Cyberglut
Okay, okay, we’re interested in exploring the world out there, but does that mean we have to receive 17 America Online trial discs in a week, each in its own unique shrink-wrapped plastic-and-cardboard package?
How Healthy Is Your House? The Modern Home is No Haven, It’s a Host for Hundreds of Toxic Chemicals
No doubt about it, home is where the danger is. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 50 percent of all our illnesses can be traced to indoor pollution, which is 10 times more toxic than its outdoor counterpart.
Cutting With Conscience
Tired of feeling helpless in the seemingly futile struggle to slow tropical rainforest destruction? Try buying some wood–“certified” wood that is–guaranteed to come from an environmentally “well-managed” forest.
‘Net Profits
Is there anything out there in cyberspace that’s really useful for businesses? The Internet is still a slow, bumpy road for companies trying to find information to help them become cleaner and greener. But there are a few worthy destinations out there.
Cultural Jammin’
Every year, the average American kid watches 40,000 TV commercials. Against that barrage of messages, the tiny but determined voice of The Media Foundation–otherwise known as the Culture Jammers–is struggling to be heard.
Screenland’s Dirty Little Secret
You’re settled into your seat in a darkened movie theater, watching Rocky III. Sylvester Stallone and his young son are at the breakfast table, and the camera moves in on a prominent box of Wheaties. "You gotta eat the breakfast of champions if you want to grow up big and strong," says the fatherly Stallone.
Marketing Madness
A few years ago, a company called Space Marketing, Inc. (SMI) came up with a plan to send a mile-long billboard into space. Coated with reflective plastic, the billboard would beam down a corporate logo that appeared as large as the moon, and as it orbited the Earth, would be visible to every single person on the planet.
Cruising the Green ‘Net
Internet visionaries like to paint pictures of effortless cruising from one exciting, information-packed site to another, but the reality can be more like the "Life in Hell" cartoon showing a zoned-out surfer falling asleep at his keyboard while a file downloads. The good news is that most prominent environmental sites are thoughtfully set-up and include key tools for turning surfers into activists. Space prohibits a complete listing of environmental Websites, but here’s a selected rundown: <hr>
A Paperless Future?
Back when the first PC was plunked down on the first desk, the futurists began talking about the "paperless office." That dream has not been fulfilled, but rising costs are forcing a dramatic reassessment of paper use–made possible by the awesome capabilities of the modern computer.
The Virtual Environment
In his office at WebWorld in Seattle, Roger Adams is working on the United Nations Environment Programme’s on-line action guide for community organizations. He e-mails drafts to the working groups, and is told that the guide needs more material on sustainable agriculture. Adams writes a quick query on his Macintosh and "uplinks" it into a "listserve," which automatically sends it on to 2,000 environmentalists around the world. He goes back to working on his document, with the e-mail program working in the background. Within an hour, a listserve subscriber in South Africa has sent him the material he needs. Adams copies the material into his document, attributes it, and completes a new draft, which he immediately e-mails back to the working group.