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On Aug. 13, California became the second state to ban the widely used and highly toxic herbicide paraquat. The chemical will be phased out across the Golden State over the next two years. While California’s decision is a victory for public health, it also highlights a glaring failure on the part of federal regulators. Paraquat is already banned in more than 70 countries, including China, Brazil and the entire European Union.

DENVER – The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) voted on Friday in favor of a proposal to cut harmful pollution from oil and gas operations in the state. The new policy requires operators to use readily available technology to further reduce preventable methane and ozone-forming emissions at oil and gas facilities across Colorado within the next two years. CoPIRG Foundation, along with many other clean air advocates, had urged decision makers to adopt the proposal.

Tell Costco: Reduce plastic packaging Costco CEO Ron Vachris: Plastic waste is overwhelming our planet. We have to start reducing single-use plastic packaging, the kind of plastic that’s used once, gets thrown away and can persist in our landfills, parks and oceans for decades. Costco should lead the charge. On unnecessary plastic packaging, Costco has already made meaningful progress. Now, we’re calling on you to do even more to reduce plastic packaging across your supply chain.

As the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee considers the “Energy Efficiency Reform Act” (S. 5338), which would effectively gut the federal appliance and equipment efficiency standards program, Environment America and PIRG are urging Senators to oppose the bill.

Recycling & compost America wastes far too much food. 133 billion pounds per year gets wasted. That’s 30% of the country’s food supply and one-fifth of all our garbage. Most of this wasted food ends up dumped into landfills or burned in trash incinerators. But what if, instead of this linear, wasteful system that damages the environment and public health, we turned our food scraps into something beneficial to the planet?

As you walk through the grocery store and toss a box of cereal or a bottle of salad dressing into your cart, it’s natural to assume these items are safe. After all, if a product is sitting on a supermarket shelf, a regulatory agency must have vetted all of its ingredients first. Right? Not exactly.

Take Action Close Tell your governor: Data center moratorium now Tell your governor: Data center moratorium now Data centers — large warehouses full of computer servers — generate enormous computing power and capacity. Increasingly, that capacity goes toward Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is driving a massive surge of data center construction across the country. AI holds enormous promise.

Take Action Close Tell the FTC: Stop TikTok, Facebook and other companies from selling our personal data Tell the FTC: Stop TikTok, Facebook and other companies from selling our personal data We’ve all seen those prescription drug TV ads that end by listing every possible side effect and risk. Those disclaimers at least made most of us aware that prescription drugs aren’t perfect cure-alls that come without risks. But advertising has changed.

For decades, PIRG staff and members have worked to restrict pesticides. But the new Farm Bill in Congress could undo most of that work overnight. The government should be protecting people from harmful pesticides, not protecting pesticides from the people. A provision in the 2024 Farm Bill would override every state’s pesticide rules and replace them with far weaker federal rules.

Consumer alerts Foodborne illness is a serious threat to our health. Nearly one in six Americans are sickened by contaminated food or beverages each and every year — and 3,000 are killed. A huge part of the problem is that, even when food recalls are announced due to dangerous pathogens or other threats, consumers often don’t find out about them in a timely fashion. Discovery of contaminated food doesn’t help shoppers or consumers if we have no easy way to learn our food might be dangerous.