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From Scoring to Score

What can beige do for you? This poor albino penguin has no luck with the birds; but he’s got brothas in the Beige Brigade, a Kiwi cricket club whose tastes lie beyond the pale. Aw, the li’l fluffball finally found some mates. Photo: The Beige Brigade The kids on the bus go melt, melt, melt […]

Maldives builds higher-altitude island, can’t attract residents

The tiny island nation of Maldives is at high risk of being swamped in years to come: it rises a mere three feet above sea level. So officials are building Hulhumalé, a human-made island with an altitude of more than six feet, capable of housing as many as 150,000 of the nation’s 369,000 inhabitants. There’s […]

New certification in the works for green hotels

Saw a passing reference in a piece on travel trends about a new certification scheme for green hotels. Supposed to be developed in the next 90 days, says Joe McInerney, president of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. AHLA’s site, meanwhile, has a list of hot green hotel progress, ranging from Motel 6 using sensors […]

Knitters seek out eco-friendly yarn

Photo: iStockphoto Knitting is a hot hobby these days — raise your hand if you received a hand-knit scarf as a holiday gift — and stitch ‘n’ bitch regulars are eager to break out from toxic-dyed, pesticide-sprayed cotton yarn. The next time you’re in the yarn store, keep an eye out for a to-be-sweater of […]

The Chrysler Town & Country freaks me out

I was leafing through the Feb. Bon Appetit — the magazine’s first “green” issue; more on that in a future “Edible Media” post — when I came upon an ad for something called the Chrysler Town & Country. It shows a white suburban family standing in front of their SUV and McPalace, glowing and looking […]

Canada oil sands not good for the environment, says study

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Canada’s oil-sands operations have been given poor environmental marks in a study by green groups Pembina Institute and the World Wildlife Fund. Ten oil-sands ventures in the province of Alberta, including seven that have not yet started producing, were rated on their pollution of (or potential to pollute) the land, […]

A livestock title for fair and competitive markets

This is the second in a series of five farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Want more details on all of the sustainable agriculture provisions in the next Farm Bill? Go here (PDF) for a matrix that shows the status of provisions in the House and Senate versions.

A shrinking number of companies dominate the nation's food supply, exerting market power over the entire supply chain from farm gate to dinner plate. In the livestock sector, the increasingly concentrated market has left farmers and ranchers in a position to negotiate with corporations that have far greater bargaining power and control over price information. The 2008 Farm Bill is the country's last best chance to restore competition and fairness to livestock markets for the next five years.

Contact your senators and representative today, and tell them to urge the Senate and House Agriculture Committee leadership to include a comprehensive Livestock Title in the final farm bill.

Mayoral climate-protecting agreement hasn’t necessarily translated into action

Mayors across the country have signed onto the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, a nonbinding initiative encouraging city leaders to meet or beat the greenhouse-gas reductions outlined in the U.S.-shunned Kyoto Protocol. So about that nonbinding part: While some city officials have taken concrete steps to reduce emissions, others haven’t followed through at all. “I […]

Everest climber dead at 88

Things I did not know about Sir Edmund Hillary: He was still alive. He was only 88 when he died. Which means when he became the first person to reach the top of Everest, he was just a year older than I am now. Better get cracking. He once won an honor from Queen Elizabeth […]

Here’s hoping newly politically active scientists don’t step on rakes

A few days ago I said of James Hansen’s increasing activism: Hansen has decided that it would be perverse to hoard the social capital that comes with being a prominent scientist in the U.S., standing by nervously guarding his credibility while the climate goes to shit. So he’s taking a big risk and spending some […]