Latest Articles

Recycled plastic products gain ground

The New York Times has an interesting article up about recycled plastic products. They're profiling a company called Recycline, which makes those bright green recycled plastic cutting boards, strawberry red colanders, and even toothbrushes.

According to the article:

350.org conference call

As he told Grist readers earlier this year, Bill McKibben is kicking off a new campaign based around the number 350 — as in 350 parts-per-million of CO2 in the atmosphere, the level scientists like Jim Hansen now believe is the safe upper threshold. (The bad news: we’re already closing in on 390.) The website, […]

Target your peak oil message to your audience

 

Peak oil is all over the place. The cover of the Wall Street Journal, CNN, you name it. The peak has tipped into the consciousness of the world. And those of us who were aware before are going to be fielding some questions. So it pays to have a response ready for the latecomers.

 

It has occurred to me that there must be a simple way of explaining peak oil to everyone -- but most solutions have concentrated on creating a single simple method of explaining peak oil, when what is needed is a highly specialized approach, designed to help people grasp the issue in the most basic terms imaginable. Being a helpful sort, I have undertaken to provide those explanations. Thus, all you need to do is evaluate the person you are explaining things too, and from there, insert the proper explanation, using my handy list.

If the person is a lot like Homer Simpson:

The way to explain it is: "Beer comes from oil. You use oil to run tractor to grow barley. You use oil to run fermenting equipment. You use oil to ship beer to liquor store. You use gas, made from oil, to drive drunk to the store to get beer. No oil means no more beer -- ever."

Snippets from the news

• Italy will embrace nuclear power, reversing a 20-year ban. • Pressure grows on Exxon from shareholders. • Amazon deforestation on the rise. • Hewlett-Packard kicks off environmental initiative. • Restaurant biz aims to go green. • Finger pointed at Bush admin officials for endangered-species meddling. • Plymouth, Mass., may ban plastic bags. • NOAA […]

Monsanto execs make millions off farmers’ backs

Hugh Grant -- Monsanto chair, CEO, and president -- probably won't notice the increased price of a loaf of bread. And if he does, it will be with a smile. Grant is $13-million-and-change wealthier today than he was on Monday, as he choose to exercise stock options -- 116,000 shares worth -- that netted him a profit of over $114 per share.

Like many of us, I wouldn't mind paying the extra dollar per loaf of bread if I knew the majority of that dollar was going back into the hands of farmers. Instead, the higher prices at the checkout line are funneled to the agri-giants like Monsanto and Cargill, companies making record profits. Remind you of gas prices and oil companies? Reminds me that these agri-giants spent $100 million on getting their way in the Farm Bill, an investment with huge dividends -- for Monsanto's Hugh Grant, anyway.

Feds can dump more waste at Wash. Superfund site, says court

Washington State doesn’t have the right to refuse more dumping of radioactive waste at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site, an appeals court ruled Wednesday. In 2004, nearly 70 percent of Washingtonians voted to keep the federal government from disposing of more toxic waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation until the highly polluted Superfund site […]

Castens implement Phase II of global domination plan

On my morning commute, I always listen to music. Maybe two or three times in the last couple of years, I’ve listened to NPR instead, but it’s rare. This morning, though, on a whim, I flipped over to hear if there was any primary news. And what is literally the very first thing I hear? […]

Lessons from a sustainable-food conference at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Information you can eat. Photo: Monterey Bay Aquarium/Randy Wilder A couple of months ago, I wrote about how the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California comes up with its wallet-sized cards — the ones that tell us what seafood choices are sustainable. I got so interested in the topic that when I got an invitation to […]

Agriculture produces more than just crops — and it’s time for policy to reflect that

In spite of the best efforts of sustainable agriculture, environmental, and healthy food advocates over the past two years to reform U.S. farm policy, the bill recently passed by Congress lacks fundamental reform. Although the bill includes some environmental and healthy food system improvements over existing legislation, the system of commodity subsidies remains intact, and it is these subsidies, together with biofuels subsidies and mandates embodied in the farm bill and energy legislation, that drive the basic structure of the U.S. farm and food system.

To break the farm-block stranglehold on farm and food policy the next time around, we need a need a new vision of agriculture: one that recognizes that farmers produce more than just food, feed, fuel, and fiber. We also count on farmers to take care of vast swaths of critically important land. What we need, in short, is a "multifunctionality" vision of agriculture.

World’s leading energy monitor worried about oil supply

Predictions that global oil supply will keep up with demand may be just plain wrong, says some peak-oil-preaching wacko the world’s leading energy monitor. The International Energy Agency is in the midst of its first rigorous survey of global oil supply, and has indicated that future supplies may be tighter than expected. “The prices are […]