• Land

Tornados are survivable yet Americans are still dying

• Alabama
• natural disasters
• poverty
• tornadoes

Tornado warning technology has improved significantly in the past decades yet in states like Alabama, tornadoes still routinely claim human lives when they don’t have to. Just last week more than three dozen tornadoes wrought havoc in the Deep South, killing 23 and razing the ground bare in many areas and just yesterday two tornadoes […]

• Land

America’s leaky septic systems a big problem

• Alabama
• sanitation
• septic systems
• sewage

As many as 1 in 5 Americans rely on a septic system to treat their wastewater, yet as our population grows, these systems are having unintended consequences that are endangering human and environmental health. In many places like Alabama Black Belt’s Lowndes County, septic systems can cost upwards of $30,000 and thus many low-income residents […]

• Land
• People

Federal disaster recovery dollars increase inequality and favor white families

An NPR investigation released this week has revealed that across the country, white Americans and those with more wealth often receive more federal dollars after a disaster than do minorities and those with less wealth. While natural disasters are becoming more common in America as a result of climate change( in the early and mid-20th century, […]

• Land

U.S. to FINALLY get volcano early warning system

• geology
• USGS
• volcano

As the Sierra Club explained, on Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed the Natural Resources Management Act, a lands conservation bill that combines more than 100 pieces of legislation protecting 3-million-plus acres of land. The bill, which the Senate overwhelmingly passed two weeks ago, also classifies hundreds of miles of US rivers as wild, scenic, […]

• Land

Protecting the Grand Canyon from mining on its 100th anniversary

• Arizona
• Grand Canyon
• Interior
• mining
• uranium

Yesterday Grand Canyon National Park celebrated its 100th birthday. Fortune explained it best: “on Feb. 26, 1919, Congress passed legislation backed by President Woodrow Wilson recognizing the canyon as a national park. The natural wonder has become an American symbol and a space for visitors to connect with the raw outdoors. The scenic landscape holds […]

• Land

Hipsters fueling illicit cactus trade

• Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
• cactus
• National Park Service
• NPS
• plants
• poaching

Cacti and succulents have rapidly grown in popularity in the past few years and it turns out that the insatiable demand to have the trendy plants adorn homes is driving poachers to dig them up from the wild and increasingly on public lands. The Guardian recently reported in its in-depth piece that “in the US […]