Chelsea Green

Hog Hotels: Animal Confinement and Big Pharma Farms

jmcdougall@chelseagreen.com (Chelsea Green Publishing) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:22:01 +0000

We are now living in a post fast-food-awareness reality, riding on the wake of Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser’s books (who rode on the wake of Wendell Berry), films like Food, Inc., renegade farmer heros like Joel Salatin and Eliot Coleman, and the ever-increasing popularity of urban gardening and locavores. But awareness, like anything, has [...]

Wal-Mart Throws Its Weight Behind an Employer Mandate

jmcdougall@chelseagreen.com (Chelsea Green Publishing) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:20:28 +0000

After a few heart-sinking days where it seemed real healthcare reform was headed off the rails, there’ve been a few bright spots in the news just lately. I’m not an optimist, but I have to admit I’m beginning to feel—dare I say it?—cautiously optimistic. The American Medical Association is now “open” to a government-funded health [...]

This Independence Day, Eat Your Heart Out

jmcdougall@chelseagreen.com (Chelsea Green Publishing) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:20:27 +0000

To celebrate the 4th of July, we encourage you to savor. This means to delicately notice every moment, every bite of summer salad, every s’more. If you’re planning to gather around a bonfire, watch the fireworks, or go to bed early with a loved one—savor it! There’s nothing more important in life than [...]

Wall Street’s Bad Bets: Les Leopold on The Morning Show with Errol Luis

jmcdougall@chelseagreen.com (Chelsea Green Publishing) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:19:48 +0000

Les Leopold, author of The Looting of America: How Wall Street’s Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It, talks to WRRL’s Errol Louis about the financial crisis, and how thirty years of deregulation and a dangerous casino culture on Wall Street caused the mess we’re in [...]

Hippie Cows Make Eating Meat Less Bad

jmcdougall@chelseagreen.com (Chelsea Green Publishing) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:04:08 +0000

“That’s the one I want. I want one of those.” That’s the reaction a coworker had when I showed him pictures of a Scottish Highland cow. Can you blame him? They’re adorable. They look like muppets! Of course, their über-cuteness isn’t the only reason to prefer these woolly cattle over your factory-farmed variety Holstein. In Sweden, [...]

Who’s Getting Rich Off Cap and Trade?

jmcdougall@chelseagreen.com (Chelsea Green Publishing) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:03:03 +0000

Who’s getting rich off cap and trade? I won’t keep you in suspense: it’s Wall Street fat cats Goldman Sachs. With a h/t to Crooks and Liars, Matt Taibbi explains: I wish I’d been paying closer attention to this, because now I have a whole lot of questions that weren’t there before I read Matt Taibbi’s [...]

Start Anew: Become a Honey Farmer

jmcdougall@chelseagreen.com (Chelsea Green Publishing) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:02:39 +0000

In The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman, the future was plastics. Well, that may have been true in the 60s. In 2009, however, the future is in food. Young people all over the world these days are choosing the farm over the hi-rise office life, and with good reason. With the current economic climate in [...]

Rainwater Catchment Now Legal in Colorado

jmcdougall@chelseagreen.com (Chelsea Green Publishing) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:01:01 +0000

The outdated and complicated laws regarding rainwater catchment in Colorado are set to expire soon, allowing savvy rainwater harvesters to do what comes naturally. Rather than using up energy to pump water up from the ground while letting rainwater evaporate before it gets near any stream, rainwater catchment systems allow homeowners to harness nature’s bounty. [...]

FDA Taking Sweet Time on Toxic Plastic Debate

jmcdougall@chelseagreen.com (Chelsea Green Publishing) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:01:00 +0000

What you don’t know, won’t kill you. Or at least that’s what the FDA seems to be saying when it comes to toxic plastic. Bisphenol A (BPA), a highly toxic chemical and plastic additive, “makes plastic more rigid and unbreakable,” according to Mark Schapiro, author of Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s at [...]

Kucinich Says the Climate Bill Is a Sht Sandwch

jmcdougall@chelseagreen.com (Chelsea Green Publishing) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:00:05 +0000

ACES, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (a variant of cap-and-trade designed to address climate change by curbing greenhouse gas emissions), narrowly passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 219-212. It’s being hailed as a victory for the environment and praised by the likes of President Obama and former VP Al [...]