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Have you smelled the little piggies?
In eastern North Carolina, citizens and students rise up for environmental justice |
Guest author |
17 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This is a guest post by David Hamilton and Jordan Treakle. David is an organizer with the Real Food Challenge, and a founding member of FLO (Fair, Local, Organic) Food at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Treakle, a UNC student, is also a member of FLO Food. Last month, about 150 people converged on Raleigh for the pinnacle of a 51-hour hog vigil. Busloads full of children and old-timers from Halifax, Duplin, Sampson, and Bladen counties, where the sten ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, air pollution, environmental justice, food, North Carolina, toxics, waste (all these topics) |
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I'm Restricted to You, Don't You Know That You're Toxic?
Cheap materials, lax government standards at fault in toxic FEMA trailers |
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03 Jul 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:25 PM on 03 Jul 2008 The toxic trailers used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house thousands of homeless Gulf Coast residents after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were found to be troublesome to occupants' health due to cheap building materials and lax government standards for RVs, scientists said Wednesday. "Manufacturers of travel trail ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, health, news, politics, United States (all these topics) |
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Judicial activism
Aftermath of Supreme Court's Exxon decision |
Sir Oolius |
26 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Estimated time for full ecological recovery by affected species from the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill: 15 - 30 years. Estimated time for full financial recovery by Exxon Mobil Corp. from yesterday's Supreme Court decision: 4.5 days. As written in yesterday's opinion: The real problem, it seems, is the stark unpredictability of punitive awards. |
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| Topics: Alaska, environmental justice, oil, politics (all these topics) |
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Have a Sense of Tumor!
New York state passes bill to create detailed map of cancer cases |
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20 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 9:40 AM on 20 Jun 2008 In an effort to educate the public about correlations between cancer rates and environmental factors, the New York state legislature just passed a bill that would create a detailed map of cancer cases in the state. The online map would plot the neighborhoods of cancer patients as well as the location of industrial facilities like chemical manufacturers and power plants. &quo ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, health, legislation, New York, news, politics (all these topics) |
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Kyra's Path
Reflecting on his daughter's future, a father says the green movement must diversify |
Marcelo Bonta |
10 Jun 2008 |
Grist Feature |
| The face of America is changing -- is the environmental movement ready to face change too? "Kyra, do you know this is yours?" I ask, looking down at the skinny little girl with big, curly, dark brown locks. Her hair to body proportion resembles Thing One and Thing Two from Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat. "What do you mean?" A furrowed face of mostly che ... |
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| Topics: advice, environmental justice, environmental movement, green living, parenting (all these topics) |
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Richer, greener
Focusing population growth in the right places will make us both |
Ryan Avent |
09 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The New York Times looks at the impact of high gas prices in communities across the nation today and concludes that increases are most painful in rural areas. Part of this analysis involves an examination of money spent on gas as a share of total income. The big middle of the country does badly, and Appalachia and the deep South do very badly. We can explain some of the excessive spending on fuel in these places by noting their dependence on trucks and the lack of ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, gas prices, placemaking, public transportation, urban planning, Washington DC (all these topics) |
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Purdy lil Heifer
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JMG |
03 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Heifer International, a nonprofit that lets people make gifts of livestock to farmers in impoverished areas, gave a shout out to Grist in its March/April WorldArk magazine (albeit using .com in the web address).Now, in the May/June issue, not only does Grist get a shout out with a correction in the letters column, but the whole issue is outstanding.Here's just a sample of the terrific content:The cover story, Our Carbon Hoofprint, provides 'a closer look at the indictment of the ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, e-waste, environmental justice, websites (all these topics) |
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Slave ethanol?
Amnesty International: forced labor in Brazil's sugarcane fields |
Tom Philpott |
30 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| As the case for corn-based ethanol unravels, a lot of pundits and green-minded investors have settled on a new panacea: ethanol from sugar cane, which thrives in the tropics. Thomas Friedman has been blustering about it for years now; Richard Branson recently hinted he might start investing in it. Sugarcane is a deeply ironic crop on which to hang a 'sustainable energy revolution.' Historically, the spread of sugarcane in Caribbean islands and South America involved ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, Brazil, energy, environmental justice, ethanol (all these topics) |
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Leading to problems
Implications of the study linking childhood lead exposure and adult criminality |
Liz Borkowski |
30 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A study just published in the journal PLoS Medicine (and written up in the L.A. Times) suggests a link between childhood lead exposure and adult arrests for violent crimes. Studying 250 adults for whom they had prenatal and childhood blood lead level measurements, University of Cincinnati researchers found that each 5-microgram-per-deciliter increase in blood lead levels at age 6 was associated with a nearly 50 percent increased risk of arrest as a young adult (the ris ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, green living, health, parenting, scientific research, toxics (all these topics) |
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Michigan WIC whacks organic
Evidently, women, infants, and children in need don't deserve organic |
Tom Philpott |
28 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The Women, Infants, and Children program provides food aid to 'low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk,' according to the USDA website. The federal government funds the program through grants to states, which then decide how to allocate the cash. Evidently, in Michigan -- a state undergoing severe economic strain -- some bureaucrats have bought into ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, food, green living, health, Michigan, organic food, parenting, shopping (all these topics) |
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Pb & Jail
Childhood lead exposure linked to criminal behavior, violence |
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28 May 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 6:36 AM on 28 May 2008 Childhood exposure to high lead levels leads to smaller brain mass and is linked to criminal behavior and violence, according to two new comprehensive studies. Researchers tracked kids from Cincinnati, Ohio, from before birth through adulthood and found that early exposure to lead resulted in a loss of brain matter of over 1 percent on average, particularly in the areas of the brain resp ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, health, news, scientific research, toxics (all these topics) |
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Whirled Bank
Does the bank have a legitimate role in solving the climate crisis? |
Erik Hoffner |
21 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The World Bank, which once upon a time wanted to rid the world of poverty, is now trying to position itself as climate crisis savior -- but at the same time is continuing its fossilized ways. So says EarthBeat Radio -- check out their illuminating podcast on it. Janet Redman, the author of a report entitled 'The World Bank: Climate Profiteer,' is interviewed about a $2 billion portfolio of carbon offsets for industries in the global north to be developed in the global s ... |
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| Topics: carbon offsets, climate, economy, environmental justice, World Bank (all these topics) |
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Urban Legends
Smart(ish) Cities series ends, sustainability efforts march on |
Lisa Selin Davis |
16 May 2008 |
Grist Feature |
| By now, you may have forgotten that Portland was ever crowned the Miss Universe of Sustainability, and have started packing up your bicycles and solar panels for the big move to Syracuse or Tampa. OK, maybe you're not thinking of uprooting yourself and your family. More likely, you're evaluating your own city to figure out what green things it's got going for it, where it lags behind, ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, green building, placemaking, Smartish Cities, special series, sprawl, urban planning (all these topics) |
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No country for poor (wo)men
Higher food prices likely mean more health problems for low-income folks |
Tom Philpott |
13 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I doubt if many people really believe that the recent spike in food prices will, as a New York Times piece put it, 'make organic food more accessible' and force people into healthier eating patterns. (I wrote about this topic in a recent Victual Reality column.) For those who do, I offer this remark from Adam Drewnowski, an epidemiologist from the University of Washington, quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer:The food crisis will make obesity and attendant diabetes even ... |
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| Topics: economy, environmental justice, food (all these topics) |
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Break up with your utility company ... or get dumped
Millions of Americans may not be able to afford heat or power this year |
Sharon Astyk |
09 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| So, I spent almost $2,000 today ... to fill up our oil tank. We heat primarily with wood, but we use oil as a backup system to keep the pipes from freezing and occasionally on days when we're going to be out for an extended period. Our hot water is also heated with oil. For whatever reason, most oil heat in the U.S. is in the Northeast, mostly in towns beyond gas lines like mine. I suspect today's purchase may well be the last tank of heating oil we ever buy. Unfor ... |
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| Topics: energy, energy at home, environmental justice, oil (all these topics) |
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Emetic Justice
Polar-bear listing would hurt the poor, says industry |
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09 May 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:10 PM on 09 May 2008 If the U.S. Interior Department decides that polar bears are endangered, litigation will be immediate from a group arguing that bear protection will "result in higher energy prices across the board, which will disproportionately be borne by minorities." So says Roy Innis, chair of the Congress for Racial Equality -- a recipient of Exxon funding that has recently aligned itself with ac ... |
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| Topics: climate, endangered species, environmental justice, insanity, litigation, news, polar bears, politics (all these topics) |
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Tasty justice
People's Grocery is rebuilding food connections in West Oakland |
Erik Hoffner |
08 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Global Oneness Project has finished a great new series of interviews with Brahm Ahmadi, co-founder/director of People's Grocery. Their food justice work is crucial to Oakland: like many cities, there are usually lots more opportunities to buy beer or smokes on every block than fresh, healthy fruits and veggies. Check out this inspiring 8-minute film to get some new ideas for how we can reconnect urban populations and the planet through food. The sidebar clips are great, ... |
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| Topics: California, environmental justice, food, health, placemaking, urban planning (all these topics) |
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The mirror, not Malthus
The rhetoric of population in the hunger crisis |
Sharon Astyk |
01 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Perhaps you saw the recent UNESCO report on the future of agriculture. It calls for a major paradigm shift in agriculture away from fossil fuels toward organic agriculture and greater equity of distribution. Wow, I wonder why no one ever thought of that before? Seriously, this is the largest single report ever to tell us what we already knew: the status quo is not an option. That is, we cannot go into the future as we are. We all know this on some level.But until ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, climate, environmental justice, food, vegetarianism and veganism (all these topics) |
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There is no food shortage
A gap between rich and poor makes free markets fail |
Michael Tobis |
28 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| It's really an absurd travesty when starvation gets blamed on 'global warming do-gooders,' and we haven't seen the last of that. The problem is miscast, though. There isn't a food shortage, at least not yet. There is a food price crisis, which is a very different beast.Are its roots in the huge resource gap between the relatively rich and the very poor? If that's true, it has broad implications. Here's one way of looking at it, from the Omaha World-Herald:The list ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, environmental justice, food, vegetarianism and veganism (all these topics) |
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Raise hell, not corn
Contact your legislators and take action on the sorry state of the industrial food system |
Jim Goodman |
25 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Everyone should take some interest in what they eat and how it is grown. Mostly people think about the price of food, and that is important (unless they make plenty of money, and then it doesn't really matter; they can buy whatever they want). The poor often have little choice: they buy what is available and what they can afford -- and lately they can't afford to buy much. Studies show that given the choice, low-income people would choose to buy fresh, locally grown food ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, environmental justice, grassroots activism, health, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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Let them eat biofuel
Food vs. fuel debate, German edition |
Tom Philpott |
21 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Defending her country's biofuel mandates in a time of global food crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently denied that turning food crops into car fuel affects prices.Those looking for reasons behind the recent spike in food prices shouldn't blame ethanol and biodiesel makers, she argued. Instead, look at how people are eating in the global south: If you travel to India these days, then a main part of the debate is about the "second meal." People ar ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, energy, food, biofuels, Germany, international politics (all these topics) |
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A story in pictures
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David Roberts |
19 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Minorities are 79 percent more likely than whites to live in neighborhoods where industrial pollution ... is suspected of posing the greatest health danger, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.... The Government Accountability Office concluded earlier this year that EPA devoted little attention to environmental equality when it developed three major rules to implement the Clean Air Act between 2000 and 2004. The EPA's inspector general r ... |
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| Topics: coal, energy, environmental justice, health, US EPA (all these topics) |
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Gas tax attacks
The gasoline tax is regressive, but only for upper-income groups |
Joseph Romm |
16 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| After I argued against McCain's summer gas-tax freeze, I received an email, the basic thrust of which was, 'but everybody knows a gasoline tax is regressive, so how can progressives endorse it?' Well, as we will see, everybody doesn't know a gasoline tax is regressive. In fact: The poor are more likely not to buy any gasoline (i.e., to not own a car at all), poor families own fewer cars (and much fewer of the fuel-inefficient SUVs and minivans), and the poor t ... |
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| Topics: cars, economy, environmental justice, public transportation (all these topics) |
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They're the Tops
Meet the global activists who won this year's Goldman Environmental Prize |
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13 Apr 2008 |
Grist Feature |
| Think changing the world is impossible? Think again. From a polio-stricken musician who's spreading the word about clean water in his native Mozambique to a pair of Ecuadorian activists taking on Big Oil, this year's seven Goldman Prize winners prove that a little heart and a lot of sweat can make a big difference. Press the arrows to scroll through the photos. Each year, the Goldman Prize -- f ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, environmental movement, grassroots activism, heroes, progress (all these topics) |
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Perchance to Dream
The green-collar jobs movement tests its voice in Memphis |
Pat Walters |
11 Apr 2008 |
Dispatches |
| is a freelance journalist based in Memphis. He's captivated by stories about ecology, landscape, and culture. His work has appeared in publications including The St. Petersburg Times and The New York Times Magazine. And he's very happy his job is green. Friday, 11 Apr 2008 MEMPHIS, Tenn. To read more Grist coverage of the Dream Reborn conference, see Walters' dispatches from day one and day two, and recent ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, grassroots activism, green jobs, green living, Van Jones (all these topics) |
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