TIME Takes a Look at Food Deserts

TIME has just posted a piece looking at food deserts. Talks to Mari Gallagher, looks at Farmer's Best Market on Chicago's South Side. Minority residents of the windy city have to travel twice as far to get fresh meats and produce. See the story, as well as the accompanying video, at http://tinyurl.com/qpkz29.

Old Stoves + Global Warming

Nice piece in the NYT on an emerging strategy for quickly reducing global warming: upgrade the primitive cooking stoves in villages throughout developing world. These old soot-producing stoves may play a significant role as a cause of warming and present a potential quick fix for at least some of the major cause. See the story at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/science/earth/16degrees.html?_r=1&hp

(No) Drilly, Baby, Drill sez Friedman

Nice column by Thomas Friedman on how Costa Rica has rolled environmental management together with other priorities since the late '90s. That's when environment, energy, mining and water were all placed under one minister. This led to an integrated way of approaching the environment and development - seeing them as compatible rather than mutually exclusive. Though oil was discovered in Costa Rican territory, the country decided to ban drilling. See the column here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/opinion/12friedman.html?_r=1

Funny, a little sick, and very informative

That's how Isabella Rosselini described the new series she wrote, stars in and co-produced. It's called Green Porno 2, was released online April 1, and tells the story of how wild marine animals reproduce. (Green Porno 1 looked at the sex habits of insects.) In it Rosselini plays a number of animals, including a starfish, alongside dozens of different... well, you'll have to watch for yourself. It's amazing! See it at:

http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno/

Vinyl Floors Lead to Autism in Children?

U.S. and Swedish researchers called evidence far from conclusive. Yet children in homes with vinyl floors were twice as likely to have autism. Vinyl can emit phthalates - which help to make plastic flexible and prevent nail polish from chipping - and are prominent in the lives of American consumers.

The researchers found four environmental factors associated with autism: vinyl flooring, the mother’s smoking, family economic problems and condensation on windows, which indicates poor ventilation.

To see the study:
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/autism-and-vinyl-flooring

Eating Meat = Global Warming

Interesting posting at the NYT's Green Inc. blog. First cites 2006 UN report that livestock is responsible for 18 % of greenhouse gas emissions. But then a recent Archives of Internal Medicine editorial stating that water use is 2-5 times greater worldwide for animal-source food than basic crops such as legumes and grains. Also states that livestock production accounts for 55% of the erosion process in the U.S. and 1/3 of the total discharge of nitrogen and phosphorous to surface water.

See the blog and links at http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/

Two Critical Takes on 'Greening' of Chicago

Several interesting and quite different pieces question the city's dedication to a sustainable future.
Tribune environmental reporter Michael Hawthorne has a piece in this morning's paper looking at the commitment by City Hall back in 2001 to reduce dependence on traditional energy, and the little progress made since. See it at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-daley-green-power-bd22-mar22,0,6177898.story.

"But more than two years after the deadline he set, the city continues to get nearly all of its power from coal, natural gas and nuclear plants, according to records obtained by the Tribune."

And Chitown Daily News has an interview with urban historian Harold Platt of Loyola University Chicago.

"On biodiversity, Daley is doing pretty good, but then take something like transportation ... With the air pollution from cars and congestion, I think it’s a miserable failure. Where has Daley been in terms of promoting public transportation? Even the Olympic committee said that’s been one of the city’s worst failings, public transit. So it’s not just lefty green tree-huggers, even outside, the world committee has been looking at Rio, Madrid, and we don’t measure up."

To see Chitown's interview, go to http://www.chitowndailynews.org/Chicago_news/A_green_city_skeptic,23953