7gen Bloc

So I guess the blush is off the biofuel rose. First there was the big rush to divert crop harvests from supermarkets to filling stations. Somehow nobody realized that would result in less food, higher grocery costs, and more hungry people. But it did and it has, and so that meant we needed a plan B, which has surfaced recently in the form of alternative crops.

Though the conclusion is not without controversy, we’ve been opining for some time that a healthy dose of precaution is likely warranted where cell phone use is concerned. There are a few too many studies out there suggesting that exposure to the radiation cell phones emit might be hazardous to the human brain. Now comes a new study showing that they’re not safe for developing fetuses either.

Some days, to be honest, I find myself wishing that my professional life wasn’t quite so centered on burying my head in arcane research trying to decode scientific mumbo-jumbo that seems to suggest some possible new toxicological bogeyman. It can get a little brain crushing. And the data can be a downer, too. But then a reminder comes along that it’s good to help people stay ahead of the chemical curve.

If it really is a small world after all, aviation has made it that way. It’s no understatement to say that Life As We Know It would be something quite different without air travel. Flying the friendly skies, however, has some decidedly unfriendly side effects, and the biggest one by far is the impact the world’s airline fleet is having on the climate crisis.

Most of us don't spend a lot of time thinking about the electric grid that powers our computers and washing machines. But its days of anonymity are almost over. Smart grids are coming, and someday soon we'll be actively using them to help cut our electric bills, prevent pollution, and save the planet.

We in the Mad River Valley in Vermont have launched the Carbon Shredders -- a group of folks using the book Low Carbon Diet by David Gershon to create a local movement of reducing the carbon footprint in the Valley by 10% by 2010.

In speaking of genius, Edison could have as easily been describing a future of electronics recycling as being "one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." There was nothing particularly ingenious about processing 5 tons per hour in a parking lot.

There’s a lot of carbon consciousness emerging. And it’s a happy thing. People everywhere are becoming aware of how daily life contributes to the climate crisis and how we can lower these impacts. One of the most popular is to choose local foods as a way to cut down on the “food miles” our meals travel from field to plate and the carbon emissions that travel creates.

Though it always seems a bit odd to those of us who value it for its own intrinsic sake, the environmental science community has more than once in the last few years attempted to figure out just what nature is worth. Trees always loom large in these assessments. They provide more “services” than you can shake a twig at. And now, it seems we can add one more to the list: Trees help prevent asthma.

The Inspired Protagonist recently came across this 1992 speech by then 12-year-old Severn Suzuki, who with three friends founded the Environmental Children's Organization and raised money to attend the Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro. Her fierce speech received a standing ovation and her group also addressed delegates at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).