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Don’t just plant trees, plant forests to restore biodiversity for the future

Columns

Around the world, people plan to plant more than 1 trillion trees this decade in an ambitious effort to slow climate change and reduce biodiversity loss. But if the past is prologue, many of those planted trees won’t survive. And if they do, they could end up as biological deserts that lack the richness and resilience of healthy forests. It doesn’t have to be this way. The United Nations declared 2021-2030 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to encourage efforts to repair degraded ecosystems. Tree planting has become a centerpiece of that effort, championed by initiatives such ...

The US used to be really dirty – environmental cleanup laws have made a huge difference

Columns

Growing up in the 1970s, I took for granted the trash piles along the highway, tires washed up on beaches, and smog fouling city air. The famed “Crying Indian” commercial of 1971 became a symbol of widespread environmental damage across the United States. That’s why the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, energized the nation. In the largest single-day public demonstration in U.S. history, roughly 10% of the population took to the streets to shout together: “Enough is enough!” Republican and Democratic politicians alike listened. Over the decade that followed, all the ...

Trapped in a cycle of comfort and guilt

Columns

Dear Annie: From the outside, my life looks steady and full. I have a thoughtful husband, grown children who stay in close touch, dear friends and work that gives my days purpose. I know I am fortunate, which only makes it harder to admit how much I am struggling in private. For years, I have carried pain from things that happened to me when I was young. I have done counseling and truly tried to make peace with the past. In many ways, I have built a happy life. But when stress creeps in, or I feel lonely, disappointed or overwhelmed, something in me still reaches for food as ...

A case of a symptomatic mensical tear might call for surgery

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: About eight months ago, I was diagnosed with a torn meniscus in my right knee. Over the course of six months, I received physical therapy and two cortisone shots and had fluid drained from my knee, but I still have pain when I walk. The pain level is about a 2 on scale of 1-10. But it’s discomforting, and I walk with a limp. The sports medicine doctor I saw didn’t recommend surgery and said to come back if the pain becomes unbearable, at around a 5 or 6. Should I get a second opinion on whether surgery will correct this? I’m 66 years old, and the pain/discomfort ...

Earth Day 2026 is a clarion call to action

Our View

When’s the last time you had a cup of orange juice? When you think of orange juice, you probably think of Florida — although, of course, they are hardly the only place that produces oranges. Here’s the thing: Florida oranges are doomed. There is an outstanding piece published by Slate which just came out on the subject, and we’d recommend tracking it down and giving it a read — it’s fascinating. It’s also damning. This isn’t an editorial about oranges, though, or at least, not precisely. According to figures in the Slate story, Florida’s orange groves ...

Man considers hyperbaric oxygen for post-COVID symptoms

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: My husband is considering a hyperbaric chamber to see if it can possibly help him for possible post-COVID symptoms. He contracted COVID this past July, and his atrial fibrillation also started to act up at this time. He spent a week in the hospital and was so weak that he had to use a wheelchair to get home. Two days after arriving home, my husband spent a week or so in a local hospital with continued pneumonia symptoms and sepsis. Then he went to rehab for three weeks to get his strength back. He is now in a research study following the replacement of his aortic valve ...