I'm
delighted to have the honour of hosting the 50th edition of the weekly
Carnival of the Green, a multi-authored round-up of the past week's
news and ideas on the environment and sustainability. The Carnival was
founded and is managed by City
Hippy and Triple
Pundit, and you can find out all about it (and where it will
be hosted in future) at their sites. Last week's carnival was hosted by
Total Tactics,
and next week's will be hosted by Groovy Green.
If you have submissions for the Carnival, send them to carnivalofgreen
(at) gmail (dot) com.
Biofuels
Not The Answer: The near impossibility of finding easy oil
these days doesn't stop oil companies from literally looking between a
rock and hard place to extract it--with dire costs for the environment.
Elsa at the greener side reports from a panel of green thinkers who tout
biofuels as the answer. But is there enough will to pave the
way for cleaner fuel on a massive scale? Experts say time is running
out. Elsa's article also provides more grim news on the environmental
holocaust being created in Alberta by tar sands development.
Hydrogen
Not the Answer, Either: Pablo at TriplePundit explains
that, despite interesting developments by EEStor in hydrogen storage, the
'hydrogen economy' still faces large technology problems and
infrastructure ramp-up challenges before it can become a reality.
When
'Off' is Not Off: Penny Nickel at Money and Values
explains how unplugging
appliances saves money and cuts pollution. Just turning off
appliances that operate in 'standby' mode can consume 40% of the energy
they consume when they're 'on'. So follow Penny's advice and plug 'em
all into a power strip with surge protection and then turn the power
strip off.
Dealing
with Environmentalists by Merging Them with Non-Environmentalists:
Lancashire England's Save the Ribble river group is justifiably worried
that a move to merge the South Ribble Borough council with the Preston
City Council will
drown out environmental voices in the former in favour of the
louder pro-development voices of the latter.
Killing
the Antarctic Ecosystem to Feed Fish Farms: Kara Davis
points to an article by Alexandra Cousteau at EarthEcho about
aquaculture, the growing demand for krill, and what that means for
penguins, seals and whales. 'Factory
trawlers' in the Antarctic are sucking up huge amounts of krill as feed
for fish farms, depleting whole areas of the Antarctic of a
key animal in the ecosystem, and threatening everything in the food
chain above it.
Getting
Your Omega-3 Without Mercury, and Without Eating Fish:
Biologist Sally Kneidel at Veggie Revolution considers this week's new
article in the Journal of the American Medical Association about
mercury in fish. Is it safe to eat? Where does
mercury come from? And what are modern fishing fleets doing
to our oceans? The post includes links to sites that evaluate
which
fish are safest to eat, for health and for ecosystems.
Finding
Diamonds Without Blood: Elisa at Hip & Zen just
got engaged (congratulations!) and then got conflicted
about the source of diamonds and other ingredients of her
engagement ring. The story has a happy ending as an ethical jeweler was
found.
Altria/Kraft
Tries to Greenwash Their Coffee: Coffee &
Conservation analyzes the new Yuban campaign, claiming to be Green by
meeting the Rainforest Alliance's minimum standard (30% RA-certified
beans). But 30% is far short of 100%, and RA-certified
is far short of Fair Trade, and the other 70% of this
not-so-green product is who-knows-what from who-knows-where produced
who-knows-how. Not good enough.
Seventh
Generation Embraces Systems Thinking and Biomimicry: In an
interview in Treehugger, Gregor Barnum, director at Seventh Generation
(natural household products and cleaners producer) explains how they've
adopted Otto Scharmer's Presencing U and the principles of Biomimicry
in product design and innovation.
An
Environmentally Friendly University: Vihar at GreenRising
describes the changes that Washington
University (St. Louis) has made to lower its ecological footprint,
reduce pollution, and conserve energy using solar sources.
Vote
Yes on California Prop 87: Sludgie describes the
vociferous and well-financed opposition to this proposition -- which
would tax
energy consumption to fund renewable energy research -- by
Big Oil and other right-wing groups.
Flies
Bad, CO2 Not So Much: David Ng at SCQ draws a whimsical analogy
between flies and CO2, and contrasts public sentiment towards
the two.
PVC
Really Bad:
PT at Why Travel to France explains all the reasons -- dioxins produced
in manufacture, carcinogenic effect, bioaccumulation, toxic additives,
and prevalence in construction of homes and offices -- why we should
stop using PVC and mandate use of any of the many safer alternatives
available.
Recycling
Leaves, and Paper: Aaron at GroovyGreen tells you why you
should mulch
or compost your leaves instead of bagging them for removal,
and Steve tells you how to make your workplace greener by reducing,
reusing and recycling paper, and bringing in your own mug
instead of using styrofoam.
...and Recycling Plastic Bags, Too: Nina at Queercents has researched what we can all do with the mountain of plastic bags we get from grocery and other stores.
Two
Views on Elephants Driven to Madness: Josh Rosenau at
Thoughts from Kansas comments on the NY Times Magazine article about
the violence being perpetrated by elephants due to stress and social
breakdown. He likens
their behaviour to that of suicide bombers, and describes it
as entirely rational, not psychotic behaviour. I agree with the
analogy, but in my article earlier this week I ascribed the behaviour
to the reaction
of all creatures to extreme population stress (in this case
due to reduction in their habitat). While Josh thinks neither the
elephants nor suicide bombers are 'crazy', I think they both are, and
for very similar reasons.
Is
God Green?: The Evangelical Ecologist is tracking the responses
from various religious groups and viewers to Bill Moyers' PBS
program on the Green movement in US religious circles. Grist
is also following, and expanding, the debate. The Evangelical Ecologist also links to the Conservation Fund's Carbon Zero Calculator.
Ten Ways to Take Better Care of the Land: My own contribution to this week's Carnival summarizes the results of a seminar on effective land stewardship put on by our local conservation authorities.
Thanks to all the Carnival regulars and guests for the submissions,
which make the host's job easy.
And for new visitors to How to Save the World, if you're just
interested in my articles on the environment and sustainability (and
not all my other ramblings on business, politics etc.), please bookmark
this
category page and come back and visit often! |
MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
