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Can You Call Yourself An Environmentalist And Still Eat Meat?
Posted by National Public Radio: Eliza Barclay on June 11th, 2014
National Public Radio: Earlier this week, we told you about a school backed by director James Cameron and his wife, Suzy Amis Cameron, that may become the first vegan school in the U.S.
In describing the couple's path to veganism, Amis Cameron told us she's eventually come to believe that, "You can't really call yourself an environmentalist if you're still consuming animals. You just can't." (James Cameron made a similar statement in 2012 at the BLUE Ocean Film Festival and Conference.)
We tweeted out Amis Cameron's...
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California Is So Dry, Some Diners Won’t Get Water Unless They Ask
Posted by National Public Radio: Eliza Barclay on February 5th, 2014
National Public Radio: California's drought is getting very serious — so serious that even those water refills you didn't ask for at restaurants are now under scrutiny. "We have not had this dry a time period in all of California's history since we've been keeping records — that's how bad it is," Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., who represents a district in the Central Valley, told reporters on Tuesday. Across the state, towns and cities are looking for ways to prod businesses and consumers to cut back on water use. Some cities'...
As Biodiversity Declines, Tropical Diseases Thrive
Posted by National Public Radio: Eliza Barclay on December 29th, 2012
National Public Radio: Global health advocates often argue that the tropical diseases that plague many countries, such as malaria and dengue, can be conquered simply with more money for health care - namely medicines and vaccines.
But a new paper is a reminder that ecology also has a pretty big say in whether pathogens thrive or die off. Using a statistical model, researchers predicted that countries that lose biodiversity will have a heavier burden of vector-borne and parasitic diseases. Their results appear this week...
Visualizing A Nation Of Meat Eaters
Posted by National Public Radio: Eliza Barclay on June 27th, 2012
National Public Radio: As Allison Aubrey and Dan Charles reported today on Morning Edition, meat has more of an impact on the environment than any other food we eat. That's because livestock require so much more food, water, land, and energy than plants to raise and transport. (Listen to the audio above for their conversation with Morning Edition's Linda Wertheimer.)
Take a look here at what goes into just one quarter-pound of hamburger meat.
And that's not even including the animal's waste or the methane emissions...
Judge Dismisses Organic Farmers’ Case Against Monsanto
Posted by National Public Radio: Eliza Barclay on February 27th, 2012
National Public Radio: A New York federal court today dismissed a lawsuit against agribusiness giant Monsanto brought by thousands of certified organic farmers. The farmers hoped the suit would protect them against infringing on the company's crop patents in the future.
The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association and several other growers and organizations do not use Monsanto seeds. But they were betting that the judge would agree that Monsanto should not be allowed to sue them if pollen from the company's patented...
Japan Plant Grapples With Contaminated Water
Posted by National Public Radio: Eliza Barclay on March 30th, 2011
National Public Radio: Nearly three weeks after the earthquake and tsunami wreaked havoc on an aging nuclear power plant on Japan's Pacific coast, officials handling the crisis face multiplying hurdles, making the end goal of a stable facility with a functioning cooling system seem further from reach.
The cores that house nuclear fuel are damaged in several of the plant's six reactors, and radioactive material continues to trickle from them, forcing officials to consider increasingly extreme ways to take back control....