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The New College Try
Maine college is first to pledge carbon neutrality College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, has pledged to become the first college in the U.S. to go carbon neutral. New president David Hales announced in his inauguration speech Sunday that the tiny college will avoid, reduce, or offset all greenhouse-gas emissions generated by campus […]
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Keep on Hawkin’ in the Free World
Chemical-laden products banned by other nations are sold throughout the U.S. To protect their citizens from dangerous chemicals, the European Union, Japan, and other nations have tightened their environmental standards for hundreds of manufactured products in recent years. Meanwhile, the U.S. EPA hasn’t restricted any industrial compounds since an unsuccessful attempt to ban asbestos 18 […]
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Jonathan Rosenthal, fair-trade fruit purveyor, answers questions
Jonathan Rosenthal. What work do you do? I am the top banana at Oké USA, a new fair-trade fruit company owned by farmers, fair-trade organizations, and nonprofits. What does your organization do? Oké USA is a new model of fair trade that links farmers, fair-trade organizations, and eaters. Farmers get a fair price, a fair […]
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Documentary on massive sweatshops in Tijuana airs Tuesday on PBS
Get out your day planners, people. On Tuesday, Oct. 10, (that's next week) at 10 p.m. (but don't trust me, check your local listings) PBS partners with Grist to present Maquilapolis, a documentary about the hidden costs of cheap electronics and the realities of life for Mexican maquiladora workers. (And you thought I was only interested in brain-numbing reality television ...)
The term "Maquilapolis" refers to the "city of factories" in Tijuana, Mexico, where huge warehouses turn out televisions, electrical cables, toys, clothes, batteries, and medical equipment. And the film is focused on the workers in those factories: women like Carmen Durán (pictured at left, photo: David Maung). From the film's website, here's a brief glimpse at what life is like for Carmen and other maquiladora workers:
