Laura Orlando is a member of the Rural America In These Times Board of Editors. She is a civil engineer and teaches in the environmental health department at the Boston University School of Public Health. Laura grew up on a farm near Benton Harbor, Michigan. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Viewpoint
Our Freshwater Emergency Is Worse Than You Think
How blue state governors can address a sprawling national water crisis.
Rural America
Don’t Be Fooled by the Limelight on Lifestyle as a Cancer Risk
Culture
Heart of Whiteness: The Stories Western Philanthropists Tell Themselves
Why do Western efforts to help the environment and Africa so often fail?
Rural America
It’s Time to Talk (Again) about Sewage Sludge on Farmland
Feature
The Rio Olympics Are a Reflection of Our Shared Global Crisis
The global tribe will sink or swim together. There is no place to go to escape the pollution and violence.
Feature
Why Your Water Could Be Worse Than Flint’s
Our nation's water crisis requires radical solutions.
Rural America
Factory Farm Runoff Is Polluting Lake Erie, But CAFO Sewers Are Not the Answer
Rural America
The Latest From Our Editor in Greece
Rural America
Rural America Goes to Greece
Rural America
The Legacy of Slavery: What Inequality and Industrial Hog Operations Have in Common
Culture
Toilet Ecology
The Big Necessity argues toilets and sewers are the key to improved sanitation. But reality is more complex - and toxic