What’s with this weather? Are we ever going to have winter? I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop along with the temperatures. Where’s the snow? Spring-like weather in January and February is really unheard of here in our no... more

We cheered when the Obama administration formally denied a federal permit for the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline put forth by Canadian oil giant TransCanada. The 1,700-mile pipeline would have run th... more

There’s some good news and some bad news about the nation's ever-elusive quest for a sound energy policy. The good news: Finally there's some under-the-radar bipartisan consensus in Washington. The bad news: Both parties are d... more

Why do the Republicans in Congress hate unborn babies? Yeah, I know they profess to love the unborn. They even consider them to be "persons" from the very moment of conception. Yet, whose interest do you think these same polit... more

Those familiar with the popular Sourdough Canyon Trail just south of town will not be surprised that cracks in the uneasy coexistence between winter users have finally started to surface publicly, as evidenced by the exchange of... more

Sometimes a person comes into your life you will never forget. For one reason or another these encounters change your life forever. The first day I met Stu Knapp started out like most days volunteering at Eagle Mount’s ski pro... more

I feel uneasy sleeping in a house without functioning smoke detectors. I lock my doors at night. I salt my sidewalk when it's icy. I always wear my seatbelt. Like most people, I prefer to minimize my chances of getting hurt o... more

Add yet another new concern to the growing list of reasons to oppose hyraudlic fracturing, the natural-gas extraction process known as "fracking": Earthquakes. That's right, following a New Year's Eve earthquake in Youngstow... more

I relocated to California for several weeks last year to avoid the dog days of summer in the nation's capital. During my sojourn, state officials announced that they were closing Los Angeles' infamous 405 Freeway — America's bu... more

Norris Hot Springs is proud to be a spot where you can feed your body well with locally sourced organic food from trusted sources, treat your body to amazing hot water full of minerals that soothe and heal, and fill your ears... more

1.The Com... more

For the last year my wife, Justene Sweet and I have been on a mission to clean up our diet, support organic farmers, and be involved in the food revolution sweeping the nation. That revolution is responsible for putting pe... more

Terrorists may worry you; but our big foe Is CO2. Rats. I'd been counting on climate change. By some genetic quirk, my Scandinavian-bred body has always suffered badly from the cold. It's a good thing that my grandfather ... more

I was three weeks away from taking the Law School Admissions Test in 2004 when I was arrested and charged with domestic terrorism. I hadn't hurt anyone or vandalized any property. In fact, the indictment didn't allege that I'... more

This quote from a Hopi Elder prophecy has rung true to me for a long time and now more than ever I feel the urge to be of service to all the animals and plants and humans on this planet. In short, I have reclaimed this immense lo... more

Great news, people! A colony of nine-spotted ladybugs has been discovered in Amagansett, New York. This uplifting story is a rich organic mixture of state pride and nature's resilience, along with America's scientific pluck, t... more

Remember when "natural" meant things like blue sky, green grass, and food you could trust to be good for you? No more. Thanks to corporate greed, "natural" foods aren't necessarily wholesome. Even when applied to granola, the te... more

Are projects that make climate change worse — like the Keystone XL Pipeline (KXL) in the national interest? Not if short-term expedience creates long term disaster. The 1711 mile-long, yard-wide KXL would transport o... more

Farmers have been through this before — our lives and livelihoods falling under corporate control. It has been an ongoing process: consolidation of markets; consolidation of seed companies; an ever-widening gap between our costs... more

A frequently asked question for naturopathic doctors is “Do you take insurance?” The answer will depend on the naturopath. Some naturopathic physicians, including myself, accept insurance and do the processing for you. Many ... more

I’m not out to Grinch anybody’s holiday cheer, but we’ve got a serious situation here. A tsunami of scientific studies is showing that global warming isn’t only real, it’s happening faster than we thought and our window of opp... more

On a recent visit to Hawaii I was bombarded with options for environmentally sensitive side trips. Stacks of glossy color brochures promised the greenest of affairs. “Number One Nature Tour! Island’s Best Eco-Adve... more

Ocean fisheries around the world are in trouble. Adri Bout of the Netherlands had fished the North Sea for 25 years. He knew there were too many boats competing for too few fish, so he decided to tackle the problem on land. ... more

Obesity has reached epic proportions in the United States and its price tag is soaring. With one-third of adults and more than 12 million children and adolescents obese, the direct and indirect medical... more

Last season was a record snow year here, with snow pack well above average into May. While a lot of snow can mean a lot of fun, it can also present high risk situations. The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center (GNFAC... more

No sooner had I finished writing about how technology fears are stoked by supposedly learned people and the media than another example rears its ugly head. This time, with the world’s population exceeding seven billion people, i... more

Several lawmakers are proposing a time-out on new regulations to supposedly generate a more job-friendly environment. To some that might sound reasonable given the nation's entrenched unemployment, but there's one set of new ... more

The Wilderness Society’s mission is to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places. One of the many places they are protecting and inspiring us to care for is the Rocky Mountain Front. I recently h... more

At first blush, you might think that "Dave's Hot 'N Juicy" is the title of a pornographic movie. Actually, it's only a hamburger. Well, not just any old hamburger. The Hot 'N Juicy is fast food giant Wendy's reinvented burger.... more

The way education and its built environment is viewed is changing. An integrative approach is being applied to school construction and renovation — looking at all aspects of the learning process, a concept develo... more

Wonder why President Obama is so intent on passing a free-trade agreement with Colombia? One answer is simple enough: Big Agriculture. Without any tariffs padding the price of our exports, cheap U.S. grain would flood the... more

In the corporate world's tortured language, workers are no longer fired. They just experience an "employment adjustment." But the most twisted euphemism I've heard in a long time comes from DuPont: "We are investigating the re... more

1. Avoid long idles - instead of idling at a drive-up window, park the car and go in. Idling burns more gas than restarting the engine.

... more

Americans use a lot of oil every day: nearly 20 million barrels — 840 million gallons. About 9 million of these barrels go toward feeding our cars and trucks every day. What’s more, paying for all of this oil drains as much as $... more

While it might seem rare these days for Republicans and Democrats to work together on anything, two Republican members of the House of Representatives recently joined with one of their colleagues in the Democratic Party to int... more

Many roads pave the way from farm to table. Trucking is by far the most common method of transporting food in the United States. Trucks tote food from a producer to one or more processors, they haul those products to distributors,... more

Investing in healthy ecosystems can boost food security, improve resilience to climate change and provide economic benefits for poor communities, says a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and its partner... more

Three weeks ago, my wife and I moved with our three boys, two cats, five bikes and canoe from the New Jersey suburbs to a cabin in the Maine woods. We have no hot water, no microwave, no washing machine, no coffee maker, and o... more

Water is at risk in the United States and around the world. Its quality and availability is in peril. Today, nearly one in eight people lack access to adequate supplies of safe drinking water. Globally, water-borne diseases ki... more

Several decades ago, three expert nuclear engineers told a congressional panel why they decided to quit: "We could no longer justify devoting our life energies to the continued development and expansion of nuclear fission pow... more

If Oregon succeeds in passing the nation's first statewide ban on plastic bags, it will be over the strenuous objections of the plastics industry, led by South Carolina-based bag manufacturer Hilex Poly. Opponents in the pla... more

I took a cross-country road trip in late June that became a race to outrun the triple-digit heat waves that have literally buckled highways between the Midwest and the East Coast. As I wound my way across the... more

How many cities does it take for Western utilities to change a light bulb? Federal Department of Energy research shows that light-emitting diode streetlights — LEDs — can reduce energy use b... more

Dear Governor Schweitzer: The Exxon pipeline rupture shows that pipeline leaks can and do happen, and... more

In the not too distant future, a water treatment module carried in the bed of a pickup truck could be the best and cheapest water purification system on the planet. For just $30, it would purify a million gallons of polluted wa... more

While everyone hopes future developments do not worsen regarding the news that an Exxon pipeline carrying oil crude broke in the middle of the Yellowstone River outside... more

At dusk in Boston, families wander down to the park to enjoy the end of day. Parents swing in hammocks under the trees and children play on the seesaws. As the sky darkens to night and the city lights appear, the trees in the p... more

A reader recently asked Mother Jones’ Econundrums whether it is environmentally efficient to wash Ziploc bags for reuse. Might doing so use more resources than it is worth? And do the bags maintain their int... more

Environmentalism is commonly thought of as a social movement. Social movements consist of a group of people with a common ideology who try together to achieve certain goals. Broadly speaking, environmentalists try to prom... more

Last April I interviewed Lance Craighead about the Craighead Institute’s history, mission, and Pika research. This month I had the opportunity to interview Brent Brock, the Institute’s landscape ecologist, about a communit... more

Americans are becoming too familiar with imported foodborne illnesses. Remember the tainted dog food from China and those salmonella-laced hot peppers shipped from Mexico? If the recent virulent strain of E. coli that raced acro... more

In May, over 1,750 health institutions and professionals from all 50 states published full-page newspaper ads across the country calling on McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner to stop targeting kids with its advertising and promotions. (O... more

A couple weeks ago I received a forwarded email from one of Montana Import Group’s community partners. The email, from one of their members, was critical of one our ads and asked the group not to work with us. When I calle... more

A churchyard near my city apartment was recently converted into a garden. A group of local volunteers hammered together raised beds, trucked in new soil and planted berries, tomatoes and greens with the hope of growing fre... more

American bison is usually referred to by its more common name, buffalo, although it is only distantly related to the two true buffalo species: the African Buffalo an... more

Flames exploding from kitchen taps. Livestock dropping dead from tainted water. People in small towns noticing an unusual stench, experiencing acute headaches, and blacking out. These aren't scenes from a horror movie, they'r... more

As the road ahead of me began to get blurry I knew it was time to get off the bicycle. The chocolate I’d eaten six miles back was turning in my stomach and the sensation reminded me of eating hot dogs at the fair and taking too ... more

Now that many Americans have stopped paying attention to Japan's nuclear catastrophe, shocking new details about its severity are finally coming to light. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently revealed that the core... more

The Wilderness Society (TWS) has been around longer than most of the people reading this article. One of the few environmental organizations that has achieved household name status, TWS has a 75 year track record of accomp... more

I recently had the opportunity to work as a guest speaker and naturalist on a cruise ship heading through southeast Alaska. While I was preparing for my trip, I found a cruise ship discharge policy document that I worked o... more

There are a lot of strategies, programs, and products to lose weight. Most, if followed as prescribed, are effective at helping people to lose weight. The desire to shed excess pounds often eclipses the more important issues... more

When I was a kid growing my first gardens, I would lie on the ground, cheek to the dirt, watching plants grow. Once I caught a bean seedling erupting from the ground! Another time, mesmerized by a dewdrop on a tomato flower tip... more

Just to be sure we're all on the same page, here are a few things we should acknowledge about nuclear power: It's the most costly form of electricity, and the most dangerous. It's enormously subsidized by the federal gove... more

The Craighead Institute continues a legacy of wildlife stewardship in the Northern Rockies and beyond. The organization’s mission is to maintain healthy populations of native plants, wildlife, and people as part of sustain... more

Skin is our bodies’ largest organ, weighing in at about 15% of our total body weight. We may take for granted all that this valuable organ does for us. It protects us from pathogens and excessive water loss, regulates our tem... more

The nuclear power boys are weaseling again, this time in Vermont. Entergy Corporation, an electric utility giant based in New Orleans, owns the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, which is nearing the end of its 40-year licens... more

Despite the disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, eliminating the technology that provides 21 percent of the United States' electricity and 14 percent of ele... more

At a recent Bioneers Conference, keynote speaker Paul Hawken offered his vision for the environmental movement, stating that we need to look beyond the environment to social, political and economic movements — all are interconn... more

Morning pours through the kitchen window as I settle onto the couch with some tea and the newspaper. I peruse current events and read about the latest conflicts in the Middle East, as well as battles closer to home. Some lo... more

A few weeks ago, Montana Import Group ran a full-page ad in the Bozeman Chronicle that was part pro-watershed awareness and part watershed degradation. We used a Subaru of America-provided photo of a Subaru driving ... more

Are cell phones having an impact on our brains? The answer just got a little clearer when a February study in the Journal of the American Medical Association asserted unequivocally that, yes, cell phones change... more

Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT) is one of the sweethearts of the Valley. Because of this organization, the Bozeman community enjoys many trails in town and individuals are assured their land is protected from development... more

Have you ever thought how great it would be if you could tell corporate America what you think about corporate products, policies, and behavior? Don’t despair, spring is around the corner and the US socially responsible investment... more

He is rich, Indian and head of the fast-growing wind turbine manufacturer, Suzlon. Tulsi Tanti spoke with Spiegel Online about his plans for wind energy in Germany, the future of nuclear energy and what the Wes... more

How do you keep your word to your fitness program when you don’t keep your word in so many other areas of your life? How do you feel your body in a different way and feel someone else’s body in a different way? For me, one of... more

People use the term green or sustainable to label products we buy, energy that we consume, cars that we drive or buildings that we occupy for work or our homes. Most of us wonder what they really mean with their green labelin... more

U.S. consumers spend an estimated $1 billion on household and personal care products each year to shield themselves from a host of unseen germs. Yet many items marketed for their so-called "anti-bacterial" properties contain ... more

Washington is humming with debate about how to trim the debt without stunting our economic recovery. Yet somehow, with all the recent rancor over spending cuts, pundits and politicians have largely overlooked one of our mo... more

The years 2000 - 2009 are sometimes referred to as the “lost” decade for equity investing. The US stock market dropped 0.95% over those years, as measured by the S&P 500 index, a non-socially screened basket of 500 larg... more

Almost $1.5 billion changed hands at farmers' markets across the United States in 2010. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of markets rose by 16 percent last year — from 5,247 to 6,132. More than thre... more

The International Year of the Forest, a United Nations-sponsored celebration to focus the world’s attention on the need to sustainably manage the world’s trees, is not merely an event but a reminder that we are at the precipice ... more

In January, as temperatures drop and my Iowa garden lies buried somewhere under a foot of snow, I sometimes feel like life has been banished forever. Even the river that runs past my window becomes a sluggish ice jam before ... more

Biochar — charcoal derived from burning plants — can boost crop yields and help fight climate change. In the summer of 2002, scientist and entrepreneur Danny Day sent a lab assistant to retrieve some charcoal from behind Day’s ... more

Ever found yourself in the midst of a disaster — like taking a bend in the road too fast on a rainy night — where every second seems impossibly stretched? The situation unfolds in slow motion. You know exactly how it turns out,... more

As you may know, I've spent much of the last three months working to help contain the BP oil spill. I recently returned from my seventh trip to Houston, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to ... more

I have a confession to make. I hope it won't make you think ill of me. I have never smoked marijuana, not even a puff. Not ever. Not that I didn't have my chances. Back in 1970 I was covering the Wadena Rock Festival in Iowa (so... more

As deserts expand and droughts persist, desperate people begin fighting over the water that remains. Elsewhere, rising sea levels create mass migrations. These portraits of human tragedy caused by climate change have become... more

You probably haven't heard about the dangerous and costly sci-fi climate fixes known as geoengineering, a set of speculative, massive-scale technologies that would have humans intentionally modify the climate — rather than acc... more

With all due respect to President Barack Obama and the $8 billion he's dishing out to the states for high-speed rail, it's too late. Fast trains have been overtaken by gradual events. America has become too populous an... more

The 21st annual Socially Responsible Investing in the Rockies conference, in mid-November, brought together nearly 600 participants. This crowd included investment advisers, asset managers, and representatives of SRI mu... more

Are you sitting up straight? Is your butt out? Are your shoulders back? If you answered ‘No’ to two or more of these questions, guess what? You are normal. How do you like being normal? How does ‘normal’ feel in your body — a... more

The Sustainable Prisons Project has been working with Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife and Cedar Creek Correction Center (CCCC) to raise endangered Oregon Spotted Frogs since 2009. CCCC boasts... more

With the holidays upon us again, I think back with both pleasure and distress to the feast I was welcomed to a few seasons ago at the top of Alaska. The effects of climate change in polar regions are now starkly obvious — and the... more

Have you ever sat reading a book mid-winter and gotten the chills every time a winter breeze blew through your home? Imagine every room in your home being equally warm in the wintertime, even next to a window. Now, imagine su... more

The signature phrase of America's booming good food movement has been expanded from "organic" to "local and sustainable." Good! The phrase suggests great quality, strong environmental stewardship, and a commitment to keeping o... more

A recent article in the Bozeman Chronicle addressed ‘leash laws’ and the impacts off-leash dogs have in Gallatin County Regional Park. County Parks and Conservation Director Mike Harris has a temporary solution for ... more

It is hard to believe that with all the tools and money available to us in the affluent Western world we still haven't been able to eradicate hunger and poverty. Every four seconds somewhere in the world a child dies of hunge... more

Boneheaded executives and greed-headed investors might be draining the fresh water supplies where you live. Here in my home state of Texas, we're suffering from withdrawal pains. This isn't caused by our addiction to alcohol o... more

As sustainable shoppers and stewards of the land, should we be buying or chopping down trees to decorate for the holidays? How about putting up one of those fake ones? What about using live trees? When art... more

Author Michael Pollan has been thinking a lot about the Senate’s consideration of the Food Safety Modernization Act. His summary judgment? It would be "a tragedy" if it didn't pass.

Ezra K... more

As the city of Bozeman and its suburbs expand, irrigation infrastructure like Farmer’s Canal become part of the urban environment. What does that mean for irrigators, planners, developers, and ultimately homeowners? To explore ... more

Snow season is getting underway. A great local steward and community resource is The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center, an organization that has been informing folks about the risks of playing in snow for decades. ... more

The good wool suit, the proper dress for school conferences, the Easter hat that goes to church once a year; these are mostly relics of the past. Today’s fashions change so quickly that clothes are hardly worn and rarely loved.... more

For the past year I have been working with Montana Import Group to implement environmental programs and promote a business-level stewardship ethic. At a recent dinner with dealership managers I found myself relaying why I ... more

Sorry to scare you, but on Halloween much of the chocolate Americans will hand out to trick-or-treaters will be tainted by the labor of enslaved children. Hershey's, Nestlé, and the other big chocolate companies know this. T... more

Schools throughout the country are shaking up the cafeteria through new initiatives to improve children's health while giving a boost to local farmers. It's time to give the mystery meat a break and bring out locally produ... more

People living in "transition" cities and towns are working together to make their communities more resilient to economic and environmental uncertainty. Moments of crisis offer two options: Respond out of fear by hunkering down,... more

On July 21st, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill into law. Comprehensive financial regulatory reform is long overdue and necessary and whether we need more or less regulation is an argument that... more

One of the reasons for the explosive growth of bottled water sales (the average American now drinks nearly 30 gallons of commercial bottled water per year) is the disappearance of public drinking fountains. Public water fountai... more

As I’ve mentioned in past columns, Montana Import Group partners with conservation and stewardship organizations in the community. One of those partners is Montana Outdoor Science School. MOSS’ new Executive Director, Ste... more

he phrase “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” has been a core environmental mantra for generations. It’s a simple concept, yet not so simple to practice. While recycling lessens our impact on the environment, even more important are t... more

I recently read an article in The New Yorker about songbird trapping in Mediterranean countries. A history of eating songbirds, along with defiance of existing laws has created a culture that believes trapping songb... more

Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of soybeans, most of which come from the Amazonian state of Mato Grosso. As vast tracts of jungle are clearcut to make room for soybeans, environmentalists have pleaded with f... more

Safety-Kleen develops environmentally friendly cleaning products that make a positive impact on both business and the environment. From a quart bottle of recycled oil to an industrial parts cleaner weighing hundreds of pounds, the power of innovat... more

With BP's well capped and CEO Tony Hayward exiled to Russia, perhaps you thought that the BP horror story is coming to a close, that surely there will be no additional revelations to enrage you. But now comes this: prison labor. I... more

Close observers agree that the Supreme Court's Monsanto Company v. Geertson Seed Farms decision is a big deal, but many disagree about what it actually means. As a farmer and advocate, I view the ruling as a major victory because ... more

Some of life’s best journeys come about most unexpectedly. When my husband (children’s book author Ben Mikaelsen) and I were married last summer, we had dozens of empty wine bottles left after the celebration. Knowing that glas... more

Despite evidence that they may cause cancer, food manufacturers continue to pour about 15 million pounds of eight synthetic dyes into the American food supply every year. Try pronouncing disodium 6-hydroxy-5-(2-methoxy-5... more

It is almost time to go back to school. Sorry, kids. For parents, this brings back the dilemma of what to pack in their child’s lunch. The food we send our kids to school with can affect their health, behavior, and performan... more

It's well past time for the ethanol industry to grow up and stand on its own. Like a sailor on a late night bender, corn ethanol boosters are trying to cajole another drink from the subsidy tap before the lights come on. Some... more

Scientists report that the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico appears to be dissolving far more rapidly than anyone expected. The New York Times reports that journalists flying over the area spotted only a few patches of s... more

To what degree does your attitude about yourself dictate how you look? Not only that, how do you suppose it affects your view of yourself, others and the world? If changing our attitude about ourselves was as easy as changing... more

Despite negative impacts such as the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that British Petroleum and Gulf Coast residents have been dealing with for months, the demand for fossil fuels is still on the rise, making the use of bio-ma... more

We don’t often consider the water wasted while waiting for hot water to reach the tap. But not only is water going down the drain, there is energy wasted in purifying and transporting that water, time spent, and money wasted on hi... more

While the Obama administration says it wants to support organic and local food systems and encourage healthy eating, the government still doles out most of its money to big, conventional farms. ... more

Carbon footprint was my pride,then it washed out on the tide. Al Gore did his best. So did the nation's environmental community. They convinced a majority of Americans that climate change was both real and serious. Back t... more

Consumers and investors are becoming increasingly focused on how they spend their day-to-day money as well as how they invest their longer term money. Many are embracing products and services that have a positive impact on the pla... more

A reader recently asked Mother Jones’ Econundrums whether it is environmentally efficient to wash Ziploc bags for reuse. Might doing so use more resources than it is worth? And do the bags maintain their integr... more

Construction makes up a large part of the modern American economy, and with dwindling supplies of traditional resources like wood products and a greater emphasis on eco-friendly materials, hemp is the perfect product to literally b... more

Laos is the most heavily bombed country on earth. Between 1964 and 1973 more bombs were dropped on Laos by the United States military than all of Europe during World War II. In those nine years it is estimated that 1.3 million t... more

A churchyard near my city apartment was recently converted into a garden. A group of local volunteers hammered together raised beds, trucked in new soil and planted berries, tomatoes and greens with the hope of growing fre... more

When the Bozeman area celebrates the many virtues of hemp during the city’s first annual Hempfest at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds in August, hemp fabric and clothing will certainly be on the agenda. Hemp is the soft, strong fibe... more

Is that medical marijuana organic? Are you sure? Webster's definition of ‘organic’ is: “Of or from living matter.” Most people think that a plant grown in dirt is naturally 100% organic. This is n... more

This month, Montana Import Group is sponsoring the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council (GGWC). To learn more about the organization, I sat down and asked coordinator Sharlyn Gunderson-Izurieta a few questions.

Q: What is... more

Yellowstone: a natural refuge for wild animals and a geographic wonder. People go there to look at the animals. But they look for the “cooler” animals like the bear or the wolf. Rarely do people s... more

Six months ago I painted a picture of an unlikely place of environmental stewardship: a car dealership. The vision of the future for Montana Import Group included organic coffee, reusable coffee mugs, nature films, recycli... more

The investment world can be confusing and complicated, so it’s a good idea to consult with a professional advisor about investment decisions. Tips for finding a competent Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) advisor do not differ ... more

I recently went to Staples to get a couple things for the office, including a package of CD covers. I stood in the aisle looking at a variety of jewel cases, wondering if they were recyclable. Checking a few different bran... more

Who would believe that modern-day pirates are some of nature's best friends? Those troublesome Somali buccaneers have scared off the cursed international factory trawlers from a long stretch of African coastline, allowing f... more

A new medical marijuana caregiver’s association recently formed in southwest Montana is intent on making sure their voices regarding the state’s medical marijuana program are heard when the sta