Collateral Damage Ordinary Americans feel the sting of Bush administration policies. by Blair Tindall
The November elections are much more than a horse race: The president and legislators we elect will determine policies that affect the health and well-being of
individual Americans in every state. Keep that in mind when you hear George W. Bush repeat his pledges to clean our air and water and promote a healthier
environment. This time, we have a four-year White House record to assess. And there's no better way to test Bush's political rhetoric than to see how his policies
are already changing the lives of people across the nation.
Retired civil engineer George Rock has fished in Wisconsin's forested Wolf River basin for over 40 years. With his wife, Marilyn, Rock wants to protect the Wolf River so his grandson, Joshua, can kayak, raft, and catch healthy trout.
New Mexico rancher Chris Velasquez runs cattle in a region with a human history dating back 10,000 years. He also shares over 20,000 acres of the San Juan
Basin with 383 oil and gas wells.
Milwaukee-area fifth-grader Samantha Hermsen loves playing bassoon in her school band and competing in basketball and soccer. But during smoggy days, she
needs a foul-tasting inhaler before she hits the field.
Julia Bonds fondly remembers the stream that six generations of her Marfork Hollow, West Virginia, family enjoyed. But one day when her grandson splashed in the
water, she noticed dead fish floating around his feet.
Russell Beesley, a backcountry ranger at southern Utah's Grand Staircase—Escalante National Monument, spends much of his time on the job replacing signs
ripped from the red soil that prohibit all-terrain vehicles.
In Las Vegas, Heather Abel races between teaching kickboxing, organizing convention events, and cheering on four-year-old Mason at karate practice. But Abel
must also spend time researching the effects on her son of perchlorate from rocket fuel...
Fifth-generation Mississippi farmer Everett Kennard can no longer sit in his lawn swing, entertain friends, or even sleep with the windows open on a cool night. "You
never know when the smell is going to move in," says Kennard...
Growing up around the great lakes, law student Jessica Kelly-Schaieb learned that local fish could contain mercury, which affects brain function. Now the mother of
"funny, sweet, firecracker" Elizabeth, Kelly-Schaieb carries a wallet-size chart of safe seafood choices with her to the supermarket.
In 1849, Henry David Thoreau hoped New Hampshire's Merrimack River would recover from textile-mill pollution "after a few thousands of years, if the fishes will
be patient." During Chuck Mower's youth, patience was still required.
An architect and community planner, Bob Thomas totes his collapsible bike throughout Philadelphia's transit system, cycling to his final destination. "It's fast,
inexpensive, good for the environment, and I stay in shape," says Thomas...
Deep in Oregon's Siskiyou Mountains, Ronnie Chittim's guest cottages have attracted outdoor enthusiasts, naturalists, and even Martha Stewart. But the 2002 Biscuit fire nearly destroyed her forest idyll...
When Lula Bishop moved into a low-income housing project in Daly City, California, in 1972, her three kids loved the pastel townhouse. "Then there was the day — Kenny was nine — he came in with a frog with two heads. It was
the first of quite a few."
Blair Tindall, a New York journalist and oboist, is writing Mozart in the Jungle: Life in the Wilting World of Classical Music for Grove Atlantic Press. She wrote
"Tidal Attraction" in Sierra's May/June issue.
In Las Vegas, 
Growing up around the great lakes, 
In 1849, Henry David Thoreau hoped New Hampshire's Merrimack River would recover from textile-mill pollution "after a few thousands of years, if the fishes will
be patient." During 
Deep in Oregon's Siskiyou Mountains, 
When