Your Ecological House https://www.durangoherald.com/section/columnists-your-ecological-house/feed/ Stay informed with the latest breaking news, local stories, sports, business, weather, and community events from Durango, Southwest Colorado, and the Four Corners region. Fri, 10 Jul 2026 23:26:49 -0600 en-us 30 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/round-up-your-weeds-with-vinegar-not-glyphosate/ – Pedram Esfandiary, attorney representing cancer victims suing Monsanto corporation Meanwhile, back in your backyard, the glyphosate saga continues. You remember glyphosate, right? It’s the active ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, the most widely used weed killer in the world.... Mon, 31 Jul 2017 15:30:55 -0600 55A30EA8-6127-773B-E053-0100007F8B19 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/plastic-lovers-may-solve-our-waste-problem/ Under optimal growing conditions, many bacteria can clone themselves in 20 to 30 minutes, producing 50 to 75 generations and hundreds of millions of new individuals in 24 hours. This incredible rate of reproduction creates ample opportunity for the genetic... Mon, 31 Oct 2016 11:41:50 -0600 530DA696-9328-41A9-A1C0-FB7562D138C0 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/super-weeds-rise-in-defiance-of-herbicide/ He’s capable of growing 2 to 4 inches per day until he’s 8 feet tall. His weed stalk is as thick as a man’s wrist and tough enough to damage farm machinery. Palmer’s friendly to humans. Native Americans grew him... Wed, 20 May 2015 07:02:02 -0600 45D21096-393E-4ED6-A639-957E165E08CC https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/widely-used-herbicide-tied-to-cancer/ While “probably carcinogenic” might not sound too threatening, it’s important to understand that on the IARC’s scale of five assessment levels, it’s just one step below the highest level of “carcinogenic to humans.” The glyphosate assessment should be taken seriously.... Wed, 06 May 2015 10:06:33 -0600 CE3342C9-B7AC-4585-B7EE-AFAC41F79BA2 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/new-invasives-threaten-our-farms-the-wild/ Prosperous farmers grew many varieties of conventional crops, and sold great quantities of their yields at markets in faraway countries. Other farmers proudly grew crops that were certified by the government as “organic” – free of pesticides and other toxins... Wed, 22 Apr 2015 11:18:40 -0600 9A3CBED7-B468-4504-9F8B-1B1717069FCB https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/how-should-we-question-safety-of-gmos/ That’s the question GE food advocates love for us to ask. Why? Because if we look only at the narrow issue of food safety when deciding whether GE foods should be labeled, regulated or even banned, we will fail to... Wed, 08 Apr 2015 08:34:20 -0600 D6ED8994-C871-4488-AFCC-1AD6A3F76368 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/great-tech-hope-will-not-solve-climate-change/ For example, what if you smoked and developed a persistent cough? You could decide to stop smoking and get a medical checkup. Or you could say, “Some big scientific breakthrough will probably banish cancer soon. Enjoy yourself and light up... Wed, 25 Mar 2015 09:19:54 -0600 725B2728-C327-4913-89F5-0BCE759D7961 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/stone-throwing-wont-build-a-movement/ The upbeat piece described the house that the woman and her husband had built themselves incorporating numerous eco-friendly features and using local and/or recycled materials. It also discussed her work and leadership in community energy conservation. (Disclosure: I know this... Wed, 11 Mar 2015 09:28:04 -0600 9E9611A3-2A4E-4608-976E-DDA97084EC10 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/land-seizures-create-path-for-pipeline/ These questions arise because currently a foreign corporation, TransCanada of Calgary, Canada, is trying to use the legal procedure known as eminent domain to seize private land in Nebraska along the planned route of its Keystone oil pipeline. (TransCanada already... Wed, 25 Feb 2015 13:38:54 -0700 0597EEF9-9EEC-40FC-8134-622ED7E1AE67 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/calculating-your-ecological-footprint/ But how can you know what your actual impact is? Or how much you should reduce it to make a difference by beginning to balance your consumption with the rest of humanity’s, and your needs with nature’s ability to provide... Wed, 11 Feb 2015 11:01:13 -0700 DA1641A4-DB3A-4944-AE40-4038DFFBE7C1 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/taxing-carbon-would-help-you-environment/ Before answering those questions, let’s explore some of the objections people have to paying a carbon tax. Their reasons tend to fall into two groups: (1) We don’t need a tax because carbon pollution isn’t a problem, global warming is... Wed, 28 Jan 2015 06:44:16 -0700 223E99ED-2C3B-411A-B20A-8A5CF9F38164 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/the-gas-glut-may-add-to-climate-chaos/ The recent tapping of America’s unconventional oil reserves, mostly found in shale deposits, has had the short-term effect of reducing gasoline prices in most of the country from well more than $3 per gallon to just more than $2. Whoopee!... Wed, 14 Jan 2015 10:02:28 -0700 4EAF3856-2BEA-48C5-AD06-A5960555CFA0 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/listen-closely-for-sounds-of-change/ – Edward Lorenz, chaos theory pioneer Recently, I’ve reflected on the truism that “nothing is guaranteed.” This is because a friend challenged the premise of my latest column. There I compared the current environmentalists’ struggle to change “the system” –... Wed, 31 Dec 2014 09:45:57 -0700 83CB4EFA-A8D1-41B8-B2DF-7B9DF0F48FBF https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/doing-your-part-can-improve-our-future/ He was talking to two other friends who had been to the “People’s Climate March” held in September in New York City. They had joined more than 400,000 others to protest our government’s failure to curb the greenhouse gas emissions... Wed, 17 Dec 2014 10:43:39 -0700 F271B7F4-4B12-4A82-BF84-96142F7BB883 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/hollow-days-show-we-have-exceeded-limits/ What society tells us we should be doing is getting into the “holiday spirit” and giving gifts, gifts and more gifts while we participate in a variety of seasonal activities meant to keep us cheery. But our “supposed to” feelings... Wed, 03 Dec 2014 09:37:30 -0700 E145053B-7F87-431F-951C-296EB5005AF0 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/be-grateful-for-loved-ones-our-biosphere/ Unless you believe that you were put on this Earth by a conscious entity for purposes known only to that entity, you probably share the contemporary view that you are the result of a series of propitious accidents. First, there... Wed, 19 Nov 2014 10:06:59 -0700 D01664B8-44D6-4EF9-A608-C82F74977D82 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/escape-route-from-wildfire-is-best-defense/ Although these cautionary tales mostly recount the misadventures of people who text while driving and go boating without a life jacket, I’m especially dismayed by accounts of someone trying to defend his house from a big wildfire with a garden... Wed, 05 Nov 2014 10:15:33 -0700 296701B2-317C-4A71-84BD-E7627D686A8B https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/the-danger-of-living-on-forests-edge/ Her home, in a pleasant development in a hilly, forested Urban Wildlife Interface Zone (UWIZ) at the edge of our town, could have burned down. One hot, early September night a wildfire roared through a park adjacent to her development.... Wed, 22 Oct 2014 10:34:35 -0600 586D32B7-BE0D-4FC9-AAF0-F105074CA583 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/the-wildfire-next-time-how-hot-will-it-burn/ It exploded in the middle of the night, burning 86 acres in a hilly Urban Wildlife Interface Zone, destroying most of a park and damaging two homes at its edge. It could have been a lot worse, if not for... Wed, 08 Oct 2014 10:31:36 -0600 FB5D870A-0410-4991-946D-28AD90007BE6 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/these-zombies-are-everywhere-and-nowhere/ They began to talk, then one of them made the “wait-a-minute” gesture with her index finger. She pulled her cellphone from her purse, placed it on the table and stared at. And stared at it … and stared at it.... Wed, 24 Sep 2014 10:18:34 -0600 A45BB074-22DA-4020-B008-7BAABBF3A382 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/enjoy-exercise-without-a-stable-of-pricey-gadgets/ I’m glad I did. By the end of the term I could do “trades,” “crossovers” and a variety of other rope-jumping tricks at high speed. And I was in great shape, because it turns out that skipping rope is one... Wed, 10 Sep 2014 10:45:07 -0600 99D10598-61F3-4FCE-AD85-04A4466368FF https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/divest-or-desist-are-you-doing-the-right-thing/ The Titanic sails at dawn And everybody’s shouting “Which side are you on?” – Bob Dylan, “Desolation Row” We each arrive at a time in our lives when we must decide between doing what’s convenient and what our conscience tells... Wed, 27 Aug 2014 11:04:42 -0600 8B18FEC7-41F5-4FEC-824E-8C017F256383 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/refrigerator-crisis-solved-by-cool-local-business/ – Andrew Mason, entrepreneur Thursday, 10:15 p.m.: I’m sitting by the open window in my home office enjoying a cool, quiet evening after enduring a long, hot summer day. Suddenly, my wife calls anxiously from the kitchen, where she is... Wed, 13 Aug 2014 09:53:04 -0600 C92928B8-AAB3-48AD-BA39-FACA107B199C https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/innocent-actions-at-home-creating-deadly-superbugs/ – Dr. Stuart B. Levy, professor of molecular biology, microbiology and medicine, Tufts University Is your evil alter ego working to create superbugs, those antibiotic-resistant bacteria that could wipe out humanity? Is your home a chemical warfare lab that uses... Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:08:19 -0600 9DBFEC3A-23F3-40AB-B001-E8BAB1F8E40F https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/hand-sanitizers-dirty-record-let-soap-do-the-job/ – Sir William Osler, M.D., “the father of modern medicine” I was both amused and distressed as I watched a 20-something mom hastily pull a bottle of hand sanitizer from her purse and squirt some on her baby’s pudgy paws.... Wed, 02 Jul 2014 11:47:00 -0600 0CD364DB-F186-41AD-B910-A55868DB7442 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/anything-goes-during-epic-game-of-extinction/ – American soccer star Mia Hamm I got out of my environmental writer’s box a couple of weeks ago and wrote my first-ever editorial about sports. Well, not sports per se, but an essay about what I considered to be... Wed, 04 Jun 2014 12:35:25 -0600 27AACD03-62DF-4E5A-A4BD-4A468F60FF61 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/climate-change-is-upon-us-so-now-what/ – 2014 National Climate Assessment report to the U.S. Congress Well, in a weird way, it’s nice to be validated. For the last several years, I, along with other environmentalists and many climate scientists, have been saying what the most... Wed, 21 May 2014 12:13:10 -0600 87D41F21-647F-41EE-B84A-9A0CE1790BB1 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/should-we-pursue-a-new-generation-of-nuclear-power/ – James Buchan A line from an article in my local newspaper caught my eye. After describing a three-day meeting of small, “modular” nuclear-reactor developers from around the world hosted by Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, where I live,... Wed, 07 May 2014 12:50:44 -0600 687F6C92-B445-43F8-ACE7-80698774EF82 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/this-summer-let-a-solar-oven-cook-for-you/ – Thomas Alva Edison Science is all “whiz-bang!” to today’s media-saturated kids. They think everything flies, transforms and explodes, Hollywood style. So when my granddaughter was assigned to conduct an experiment for her fifth-grade science fair, she wanted to build... Wed, 23 Apr 2014 12:32:36 -0600 B76929A7-AB51-4077-BC92-C2B4D78CDA34 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/columnists/global-pollution-bound-to-become-a-local-problem/ – American adage Because local news is often most relevant to readers, I had planned to write a column focused on environmental issues close to home. But just as I was pondering an appropriate topic, I read about ocean-borne radiation... Wed, 09 Apr 2014 12:15:53 -0600 CF9148E3-02A5-4D8C-BFAC-8F324F37808C