Schwarzenegger: Fake Environmental Hero?
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…
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…
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.…
Paper or Paper
San Francisco might be the first U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags! The ban (if passed) would require the use of compostable or recyclable bags by grocery store and large pharmacy chains in the city. It is estimated that 180 million plastic bags are distributed annually in the city…
Can You Go No Impact?
Image by Nicole Bengiveno for the NYTimes Fascinating article in the NYTimes about a family in Manhattan who is practicing a “No Impact” (on the Earth) lifestyle. Of course, his family were uberconsumers to begin with, and now they’re going cold turkey: Colin Beavan, 43, a writer of historical nonfiction,…
Conglomeration Fascination
First Sirius and XM, and now there’s a merger of Wild Oats and Whole Foods! Apparently, it’s because the natural foods supermarkets are experiencing so much pressure from other retailers who sell organic food, like Wal-Mart. For an in-depth businessey analysis, check this out. On one hand, Whole Foods has…
Oscars Still Light Green
Well, the Oscars are over, and while there’s just no way that a party this big can be environmentally-friendly, efforts were made to make this Oscar greener than ever (though the website doesn’t detail exactly how impacts were reduced), it says: This year, the Academy, the Oscar telecast producer Laura…
Greener Printer: eco-friendly printing
As a graphic designer (print based), I’m aware of the huge impact commercial printing has on the environment. Luckily, there are great eco-friendly copiers and commercial printing systems out there like Greener Printer in Berkeley, CA who can help reduce the impact of printed materials. You may also use grand…
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…
Cooperation between Big Business and Environmental Groups
What do DuPont, National Resource Defense Council, and Lehmen Brothers have in common? Normally not too much…but now they make up 3 of the 14 member strong US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), launched in January of this year. The Partnership was formed to address global warming and emissions where the Feds…
