We plant them in the spring, water them all summer, and then it’s fall harvest time. The joys I’m experiencing are cucumbers, Swiss chard parsley, mint, carrots, kale, kale, and more kale. A few green beans. Here’s a report: The carrots are fantastic. Mona, my Ph.D. botanist daughter, reminded me... Read more →

It’s a clear memory. Plastic was becoming widely used in packaging for food. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration didn’t say it was safe. It said as far as it knew, plastic packaging wasn’t harmful to health. I figured out myself right away that it wasn’t a good idea to... Read more →

The lengths to which Republican governors are going to create fiefdoms in which they can carry out their conservative ideas is mind-boggling. Questionable policies on gender identity, abortion, guns, book banning, critical race theory, elections, immigration, and more are increasingly troubling. Then I read on the Public Citizen website that... Read more →

My daughter Mona is a Ph.D. botanist. When she was in the ninth grade she said she was going to study horticulture and be a botanist. Mona loves plants. Whenever we go on vacation, she “botanizes,” checking out the plants, bushes, and tree and identifying them. When she was in the middle of doing her doctoral thesis on cape ivy, we took a trip to Spain and Portugal. Read more →

And, again, history repeats itself. The nation’s leading residential solar energy financing lenders are using predatory methods including undisclosed profit arrangements with their preferred installers and expensive financing with hidden fees as a standard practice to target consumers for financial exploitation, according to a new report. Read more →

Consumers are in a poor position in the economy, because corporations spend so much on advertising and they donate billions of dollars to influence government to do their bidding making products and services more expensive and less safe. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has made another decision that will reduce consumer “power” even more. Read more →

Worried about emissions from your gas stove or one a family member or friend owns? The debate is heating up. A lawsuit filed against the maker of GE Appliances in the District of Columbia Superior Court alleges that the company is violating consumer protection laws by failing to warn district consumers that gas stoves produce air pollution that can be harmful to human health.  Read more →

It’s important to protect your skin from the sun by using sunscreen and by taking other protections such as wearing a wide-brimmed hat and long sleeves. Sunscreen protects your skin against radiation from sun rays called ultraviolet A and B. UVB rays are the ones that mostly cause sunburn, while UVA rays mainly cause aging skin. Read more →

In the era of climate change, so much needs to be done, it makes your head spin. However, on Earth Day this year, I’d like to give a shout out to leaders and groups who have been working for decades make a difference for the earth. A recent example is PFAS, also known as forever chemicals. They’re used in a wide range of consumer products. Read more →

With Earth Day coming up, it’s a good time to learn about endangered species and what we can do about the decline in valuable animals and plants. A new group that’s doing important work is Wildlife Madagascar, a nonprofit conservation organization committed to conserving the land, forests, and wildlife species in Madagascar. Read more →