GREEN LIVING, GREEN TRAVELING
Posted in Climate change, Wildlife habitat, Wildlife survival on Mar 21st, 2011
Polar bear. Photo credit: wikimedia commons Two-thirds of the world’s polar bears could disappear within 50 years due to greenhouse-gas emissions, said a 2007 report by the U.S. Geological Survey. The bears need Arctic sea ice in order to hunt the seals and other offshore prey that sustain them. But our warming climate is rapidly [...]
Posted in Climate change on Mar 19th, 2011
Photo by Sally Kneidel Why are massive snowfalls and cold air walloping the U.S. for the second year in a row? I listened to the climate reporter for the NY Times, Justin Gillis, on NPR yesterday. He said our current weather is due to a breakdown in the “polar vortex.” Gillis mentioned that the U.S. [...]
Posted in Climate change, Environmental pollution on Mar 17th, 2011
Coal emissions are a big contributor to climate change Printed in the Charlotte Observer on Feb. 21, 2011 This letter to the editor was written in response to “Scientists connect global warming to extreme rain” (Feb.17) and “Duke earnings up 23% in 2010″ (Feb. 18) “Thursday the Observer reported that ‘telltale fingerprints’ in scientific data [...]
Posted in Agriculture, Borneo, Climate change, Deforestation, Indonesia, Malaysia, Overconsumption, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, Sustainable choices for your home, Sustainable Living, Tree plantations, Wildlife, Wildlife habitat on Dec 13th, 2010
Readers, a woman who works for the Nature Conservancy asked me to post this article debating fake vs. real Christmas trees, by the Conservancy’s Frank Lowenstein. It’s also posted on the Nature Conservancy website. The debate is worth thinking about this time of year, although the solution is murky, for me. Following is Frank’s article [...]
Posted in Agriculture, Animal welfare / animal rights, Cancer, Climate change, Dairy, Deforestation, Environmental pollution, Food, Food, Health, Livestock, Sustainable choices for your home, Veggie Revolution (co-authored with Sadie Kneidel) on Oct 24th, 2010
My mom was a meat, eggs, and milk gal. To her way of thinking, animal protein was the key to good health. Breakfast was bacon, eggs, and milk, period. If my brothers and I were running late for school with no time to eat, she made us gulp down a blend of raw eggs and [...]
Posted in Agriculture, Climate change, Farming, Film review, Food, Gardening, Going Green (co-authored with Sadie Kneidel), Health, Health effects of eating meat, High fat foods, Livestock, Organic, Veggie Revolution (co-authored with Sadie Kneidel) on Oct 18th, 2010
This post now on Google News and on the syndicated BasilandSpice.com Two young girls lead the way I was asked to review the new DVD, “What’s on YOUR Plate? The Film about Kids and Food Politics”. The stars of the movie are two 11-year-old multiracial girls in NYC, Sadie Hope-Gund and Safiyah Riddle. The film [...]
Posted in Africa, Agriculture, Climate change, Deforestation, Desertification, Film review, Food, Food, Gardening, Health, Livestock, Southeast Asia, Sustainable Living, Wildlife on Sep 8th, 2010
I was asked to write a review of “Dirt! The Movie,” a documentary about our worldwide destruction of soil versus our absolute dependence on soil for our survival. The movie is an inspiring blend of interviews with scientists, farmers, and activists, as well as footage from around the world of the traditional uses and modern [...]
Posted in Climate change, Environmental footprint, Environmental pollution, Oil spill, Sustainable Living, Wildlife on May 10th, 2010
This post now on BasilandSpice.com. After my post a few days ago about the oil spill and its consequences to wildlife, I got a few interesting messages from friends and acquaintances. My friend Sonia, the director of a land conservancy in the Southwest U.S., sent me this note on Facebook: “This whole situation is just [...]
Posted in Climate change, Energy-efficient housing, Environmental footprint, Sustainable choices for your home, Sustainable Living, Wildlife, Wildlife behavior, Wildlife survival on Jan 28th, 2010
This post now appearing on the Daily Me Those of us concerned about greenhouse gases and climate change have a new study to ponder. This study, from Dr. Florian Altermatt at UC Davis, documents once again the biological effects of global warming. Altermatt examined insect data from Central Europe. Temperatures have been increasing there for [...]
Posted in Climate change, Environmental footprint, Health, Human behavior on Jan 22nd, 2010
This post now on Google News and on wwwbasilandspice.com In the last 30 years, the number of nearsighted Americans has increased dramatically, by 66%. Nearsightedness, or myopia, is the inability to focus on distant objects. In the early 1970s, 25% of Americans were nearsighted. Now, says epidemiologist Dr. Susan Vitale of the National Eye Institute, [...]
