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THE PARADOX OF GREEN CONSUMERISM
ALEX WILLIAMS, NY TIMES - Stroll from the bedroom in your eco-McMansion,
with its photovoltaic solar panels, into the kitchen remodeled with
reclaimed lumber. Enter the three-car garage lighted by energy-sipping
fluorescent bulbs and slip behind the wheel of your $104,000 Lexus
hybrid.
Drive to the airport, where you settle in for an 8,000-mile flight-'
careful to buy carbon offsets beforehand -' and spend a week driving
golf balls made from compacted fish food at an eco-resort in the
Maldives.
That vision of an eco-sensitive life as a series of choices about what
to buy appeals to millions of consumers and arguably defines the current
environmental movement as equal parts concern for the earth and for
making a stylish statement.
Some 35 million Americans regularly buy products that claim to be
earth-friendly, according to one report, everything from organic beeswax
lipstick from the west Zambian rain forest to Toyota Priuses. With baby
steps, more and more shoppers browse among the 60,000 products available
under Home Depot's new Eco Options program.
Such choices are rendered fashionable as celebrities worried about
global warming appear on the cover of Vanity Fair's "green issue," and
pop stars like Kelly Clarkson and Lenny Kravitz prepare to be headline
acts on July 7 at the Live Earth concerts at sites around the world.
Consumers have embraced living green, and for the most part the
mainstream green movement has embraced green consumerism. But even at
this moment of high visibility and impact for environmental activists, a
splinter wing of the movement has begun to critique what it sometimes
calls "light greens."
Critics question the notion that we can avert global warming by buying
so-called earth-friendly products, from clothing and cars to homes and
vacations, when the cumulative effect of our consumption remains
enormous and hazardous.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/fashion/01green.html?em&ex=
1183608000&en=7374899c96860ba1&ei=5087%0A
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ORGANIC TOMATOES FOUND FAR MORE HEALTHY
BBC - Organic fruit and vegetables may be better for you than
conventionally grown crops, US research suggests. A ten-year study
comparing organic tomatoes with standard produce found almost double the
level of flavonoids - a type of antioxidant. Flavonoids have been shown
to reduce high blood pressure, lowering the risk of heart disease and
stroke. Writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the
team said nitrogen in the soil may be the key. . .
These findings also confirm recent European research, which showed that
organic tomatoes, peaches and processed apples all have higher
nutritional quality than non-organic. They found that on average they
were 79% and 97% higher respectively in the organic tomatoes than in the
conventionally grown fruit.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6272634.stm
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IF YOU CAN'T BEAT NATURE, OUTLAW IT
WCSH, ME - You can accuse Wally the steer of a lot of things. His kisses
are a little sloppy and his nudges might be a little too much. But these
days Wally's crazy ways are going beyond the pasture because Wally is
apparently a nuisance. Why? Because Wally, shockingly, is mooing, and,
apparently, he's mooing loudly.
"I'm being charged with a criminal complaint," Wally's owner Karyl Hylle
said.
That's right. The Washington County Sheriff's Department cited Hylle,
who owns the 33 acre farm where Wally resides, with a misdemeanor. The
ticket specifically cites her for ongoing nuisance cow mooing. "I
honestly am speechless," Hylle said. . .
Karyl says Wally lets out a moo about twice a day. Hardly enough, she
thinks, to warrant 21 complaints that have been filed with Washington
County by the neighbor. It's important to note too that Karyl's land is
a zoned farm. She could have 50 head of cattle if she wanted to. . .
Karyl faces a $1,000 fine and or 90 days in jail for Wally daring to do
what all steer have done before. Moo. The Hugo city attorney says in his
15 years of prosecuting for the city he has never seen a case like this.
He says the next step is to find out if this really is an enforceable
citation. He says his hunch is that it isn't.
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/watercooler/article.aspx?storyid=64848
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
THE PARADOX OF GREEN CONSUMERISM
ALEX WILLIAMS, NY TIMES - Stroll from the bedroom in your eco-McMansion,
with its photovoltaic solar panels, into the kitchen remodeled with
reclaimed lumber. Enter the three-car garage lighted by energy-sipping
fluorescent bulbs and slip behind the wheel of your $104,000 Lexus
hybrid.
Drive to the airport, where you settle in for an 8,000-mile flight-'
careful to buy carbon offsets beforehand -' and spend a week driving
golf balls made from compacted fish food at an eco-resort in the
Maldives.
That vision of an eco-sensitive life as a series of choices about what
to buy appeals to millions of consumers and arguably defines the current
environmental movement as equal parts concern for the earth and for
making a stylish statement.
Some 35 million Americans regularly buy products that claim to be
earth-friendly, according to one report, everything from organic beeswax
lipstick from the west Zambian rain forest to Toyota Priuses. With baby
steps, more and more shoppers browse among the 60,000 products available
under Home Depot's new Eco Options program.
Such choices are rendered fashionable as celebrities worried about
global warming appear on the cover of Vanity Fair's "green issue," and
pop stars like Kelly Clarkson and Lenny Kravitz prepare to be headline
acts on July 7 at the Live Earth concerts at sites around the world.
Consumers have embraced living green, and for the most part the
mainstream green movement has embraced green consumerism. But even at
this moment of high visibility and impact for environmental activists, a
splinter wing of the movement has begun to critique what it sometimes
calls "light greens."
Critics question the notion that we can avert global warming by buying
so-called earth-friendly products, from clothing and cars to homes and
vacations, when the cumulative effect of our consumption remains
enormous and hazardous.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/fashion/01green.html?em&ex=
1183608000&en=7374899c96860ba1&ei=5087%0A
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ORGANIC TOMATOES FOUND FAR MORE HEALTHY
BBC - Organic fruit and vegetables may be better for you than
conventionally grown crops, US research suggests. A ten-year study
comparing organic tomatoes with standard produce found almost double the
level of flavonoids - a type of antioxidant. Flavonoids have been shown
to reduce high blood pressure, lowering the risk of heart disease and
stroke. Writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the
team said nitrogen in the soil may be the key. . .
These findings also confirm recent European research, which showed that
organic tomatoes, peaches and processed apples all have higher
nutritional quality than non-organic. They found that on average they
were 79% and 97% higher respectively in the organic tomatoes than in the
conventionally grown fruit.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6272634.stm
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
IF YOU CAN'T BEAT NATURE, OUTLAW IT
WCSH, ME - You can accuse Wally the steer of a lot of things. His kisses
are a little sloppy and his nudges might be a little too much. But these
days Wally's crazy ways are going beyond the pasture because Wally is
apparently a nuisance. Why? Because Wally, shockingly, is mooing, and,
apparently, he's mooing loudly.
"I'm being charged with a criminal complaint," Wally's owner Karyl Hylle
said.
That's right. The Washington County Sheriff's Department cited Hylle,
who owns the 33 acre farm where Wally resides, with a misdemeanor. The
ticket specifically cites her for ongoing nuisance cow mooing. "I
honestly am speechless," Hylle said. . .
Karyl says Wally lets out a moo about twice a day. Hardly enough, she
thinks, to warrant 21 complaints that have been filed with Washington
County by the neighbor. It's important to note too that Karyl's land is
a zoned farm. She could have 50 head of cattle if she wanted to. . .
Karyl faces a $1,000 fine and or 90 days in jail for Wally daring to do
what all steer have done before. Moo. The Hugo city attorney says in his
15 years of prosecuting for the city he has never seen a case like this.
He says the next step is to find out if this really is an enforceable
citation. He says his hunch is that it isn't.
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/watercooler/article.aspx?storyid=64848
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