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‘Tis the Season (to BLT or not to BLT)
Tomatoes are one of summer's greatest pleasures and, for many people, the ultimate tomato creation is the BLT. Unless, of course, you don't eat meat.
There is a strange phenomenon among some vegetarians, however, even strict, long-term, sincere vegetarians: they occasionally lose their resolve when faced with bacon. "It's the smell," a seemingly committed vegetarian friend recently confided to me, "it gets me every time."
Indeed, in all the couples I know of where the party of the first part is a vegetarian and the party of the second part is not, it is usually the preparation of bacon by the party of the second part that leads to the ultimate downfall of the party of the first part. In short, it's a slippery slope, made all the more slippery by the application of aromatic, sizzling bacon grease. From enjoying a once-in-a-blue-moon BLT, it's not a far cry to the occasional sampling of prosciutto at parties ("social" bacon use) to regularly adding ham hocks to soups "just to flavor the stock" to late-night, shame-based trips to 7-11 for a handful of Slim Jims. "It's a gateway meat," explains The Late, Late Show's Craig Ferguson -- and he's so right.
It needn't be that way. I eat meat now and then, but even I don't necessarily want to eat bacon every time I fancy a BLT (which is constantly, when decent tomatoes are to be had). So I've come up with some bacon alternatives. Or, I suppose I should say, alternatives to bacon alternatives. I don't have anything at all against soy-based strips made to look and taste (kind of) like bacon, I just don't think they're necessary when there are so many other choices.
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Carbon trading in the news
Check out the latest article on carbon trading in The NYT Magazine. It is quite interesting and underscores why markets and property rights are almost certainly going to be the foundation of any large scale carbon-reduction policy.
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Lay media starting to get serious
I got a call this week from David Hyde, assistant producer of an excellent local public radio (KUOW) talk show called Weekday. He was doing research for a show (it ran last Thursday) titled "Biofuels: Hope or Hype?" I was able to call in for a quick question about how the pollution from biodiesel cars compare to gasoline cars (with all of their modern air-pollution controls). The gist was missed and the guest ended up comparing biodiesel to regular diesel instead, as usual. Oddly enough, nobody appears to have done the gasoline/biodiesel comparison yet ... except me. Maybe I planted a seed though.
It was an interesting show. Click here to hear it on RealAudio.
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Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act
I missed this last week -- and one can argue about how significant this stream of never-to-be-brought-to-the-floor bills really is anyway -- but nonetheless, check out Sen. Jeffords' Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act. Here are the highlights:
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The Prius Bubble
Via Pat, check out Slate's Daniel Gross on "The Prius Bubble" -- the coming boom (and bust?) of alternative energy stocks.
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NPS director resigns
In case you hadn't heard: National Park Service Director Fran Mainella has resigned. Why? More time with her family, of course!
High-priced lobbying job in five ... four ... three ... two ...
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Your evening sunshine
This has me smiling: a California family that grows three tons of organic food a year -- on 1/10 of an acre.
I'm sharing this because a) what can I say, I think it's nifty, and b) it points out the problem with apocalyptic thinking.
Humans currently use various resources in horribly inefficient and destructive ways. But that's because of the specific way we prioritize inputs such as labor, capital, energy, etc. Change the priorities, you change the inputs.
In this case, the priority is expressed by the owner of the suburban farm:
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More on Whole Foods
Though much of it sounds oddly familiar, it's nonetheless worth checking out Carol Ness' long piece on Whole Foods' new initiatives.
