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This bears repeating

Warning: there is no merit, journalistic or otherwise, to this post. But recently, while looking through my nephew's Ask magazine -- a cool science rag for kids -- I learned a little something. It seems new research shows that pandas pee on trees while doing handstands. (And hey, if the BBC's reporting it, it must be news.)

In this gloomy world, when all talk is of climate change and other catastrophes, let us simply take a moment to savor that.

Yes, clothes really do make the activist

If environmentalism is dead, then that ratty sweater has to go, too. Ditto for sandals as everyday footwear — only one man ever pulled off that look, and that was during King Herod’s reign. One more thing: piling your dreads under that knit cap makes your head look like a Jiffy Pop about to explode. […]

Deathy deatherstein

The other problem with all this hooey is that [The Reapers] look at the bunch of suits we got in San Francisco and Washington DC and say, "This is the movement." It's like the blind tourist who touches the elephant's ass and decides the elephant is rather like stale doughnut.

That is one of many priceless lines from "Is Environmentalism Dead, Or Are You Just Stupid?" by Mike Roselle. If the title alone doesn't make it obvious: You should read it.

Umbra on moving to Canada

Dear Umbra, Did you really move to Canada? Did you get resident status? How hard was it to do? ValerieMiddleburg, Va. Dearest Valerie, I haven’t actually moved to Canada. I was being dramatic (lying) and I apologize to all who were duped by my ruse. I was also deeply touched by the hearty if unnecessary […]

A cautionary note

I have been hard on climate-change skeptics on this blog, as I think is entirely appropriate -- most of them have a political ax to grind, and if they want to grind it they should just grind it, without distorting science in the process.

But.

Those of us who would like to see a broad shift toward sustainability should also be wary of trying to use climate science as a magic wand to get what we want. While the basic fact of anthropogenic climate change is fairly well established, there remains considerable uncertainty about the how much's and the when's and the why's. I don't doubt that CO2 plays a big part, but I must confess I'm a bit suspicious of the notion that simply modulating this one variable gives us reliable control over something as extraordinarily complex as climate. I suspect as time goes on the real story will turn out to be much more complicated.

On that note, I would (with some reservations) recommend this post by Philip Stott. I disagree with Stott about a lot of most things, but his cautionary note about the difficulty of separating science from the predilections and preoccupations of the current cultural zeitgeist is well taken.

(Via Jon Christensen)

The Cradle-to-Cradle Will Rock

Smart, eco-friendly design making inroads in the business community The seminal 2002 book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart, inspired a slogan for 21st century designers: “Pollution is a symbol of design failure.” They proposed that every material used in manufacturing should be capable […]

AAA for Effort

Legislation would force EPA to get realistic about fuel-efficiency stats A bill debuting in Congress today would require the U.S. EPA to revamp its gas-mileage tests to more accurately reflect real-world driving conditions. Currently the EPA determines mileage ratings for vehicles by using 30-year-old tests that allow vehicle engines to get warm, never push the […]

You Say Tomato, I Say Hidden Costs of Transport

Locally grown food greener than organic, British study says Though organic farming is relatively easy on the environment, buying locally grown food, even the pesticide-sprayed variety, is usually more earth-friendly than buying organic, a new study contends. Published in the journal Food Policy, the study found that the transportation of food over long distances — […]

Consider this

Oft-villified sneaker behemoth Nike has introduced five new styles that tread a little lighter on the earth. Part of a new line called Nike Considered, the casual shoes and boots are part of the company's effort to examine ways to reduce waste, eliminate toxic substances, and follow their image consultants' advice to atone for that whole small-children-working-in-sweatshops-in-foreign-countries thing:

Among other changes, the Nike Considered shoes are largely made with materials found within 200 miles of the factory, to cut down on fuel consumption in transporting them. The leather comes from a tannery that recycles wastewater to ensure that no toxins are released into the environment, and it is pigmented using vegetable dyes. Hemp and polyester are used to make the shoe's woven upper and shoelaces. The midsole is cut to lock into the outer sole, lessening the need for adhesives in constructing the shoe. The shoe's outer sole includes recycled rubber.

Bubba, we hardly knew ye

It all started innocently enough. Well, sort of. Nantucket lobstermen hauled up a 22-pound crustacean and sold it to a market in Pittsburgh. The owner, awed by the clawed -- which was nicknamed Bubba and estimated to be 100 years old -- decided to donate it to the local zoo. On Tuesday, the big fella arrived there, and promptly swam to the big trap in the sky.

Lobster author Trevor Corson has a few thoughts about the misguided effort to "save" Bubba, and conservation guidelines in Maine that would have left him in the sea to begin with.

P.S.: You know what would be funny? Dead lobster gummi candy.