In a new campaign called Mind the Store, the nation’s top ten retailers are being asked to move away from toxic chemicals as part of an effort to urge Congress to pass the Safe Chemicals Act.

Care2, 4/24/2013

Whole Foods Market Inc, Trader Joe's and other food retailers representing more than 2,000 U.S. stores have vowed not to sell genetically engineered seafood if it is approved in the United States, a new advocacy group said on Wednesday.

Reuters, 3/20/2013

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday proposed the most sweeping food safety rules in decades, requiring farmers and food companies to be more vigilant in the wake of deadly outbreaks in peanuts, cantaloupe and leafy greens. 

Yahoo! News, 1/5/2013

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is working with U.S. representatives to support the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011, which seeks to remove harmful ingredients from products. Currently, the FDA doesn't have to approve most beauty aids before they go on the market.

CNN, 12/28/2012

New York City architects and officials have been trying to find ways to protect the city from another storm of Sandy’s magnitude, and turning to the Dutch might provide a critical answer.

New York Daily News, 11/15/2012

In response to a USA TODAY investigation, the EPA and states are finding lead poisoning risks around several old factory sites in neighborhoods where children play.

USA Today, 10/14/2012

Gov. Jerry Brown visited Google to sign legislation that will open the way for driverless cars in California. Google, which has been developing autonomous car technology and lobbying for the legislation, has a fleet of driverless cars that has logged more than 300,000 miles of self-driving.

ABC News, 9/25/2012

The Op-Ed columnist Nicholas D. Kristof recently visited the dairy of his childhood friend Bob Bansen, who has names for every cow in his herd and treats “his girls” like co-workers. Bob says, "if a cow is at her maximum health and maximum contentedness, she's profitable. I don't manage my farm so much from a fiscal standpoint as from a cow standpoint, because I know that if I take care of those cows, the bottom line will take care of itself." An interesting point of view, considering the concern about the overuse of antibiotics in farm animals and the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The New York Times, 9/9/2012

10-year-old Mia Hansen was visiting a Jamba Juice when she noticed the abundance of Styrofoam cups doled out with every drink order. She started a petition on Change.org saying "Styrofoam takes so long to break down into the Earth. In the ocean, several animals think that this product is food, so when they go to eat it, the styrofoam can kill them! Will you ask Jamba Juice to stop using styrofoam in all their stores?" To date, more than 130 thousand supporters have joined in Mia's anti-Styrofoam cause, enough to catch the attention of Jamba Juice execs. Last week, within three weeks of starting the petition, Mia announced that her petition had been heard, and that the smoothie-maker would be discontinuing the use of Styrofoam in all their stores. She aptly said, "It made me feel like anyone of any age in any country can really make a difference in the world."

Treehugger, 8/28/2912

Funded mostly by the New York State Soil and Water Conservation Committee, a Riverhead office building recently added a rain garden, the first one on Long Island, to its parking lot. The garden soaks up rain — as much as 3 inches of it — to help stop the flooding that used to happen. Now when it rains, the plants get water and the rest gets filtered through the soil. It also cuts out polluted storm water runoff. Suffolk legislator Ed Romaine has proposed more rain gardens across the county, as a natural and aesthetically pleasing way to handle storm runoff.

CBS New York, 8/1/2012

After a school sunscreen ban left two Tacoma, Washington elementary students severely burned, their mother decided to take on the school district. The mother discovered that 49 states nationwide have policies that do not allow staff to apply sunscreen to students, and students can only apply it themselves if they have a doctor’s note. The law exists because the additives in lotions and sunscreens can cause an allergic reaction in children, and sunscreens are regulated by the FDA as an over-the-counter drug.

TODAY, 6/25/2012

Last month, Propel Fuels opened the country’s first station where drivers can pump gasoline, ethanol, and biodiesel; cyclists can get tune-ups; and commuters can find public transit schedules.

Bloomberg Businessweek, 6/5/2012