Leaving Us Behind
What We Leave Behind by Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay (Seven Stories Press) Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis by Vandana Shiva (South End Press) Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay’s What We Leave Behind begins with a story about shit. It sounds snarky and unfair when I describe it that [...]
...read moreWays I Will NOT Be Celebrating Earth Day
By trying to figure out how to get my ass down to an arbitrarily approved size that will not result in my being accused of attempting to destroy the planet. Of course, there is no discussion here of the fact that many “overweight” people do not overeat, do exercise, are vegetarians, and/or do not eat [...]
...read moreAir-Breathing, Water-Drinking Earthlings
Last night Ethan’s third grade class put on an Earth Day celebration, a “Prairie Home Companion” styled radio show, that was packed full of epic recorder songs and appeals to their parents to recycle and consume water and electricity in more responsible ways. Even though it was relatively standard in the school recital sense, what [...]
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Earth Day
Tomorrow is Earth Day — and according to the New Yorker, it isn’t what it used to be: The first celebration of Earth Day, on April 22, 1970, was a raucously exuberant affair. In New York, Fifth Avenue was closed to traffic. People picnicked on the sidewalk; dead fish were dragged through midtown; and Governor [...]
...read moreWhat Sustainability Can Mean
The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City (Process Self-reliance Series) by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen (Process Media) Toolbox for Sustainable City Living: A do-it-Ourselves Guide by Scott Kellogg and Stacy Pettigrew (South End Press) The Planner’s Guide to the Urban Food System by Arly Cassidy and Bowen [...]
...read moreThe Pope vs. “Gender”
(Piny just posted on this, but I was working on a longer post so I figured I’d finish it.) When I heard earlier this week that Ratzy was railing against the gays again, I didn’t really take much notice. What else is new? I guess it’s soooort of interesting that the Catholic Church has managed [...]
...read moreJustifying the world… with science!
Dear Readers: are you interested in joining the ongoing fight against Bad Science? If you are, then like me you’ll be grateful that Amanda has pointed out Scientific American’s takedown of “pop” evolutionary psychology, which is very instructive in how to take apart suspicious-smelling scientific findings.
...read morePig farts are destroying the environment
Yeah, seriously.
...read moreMeeting Bill Clinton
(Note: details of the meeting follow my personal narrative!) A couple of weeks ago I received an invitation to represent Feministe as a credentialed blogger at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, which kicks off today in NYC. I was psyched, a tad skeptical, and more than a tad nervous all at once. I’ve never [...]
...read moreSarah Palin and the Drink America’s Milkshake Party
Within twenty-four hours of Obama’s history-making speech, McCain made another historical announcement, the addition of the first female vice-presidential candidate for a major American party since the Mondale-Ferraro ticket. And just as in the case with Mondale, many pundits view the addition of Palin to the Republican ticket as a gamble, or as one commenter [...]
...read moreSouth Central Farm to Forever 21?
This just in: Turns out the former site of the South Central Farm – where low-income, indigenous/immigrant Latino farmers grew food in the midst of a toxic industrial area for 14 years before being evicted two summers ago in one of the saddest, most maddening examples of private business interests trumping community and environmental good [...]
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