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Cigarette company targets environmentalists

Although I'm no fan of the cigarette companies, I have to give credit where credit is due. They have often been on the cutting edge of advertising and marketing. Marlboro made it cool for men to smoke, Virginia Slims made it cool for women to smoke, and Camels made it cool for -- well, let's not go there.

Flipping through Newsweek the other day, I came across an ad for American Spirit. Since I'm a non-smoker, I didn't realize there was a cigarette company marketing itself as the "organic" cigarette manufacturer. As I was rolling my eyes at the advertisement, a silver lining emerged from the cloud of tobacco smoke.

From Cooling to Cooing

Burn, baby, burn The Nevada desert is hot. So, coincidentally, is the planet. Enter Cooling Man, an online carbon calculator for this week’s Burning Man arts festival (which features such sweet creations as the electric cupcake-mobile.) “We think Cooling Man is pretty cool,” says one overbaked burner. And of course, by “overbaked,” we mean “sunburned.” […]

Love of Labor

Grist takes Monday off to celebrate Labor Day You know those bumper stickers and T-shirts that say “organized labor: the folks who brought you the weekend”? Clever stuff. Well, organized laborers are also the folks who brought you this weekend: Labor Day weekend. To celebrate all their hard work, we’re taking Monday off. We suggest […]

A Touch of Class

New York schools will clean green Kids in New York will breathe easier this fall, thanks to a new law requiring schools in the state to purchase environmentally friendly cleaning supplies. “It’s well documented that when you clean up the quality of the air we breathe indoors, students’ attendance rates go up, attention spans in […]

How Ultra-Low Can You Go?

California makes the jump to ultra-low sulfur diesel Starting today, on-road and off-road diesel vehicles in California will fill up with ultra-low sulfur fuel. California is leading the pack on this issue (natch); the rest of the U.S. will require on-road diesel vehicles to go ultra-low starting Oct. 15, but won’t require off-road vehicles to […]

Not Management Material

BLM slacks on environmental monitoring in Wyoming For the past six years, the Bureau of Land Management has been slacking on its commitment to assess and limit the impact of natural-gas drilling on wilderness in western Wyoming, says, um, the Bureau of Land Management. A leaked internal assessment for the BLM’s Pinedale, Wyo., field office […]

Enviros are split over Lieberman vs. Lamont

Progressives around the country cheered when Ned Lamont knocked out Sen. Joe Lieberman in Connecticut’s Democratic primary last month, but some enviros held their applause. Joe Lieberman. Photo: Paul Morigi/ WireImage Lieberman — now running as an independent in an effort to hold onto his seat — has, by most accounts, been a standout leader […]

Summit aims to ask experts your questions about the environment, other issues

Next week, 112 great minds will convene at the world's first international thought summit. The monumental undertaking [PDF] by nonprofit dropping knowledge is "dedicated to moving people from apathy to activity through the simple act of asking questions." The summit, Table of Free Voices, will take place in Berlin's historic Bebelplatz square Sept. 9 and will bring together experts from a wide range of fields to answer questions submitted in video form by the public.

Questions already culled by dropping knowledge range from the practical, "How can we discuss global problems when we do not know how to solve local ones?," to the environmental, "Will children grow up in an environmental wasteland?," to the emotional, "Are you scared?"

The questions chosen for the experts span eight global themes, including "The Human Footprint" -- which focuses on energy, ecology, and sustainable ways of life. Though it could be argued that all eight themes involve issues that affect the environment in some way.

The authors of Limits to Growth were right, 30 years ago and today

Write about peak oil, environmentalism, or any kind of resource constraints to enough people, and you'll eventually meet someone who stopped reading books after 1973. That is, this person -- male or female -- will remember one thing, and one thing only: The Club of Rome published The Limits to Growth in 1973, and the results were mocked, dismissed, and eventually disproved by the glut and economic expansion of the 1980s and 1990s.

Students could win 25K, Earth Day concert for ideas on greening campus

mtvU, MTV's 24-hour college network, and GE this week announced they are partnering to present college students with an eco-challenge. Their mtvU GE ecomagination Challenge asks students to get their creativity on to propose projects that will "green" their campuses. The winner of the challenge (which is open to teams and individuals) will receive $25,000 toward making those ideas happen. And the winner's school will host an mtvU Earth Day Concert and Festival in Spring 2007. If that won't boost your popularity around campus, I don't know what will.

Complete rules and regulations will be available starting tomorrow, but I do know that they will be accepting submissions until Dec. 1 and will then pick the top 10 entries. Those projects will be profiled on the Challenge website and some will be featured on various other mtvU outlets. Students will be able to play a part in the voting process, and the winner will be announced in March 2007.

Here's a tip from the press release: "mtvU and GE are especially looking for ambitious and innovative projects that considerably better the overall environmental health of campus, are cost conscious and practical, and push the creative boundaries of "green" thinking."

So get to thinking about how you can green your campus. And while you're at it, look around that dorm room of yours. A recent Philly Inquirer story notes that green decorating ideas seem to be taking hold at schools across the country. And this New American Dream site offers an interactive guide for shopping green when you head back to school this fall.