Uncategorized

Follicularly, that is

Whether or not he wins the Oscar, Al Gore can take some small measure of pride in having the thirteenth best-selling book at Amazon.com this year.

If he'd cultivated a righteous 'stache, he could have made it to No. 2.

Reflections on the state of organic from an old pro

Bob Scowcroft, executive director of the Organic Farming Research Foundation and a longtime presence in the world of California -- and national -- organic farming, published a provocative essay recently on where organic came from and where it's headed.

He discusses the hidden history that brought organic regulations into the USDA (which I also talk about in Organic Inc.) and suggests where organic needs to go. Most of all, he provides a much-needed perspective on the debates engulfing the organic world right now, which are leading some consumers to question its worth:

Inhofe rides out of town with a final blast of dumbness

Departing Senate Environment Committee chair Sen. James Inhofe -- who's gone from sinister to pathetic with dizzying speed -- held one final hearing on global warming and the media the other day.

Yawn.

Plumb Crazy

U.S. EPA considers delisting lead as an air pollutant That sound you hear? It’s jaws dropping everywhere in response to the U.S. EPA’s announcement that it might stop regulating lead as an air pollutant. Citing the fact that concentrations of the toxic heavy metal in the air have dropped 90 percent since 1980, and using […]

The ethanol game

Here is an article I found in the Renewable Energy Access bulletin asking for further government subsidization of cellulosic ethanol so it can compete with other subsidized biofuels.

It gave me an idea. I looked up some statistics to see how much oil the Prius fleet has saved and compared it to how much ethanol is consumed. Turns out that the 500,000 Priuses sold save about five to seven times more oil annually than all of the corn ethanol consumed in the United States.

The enduring attraction of apocalyptic predictions

I'm sure I'll eventually forgive Toby Hemenway at Energy Bulletin for writing -- before I did, and better than I could have -- a cogent and eloquent analysis of the apocalyptic bent of those concerned with peak oil. His piece should be read by environmentalists not obsessed with peak oil as well.

An excerpt:

Educating housewives

Treehugger TV's Simran Sethi was on Oprah for a short segment yesterday in a show devoted to global warming. Al Gore was on as well, and in passing Oprah referred to him as "our Noah" on global warming.

That really irritated Rush Limbaugh, and anything that chafes that dyspeptic old druggie pervert gasbag sounds like an unqualified success to me. Kudos.

The video of Sethi is below the fold.

Two great tastes that taste great together!

If y'all want to do something nice for Grist without, you know, spending any money, you could bookmark GoodSearch as your main search site (or install the toolbar widget on your browser). Tell it to remember Grist as your charity of choice. Each time you search, half the resulting ad-sale revenue goes to us. Easy breezy and oh so sweet!

Of course, we are in the midst of a fundraiser, so you could spend some old-fashioned cash too. The phrase has become hackneyed from overuse, but it is nonetheless true: we depend on your generosity to keep going. Despite the bling-bling you see on the site every day, we are in fact a perpetually broke non-profit. Our wee staff runs like a crack-smoking gerbil on its media wheel 10 hours a day. Give us some nice gerbil food, won't you?

A new report ranks offset providers, all bogus-like

A new report (PDF) purporting to rank carbon offset providers has just been released. It was commissioned by Cool Air-Cool Planet and put together by Trexler Climate + Energy Services, a consulting firm run by Mark Trexler. Trexler rated 30 carbon offset providers with seven criteria, each on a 1-10 scale.

This stuff is super-wonky, so let me skip to my conclusion: The report is good reading, with some interesting discussion of various issues facing the carbon offset industry, but as a guide for average consumers looking to purchase offsets, it's not particularly useful.

The report's larger goal of encouraging transparency and quality is certainly laudable. But a simple ranking of industry players at this point probably confuses more than it elucidates. Many questions need to be worked out, and independent standards need to be established, before such a ranking can serve as a meaningful guide to action.

But other mail-order mags lag behind in setting eco-standards

Intimate-apparel maker Victoria's Secret, beloved by teenage boys everywhere, sends out more than a million catalogs a day. There's a catalog for every season (because you can't just wear pastels year round) and every sale (no matter the time of year, there are bras and panties half off).

And until recently, all those delicate underthings -- and the angelic models making us all wish we had airbrushers of our very own -- were gracing pages made entirely from virgin wood. (Not the kind you're thinking of, perv.) Which is why treehuggers ForestEthics launched a major PR campaign to expose Victoria's 'Dirty' Secret.

Fast-forward about two years to a victory announcement today, as Victoria's Secret's parent company, Limited Brands (which also includes Express, Bath & Body Works, and The Limited), commits to a number of tree-happy measures. In addition to upping post-consumer waste and Forest Stewardship Council content in their catalogs (including 80 percent PCW recycled content in their clearance mags), Limited Brands will eliminate all pulp supplied from Canada's Great Boreal Forest, which contains 25 percent of the world's remaining intact, roadless forest. Additionally, they're reducing overall paper use, shifting some paper mills to FSC, and putting $1 million toward research and advocacy protecting endangered forests.

Wo0t!