Asheville’s Tragedy a Warning
The Daily ItemOctober 23, 2024 The unprecedented devastation and loss of life in Asheville, N.C., caused by massive flooding from Hurricane Helene, should be a wake-up call to all of us. Many in the Northeast believe climate change is a problem for the South and West, where there have been dozens of massively destructive hurricanes, […]
Solar for Pennsylvania’s Schools
The Daily ItemAugust 30, 2024 A recent study by the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center showed that Pennsylvania ranked 50th out of 50 states for growth in new renewable energy being bought online over the past decade. Currently, only about 4% of the electricity produced in Pennsylvania comes from renewable sources. The rest comes from […]
Critical Pollution Reduction
The Daily ItemMay 4, 2024 The Daily Item (April 27) headlines an article by Republican legislators, Dan Meuser and Gene Ya,w complaining that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will accelerate coal plant retirements in Pennsylvania by setting unrealistic standards. They are referring to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by Congress, providing $1.2 trillion […]
Coal Region’s Good News
The Daily ItemMay 14, 2024 As a native of Mt. Carmel, I spent lots of time in my youth exploring the old coal mine areas and stripping pits. Visiting the area always reminds me of the impact and challenges of mining and remediation. Coal mining drove the economy for over a century and built our […]
Sweet Deal for Big Oil
The Daily ItemMay 4, 2024 Donald Trump, who has never met a “quid pro quo” he doesn’t like, hosted two dozen oil company executives at Mar-a-Lago last month. According to The Washington Post, Trump pledged that if they’d fork over a billion dollars for his reelection campaign, he’d roll back any and all Biden administration […]
Climate Change Is Real
The Daily ItemMarch 20, 2024 A recent letter to the editor (More Smoky Summers?) reminded me of last June, stepping outside, thinking a neighbor’s home was burning. Smoke from Canadian forest fires was reaching my backyard. I worried: what about our forests? It is easy to see cause for concern. Massive numbers of ash trees […]
Another Smoky Summer?
The Daily ItemFebruary 22, 2024 There are many things we have in common regardless of our politics: walking in the woods, watching our children play outdoors, admiring the view from the top of a mountain, having a picnic, tending our gardens, summer days with blue skies and puffy white clouds. I’ve really been enjoying the […]