Please invest in Our Daily Planet today, by making a one time or monthly contribution.
We do not charge our readers a subscription fee for our content. We want to continue to grow our readership, particularly among millennials and public servants. Voluntary contributions from readers will help us employ interns and freelance journalists, expand our content, and reach a larger audience.
If you make a contribution of $150 or more, you will become an official “Friend of the Planet” and receive a Friend of the Planet T-shirt or water bottle. You can also submit opinion essays to us for our consideration for posting on our new “Bright Ideas” op-ed page.
Diane Wilson rallies activists near Lavaca Bay. Image: Charlie Blalock
A federal judge approved a historic $50 million settlement agreement Tuesday between Taiwan-based plastics manufacturer Formosa and a scrappy environmental activist represented by indigent legal services nonprofit Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid. The settlement is the largest in U.S. history involving a private citizen’s lawsuit against an industrial polluter.
As the Texas Tribune reported, it all started when Diane Wilson, a retired shrimper and an environmental activist, sued Formosa in July 2017, alleging that its Port Comfort plant had illegally discharged thousands of plastic pellets and other pollutants into Lavaca Bay and other nearby waterways. Environmental group San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, represented by two private attorneys, joined Wilson in the suit.
We commend Diane as well as Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid for fighting this fight. Without hard-fought lawsuits such as these, big polluters would have few deterrents from dumping harmful substances into the environment. This is really difficult work and we owe a lot to people like Diane.
Seeing animals in need in Australia, a group of two dozen crafters and seamstresses from central Minnesota got together in a church basement and started sewing. Using donated cotton and flannel fabric, these crafty crafters have now made hundreds of bat wraps, wallaby hanging bags and lined pouches for baby kangaroos. These items are designed […]
Continue Reading 156 words
In an investigative piece, the Guardian has revealed rampant corruption happening in the Interior Department where a top official (Benjamin Cassidy, a former NRA lobbyist) did a series of special favors for the National Rifle Association. This is just a glimpse of the NRA’s influence over the Interior department: The appointment of Susan LaPierre, a […]
Continue Reading 399 words
Maria Devaney is the Founder of Blue S.O.S., which organizes next-gen consumers behind ocean-friendly brands in the fashion, beauty, technology, and travel industries. ODP: This year, the theme of the World Economic Forum was sustainability. The fashion industry has a role to play. What did the industry announce this week about its sustainability effort? MD: […]
Continue Reading 699 words