Sandra Steingraber is the author of Living Downstream and several other books about climate change, ecology, and the links between human health and the environment. She was an Orion columnist for six years. Author photo: Laura Kozlowski.
Sandra Steingraber
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It’s Alive!
SUPPOSE THE PLANET’S DEEP geological strata contained life. I don’t mean “life” in a healing crystal, Mother Earth sort of way. I’m talking about life in the blood-and-guts Darwinian sense: procreating, Continue reading
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Woman in the Woods
Tracking deer across a poisoned landscape. Continue reading
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The Talk-Around
THE BOY IN THE BARBERSHOP mirror wanted a haircut for summer sleep-away camp. He was nervous and talked a lot. The clippers buzzed. The blond hair fell. In the next mirror, Continue reading
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Coffee in Jail
1. THERE IS NO COFFEE in the Chemung County Jail. There used to be coffee. Also parenting classes, drug counseling, and the opportunity to purchase, from the jailhouse commissary, packages of Continue reading
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The Discontent of Our Winter
MY CHILDREN have snow anxiety. For the record, this started in the winter of 2011–12 when no snow fell — at all — and sleds, saucers, skis, and snowball makers sat Continue reading
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The Silence of Science
The last time I thought about the possible crimes of a Methodist minister, I was a teenager. The minister in question was the one who sent shivers of Holy Spirit zinging Continue reading
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The Fracking of Rachel Carson
(VIDEO: Sandra Steingraber, who is at the forefront of efforts to halt fracking across the Marcellus Shale deposits, reads excerpts from her essay about the fiftieth anniversary of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Continue reading
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Sand County, the Sequel
ALDO LEOPOLD was a righteous man — in a midwestern sort of way. When it came to nature, he disapproved of “tinkerings,” as when domestic species are substituted for wild ones, Continue reading
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Household Tips from Warrior Mom!
A DECADE AGO, I published a book about the links between chemical exposures and cancer. The research for it required four years, two postdoctoral fellowships, and fluency with Freedom of Information Continue reading
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When Cowboys Cry
LAST NOVEMBER, at the annual meeting of the Northern Plains Resource Council, which took place in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Billings, Montana, I watched a cowboy cry. As someone born Continue reading