Green Options

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Editor’s note: What does the opening of a McDonald’s in Beijing have to rising food prices in the US, or food riots in other parts of the developing world? Plenty, according to Jen Humphrey, a student in Professor Simran Sethi’s Media and the Environment course at the University of Kansas. This post was originally published to the course blog on Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

Anyone else find this photo creepy?

Something about the sunglasses, I guess. Or the export of American culture.

The photo depicts clowns who were on hand to celebrate the opening of a McDonald’s in Beijing, and it was part of a New York Times article about the company’s record profits in February. McDonald’s profits jumped 11.7 percent internationally, fueled in part by Leap Year sales but also the weak U.S. dollar. You can get more Mac for your Yuan these days.

I’d like to use that story to play the Six Degrees of Separation game. But instead of people, in this instance, I’d like to look at the short distance between food news. We know McDonald’s is doing well – that’s one data point. Let’s put another marker by the story that University of Washington researchers determined that calorie for calorie, junk food is way cheaper than good-for-you food. According to the researchers, who compared foods in major grocery stores in the Seattle area, you pay $1.76 per 1,000 calories for sugary, fatty foods that have the most calories, but you pay $18.16 per 1,000 calories for the lowest-calorie foods (which are most often better for you, such as fruits and vegetables).

For those with an appetite for cultural exchange, Seoul offers all the trappings of a cosmopolitan city: Starbucks, the ubiquitous Irish pubs, and, of course, the real gem of international cities–Mexican restaurants.

But hold on. You’re the type who wants to help make the world a better place. Frappuccinos, Guinness, and burritos are not the be all and end all of cultural exchange. Then you’ll be happy to know that environmental values are making their way into Korea as well.

Many Koreans are taking note of the global environmental movement, which is already in full swing in much of the world, with increasing interest.

In off-topic and environmentally unrelated news, the 600-year-old southern gate of Seoul has burned to the ground. Investigators suspect faulty wiring or perhaps an arsonist is to blame. Since it’s safe to guess that most people haven’t been to Seoul or its southern gate, let me offer some context.

Seoul is a very old city but you would hardly guess that today; the city is as modern as they come. During the Korean War in the 1950s, large parts of the city were destroyed. Many cultural treasures in both north and south Korea were leveled. Many symbols of Korea were targeted to destroy troop morale.

A “coal family” is a term I use to describe more than our source of income. Like many industries, there is a whole community and culture surrounding coal. In fact, given the remote regions where mines are often located, I would argue that coal industries create a unique and particularly strong culture. This has been true in Appalachia for over 100 years. […]

The outlook for the environment is not all doom and gloom. Environmentalists, scientists, and lawmakers have led the way in overcoming significant, even planetary, environmental crises in the past and we will probably continue to do so in the future.

In fact, in many ways, there is more reason for optimism for the fate of our species and the planet now than at any point in the last several centuries. These are the […]

Americans eat more than a ton of corn every year. Literally, a ton. Right now, you’re thinking, "There’s no way. No one eats that much corn, even in August." Well, that ton is not really corn in its unsullied, fresh-from-the-field, bought-at-a roadside-stand form. Nor is it in its canned-creamed-or-not form. Most of the corn we eat is in the form of processed additives and sweetners. Green Options’

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Voting, it turns out, may be good for the environment. The World Resource Institute asserts that "a growing literature supports the idea that political freedoms may be as important as economic factors in improving environmental quality." So if you’re concerned about the state of the environment, make sure that you’re expressing your political freedom by voting. (Remember, without registering at least a few weeks before an election, you can’t vote — even

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By: Gavin Hudson

Most of us never question our decision to buy and drive cars because we identify cars with our culture. “Driving is what people do.” That’s been the unspoken motto of the last handful of generations and it’s the lesson we’re teaching our children. Handing over the keys to the car is our society’s rite of passage. We send our youth out onto roadways with thousands of other vehicles, each thundering around at up to 80 mile/hr (130 km/hr) and weighing as much as 40 tons (36,000 kg). Unlike most other dangerous rights of passage around the world, ours is visited upon children of both sexes. Those who make it home at the end of each day face the challenge of paying to own their vehicle — a life-long financial burden that averages between $250,000 and $360,000 per person, according to Motor Trend magazine.

Last night, I got behind the wheel of a car for the first time in a long time. I’ve never owned a car, and being in one usually makes me feel about as secure and comfortable as a vegan in a steak house — but not last night. There was the rush of independence in the autumn evening and a flood of old driving memories: going over the Golden Gate bridge, sneaking out at night from my parent’s house to court an old girlfriend, rolling through the countryside in a Mustang convertible, and making late night drives to the city with friends. I felt connected to a culture that I’ve tried so hard to eschew: the gas-guzzling, oil-pumping culture that stretches far and wide across freeway-laced landscapes.

After a long absence, I was again in touch with this culture — the auto-loving tribe of the developed world. I felt an affinity for all of these people in cars. They were people just like me: riding in their metal boxes, clogging freeways and roadways with red tail lights, like blood in the veins of some gigantic algal life form strapped to the land.

I feel good in the driver’s seat, and then I take a wrong turn. That damn truck won’t let me back into the lane. Somewhere inside me, the red arrow on my stress gauge crawls up a notch. I pull into a parking lot so that I could turn around, still thinking more or less benevolent thoughts. But now who does this guy in front of me think he is? Could he walk any slower? I’m in a stick shift, so to go any slower I’d have to come to a complete stop and switch into first gear. Finally, I have enough room to drive by, but I no longer feel goodwill toward all men and women.

Makena Brown, grade 8, has a plan to help keep the planet healthy and make money, too. Makena collects all of her family’s recyclables and stores them in the back yard. About once a month, she and her family load up the car with the many bags of bottles and cans and take them to the local recycling center. Because it’s her project, Makena gets to keep the money paid by the recycling center

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Living in San Francisco most of my life, I feel very spoiled by the amount of attention and high level of interest and support we have for the green movement.

Most recently, the City of San Francisco and partnership with non profit LightsOutSF.org has issued a "Lights Out" ordinance from 8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. The city’s landmarks like Alcatraz, TransAmerica building, and parts of our lovely bridges will shut off their lights to announce the importance

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As a species, we must look pretty silly in a number of ways. Here are fifteen weird things we do from a squirrel’s point of view, along with some daily ways that we can be a little more like the other animals.

15. We spend as much effort packaging our food as finding and eating it. So much of our food these days comes pre-packaged that we don’t think twice about it. In order

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