Mosquitoes are not just annoyances. They also bring disease. But is the current patchwork of mosquito-control efforts effective? Or are the remedies, particularly pesticide spraying, worse than the problem? This week's Tipsheet has resources to help you report on balancing the risks of disease against those of spraying.
"If human civilization were to be destroyed and its cities wiped off the map, there would be an easy way for future intelligent life-forms to know when the mid-20th century began: plastic."
Writer David Owen's “Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River” tells the story of the Colorado, while exploring water issues ranging from drought and climate degradation to cross-state and cross-border legal complexities.
Author Lisa Palmer tackles a question many experts in the natural and social sciences are also pondering: How can we feed a growing world population in the coming decades when climate change is stressing global food production systems?
Safe drinking water is a long-standing challenge left unmet all across the United States. As our latest Issue Backgrounder explains, telling the story of drinkable water requires digging beneath complex relationships, understanding the sources of drinking water and much more. Here's help to do it.
"More than 200 scientists outline a broad range of concerns for triclosan and triclocarban and call for reduced use worldwide ". "Two ingredients used in thousands of products to kill bacteria, fungi and viruses linger in the environment and pose a risk to human health, according to a statement released today by more than 200 scientists and health professionals."
"Ordinary cleaning compounds—used in ordinary amounts—create long-lasting risks of spinal and brain defects in a lab study".
"U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says government shouldn’t be in the business of running campgrounds, so he wants to turn national park campsites over to private businesses."
"In 1945, the American Chemical Paint Company introduced its product Weedone, the first herbicide ever to hit the market that killed broad-leaved plants but not grasses. On farms, the weedkiller reduced the need for pulling weeds in grain fields, a godsend during the post-war labor shortage."
