterNet
The chemical industry has helped fortify our homes against microbial invasion. But is our fear of germs making us even sicker?
Posted on Feb 2, 2008, Source: AlterNet
Welcome to the weird world of medical prayer. What, if anything, does it accomplish?
Posted on Jan 11, 2008, Source: AlterNet
Americans' out-of-control clothing shopping is causing an ecological plague, humanitarian nightmare and the need for some really, really big closets.
Posted on Nov 30, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Space hasn't yet been weaponized but it is already highly militarized, thanks to a money-hungry arms industry and a commission started by Rumsfeld.
Posted on Nov 15, 2007, Source: AlterNet
The recent mansion boom produced millions of energy-wasting homes with thousands of square feet that Americans don't need -- not the behavior of a society that's thinking about a sustainable future.
Posted on Sep 8, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Many of us rely on drugs imported from developing countries like India. But a new report reveals the toxic industry that produces them and the people who pay the price.
Posted on Aug 27, 2007, Source: AlterNet
For years, opponents of cell towers and wireless technology have voiced concerns about potential health effects of electromagnetic fields. Once ridiculed as crackpots and Luddites, they're starting to get backup from the scientific community.
Posted on Jul 31, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Homeowner association regulations often make environmental responsibility impossible by outlawing clotheslines, solar panels -- even gardens.
Posted on Apr 26, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Banks have a habit of using your savings to give credit to unseemly industries like cluster bomb manufacturers and Big Coal -- but finding a practical alternative can be tricky.
Posted on Mar 23, 2007, Source: AlterNet
Evidence is piling up that emissions from the production of synthetic compounds in non-stick cookware, cleaning products, and a host of other common products may cause cancer and other health problems.
Posted on Jan 2, 2007, Source: AlterNet
This Christmas, America's pets will be tearing open $5 billion worth of presents, making them luxury consumers in their own right.
Posted on Nov 22, 2006, Source: AlterNet
You can't understand this country's politics using red and blue; the USA's voting patterns make more sense when the country's Wal-Marts, ecological habits, income and population size are spread across the same map.
Posted on Nov 7, 2006, Source: AlterNet
Everyone's heard about the human rights abuses in African gold and diamond mines. But when it comes to their ultra-cool, razor-thin cell phones, American consumers won't get the message.
Posted on Sep 14, 2006, Source: AlterNet
Everyone from anti-contraception Christians to zero-population-growth advocates is using the U.S's looming 300-million mark to advance their agenda.
Posted on Aug 10, 2006, Source: AlterNet
Air-conditioning puts a chill on community spirit, aids the cause of anti-enviros, and just might have given us President George W. Bush.
Posted on Jun 29, 2006, Source: AlterNet
Those air-conditioners that keep things cool and comfortable inside are helping make the outside world even nastier.
Posted on Jun 22, 2006, Source: AlterNet
The pharmaceutical industry has a dream: at least one disease (and more than one prescription drug) for every American.
Posted on May 16, 2006, Source: AlterNet
What if the South had won the Civil War? Kevin Wilmott's sly mockumentary imagines an America that is very different from today's -- or is it?
Posted on Apr 10, 2006, Source: AlterNet
Modern human plagues like bird flu aren't the result of mysterious forces. Whether we mean to or not, we bring them on ourselves.
Posted on Mar 21, 2006, Source: AlterNet
Some medical professionals say the only way to rid ourselves of medicine's vast piles of waste is to shrink the health care industry itself. Are they heretics or visionaries?
Posted on Feb 22, 2006, Source: AlterNet
Is it possible to eat well without breaking the bank? Our correspondent goes shopping at Whole Foods and comes away hungry.
Posted on Jan 25, 2006, Source: AlterNet
How America is failing the workers who put beef, chicken and pork on our dinner tables.
Posted on Jan 4, 2006, Source: AlterNet
Judge Jones' ruling was a rare bolt of logic in a year when much of the nation seemed to be coming under the thrall of intelligent design.
Posted on Dec 21, 2005, Source: AlterNet
A crop of absurd genetic patents are bamboozling U.S. patent examiners and stifling innovation among farmers and scientists.
Posted on Dec 14, 2005, Source: AlterNet
America's lawn-care industry is fighting hard to make sure the nation's lawns are awash in synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
Posted on Nov 17, 2005, Source: AlterNet
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