Editorial on THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

A New Climate Reality: What Happens Now?

2012-04-10T19:31:00.001-07:00

by Janet Ritz In a prior post, A New Climate Reality, I wrote how difficult it has been for specialists to face the more personal aspects of climate change. Some of those who know the science and say, yes, this is really happening, are more easily drawn to the lure of cold data over harsh reality, while those who don't believe take out their...

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My Open Letter to Ann Romney

2012-03-22T00:26:00.000-07:00

by Sherman Yellen Dear Mrs. Romney: You seem the kind of woman who can speak plainly and would not use code words to describe the nature of your husband’s campaign. But there was something about that expression, “taking the country back “ that you have been using on the campaign trail, something that makes memore than a bit uneasy about the...

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Activist

2011-03-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

by Dr. James Hansen "How did you become an activist?" I was surprised by the question. I never considered myself an activist. I am a slow-paced taciturn scientist from the Midwest. Most of my relatives are pretty conservative. I can imagine attitudes at home toward "activists". I was about to protest the characterization – but I had been...

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The Environmentalist Donation Drive and Book News

2010-10-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

The Environmentalist is a public interest magazine that covers the geopolitics of climate change, science, business, history, world news, lifestyle, entertainment, editorial..., as well as providing extensive resources and links. The writers and editors all donate their time. The magazine relies on donations, store sales, and advertising revenue...

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Reflections on Casablanca

2010-08-11T05:14:00.000-07:00

by K.J. Wetherholt Last night, I was sitting with my mother and sister watching Casablanca on Turner Classic Movies. Richard Osborne, as he usually does, stood amidst a set of a living room, introducing the film, in this case being a retrospective of Ingrid Bergman. His usual tendency is to bring to light some meaningful anecdote about a...

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Editorial Cartoon: Integrity Testing

2010-07-15T04:59:00.000-07:00

by Sandy Ritz Sandy Ritz is an editorial cartoonist, the recipient of the Certificate of Editorial and Artistic Accomplishment from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and is a Doctor of Public Health in Hawaii. LABELS: ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, BP, COMMENTARY, ENVIRONMENT, GULF OIL DISASTER, GULF OIL SPILL, SANDY...

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Too Bad to Fail

2010-07-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

by Sherman Yellen During the banking crises, the billion dollars bailout was given to those reckless, behemoth banks that were called too big to fail; the argument was that they would bring down the entire American economy if they were allowed to suffer the consequences of their greed-driven gambles. We learned of that shadow world of...

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The Pelican and Me

2010-06-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

by Sherman Yellen I know I should call this piece The Pelican and Us because I don’t own the rights to the feelings of horror, anger, outrage and repulsion at the sight of the great bird covered in oily slime, doomed to suffocation and death, pictures that have come to symbolize the horrors of the BP oil spill. I know that eleven men have...

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Ocean's Thirteen: Crime without punishment

2010-05-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

by Sherman Yellen Nobody knows if BP will be able to cap the raging oil well and end the spill in the coming days, weeks, or months. But what we do know is that there will be no real punishment for its crimes against our environment, our wildlife, and the men and women who have for generations lived for the sea and by the sea. This is no...

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That Acrid Smell in the Air

2010-04-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

by Sherman Yellen Oh how I hate an ism. Born in the first half of the twentieth century I've lived through them all. That century was cursed with fascism, communism, and McCarthyism. In the twenty first we have Islamic terrorism. I must apologize if I am adding to the already overcrowded list of isms -- but with the threats from Republican...

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Zoroastrianism's Influence

2010-03-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

by Janet Ritz Today is Newroz (Norooz), the Zoroastrian new year. For those who have not read of the environmental focus of Zoroastrianism and of its founding influence on the world's primary faiths, a primer: Zoroastrianism is a religion founded in ancient times by the prophet Zarathushtra, known to the Greeks as...

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THE ENVIRONMENTALIST'S New Mobile Phone App

2010-02-21T16:16:00.000-08:00

THE ENVIRONMENTALIST has developed a new FREE app for your mobile phone. It's free and easy to use, does not require access to a store or market and will carry THE ENVIRONMENTALIST'S featured articles before they are posted elsewhere. ⇐ free app at m.the-environmentalist.org. To use,...

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The Psychological Effect of Crisis

2010-02-17T13:45:00.000-08:00

by K.J. Wetherholt In light of the Haitian earthquake and the subsequent aid efforts there, and having recently attended a meeting at one of the UN cluster agencies' headquarters in NYC on psychology, development issues and crisis, it was disconcerting to me that there is no current permanent program in place at the UN or among many different...

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Disrupting Schools in the Midst of a Revolution

2010-01-25T20:20:00.000-08:00

by Barbara Bray It seems like everything, including education, is changing. We’re in the middle of a revolution and may not even know it. Change is difficult for many teachers, parents, administrators and students that want to continue the status quo. Let me define what I mean as status quo for education: A top-down system where teachers teach...

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Information Terrorists Hijack our Airwaves

2010-01-01T23:17:00.000-08:00

This post has been removed from our site.

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Hollywood's Fix for America's Three and a Half Trillion-Dollar Lobbying Addiction

2010-01-01T00:25:00.000-08:00

This post has been removed from our site.

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Joe Lieberman and Tiger Woods: The "Self-Insured"

2009-12-18T21:55:00.000-08:00

by Sherman Yellen It is remarkable to me that this country is so obsessed by the sexual infidelities of a golfer, Tiger Woods, which affects no one but his immediate family, his rich sponsors, and a tabloid crazy press, while Joseph Lieberman, the Senator from Connecticut who more than any other politician is responsible for the degradation...

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The Environmentalist Nominated for Changemaker Award

2009-11-06T14:19:00.000-08:00

by The Environmentalist Staff The Environmentalist's founder and managing editor, Janet Ritz, has been nominated for an environmental changemaker award: The Changemakers initiative aims to identify and engage the leading activists, elected officials, authors, bloggers, actors, musicians and thought leaders who have t.he greatest capacity to spark...

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A Death in the Family

2009-08-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

by Sherman Yellen John McNamara 1965-2009 This has been a summer for famous people dying. The iconic anchor man Walter Cronkite and Frank McCourt the notable Irish American author of “Angela’s Ashes” recently left the scene. I write here of another Irish American’s death; my nephew by marriage, John McNamara, called Johnny Mac by his...

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Searching for Relevancy in an Obama World

2009-05-17T14:36:00.001-07:00

by Janet Ritz I spoke with a friend the other day, one of those rare individuals who'd passed his 87th birthday with a clear perspective on life that went beyond even his years, and heard from him frustration that has been echoed both by others of his generation and by those who are not yet of age to drink or vote. The question they've been asking...

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AMERICAN IDOL AFTER IRAQ: Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age

2009-04-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

by Janet Ritz Legendary Hollywood producer, Mike Medavoy, has teamed with Nathan Gardels, editor of New Perspective Quarterly (NPQ), to produce a timely book about the use of soft power by America: "AMERICAN IDOL AFTER IRAQ: Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age." Gardel’s and Medavoy’s readable and yet comprehensive book...

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The Really, Really Bad Debt

2009-03-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

by William S. Becker It’s time for a reality check in the contentious debate over the investments President Obama has proposed to fight global climate change and build a new energy economy. As Ken Burns once put it, “we need a little more Pluribus and a little less Unum” in the United States these days. Instead, a newly outraged Outrage Class is...

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Deniability: Facing the War on Terror through Poetry

2009-01-27T23:24:00.000-08:00

by Janet Ritz Cross-published on The Huffington Post, The Chicago Sun-Times There are times in history when it is best for a people to move on from past mistakes. There are other times, such as now, when the past cries out to be explored. For those who are searching for meaning to the last eight years, a new book by American poet, George...

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Struggling for Obama's Soul

2008-11-05T14:18:00.000-08:00

by William S. Becker Now that we know Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States, we can turn to the next critical question of national leadership: In this historic moment, how bold will President Obama be? It was Candidate Obama who introduced the theme of change to the 2008 campaign, and it proved so powerful among voters...

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The International Day of Peace

2008-10-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

by Greg Reitman The International Day of Peace was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 for “commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace within and among all nations and people”. Twenty years later, the General Assembly set the date of September 21st to observe the annual occasion as a “day of global ceasefire and...

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