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On summer memories and politically correct peanut butter

The cool, sunny mornings this time of year always remind me of setting off to work each day during the first few months that I spent living in Boston. It was the summer between my junior and senior year of college, and I was working for a feminist newspaper located in an old factory near […]

Hard to believe he’s part of the Bush administration!

Everybody and their cousin has already posted on this, so I won’t spend a lot of time on it, but yesterday on NPR, NASA administrator Michael Griffin said some extraordinarily stupid things. To wit: I’m aware that global warming exists. … Whether that is a longterm concern or not, I can’t say. … … I […]

Shockingly, it’s the same as the old climate strategy

Today’s headlines are full of the news that President Bush is "unveiling a new climate strategy." If your immediate reaction is cynicism, well … looks like you learned something over the last seven years. Let’s look a little closer. In a speech today, Bush said he wants to convene a series of meetings of the […]

Just Say Noh

Forty nations condemn Japan’s “scientific” whale hunt The International Whaling Commission has been meeting in Anchorage this week, and as always, Japan is making a splash. Yesterday saw fierce debate over a resolution condemning that country’s “scientific hunt,” in which it’s allowed to kill about 1,000 Antarctic whales. The resolution, sponsored by New Zealand, ultimately […]

World grain supplies tanking

Once again, a prediction is panning out(PDF):

The world is consistently failing to produce as much grain as it uses.

Every six years, we're adding to the world the equivalent of a North American population. We're trying to feed those extra people, feed a growing livestock herd, and now, feed our cars, all from a static farmland base. No one should be surprised that food production can't keep up.

The USDA projects global grain supplies will drop to their lowest levels on record. Further, it is likely that, outside of wartime, global grain supplies have not been this low in a century, perhaps longer ...

(Another hat tip to KO.)

When vacations turn into work

If I was a real blogger, I would occasionally post little bits that didn't really have much to do with my principle concerns, but which I found illuminating or amusing, right?

I submit this, which just surfaced as I was clearing my desk: "The Tyranny of the 2nd Home."

It's even in the "Escapes" section.

And You Should See ‘Em Pop a Wheelie

Hypermilers squeeze every last drop out of their fuel economy Your hybrid only gets 47 miles per gallon? Too bad for you, sucka. A small group deeming themselves “hypermilers” has adjusted driving habits to use the teeniest amount of gas possible, and boasts of achieving up to 112.2 mpg. These bad-ass fuel economizers have moved […]

That’s It, No More Toothpaste For Us

Growing palm-oil plantations put orangutans in peril Thank your lucky stars you evolved, because it’s not a great time to be an ape. In Indonesia and Malaysia, forests are being converted lickety-split into lucrative palm-oil plantations, and orangutans that leave their rapidly diminishing habitat to sneak in for a palmy snack are often tortured or […]

He’s Having Nun Of It

Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson commits to business as usual It takes a brave man to stare down a pleading nun, but that’s what Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson did yesterday. At a shareholder meeting in Dallas, Sister Pat Daly of New Jersey and others spoke in support of a resolution her order submitted, proposing that Exxon […]

Interesting juxtaposition of stories

Interesting juxtaposition of stories:

First, an essay on what has become of organics, as it turns into what Fromartz calls "Organic, Inc."

Then, Energy Bulletin links to a story suggesting that some Brits might deny the organic label to food flown in from abroad.

And, of course, there's the post right here on Gristmill about labeling as an attempt to help consumers understand the effect of their purchases.

The issue boils down to the fact that our prices don't help consumers understand anything about food; in our perverse system, the food that has traveled the furthest at the greatest energy expense may often be the cheapest. As a smart man put it:

"Socialism collapsed because it did not allow prices to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because it does not allow prices to tell the ecological truth."

-- Oystein Dahle, former vice president of Esso for Norway and the North Sea