The low-carb conundrum: can environmentalists “go Atkins” and still eat healthfully? Julia Fawkes Stuart Last week, my favorite health-food supermarket was invaded with little red-and-blue circular signs. They read “Low-Carb” and appeared on everything from tomatoes to bulk cashews to reformulated bread and pasta. I’ve been trying to ignore the carb-counting craze, but those ubiquitous […]
Category: E: The Environmental Magazine
CHINA: The Cost of Coal Mark Hertsgaard IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHY CHINA IS A GREENHOUSE GIANT, picture my friend Zhenbing Zhou. Funny, immensely charming, a great (and sometimes endless) talker, Zhenbing was my interpreter and constant companion during a recent six-week journey through China. Zhenbing was an economics instructor at Beijing’s Renmin University […]
Global warming – The Best Of The Green Guide Mindy Pennybacker In the last 100 years, the Earth’s average surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit, and it may climb between 2.5 and 10 degrees higher by 2100, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts. For the estimated 50 million Americans who […]
Endangered Species List In Danger – more species need to be added to the group – Brief Article B.H At least 6,000 species need immediate protection under the Endangered Species Act, according to Jasper Carlton of the Biodiversity Legal Foundation, but only 1,235 are listed as threatened or endangered (see “The Last of Their Kind,” […]
Rattling zoo cages – Advice & dissent: letters from our readers I am very impressed with E’s willingness to tackle important and volatile issues. I’m glad you’ve raised the question: Is it time to close the zoos (Doug Moss’s E Word, March/April 2002). Your articles point out the differences between the 10 percent of zoos […]
Feeling the heat: student Davids take on a business-led global warming Goliath – Currents Damon Franz The world’s scientists have reached a nearly unanimous consensus that the surface of the Earth is warming as a result of human activities. With strongly affirmative voices from respected bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and […]
Setting Some Standards Fran Ryan Last January, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced that meat, poultry and eggs will now be allowed to display the “certified organic” label–catching up with produce and fiber crops that are currently included in the federal standards for organic foods (see “Food Porn,” Currents May/June 1998). State and private organic authorities […]
Zap! The growing controversy over food irradiation – Your Health Melissa Knopper Over the past several years, a series of highly publicized recalls have sent panicky consumers running to the fridge to check for tainted meat. In 1998, Sara Lee recalled millions of pounds of hot dogs and deli meat after 21 people died in […]
Watt’s the story? Energy-efficient lighting comes of age – Consumer News Jim Motavalli As Americans, we spend about a quarter of our electricity budget on lighting, yet we’re surprisingly ignorant about the basic properties of the lightbulb, let alone the recent innovations in energy-saving lighting design that can cut consumer costs 30 to 60 percent […]
Catching Some Rays – building roofs with solar shingles can reduce energy consumption – Brief Article April Reese Solar Shingles Can Turn Your Rooftop Into a Miniature Power Plant All of the energy we use originally came from the sun, even fossil fuels like coal and oil. Burning that fuel, which stored the sun’s energy […]