E Magazine articles from May 2006

E Magazine archives from May 2006

E word: horsesenselessness.
May 1, 2006... When you hear horse enthusiasts, racers and breeders arguing that slaughter is a better option than other "disposal" methods for when their equine charges are old and tired, it becomes evident that the horse trade is yet another human...

Oily business.(ADVICE & DISSENT: Letters from our readers)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... I just came across your article package "The Outlook on Oil" (cover story, January/February 2006). I'm a longtime believer in the subject of "peak oil" having watched production decline dramatically since the early 1990s (I have lived in the...

How about hydrogen?(ADVICE & DISSENT: Letters from our readers)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... In your January/February 2006 article "Consider the Alternatives" (Features), you discuss hydrogen and energy. You must emphasize that hydrogen is not an energy source, any more than electricity is. How clean a fuel is depends on the energy...

Women's health, naturally.(ADVICE & DISSENT: Letters from our readers)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... While living on a farm in Ireland two years ago I was suffering from extreme insomnia and muscle weakness caused by an insect spray (parathion). Purely by intuition (rural Ireland is a very spiritual place), I found a remedy that not only...

Questioning the auto industry.(ADVICE & DISSENT: Letters from our readers)(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... Having read your question-and-answer column in the January/ February 2006 issue ("Ditching SUVs and Breeding Beefalos," Earth Talk), I was wondering something about the U.S. auto industry. If smaller cars and hybrids are both better for the...

Getting there.(ADVICE & DISSENT: Letters from our readers)
May 1, 2006... I enjoyed the reader letters about hybrids in the March/April 2006 issue (Advice and Dissent). My 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid gets more than 60 miles per gallon when I drive it smartly. I also save on brakes with regenerative braking, have less...

Watching whales ... and poop.(Hawai'ian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary)
May 1, 2006... From November to April, hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to whale-watching excursions in the Hawai'ian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Few of these visitors realize that their boats are dumping sewage directly into the...

Hostel territories.(Efforts to spread eco-awareness)
May 1, 2006... Backpackers take note: New developments in eco-hostelling are providing rucksack-toting travelers with environmentally friendly alternatives to the typical budget flophouse. The Minneapolis EcoHostel opened in July of last year as a comfy,...

Social engineering.(Engineers for a Sustainable World)
May 1, 2006... During summer break, many college students spend their free time working at fast-food joints or hanging out with friends. But University of Texas student Amanda Cuellar spent last summer doing much-needed development work in the heavily rural...

Pests or pets? The battle to save monk parakeets heats up.(Danger of nesting on power lines)
May 1, 2006... Take a walk through the dense thickets that rim the teeming marshlands along the Connecticut coast, and you may feel like you are exploring a wild South American jungle. That's because you may hear the loud squawking and shrieking of an import...

Messing with God's creation: the new religious activism to save the environment.(currents)(Advanced Energy initiative)
May 1, 2006... With the passion of a convert, former oil-executive George W. Bush kicked off a multi-state tour on President's Day 2006, barnstorming from Wisconsin to Michigan and Colorado to stump for his new "Advanced Energy Initiative." The blitz followed...

Grass to gas: bio-based ethanol is poised to take off.(CURRENTS)
May 1, 2006... When George W. Bush delivered his State of the Union Address this past January, three words appeared that had not previously been heard from the Oval Office: Switchgrass, stalks and woodchips. Here were kind words about bio-based ethanol...

How clean, how green? Critics say New Zealand doesn't live up to its image.
May 1, 2006... To buy a carton of New Zealand-produced milk is to be transported to paradise. It says so right on the package with imagery more than words--a contented cow, a lush pasture, a blue sky that is the way blue is meant to look. The marketing folks...

Power to the pedicabs: bike-based human transport faces growing pains.(CURRENTS)
May 1, 2006... Travel through certain parts of New York City these days, and you'll see pedicabs zipping through traffic. Previously seen mostly in the developing world, pedicabs are foot-operated bicycle taxis that carry their passengers in open-air seating....

Bird flu marches on.(updates)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... More and more animal diseases are "jumping" the species barrier to infect human beings, and the avian influenza strain H5N1 is no exception (see "Connecting the Dots," cover story, November/December 2004). According to the World Health...

Predators protect the forest.(updates)
May 1, 2006... Scientists Continue to investigate the role of predatory carnivores as an indispensable element in the "green world hypothesis." The basic idea is that predators "protect" plants by controlling the population of herbivores like deer or elk, and...

Dental damage.(updates)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Mercury is a known hazardous pollutant and toxin, yet typical "silver" amalgam dental fillings are about half mercury (see "Got Mercury," cover story, May/June 2002). Citing statistics from a recently released Zogby poll, Michael Bender of the...

How to recycle practically anything.
May 1, 2006... Don't throw away those exercise videos and ubiquitous AOL CDs. Jim Williams wants you to mail old videotapes and CDs to him, so that more than 40 disabled staffers at his ACT Recycling in Columbia, Missouri can recycle them. And, oh, don't toss...

The killing floor: three slaughterhouses marked the end of the road for 88,000 American horses in 2005. But it's Europeans who are eating the meat.
May 1, 2006... In the East Texas hamlet of Kaufman last month, a fetid wind ruffled the stripes of the largest American flag in town. It had been a gift to locals from executives of the pungent Dallas Crown slaughterhouse. A few blocks away, company president...

Don't pan-ic! Searching for the safest cookware.(Your Health)
May 1, 2006... When the health risks of the Teflon production process first became widely known last year, many consumers wondered if they should get rid of their non-stick pots and pans. While Teflon-maker DuPont insists that its famous coating is safe for...

Belly and soul: discovering the joys of local and seasonal foods.(eating right)
May 1, 2006... Like someone scouting for a future spouse in a bar, there was good reason I spent much of my life under the fluorescents, trolling inner aisles of groceries for things in crinkly packages. I was looking for flavor, and I wanted it pronto, on my...

At home in my dome: learning from a unique structure.(house & home)
May 1, 2006... Growing up in the heart of the southern West Virginia coalfields, the quality of local creek water wasn't a topic of discussion. Talk around the dinner table usually revolved around what time Dad left for his second job or if all the green...

Planning for a better world: green financial advisors help point the way.(money matters)
May 1, 2006... While financial advisors have been around about as long as money itself, a new breed of so-called "green" practitioners is focusing on helping clients grow their personal nest eggs while contributing to the achievement of larger social and...

At the Ocean's Edge: a natural tour of Cape Cod.(going green)(Geographic overview)
May 1, 2006... It was low tide on Cape Cod, and coastal naturalist Dick Hilmer was getting his feet wet a half mile off the Brewster shoreline. Cape Cod was, formed by glaciers 18,000 years ago," he told his small audience of journalists. "A mile-high sheet...

Surfing the green wave: eco-minded ISPs and web hosts take to the Internet.(Consumer News)
May 1, 2006... If you're still subscribing to the initialed Internet service provider (ISP) that litters America's mailboxes and newsstands with non-recyclable promotional CDs and packaging, you're not alone--but you're also helping support those practices....

The gift of a lifestyle.(tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(Go GreenGift)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Looking for a fun way to get someone started on the path to greater environmental responsibility? Get them Go GreenGift, an eco-starter kit that makes change easy for people by supplying them with household items to conserve energy, organic...

Pretty paper.(Tools for Green Living: Resources for Eco-Awareness and Action)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Do you enjoy journal writing or mailing notes to family and friends but worry about your paper use? Need a good place to organize your daily notes and thoughts? Consider Trumansburg, New York-based Acorn Designs, which makes beautiful...

Personal shopping for the rest of us.(tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(www.theecoshopper.com)
May 1, 2006... Do you want to buy more ecological and sustainable products but have trouble finding exactly what you want? Now you can have EcoShopper do the hard work for you. All you have to do is e-mail rlandis@theecoshopper.com with a description of the...

Wearable activism.(tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(Ingreedients)(JustifyThat.com)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Show the world your commitment to an organic lifestyle while encouraging others to be more aware about the foods they eat by wearing a provocative t-shirt from Ingreedients. Choose from nine different logos, each of which highlights some of the...

Clear the air.(ools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Although it may seem counterintuitive because of belching smokestacks and car tailpipes, indoor air quality is actually worse overall than what you'll find outside. Opening the windows is often the best way to clean your indoor air, but there...

Soap up.(tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(Fresh From the Farm)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... "When you live on a farm outside of a small town, the one thing you know is that we are stewards of the land and each other. We are the land." So say the good folks at Fresh From the Farm, a family-run business from Indianapolis, Indiana that...

Reel clubs.(tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(Ironweed)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Perhaps capitalizing on the recent popularity of Netflix and copycat services--which mail DVDs to subscribers for rental--youthful visionary Adam Werbach has launched a new, progressive film club called Ironweed. Werbach became famous in the...

Not just for hippies.(tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(Back to Nature Foods)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Since its humble start more than 40 years ago in the back of a health food store in Pasadena, California, Back to Nature Foods has been creating nutritious fare that tastes great without artificial preservatives, flavors or colors. The...

Better butter.(tools for green living: resources for eco-awareness and action)(Justin Nut Butter)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Vegetarian Justin Gold was unsatisfied with the traditional brands of peanut butter he found on the shelves at his local grocery store, so he created Justin's Nut Butter from organic Valencia peanuts. Justin's mission was to create "amazing nut...

Perils at the pole.(Book review)
May 1, 2006... So was it Dr. Frederick A. Cook or Commander Robert E. Peary and Matthew Henson who first visited the North Pole in 19097 Actually, maybe neither party reached the Pole, writes Andrew C. Revkin in his fascinating and lavishly illustrated book...

To dam or not to dam?(book review)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... The World Bank, once an enthusiastic supporter of dam building, has decreased its involvement in new dam projects significantly over the last 35 years as current structures become increasingly problematic. Author Jacques Leslie visited heavily...

The lone ranger.(Book review)
May 1, 2006... "Only this simple everyday living and wilderness wandering seems natural and real, the other world, more like something read, not at all related to reality as I know it," writes Eric Blehm in The Last Season (Harper Collins, $24.95). In the...

Greener gardening.(book review)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... Gardening season is upon us, and more and more people are open to creating something truly sustainable, as well as beautiful, in their yards. Nature-Friendly Garden: Creating a Backyard Haven for Plants, Wildlife, and People (Stackpole Books,...

Confronting sprawl.(Book review)
May 1, 2006... The American landscape has certainly changed in the last few decades, and the fastest growing scenery seems to include the neon lights of burger joints, cookie-cutter housing developments and the asphalt parking lots of big-box retailers. This...

Promoting plug-in hybrids and saving sea sponges.(EARTH TALK: Questions & Answers About Our Environment)
May 1, 2006... As I understand it, "hybrid" cars make use of an electric motor that never needs to be plugged in. But how do those proposed "plug-in" hybrids I've been hearing about work?--Jen Seminara, Omaha, NE The mass-market gasoline-electric hybrids...