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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.

Why Natural Gas Is Not a Clean Energy Panacea

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

'Superjuices' Touted as Cures for Cancer, Swine Flu and the Recession -- Are They Dangerous Scams?

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

Expanding the World Wide Web Isn't So Good for the ... World

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

Is Florida Just One New Development Away From Environmental Ruin?

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

The Average Household Spent $1,760 on Clothes in 2007 -- Here's One Way to Cut Back

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

Good Thing We're Going to Have to Live with Less Stuff -- We'll Stay Alive on Earth for Longer That Way

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

Boatloads of Trouble: How We Are Importing Our Way to Destruction

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

So You Think You Can Just Add a Clothesline to Your House? Dream on

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

Get Ready for the Post-SUV World!

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

Turning Your Lawn into a Victory Garden Won't Save You -- Fighting the Corporations Will

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

Sick Planet: Our Obsession with Dieting Boosts the Economy But Destroys the Earth

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

Drive 1,000 Miles or Feed a Person for a Year? The Biofuels Dilemma

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

Scam Artists Are Prepped to Fleece Green Industries as Soon as the Money Comes in

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

Is a New, Dangerous Biohazard Site Coming to Your State Soon?

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

The Folly of Turning Water into Fuel

Agribusiness and politicians are sucking our country dry with mandates for biofuels.
Posted on Mar 22, 2008, Source: AlterNet

Is Our Fear of Germs Bad for Our Health?

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

Is Prayer Good for Your Health?

Welcome to the weird world of medical prayer. What, if anything, does it accomplish?
Posted on Jan 11, 2008, Source: AlterNet

Dress for Excess: The Cost of Our Clothing Addiction

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

Real-Life Star Wars: The Militarization of Space

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

Big Houses Are Not Green: America's McMansion Problem

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

Toxic Waste Exposure Is the High Price Developing Countries Pay to Produce Our Medicine

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

Are Your Cell Phone and Laptop Bad for Your Health?

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

The Property Cops: Homeowner Associations Ban Eco-Friendly Practices

Homeowner association regulations often make environmental responsibility impossible by outlawing clotheslines, solar panels -- even gardens.
Posted on Apr 26, 2007, Source: AlterNet

Your Bank Account Probably Supports Cluster Bombs and Big Coal

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

Toxic Teflon: Compounds from Household Products Found in Human Blood

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

How Much Is That Dog Dress in the Window?

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

The Disjointed States of America

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

War, Murder, Rape... All for Your Cell Phone

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

How Many People Is Too Many?

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

America's Air-Conditioned Nightmare

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

Air-conditioning: Our Cross to Bear

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

How the Drug Companies Want Us to Be Sick

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

Ain't Just Whistling Dixie

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

Infected Planet

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

Big Medicine's Malignant Growth

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

Natural Food, Unnatural Prices

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

Fowl Play In the Slaughterhouse

How America is failing the workers who put beef, chicken and pork on our dinner tables.
Posted on Jan 4, 2006, Source: AlterNet

Intelligent Design Flunks in Pennsylvania

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

The Gene Rush

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

Turf Wars

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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