What on Earth is this “Slow Food” movement I keep hearing about?
Italy’s Carlo Petrini founded the “Slow Food” movement in 1989 in response to the opening of a McDonald’s at the Spanish Steps in Rome.
What are some ways to maintain a “green” swimming pool?
The primary health and environmental drawbacks to swimming pools are water waste, energy waste and overuse of chlorine. Chlorine is very irritating to the eyes and skin, and can trigger breathing difficulties by also “stinging” the sensitive tissue of the lungs.
We’ve Known Rivers
Langston Hughes wrote a very moving poem about rivers, later set to music by saxophonist Gary Bartz. Paraphrasing, it says, "I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins
I’ve known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers."
I”ve heard that human population is actually shrinking
There is indeed a population shortfall trend developing in Western Europe, Russia and Japan. In Ireland, for instance, families have an average of 1.8 children today, slightly below the “replacement level” of two children per couple.
UK Sustainable Development Commission Warns that Blair is Adrift on the Environment
The head of Britain’s Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) last week issued a report stating that the Blair government is not changing fast enough to keep pace with the environmental problems facing that country and the world at large. Sir Jonathon Porritt, chairman of the SDC, said that Blair’s central objective remains conventional economic growth rather than the well-being of society and the planet as a whole.
Despite High Gas Prices, Americans Keep on Driving
With gasoline prices reaching new highs, analysts would expect Americans to limit consumption by reducing the number of miles driven. But overall growth in the economy means that people have more expendable income to pump into their cars" gas tanks, and as a result Americans are driving more miles than ever.
Report Accuses Bush Administration of Wasting Billions on Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Research and Production
Despite the end of the Cold War, the Bush administration is spending 12 times more on nuclear weapons research and production than on nonproliferation efforts to retrieve, secure and dispose of nuclear weapons materials worldwide, according to an analysis of Department of Energy programs released last week by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
Bush Aide Takes Aim at Kerry
President Bush’s campaign chairperson, former Montana Governor Marc Racicot, said Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry is an environmental extremist whose policies would kill thousands of jobs.
Are there toothpastes on the market that don’t contain chemicals or artificial sweeteners?
Most conventional toothpastes use saccharin as a sweetener. Although it has not been proven that saccharin causes cancer in humans, many studies have linked it to cancer in laboratory animals, and some experts, including Dr. Samuel Epstein of the University of Illinois Medical Center and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, recommend that consumers avoid it.
Ford’s Great Escape?
The Ford Motor Company’s chairman, Bill Ford, great-grandson of founder Henry Ford, was celebrating a moment of rather personal triumph. Long the environmentalist-in-chief at the company, Ford had pushed for and won approval for a 35-40 mile-per gallon (mpg), <a href="http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm">gas-electric hybrid</a> version of the small <a href="http://www.fordvehicles.com/escapehybrid/index.asp?bhcp=1">Escape SUV</a>.