Wow. Seeing the front page of the New York Times on August 15 brought a sigh of relief (a yelp! of relief) to us hardworking environmentalists. There it was: three big photos of climate change at work: Pakistan floods, Russian wildfires, and unusually wild storms in Chicago, headlined "In Weather Chaos, a Case for Global Warming."
At last, big time media is getting it!
The 8/15 issue came out the second day of my annual two week vacation in Wellfleet, Cape Cod. The juxtaposition of such beauty all around me, with this cultural acknowledgement of the planet's danger, was a jolt to my heart.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Next reading from my eco-thriller Human Scale
Come to my next reading at Out of the Blue Art Gallery on Sept 10 at 8 p.m. (106 Prospect Street in Cambridge). Human Scale, which came out in May (Plain View Press), is making waves with folks who were wondering what it's going to be like on this planet in 2062.
See you there!
See you there!
Monday, July 19, 2010
I'm back from Gloucester, plus...
Hi folks,
I got back from Gloucester Saturday eve, after a glorious week by the sea. I always stay in Rocky Neck, which is "the oldest working art colony in the United States," in a little unit with kitchenette right on the water. (Literally: the building is on a wharf.)
I'll be back in the swing of giving you my honest opinion about all things environmntal soon. Meanwhile, be excited by the news that my new novel Human Scale just won Honorable Mention in the Hollywood Book Festival contest.
I got back from Gloucester Saturday eve, after a glorious week by the sea. I always stay in Rocky Neck, which is "the oldest working art colony in the United States," in a little unit with kitchenette right on the water. (Literally: the building is on a wharf.)
I'll be back in the swing of giving you my honest opinion about all things environmntal soon. Meanwhile, be excited by the news that my new novel Human Scale just won Honorable Mention in the Hollywood Book Festival contest.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Why I'm a Vegetarian (also: Your Dinner is an Oil Pit)
Once upon a time I was a good meat-eating American girl, who devoured her mom's beef stews and Sunday hams. When I grew up, I too served my kids hamburgers, bacon, and lamb legs. I can still vaguely remember the taste.
But I haven't eaten animals for twenty-five years now. The transformation began when, as an environmental journalist, I learned that farm animals are regularly shot full of antibiotics, mostly because of the unhealthy way they are forced to live. By the time I was writing about the Bovine Growth Hormone controversy in the late 80s, I was no longer eating red meat. Turkey and chicken soon followed.
Right away I began to discover delicious alternatives to meat flavoring--recipes and cuisines that call for a wide array of spices. I was also surprised to learn not only how little protein people actually need, but how many other things contain protein, like beans, lentils, tofu, and even grains.
Beside the fact that it's healthier for you to go meatless, and certainly healthier for the animals, environmental evidence is building about the damaging effects of livestock. In light of the current horrific oil spill, you should know that meat is very fuel intensive. More than a third of all fossil fuels produced in the U.S. goes towards animal agriculture. One calorie of animal protein requires more than ten times the fossil fuel input as a calorie of plant protein. That means ten times the amount of CO2 going into the atmosphere.
I once saw a cartoon of a man being followed by the ghosts of all the animals he'd eaten. It was quite a parade: sheep, chickens, turkeys, cows, and pigs, all floating along after him as he strutted down the street. So I would add to my improved physical health and my socially responsible satisfaction, my spiritual health. In fact, the most important thing to me about being a vegetarian has become the animals not killed for me.
I would take that even one step futher. I am proud that no animals at this very moment are leading miserable lives in order to become my dinner.
But I haven't eaten animals for twenty-five years now. The transformation began when, as an environmental journalist, I learned that farm animals are regularly shot full of antibiotics, mostly because of the unhealthy way they are forced to live. By the time I was writing about the Bovine Growth Hormone controversy in the late 80s, I was no longer eating red meat. Turkey and chicken soon followed.
Right away I began to discover delicious alternatives to meat flavoring--recipes and cuisines that call for a wide array of spices. I was also surprised to learn not only how little protein people actually need, but how many other things contain protein, like beans, lentils, tofu, and even grains.
Beside the fact that it's healthier for you to go meatless, and certainly healthier for the animals, environmental evidence is building about the damaging effects of livestock. In light of the current horrific oil spill, you should know that meat is very fuel intensive. More than a third of all fossil fuels produced in the U.S. goes towards animal agriculture. One calorie of animal protein requires more than ten times the fossil fuel input as a calorie of plant protein. That means ten times the amount of CO2 going into the atmosphere.
I once saw a cartoon of a man being followed by the ghosts of all the animals he'd eaten. It was quite a parade: sheep, chickens, turkeys, cows, and pigs, all floating along after him as he strutted down the street. So I would add to my improved physical health and my socially responsible satisfaction, my spiritual health. In fact, the most important thing to me about being a vegetarian has become the animals not killed for me.
I would take that even one step futher. I am proud that no animals at this very moment are leading miserable lives in order to become my dinner.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
mini review: HOW TO COOL THE PLANET: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth's Climate
by Jeff Goodell. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2010. 277 pages.
Goodell also wrote Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future.
Geoengineering is the kind of word that wins spelling bees, or stuns someone you've just met at a party if you throw it off casually enough. A very impressive word.
What it means, in this book at least, is either removing CO2 from the atmosphere by binding it to particles, or deflecting solar rays back into space. Goodell's opinion of it is not high. "Geoengineering," he says, " is about turning the earth into the planetary equivalent of industrial farmland." Perhaps fortunately, none of the schemes come up with so far have much chance of working.
How to Cool the Planet is engagingly written, by a journalist, not an academic, which means it's easy to read. It's not written in journalistic form, however, but is a rumination covering history, utopian ideas, and tech fixes that didn't work, as well as current science. It includes a charming portrait of James Lovelock, originator of the Gaia theory.
Goodell ends with the warning question of who will control geoengineering. What if the military chooses to use it? Human nature may be the greatest risk here. The reader concludes that the author is a good, thoughtful, moral man. His ideas are well worth pondering. But his book can be safely skimmed.
Goodell also wrote Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future.
Geoengineering is the kind of word that wins spelling bees, or stuns someone you've just met at a party if you throw it off casually enough. A very impressive word.
What it means, in this book at least, is either removing CO2 from the atmosphere by binding it to particles, or deflecting solar rays back into space. Goodell's opinion of it is not high. "Geoengineering," he says, " is about turning the earth into the planetary equivalent of industrial farmland." Perhaps fortunately, none of the schemes come up with so far have much chance of working.
How to Cool the Planet is engagingly written, by a journalist, not an academic, which means it's easy to read. It's not written in journalistic form, however, but is a rumination covering history, utopian ideas, and tech fixes that didn't work, as well as current science. It includes a charming portrait of James Lovelock, originator of the Gaia theory.
Goodell ends with the warning question of who will control geoengineering. What if the military chooses to use it? Human nature may be the greatest risk here. The reader concludes that the author is a good, thoughtful, moral man. His ideas are well worth pondering. But his book can be safely skimmed.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Grieving for the Ocean
Hi folks,
I'm back from two weeks in Greece, and recovered from jetlag. It was breathtaking to witness where our civilization began thousands of years ago. They were amazing, creative people. I would like to think we are as civilized as they.
What would they make of our polluting our ocean with 50,000 barrels of oil a day? We have the amazing technology to dig for it, but not to stop it once it's gushing out. Pretty pitiful.
I'm back from two weeks in Greece, and recovered from jetlag. It was breathtaking to witness where our civilization began thousands of years ago. They were amazing, creative people. I would like to think we are as civilized as they.
What would they make of our polluting our ocean with 50,000 barrels of oil a day? We have the amazing technology to dig for it, but not to stop it once it's gushing out. Pretty pitiful.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Breaking News
Check out my new piece on what to expect from climate change, published on NewsBlaze:
http://newsblaze.com/story/20100513175009zzzz.nb/topstory.html
Folks, I'm taking two weeks off but will return to entertain and inform you at the end of May.
http://newsblaze.com/story/20100513175009zzzz.nb/topstory.html
Folks, I'm taking two weeks off but will return to entertain and inform you at the end of May.
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