Ben Whitford

America's coal-fired power plants produce 140 million tons of ash a year, reports Ben Whitford, most of it dumped in open storage ponds that contaminate drinking water with arsenic and heavy metals. And now Presidential candidate Jeb Bush is promising to scrap 'new and costly' (actually feeble) EPA regulations before they have even been implemented.

It's the fossil fuel industry's latest stroke of genius - a coal substitute that's cheaper, dirtier and more toxic than coal itself, writes Ben Whitford. The waste product of refining heavy oil from Canada's tar sands, petcoke is stored in open mountains around Chicago's 'Slag Valley', sending plumes of sticky black dust over poor neighborhoods every time the wind blows.

Missouri voters have narrowly passed a 'right to farm' amendment to the state constitution. But small farmers already enjoy such rights, writes Ben Whitford. The beneficiaries will be industrial-scale corporate producers who now have a legal shield against regulation on GMOs, pollution, animal welfare and health standards - and, of course, the lawyers.

The curse of Uranium has fallen once again on the Black Hills of South Dakota, ancestral home to the Lakota Indians - now fighting a massive mining project that threatens land, rivers and groundwater. But this time, writes Ben Whitford, the Lakota are not alone ...

Few groups have done more to further the US conservative agenda - and harm progressive causes - than the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. But as Ben Whitford reports, civil society is fighting back.

The US is busy negotiating two sprawling new trade deals, with the European Union and 11 Pacific Rim nations, and progressives are up in arms. Ben Whitford asks: Just how bad are the deals?

A movement is rising up on campuses across the US as campaigners, backed by a growing student body, say NO! to university investment in dirty energy. But will the campaign hit home? Ben Whitford reports ...

Personnel at the EPA have been heavily impacted by the ongoing shutdown, leading some commentators to question the necessity of the government agency post-shutdown. Ben Whitford reports....

Ben Whitford asks whether concerns over potential earth tremors, escaping gas and logistical nightmares will be enough to halt industry enthusiasm for carbon-capture and storage technology.......

Ben Whitford says that despite the lack of coverage of the IPCC report in the US media and ongoing denial of the science from certain political quarters, climate change activists in the US are feeling motivated........

Ben Whitford takes a look at the candidates for the next Mayor of New York City and asks if any of them can fill the green shoes of Bloomberg........

As a growing number of chefs put bugs on the menu, Ben Whitford samples his first ‘entomophagic' meal and talks to the edible-insect entrepreneurs hoping to convert the rest of us to the environmental and nutritional benefits of eating insects....

Ben Whitford reviews a text which examines the links between historical scientific research and the climate change debate, and discovers that environmental crises were once considered part of terrifying military strategies......

A dynamic environmental activism movement pioneered by highly engaged youth from native communities is spreading across North America. Ben Whitford reports......

Ben Whitford reveals why numerous birds fall dead and injured from the skies over urban areas each year, and asks what can be done to prevent this ongoing avian tragedy.

You won’t catch Mad Men's Don Draper hugging trees - but experts say the ad man’s modern heirs on Madison Avenue could have a crucial role to play in bringing environmentalism firmly into mainstream consumerism. Ben Whitford reports.

Ben Whitford reports on an unlikely yet growing movement in the U.S. which embraces the Christian God but also preaches protection of, rather than dominion over, the natural world.

Thanks to the Web and social media, environmentalism has become a worldwide movement. Ben Whitford reports on the need now to take bigger risks and have even bigger confrontations

What do cockroaches, used-car salesmen and root canals have in common? They’re <a href="http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/08/congress-now-less-popular-than-head-lice-cockroaches-and-the-donald/" target="_blank">all more popular</a> than the 112th U.S. Congress, which ended its two-year term last week with its reputation at an all-time low.