Uncategorized

And why is it still around?

Why isn't it the 21st century's spray-on deodorant?

Let me explain, and meet me after the jump.

And it’s OK to support Cali’s Prop 87

Prop 87 is a California ballot initiative that would tax oil drilling in the state, and use the money to reduce petroleum usage. Passage is by no means assured, as the opposition is incredibly well-funded.

Here, sometime Gristblogger Ana Unruh Cohen writes a rebuttal to Robert Rapier, one of the measure's critics.

To her many fine points, I would also add one more.

Canadian climate change challenger taking it to court

Rather than, you know, letting science decide this sort of stuff, Canada's most well-known climate-change skeptic is taking opponents to court.

The case revolves around a letter to the editor that he claims was a "malicious attack" on his credibility.

Tim Ball has made a name for himself as an outspoken challenger to the overwhelmingly accepted (especially in Canada) consensus that humans are causing global climate change. He authored an opinion piece on global warming for the Calgary Herald last April which drew at least one letter to the editor questioning his credentials.

Interview with J. Matthew Sleeth

It's a bit late to ask, but tomorrow morning early I'll be speaking with J. Matthew Sleeth, author of Serve God, Save the Planet, a book calling on Christians to renew their responsibility as stewards of the earth.

What should I ask him?

Rumblings have started.

What's this all about?

Lessons on how to live from the NYT food section

Lots of people in this lamentable world are up to no good. In a diabolic cubicle somewhere, someone is busily conjuring up next-generation bomb technology. Somewhere else, a cynic is figuring out where to tap the next huge store of crude oil, to be sold at great profit by an oil company that won't be responsible for the carbon it releases.

Right now, someone is mindlessly sidling up to a car-dealership counter, about to pay big bucks for a monstrous SUV -- perhaps a hokey E85 one. Or plotting some unspeakable -- and no doubt quite profitable -- betrayal.

Then there's the folks who get up and go to work and do ... what all day? Those mid-level types in giant corporate and government cube farms, not the ones making or executing the evil decisions, but the ones who sit around all day pecking at their keyboards -- what is it that they do, again?

Seems insane to me, this vast effort and energy spent going to and fro, all to such ambiguous end.

The obsessives portrayed in Wednesday's New York Times Dining in/Dining Out section -- New York espresso nerds and a mad-genuis Catalan chef -- seem much more benign to me. Perhaps we have something to learn from them.

State mulls fate of meadow mouse as development vultures lurk in the background

I'm not all that concerned about the protection of this particular mouse, nor do I want to enter into the ongoing debate about animal rights, but this piece of news from Colorado concerns me for its wider implications.

A committee in the state House will meet next week to determine whether the Preble's meadow jumping mouse should continue to be protected by the Endangered Species Act. At hand is the question of whether the species is distinct enough to warrant special protections.

The real topic, though, is the 31,000 acres of land in Colorado and Wyoming currently designated as critical habitat for the rodents. Removing the mouse from the endangered species list would open that chunk of land to development in a state besieged by rapid expansion into wetlands.

U.K. club builds sustainable football stadium

I was at the pub the other day watching Man U with my husband (whom I realize I talk about entirely too much -- but, in my defense, not as much as caniscandida talks about Little White Dog. But she does sound delightful.). Anyway ... Andrew was lamenting his mediocre showing in his fantasy soccer league, which he blames on his integrity for avoiding the hated Arsenal and Chelsea players altogether.

I suggested that his integrity would be more intact if he only employed players who were environmentally conscious. He deftly sidestepped the issue by suggesting that I write a blog post about said environmentally conscious English Premier League players.

Not a bad idea, in and of itself, but I've run into a minor problem: My internet search has turned up nary an eco-friendly Premier League player. If I've missed someone, do feel free to point out my error.

While I'm waiting for all you hooligans to chime in with how Becks makes Posh buy organic bustiers, or how Brian McBride constantly sends letters across the Pond to urge his homeland to support Kyoto, check this out.

Re-naming fish makes some more appetizing

Juliet knew what she was talking about when she uttered the famous line, "that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." But the question remains: "to be or not to be?" "would it taste as good?"

That’s what electronics company Via says

Cool:

Via calls the C7-D the first "carbon-free" desktop processor, promising that atmospheric carbon released during generation of the power needed to run the chip throughout its expected lifecycle will be offset by regional conservation, reforestation, and energy programs initiated or contributed to by Via. The "initial offsets" for the C7-D will be worked out in cooperation with Carbon Footprint, a U.K. based "carbon footprint management specialist," Via says.