From the economy to the environment, success depends on commitment – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Now that Alabama’s achieved the ultimate success by winning the national football championship, and everybody by now should be aware of coach Nick Saban’s famous mission statement about “excellence” that made it possible, don’t you wonder…
The Word ‘Liberal’ is Experiencing a Resurgence in American Life – By Glynn Wilson – Could it be that the people of my home state are finally starting to get their news online and waking up to the ravages of run amok corporate capitalism and the do-nothing nature of conservative Republicans who don’t know how…
By Glynn Wilson – TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Workers at the Mercedes auto plant say they can talk all day long on the job about Alabama football or hunting and killing deer. They just can’t talk about organizing a union. Mercedes employees and union supporters from across the state gathered at the United Auto Workers union…
By Glynn Wilson – The fight over an oil pipeline through the drinking water supply for Mobile, Alabama has landed in court. Environmental groups are challenging a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Plains Southcap, LLC pipeline routed through the Big Creek Lake watershed. The lawsuit filed Friday in Federal…
Unions to Hold Press Conference and Rally in Coaling Alabama Monday, Jan. 27 – By Glynn Wilson – The National Labor Relations Board has found probable cause to hold a hearing charging Mercedes officials in Vance Alabama with violations of the National Labor Relations Act by acting to prohibit union organizing. A formal hearing on…
By Glynn Wilson – Scientists now say 2013 tied with 2009 and 2006 for the seventh warmest year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures, according to a new report out from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). With the exception of 1998, the 10 warmest years in the 134-year record…
Democrats and Independents More Dissatisfied Than Republicans – By Glynn Wilson – Two out of three Americans are dissatisfied with the way income and wealth are distributed in the United States, according to Gallup’s Mood of the Nation poll. This should come as no surprise considering all the news stories over the past decade or…
By Glynn Wilson – A three-judge panel of federal judges all appointed to the court before there was an open Internet or a Web Press has struck down a complicated set of rules set forth by the Federal Communications Commission to preserve competition on the Web in what critics call a major blow to what’s…
By Glynn Wilson – Public opinion data now shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that a clear majority of Americans, 58 percent, favor the legalization of marijuana, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject. Can the legal system be far behind? Legalization advocates have seen a “period of unprecedented success” over the…
By Glynn Wilson – Climate change due to human induced global warming from the burning of fossil fuels makes North American forests more vulnerable to insects and disease, according to a new study published by a team of researchers from Dartmouth University in the journal Ecological Monographs. After reviewing about 500 scientific studies dating back…
By Glynn Wilson – While the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is engaged in a tense, government-shuttering budgetary standoff against a Democratic president and Senate, the Republican Party is now viewed favorably by only 28 percent of Americans, down from 38 percent in September, the lowest favorable rating measured for either party since Gallup began asking…
By Glynn Wilson – As if there was still any doubt in the scientific community, we now know that “human influence on the climate system is clear,” according to a new report just out from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause…
Under the Microscope – By Glynn Wilson – Out of the mud on the banks of “the singing” Tennessee River in North Alabama, during a time of racial strife across the land in the late 1950s and ’60s, there came a sound so funky and soulful that it transformed Rhythm and Blues and helped create…
By Glynn Wilson – The Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, and the waves of tar balls deposited on the beaches shortly thereafter, prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to produce a tar ball fact sheet. Among the factoids was one stating that those sticky, coin-sized clumps of…
By Glynn Wilson – The autumn season is upon us, since the fall equinox occurred on September 22, and it is about to be a busy time of year for travelers who like to get outdoors and chase the changing leaf colors in the most beautiful of seasons in North America. According to officials in…
By Glynn Wilson – The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new Clean Air Act standards to cut carbon pollution from new power plants “in order to combat climate change and improve public health,” according to the announcement sent out Friday morning. The new standards are set to go into effect by June 1, 2014. The…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – It’s been one of the most interesting and groundbreaking years in a long time for environmental activism, environmental journalism and the Sierra Club nationally and in my home state of Alabama. Since I made the decision to cross the line and join the club to get personally…
Newhouse Update IncludedThe Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – What will become of America’s institutions, great and not so great? That’s a subject that has been on my mind some of late, even before the surprise announcement that Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos will buy the Washington Post for a mere $250 million. The Huffington Post…
By Glynn Wilson – Something has come over the Republicans in the U.S. Senate. Gridlock in Washington is cracking, and President Obama’s nominees are now working their way through confirmation like water through an open dam. A bipartisan deal was reached this week with the Republicans to allow votes on all seven of the pending…
