There is a Grinch out there, trying to steal Christmas, and he lives in the People’s Republic of China. While Dr. Seuss" Grinch stole all the toys, this new Grinch has merely contaminated them. Though China isn’t diabolically plotting to rip out the heart of American culture, its unfettered capitalism has turned our marketplace into something akin to the lawless Wild West.
There is a Grinch out there, trying to steal Christmas, and he lives in the People’s Republic of China. While Dr. Seuss" Grinch stole all the toys, this new Grinch has merely contaminated them. Though China isn’t diabolically plotting to rip out the heart of American culture, its unfettered capitalism has turned our marketplace into something akin to the lawless Wild West.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), the Silicon Valley venture capital firm famous for bankrolling such high-tech success stories as Sun Microsystems, Compaq Computer and Google, trotted out Al Gore as its newest partner.
The international non-profit World Conservation Union/IUCN added Asia’s sun bear (Helarctos malayanus), to its Red List of the planet’s most endangered species. Researchers estimate that only about 10,000 individual sun bears, the smallest of the world’s eight bear species, remain across the its Southeast Asian range from India to Indonesia.
Dear EarthTalk: Where does all the medical waste from labs, doctor’s offices and hospitals go? Does it just get put in a barrel and buried? Do they dump it in the oceans? With all the waste that is probably generated, it would be interesting to know where all those vials of blood and stuff go.
Dear EarthTalk: The impacts of all the paving that is done for new roads and parking lots must be considerable. Other than Joni Mitchell’s "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" issue, what else is this activity doing that will come back to haunt us?
Querido DiálogoEcológico: Me han alarmado las noticias recientes sobre sustancias peligrosas enjuguetes infantiles hechos en China, aunque dudo que tales preocupaciones esténlimitadas a los productos chinos. ¿Cuáles son los temas importantes asociadoscon los productos químicos en los juguetes del niño?
Querido DiálogoEcológico: ¿Cuáles son las mejores fuentes deproductos de consumo respetuosos del medio ambiente? No quiero tener queconducir al fin del mundo para encontrar productos de lavado ecológicos, yotros ítems de limpieza, o hallar alfombras, artículos de cama, y otras necesidades que no traeránproductos químicos a mi hogar.
Dear EarthTalk: I have been alarmed at recent news about dangerous substances in kids" toys shipped to the U.S. from China, though I doubt that such concerns are limited to Chinese products. What are the major issues associated with chemicals in child toys?
Dear EarthTalk: What are the best sources out there for environmentally friendly consumer products? I don’t want to have to drive all over creation for green laundry and other cleaning products or to find carpets, bedding and other necessities that won’t bring chemicals into my home.
"A market for low-carbon fuels can produce a rare convergence of business, agricultural, and environmental interests that, if pursued wisely, could represent a "win-win-win" opportunity," promises the report Biofuels: An Important Part of a Low-Carbon Diet, released this month by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Querido DiálogoEcológico: ¿Todos hemos vistola generación actual de coches híbridos, pero qué vehículos tienen losfabricantes de coches en el futuro cercano que son incluso más verdes?
Querido DiálogoEcológico: Recientemente tuveun argumento con un amigo que dice que si contaminamos y talamos los bosques,no importa porque la tierra se las arreglará de todos modos. ¿Cómo se deberíaresponder a tal punto de vista?
We are standing on a balcony outside Iceland’s Hellisheidi geothermal power plant, newly built on the side of an active volcanic mountain in Hengill. It’s pretty cold, but we are wreathed in warm steam that started out in the center of the Earth. Some of the turbines have been humming since 2006, but the plant is still under construction, on its way to producing 300 megawatts of electricity and (beginning in 2009) 400 megawatts of heat energy to warm factories and households.
