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Your share of the world

Imagine, as a thought experiment, that everyone on the planet had the same share of the world's resources. It turns out your share is about six acres (2.5 hectares) of dry land.

Now imagine if that were your whole world. How would you treat it?

Umbra on watering the yard

Dear Umbra, Thanks for your good advice about water conservation. You failed to mention the largest (unnecessary) water user in most U.S. homes: outdoor plant watering. While Grist readers may be eco-wise enough not to water their plants, nor even entertain the possibility of managing a green lawn, there may still be a few closet […]

Not tonight … your CFLs give me a headache

I have to say, this story has sure played out at my house, where my bride lovingly (I hope) refers to me, in moments of teasing (I hope), as "Mr. Conserver Man" for what she considers to be an excessive devotion to making the electric meter spin more slowly and for my habit of figuring out ways to avoid using the car.

But the 100w incandescent in her bedside lamp says that I'm at least smart enough to know when to quit:

Ann Bancroft, pioneering polar explorer, answers questions

Ann Bancroft. What work do you do? I typically call myself an educator, explorer, and lecturer. I have been lucky in life to blend my passions for teaching and the outdoor world together. In 1986, I joined the Steger International Polar Expedition, a team of seven men and 49 male dogs. After reaching the North […]

Biofuel rating system may be premature

I received an email yesterday from Richard Plevin over at Berkeley:

I can only conclude from your post on Grist that you didn't actually read our report. The implications that we are either unaware of the environmental issues surrounding biofuels, or that we dismiss them, are incorrect. Your post does a disservice to those reading it by suggesting this.

I encourage you to read our report.

Likewise, I could conclude that he didn't read my post since he missed the gist, which was that all biofuels agrofuels being produced today may be as bad or worse than fossil fuels overall, and therefore the value of a system to rate their greenness or lack thereof is questionable. If they are worse than fossil fuels, what would be the point? The authors of the report are counting angels on the head of a pin.

No more compromise

This is one issue where there can't be any compromise at this point: the demand for shark fin soup is decimating shark populations and marine ecosystems, and must stop. Whereas most forms of animal consumption put strains on ecosystems, this practice is extreme and environmentalists should continue to wage a "zero tolerance" campaign against it. It's not cultural imperialism or Big Brother, it's common sense and respect for life.

Let’s Balk About Sex

Eastern Pacific gray whales, tired and hungry, are breeding less Researchers say the gray whales of the eastern Pacific are in deep trouble, and their fate could be an indicator of ocean health. According to Earthwatch, whales migrating from their feeding grounds north of Seattle to breeding grounds off the Mexican coast are arriving scrawny, […]

That’s One Way to Push Public Transportation

Gasoline-tanker explosion melts bridge, snarls traffic in Bay Area Hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents faced a hellish commute today because of a major accident that speaks loads about transportation and convenience in our modern age. Early Sunday, a tanker carrying 8,600 gallons of unleaded gas overturned and exploded, causing a section of highway […]

One Fight In Bangkok

Scientists, others gather in Thailand to finalize third IPCC report In its third report of the year, due out Friday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will recommend climate solutions. (The first report confirmed the existence and science of our collective mess, and the second outlined its likely effects.) So what will save us? A […]

What the choco-giants are up to.

A couple of weeks ago, we noted here that Big Food is haranguing the FDA to loosen the definition of “chocolate” to allow for adulteration. At the time, I didn’t know why the industrial chocolate giants were agitating for this dubious cause. Now I think I know: cocoa-bean prices rose abruptly last year, pushed up […]