By Joe Mohr •
May 9, 2008
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We learned it in Kindergarten–”If you make a mess, CLEAN IT UP!”
Especially if that mess is the gasoline additive MTBE, a possible carcinogen that has leaked into our groundwater. It’s been around since 1979 (ironically, when I was in kindergarten) and is now banned in 23 states, and has not been used by oil companies since 2006.
For more on the 423 million dollar law suit requiring Big Oil to pay big money, check out this article in Grist–after you take a peek my cartoon, of course…
By Ranjit Arab •
March 6, 2008
Editor’s note: Welcome to “Tangled Up in Green,” Red, Green and Blue’s weekly debate over the hot issues in environmental politics. Each week, writers Ranjit Arab and Adam Bowman will “throw down the glove” on current events involving environmental policy, legislation and citizen action. Adam and Ranjit are both graduate students in journalism at the University of Kansas, and currently enrolled in Professor Simran Sethi’s “Media and the Environment” course.
Does the town of Holcomb, Kansas sound familiar?
I’m sure it does if you’ve read “In Cold Blood,” or seen the movies based on the book and its author Truman Capote.
In a perverted way that negative association has been somewhat of a godsend. People remember Holcomb; they immediately recall it as the place where a senseless and unspeakable crime was committed.
Unfortunately, it looks like Holcomb may be preparing for a sequel, featuring yet another heinous act. This time it involves the attempts of Sunflower Electric Corp.—along with several lawmakers—to force an expansion of the power company’s Holcomb facilities, which would include two hazardous coal-burning electric plants.
By Pem Charnley •
February 12, 2008
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/dirF7y3Lrr0″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
It comes as rather a shock to see New Zealanders in the news, arguing amongst themselves about the missing chapter of a report - questioning their very own green credentials. The chapter in question is unfortunately number 13.
(Not overly unfortunate that it was chapter 13, granted, but it allows me to clumsily shoehorn the word triskaidekaphobia into a piece of writing for the first - and hopefully - last time.)
Included in a statement by the country’s Green Party is the following:
“Chapter 13 states some inconvenient truths about the causes of environmental decline in New Zealand – causes such as dairy intensification, increased car use, and consumption. And it makes some inconvenient recommendations for action such as national environmental regulation and more public transport. Moreover it warns our economy is threatened by our poor environmental performance.”
The Green Party’s reaction has been thorough as the accompanying YouTube video shows.
But I’d like to just concentrate for now on dairy farming. It isn’t perhaps at the forefront of many people’s minds when we think of environmental decline. Conjure up the word “cattle” and more often, it is intensively reared beef rather than milk production that causes a reaction.
The U.S. Geological Survey says it’s getting closer to understanding why so many male smallmouth bass in the Potomoc River basin show female egg cells in their testes. The phenomenon is greatest in areas with the highest concentration of people and intensive agricultural development. Researchers are checking if hormones in wastewater and endocrine-disrupting chemicals in farm run-off are to blame.
Image courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service […]
By Lee Welles •
January 6, 2008
Like many of you, I’m very aware that what goes on my skin, in my hair and on my floors and countertops, also goes down the drain and into the world! I distinctly remember a moment, while congratulating myself for using a great, organic body care product, that I looked at the label and realized that bottle had traveled about 3000 miles! Then I squinted and saw that Unilever was distributing the product and I was no longer giving my money to the small, eco-friendly company that I thought I was!
This New York Times article has me again pondering the crossroads of eco-friendly products and economies of scale.
While I’m a big fan of the cleaning power of baking soda, vinegar, Borax and lemons …a decent homemade shampoo is still beyond me! It took me a while, but I found a skin care line that I like; not only because the ingrediants are simple and organic, but because the packaging is recycleble.
By Sarah Lozanova •
November 8, 2007
Chicago’s Mayor Daley declared that the city will be the “greenest city in the world.” This is no small feat. One tool towards achieving this goal is a new green permit program, which offers expedited building permits for buildings with environmental features. The building permit process is shortened to 15-30 business days, with preference given to projects with more extensive green features. Some buildings may qualify for […]
By Sarah Lozanova •
October 25, 2007
What do mercury, cyanide, lead, ammonia, and benzo(a)pyrene have in common? These make up the 1.7 million pounds of pollutants that were dumped by U.S. Steel into Lake Michigan (via the Grand Calumet River) in 2005. A water discharge permit was recently proposed that may reduce or eliminate limits on heavy metals and toxic chemicals discharged by U.S. Steel into the Grand Calumet River, which flows into Lake Michigan.
The
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By Max Lindberg •
June 7, 2007
Image credit: Tena Engelman/National Park ServiceToday we talk about Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement (EASI) programs around the country. It all started in Pennsylvania ten years ago; now, EASI senior volunteers are involved in a wide range of projects, including trying to save a lake in Mexico.
Today's podcast is available here.
