Brazil's rainforest keeps getting gobbled up More than 10,000 square miles of Amazon rainforest disappeared from Brazil in 2004, the second-highest level of deforestation ever recorded, thanks mainly to the expansion of soy farming. As U.S.-state comparisons are de rigueur in these stories: that's an area the size of Massachusetts. Though Brazil's government implemented a $140 million program to slow deforestation last year, and logging did slow in some states, the gains were swamped by the expansion of farming land in the state of Mato Grosso. That state's governor, Blairo Maggi, is the world's largest soy producer, called the "king …

Eco-friendly coffee could save El Salvador's dwindling wildlife Environmental groups are working to help El Salvador's coffee farmers achieve green certification so that they can survive in a volatile worldwide market -- and the wildlife that finds refuge on their farms can survive as well. The country's native ecosystems have been almost entirely wiped out, and its once-prodigious wildlife now finds safe haven among the tall shade trees planted to protect coffee shrubs from harsh sunlight. It's also coffee farms that are "protecting the watersheds, that are buffering and extending the few parks, and that are conserving the soils," says …

Hey, I don't want to get a reputation. But here's more news from the beer-and-rising-energy-costs front: The New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colo., is hopping on alternative energy instead. To wit: The company uses methane captured from its wastewater to help power its facilities, and uses a biodiesel blend in its delivery trucks. No big surprise from an outfit whose employees voted, waaaay back in 1998, to make it the nation's first wind-powered brewery. When it comes to sustainability, New Belgium is "pretty impeccable," fellow beermeister Garrett Oliver of the Brooklyn Brewery told Fortune Magazine in 2003. "They're …

It's a single piece of news, but a revolution in its own right: starting Friday, the Oakland A's will serve drinks in compostable cornstarch cups, and provide compostable cutlery too. McAfee Coliseum staffers will dig the items out of the trash at the end of each game -- pausing only briefly to wonder if they should have taken that internship with Dad's friend's company instead -- and ship the whole beery, mustardy mess to a composting facility. It's all part of stadium manager George Valerga's plan to reach a 75-100 percent recycling rate. And the San Francisco Giants are considering …

Chavannes Jean-Baptiste. Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize. Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, faces overwhelming poverty. Massive deforestation has left its people vulnerable to deadly mudslides and floods, such as those that killed an estimated 3,000 people in late 2004, when tropical storm Jeanne swept through the area. The ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide last spring was only the latest upheaval in this country's long history of political violence, repression, and instability. Yet Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, the founder of the Peasant Movement of Papay, has hope for the environment and people of Haiti. An agronomist, he has spent more than …

The new USDA food pyramid has arrived. In a very ownership-society type of way, the pyramid has been transformed into ... MyPyramid. The website is super-slow thus far -- I haven't been able to really dig around yet -- but the arrival of this new-fangled pyramid has made me wonder if some genius, marketing-savvy environmentalist might be able to fashion a clear graphical illustration of environmental do's and don'ts for individuals. Relatively insignificant no-nos (say, acquiring yet one more nasty plastic bag) would be weighted appropriately against much more significant evildoings (say, purchasing a clothes dryer or embarking on yet …

A new seafood-labeling scheme went into effect yesterday across the U.S. The regulations require that retailers label fish and shellfish with the country of origin and whether they were raised on a farm or caught in the wild. The labels may be put directly on packaging or on signs in the display cases. Proponents say the labels satisfy a consumer's basic "right to know" about products before purchasing them. Greens should be pleased because the labels will make it easier for consumers to choose seafood from the safest (read: low mercury and POPs) and most sustainable sources. The Monterey Bay …

Open-barrel trash burning becoming a hot issue for states Not interested in paying the $1- or $2-per-bag fee for trash disposal? Just throw it all in a barrel in your backyard and burn it. That's what thousands of upstate New Yorkers -- and millions of rural Americans -- do, and it's making some environmental activists hot under the collar. But a bill to ban the practice has languished in the New York legislature for several years under fire (ahem) from state agricultural interests, which say that disposing of the waste any other way is cost prohibitive for farmers and rural …

Locally grown food greener than organic, British study says Though organic farming is relatively easy on the environment, buying locally grown food, even the pesticide-sprayed variety, is usually more earth-friendly than buying organic, a new study contends. Published in the journal Food Policy, the study found that the transportation of food over long distances -- anywhere outside a 12-mile radius -- can cause more harm than the growing of food with non-organic methods. Researchers calculated the hidden costs of farming and food transport and found that the U.K. would save some $4 billion a year in environmental and traffic costs …

Readers who found our interview with John Mackey, founder and CEO of Whole Foods, interesting, may also be interested in this Forbes story on Whole Foods, which focuses on the "food-as-porn" marketing and business strategy of the growing (mostly) organic giant. (Via Green Life)