Currently browsing Op/Ed

Earth Day is tomorrow. I could give you a song and dance about what you should do (install CFLS, bring own bag to grocery store, move to a wind-powered Ashram), but I’ll spare the harangue. Instead, here’s a list of what not to do on Earth Day. Sure, you won’t be saving the planet, but [...]

Once upon a time, things were made to serve a purpose. Consider the light bulb, the compass, and the cardiac pacemaker. No doubt necessity was once the mother of invention.
Fast forward to the present. What’s happened? It seems that everywhere I go, I’m bombarded with completely useless and unnecessary stuff. Yesterday, someone tried to sell [...]

An enviro-moralism, substantiated by the current sense of ecological responsibility, has permeated modern discourse. Al Gore said, “this is not a political issue… it is a moral one.” One is judged by their use of plastic bags, their vehicle, their light bulbs - their consumption. The idealism has become dogmatized, which in turn allows for [...]

People often ask why I live in Germany and I never really know what to say because the reason I came is not the reason I stay. I came because I received a grant from the Fulbright Association to do research I could have done (less well) in the US. I stay because my husband [...]

Several of my friends have had babies in the last few years, and some are on their second round already. Though it seems to me that there are far too many people on the planet already, it’s difficult to begrudge anyone the basic human drive to reproduce, and my friends’ kids ARE ridiculously cute. I’m [...]

Whenever I start to feel a little cynical (depressed?) about being an environmentalist (i.e. whenever I get the urge to put on some snakeskin sneakers, wear diamonds bigger than my eyeballs, smoke CO2 cigarettes, and hop on my mahogany-furnished private jet to hurtle me and my friends around the world while drinking whiskey made from [...]

First, full disclosure: Unlike Starre, I didn’t watch LiveEarth. Not on TV or in person or on the Internet. It was held, admittedly, for a good cause. But I’m not a huge fan of pop and celebrity, so something about the whole spectacle turned me off. And that’s tough to say because I try hard [...]

Cartoon by John Darkow
A few years back, in the middle of a cultural studies seminar that sidetracked into a tag-team Wal-Mart bash, the woman sitting next to me rolled her eyes. “This argument is so last year. Can we get over Wal-Mart already?” she said. I’m one of the few Americans left who’s never been [...]

While the current Governor of California enacts some positive environmental initiatives, some feel he continues to toe the line of big-business consumerism, exemplifying a smurfy kind of eco-consciousness that allows one to avoid some tougher choices and keep running up that Fred Segal credit card.
Bill Walker of the Environmental Working Group has written a [...]

If you’re the kind of person who wants to hug trees, AND hang out with friends, or is maybe just getting started greening your life and getting political about who’s managing our planet’s resources, then check out 2People . This site isn’t a ‘green’ dating site, there are plenty of those, (though you never know [...]