Once-mighty Toyota is having a rough month, during a period of already lean times for the global auto industry. As our correspondent (and green car guru) Jim Motavalli has been documenting for TDG, the recalls of millions of Toyota vehicles has seemed to spiral into an ever greater mess. While the car maker points fingers at pedal assemblies provided by a third party, others worry that the fixes being offered by dealers don't get at the route of the problem (which some theorize may be electronic interference in the increasingly complex computer systems of modern rides, and which may extend beyond Toyota to other brands).

At the same time, Toyota is getting pummeled by at least 100 complaints from American drivers who claim the brakes failed on their 2010 Priuses (or Prii, as some put it). As industry analysts have looked closer at the hybrids' regenerative braking systems, questions have also emerged about at least one Lexus model and hybrids offered by Ford. So the popular, gas-sipping cars have clearly hit an icy patch, while Toyota and others scramble for solutions.

Against this context, some observers have quipped that Toyota's recent branding strategy, "Moving Forward," now takes an ironic tone. Since some drivers have complained of sudden acceleration moving their vehicles forward on their own, one blogger suggested that the company change its slogan to "Toyota: Not Moving At All. Promise." Other timely suggestions for Toyota include "Moving Forward, but Slowly and with Complete Control"; "Sorry We Killed Your Neighbor"; "You Be the Test Dummy"; and from commenter Luke Duke, "Toyota. Because you never know when someone is going to turn your life into the movie Speed."

My friend Remy C. (who is trying to shut down Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant with his effort Rock the Reactors) dropped by my place yesterday to drop off some fresh flyers for his Bastille Day (July 14) green lighting party extravaganza in NYC. He also showed me the latest issue of Complex magazine, the men's urban style and shopping title from designer Marc Ecko. He flipped past pinup photos of Buffy the Vampire Slayer cutie Michelle Trachtenberg to a double-sided ad for Toyota Corolla. We were both struck immediately by the creepy irony.

This Sunday is Super Bowl XLIV. Much of my family can't wait, since we are from Indianapolis, and Colts fever runs high. While the game itself may prove to be exiting, the atmosphere and hype around the event is a study in contrasts -- luckily there may be some green linings.

FiLife has a thought-provoking infographic on Super Bowl economics, comparing the expense of the event to the recent disaster in Haiti. While the average per capita annual income in the island nation is a scant $450, the cheapest seats at the Super Bowl cost $1,777 (and go from there up to a whopping $243,000!). The combined value of the two football teams, my hometown Colts and the New Orleans Saints, is 30% of Haiti's entire GDP.

The expensive event does also sit in contrast to the devastation that remains in poor sections of post-Katrina New Orleans. True, some fans are looking at the Saints' bid as a source of pride and hope for the community. And it may be. But it's hard not to at least notice the inequality of champagne caviar luxury boxes when so many are still without adequate housing. It's easy to bah-humbug lavish sporting events, like gladiator battles at the coliseum while the republic burned. Of course, that's not the whole story either, and in our complicated global web of commerce and society it's hard to tease out fair comparisons.

Super Bowl ads this year are controversial enough, right?

We're not saying you can't enjoy the Big Game, since we know some of you could use a little distraction in these troubled times. That's why we put together some suggestions on how to minimize your own impact. At the stadium level, there has been talk of greening the Super Bowl, but it's even easier to start in your own home.

Check out our seven scrumptious Super Bowl party recipes, like natural salsa fresca, hummus or Swiss cheese onion crostinis. Or browse on over to Big Green Boulder's ultimate green Super Bowl guide. There you will find recipes for holistic Super Bowl vegetarian chili and jambalaya. As the Daily Camera suggests, "walk a little lighter on the planet as 300-pound men hit the turf." Plus, got a hankering for potato skins or nachos? Planet Green has ya covered.

If you are watching the game, hopefully it will be on an efficient TV.

Toyota dealerships: The cars are under several recalls. (Flickr photo)

Do you own one of the Toyota cars recalled by the company for unintended acceleration? Good, because many consumers are confused. At a time when cooperation would seem to be key, three of the principals -- including Toyota, the federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and CTS Corp., the company that makes the recalled pedals, are feuding. Meanwhile, at presstime the feds announced that their investigation is spreading to include the possibility of electronic interference causing the problem.

The casualty may be the public's need to know how to handle this burgeoning crisis. "The mess has spread," says Barron's.

Toyota North American boss Jim Lentz has been very visible as apologist in chief. "This is embarrassing to us," he said during media appearances Monday, "but it doesn't necessarily mean we have lost our edge on quality. Our reputation is based on safety."

Toyota will lose sales: According to Kelley Blue Book, the resale value of Toyota's recalled models is likely to erode by up to two percent on dealer lots this week. Still, there's some evidence that consumers are snapping up the company's used cars because they're perceived as bargains.

Earlier today, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood responded to complaints that NHTSA (one of his agencies) has let Toyota take the lead in engineering a fix for owners of the cars. According to LaHood, "They should have taken it seriously from the very beginning when we first started discussing it with them," he said in an Associated Press interview today. "Maybe they were a little safety deaf in their North American office..."

Meanwhile, trouble is also brewing in CTS Corp., the Elkhart, Indiana firm that makes the 5.3 million pedal assemblies that Toyota has recalled. CTS doesn't want to be the fall guy for Toyota, and has pointed out that it had no role in initiating the recall. And it is denying responsibility for unintended acceleration. "CTS believes that the rare slow return pedal phenomenon, which may occur in extreme environmental conditions," it said in a statement. The company's pedals "should absolutely not be linked with any sudden unintended acceleration incidents," the company said.

CTS said that it wasn't aware of any injuries or accidents "caused by the rare slow return pedal condition."

Indeed, the great Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow this year, so we're supposed to get six more weeks of winter! Of course, despite the complete faith of his supporters, ol' Phil is only correct about 40% of the time, according to the U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).

We got a big kick out of hearing about other weather-predicting groundhogs around North America, Milltown Mel being one of our faves. So I did a little research and put together this quiz of famous groundhogs. How many can you identify?

[In his ongoing but sporadic series Don't Throw That Away!, the Green Cheapskate shows you how to repurpose just about anything, saving money and the environment in the process. Send him your repurposing ideas and challenges, but whatever you do, Don't Throw That Away!]

Ever since the mandatory conversion to digital TV -- the proverbial death knell to rabbit ear television antennas -- I've wondered if aluminum foil sales have plummeted.

If you grew up with rabbit ears, you know what I'm talking about. Who didn't fashion aluminum foil into a homemade antennae appendage in hope of enhancing the reception of their rabbit ears? I was never convinced that it worked, but at least it gave us something to do, since we couldn't see what was happening on the screen.

Even with the demise of rabbit ears, aluminum foil sales are still big business. Over 1.3 billion pounds of aluminum foil is produced every year in the U.S. -- that's a heck of a lot of leftovers. While aluminum foil is just as recyclable as aluminum cans, many curbside recycling programs won't accept it for sanitary reasons (check with your local recycling program for their foil policy). That's a shame, because recycling aluminum uses only about 5% of the energy that it takes to produce aluminum from raw materials.

Alas, until aluminum foil recycling becomes more commonplace, here are some ways to get the most mileage -- and most value for your money -- from your aluminum foil by using it more than once:

* Wash it and use it again (and again): I swear my mother is still reusing foil from the time of Christ for wrapping and rewrapping leftovers in the fridge. Just wash it in soap and water, flatten it out with a rolling pin on the kitchen counter, and it's good as new. (Caution: Foil that has come in contact with raw meat should not be reused for other food purposes.)

2. Get involved
If your management isn't interested in making overall changes, you can still bring in a green cleaner for your desk, or put a bottle of eco dish detergent in the break room. Bring your own plate/cup/mug/bowl/utensils and store them in a desk drawer. People will notice and it might start a (good) trend. Start a green committee and together you can all advocate for going greener by doing gestures that will get people talking. Start a compost. If your company travels a lot, suggest people use a hybrid car service to get to the airport. Find an electronic waste recycling event and help facilitate the office to bring old stuff there. Put signs on office doors and bathroom doors reminding people to recycle and to shut off their computers at the end of the day....

2. Energy Initiatives
Change light bulbs to LEDs and compact fluorescents, put up signs reminding staff to pull the plug at the end of the day on things like coffee makers and microwaves, and to turn the power off on their computers. Standby times many computers equals energy hog. If your electric company offers green energy sources like wind power, switch to these....

Toyota's Camry: Drive carefully! (Flickr/ASurroca)

If the Toyota recall and "stop sale" order is confusing you, you're not alone. The sudden acceleration problem is something you probably have never experienced and most likely never will. But you need to be aware of it, and be ready to respond -- because if it happens you'll have nanoseconds to make decisions. Here's what you need to know:

What did Toyota do?

Shortly before it suspended sales of eight very popular models, Toyota issued a massive recall of 2.3 million vehicles whose gas pedals may get stuck or become slow to return. It then followed up with another 1.09 million more. The cars affected by the first of those two recalls are all Toyotas (no Lexuses or Scions): RAV4, Camry, Corolla, Matrix, Avalon, Highlander, Tundra and Sequoia. Check dates, because it's not all years. Most recently, Toyota added the Venza and the Pontiac Vibe.

Late last year, Toyota was forced to recall 4.2 million cars for a related problem--gas pedals that can get fouled by the floormats. Affected there are the Prius, Tacoma, Avalon, Lexus ES350, IS250 and IS350, Camry and Tundra. Yes, there is some overlap in these recalls.

Toyota says new gas pedals are on the way to replace the "sticky" ones. On Thursday, Toyota said it was extending the recall to Europe, though an assessment of which models are affected is still going on. With Europe added, there are now nine million cars likely to be recalled. It's unclear how long the U.S. sales suspension will last. Two House committees are holding hearings on the issue.

Here's a Toyota FAQ page on the issue.

What do I do if sudden acceleration happens to me?

Hundreds of drivers report their cars suddenly taking off on them, and there's no clear pattern -- some are at stop signs, others cruising on the highway. Here's one way it played out: "The car accelerated without driver input on two separate occasions. The last event resulted in smashing through the plate-glass window of a travel agency, injuring one employee. The car ended up totally in the agency, halted by an interior wall."

It can occur anytime, anywhere; the important thing is to be prepared. The natural response is to hit the brakes, and that is indeed the right idea -- but it's important to maintain firm, even pressure and to not pump them, because, as Consumer Reports points out, that can lead to a catastrophic failure just when you need the brakes most. (Pumping the pedal when the engine's racing will cause the brakes to lose the vacuum that sustains them.)

Shifting into neutral is another really useful tactic and, if you can, take a moment to practice that maneuver in a parking lot. Neutral should be one notch up from drive, but not all of today's automatic transmissions (some with manual-shifting functions) are set up that way.

Finally, you'll be tempted to turn off the engine, but don't do it until you're safely parked. Shutting off (a challenge on some cars with pushbutton start) will disable power steering and brakes -- again, when they're needed most.

Is sudden acceleration a problem only for Toyotas? What causes it?

It would be a mistake to see this problem as limited to one company. For one thing, CTS Corp., the Indiana-based company that made the pedal assemblies in the recalled Toyotas, also supplies a host of other manufacturers, including Ford (which recalled Transit Classic trucks in China for that reason), Honda and Nissan.

The Obama administration has announced billions of dollars in support for developing a smart grid, and now we're starting to see some of that investment work on the ground. New York's Con Edison has recently received $45 million in smart grid stimulus funds from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The ultimate goal, of course, is a nationwide (and international) grid that is more efficient and stable, and one that facilitates conservation and integration with renewable energy and electronic devices.

The money Con Edison received will help fund smart grid research, including work on distribution monitoring devices, electric vehicle charging stations, renewable energy generation, energy storage, consumer systems, and a command and control network. Con Edison had previously received $136 million to deploy some smart grid technology. The utility is working with other parties on the project, including the New York City Economic Development Corp., Boeing, Columbia University, Viridity Energy, the Prosser Group, CALM Energy and Rudin Management Co.

The head of the industry's Edison Electric Institute, Thomas Kuhn, recently addressed a group of journalists in NYC about the smart grid (and URTH Guy was there!). "A smart grid will allow quicker service restoration after outages, it will enable new technologies, it will help the environment, it will facilitate plug-in hybrid vehicles, it will reduce our dependence on oil, and it will lead to smarter rates," Kuhn said. One of the benefits will be that utilities will no longer have to hire "meter men," which "won't have to worry about dodging people's dogs to read meters," added Kuhn. Electricity usage will be monitored from afar, and in fact consumers should be able to view their own data in real time, making their own budgeting and energy decisions much better. But don't worry too much about the meter men, there will be many new jobs in building out and servicing the smart grid, so utility payrolls won't necessarily shrink, at least for the foreseeable future (although eventually a smaller workforce could mean cheaper rates for consumers).

Two New York Times articles published earlier this month illustrate the highs and lows of land protection right now. One, "Preservation Groups Find Bargains in Housing Bust," described how plummeting real estate prices have provided once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for land-conservation organizations to protect irreplaceable natural treasures once destined for sprawling development. From Idaho to Florida and Virginia to Oregon, groups have preserved fields and forests, marshland and ocean waterfronts that as little as a year ago were slated for massive housing projects. Many of these scenic wonders now will be turned into parks.

That's the high. The low, "New Year but No Relief for Strapped States," noted the challenges many state governments face to rein in skyrocketing deficits. Actually, the earlier article hinted at this dilemma's environmental implications: dedicated funds for protecting land and creating new parks already have been a casualty of fiscal belt-tightening in statehouses from Olympia to Albany – just when they could do the most good. With red ink continuing to rise, even more drastic cuts are likely. There's a trickle-down effect, too. With less state support, county and municipal governments are being forced to slash their own budgets, so land preservation and parks often take another hit on the local level....

Toyota's Corolla: With the Camry, 650,000 were sold in the U.S. last year. (NightRPStar/Flickr photo)

Toyota is facing every manufacturer's nightmare scenario this week, as its "sudden acceleration" problem escalated into a shutdown of eight popular product lines, affecting 57% of the company's models (including the ultra-popular Camry and Corolla). I've been following this situation closely for The Daily Green, and it's clearly been building to this kind of drastic solution.

The problem is that many, many people have reported that their cars (definitely not all Toyotas) just suddenly take off with the pedal to the metal. There are hundreds if not thousands of such cases in recent years (many that ended in fatalities), and it is defying a quick fix.

I've done my own research into this problem, including fielding emails and calls from many people who've lived through this horrifying experience. Here's one such email:

I have a 2008 Camry LE, bought brand new in November 2007. I experienced unintended acceleration on my way to work, on Thursday January 24, 2009 riding in rush hour traffic on a major highway. The car started accelerating on it's own and forcing the brake pedal down and pumping it wouldn't stop it. After about 5 minutes it settled down and went at regular speed.

And another:

I own a 2005 Toyota Tacoma. It is my daily driver and my husband drives it on occasion. We have both experienced the truck surge in RPMs while sitting at a stoplight. The truck feels like it wants to take off on its own. We both responded with pressing harder on the brakes.

But I have also heard from drivers of Acuras, Fords and even old Volkswagen Rabbits. It's clear that this is a problem with a variety of causes, including floormats fouling gas pedals, sticky pedal assemblies, balky throttle cables (in older cars), and more. And it's industry-wide, not restricted to Toyota.

That being said, Patel makes some thought-provoking observations. The British-born journalist, academic and activist has a great hook in describing the fun he had with a price gun (a la Dexter's Laboratory) when he was a kid banging around his parents' convenience store. Patel has lived in the U.S. and Africa, and is best known for his 2008 book Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. Patel has a Ph.D. from Cornell in Development Sociology and formerly worked at the World Bank, World Trade Organization and the United Nations. He then turned against his former employers, and has criticized their policies through writing and activism, claiming to have been tear-gassed on four continents as a result (he was even at the 1999 "Battle for Seattle").

Patel has been advocating for the world's poor for years, and argues that we need better accounting systems for the well-being of our societies than just GDP, accounting that takes into consideration environmental quality and community health as well as jobs and exports. His arguments are not dissimilar to Annie Leonard's in the "Story of Stuff," or Barbara Ehrenreich's work, including her new book Bright-Sided.

Patel is likely to be attacked as anti-capitalist by detractors, but hopefully people will give serious thought to the issues he raises. It's good to take a step back from our consumer culture and question if the institutions we have are really working for people and the planet.