January 9, 2009 at 4:37PM
By Brian Clark Howard
| comment
A source close to Plenty Magazine just told URTH Guy that the several year-old green title is to completely shut down all operations, print as well as its website. This comes just days after word got out that the magazine was discontinuing the paper edition in favor of a web-only strategy.
We're told there will be no severances.
At least they had a great last issue, with a fantastically fun look at stuff environmentalists like (unplugging everything! compost! guilting!). So true, so true.
This also comes on the same day in which TDG owner Hearst announced a grim future for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Meredith announced the layoff of 250, and Dow Jones reported a wage freeze. Not long ago, National Geographic opted to kill the print version of The Green Guide, even though it hadn't been long since the venerable org took it over. It's a rough time for us media types.
But hey, at least things are looking good so far for the new MNN.
Got a green media tip? Rumor? Any other cool stuff? Email me! bhoward(at)hearst.com
It's a "true fact" that the average American consumes more than 700 pounds of paper a year, the world's highest per capita figure. While forests store 50% of the world's terrestrial carbon, which would otherwise contribute to global warming, half the world's forests have already been cleared or burned, and 80% of what's left has been seriously degraded. Bummer!
A whopping 42% of the industrial wood harvest is used to make paper, and the paper industry is the 4th largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in U.S. manufacturing.
Recycling (and buying post-consumer recycled) paper certainly helps: Compared to using virgin pulp, paper made with 100% recycled content uses 44% less energy, produces 38% less greenhouse gas emissions, 41% less particulate emissions, 50% less wastewater and 49% less solid waste. But these days only about half of office paper is recovered for recycling. A great start, but we got a ways to go. Plus, recycling still takes some resources and time, and fibers can't be reworked forever before they start breaking down.
Here's one idea to save paper: instead of printing everything out, upload documents you need to reference or share on the Internets! As the File Dropper service points out, "Over 1000 acres [of forest] are deforested every day [a Panama-sized swath in a year]. Its obscene. Most of them are destroyed and turned into paper that we use for less than a few hours."
Instead, get your upload on. Until January 15, File Dropper is offering 250 GB file hosting accounts for free. "We don't want you to waste paper printing," the site points out. You can use these accounts to upload as many documents as you like and share them with all of your friends.
January 7, 2009 at 12:50PM
By Brian Clark Howard
| comment
As Homer Simpson told us, the "Sturgeon General" must be a very wise fish indeed, what with helping chart a course in protecting the health of millions of Americans, issuing warnings on dangers (smoking is bad!), and disseminating important information. So it's fair to question whether CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has what it takes.
According to news reports, Dr. Gupta has been approached by the Barack Obama transition team to serve as the new administration's Surgeon General. In fact, some sources have said Obama has already offered the role.
The word in the blogomill seems to be that Gupta is very interested, despite the fact that he would have to take a considerable pay cut, being a prominent TV talking head and all (he does have two kids and a pregnant wife to support). Obama has reportedly said that Gupta would be the highest profile person to take the role in history (no surprise there), and that he could have an expanded role in health policy advice. The Michigan-born son of Indian parents had been a White House fellow in the late 1990s, writing speeches and crafting policy for Hillary Clinton.
Gupta is a skilled surgeon who even distinguished himself saving lives in Iraq, while embedded with a Navy unit. But not everyone is bully on the choice. A number of people, including prominent New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, are uncomfortable with the fact that Gupta harshly criticized Michael Moore for his muckraking Sicko, when most observers believe Moore's work holds up better than the "fudging" Gupta accused him of.
For his part, pundit Keith Olbermann had this quip about the possible nomination: "Isn't this like making Judge Judy the Attorney General?" Olbermann argued that Gupta is "transparently TV," and wonders if the media connection is an evolution of the Surgeon General's role. Others have wondered if Gupta has enough public health experience.
Gupta once told Wolf Blitzer, "We spend so much of our health care budget towards taking care of people after they've already become sick, instead of preventing some of those diseases in the first place. Medically and morally, it makes a lot of sense to keep people from getting sick in the first place, and I think that has got to be a big component of fixing the health care system overall."
That's a very commendable position, and one we at TDG absolutely support. However, we question whether Dr. Gupta's record -- while including many examples of commendable journalism -- really lives up to such ideals on balance. Now, we take a look back at Gupta's most disturbing positions:
6. Gupta Took Wacky Raelian Claim of Cloning at Face Value
TDG's own contributor Chris Mooney blasted Gupta in Columbia Journalism Review for giving wide-eyed coverage of the Raelian cult's highly dubious claims of having cloned a human being back in 2002. Mooney faults Gupta for saying the Raelian-connected Clonaid group had "the capacity to clone," and, "We are certainly going to be anxiously awaiting to see some of the proof from these independent scientists next week." Despite the fact that Clonaid was providing no evidence of the purported "Eve" whatsoever, not even a photo.
January 6, 2009 at 11:44PM
By Brian Clark Howard
| comment
In the past, one of the obstacles to designers adopting green fashion has been that the artists and technicians behind our clothes haven't been familiar with the ever-increasing spectrum of alternative fabrics and materials coming online. Most were schooled in conventional techniques and honed their talents working with materials for decades, or in the case of fashion houses, generations. They simply didn't know how bamboo fibers would hold up under stress, or how recycled rayon drapes over different bodies.
But a new international partnership hopes to bring the latest eco-fashion ingredients into the orbit of today's leading designers, where they can touch and experiment, and help lead the way forward. The C.L.A.S.S. initiative (Creativity, Lifestyle And Sustainable Synergy) was conceived in Milan in September 2007 by Giusy Bettoni and Sandy MacLennan, and has just added New York as the third place for a permanent home (in addition to Milan and London).
C.L.A.S.S. NYC is to be showcased at The Four Hundred on Spring Street, Bahar Shahpar's home for leading edge green fashion.
Bahar was on hand at a recent panel discussion of C.L.A.S.S. at the Allsteel showroom in the city (chronicled also by my buddy Remy C. on the Greenloop). Bahar told us, "The textile industry is one of the most polluting. I realized that as a designer I'm also a manufacturer." The goal of C.L.A.S.S., she said, is to "help us [in the fashion industry] come together to solve our similar problems."
Those problems include toxic runoff from textile mills, the impacts of chemical dyes, reliance on petroleum and animal products, pesticide-raised fibers, hazards to worker health, low wages, sourcing challenges, rising costs, long distance transportation, complicated supply chains and many other issues. In addition, avoiding greenwashing and conveying clear, accurate messages to increasingly busy (and in some cases jaded) consumers remains a top concern.
January 5, 2009 at 10:18AM
By Brian Clark Howard
| comment
Need some inspiration for the New Year to eat better and get your work down more ethically? Then consider the case of an upstart yogurt company from New Hampshire that profoundly changed the face of business.
Gary Hirshberg explains exactly how he did it in his recent book Stirring It Up (Hyperion). Hirshberg's company, Stonyfield Farm, is a $300 million-per year annual business that to many is synonymous with the words "organic yogurt." It makes the number-one selling brand of organic yogurt and number-three overall yogurt brand in the U.S. Today the company is 85% owned by France's Group Danone, which has been committed to sticking with Stonyfield's winning combination of quality and ethical green business.
In Stirring It Up, Hirshberg presents enough facts and figures to back up his central point -- that boosting efficiency, slashing waste and doing right by the environment leads to higher profits, as well as a clean conscience -- but he writes with a down-home accessibility that should engage all those who wouldn't normally pick up a "business book."
Stirring It Up not only details how Stonyfield perfected its crowd-pleasing formulas and worked to cut carbon emissions along every step of its impact (the book itself is even offset by a farm-based manure digester), but it reads like a who's who of green business. Hirshberg fills considerable pages outlining how other companies have reaped rewards from going green, from Patagonia to Clif Bar, Flor, Seventh Generation, Honest Tea, Timberland, Eileen Fisher and even Wal-Mart (yes, Wal-Mart).
Writing about the early stages of the organic food revolution, Hirshberg explained, "What began as a philosophical fondness for dishes like brown rice and seaweed eventually matured into a tasty cuisine that attracted talented chefs, notably my friend Alice Waters, who called organics 'the delicious revolution.'" These days of course, organic food is one of the fastest growing segments of the entire world of eating, and folks are flocking to local and humane diets in record numbers. Greener, healthier fare is now available at fast food joints, 5-star restaurants and corporate cafeterias alike, as well as practically everything in between.
In an age rocked by corporate scandals and economic uncertainty, doing right by the planet and worker and consumer health seems more delicious than ever. Clip the coupons from the back of Stirring It Up from major green retailers, and find out for yourself how much better products can be.
Personally, I'm looking forward to trying Stonyfield Farm's new organic Greek yogurt, since I recently discovered how delicious strained yogurt can be (thanks to friends living near authentic Greek markets in Astoria!).
December 24, 2008 at 12:42PM
By Brian Clark Howard
| comment
Jen Boulden and Heather Stephenson have a message this holiday season: turn off your Christmas lights when you're not using them! Otherwise you'll directly lead to an apocalyptic future for our children's children's children. That would earn us one mean hunk of (non-singing) coal.
The two pretty forces of nature behind the hit green website Ideal Bite (recently bought by Disney!) impart this festive message in a cute web video (below). The production values are high yet campy (again, Disney), and it's an entertaining watch. I love the Dargeresque depictions of our bleak dystopian future.
So turn off unneeded lights so we can have a Greenopian future instead, thank you very much. And listen to Jen and Heather rock out, Guitar Hero/Rock Band style. The song is quite catchy. (I think someone saw Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure recently too. RIP George Carlin.).
So Jen, you like younger men? O RLY. Next time you're in New York, call me. I don't have any holiday lights on.
December 23, 2008 at 6:22PM
By Brian Clark Howard
| comment
I've long been a fan of Aveda, and once had the pleasure of meeting the eccentric founder, Horst Rechelbacher. For years I got my hair cut at an Aveda salon in Connecticut (with cute hairdressers!), and I've used their shampoo and conditioner for ages.
Many of us in the green scene drew a collective gasp when Rechelbacher sold Aveda to Estee Lauder in 1997, but the good news is the company seems to have kept growing while still remaining every bit as true to its dark green roots (debate over how much impact Aveda has had on the other actions of its parent company continues).
I was happy to try the new products for Aveda Men, and I have to say that I haven't been disappointed. One item I was sent was a nice, compact styling brush, designed for "root lift, detangling and voluminous results on any hair type." The brush is supposed to "reduce stress" on hair and scalp. It seems to work well and has a good feel, thanks to the pretty Chinese honey wood handle, which gives it a classic, old-fashioned-in-a-good-way look. The brush comes in minimum packaging of recycled paperboard (55% post consumer), printed with soy ink.
I also got a shampoo, one of Aveda's flagship products. The bottle has a black, manly look to it (my buddies at The Art of Manliness would approve), and more importantly has a manly scent. So manly in fact that when I had a female friend sniff the bottle she wrinkled her nose. I like it, and find that after washing the remaining scent is very subtle, and refreshing. It's supposed to have naturally derived exfoliants n' stuff.
The Aveda Men product I'm most exciting about is the grooming clay, for adding texture, thickness and definition (it may even help sculpt your remaining locks over that bald spot). I had been skimming off of my ex's Aveda defining whip for years, since my hair tends to get frizzy and unruly after a shower (hey, more reason to take less of them!), plus I have a few annoying curls on the side of my head. I had been buying the whip myself, but I never liked the floral scent.
The new grooming clay is much more manly. It is more like a putty, so it is less sticky than a whip, and it works better for my hair, leaving it more natural looking, and less like I put any product in it (bonus!).
December 22, 2008 at 1:37AM
By Brian Clark Howard
| comment
In Dark Star Safari, Paul Theroux is pulled back on the road deep in the heart of Africa – there are landmines in those woods, warns his guide. Later, a villager tells Theroux that people die every time it rains, as torrents wash landmines into farm fields and on footpaths where they weren't before. (Although a landmine removal expert tells Theroux this particular horror is urban legend, reports in the press aren't so clear.)
In any case, landmines are a terrible scourge in much of the world, bringing death and dismemberment, as well as restriction of basic activities like tilling and construction, long after armies have fallen, regimes have changed and generals are forgotten. Someone is killed or maimed by landmines every 20 minutes, in 88 countries -- especially Cambodia, Angola and Mozambique.
Landmines cost as little as $3 (less than a good bar of soap), and experts estimate there are a staggering 100 million lying around. At the current rate of removal, it will take 1,000 years to demine them all -- and even that seems unlikely since new ones are being sown by forces all the time.
In countries free of landmines, it is hard for people to imagine the danger.
In 2006, a design student at Parsons in New York City, Hideaki Matsui, came up with Cleanup soap for his senior thesis. The soap comes in the cool-looking shape of a landmine, which serves as a daily reminder of both how fortunate we are in the relative safety of the developed world, and how our small actions can help those in far corners of the globe.
Twenty-five percent of the purchase price of each Cleanup soap is donated to nonprofit organizations that remove landmines and help survivors -- currently the Cambodia Landmine Museum Relief Fund. "As the soap disappears, so do the landmines," the smartly designed box points out.
Cleanup was chosen for development through Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy’s Social Entrepreneurship Through Design class. Two students there, Alison Keehn and Benjamin Packer, incorporated in 2007 as the Social Entrepreneurship Network, Inc. (SEN), to bring this and other products to market.
December 19, 2008 at 5:35PM
By Brian Clark Howard
| comment
Reid Carolin is making a documentary about the chaos and shifting political problems in the Congo and Rwanda. Yet despite the distance and challenges, Carolin told URTH Guy, "There's more reporters [in central Africa] than in Indian Country in America. No one goes to the people here and asks them to tell their stories," he said.
Carolin tried to tell some of these stories with his short promo film for Red Feather Development Group, below. The piece is narrated by the well weathered voice of Robert Redford, who is no stranger to important films on the plight of Native Americans living today. In the promo, Redford explains that of the two million Native Americans in the U.S., about 300,000 are homeless. A social worker explains that she often sees four, five or six families packed into one tiny home, often buffeted by severe climate.
Robert O. Young, the founder and executive director of Bozeman, Montana-based Red Feather, explains, "I could see right away what their problem is, and it's housing." That's why Red Feather has been assisting and empowering Native communities in building their own housing -- and they use eco-friendly, inexpensive straw bale construction.
At a recent silent auction benefit for Red Feather's work in the eclectic Dactyl Foundation gallery in New York City's Soho, arty guests sipped wine and enjoyed the traditional flute music of Grammy winner Joseph Fire Crow of the Northern Cheyenne Nation. All donations were matched by the Niles Foundation, and items up for bidding included luxury vacation home rentals, dramatic framed photographs and artwork, jewelry by Native artists, and a guitar signed by the members of Pearl Jam. The cool space was donated by Dactyl Foundation Founder and Board Trustee Neil Grayson and Dactyl Board Trustee Patrick Markey, who is a Bozeman resident and the producer for Robert Redford’s films River Runs Through It and Horse Whisperer.
In between filming in Africa, Carolin was on hand to talk about Red Feather, on whose board he serves. He pointed out some of the benefits of building with straw bales: they can take advantage of very affordable materials that are readily available near western Native communities; straw bales are packed so tight that they repel fire and pests; it provides great insulation and sturdy, wind-resistant walls; it requires less skilled labor than other materials; and the technique is easily taught and shared among communities.
December 18, 2008 at 12:52PM
By Brian Clark Howard
| comment
I got a sample six-pack of Zija Energy Drink in the mail the other day from PlantMiracle. I had at first rebuffed the offer of trying an energy drink since I can't do caffeine (except for a little green or white tea in the morning when I'm fighting off tired Zombie groans of SLEEEEEP!), but then when I was told that Zija does not contain caffeine my interest was piqued.
When my Zija arrived I liked the small size of the cans, and the clean, understated look of the package. This is clearly no Rock Star, Monster or Turkish energy drink (seriously, I see Turkish energy drinks in bodegas in my neighborhood and they frighten me).
I had a long night of blogging and editing ahead, so I popped a top. I was greeted with a faint aroma of Pop Rocks. I found the green liquid to be surprisingly refreshing, and it tasted pretty good. It reminded me a bit of Cell-Nique's herbal Super Green Drink, though I think it tastes better and is easier drinking. Cell-Nique boasts an impressive 95% organic ingredients and 31 superfoods and botanical herbs -- but I find the taste and texture a bit on the chalky side, and I personally can only drink it mixed with vodka and a spritz of cranberry juice (No, I'm not on my period!).
I will say that I did feel a bit more alert after trying Zija, and I was able to concentrate on working through a few more hours. The "high" was mild, with no crash. I felt no jitters, as I would if I had a full cup of regular coffee these days (I used to be able to consume 4-6 cups of coffee in a night, talking with friends at a diner, but those days are long gone, maybe because of those days).
December 8, 2008 at 12:22AM
By Brian Clark Howard
| comment
Pint-sized eco-pixie Lisa Simpson already won TDG's "Heart of Green" award last year for her star turn in the blockbuster The Simpsons Movie. Last night, lovable, do-gooding Lisa wears a beard of bees and campaigns against a greedy billionaire in the episode "The Burns and the Bees" (full episode should appear on Hulu shortly).
In the show, Springfield's bees are all dying, and the eccentric Groundskeeper Willy laments that the same is happening to bees around the world (learn more about mysterious colony collapse disorder). Lisa tries to point out how bees are beneficial in ecosystems and agriculture, to which Homer responds that "Flowers are the painted whores of the plant world."
(Speaking of the dim-witted father to Lisa and Bart -- he features prominently in the recent winner of the highbrow Turner Prize in art).
Viewers learn that swarming bees rarely sting (good for Lisa and that buzzy beard). Hijinx also ensue after Homer and Moe breed local bees with African species (ala killer bees). Mix in a beehive-shaped stadium erected by Mr. Burns -- without regard to habitat -- and maverick Mark Cuban (who has been in the news recently himself).
December 7, 2008 at 9:40PM
By Brian Clark Howard
| comment
See Diana Kaye leading her Terressentials team in the fun, informative advocacy video/commercial below. (See lyrics here.) It reminds us of Smirnoff's Tea Partay crossed with Vermont's CO2 rappers.
Diana Kaye founded the Maryland-based natural body care products company Terressentials after she had been unsatisfied with the other offerings on the market. Kaye had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the young age of 29. Although she recovered after a long struggle that included a switch to organic food and natural products, as well as experimental chemotherapy, she was left highly sensitive to a wide range of chemicals.
When I did a story on her for E Magazine, Kaye told me, “As I began to research personal-care products, I realized that there were very few items I could safely use because of their synthetic ingredients, including those found in natural health stores. So I formed my own company with the goal of offering 100 percent natural body-care products that are as close to all-organic as possible.”
reddit
digg
Del.icio.us
facebook
newsvine
stumble
What is share?
