Latest Articles
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A review of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Sixty Days and Counting
Sixty Days and Counting, by Kim Stanley Robinson. I waited for the release of Kim Stanley Robinson’s new book, Sixty Days and Counting, like a computer geek awaiting the release of the PS3: standing outside the door of the store, in the snow, having cleared my calendar for a few days so I could dive […]
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Organic coffee deep-sixed
Due a recent decision over at the USDA's National Organic Program, organic coffee, in the U.S. at least, may be a thing of the past. I wrote about this decision on Salon and did not shout it out to Gristies right away (mea culpa), but I am now.
The USDA decision, which affects the way small farmer cooperatives in the Third World are certified, will also dry up supplies of organic cocoa and curtail bananas. So eat your organic Dagoba bars now while they're still available.
It doesn't look like there's a solution right away, though a friend over at PCC -- in Grist's backyard of Seattle -- tells me the solution might be to build certification organizations in local markets. In the meantime, however, certifiers, coffee farmers and NGOs that work in the Third World are perplexed and upset.
I'll be updating over at Chews Wise blog and post any big moves here.
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Good new blog on climate science and communication
Climate scientist Michael Tobis has started a blog, not so much about climate science itself as about the challenges of communicating about it and the bizarre notions about it that remain puzzlingly persistent. Off to a good start.
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Bipartisan bill calls for intelligence assessment of climate impacts
How might U.S. national security be threatened by mega-droughts, coastal flooding, killer hurricanes, food scarcity, and the other ecological calamities scientists widely predict will occur if global warming continues apace? Is climate change the real ticking bomb? Photo: iStockphoto No one knows, but Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) think it’s time to […]
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Crafting a culture of change
Yale University students, staff, and other community members crowded a university conference room yesterday to watch Erika Lesser, director of Slow Food USA, give a talk on the Slow Food movement in America. Lesser spoke pretty generally about Slow Food USA's goals, philosophy, and achievements. The talk was interesting in itself, but there were two aspects that I found particularly significant:
- Lesser made some very interesting connections between Slow Food and American environmentalism (more on this below).
- It was a horribly cold, rainy, awful day, the talk was located in an incredibly out-of-the-way part of campus, yet nonetheless the room was packed.
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The ubiquitous Richard Heinberg talks with Acres USA
Interesting interview with Richard Heinberg about the effects of peak oil on U.S. agriculture, in Acres USA, "A voice for Eco Agriculture."
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A big picture statement the world’s big problems
I’m on a listserv, where somebody made the fateful mistake of casually asking me, "from a Gristy environmental point of view, wouldn’t it be a good thing if fossil fuels ran out?" In return, they received … a whole bunch of words. Then I thought, "hey, wait, I just wrote a bunch of words without […]
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Look, Ma, Green’s on TV!
Discovery and Sundance channels plot green programming Good news: soon you can be green without leaving your couch. Next year, Discovery Communications will start up an around-the-clock channel focused on eco-friendly living. The already-existent Discovery Home channel will be rebranded as Discovery PlanetGreen and beamed into 50 million homes, starting off with a series called […]
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Baby Steps
Dare a mom to live a greener life Christine Gardner admits that few things are less environmentally friendly than kids. So go figure — it wasn’t until she had children that she became inspired to attempt a more sustainable existence. Even when it means waiting for the bus in a hailstorm with her kids, she […]
