 Less than a week after the FDA lifted its ban on contaminated spinach, which lead to three confirmed deaths and hundreds of illnesses, a California lettuce grower recalled green leaf lettuce after finding irrigation water contaminated with E. coli. These E. coli incidents are serious reminders of the need to properly regulate waste. Though large farming operations are one of the most common sources of pathogens like E. coli, and the FDA is investigating livestock waste as a possible cause of the spinach contamination, the government is doing little to ensure proper handling of the contaminated livestock waste. In a meeting with environmental groups last week, the EPA said it has no plans to require any new controls on large livestock operations.
Learn more about large farming operations and see what you can do to keep livestock waste out of our waters.
 What happens when a fashion photographer turns his lens toward fall foliage? No, not the typical New England glamour shots of riotous color, but subtle portraits of individual leaves caught in a moment of passage. Sierra magazine profiles Christopher Griffith and his new book Fall, which features photos of individual leaves vividly backlit and isolated against stark black backgrounds. The highly stylized "portraits" -- shot through with red, riddled with holes, or crammed with intricate networks of yellow lines -- "combine the glamour of a fashion shot with the painstaking detail of a scientific illustration."
Even if it's 80 degrees and sunny where you are, it can feel like autumn as you browse these blazing images of foliage.
 Our nation's lakes, rivers, and wetlands are in urgent danger!
Bush administration policies have unilaterally stripped small streams, wetlands, and ponds of federal protections. More than 90 percent of waters in some states are in danger of losing all Clean Water Act protections. This change could affect the health of millions of Americans, kill fish, and harm wildlife.
The EPA estimates that the Clean Water Act keeps more than 900 million pounds of sewage and a billion pounds of toxic chemicals out of our waterways every year.
The Sierra Club is organizing a nationwide effort to ensure our waters are kept clean and to enforce the Clean Water Act.
Find out more about these harmful policies and how you can help. Every day we wait, more of our nation's waters are losing their Clean Water protections!
 In August, the Sierra Club won its appeal of the "Than Brook" logging project in New Hampshire's White Mountain National Forest.
Than Brook is located in one of the few pristine watersheds and true roadless areas remaining in the Northeastern U.S. After the Forest Service approved industry plans to build roads and log off 473 acres in the area, the Sierra Club filed a legal challenge. In what the Club's Environmental Law Program calls "a rare and significant move," the U.S. Forest Service sided with the Sierra Club in ruling to overturn its previous decision.
The Than Brook timber sale came in the wake of the Bush administration decision to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation rule. Thankfully, that too has been reversed. In a huge victory for environmentalists, the Roadless Rule was reinstated by a federal judge in September.
 A new Bill Moyers special examines the divide between those Christians, both progressive and conservative, who feel compelled by their faith to care for and protect God's creation, and those on the religious right who feel otherwise. The schism could reshape American politics. "Is God Green?", part of the "Moyers on America" series, airs on PBS on Wednesday, October 11, at 9 p.m. (check your local listings).
To learn more about the intersection of faith and the environment, and to find out how the Sierra Club is partnering with communities of faith around the country, visit our Environmental Partnership Program.
The Seattle-based online environmental magazine Grist, which describes itself as "a beacon in the smog" and promises to deliver "doom and gloom with a sense of humor," has a very active weblog where readers can jump into the fray on a multitude of political, ecological, and philosophical questions. At Gristmill, you can stay up on the latest environmental news, read snarky commentary from the site's writers, crack wise with fellow readers, trade jabs with opponents, or just, in the words of the editors, "soak in a soothing stream of bloggy goodness."
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October 11, 2006
