Eugene Linden’s book, The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather and the Destruction of Civilizations (Simon and Schuster) has only been out for a month, but already it’s in its fourth printing. That is, one hopes, an indication that the public’s interest in global warming is accelerating, even as the planet itself is sending increasingly desperate signals.
A Japanese newspaper reported last week that Honda Motor Company, Japan’s third largest automaker, plans to launch the world’s least-expensive mass-produced gas-electric hybrid car early in 2007, a modified version of its popular Fit subcompact model. Consumers in the U.S. can expect to pay under $17,000 for the car–about $4,000 less than Toyota’s popular Prius hybrid–when it is released globally next year. And given the car’s small size and excellent gas mileage projections, Americans can apply generous government tax credits to their purchase of the car, bringing the total cost down to less than $15,000.
To the surprise of those who still view Americans as laggards in terms of alternative energy development, more new wind power generation facilities were installed in the United States in 2005 than anywhere else in the world. According to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), an international trade group which helps promote wind power globally, the U.S. installed 2,400 megawatts—equivalent to the energy produced by five large coal-fired power plants in a year—during 2005 alone.
I never met actor Dennis Weaver, but I sure wish I did. Not only was he anyone’s idea of an environmental hero, he also sounded like a whole lot of fun. The brief obituaries of this well-known actor, who died of cancer at age 81, stressed the part of his life taken up with Gunsmoke and, later, McCloud. They often included only a single line about his activism. "Off-screen, Weaver served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and was a vegetarian and activist for environmental and charitable causes," said one.
Every so often we need to interrupt our regular lives and go off and live in a tent. I don’t say this for the usual benefits associated with camping—the simpler living and getting close to the outdoors, though those things go far in renewing our perspective. More importantly, we need to spend time away from home, constructing a shelter at night, taking it down in the morning and moving on, because that gets us close to a truth we usually deny. We are merely passing through this life.
The one-two punch doled out by Katrina and then Hurricane Rita literally wiped out thousands of promising small businesses—and the jobs that went with them—all the way from Texas to Alabama. Several socially responsible community investment projects are helping shoulder the daunting burden of getting the local economy back on its feet.
For financial, political and environmental reasons—including the fact that we may soon reach the peak of oil production, after which fossil fuels will get increasingly expensive—Americans are trying out biodiesel, both in their vehicles and (mainly in the Northeast) for home heating.
Biomimicry is the concept of looking at natural systems to solve such problems as keeping cool in the heat, recycling toxic wastes or self cleaning. This new science doesn’t involve taking any part from an existing animal or plant, but instead mimicking the means by which the problem has been solved over millennia. Unlike typical human solutions to natural problems, "biomimetics" copy natural designs, which by nature are usually non-polluting and use minimal energy.
If “fat” has become a dirty word in your nutritional arsenal, you should know that all fats are not the same. Some may be harmful, but others are helpful—even necessary—for proper functioning of our bodies. The key is choosing the right fats.
The Christian Science Monitor is reporting that increased concern about global warming in many of the so-called "red" states, which ushered George W. Bush into the White House, will make it tougher for conservative politicians at all levels of government not to favor stronger reductions in carbon dioxide emissions in future elections.
