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Berries, brewpubs, and a blitz torte recipe

I am traveling on the West Coast, and have been diligently eating my way southward. I’ve been to Victoria, B.C., for a conference on agriculture and sustainability; to Sooke Harbour, B.C., where I visited Sooke Harbor House and took a tour of their organic garden and on-site water reclamation plant; and to Vancouver, B.C., where […]

Washington watersheds deserve better data

Water-typing is the name for a process of identifying and cateorizing streams, lakes, and wetlands in terms of their importance for biodiversity and human use. It's a pretty basic inventory developed by the Washington Department of Natural Resources in the 1970s, and it works, but only when it's done right.

The accompanying image shows what happens when it's done wrong. In January, this important habitat for fish was logged without any protection simply because the map was in error: it failed to show that this stream supported fish. Normally, this sort of waterway would have at least received a 58 foot buffer. An important regional group, the Wild Fish Conservancy (the author of the photo), has demonstrated that the original maps underestimate the actual miles of fish-bearing streams statewide by up to 50 percent!

Oceana board member featured as quiz show category

Answer: He once played the role of a former Red Sox pitcher-turned bartender, now he plays the part of ocean crusader as a member of Oceana's Board of Directors.

Who is Ted Danson?

The actor, who's advocated for ocean conservation for nearly 20 years, has appeared in everything from Saving Private Ryan to HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Most recently he appeared as one of the categories on the television quiz show Jeopardy!

Acting and advocacy -- that's what we call a true daily double.

Buffalo and Behold

Herds of migrating wildlife survive and thrive in southern Sudan Wildlife populations are thriving in, of all places, war-wracked southern Sudan. The first aerial wildlife survey of the country taken in 25 years found herds of more than a million gazelle and antelope, migrating in formations up to 30 miles across and 50 miles long. […]

Intel It Like It Is

Tech companies go for the green This week, a consortium led by big tech kahunas Google and Intel kicked off an effort to reduce the power use of the approximately 250 million personal computers and servers manufactured each year. Participants that signed on to the Climate Savers Computing Initiative — including IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Sun […]

OK, We’re Moving to Iceland

World Health Organization ranks countries’ environmental health To those who think environmentalism is all about prioritizing starfish over humans, read on: Cleaning up the globe’s air and water could save 13 million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization. Yesterday, WHO released a country-by-country analysis of health issues in 192 nations, factoring in […]

Don’t Count Your Hatchery Salmon Before They Hatch, or Even After

Judge rules hatchery fish don’t count when determining ESA status A federal judge in Washington state has overturned a contentious Bush administration policy that had tallied hatchery-raised fish as well as wild populations when determining the species’ status under the Endangered Species Act. Under that policy, that a collection of green groups sued to overturn, […]

Dumb and not so dumb questions answered

Well, here's some more footage of my new bike. I couldn't think of a better way to convey its ability to accelerate uphill than to just do it with normal bikes in the background for comparison. Note the dearth of spandex. Is this fad about to go the way of the powdered wig?

The following are some answers to frequently asked questions:

How the 2007 Farm Bill can help restore market competition

Are federal authorities finally taking the idea that a few companies shouldn't be allowed to dominate the food system seriously?

Well, the Federal Trade Commission recently blocked Whole Foods from gobbling up rival natural foods marketer Wild Oats. Congratulations to the FTC for busting up the natural-foods trust!

But even combined, Whole Foods and Wild Oats would account for only 15 percent of natural-foods sales. Meanwhile, Smithfield Foods alone now controls 30 percent of the pork market after acquiring Premium Standard Farms a month ago -- a deal that the Department of Justice waved on. In fact, our food production system is full of examples of market concentration that make the Whole Foods/Wild Oats tie-up look like small (organic, heirloom) potatoes.

Given such brazen inconsistencies, Congress needs to step in and give the executive branch some direction when applying antitrust theory to food companies. Adding a Competition Title to the Farm Bill would do just that.

Ahhhnold and friends tell the folks on the Hill to get with it

Ahhhnold is calling out the U.S. government for being a bunch of girly men and women on climate change. On Monday, he teamed up with Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell, a fellow Republican, to chastise the folks on the Hill for “inaction and denial” on climate change in an open letter published in the Washington Post. […]