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Learning from Frogs

2009-06-28T17:08:04Z

Three and a half years ago, the editors of NRDC's quarterly magazine OnEarth published a particularly arresting cover image of a chubby baby boy. The special report he illustrated was also particularly arresting: "Hundreds of man-made chemicals are interfering with our hormones and threatening our children's future."

Our cover story that quarter was about endocrine disruptors and the proven dangers they present to both humans and other species. Since then NRDC's scientists have blogged repeatedly about this threat; search "endocrine" on Switchboard and you get five pages worth of entries.

I write this not to toot NRDC's horn (although a bit of tooting is certainly warranted!) but to note this morning's New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof regarding endocrine disruptors. In describing what he calls a "potential health catastrophe," he writes about "bizarre deformities in water animals, often in their sexual organs."

"Apprehension is growing among many scientists that the cause of all this may be a class of chemicals called endocrine disruptors. They are widely used in agriculture, industry and consumer products. Some also enter the water supply when estrogens in human urine -- compounded when a woman is on the pill -- pass through sewage treatment systems and then through water treatment plants."

While sobering, I'm glad to see Kristof pick up this theme and issue a call for action. NRDC is behind a legislative fix and you can learn more about our work in this legislative fact sheet: "The Time Has Come for Reforming the Toxic Substances Control Act."

"The U.S. law to control toxic chemicals is a failure. Essentially unchanged since 1976, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has made it almost impossible for the EPA to get information on the health or environmental risks of industrial chemicals, or to restrict the use of dangerous substances. Chemical companies are rarely required to test the toxicity of their products, are allowed to shield critical information from the public, and are able to sell even dangerous products under an "innocent until proven guilty" approach to regulation. As a result, the TSCA has been ineffective-regardless of the administration in power. However, recent developments have created tremendous opportunity for chemical policy reform."

Stay tuned as we continue to push for reform of this legislation. As Kristof writes this morning, "deformed frogs and intersex fish -- not to mention the growing number of deformities in newborn boys -- should jolt us."

More Nature, Suburban Style

2009-06-08T22:48:27Z

In recent weeks, I've discovered an affinity for gardening. For the first time, the mosquitos and the bugs and the heat haven't deadened my will to get my hands dirty. I've especially come to appreciate the experience of pulling weeds and have spent several conference calls on the days I telecommute wandering through my garden, ear buds in place while pulling stilt grass or garlic mustard.

We've also taken a keen interest these days in what we're choosing to plant, trying to pick native species that are attractive to pollinators, particularly the imperiled bee. We installed a simple fountain after I read that bees are attracted to running water. And we're even trying fruits and vegetables this year. (For an excellent background blog on what's happening with the world's bees, see my colleague Josh Mogerman's recent Switchboard post on honey laundering.)

We can't take credit for originally planting the enormous rhododendrons that have exploded across our property, but we are trying to take good care of them. It's heartening to see the rhodos swarming with bees and even a butterfly here and there.

Tim captured a few shots from the bee buffet. First up is a shot of bulging pollen sacs.

Next is a bee in flight. Catch that stinger!

This guy is pigging out head first.

And finally another pollinator.

Photos by Tim Weaver.

Squishy Rock

2009-04-28T01:55:04Z

I took a day off today and spent a good portion of it with Tim as we put the results of the latest shopping trip into the ground and in terra cotta pots on the deck. In the late afternoon, as the sun finally began to set on a freakishly hot April day (92 degrees was the high), I saw what I thought was a pretty rock on the railing.Only this rock was fairly squishy and on closer examination it had eyes.

We've never seen a toad on our deck before. Could it have been drawn by the water we were splashing onto the plants? Or was it just hanging out in the shade of a newly planted pot? He wasn't revealing much, but Tim took a great photo.

Nature, suburban style.

The New Energy Economy: Stories from the Frontlines

2009-01-21T14:38:33Z

A few days ago, a tanker truck worked its way up my driveway and plugged into my propane tank. About a thousand dollars later, it pulled away and slipped off to make its next delivery.

Nothing newsworthy there. That’s typically how most fuels are delivered either to a home or a gas station. But Steve Cowell and Conservation Services Group, the firm he runs in Massachusetts, have long had a different vision for fuel delivery. CSG focuses on energy efficiency and, as Ashok Gupta, Director of NRDC’s Energy Program says, “CSG is one of the best at delivering energy efficiency, especially in the affordable housing sector."

“Delivering energy efficiency” is a new term for most of us and it can be a mind twister. The idea is that by making our homes more efficient, we can, in effect, give ourselves fuel. At very low cost. Instead of megawatts, some describe fuel efficiency as delivering negawatts or creating fuel from nothing.

I recently spoke with Steve, who is a member of Environmental Entrepreneurs, a national community of individual business leaders who, working closely with NRDC, advocate for good environmental policy while building economic prosperity. Like many of us, he's focused on the current recession and what it will take to revive the economy.

Steve traces much of the current economic turmoil to the energy prices that soared last year. “The housing crisis,” he said, “was begat by the energy crisis.”

“Energy prices pushed homeowners over the edge,” Steve explained, adding that he fears what could come next after the Obama Administration and Congress begin to pump money into the economy. “As we get out of a recession, energy prices are going to go up again,” he said. “We need to lop off the next spike. We can’t allow our economy to lurch from recession to an over-heated state.”

One way to get stability, Steve said, is through better energy policies. And one way to get to better energy policy is through energy efficiency.

Steve says that delivering efficiency – taking steps to weatherproof homes offices, install better insulation, smart thermostats and energy-sipping appliances – is equivalent to putting an oil rig in every front yard. “Compare efficiency to drilling,” he wrote in a recent Huffington Post blog, “and it's clear that we can save more oil by insulating and weatherizing homes in the Northeast than we could ever produce by drilling in the entire outer Continental shelf.”

And at a fraction of the cost. With the economic benefits accruing here in the United States as opposed to the Middle East or Venezuela. One of the most interesting things about CSG and others like it is that they are hiring. “Our workforce has increased 30 percent this year,” Steve said. “Fifty jobs in the last two months. And many of them are refugees from the construction trades.”

After talking with Steve – and getting that propane bill -- we went on a bit of an efficiency tear in our house. We covered some of our draftier windows, bought gaskets for our electrical outlets and unplugged a VCR that hasn’t been used in years. I put my home office on power strips so that when I’m done working, I hit one switch and everything powers down, including my new and adored printer/scanner/fax.

Sitting at my desk talking with Steve, I realized how idiotic and wasteful we’ve been about energy. I’m optimistic that increasing numbers of us – from regular folks like me to our new President, state and business leaders across the country -- are coming to that same realization. In fact, I’m pretty sure that smart energy will be the story of the early part of this century. The technology is there, the political will is increasing and as a people, we’re ready. Very ready.

Breaking News: Utah Leases Blocked

2009-01-18T03:15:42Z

Update, 11:31 eastern, from the NRDC News Release:

More than 110,000 acres of Utah wilderness will be protected from oil and gas companies as a result of a ruling last night by Judge Ricardo M. Urbina of the U.S. District Court. Judge Urbina granted a temporary restraining order that prevents the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from moving forward with these land leases. A coalition of environmental groups -- led by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Wilderness Society, and Earthjustice -- filed a lawsuit on December 17, 2008 to prevent the leasing of public lands.

"This ruling is a huge victory in protecting our nation's pristine wildernes from destruction due to oil and gas drilling," said Sharon Buccino, senior attorney for NRDC. "The case will now be heard in court, and we will do all we can to permanently protect Utah's wilderness."

Original post:

The Bush Administration's attempt to lease some of our most treasured lands for oil drilling was blocked today by a federal district.

District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina issued a temporary restraining order against the Department of Interior's efforts to lease land that NRDC Trustee Robert Redford calls "one of America's few remaining wildnerness places."

Citing Winter v Natural Resources Defense Council, Juge Urbina offered four reasons when a federal court can issue temporary restraining orders:

Likely success on the merits.
Likely irreparable harm in absence of preliminary relief.
The balance of equities "tips in his favor."
That an injunction is "in the public interest."

In the remainder of his five-page ruling, Judge Urbina discusses why NRDC and the other environmental groups who sued are likely to succeed on each of those points.

The ruling, as Sharon Buccino, the Director of NRDC's Lands Program, noted in an email is a "great win."

Stay tuned for continuing analysis and next steps in this remarkable last-gasp case against the Bush Administration's failed stewardship of our public lands.

Why We Need a Good Obama Speech and Soon

2008-12-17T15:10:33Z

Call me a masochist. I've been doing some reading of Jimmy Carter's speeches lately and I'm struck by two points: he called for all the right stuff when it came to energy policy, but, and most importantly, he fell completely flat in inspiring us as a nation to rally and cut our energy use and our dependence on foreign oil.

I heard last night from an influential environmentalist and NRDC trustee. She wondered if NRDC is truly pleased with the environment and energy officials chosen by President-elect Barack Obama and said: "I just don't feel the urgency from this group....where is the fire?"

A very valid question and one that should give us great pause. The Blogojevich pay for play investigation, the continuing fallout of the various financial scandals and the bailouts are dominating the news.

But we also haven't heard much inspiration from Obama lately.

Now to be fair, this is a time for putting together a team, for the endless news conferences with soon-to-be government officials who tend to -- appropriately? -- seem rather scared and sober about the responsibilities they are soon to take on. And as Obama himself has noted, we only have one President at a time.

But I wonder -- worry? -- if governing will strip Obama of his ability to inspire. I know I could use a good Obama speech right about now, one like he delivered election night. One like he gave at the Democratic convention. Hell, I'll even take a version of his standard stump speech.

I do believe that the President-elect is picking an excellent team to lead. And I hope that he won't be so lost in the nuances and challenges of government that he'll lose his ability to inspire.

I can't even begin to say how tragic it would be for Obama to turn into Jimmy Carter 2.0. Right on the policy yet so lacking on the inspiration.

Tweet or Die

2008-12-16T14:40:00Z

During my Washington days at the ACLU, we worked quite often with the good folks at the consumer action group Public Citizen, which was originally founded by Ralph Nader in 1971. That's why I noticed a LA Times column about Joan Claybrook's decision to retire after 27 years as president of Public Citizen and clicked through to read about what's next in the world of consumer activism.

Horrified is a strong word, but on first blush that's what I felt when I read the following passage:

"We used to put out press releases and they'd be on the evening news," (Nader) said. "Now you can't even get them on cable."

Nader's consumer advocacy, of course, has been overshadowed by his political ambitions (for which he still has a lot to answer, if you ask me). But he makes a good point.

There's so much clutter in the media marketplace, so much noise from competing interests that it's increasingly difficult for a nonprofit group to get its message across, much less stir up sufficient outrage to catalyze political action.

"The indications are very bad," Nader, 74, said of the future. "We all thought the Internet would give us a resurgence. The big hope was that you could band people together quickly and cheaply, but it hasn't worked out."

I hope the next leader of Public Citizen doesn't take such a defeatest attitude when it comes to organizing and media outreach. If so, we can pretty much guarantee that in a few years there won't be a Public Citizen around to fight for airbags in cars or against toxic chemicals or all the other landmark victories the group has scored over the last four decades.

I'm sorry to say that this defeatest attitude about media and the Internet runs rampant through progressive organizations. (And perhaps those on the right, but I can't speak from personal experience there.)

So many folks on our side of the field see the quickly deteriorating landscape of mainstream media and throw up their hands. (For a particularly devasting look at what's happening in the nation's newsrooms, follow @themediaisdying on Twitter. But warning: as a colleague commented, "these updates should come with a razor blade." You can also follow NRDC's Switchboard at @NRDCswitchboard or check out my colleague Scott Dodd's blog for more information about green tweeters.)

And it is true. No longer do the tried and true ways of media outreach and organizing work. Increasingly information consumers are no longer content to be fed an institutional view of the world. We want our information boiled down to its essence -- Twitter's 140 characters anyone? -- and we want information that helps us make up our minds about complicated issues rather than being told what to think about those same issues.

Organizations that do not experiment and learn will quietely fade away, lose their influence and eventually disappear. Groups that do experiment and evolve will come out of what is inevitably going to be a difficult time stronger and ready to fight new battles for consumer rights, public information or even the environmental health of the planet.

Homework Causes Global Warming

2008-12-09T16:37:54Z

The family gathered this weekend to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday. Knowing that I was going to be joining them, my 11-year-old nephew Ethan proudly wore a t-shirt that made the following argument: "Trees make air. Homework kills trees. Homework causes GLOBAL WARMING!"

Yes, the shirt does take a somewhat large leap in logic between sentences two and three. But obviously I'm thrilled that my nephew feels so strongly about the issue that he's willing to wear a t-shirt about it. And hey, if it will take a ban on homework to get young people engaged with stopping global warming than I say let's ban homework. But before all the parents in the crowd start to pelt me with rocks, I actually don't think we have to go that far.

If you got to the very very end of Monday's front-page story in New York Times about the plummeting value of recycled materials, you'll see what I mean. Of course if you got that far in that very depressing story, you are probably a recycling nut like me. For all the normal people out there, let me provide a summary:

The collapse of the market is slowing the momentum of recycling overall, said Mark Arzoumanian, editor in chief of Official Board Markets. He said the problem would hurt individual recycling businesses, but also major retailers, like Wal-Mart Stores, that profit by selling refuse.

Mr. Arzoumanian said paper mills in China and the United States that had signed contracts requiring them to buy recycled paper were seeking wiggle room, invoking clauses that cover extraordinary circumstances. "They are declaring ‘force majeure,' which is a phrase I'd never thought I'd hear in paper recycling," he said.

Mr. Arzoumanian and others said mills were also starting to become pickier about what they take in, rejecting cardboard and other products that they say are "contaminated" by plastic ties or other material.

The thrust of the Times story is that selling recycled material is no longer the money maker that it once was. And that's causing some municipalities and other government body to give up on it despite the overwhelming societal benefit recycling provides.

And that's where I got my hope. Times reporters Matt Richtel and Kate Galbraith write about a second-grade class at Ruthlawn Elementary School in South Charleston, W.V., that learned that its brand new recycling program was about to be ended.

They chose to forgo recess and instead use the time to write letters to the governor and mayor, imploring them to keep recycling, Rachel Fisk, their teacher, said.

The students' pleas seem to have been heard; the city plans to start trucking the recyclables to Kentucky.

"They were telling them, ‘We really don't care what you say about the economy. If you don't recycle, our planet will be dirty,' " Ms. Fisk said.

Second-grade activists supporting recycling and taking action for the planet. Is there anything that could an environmentalist happier? Nope, I can't think of anything. Not even banning homework, which, btw, for any younger readers out there, doesn't end when you graduate ... its just called bringing work home from the office and it happens an awful lot. Sorry bout that.

Robert Redford and a New Media Story

2008-12-05T22:15:24Z

This is a story of old versus new, of ink-on-paper versus pixels on a screen. It is a story of advocacy writing and social networks. Fundamentally it is a story of the future and it is not a happy story for the survival of print newspapers.

A few weeks ago, NRDC Trustee Robert Redford called and asked for our help in drafting an opinion editorial against midnight land leases by the Bush Administration to oil and drilling companies. The lands in question abut some of our most cherished national monuments and parks. The leases are being rushed by the lameduck administration as yet another give-away to big oil and its allies.

My colleagues worked with Bob and quickly produced a strong narrative. Then came the painful process of seeking placement. All the major newspapers were interested enough to take a look but each ultimately said they didn't have enough space to run the article.

We then ended up where we should have been at the start: the Huffington Post, the vast cacophony of voices from the well known and unknown, all offering opinion and reporting on the news of the moment.

Within what seemed to be seconds after receiving our inquiry, Bob's opinion piece was on the homepage of the Huffington Post and beginning to attract what would end up being hundreds of comments, including many questions about what readers could do to help stop the land sales and leases. (Bob's piece is also posted on NRDC's new citizen journalism blog called Greenlight. Check it out and see how to add your voice!)

Most interesting, however, were the requests for Bob to appear on news programs to discuss his concerns. He soon appeared on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show (see below to view) and I saw that he did another round of television interviews the next day.

Its impossible to know with any certainty whether Bob's op-ed would have attracted the same media attention had it run in any of the major newspapers. But I don't believe it would have and here's why: it has become pretty clear through this experience and others that the Huffington Post is where the producers and others who determine television coverage go to get their news.

That's a function that used to be primarily filled by The New York Times (and no one would argue that it isn't still an influential voice) but one that is being eclipsed in some very important ways by Huffpo.

Days after our experience with the Redford oped, Huffington Post announced that it had received an additional $25 million in new venture funding. Fred Harman, the lead source for those additional millions, told an interviewer:

There is an inevitable shift from offline to online with people increasingly getting their news media online, and this election proved how powerful the Huffington Post could be. And I think the post-election perception of the Huffington Post has changed in the eyes of advertisers to being a key mainstream news site.

As a former New York Times reporter, watching the slow-but-inevitable decline of mass audience print media hurts. But as a professional communicator, I'm more than a little intellectually intrigued by the possibilities presented by new media.

Google's Schmidt: "Solving Every Problem At Once"

2008-12-02T13:38:05Z

A few days ago, a bunch of us left NRDC's office and walked a few blocks downtown after work to hear a talk by Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt. The event -- organized by NRDC Trustee Wendy Schmidt -- was billed as an opportunity to hear what one of the leading voices in the business world is thinking about the new Big Three: economy, energy and the environment.

Eric is a forthright and engaging speaker. The stories he tells are rooted in experience, "real conversations" as he says. And he grounds his arguments in another reality, the reality that his day job requires him to make money for Google shareholders. Lots and lots of money.

But Google is also known for its corporate enterprise, for thinking big thoughts and pushing really big goals. And as chairman, Schmidt must be in charge of setting the biggest and boldest goals. Here's one:

"Is there a way," Schmidt posited, "is there a way to solve every known problem at once?"

"I'm tired of everyone complaining," he continued. "I've learned something here: do the right thing and you can solve multiple problems."

Let's go through the list: energy prices are too high, energy security, how many wars are being fought over oil now and in the future, what about job creation, especially in the rural areas? What about building businesses that are exportable outside of the United States to create wealth for Americans ... oh and yeah, why don't we solve the climate problem at the same time.

Watch the following video to get Eric's answer. And to hear from Dan Reicher, a former NRDC staffer and former Assistant Secretary of Energy for renewables and efficiency (who is on the lists of possible nominees for Energy Secretary in the Obama Administration). Also joining the conversation is Ralph Cavanagh, Co-Director of NRDC's Energy Program, and NRDC President Frances Beinecke. You can also read Google's thoughts at transforming our economy through clean energy at this Google Knol.

Its tempting to dismiss this audacious goal, as Eric does jokingly, with a big ole "yeah right." But as with so much else that comes from the brains of Google, there's real there there. And that's really good news for Google shareholders, the economy and oh yeah the planet.

Getting Preachy

2008-11-30T16:17:05Z

Maybe it's the start of the holiday season, which has long been recognized to increase stress. Or perhaps it was the news from India where terrorists killed almost 200 people and injured hundreds more. Whatever the cause, I've found myself getting preachy of late.

In my day job, I counsel my colleagues to stay positive, to focus on the solutions that each and every one of them is putting forward to generate real progress for our environmental challenges. And I've tried to do the same thing with my writings on Switchboard.

But it is all too easy to slip into anger and preachiness when reading about last-minute land grabs and regulations proposed by the Bush administration or continued intransigence by the dirty fuel and auto industries. Earlier this week, it was a piece in the Washington Post titled "The Car of the Future -- but at a Price" that made me question the future.

The story by reporter Steve Mufson includes a colorful quote from James Womack, a longtime management expert who has written extensively about the auto industry.

"You'd think from reading the media that we have had a burial ceremony at Arlington cemetery for the last pickup truck," Womack said. "I can easily imagine three years from now when the public is focused on a new set of priorities . . . that this whole thing would go poof."

Our national attention span is indeed short. And perhaps that most of all is makes me feel a bit preachy. The idea that all of the promise that has been inspired by technological change and new business leadership and the pledges of energy and climate action by President-elect Obama could in fact all dissipate into nothingness. It has happened before: Jimmy Carter, for example, had solar panels installed on the White House roof. Ronald Reagan instantly took them down.

What's different now? Will a worldwide economic crisis take us into a new future? Will technology make the difference? A President of my generation? All of the above?

It is my bet that it will be President Obama harnessing the opportunity of crisis and power of technology. As he told delegates to a climate meeting in California a few weeks ago:

"Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all. Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response. The stakes are too high. The consequences, too serious. Stopping climate change won't be easy. It won't happen overnight. But I promise you this: When I am President, any governor who's willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that's willing to invest in clean energy will have an ally in Washington. And any nation that's willing to join the cause of combating climate change will have an ally in the United States of America."

Those realistic yet hopeful words more than anything else should be enough to counter any feelings of stress or negativity. Whenever I start sounding all preachy again -- and I will -- please feel free to remind me to reread them once again.

Consumerism Run Amok ... Literally

2008-11-29T00:30:09Z

We learned the true meaning of black Friday early this morning when a Wal-Mart employee in suburban New York was trampled to death by stampeding consumers.

The New York Times reports that Jdimypai Damour was knocked over and crushed by 2,000 shoppers this morning in Valley Stream, Long Island:

At 4:55 a.m., just five minutes before the doors were set to open, a crowd of 2,000 anxious shoppers started pushing, shoving and piling against the locked sliding glass doors of the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., Nassau County police said. The shoppers broke the doors off their hinges and surgedin, toppling a 34-year-old temporary employee, Jdimypai Damour of Jamaica, Queens, who had been waiting with other workers in the store's entryway.

People did not stop to help the employee as he lay on the ground, and they pushed against other Wal-Mart workers who were trying to aid Mr. Damour. The crowd kept running into the store even after the police arrived, jostling and pushing officers who were trying to perform CPR, the police said.

What in Wal-Mart could lead to such callous behavior? What discount? What special?

In his new book -- The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability -- NRDC Trustee Gus Speth says that we will never solve our environmental problems until we change our consumer-driven ways. In her blog on the book, NRDC President Frances Beinecke wrote that Gus believes that we must "question our devotion to economic growth above all other values."

As he calls it, we must rethink "our pathetic capitulation to consumerism." This unquestioning drive toward more and more creates a paradox: we have achieved abundance but it is teetering on extinction.

As a shopper and collector by heart, I find it hard to accept the idea of rejecting consumerism. And doubt that as a society we will ever change our consumerist ways.

But after today's fatal stampede I cannot agree more with what Frances wrote last May:

Gus's book reminds me that fighting to protect the planet is not just about policy and proposals and legislation. It's about what we value, what is meaningful to us, what brings us peace and long-lasting health.

Amen.

T Day and Cruelty Free

2008-11-27T13:12:48Z

Its not often that I can be found cowering under a blanket in front of the television. Yet there I hid earlier this week as MSNBC showed an unfiltered version of the great Alaska turkey slaughter of 2008. Compare that to the scene a few weeks ago when I stomped on the brakes to watch the local herd of wild turkeys crossing the road near my house.

I'm a city boy, born and raised in Philadelphia. I've lived in city of brotherly love, Brooklyn and Washington, DC. For a little while, I lived in Takoma Park, Maryland, one of the nation's first suburbs, and, for an even shorter time, I rented a small house in Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island's scenic north shore.

All of that to say that before moving to Solebury, PA, I had never seen a single wild turkey, let alone an entire herd of them. (Yes, I know that turkeys flock. But a herd sounds more poetic somehow.) For the last several years, though, I've had the pleasure of watching the local turkeys parade around our neighborhood. The photo below is from the Wikipedia entry on wild turkeys.)

And parade they do. Usually you'll see the turkeys walking single file even when in the spring when they've got their chicks with them. No matter how many times I've seen the turkeys in recent years, I'm still in awe whenever they cross my path. (I'll admit that I'm an easy customer; I still even like watching the neighborhood deer.)

Contrast that with the scene behind Sarah Palin, where a smiling worker fed live turkeys into some kind of slaughtering machine. The governor of Alaska -- the only state, according to Wikipedia, where the hunting of wild turkey is prohibited -- seemed oblivious to the killing behind her and even talks about how much "fun" she's had.

I was inspired to write this today by an email last night from Bruce Friedrich at PETA who posted the top ten reasons to be pardon a turkey on Huffington Post. As usual with my good friends at PETA, I thought a couple of Bruce's ten reasons went just a bit too far. But this one spoke to me:

If you wouldn't eat your cat, you shouldn't eat a turkey. As poultry scientist Tom Savage says, "I've always viewed turkeys as smart animals with personality and character, and keen awareness of their surroundings. The 'dumb' tag simply doesn't fit." They're as interesting and have personalities every bit as developed as any dog or cat.

When they're not forced to live on filthy factory farms, turkeys spend their days caring for their young, building nests, foraging for food, taking dustbaths, preening themselves, and roosting high in trees. These social, playful birds relish having their feathers stroked and like to chirp, cluck, and gobble along to their favorite tunes.

So since I wouldn't eat my cat, I'll decline the turkey tomorrow. And give thanks for the Quorn roast I bought last week after searching in vain for my annual tofurkey. Here's hoping that your Thanksgiving is as enjoyable and as cruelty free.

Pink as the New Green

2008-11-24T17:05:55Z

The imagery in this news release caught my eye: "the amount of waste glass diverted from landfills could form a two-lane glass highway that extends 1.3 times around the world."

The news release came from Owens Corning, which produces "Pink" insulation and announced that it has boosted to 40 percent (an increase of five percent) the amount of "certified" recycled glass used in its insulation. It also says that the 5 percent increase maintains the company's lead in using the most recycled materials in insulation.

Another "factoid" from the company's release --manufacturing fiberglass with recycled glass requires significantly less energy -- made the release even more interesting. (Also interesting, but completely unrelated to the environment were two additional discoveries from the Owens Corning website: the company became the first to successfully trademark a color -- in this case PINK -- in 1987. Also one of my favorite giggle-worthy cartoon characters -- the Pink Panther -- became the corporate mascot in 1980.)

But what interests me the most about this news is that it points once again to the tremendous opportunity for recycling. Because of the use of recycled glass in its insulation, Owens Corning says that it is one of the largest users of recycled glass in the world and that it is having trouble finding enough to use.

To continue to help the market find additional sources of recycled glass, Owens Corning is leading initiatives with regional recyclers and processors to invest in technologies that will reduce the amount of glass sent to landfills, either because no local recycling programs exist or due to technical limitations in recycling different types and colors of glass. One such program involves Strategic Materials Inc., a Texas-based processor of scrap glass collected from a diverse range of sources including new curbside recycling programs. Once construction is completed, the glass the company will recycle at plants in Texas and Georgia will keep approximately 12,500 tons of glass per month from going to a landfill, and be reused in products including Owens Corning insulation.

That quote reminded me of a Newsweek article from early October -- Saving the World for a Latte -- that describes a program run by RecycleBank that is very much, as the authors wrote, to "a frequent-flier program for recyclers." The article continues:

Perhaps it's a commentary on the woes of Wall Street, but investors are seeing gold in garbage. With rising demand from markets like China and India, prices for scrap material like aluminum and paper have soared, which makes the economics of recycling more compelling than ever. That's why venture capitalists dumped a record $161 million into recycling firms last year, up from just $17 million in 2001, according to Cleantech Group, a green-investing consultant. And RecycleBank is one of the hottest plays, attracting $40 million from backers like Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, former American Express CEO James Robinson III and Coca-Cola.

Recycling has long been one of my major bugaboos. Every morning I watch as the tens of thousands of commuters at Penn Station toss newspapers into the trash (there's a lack of recycling bins throughout the station). And in the evenings, I watch those same commuters dump newspapers, bottles and cans into the garbage on the station platforms (where no recycling bins exist).

And I wonder: just how stupid can we be? And how long will it be before companies like Owens Corning and RecycleBank can save us from our lazy selves?

San Francisco to Detroit: Drop Dead?

2008-11-23T00:53:30Z

On the same day that congressional leaders threw in the towel on a bailout for the auto industry, three Bay Area mayors joined an innovative startup in backing a $1 billion plan to create the modern day Detroit.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the startup Better Place pledged to build the "re-charging infrastructure that must be in place before most consumers would consider buying or leasing an electric car."

The report continued:

Better Place, headed by former high-tech executive Shai Agassi, plans to install about 250,000 charging ports, 200 battery-exchange stations and a control center to service Bay Area electric car drivers. The goal is to have most of the system in place by 2012.

"We need to put together a new industry, and it needs to scale very fast," Agassi said at a press conference in San Francisco. He was flanked by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed as well as Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Perhaps the timing of the collapse of the talks in auto bailout Washington and the announcement from Better Place was simply a coincidence. Or perhaps the press conference with the three mayors was quickly pulled together as it became clear that the congressional talks were going to fail.

Either way, the message is pretty clear: Bay Area innovators are once again ascendant and what's left of the Big Three and a good portion of the Michigan economy is in the bullseye. Anyone willing to bet that Silicon Valley will miss? Not I.