We Americans spend 90 percent of our life indoors. More than half of that time is spent in office buildings, where we toil in workspaces filled with stale, recycled air, and labor under the glare of fluorescent lights, without sunlight or views of the outdoors.
Earth First has been declared dead many times. In 1987, it was founder Dave Foreman, whose years of grumbling became enshrined in movement music as "The Twelve Resignations," sung to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." More recently, the somewhat amorphous movement—which doesn’t agree on much, but achieves consensus on not harming people in its work—was hit with the incendiary "ecoterrorism" tag.
You’d need environmental blinders to believe the horsefeathers retailed in the "Index of Leading Environmental Indicators." Each year, the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and author Steven F. Hayward present these pseudo-scientific "indicators" that claim all is well with the earth. People swallow this hokum because they are, in fact, starved for good green information, and the environmental illiteracy rate in the U.S. is very high.
The San Francisco-based Goldman Environmental Foundation recently announced the six 2005 winners of its prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize.
When Roman Catholic cardinals chose Germany’s Joseph Ratzinger to succeed Pope John Paul II last week, they probably gave little thought to the implications for the environment. That said, though, the Pope, given his influence over the world’s billion Catholics, can play a significant role in environmental issues simply by interpreting Bible passages in one way or another.
When forest fires occur, they can release significant amounts of gases and soot particles (known as “particulate matter”) into the atmosphere, where wind currents can then carry them great distances across major water bodies and national boundaries.
Researchers are uncovering a definite link between environmental pollutants and a growing number of autoimmune diseases. Disorders like lupus, multiple sclerosis (MS) and Type I diabetes are on the rise, says Glinda Cooper, an epidemiologist with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). "It’s very likely that environmental factors play a role in the development of these diseases," Cooper says.
As commercial agribusiness tightens its control, maintaining the right to choose what’s on our plates has never been more important. Since the 1970s, a countercultural seed-saving movement has blossomed in an effort to maintain our biological heritage. Preserving heirloom vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers keeps the world’s available genetic diversity alive.
With summer right around the corner, installing a new deck may be the first step in planning your outdoor events. Fortunately, there are environmentally friendly alternatives to unsustainable and rot-prone wood-based decks.
Given that most of us spend as much as two-thirds of our time at home, our environmental footprints are largely determined by the efficiency of our residential heating and cooling systems and the resources we consume to keep our houses up and running. Now a movement is afoot among real estate lenders to offer special mortgage purchasing programs and incentives designed to reward energy efficiency and sustainable building and restoration.
