Category Archives: Environment

Can it

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Kirsten

You may have seen the headlines recently when Consumer Reports released new a study reporting BPA (Bisphenol A) levels in canned foods. Here’s a more extensive write-up of the Consumer Reports report. You may also have heard that organic companies … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Global warming | Comments Off

Eye-spotted Ladybug

Posted on June 29, 2008 by Kirsten

I haven’t found one of these since I was a kid . . . Isn’t it gorgeous? Most the ladybugs we see anymore are non-native species that were imported by the U.S. Dept of Agriculture in the 70s to control … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Nature, Rochester, New York | Tagged , | 5 Comments

This would work too, and it’s cheaper

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Kirsten

Glenn Reynolds has been advocating the adoption of flex-fuel technology for our cars. The basic idea is that if our cars could run on ethanol and methanol as well as gasoline, we’d reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The cost … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Politics | Comments Off

I have (ahem) composted . . . my lawn

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Kirsten

Well, part of my lawn. It turns out I didn’t order enough compost. Here it is scattered in its little piles. Next step: I had to rake it all to spread it — or more precisely, knock it off the … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Gardening | 1 Comment

Burdening our kids

Posted on April 16, 2007 by Kirsten

Does anyone really think it’s okay to scare the bejeezers out of our kids with predictions of environmental doom? “I worry about it,” says this girl who has yet to lose all her baby teeth, “because I don’t want to … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Nature, Politics | 3 Comments

It’s the end of the world as we know it*

Posted on October 1, 2006 by Kirsten

Here’s a worthwhile read by Kurt Anderson on the New York magazine website on the “frisson of smug or hysterical pleasure” that characterizes contemporary “apocalypse preoccupations” — including those that have leached into “less-fantastical” — i.e. secular/Western/post-Enlightenment — “thought and … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Pop Culture | 3 Comments

Fake corks

Posted on August 16, 2006 by Kirsten

I can’t afford to spend a whole lotta money on wine. I tend to buy bottles in the $10-15 range (below that price point I seem to run into wines I don’t find particularly drinkable); I drink them a glassful … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Wine | 2 Comments

The rats dunnit

Posted on August 11, 2006 by Kirsten

Terry L. Hunt, anthropology professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, proposes a new explanation for the environmental degradation of Easter Island. What Hunt believes happened is that people brought rats with them, and the population of rats mushroomed … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Science | Comments Off

This is a relief

Posted on July 13, 2006 by Kirsten

Rock concert lighter salutes aren’t bad for the environment: In fact, if you were to give a one-minute salute with each of the 1.46 billion lighters that Bic sells annually, the amount of CO2 you’d create would equal only 28 … Continue reading →

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Animal rights

Posted on June 5, 2006 by Kirsten

No, not the kind you’re thinking. What I’m talking about is animals’ right to be viewed as animals. The subject is near & dear to my heart, and it’s on my mind today because it was touched upon in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Nature | 10 Comments