Articles by Sarah K. Burkhalter

Christian Peacemaker Team members being held hostage

The Green Party of the United States just sent out a press release alerting enviro groups to the situation of four Christian Peacemaker Team members being held hostage in Iraq. One of the CPT-ers is also a member of the Virginia Green Party.

CPT "places violence-reduction teams in crisis situations and militarized areas around the world at the invitation of local peace and human rights workers." Delegates, traveling unarmed and without bodyguards, are not there to evangelize or "fix" anything, but to be a peaceful presence. They understand the inherent risk of visiting violent zones and willingly take it in their conviction to make a peaceful difference.

This hits close to home for me as I've had close friends, a pastor, and an uncle go on CPT delegations in the recent past. If you pray, please pray -- if you petition, please petition.

Additions to Grist’s gift guide

You can't have too much of a good thing. This became apparent after the publication of the Grist Gift Rapt gift guide, when eager readers began inundating us with further suggestions for gifts. Hence I, one half of the brilliant Sarahs who brought you the gift guide, have taken it upon myself (at the urging of my editor, whose advice I have love to follow) to offer up more gift ideas. Because really, you can't have too many gifts! (Calm yourself, hypersensitive non-consumers, it's a joke.)

Eager reader Brad suggests International Snow Leopard Trust. ISLT is also Seattle-based, and we heart all things local.

Eager reader Susan suggests Heifer International. Surely your peeps would rather have a water buffalo given in their name than be given an actual water buffalo.

Eager reader Kent suggests Boll Organic. Organic cotton men's dress shirts, wOot!

Eager reader Becky suggests Ithaca's Gorges, an organic-chocolate company that gives a portion of proceeds to sustain land in the Finger Lakes area. Insert funny "giving them the finger" joke here.

What else, eager readers? Our gift guide, while astoundingly good, was by no means comprehensive. What eco-gifts are you getting your loved ones this season? Heck, we'll even take suggestions on what to get our hated ones. We're open to anything. Comment away!

Is the fuel efficiency of hybrid cars worth the extra money?

Anybody thinking about selling their old car and buying a hybrid should check this out: Brandon U. Hansen at OmniNerd calculates the monthly gas savings of trading in your current vehicle for a hybrid; how much you'll need to take out in a loan; monthly payment of the loan compared to current car payment; and (voila!) a pretty graph showing the "maximum economically justified hypothetical hybrid sticker price vs hypothetical hybrid gas mileages for various gas prices."

The post considers lots o' info about hybrids, and comes to the conclusion:

While no "green" person would ever advocate buying a hybrid for purely economic reasons, it is painfully obvious that existing hybrids lack the ability to make up for their steep prices with gas savings.

Bummer. According to this, at least, hybrids don't yet have the right appeal to the typical American consumer.

Maybe you knew that already. But aren't the equations and graphs cool? I think so; then again, I used to do long division for fun.

A super-enviro band

My friend Kevin loves the band Cloud Cult, and so, apparently, does everyone else. I haven't heard their music, because ... no, I have no good excuse. But I think they're my new favorite band. From their site:

All profits, after expenses, of Cloud Cult CD sales and performances are donated to environmental charity work.

Instead of creating new plastic, Cloud Cult's CD is packaged in cleaned reused jewel cases (the band painstakingly hand cleans thousands of cases for each CD release). These used jewel cases are donated by the box-load to Earthology Records from all over the nation.

Earthology is located on a small organic farm in Northern MN, is powered by geothermal power and wind energy (Windsense Project), and the recording studio is built from recycled and salvaged materials.

Cloud Cult CD inserts and print materials are on 100% postconsumer recycled paper and printed with nontoxic soy inks by a local family owned print shop.

Cloud Cult's CD shrink-wrap is not the industry standard toxic PVC. It is environmentally benign LDPE and is packaged by Goodwill Industries, a nonprofit focused on assisting handicapped individuals. Through its relationship with the University of IL, Earthology will soon be packaging all materials in a 100% earth-friendly shrink-wrap, made of nontoxic biodegradable corn cellulose.

Check them out.