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Jun
29
White House and Stonewall
June 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment
HERE IS an obvious question — if somewhat tasteless in its phraseology: is the White House stonewalling on LGBT issues?
Well, yes and no. On one hand the LGTB community feels progress is not being made quickly enough:
[Obama's] relationship with the LGBT community still seems uneasy. On June 22, 77 members of the House signed a letter to President Obama asking him to sign an executive order to stop the military from any further discharges under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
On June 25, demonstrators picketed outside a pricey gay Democratic fundraiser to send a message to the keynote speaker, Vice President Joe Biden. According to a White House pool reporter on the scene, about 50 protesters held up signs saying, “No Money for DOMA,” “No Money for DADT,” and “Gay Uncle Toms.”
Jun
21
Signs of the times
June 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment
IN THE US Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has resigned from a women’s club to avoid controversy and accusations of participating in behaviour which encourages discrimination of any kind.
“I believe that the Belizean Grove does not practice invidious discrimination and my membership did not violate the Judicial Code of Ethics, but I do not want questions about this to distract anyone from my qualifications and record,” the 54-year-old New York federal appeals judge wrote.
The American Bar Association’s judicial code says that a judge’s extrajudicial activities “must not be conducted in connection or affiliation with an organization that practices invidious discrimination.”
Read the full CNN story
The Belizean Grove is an elite women’s social club for influential personages from the military, financial, and diplomatic sectors. It is invitation-only and is the female equivalent of the male-only social group, the Bohemian Club.
May
12
Stepping up to the plate
May 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment
THIS week the Belgian city of Ghent earns more green points with its decision to lead by example to cut down the consumption of meat:
Starting this week there will be a regular weekly meatless day, in which civil servants and elected councillors will opt for vegetarian meals.
Ghent means to recognise the impact of livestock on the environment. The UN says livestock is responsible for nearly one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, hence Ghent’s declaration of a weekly “veggie day”.
Read the full BBC News story
Read
- David Cronin asks how long before the EU wakes up to more responsible farming and less meat consumption?
- E/The Environmental Magazine makes the Case Against Meat
- Find out more about the results of a 10-year study on the risks associated with eating red meat
- New Scientist outlines the climatic cost-effectiveness of cutting down on eating meat
May
2
Wind farm radar saves migrating birds
May 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment
ALTHOUGH CONSERVATIONISTS are skeptical about the effectiveness of radar to detect flocks of birds and shut off wind turbines if migratory paths intersect with the energy farm, it’s a solution worth investigating and refining.
While the tech can be made to work, some detractors wonder how the use of radar will be implemented and whether bird safety will always be put ahead of peak wind conditions and the resulting revenue that would be generated if the turbines were not shut off.
Skepticism is not necessarily misplaced, but should not discourage further research and innovative approaches to protecting wildlife. It’s so much easier to simply naysay an idea than to come up with an effective alternative solution.
A wind farm in southern Texas, situated on a flight path used by millions of birds each autumn and spring, is pioneering the use of radar technology to avoid deadly collisions between a 2,500lb rotating blade and bird. [...]
Apr
22
Happy Earth Day
April 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Apr
2
Be trashy, build with plastic
April 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment
A greenhouse made of plastic bottles at Byker Farm, Newcastle Upon Tyne. Photograph: hayley green/Geograph/Some rights reserved
THESE DAYS all the talk is of sustainable living and that means — amongst other things — growing your own food. Tropical climates are just peachy for luscious fruit harvests and abundant vegetable fare, but how does your garden grow under six feet of snow?
Enter the plastic greenhouse, a variation on the traditional glass design. The upside of this canny construction is you get to use up some of those 2.5 million plastic bottles that just Americans throw away. Every. Hour. That’s about 60 million. A day. In the US alone.
The time comes in every gardener’s life when you start to hanker after a greenhouse: for overwintering tender exotics, raising tomatoes and just pottering about in. For most of us it’s a substantial investment, but if you’ve got the time, some willing helpers and hundreds of plastic bottles, there’s a much cheaper alternative: the plastic bottle greenhouse.
Mar
30
Biochar, threat or therapy?
March 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment
IN HONOUR of Earth Hour, I figured today would be a good time to Gaia up on the latest in the green scene. Reading about the controversial biochar-to-save-the-world (George Monbiot argues against the miracle-cure view, unlike James Lovelock, quoted below, and Jim Hansen) I came across Gaia Vince and her blog Wandering Gaia, Dispatches from the frontline of climate change.
Vince has embarked on a remarkable mission:
In October, I quit my job (at the science journal Nature) to go on a journey. I want to visit the people, animals, plants and places that will be most affected by the impacts of climate change. Some are already feeling the effects, including the Inupiat Eskimos of Alaska. Some may perish altogether — goodbye to the nursery frog of northern Queensland, Australia — or survive but with loss of home, land or culture, such as the population of Tuvalu. Others may do well from the change, experiencing better crop production for example. [...]
Mar
30
Lights out, in images
March 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I LOVE boston.com’s The Big Picture — there are always truly awesome images on display.
The coverage on the site for Saturday’s powerdown doesn’t disappoint: watch as the lights dim for Earth Hour on 16 of the 17 images, starting with Hong Kong (javascript must be enabled).
Drum roll, please: this is Big Picture’s Earth Hour 2009.
Mar
28
Live unplugged: Earth Hour 2009
March 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment
YUP, THAT time of the year again. On Saturday March 28, 8.30pm you get to make a choice: sit on your sorry ass watching TV waiting for the microwave popcorn while the dishwasher does its best with baked-in whatever and the sprinklers are going full ball in the garden (and if you’re living in California, you’re looking at mandatory rations / fines if you’re not careful, bud). Or.
You can live life unplugged. It’s only for an hour. You probably won’t need therapy.
Actually, I bet you’re way ahead of me on this one and probably far more earth-aware than the caricature who appeared at the top of this post.
Aren’t you?
Mar
4
Power to this chocolate factory
March 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment
HERE’S AN alternative fuel that doesn’t hit the headlines often: cocoa bean shells. Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH) and premium chocolate maker Lindt USA are collaborating in an experiment to reduce the amount of coal used — and emissions — to power the chocolate factory by burning the shells. The ratio of shells to coal is still tiny (1:33), the monitoring of emissions is ongoing and it remains to be seen whether some of the machinery, made to crush coal, is suited to the mixture. But it could be the start of a beautiful solution.
“We’re hoping for no change or less in the emissions, so it will be win-win situation for everyone,” said Felicia Giordano, senior environmental coordinator for Schiller. “In this day and age, this is a step in the right direction for a cleaner future for New Hampshire.”