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NRDC blog

The Natural Resources Defense Council has a new blog. Check it out.

Update [2005-5-11 16:57:51 by Dave Roberts]: Dave's hangover-befogged eyes move upwards to the ad banner hovering at the top of the page ... something about an NRDC blog ... hey, weird, didn't I just write about that? (Last night was greendrinks. I can't be blamed.)

Art for … Well, Not Really for Art’s Sake

Send Grist cool posters! The Grist office walls are looking sadly barren these days (with the exception of a certain unnamed but smitten editor’s life-size Barack Obama poster), and we’re so darn busy bringing you the best green news on the world wide interweb that we don’t have time to hunt down handsome wall decor. […]

Where There’s a Shill, There’s a Way

USDA pays freelance writer to tout Farm Bill’s green cred In an effort to manufacture some green credibility, an Agriculture Department agency hired a freelance “journalist” to produce five articles on the conservation benefits of its Farm Bill programs. Paid at least $7,500 for his work, freelancer Dave Smith was instructed to push his stories […]

If the Military Can’t Pollute Freely, the Terrorists Have Won

Pentagon asks Congress for exemptions from environmental laws, again For the fourth time in as many years, the Defense Department has appealed to Congress for exemptions from major environmental laws — this time it’s air and hazardous-waste laws, as part of the 2006 defense authorization bill. In congressional testimony last year, a senior Pentagon official […]

USDA caves to vegetarian pressure.

Several Gristmillians have advocated that going veg is good for the environment.

Vegetarians were a little miffed when the USDA announced its new food pyramid, er, pyramids without providing dietary recommendations for a plant-based diet.

Well, someone must have been listening, as "Vegetarian Diets" is now listed under MyPyramid.gov's "Tips & Resources."

Interestingly, it seems like the USDA's definition of the term "vegetarian" leans more toward "vegan," as they specifically provide tips for "lacto-ovo vegetarians." I would have expected the opposite.

However, the folks over at PCRM make the point that this information is only available on the website and not in the printed literature ...

But such online resources don't meet the needs of consumers who do not or cannot use the Internet. What the country really needed was a simple graphic conveying a clear message about how to improve our eating habits.

And for those of you who missed it, go back in time to read our fearless leader's thoughts on using the MyPyramid concept for green purposes.

And while we're on the topic of graphics to convey good practices, I also refer you to Sustainable Business: A Declaration of Leadership, from the archives. (Okay, I know this has nothing to do with food or vegetarians or pyramids, but I just wanted to point out there is some good stuff buried under all the other good stuff.)

Thanks to an interview with the architect/designer in Newsweek.

I'm probably naive, or easily suckered, but sue me: Whenever I read what architect and designer William McDonough says, I get optimistic. Excited, even. His is the kind of environmentalism I want to be part of, the kind that will be easy to sell to the public. It promises growth and abundance instead of guilt, shrinkage, and doom. It conceives a future that has room for the unbridled expression of our bursting impulse to create and innovate.

This interview with Newsweek is a case in point.

For those unfamiliar with McDonough's ideas (most famously presented in Cradle to Cradle), it's a great introduction. For those of us who are familiar, it's a great update on what's currently happening. And what's currently happening is just remarkable. Consider this:

Listen to Your Mother

Since the thread on mothers and the environment is going so well, let me echo Japhet in pointing you all to Listen to Your Mother, an effort by the Rainforest Action Network to marshal maternal power in service of getting Ford to reduce the emissions of its carbon-heavy fleet.

Infamous industry defender chosen as contest judge by science association.

Steven Milloy, proprietor of junkscience.com, commentator on Fox News, adjunct scholar at the libertarian Cato Institute, and dedicated industry whore defender, chosen as a contest judge by the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science? Say it ain't so.

Paul Thacker from Environmental Science & Technology sorts it out, and along the way offers some interesting tidbits on "The Junkman" and the many ways that corporations fund pseudo-scientists and think tanks to do their PR dirty work.

Private Eyes Are Watching Ewe

Remote sensors, cameras able to monitor earth’s health Technological advances in the burgeoning field of environmental monitoring are allowing scientists to take frequent and accurate measurements of weather conditions, animal behavior, and even contaminant levels without leaving their workstations. By placing tiny wireless instruments — no larger than a cell phone or a deck of […]

Lead and Circus

EPA lead regs quietly morph from mandatory rules to voluntary standards The U.S. EPA has fallen a bit — and by “a bit” we mean nine years — behind schedule on issuing lead regulations pertaining to building renovation. But better late than never, right? Maybe not. Turns out the EPA has quietly shifted its regulatory […]