E Magazine articles from January 2007

E Magazine archives from January 2007

It's easy Building Green.(green buildings)
January 1, 2007... We expanded and modernized our house 10 years ago, adding an entire second floor after having a couple of kids and reluctantly concluding we needed more space. We looked at moving but ultimately concluded we didn't want to leave our waterside,...

Digging the dirt.(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2007... Reading Tamsyn Jones' article about soils ("The Scoop on Dirt," features, September/October 2006) made me forget all about grading my 60 quizzes and 19 site descriptions this afternoon. I teach soft science to about 30 range and soils majors...

Saying 'no' to fabric softener.(ADVICE & DISSENT: LETTERS FROM OUR READERS)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2007... As I was enjoying your latest issue, a sentence in the article, "Let It All Hang Out!" (House & Home, September/October 2006) startled me into awareness. In the midst of a fine discussion about saving energy by avoiding the clothes dryer, I...

Reforming rice: Lundberg's greener farms.
January 1, 2007... Rice farming may look pretty from a distance, with its bucolic images of farmers in conical hats ankle deep in water as they cultivate green sprouts, but it has earned a bad environmental reputation because of its wasteful irrigation systems...

Cow power in Vermont.(waste-derived electric power)
January 1, 2007... Vermont had 2,500 dairy farms in 1993; now it has 1,400. The low price of milk is one culprit: it's down from $17 per hundredweight (12.5 gallons) at its peak to $12 today. To stay competitive, dairies have to be innovative. One way they do...

Daring to deconstruct.(waste lands usage)
January 1, 2007... Doors and windows stood in loose piles at Habitat for Humanity's ReStore in Stratford, Connecticut. Disconnected from their former lives in homes and commercial buildings around the state, the materials had been rescued from a one-way trip to...

Thar she blows!(hunitng whales leagalized, international community against the move)
January 1, 2007... Last October, Iceland announced it would resume hunting great whales, breaking a 20-year moratorium on commercial whaling. Icelandic whalers will be allowed to kill nine endangered fin whales--the second-largest species after blue whales--and...

Good vibrations: musicians go the extra mile to support green causes.
January 1, 2007... Although we like to think that the music we consume is planet-friendly (don't groups do global warming benefits.) the truth is that CDs and big-ticket tours create carbon emissions and hefty material waste streams. The good news is that an...

Emission-free Europe: hydrogen projects, from Iceland to Italy.(hydrogen fuels)
January 1, 2007... Worldwide development of hydrogen as the transport fuel of the future is growing exponentially, with Europe a dynamic center of hydrogen activity. At the end of September, energy companies Shell Hydrogen and Total France announced a joint...

Saving the Jordan: the sacred Middle Eastern river is dying.(Friends of the Earth Middle East)
January 1, 2007... Sixty years ago, it carried 45 billion cubic feet of flesh water and powered a hydroelectric plant. Today, only 3.5 billion cubic feet flow down the lower Jordan River--and of this, about half is sewage or salt water. Some stretches are so dry,...

Green bananas? Chiquita teams up with the Rainforest Alliance.(CURRENTS)
January 1, 2007... When Chiquita Brands International started selling bananas with "Rainforest Alliance Certified" stickers in European stores last year, the company expected a positive reaction. But when the bananas--which bear the environmental group's green...

Wal-Mart accused of faking organics.(Cornucopia Institute)
January 1, 2007... When Wal-Mart announced plans to double its offering of organic products (see "High-Volume Organic: Should We Applaud When Wal-Mart Goes Crunchy?" Currents, September/ October 2006) the organic community responded with mixed feelings. Now...

Electing climate action.(global warming)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The Democratic Congressional victories are likely to provide new momentum for the U.S. to finally act on climate change (see "Warm Planet, Cool Ideas," feature, July/August 2006). Three newly empowered Senators--Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jeff...

Not finding Nemo.(Greenpeace on marine life)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... It is widely agreed that aquatic life and fisheries are in global decline (see "Ocean Rescue," cover story July/August 2005). However, a new report says the damage could be worse than previously suspected. Appearing in Science, the report...

Buildings that breathe: green construction is coming of age.
January 1, 2007... Jan Bey twice found herself in the hospital emergency room, her throat constricted, unable to breathe. But her persistent sinus and breathing problems ended when she moved out of an old rental unit and into what is considered one of the...

Michael Braungart: designing "eco-effective" solutions.("Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things")(Interview)
January 1, 2007... Michael Braungart, a professor at Germany's University of Luneburg, is co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (Northpoint Press) with green architect William McDonough. He was a founding member of Germany's Green Party...

The global view: sometimes, small is beautiful.(green design for green buildings)
January 1, 2007... As the construction industry "goes global," the amazing diversity of the world's architecture has suffered. In the last 30 to 50 years, new buildings in New York, London and Beijing have started to look the same. Green building designs, by...

Cradle to Cradle: incorporating nature plan.("Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things")(Book review)
January 1, 2007... In 2002, William McDonough and Michael Braungart published Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (Northpoint Press). They identify two fundamental problems. The first is that we design products to be thrown "away" when, in fact,...

Green design on a roll: economics and environment align for energy-efficient buildings.
January 1, 2007... Lindsay Suter, a green architect in Connecticut, made a vow. He wasn't going to design mega mansions or outsized additions. Instead, he was going to devote 100 percent of his practice to environmentally themed designs. It's a promise he kept....

Behind the label: processed foods serve up questionable additives.
January 1, 2007... Even at the green grocery store, harmful food additives lurk behind innocent-looking labels. Hundreds of shoppers who reached for "Quorn" veggie burgers, for example, became ill with severe vomiting and diarrhea. Others developed hives and had...

It's alive! Yogurt's health secret is live bacterial cultures.
January 1, 2007... It's fun to tell people about the billions of bacteria living it up in their yogurt cup. Without bacteria, the world as we know it would grind to a halt (nothing could biodegrade, for example), but it's still a bit unnerving to think about...

Spic and span: a greener approach to cleaning products.
January 1, 2007... There's nothing like a cleanser that actually works as advertised, bulldozing through dirt and leaving a surface sparkling clean. But conventional cleaning products can actually leave indoor air polluted with a toxic smog of petrochemical...

Oils' well? The prospects for biofuel stocks.(biomass energy)
January 1, 2007... Henry Ford had the right idea when he designed the Model T--it was a flex-fuel vehicle that could run on gasoline or ethanol. Today, biofuels are not a simple substitute for fossil energy--we don't have enough farm land, for one thing--but they...

Stewardship and recreation: is this a marriage made in Utah?
January 1, 2007... It takes only a sip of Polygamy Pale Ale at Rooster's Brewing Company in downtown Ogden to suspect that the conventional perceptions of Utah as a conservative Mormon hideaway are slowly shifting. Ogden, which lies 35 miles north of Salt...

Green clicks: eco-blogs come of age.
January 1, 2007... Originally associated with disgruntled teens, blogs have grown into a legitimate form of online news and entertainment, covering an array of subjects from fashion and politics to the environment. The growing popularity of the "eco-blog" has...

Super poopers.(Tools for Green Giving: Resources for Eco-Awareness and Action)
January 1, 2007... As odd as it may sound, the latest trend in eco-friendly products is poop. Creative Paper Wales, a company based in Snowdonia, Wales, makes its patented Sheep Poo Paper ($6 to $40) out of, you guessed it, sheep poop. The process consists of...

A cleaner, greener beer (or two) .(New Belgium Brewing Co.'s organic beer)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... New Belgium has a new organic beer called Mothership Wit, a Belgian-style witbier. The organic direction makes sense for New Belgium, a company that has long sought to reduce its environmental impact. In 1998, employees there voted to switch to...

Alt-shopping.(Tools for Green Giving: Resources for Eco-Awareness and Action)(www.greenjeansbrooklyn.com)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... You don't have to live in Brooklyn to have access to handcrafted, environmentally conscious crafts able to turn your apartment, your birthday gift or your outfit into a conversation piece. You just have to log on to www.greenjeansbrooklyn.com,...

Your dark master ... the cocoa bean!(chocolate products)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... If, like Seinfed's George Costanza, the cocoa bean is your dark master, you will definitely enjoy the array of chocolate products from Vere. The name is derived from the Latin word for "truth" and the company makes products that are truly...

Fair trade teas.(Republic of Tea Inc.)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The Republic of Tea, an all-natural tea company based in Novato, California, has been selling eco-conscious teas since 1992. But its line of Fair Trade-Certified Teas ($9.50 per box of 50 bags) is more than just environmentally friendly--the...

Smooth operators.(Tools for Green Giving: Resources for Eco-Awareness and Action)
January 1, 2007... Apparently, we have a national obsession with super-smooth skin, as razors have become a highly competitive business, all about "high performance" and multiple blade action. Now the environmentally friendly version can compete with Preserve...

Good growing, bad food.(The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... While we've grown comfortably accustomed to having whatever food we want, during any season and at any hour, Sandor Ellix Katz, author of The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved (Chelsea Green Publishing Company, $20), says that that convenience...

Pay to prey.("Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons")(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Peter Barnes, co-founder of Working Assets Long Distance and Credit Card Services, and writer for Newsweek and the New York Times, says capitalism needs an upgrade. In Capitalism 3.0: A Guide To Reclaiming The Commons (Berrett-Koehler...

Lost farms.(The Last Harvest, Truck Farmers in the Deep South)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... The Last Harvest, Truck Farmers in the Deep South (University of Georgia Press, $32.50) is a poignant collection of pictures capturing small-scale farmers in author Perry Dilbeck's hometown of McDonough, Georgia. Once a small town of roadside...

Talking computer trash.(High-Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... "PBDEs are everywhere," said reporter Kellyn Betts at a recent Society of Environmental Journalists conference panel. "There are high levels in breast milk, blood and fat. Dust is the main route of exposure, and they're coming out of products...

Tiger tracks.("Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger")(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Now available in paperback, Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger (Villard Books, $14.95) offers a cheap, entertaining way to travel to Australia and Tasmania and become intimately familiar with the local wildlife. Wombats,...

Our energy future.(The Citizen Powered Energy Handbook: Community Solutions to a Global Crisis)(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Last spring, when gasoline prices soared over $3 a gallon, Americans suddenly woke up to the fact that cheap energy was not their birthright. Almost overnight, SUVs became a glut in the market and alternative energy, from solar to wind, turned...

Scientists take a stand.("Undermining Science, Suppression and Distortion in the Bush Administration")(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Stanford University scientist Richard N. Zare writes, "We must be willing to speak out against the threat of making science just a matter of opinion." That is exactly what investigative journalist Seth Shulman does in Undermining Science,...

Finding the stars.("There Once Was a Sky Full of Stars")(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2007... When he's not designing colorful inlays for guitars, Bob Crelin is a light pollution activist in Connecticut who helped push through a landmark bill to dim the nighttime glare in his shoreline town. Our ancestors knew thousands of stars in the...

Burning trash and keeping the car clean: what do you think of those "waste-to-energy" plants used by cities to generate power?
January 1, 2007... What do you think of those "waste-to-energy" plants used by cities to generate power?--Christine Ramadhin, Queens, NY Waste-to-energy (WtE) facilities, which generate power by burning trash, have been in widespread operation in the U.S. and...

Burning trash and keeping the car clean: what is more environmentally friendly: washing my car myself or going to the local car wash?
January 1, 2007... What is more environmentally friendly: washing my car myself or going to the local car wash?--Jim, Denton, TX Few people realize that washing cars in the driveway is one of our most environmentally unfriendly chores. Unlike household...