Climate Culture

Is it really a savior for smallholder farmers in the global south?

In the latest Victual Reality, I addressed the "eat-local backlash" — the steady trickle of media reports seeking to debunk the supposed social and environmental benefits of eating from one’s foodshed. Some of the charges are easy to refute. Hey, in Maine, it takes more energy to produce hothouse tomatoes in January than it does […]

A virtual world

I scream, you scream, we all scream for an orangutan selling ice cream. On WWF’s virtual island in online world Second Life. From the press release: On Conservation Island, if residents "buy" an ice-cream from Mr Tangee, the orangutan who runs the ice-cream van, they will have the chance to learn that plantations to provide […]

Eco-events all over the world

There's a rash of "greener" fashion weeks popping up everywhere for the spring 2008 fashion season. And there must be an alignment of the stars or the higher workings of an omnipotent green god, because there is barely any overlap in dates. If you were so inclined, it would be possible for you to attend every single one of the shows listed below -- though the jet lag and carbon emissions from such an excursion might leave you feeling a bit ... restless.

I'll be in Seattle, Paris, and New York, and maybe San Francisco, so please drop in and say hello if you are nearby.

As enthusiasm for the green design movement continues to grow and the market becomes more robust and sophisticated, it is my (secret) hope to dethrone the Karl Lagerfelds of the world, who went on record to say, "If you want social justice, be a social worker."

Down, down with the status quo. Hear, hear for revolution.

Grist presents lists of eco-notable people, places, and things

15 Green Actors 15 Green Buildings 15 Green Business Founders 15 Green Cars 15 Green Chefs 15 Green Cities 15 Green Colleges 15 Green Fashion Finds 15 Green Fashionistas 15 Green Movies 15 Green Musicians and Bands 15 Green Politicians 15 Green Religious Leaders 15 Green Sports Stars

Don’t pretend to write about this stuff out of concern, please

A while back, a guy who writes for a magazine called Radar emailed to alert me of his "exclusive" discovery that Barbara Streisand is totally a hypocrite!!1! I replied, in so many words: eh. Apparently it struck a nerve, as he has now gone on to pen an opus that strains mightily to convince us […]

From Lohan to Lovin’

Paparazzi can you hear me? “I feel like the asshole, the idiot, because I feel like I’m distracting from the other things that are important, like global warming and that kind of stuff.” We hear ya, Lindsay — we had that same problem, until we listened to Leo. Photo: Tony Barson / WireImage.com Raising the […]

Cats are the canaries of PBDEs

This is my cat, George. He is fat and grouchy, but I love him. He likes to sun himself on the patio.

This is a link to Sightline's research on PBDEs, toxic flame retardants. A couple of years ago, we conducted a study of PBDEs and found high concentrations in the breast milk of nursing mothers throughout the Pacific Northwest. It was bad news.

And what's the connection to George? Well, new scientific research shows that PBDEs are making house cats sick. (Major hat tip here to Lisa Stiffler, ace environmental reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, who covers the story in her blog today.)

From a summary of the study:

PBDE concentrations in blood serum of the 23 house cats participating in the study were 20-100 times higher than the median levels of PBDEs in people living in North America, who have been shown to have the world's highest human PBDE levels.

PBDEs are long-lived. They're found in foam cushions, TVs, computers, carpet pads, curtains, you name it. It's thought that we humans get our exposure to PBDEs through house dust, which often includes crumbled bits of foam and other goodies. Same goes for cats: researchers believe that felines, with their obsessive-compulsive grooming, are literally lapping up the toxic compound. And many cats (George included) eat a lot of fish, which tends to have high concentrations of toxics, too.

More high-tech solutions for low-tech ideas

I first mentioned “neighborrow” a few weeks ago, in a column on the virtues of sharing. This week, we’ve got an interview with neighborrow founder Adam Berk, who gives us some background on how and why he started the site in his New York apartment building. The basic premise of neighborrow is that it makes […]

Complaints Choir looking for members

Got good chords? Got stuff to bitch about? The first official U.S.-based Complaints Choir is forming in Chicago, and they’ll be debuting on Nov. 3. The Complaints Choir is performance art — people send in their complaints about life, the world, the environment, whatever’s pissing them off, and then everyone gets together and makes a […]

Current TV wants to know

Current TV wants to know. Tell them here.

And while you're at it, check out the :60 Seconds to Save the Earth Ecospot Contest on the Current site. The best short video message crafted to inspire action against climate change will win a Toyota hybrid, plus exposure on Current TV, MySpace's Impact Channel, and more. The contest is sponsored by Current TV and the Alliance for Climate Protection, in partnership with Grist.