Everyone wants cleaner, cheaper energy. Well, almost everyone. Powerful utility companies like PG&E, Sempra, and Southern California Edison aren’t going down without a fight, and they fight dirty. In today’s episode, Ken is joined by Bernadette Del Chiaro, the Executive Director of the California Solar & Storage Association, who was instrumental in passing the Million Solar Roofs Initiative into law with then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. Since then the solar industry in...

In today’s episode, Ken is deep-diving into the intersection of environmentalism and animal welfare. First, Ken speaks with veterinarian Crystal Heath who has been bravely raising the alarm of how her profession enables and endorses animal abuse from veterinarian school to factory farms. In the second part of today’s episode, Ken is joined by longtime friend and founder of Animal Wellness Action, president of the Center for a Humane Economy, and former CEO of the Humane Society, Wayne...

 Hi, it's Ken Cook from EWG. I'm here in Washington and we're here to get ready to fight.  We'll be giving you advice so you can protect yourself without having to depend on the government, as ever. That's who we are. But I'll tell you, I'm very concerned about what we're seeing already with this Trump administration. We're not counting on any help with our agenda from the inside. If we're proven wrong, that would be great. But in the short term, we're preparing for the worst. I'm asking...

We are interrupting our regular programming for Election Day to encourage you to vote. Make your voice heard at the ballot box and if you have any last-minute questions on how or where to vote head on over to VOTE.ORG. Who knows what episode I’ll be having after the results are in but tune in to find out. Happy Election Day.

If you’ve followed the world of pesticides for as long as Ken has, it can be hard to be shocked. But journalist Carey Gillam (The New Lede) has dug up a story that has rattled even Ken. In her newest piece “Defend or be damned’ - How a US company uses government funds to suppress pesticide opposition around the world” (The New Lede, The Guardian, Le Monde) Carey exposes a government-funded (pssst, that means funded by your taxes) covert social network that has worldwide tentacles. Carey...

Endocrine disruptors are chemical compounds that interfere with our hormones. For years, it was seen as a fringe theory. Today, it’s embraced by The Endocrine Society and Endocrinologists worldwide. A new study by our guest today shows that chemical exposure to young brains impacts their hormones, which can result in early-onset puberty. In his latest episode, Ken is joined by Dr. Natalie Shaw, a pediatric endocrinologist and clinical investigator, to discuss her team’s findings and the...

People come to environmental work in many different ways. Our first guest today, Kari Rhinehart, came to environmentalism after experiencing a parent’s worst nightmare, the loss of a child, due to a rare brain tumor. When other children in her community of Franklin, IN started getting sick, parents in the community began asking questions and putting data on a map. What they found shocked them. Contaminated drinking water. Our second guest, Kari’s attorney, Chris Nidel, is a former chemical...

First things first, the onus shouldn’t be on us to find food options without chemicals and additives. If it’s in a store, it should be safe to eat. Right? Unfortunately, that’s not the world we live in. In today’s episode, Ken is joined by noted nutritionist Courtney Swan. Courtney is on a mission to empower people to understand what healthy eating is and how to go about it within our broken food system. She is also on a mission, empowering people to make their own food and to dispel the myth...

Astounding advancements have been made in clean energy technology, and rooftop and community solar initiatives have been shown to drive consumer costs down and help us reach carbon emission reduction goals. So why are solar projects hitting a regulatory brick wall? (hint: it’s about corporate greed and value for monopoly utility shareholders). In today’s episode, we’re joined by the co-director of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, John Farrell, to unravel the ins and outs of why rooftop...

A cleaner, greener, and brighter future is within our reach. But often the path we have to walk is littered with discriminatory hurdles put up by the male-dominated financial sector. From subsidies that suppress organic farming to everyday biases preventing the funding of new startups and innovative ideas from women and people of color, Wall Street often stands in the way of progress. No one can speak to this better than our guest today, Robyn O’Brien. Robyn is a bestselling author,...

Many people find EWG while seeking information  about pesticides. In today’s episode Ken is joined by our in-house Senior Toxicologist, Dr. Alexis Temkin whose research establishes safety guidelines to help people (including children) minimize their exposure to toxic crop chemicals. In the second half of today’s episode, Ken is joined by renowned pediatrician Dr. Phillip Landrigan whose decades of research and advocacy  is integral for understanding the effects of pesticides on children. We...

Oil companies have known about their enormous and “catastrophic” contribution to climate change since the 1950s. They lied about it for as long as they could and are now lying about their newfound commitment to solving the problem they created. Who will hold them accountable? Melissa “Missy” Sims, a lawyer from Illinois, is currently representing 52 Puerto Rican municipalities against Big Oil for hurricane-related damages caused by the climate crisis. Richard Wiles is the president of the...

Local businesses and local farms are being lost in this era of monopolizing America’s food system, but the food industry didn’t become corrupt overnight. In today’s episode, Ken is joined by Austin Frerick, expert on agricultural and antitrust policy. His debut book, “Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry” profiles a series of powerful magnates to illustrate the concentration of power in the food system. Policy language used effectively by the food industry is...

In a recent New Yorker article, investigative reporter Sharon Lerner writes about former 3M scientist Kris Hansen who conducted a study in the 90s where she found PFAs forever chemicals in the general public's blood. 3M executives told her PFAS chemicals weren't harmful, she believed them. Decades later she would learn the truth about the serious risks of PFAS exposure, and why she decided to speak out against the company she worked at for decades. We are aware of the harmful effects of...

Climate change, air pollution, jobs! These are buzzwords that have helped the nuclear energy industry stay in power. In today’s episode, Ken is joined by author and environmental engineering professor, Mark Jacobson and former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and author, Greg Jaczko to discuss why we continue to waste so much money in nuclear power, what the new clean energy alternatives are and why we are still using both.

Almost 100% of Americans have toxic substances in our bodies and it negatively affects our health in numerous ways. In today’s episode, Ken is joined by functional medicine pioneer and EWG board member, Dr. Mark Hyman. Functional medicine is a complete approach to your whole interconnected biological system. Dr. Hyman came to functional medicine after being diagnosed with mercury poisoning and after using functional medicine to detoxify his body, he became determined to help as many people...

In today’s episode, Ken is joined by two guests, Diane Cotter and Peter Arlein who both came into environmentalism as a way to protect their families, friends, and communities from toxic ‘forever chemicals.’ Worcester, MA native Diane, wife of firefighter Paul Cotter, plunged into the PFAS rabbit hole when she questioned whether Paul’s exposure to the chemicals contributed to his prostate cancer. Her relentless pursuit for the truth revealed numerous sick firefighters and afflicted...

When buying or eating food, we don’t often think about the chemicals used in weed killers…but we should. In today’s episode, we go in-depth with Carey Gillam, Managing Editor of The New Lede, EWG’s journalism initiative, and the widely used commercial toxic pesticides found in weed killers. Ken and Carey discuss their link to Parkinson's, non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, and childhood leukemia, and her ground-breaking investigations that have exposed corporations like Monsanto and Syngenta that have...

For decades the American people have been exposed to toxic forever chemicals known as PFAS with no protection from our government. Until now… In today’s monumental episode, Ken travels to Fayetteville, North Carolina to join the EPA as they announce the first-ever legal limit on PFAS in the drinking water of tens of millions of Americans. In anticipation of this announcement, Ken spoke with environmental attorney, Rob Bilott, who has worked tirelessly for 25 years to make this legal limit on...

Each individual’s journey with food is unique. At 19, Moby confronted the contradiction of loving animals but consuming a bacon double cheeseburger, leading him to embrace veganism. Andrew Zimmern believes that our food systems are entirely broken, questioning the industrial food production practices in the U.S. and the dying art of small-business fishmongering. How can we change the public’s moral framework in regards to meat and food consumption without finger-wagging…?

Erin Brockovich is synonymous with environmentalism, which is why she is our inaugural guest. She is an environmental activist, author, and subject of the self-entitled Oscar-winning Steven Soderberg film, Erin Brockovich. Erin joins Ken on today’s episode to discuss the state of U.S. drinking water and why many toxic contaminants are allowed to flow from taps at levels that are legal, but nowhere near safe. Despite the promise of the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act, woefully inadequate...

Join Founder and President of Environmental Working Group Ken Cook as he helps folks connect with their inner environmentalist. Through conversations with diverse innovators and disruptors, Ken delves into the challenges we face and the solutions available to address them. Everyone on Earth has an intrinsic desire to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat clean food. So in reality, everyone already is an environmentalist, but not all of us are aware of it…yet. Ken Cook Is Having...