E Magazine articles from March 2007

E Magazine archives from March 2007

Hummer and hummerer.(social responsibility)(Editorial)
March 1, 2007... I cannot understand how anyone who has felt the sting of high gas prices, idled on crowded interstates and watched news reports about global warming, oil shortages and rising asthma levels can drive anything but a fuel-efficient, low-emission...

Open the borders? Not so fast.(ADVICE & DISSENT: Letters from our readers)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Doug Moss suggests (E Word, "What Birth Dearth?" November/December 2006) that prosperous countries with shrinking populations should invite "millions of people" to immigrate from poor over-populated countries, thus evening out the population...

Beyond green jello.(ADVICE & DISSENT: Letters from our readers)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Given our country's soaring rates of diet-related illnesses, it is amazing that hospitals are just now beginning to offer healthier foods ("Yum, Yum... Hospital Food," Eating Right, November/December 2006). Fresh fruits and vegetables,...

It's a car, car, car world.(ADVICE & DISSENT: Letters from our readers)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... I positively have to write you about 'our "Smart Growth" article Currents, November/Dec-ember 2006) concerning Arlington, Virginia. I park near the Clarendon corridor and walk through Rosslyn on my way to work every day and have watched some of...

From Franken-plants to cloned cows.(ADVICE & DISSENT: Letters from our readers)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Thank you for calling attention to the serious lack of labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the U.S. ("Ah-tchoo!" Your Health, November/December 2006). The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) refusal to require the labeling of...

Correction.(ADVICE & DISSENT: Letters from our readers)(Correction notice)
March 1, 2007... In the story "Buildings That Breathe" (November/December 2006) a photo caption mis-identified Sharon Lee as a City of Seattle employee. She is the director of the nonprofit group Low Income Housing Institute.

Vancouver's middle-class protest.
March 1, 2007... On Easter Monday of 2006, 20 iCanadians grabbed their camping gear and left the comfort of their homes to erect a tent city at Eagleridge Bluffs, a scenic area in West Vancouver, British Columbia. They were protesting the state government's...

A watershed year for green homes.
March 1, 2007... There's no doubt that 2006 was a great ar for green building--at least in rms of PR. Interest in environmentally sensitive building products and techniques, from solar roof panels to fly-ash-concrete foundations, has leapt from the specialized...

Japan's elusive mountain cat.(wild yamaneko)
March 1, 2007... To find one of the world's rarest felines, first fly into Tokyo. You're still a long bus ride, two more flights and a turbulent ferry jaunt from reaching the only spot in the world--a far-flung island in southern Japan's Yaeyama group--where an...

The menace of mold.
March 1, 2007... Iris Harden knew that something in her Harlem, Georgia house was making her sick. "I wasn't educated. I didn't know it was mold," she says. "All I knew was that something in that house was doing it to me." She had a good idea of the cause after...

The ecology of genocide: the Darfur crisis has environmental roots.(CURRENTS)
March 1, 2007... Stony hills give way to patches of desert, golden grassy meadows and parched fields of sorghum millet in the North Darfur of Sudan. Villages of circular huts made of mud and straw are spread thin across the vast, empty countryside, spaced to...

The rewilded west: should the U.S. get its "top predators" back?(CURRENTS)
March 1, 2007... Dreaming of traveling to Africa to see lions and elephants in the wild? Wait a few years, and you might be able to save yourself the international plane fare. A group of ecologists and conservationists hopes to "rewild" North America by...

The Holy Grail: will cellulosic ethanol replace petroleum?(CURRENTS)
March 1, 2007... Some 30 years ago, Patrick Foody started on a mission. The Canadian entrepreneur and engineer heeded warnings of an impending worldwide food shortage and embarked on a quest to convert wood into food. The predictions didn't pan out, but by then...

Getting rich on public land: commercial bioprospecting in the National Parks.(CURRENTS)
March 1, 2007... The hot springs at Yellowstone National Park are worth billions. Commercial researchers have only begun to examine the multitude of heat-loving microorganisms or "thermophiles" living in Yellowstone's 10,000 highly acidic geysers, hot-springs...

Trash talking.(UPDATES)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Each year, we humans generate 20 to 50 million tons of electronic "e-waste," containing such toxic chemicals as lead, mercury and cadmium as consumers toss out their quickly outdated cell phones, computers and televisions in favor of more...

Global warming votes.(UPDATES)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... With the popularity of An Inconvenient Truth and the news that 2006 was one of the warmest years on record, climate change is likely to be one of the major issues in the 2008 presidential debates (see "Warm Planet, Cool Ideas," feature,...

Congress going solar?(UPDATES)
March 1, 2007... In the 109th Congress' final hours last December, it passed legislation extending the federal solar tax energy credits through 2008 (see "Green Design on a Roll," feature sidebar, January/February 2007). The Solar Energy Industries Association...

Cleaner, greener cars: from hybrids to electrics to diesels that run on vegetable oil, it's a whole new ballgame.(2007: HERES COME THE ...)(Cover story)
March 1, 2007... The verdict is in on hybrid cars: Americans love them. But just suppose, some environmentalists have been asking, you had a bigger battery pack in your hybrid and the ability to plug it into the wall. Wouldn't that give you the ability to drive...

Local is the new organic: the growing movement to know your farmer and your food.
March 1, 2007... It used to be that organic was enough. That organic label told consumers their food was safer, fresher and more likely to have come from a small, reliable farm than a mega-farm-factory. Then, last year, Wal-Mart started selling organic...

Protecting the prostate: get off the couch ... and eat your vegetables.(Your Health)
March 1, 2007... If you're a middle-aged man (or already past it) here's what should be on your menu today: tomato sauce, watermelon, stir-fried tofu and veggies, selenium and vitamin E. Wash down with a swig of green tea or pomegranate juice and you may be...

Some crust! The E Magazine frozen organic pizza bake-off.(Eating Right)(Buyers guide)
March 1, 2007... Every year, Americans spend almost $1.6 billion on pre-cooked frozen entrees that have progressed far beyond cardboard-tasting TV dinners. With the market for organic foods growing more than 20 percent annually, stores are stocking a wide...

With a little help: co-gardening = community harvest.(House & Home)
March 1, 2007... I look through my kitchen window and see a young couple tromping through my back yard, pitchfork and rake in hand. He chooses sticks from the brush pile to make a trellis for green beans; she bends over a raised bed and pulls tiny weeds. Who...

Sun shines: solar provides clean energy and creates jobs.(Money Matters)
March 1, 2007... The rise of solar energy as a viable technology contributing to a clean electricity future is exciting enough, but so is the industry's ability to create well-paying, life-enhancing jobs. Several studies have reached the same conclusion: the...

Carpet highs and whoas: are you walking on 120 chemicals?(Consumer News)
March 1, 2007... People spend 90 percent of their time inside buildings and the majority of those hours in their homes. With indoor air often four to five times more polluted than the outdoor variety, limiting the toxins inside should be a number one priority....

Earth day, every day.(Tools for Green Giving: Resources for Eco-Awareness and Action)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... With so many holidays already making demands on our dollars, we at E are loathe to add another to the list. But we can't let Earth Day (April 22) sneak by without a mention. While Earth Day may not have arrived as a consumer holiday (yet), it...

Baby's got style.(Tools for Green Giving: Resources for Eco-Awareness and Action)(Kee-Ka company)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Kee-Ka started out as a greeting card company in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but soon expanded into a clothing company producing greeting T-shirts. More recently, Kee-Ka has produced a line of 100 percent certified organic cotton products for...

Hold the petroleum.(Tools for Green Giving: Resources for Eco-Awareness and Action)(Moon Valley Organics)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Although most of our economy is still dependent on petroleum-based products from making to transporting goods, one company is looking to reverse the trend by offering natural, organic skin care products made with non-petroleum, natural and...

Groove is in the art.(Tools for Green Giving: Resources for Eco-Awareness and Action)(www.love-eco.co.uk)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Styled after the '60s but with a very contemporary edge, www.love-eco.co.uk provides a new online shopping destination for green consumers. Not only are Love Eco's wares, from toys and wallets to baskets, big on design, but they're all...

Dye another way.(Tools for Green Giving: Resources for Eco-Awareness and Action)(Naked Earth)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Tired of damaging your hair with ammonia-based hair dyes? Now there's a permanent and inexpensive at-home hair coloring pack that contains certified organic ingredients and is 100 percent ammonia-free. Tints of Nature features a naturally...

A thinking man's farm.(Best Person Rural: Essays of a Sometime Farmer)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Usually, all one really asks of a book is that it transports them somewhere. In the case of Noel Perrin and his book, Best Person Rural: Essays of a Sometime Farmer, (David K Godine, $24.95) that "somewhere" is his 85-acre farm in Thetford...

Plug in that hybrid!(Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars That Will Recharge America)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars That Will Recharge America by Sherry Boschert (New Society, $16.95) is a lively account of the growing movement (now with major automaker backing) to create plug-in versions of today's hybrid vehicles. The plug-in...

Talking to chimps.(Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Fortunately for author Dale Peterson, who has written the definitive biography, lane Goodall: 7he Woman Who Redefined Man (Houghton Mifflin Company, $35), his subject was a copious letter writer. Peterson amassed about 2,000 of Goodall's...

The loved one's natural makeover.(Grave Matters: A Journey through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Bravo to Mark Harris! This sometime-contributor to E has produced a wonderfully readable book on an unusual subject. Fans of Jessica Mitford's An American Way of Death, first published in 1963 (and selling out immediately) might appreciate this...

For the animals.(Animal Instinct)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Animal Instinct by Dorothy H. Hayes (iUniverse, $15.95) is a novel that lets the reading public in on a dirty secret: Animal rights activists are not necessarily congenial bosses. The novel, set in the author's home state of Connecticut,...

Painting perils & urban greenbelts.(EARTH TALK: Questions & Answers About Our Environment)
March 1, 2007... I'm moving into a freshly painted apartment, and am curious to know whether it makes any sense to repaint the walls with non-toxic paint in hopes of "'covering up" the toxic stuff already there. Or is it too late?--Erin East, New York, ...