The War on Bugs
For anyone else who digs on books that examine how PR shapes public perception, Will Allen’s new book, The War on Bugs is the latest in a genre that includes The Best War Ever and Toxic Sludge is Good for You. Instead of the now-tired observation that much of our…
Eco-Chick Does Mountain Jam
With festival season upon us, my friend, Amy, called a few weeks ago to tell me that I was going to meet her and her friends at Radio Woodstock’s Mountain Jam in Hunter, New York on the first weekend in June. I’d already seen the lineup (with Gov’t Mule and…
Is Green Too White?
In a recent article, “Beyond Eco-Apartheid,” Van Jones of Oakland’s Ella Baker Center for Human Rights asks, “Is the environmental movement too white?” According to Jones, “The LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability) sector is growing like crazy…but unfortunately [it] is probably the most racially segregated part of the US…
Local Economy: Lost In Translation
Plato: Eco-Hunk When I was an undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts, I wiggled into a two-semester Greek class at Smith College. Although I had to deal with occasional condescension from the bona fide Smithies, the hours I spent reading Plato in the original Greek are among the things I…
Castro on Climate Change
Eco-Hunk Fidel Castro This might be old news to everyone by now or it might never have been news at all, but Fidel Castro recently wrote a piece called “Where Have All the Bees Gone?” following Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lulu da Silva’s meeting with George Bush at Camp David…
The Men of Real Climate
For anyone who’s interested in learning about “climate science from climate scientists,” Real Climate is a good resource. Contributors are all experts in their fields–ranging from geochemistry to oceanography–and include lead authors on chapters of the IPCC TAR (Third Assessment Report, 2001). I like Real Climate for a lot of…
Deep Economy: Q&A with Bill McKibben
When Bill McKibben wrote The End of Nature in 1989, it was the first popular press book to address global warming in a meaningful way. Since then, McKibben has not only carved out a career as an environmental journalist; he has become one of the most steadfast and trustworthy voices…
Andrew Revkin and the NY Times
With all the recent global warming coverage in the mainstream media, I find it reassuring that some journalists, though certainly not enough, are writing about the implications for people who live in poverty. Environmentalism—whether we’re talking about climate change, organic food, or access to green space— is a class issue.…
Luminous Fish
This afternoon I managed to catch MR2, the radio show of the Massachusetts Review, broadcast from WMUA at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The guest was Dr. Lynn Margulis, there to talk about her latest book, Luminous Fish, just released from Vermont-based independent press Chelsea Green. Margulis is best known for…
The Good in Goodwill
One of the advantages of living in a city where the distribution of wealth is so disproportionate and patently unfair is that lots of rich people throw away lots of nice things. If you are a scavenger or a dumpster diver by principle, then Los Angeles is a good place…
