Why Can’t We All Go to Fancy Yoga Classes?

Economic and Cultural Disparities Have Stacked the Deck Against Healthy Choices in America. But It Doesn't Have to Be That Way

Americans have more ways to be healthy than ever before. Organic vegetables line grocery store shelves. Yoga studios crowd city streets. Fitbits remind us to skip the elevator and Rocky Balboa it up the stairs.

But just because all these waist-thinning options exist doesn’t mean everyone has access to them. Fresh produce, fancy gyms, and habit-tracking technology are expensive, and cost is one of many prohibitive factors that keeps millions of people from taking good care of themselves.

The obesity rates in America are staggering; more than a third of adults deal …

July 27, 2015

There’s No Such Thing as a Spill-Proof Way to Transport Oil

Even the World’s First Long-Distance Pipeline that Crossed the Alleghenies in 1879 Was Prone to Accidents and Sabotage

by Christopher F. Jones | June 11, 2015

To a historian of pipelines, last month’s Santa Barbara oil spill is a reminder that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Since their first introduction in …

The World Below the Brine

by Walt Whitman | May 22, 2015

The world below the brine,
Forests at the bottom of the sea, the branches and leaves,
Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds, the thick tangle,
openings, and pink turf,

The Canyon That Houses Deep Cuts From My Family’s Past

Forty Miles South of Tucson, Madera Canyon Echoes With Memories of Marriage, Divorce, Loss, and Growing Up

by Paulina Pineda | May 15, 2015

The rustling of the leaves broke the silence as we sat on top of a giant boulder less than a mile up the trail. The rock appeared as if it …

The California Drought Crisis Is Everyone’s Fault

It’s Easy to Place the Blame on L.A. and Agriculture, But the State’s Water Deficit Goes Back to the 1950s

by Richard Goode | April 26, 2015

My grandfather used to tell the story of traveling from Bakersfield to San Francisco by boat as a boy in about 1910. First up the Tulare Lake, then up the …

Of Mice (Murder) and Men (With Cowboy Hats)

Photos Show Urban Californians the Rural Parts of the State They Can't Glimpse From the Freeways

April 23, 2015

Judging from the cars in the background of the photograph, you can tell it’s the 1960s. From a dusty patch of ground just outside a fenced enclosure, Renée, 13, is …

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Why Can’t We All Go to Fancy Yoga Classes?

Economic and Cultural Disparities Have Stacked the Deck Against Healthy Choices in America. But It Doesn't Have to Be That Way

There’s No Such Thing as a Spill-Proof Way to Transport Oil

Even the World’s First Long-Distance Pipeline that Crossed the Alleghenies in 1879 Was Prone to Accidents and Sabotage

The World Below the Brine

The Canyon That Houses Deep Cuts From My Family’s Past

Forty Miles South of Tucson, Madera Canyon Echoes With Memories of Marriage, Divorce, Loss, and Growing Up

The California Drought Crisis Is Everyone’s Fault

It’s Easy to Place the Blame on L.A. and Agriculture, But the State’s Water Deficit Goes Back to the 1950s

Of Mice (Murder) and Men (With Cowboy Hats)

Photos Show Urban Californians the Rural Parts of the State They Can't Glimpse From the Freeways

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Is Laughter Yoga Really from India?

100 Years Ago, Entrepreneurial Immigrants Sold Spiritual Exercises to Wide-Eyed Americans

Who Can Afford Organic Kale on the Minimum Wage?

Income Has a Huge Impact on a Person’s Health—And it Will Take More Than Exercise and Good Nutrition to Change That

What Our Gargantuan Appetite for Meat Says About America

It Symbolizes Affluence and Social Status, Showcases Regional Differences, and Reveals Shifting Attitudes Toward Health

Why Americans Insist on Putting a Price Tag on Life

From Ben Franklin to Slavery to Reaganomics, Our Habit of Measuring Everything in Dollars and Cents

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