Climate Revolution

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Shoes representing protesters at the climate talks summit in Paris last year. Andre Larsson/NurPhoto, via Getty Images

Thanks to Mr. Godoy and Mr. Jaffe for this strong, clear and compelling statement:

We Don’t Need a ‘War’ on Climate Change, We Need a Revolution

Eric S. Godoy and Aaron Jaffe

This year is on track to become the hottest ever recorded, and a growing number of environmentalists are using a particular type of language in response. Some are calling for a huge “mobilization” to “combat” climate change. In an article in the New Republic in August, Bill McKibben, the unofficial spokesperson of the climate movement in the United States, insisted in very literal terms that, we are at war with climate change. Continue reading →

Quail Eggs & Food Culture

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Quail eggs have fewer calories than chicken eggs, and with their higher protein ratio two or three can make for a surprisingly hearty breakfast. PHOTOGRAPH BY WOLFGANG KAEHLER / LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY

This post on the New Yorker’s website is a good sample of what has changed about the writing style, among other things, in the changing food culture of North America. We have left out the first half of the post, which is not for the squeamish in general and certainly not for animal rights activists. Yet, it is realistic, honest, transparent and alot of other things that our global food systems have not been in the last century:

QUAIL, THE QUIETER BACK-YARD EGG OPTION

By

…In her book, “The Coturnix Revolution,” Alexandra Douglas makes a convincing case for quail’s superiority over chickens: they are less expensive, take up less space, and convert feed into edible protein more efficiently. Not only is a quail cage quieter than a coop of squawking chickens, it can be small; a square foot is plenty of room for a single quail. Continue reading →

Crowdrise

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Today’s New York Times has an article that brings Ed Norton’s Crowdrise to our attention, both article (click headline below) and website (click image above) worth a look:

Charity That Begins With Spaghetti Sauce

By JANET MORRISSEY

06celebritygiv-norton-blog427Edward Norton recognized Paul Newman the philanthropist before discovering Paul Newman the actor. As a teenager, he watched his mother buy Newman’s Own products at the grocery store and was impressed that all profits went to charity.

“I thought — why would you buy any other spaghetti sauce if you can buy one where all of the net profits go to a kid’s cancer camp?” said Mr. Norton, who starred Continue reading →

Nestle, No Thanks

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“The issue is the privatization of a critical resource. How much is too much?” said Jeff Ostahowski, vice president of the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation.Steven Depolo / Flickr

If the company’s history was full of better examples of environmental stewardship and social responsibility, maybe this news would not disturb us so much:

Nestlé Plans Dramatic Expansion of Water Privatization in Michigan, Just 120 Miles From Flint

By Lauren McCauley

The state of Michigan has reportedly issued preliminary approval for bottled water behemoth Nestlé to nearly triple the amount of groundwater it will pump, to be bottled and sold at its Ice Mountain plant, which lies roughly 120 miles northwest of the beleaguered community of Flint.

“Nestlé Waters North America is asking the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for permission to increase allowed pumping from 150 to 400 gallons-per-minute at one of its production wells north of Evart,” MLive reported on Monday. Continue reading →

Dutch Methane Capture

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Agriculture produces about 10% of the Netherlands’ greenhouse gas emissions. A new project will help capture methane emissions from Dutch dairy farming. Photograph: Julian Stratenschulte/EPA

Thanks to the Guardian for this:

Poo power: Dutch dairy industry launches €150m biogas project

Will a scheme to turn cow manure into biogas help the Netherlands lose its reputation as the ‘bad guy’ of Europe when it comes to agricultural emissions?

The air smells fruity, slightly alcoholic. Against the strong hum of machinery, 175 cows are eating hay. As their dung drops to the slatted floor, a machine sweeps it through and it runs underneath the barn to a futuristic dome outside. Continue reading →

Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?

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Neiman Marcus is selling collard greens for over $60, this holiday season. Neiman Marcus/Screenshot by NPR

As an election season in the USA, full of existential questions with no good answers, comes to a close we are presented with the puzzling offer of this retailer, which is not exactly existential but kind of akin to it:

Neiman Marcus Is Selling Frozen Collard Greens For $66 Plus Shipping

MERRIT KENNEDY

Luxury department store Neiman Marcus is well-known for its opulent holiday offerings.

For example, its “Christmas Book” holiday gift guide is offering his-and-hers “Island cars” for $65,000 each. And a trip to castles in the U.K. for eight will set you back a cool $700,000. Continue reading →

Chauvet & Chevalier

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The World’s Oldest Art

BY  On Tuesday, Thurman received the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. Revisit her 2003 story on the Chauvet cave.

The New Yorker’s website invites you to celebrate news also cited by Art Forum about a writer who we have not cited here frequently, but whose most famous article (click the link above) is one of our favorites, and the film treatment of the same topic also had our attention; plus her francophilia is strongly shared among us:

Judith Thurman Receives the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters

Yesterday, Judith Thurman—author, French literature scholar, and staff writer at the New Yorker—was conferred the insignia of chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by Bénédicte de Montlaur, the French Embassy cultural counselor. The ceremony took place at New York’s Payne Whitney Mansion. Continue reading →

Better Coverage Of Standing Rock

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Robyn Beck /AFP/Getty Images

An important story deserves full coverage, for as long as it requires:

More Than 1 Million ‘Check In’ On Facebook To Support The Standing Rock Sioux

It’s a show of support for the tribe that has been rallying against construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which the tribe says could contaminate drinking water and harm sacred lands

By Merrit Kennedy

More than 1 million people have “checked in” on Facebook to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation page, in a show of support for the tribe that has been rallying against construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Continue reading →

Preparing For Cleaner Air

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Photo © Kevin Arnold

Thanks to Cool Green Science for this:

Planting Healthy Air: Can Urban Trees Help Clean Up Pollution?

BY ROB MCDONALD

Every report has a genesis, an initial conversation that sprouts an idea that grows into a research study. For me, one of those moments was a phone interview I had with a professor at King’s College in London, about the somewhat goofy idea of gluing pollution to roads. Continue reading →

Lessons In Urban Water Conservation From Down Under

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Residents of Melbourne, Australia, reduced their water consumption during the long drought and effectively saved the city from running dry. Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

Thanks to the New York Times for this tutorial, provided at city scale, on more sensible management of natural resources:

Australia’s Lesson for a Thirsty California

Sylvia Rowley

MELBOURNE, Australia — On his first visit to Melbourne in 2009, Stanley Grant, a drought expert and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Irvine, had a question for his taxi driver.

“How’s the drought?” he asked.

“It’s about 28 percent,” came the reply.

Grant was puzzled. But shortly afterward, they drove past an electronic road sign announcing that the city’s reservoirs were indeed at just 28 percent of capacity. Continue reading →

False Equivalence, Exhibit A?

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02dakota1-master675We are concerned about false equivalence journalism, especially on environmental topics, so we have read this story twice before highlighting it. The human interest attraction is meant to be heightened by including the law enforcement perspective.

02dakota2-master675One of the most respected journalists of our time, however, seems to have committed the error right on the heels of an obviously awkward parallel story that serves as a perfect cautionary tale for false equivalence. We still recommend reading it, so you can decide for yourself:

The View From Two Sides of the Standing Rock Front Lines

By JACK HEALY

CANNON BALL, N.D. — The prairie is seething. Work crews are plugging ahead on the 1,170-mile Dakota Access oil pipeline, inching closer and closer to a river crossing that activists view as a critical juncture in their months long fight against a $3.7 billion project that they say will threaten water supplies and that Native Americans say violates their right to sacred land. Continue reading →

Fish, Nutrition & Progress

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Americans are often chastised for what we eat. Now we’re getting a pat on the back. A new report finds seafood consumption is up by nearly a pound from the previous year, the biggest leap in 20 years. fcafotodigital/Getty Images

Thank to the salt, at National Public Radio (USA) for this news:

Hey, Looks Like Americans Are Finally Eating More Fish

CLARE LESCHIN-HOAR

…According to the annual Fisheries of the United States Report released by NOAA last week, Americans increased their seafood consumption to 15.5 pounds of fish and shellfish per person in 2015, up nearly a pound from the previous year, making it the biggest leap in seafood consumption in 20 years.

“It’s terrific news,” says Tom Brenna, professor of human nutrition at Cornell University and a member of the 2015 Dietary Guideline Committee. “We’re moving in the right direction.”

It’s a rare nutritional pat-on-the-back for Americans, who routinely get chastised over their diets, but the good news comes with some caveats. Continue reading →

Northeastern USA Will Remain Greener, Longer, Thanks To New Protection In Maine’s Backwoods

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Thank you Maine and thank you federal government of the USA:

Touring Maine’s Newest — and Largest — Parcel of Federal Land

By MURRAY CARPENTER

On an early fall day, with just a hint of red tinting the maples, the view from the summit of Deasey Mountain is spectacular.

To the west stand the rugged, treeless basins and knife-edge spine of Mount Katahdin. Off to the south, you see Wassataquoik Valley in the near distance, the peaks of the 100 Mile Wilderness beyond. To the east and north, more wild Maine woods and hills rolling for miles, to the Canadian border. Continue reading →

Changing Values For Anglers

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Humpback chub. Photo © George Andrejko, Arizona Game and Fish Department

We appreciate the perspective Mr. Williams brings to the story:

Recovery: Humpback Chubs, New Values and New Hope for Endangered Native Fish

BY TED WILLIAMS

There are “undesirable fish,” “rough fish,” and “trash fish.” Humpback chubs, native to the turbulent, turbid water of the Colorado River system, are all three. They compete with nonnative gamefish like brown trout from Europe and rainbow trout for the Pacific Northwest. If you catch a humpback chub, you should squeeze it and toss it into the bushesSuch was the counsel I and my fellow anglers received from our elders and the fisheries management establishment until the 1970s. Continue reading →

Dakota Access & Fairness

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Chief Arvol Looking Horse, spiritual leader of the Sioux nation, leads his people to peacefully pray near a law enforcement barricade just outside of a Dakota Access pipeline construction site. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

It looks hypocritical from our vantage point:

Dakota Access pipeline protesters see bias after Oregon militia verdict

Activists at the Malheur wildlife refuge were carrying guns – but ‘if native people were armed, we would be killed,’ says an activist at Standing Rock

in Cannon Ball, North Dakota

Johanna Holy Elk Face couldn’t help but chuckle. The 63-year-old Native American was one of hundreds of activists gathered to block construction of the Dakota Access pipeline on Thursday, when police with tanks and riot gear surrounded them and began making mass arrests. Continue reading →

Chan Chich Lodge, According To Fodor’s

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fodors-belizeA guest recently left a copy of this guidebook and I just picked it up. After my puma sitings yesterday and today, I am not surprised to read what one of the most respected travel guides has to say about Chan Chich Lodge:

Arguably the best lodge in Belize and one of the top lodges in all of Central America, Chan Chich is set in a remote, beautiful area … with 12 rustic yet comfortable cabañas. Just outside your door you’re likely to encounter legions of tropical birds and wild animals, even jaguars Continue reading →