E Magazine articles from March 2005

E Magazine archives from March 2005

Save our cities, towns (and jobs) with public transit.(E Word)
March 1, 2005... During the warmer months I bike the 10-mile roundtrip to work, and often play a morning game of tag with my neighbor who, coincidentally, works across the street from E here in Norwalk, Connecticut. Joe usually passes me in his car shortly...

Super cocaine?(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... As a follow up to your article "The Drug War on the Amazon," (Currents, November/December 2004), I would suggest Wired magazine's "The Mystery of the Coca Plant That Wouldn't Die" by Joshua Davis (www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/...

The hybrid hype.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... I was a bit disappointed to read rave reviews of the hybrid cars in Newsweek, but I considered the source, and the target market, and figured they were doing the best they could. I also thought it was time to start reading more progressive,...

Debating raw food.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... There were some truths and some misses in the letter from Arjen Hoekstra published in the November/December 2004 issue of E (Advice and Dissent). Hoekstra states that "most raw foodists get the bulk of their diet from the tropics," and argues...

Developing world air.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... It is sad, but I have been right all these years in saying air pollution is a global issue ("Womb Pollution?" In Brief, November/December 2004). It knows no boundary. Therefore, it is more important to find ways to help developing countries...

Last chance for American caribou.
March 1, 2005... With numbers dwindling to around 34 animals, the South Selkirk mountain caribou herd is getting close to disappearing forever. Living in the rugged, mountainous landscapes of the Idaho Panhandle, northeastern Washington and British...

Bhutan bans butts.(ban on tobacco sales)
March 1, 2005... Along with outlawing plastic hags and secondhand cars, Bhutan, the Himalayan kingdom nestled in the clouds between China and India, has become the first country in the world to completely ban tobacco sales. Bhutan's National Assembly imposed...

Recycling food waste: it's academic.
March 1, 2005... Don't even try trashing that half-eaten salad at the University of Oregon's (UO) Annual Folk Festival, the University of Vermont's (UVM) Orientation Picnic or Humboldt State University's Spring Fair. The trash stations are manned, making sure...

The new frontier: zoning rules to protect marine resources.(Currents)
March 1, 2005... Nearly a century after zoning was introduced to prevent the ravages of uncontrolled land development, the concept is moving offshore to protect ocean resources. From Canada's Scotian Shelf to the state waters of Massachusetts and the entire...

Clearing the smokescreen: protecting communities with buckets of air.(Currents)
March 1, 2005... While hungover Crescent City visitors sip chicory coffee and nibble at beignets, an unlikely tour bus packed full of environmental justice activists heads through the city and into the heart of "cancer alley"--the riverside stretch of power...

The big meltdown: something's happening at both poles.(Currents)
March 1, 2005... When Antarctica's Larsen-B ice shelf--a 10,000-year-old, 650-foot thick expanse of floating ice the size of Rhode Island--collapsed three years ago, Pedro Skvarca had a front-row seat. With the Antarctic Peninsula being swept by an...

Remembering Chico Mendes: the martyr of the Amazon lives on.(Currents)(Francisco Alves Mendes Filho)(Biography)
March 1, 2005... The 1988 murder of Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes, in Brazil's Amazon River basin was a major international story. This all-but-invisible man who worked extracting latex from rubber trees and organized a union deep...

Becoming ferret-friendly.(Updates)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... A distant relative of the common domestic ferret, the wild black-footed ferret of North America is endangered, in large part because of the mass die-off of its main food source--prairie dogs--at the hands of poisoning, shootings and diseases...

No justice for Bhopal survivors.(Updates)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Twenty years after an Indian Union Carbide ant leaked poisonous gas and killed 20,000 people (see "Dumping on India," In Brief, September/October 1996), Bhopal residents continue to drink contaminated water, suffer from disease and bear...

Suing over Wal-Mart.(Updates)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The controversial Wal-Mart Supercenter is now open for business in the heart of New Orleans' historic Lower Garden District (see "Urban Wal-Marts: No Big Easy," In Brief, November/December 2003), but it's still not out of the courts. Last...

New lessons from the old world: the European model for falling in love with your hometown.
March 1, 2005... My infatuation with cities began on a college-vacation visit to Montreal, where I was enchanted by picturesque squares, sleek subway trains and the intoxicating urbaneness all around. Sitting up most of the night in sidewalk cafes along rue St....

The European dream: building sustainable development in a globally connected world.
March 1, 2005... A growing number of Americans are beginning to wonder why Europe has leaped ahead of the U.S. to become the most environmentally advanced political space in the world today. To understand why Europe has left America behind in the race to create...

The natural way: take care when choosing a holistic practitioner.(Your Health)
March 1, 2005... Americans spend billions of dollars a year on holistic healers, for both the services they provide and the remedies they prescribe. According to a survey released last May by the National Institutes of Health, 36 percent of adults in the U.S....

A whole lotta shakin' goin' on: used in moderation, shakes can be a healthy addition.(Eating Right)
March 1, 2005... Despite up-to-the-second conveniences, Americans routinely say that they don't have enough time to do the basics--eat healthfully, get enough sleep and relax with family. And marketers have convinced us that we will have all the time in the...

10 simple ways to save energy.(House & Home)
March 1, 2005... Saving energy means saving pennies, but some energy-saving techniques such as adding insulation or installing new windows are costly for homeowners and unavailable to renters. Here are 10 inexpensive ways to save energy in your home or...

Stalking fuel-cell stocks: will the high profits return?(Money Matters)
March 1, 2005... A mere four years ago, fuel-cell stocks were the toast of NASDAQ, with millions of individual and institutional investors driving share prices through the roof. Environmentalists and financial analysts were for once in agreement: pollution-free...

Denmark's green keys: Scandinavia's sustainable tourist mecca.(Going Green)
March 1, 2005... While other cities struggle to become more bicycle-friendly, Copenhagen, Denmark has already arrived. Thirty-two percent of this eco-centric city's commuters travel on two wheels, probably the highest percentage in any industrialized urban...

First I look at the purse: eco-bags for every occasion.(Consumer News)
March 1, 2005... Some believe you can tell a lot about a person by the bag they carry. Purses, messenger bags, backpacks and luggage made from recycled materials and sustainable fibers don't just make a statement about their owners' fashion sense, but about...

Cutting it up.(Tools For Green Living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Sure, you might know the origin of that organic muenster cheese you have in the fridge but do you know if the wooden cutting board you've been chopping it up on came from ethically harvested materials? Or was the material treated with any...

Intelligent nutrients.(Tools For Green Living: resources for eco-awareness and action)
March 1, 2005... What is Intelligent Nutrients? It is chocolate bars, nutritional supplements, and digestifs. It is coffee, aromatherapy, agave sweetener, and Icelandic sea salt. But the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. "It is lifestyle," says...

From farm to bowl.(Tools For Green Living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(Fairfield Farm Kitchens)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Fairfield Farm Kitchens, pioneers of organic heat-and-serve entrees, are kicking things up a notch with their new line Organic Classics Refrigerated soups. These yummy treats put an organic spin on some old favorites such as chicken noodle and...

Not just another calendar.(Tools For Green Living: resources for eco-awareness and action)
March 1, 2005... It is midwinter and maybe you're not so in love with that calendar your aunt bought you for Christmas. Instead of wasting the rest of the year staring at something that is less than beautiful, treat yourself to Carol Freeman's 2005 calendar,...

Not grandma's granola.(Tools For Green Living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(Bear Naked granola veritable meal )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Welcome "all granola-heads! Connecticut-based Bear Naked is taking granola to new heights. Bear Naked granola ($4.99 for 12 ounces) is a veritable meal in a bag. Its formula, which is wheat and dairy free and high in fiber, protein,...

Mobile beauty.(Tools For Green Living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(PopVase)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Have you ever brought flowers to a friend, only to find there is no suitable vase to display them in? Britain's PopVase ($21 for three) might be your new solution. Made from fair-trade and recycled paper, these waterproof, collapsible vases are...

Scents that make sense.(Tools For Green Living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(Custom Corner Inc)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Custom Corner Inc. has created an all-natural product that works great eliminating odors. Made with pure organic plant extracts .and purified water, AriaBella is a safe, effective, non-aerosol spritzer that neutralizes odors rather than masking...

Lost China.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Photographer Linda Butler's elegy to the Yangtze River documents a landscape and a way of life radically disrupted by the damming of China's Three Gorges. In 101 lustrous black-and-white photographs, Butler captures the transformation of a...

Eat'in well in the Northwest.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... With Veg Out Vegetarian Guide to Seattle & Portland (Gibbs Smith Publishing, $12.95), eating healthy is not only convenient but is entirely hassle-free. In this newest addition to the Veg Out Vegetarian Guide series, George Stevenson and Andrew...

Essays from prison.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... For some people, love of nature knows no bounds. In Beyond Desert Walls: Essays from Prison (University of Arizona Press, $15.95), the physical boundaries of imprisonment are not able to keep award-winning nature author Ken Lamberton from...

Dow and you.(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Synthetic chemicals that persist in the environment know no limits. They do not respect property lines, or the boundaries of the human body. Even the most health conscious among us have no way to completely escape them. Jack Doyle's book...

Cold, cold heart.(The Future of Ice: A Journey Into Cold)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... Recent headlines tell us that the Inuit, indigenous peoples of the Arctic, are bringing legal claim against the United States for violating their human rights. The reason: by being a major contributor to global warming, the U.S. is threatening...

Dishwasher rinse-aid and fuel-cell car "exhaust".(EarthTalk: questions & answers about our environment)
March 1, 2005... My new dishwasher has receptacles for both soap and rinse-aid. rinse-aid safe for the environment, and do I need to use it in my dishwasher?--Britten Clark, Seattle, WA If your region's water source is rich in magnesium and calcium salts...