Young urbanites, learning that dirt can also be soil, are using their Carhartts as originally intended.
Archive for the 'Environment' Category
Leaving Behind the Trucker Hat
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 19, 2008
Posted in Career, Economics, Environment, Human Interest, Outdoors, Trends | No Comments »
Where Have All the Salmon Gone?
Posted by Ted Hopton on March 17, 2008
I’m not a fisherman, nor even particularly fond of eating fish, but I have always been fascinated by the amazing migratory life of salmon. They start out in fresh water rivers, migrate downstream to the ocean, adapt to salt water, grow amazingly large, and then return to the same river where they started, swim an exhausting journey upstream to spawn, and then die after accomplishing their life’s mission. Surely there are lessons, inspiration and metaphors for human beings in this animal’s tale.
So this NYT headline caught my eye: “Chinook Salmon Vanish Without a Trace.” Here’s the synopsis:
The Chinook salmon that swim upstream to spawn in the fall, the most robust run in the Sacramento River, have disappeared. The almost complete collapse of the richest and most dependable source of Chinook salmon south of Alaska left gloomy fisheries experts struggling for reliable explanations — and coming up dry.
With the collapse of the fall Chinook, the questions have begun. Is our aggressive, meddling species to blame? Or were there natural causes at work? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Animals, Environment, Outdoors | Tagged: salmon, fishing, chinook, sacramento river, king salmon | No Comments »
Biofuels Power Up Global Warming
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 8, 2008
What is this, Depressing Scientific Reports Day? A billion people are going to die from smoking and now I read in the NYT that the gung-ho drive toward biofuels is doing more harm than good, according to two scientific studies: “Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat.” Where’s a rock to crawl under?
Almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing these “green” fuels are taken into account, two studies being published Thursday have concluded.
Well, we darn well better take into account the full impact of producing any fuel. One of the studies’ authors refers to the prior failure to do this as an “accounting error.” That sounds harmless, but it’s not. It’s one heck of an error: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Environment, Research, Science | No Comments »
Campaign for America’s Wilderness
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 3, 2008
I rarely click on website banner ads, but one caught my eye this morning and I checked it out. I’d suggest it’s worth a look to you, too, if you’re interested in taking action to preserve wilderness areas.
Posted in Environment | Tagged: Environment, preservation, wilderness | No Comments »
Meat and Energy Consumption Go Together Like Meat and Potatoes
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 27, 2008
Here’s a news flash: consumption of meat these days is directly tied to consumption of energy. As Michael Bittman (author of a great cookbook that I own, How To Cook Everything, not that I crack it open often . . .), wrote a provocative article in the NYT, “Rethinking the Meat Guzzler.” The essential premise is, reduce consumption of meat, and the effect on energy consumption would be significant:
The two commodities share a great deal: Like oil, meat is subsidized by the federal government. Like oil, meat is subject to accelerating demand as nations become wealthier, and this, in turn, sends prices higher. Finally — like oil — meat is something people are encouraged to consume less of, as the toll exacted by industrial production increases, and becomes increasingly visible.
Bittman is drawing upon Michael Pollan’s work (which he cites later in the article). It is astounding when you really dig into the interdependent web of industrial food production, energy consumption and global economics, not to mention the impact on human, animal and environmental health. Take, for example, this point: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Economics, Environment, Health, Science | Tagged: Economics, Environment, Food, meat, Science | No Comments »
Michael Pollan On What We Should Eat
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 19, 2008
“An Omnivore Defends Real Food” is a NYT interview with Michael Pollan, author of a truly enlightening book that completely changed my understanding not only of nutrition, but of the entire food industry and economy, especially regarding organic food: The Omnivore’s Dilemma. This interview concerns his latest book, In Defense of Food.
As a health writer, I’ve read hundreds of nutrition studies and countless books on diet and eating. And none of these has contained such useful advice as the cover of Michael Pollan’s latest book, “In Defense of Food.’’Wrapped around a head of lettuce are seven words that tell you pretty much everything you need to know about healthful eating. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.’’
Here’s a compelling quote from Pollan: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Books, Environment, Health, Science | Tagged: Economics, Environment, fitness, Food, Health, Media, Research, Science | No Comments »
Maybe Someday I’ll Climb Kilimanjaro
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 19, 2008
Given my love of literature combined with a growing interest in hiking and the outdoors, I’d have to say that climbing Kilimanjaro would be on my life list. It’s not very high, although I understand the longer I wait, the less the mountain will look like I imagine it from reading Hemingway. This NYT Travel article, “On Africa’s Roof, Still Crowned With Snow,” got me thinking about it today.
Posted in Environment, Outdoors, Travel | Tagged: Adventure, Environment, hiking, Outdoors, Travel | No Comments »
Big Coal in West Virginia
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 18, 2008
I haven’t read this book, and I probably won’t, but the book review in the NYT is pretty compelling in and of itself: “Mountains Into Molehills.” I lived in Kentucky for four years, and once I went on a trip to coal country, where I saw first-hand the kind of unnatural destruction that this book is about. It’s tragic in the truest sense of the word.
Posted in Economics, Environment, Ethics, Politics | Tagged: energy, Environment, Ethics, Politics | No Comments »
