Photo Credit: Etienne Boucher
The American people are becoming increasingly aware of what goes into the food we eat. Not just pesticides and other chemicals but also the truth about why our food is so cheap and the repercussions of the current system, both environmental and social. Industrial agriculture has delivered cheap groceries and a greater variety in what we choose to eat; but it has also brought us contaminated meat, carcinogenic hormone-filled milk, and environmental disaster. The cheap prices we see at the market are a farce. The costs that we are averting is being dumped on something or someone else. The article in Time Magazine by Bryan Walsh titled “Getting Real about the High Price of Cheap Food” displays what is wrong with the food we eat and shows how some companies are choosing to do it the right way. Read more…
Photo Credit: Howard Ignatius
Many of us eat fish regularly without realizing that we may be contributing to a major problem. Habitat destruction and overexploitation are the two main problems associated with the fishing industry. In addition to those, toxins and aquaculture can have negative impacts on consumers and the environment. By simply understanding the threats that the marine environment is facing, and being informed on how you can reduce your impact on the marine environment, you can still eat fish but enjoy them in a sustainable way. Read more…
H. Koppdelaney
New green technologies and the desire for sustainable living have become the resource for a new renewable energy project soon to be underway in 2010. The project is known as the Sahara Forest Project, a center that will work as a model for the development of larger scale green complexes intended to be built in deserts around the world. The idea is to provide a sustainable “oasis” for desert communities. Scientists are deliberating between arid sites in the Middle East, Africa, Australia, and the U.S. to be the first to host this experimental facility. As with most new green developments, the project has stirred up controversy amongst environmentalists and specialists. Read more…
A Tiny Village
Kivalina, a minute Inupiat Eskimo village with only 400 residents located just off the Northwestern coast of Alaska, doesn’t have a hotel, restaurant, or movie theatre. But what it does have is a huge lawsuit that might just deal the devastating blow to major greenhouse gas emitting companies needed to change the way the U.S. handles climate change. Kivalina is accusing ExxonMobile, Shell Oil, and 22 other fuel and utilities companies of increasing the global warming which has led to the drastic erosion of the small island’s coasts. In the past sea ice surrounded the island during the winter months preventing heavy wind and wave erosion. However, the sea ice no longer forms due to warmer temperatures. Read more…
Photo Credit: Julie A. Brown
Over the years, vegetarian groups and environmentalists have advocated the policy that “less meat= less heat.” However, that is not necessarily always the case. In the past, cows, other livestock, and their consumers have been cited as environmentally detrimental because of the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from housing the livestock, and the livestock themselves. In 2006, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reported that 18% of the world’s man-made greenhouse gas emissions comes from livestock. Cows especially take the fall because they are fed more energy-intensive feed than other livestock and emit more methane than other livestock. Read more…
Photo credit: Rashida S. Mar B.
With all the recent rain California has been experiencing, L.A.’s approval of the Low Impact Development ordinance last week seems all the more relevant at this point in time. For those like myself who are not familiar with this idea of “LID”, it is a new approach to managing storm water and urban runoff by controlling it at the source with small, cost-effective systems vs. traditional “end-of-line” treatment facilities. Basically, it is one way to mitigate the negative effects of both development and urbanization, while improving water quality and recharging groundwater. Read more…
Photo Credit: Keith Skelton
With the public’s health in mind, the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) proposed a stricter standard for smog-causing pollutants last Thursday. The proposition is designed to set a “primary standard of ground-level ozone of no more than .060 to .070 parts per million,” and would target regions in our nation that have the worst smog pollution such as the Northeast, Southern and Central California, and the Chicago and Houston areas. The proposal is intended to be executed over the next 20 years. Read more…
Photo Credit: Mike Baird
The Arctic Tern, a petit seabird weighing no more than 3.5 oz (.22 lbs), spends the summer months in the Arctic enjoying what little sun it can get before embarking on its incredible 43,000 mile journey across the world and back. A team of scientists from Greenland, Denmark, the US, the UK and Iceland outfitted the birds with “geolocaters” or tracking devices no bigger than the tip of a matchstick and followed the birds on their epic migratory voyage from the Arctic to Antarctica and back again. These minute tracking devices allowed scientists to clearly plot the Arctic Tern’s yearly flight route on a global map, which gave incredible insight into the birds understanding of global wind patterns. Read more…
Photo Credit: James Rickwood
Roger Nelson grew up on a farm and went out on his own to begin renting farmland in 1961. He and his family have continued their farming and had a reputation in their community of meticulous and ethical farming practices throughout the years. Their reputation, however, is now being tarnished as Monsanto (the world’s leading producer of the herbicide Roundup Ready and owner to most of the food seed companies around the world) is accusing the Nelsons of being thieves of their genetically modified soybeans. The Nelsons are among the hundreds of farmers Monsanto is suing, usually on the grounds of patent infringement. However, growers have begun to fight back in the courts, as they say Monsanto has no evidence of this claim. Read more…
photo credit: Christopher Isherwood
A remote part of the Mariana Islands called Maug, is the top of an underwater volcano. This uninhabited island is at peace from human disturbances, but then why are the coral reefs dying?
As you descend underwater about 100 feet you no longer see an abundance of colorful tropical fish. Instead you see the rocky ground covered in a brown slime, which is a collection of cyanobacteria, and coming from these rocks are bubbles that produce acidic emissions. These acidic emissions are the result of carbon dioxide that was absorbed by the ocean from the atmosphere. Since humans have emitted so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the ocean keeps absorbing more and more, which in turn creates an increase in oceanic acidity. These acidic conditions make it difficult for coral reefs and shellfish to survive, since acid breaks down their calcium carbonate shells. Read more…
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