It’s that time of year when scenes like this unfold in our neighborhood here in the nation’s capitol: a National Park Service employee pushing leaves around the sidewalk with the most polluting device known to man–a gas-powered leaf blower.
Does anybody else remember when we did this with a broom and rake?
How do we expect nations [...]
Entries Tagged as 'pollution'
Mr. President, Where Is Your Sustainability Czar?
November 4th, 2009 · 4 Comments · Sustainability
Meatless Mondays? Really?
September 7th, 2009 · 5 Comments · Sustainability, Wellness
A vocal segment of the food and environmental movements would have us abandon meat and embrace a plant-based diet on grounds that cattle contribute too much to greenhouse emissions. It’s a simple-minded approach to complex problems posed by world overpopulation that overlooks the nutritional consequences of such a radical change in food habits. Over 2.6 million years, [...]
Tags: goat·meat·pollution·vegan·vegetarian
Mercury Found In Fish Everywhere
August 20th, 2009 · 13 Comments · Sustainability, Wellness, food news
The U.S. Geological Service has released results of a seven-year study showing that mercury was found in every single fish tested in nearly 300 of the nation’s streams. Mercury levels in nearly a quarter of the samples were found to excede what the government considers safe for consumption.
The biggest source of mercury in the environment [...]
Eliot Coleman Likes Beef
August 12th, 2009 · 17 Comments · Industrial agriculture, Sustainability
Those of you who read this blog regularly know what we think of “Meatless Monday.” There’s hardly been a more idiotic idea to come down the pike than the one that would have us give up eating meat because of climate change. There are so many other ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, why would [...]
Tags: global warming·meat·pollution
What’s In The Potomac River?
July 22nd, 2009 · 1 Comment · Blog
Ever wonder why you never see anyone swimming in the river that runs through our nation’s capitol?
This may be one reason: Scientists are puzzling over why so many of the fish in thePotomac can’t decide which sex they are. More than 80 percent of male smallmouth bass sampled in recent years have female eggs in [...]
More Chemicals in Our Oceans
May 27th, 2009 · No Comments · Blog
More bad news for our oceans. A new study has found alarming levels of dangerous chemicals such as DDT and PCBs in the brains of marine mammals such as dolphins and seals residing in the Western Atlantic.
“We don’t really know the effect of that level in these animals,” said one of the study’s authors. “The [...]
It’s About Time
March 16th, 2009 · 4 Comments · Uncategorized
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is finally doing some enforcement work to reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. The EPA has told poultry farmers on Maryland’s Eastern Shore that they must now apply for a permit if any of their manure is running off into local waterways.
The federal requirements are even stiffer than what [...]
Ethanol: Obama’s Deal with the Devil
March 13th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Uncategorized
Don’t look now but the Obama adminstration is making good on our worst fears, ramping up the pressure for NOT less but MORE ethanol.
Obama’s agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack this week announced that he is all in favor a proposal from Midwestern aggies to raise the amount of ethanol that can be blended into a [...]
Why We Stopped Eating Crabs
February 3rd, 2009 · No Comments · Uncategorized
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation recently published a report that for the first time links the decline of Blue Crabs in Maryland and Virginia waters to poor water quality.
The state of the blue crab has been declared a disaster, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has filed suit in federal court against the U.S. Environmental Protection [...]
Tags: chesapeake bay·crabs·pollution
We are engaging the concerns of a hungry planet--slowly--right here in our kitchen garden in the District of Columbia, about a mile from the White House.
