Veggie "biodiesel" buses are cool with touring bands these days, and sometimes the music also includes a lecture on the benefits of this low-emission fuel. Top players with biodiesel bus conversions include Neil Young, Dave Matthews and Jack Johnson.
I always found it amusing that New York Yankee slugger Joe DiMaggio—"Joltin" Joe," as the sportscasters dubbed him—went on after retirement to stump for kitchen coffee makers. But one thing Mr. Coffee never jolted us with were the real facts about America’s favorite hot beverage.
Americans are putting more of the other-other white meat—fish—on the table than ever before. The average person eats 15 pounds per year. That’s probably good news for a country grappling with growing rates of obesity and heart disease. Eating fish has complex environmental consequences, but several organizations help consumers isolate a range of tasty, sustainable options.
To most casual drinkers, coffee has as much to do with songbirds as chalk does to cheese, but a growing movement centering on coffee’s many political dimensions is beginning, like the caffeine in the cup, to wake up a disinterested public.
E‘s 2004 book Feeling the Heat: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Climate Change (Routledge), based on a special feature in the September/ October 2000 issue of the magazine, reported on many of the connections between intense storm damage and global warming now under discussion in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Colin Woodard described […]
Several organizations have issued consumer guidelines for fish you can enjoy with a clear conscience, fish to avoid, and fish that are cause for concern. "Monterey Bay Aquarium. Has detailed info about each fish and how it’s raised or caught, the health of its population, and links to PDFs of studies. www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp. "Environmental Defense Oceans […]
Congressman Richard Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, introduced legislation that would sharply curtail the power of the Endangered Species Act (see "Fall of the Wild," cover story, May/June 1999). Pombo has long been a vocal critic of the legislation. In his September 19 announcement of the bill, Pombo assailed current legislation for having […]
Some 63 percent of consumers say they will pay a premium for products that demonstrate a positive environmental impact. But the trick for busy consumers often becomes sorting out potential marketing hype from those brands that make a real difference. That’s why coffee certification is such a hot-button issue.
"Clean and Green" New Zealand struggles with many contradictions, including high cancer rates (see "Clean and Green New Zealand is a Study in Environmental Contrasts," May/June 2003). Today, New Zealand’s endangered national bird, the kiwi, is facing further peril.
As many of the world’s most important commercial fish populations have collapsed, fish farms have stepped in to fill the void. Marine aquaculture has more than doubled in size over the past decade, and now accounts for nearly 20 percent of the world’s seafood supply. The fast-growing industry has also triggered some environmental problems, but now it appears to be solving many of them.
