You've got choices

The big news on the green corporate front this week has been Coca-Cola's decision to "go green", or in their own words, to actively promote "sustainable well-being." Coke has always supported certain global sustainability projects, but recent concern from consumers suggested to the company that they needed to ramp up their efforts. Additionally, they have launched a new ad blitz ($10 million dollar price tag) which highlights their efforts to promote "sustainable well-being."

Based on current programs, "sustainable well-being" includes things like the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation and Coke-sponsored sports programs. However, the corporation has also promised to recycle 100% of its aluminum cans sold in the US (no specific date mentioned) and has invested in a huge bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in South Carolina (according to environmentalleader.com, the total cost of the plant is $45 million). I wonder if Coke will invest as much in the plant as they have in their recent advertising campaign.

The question is, of course, is Coke merely trying to "green-wash"its consumers or is it actually interested in and committed to sustainability? (green washing = the attempt by corporations to mislead consumers by pretending to have environmental and sustainable practices, usually through huge ad campaigns).

So far, in my opinion, it looks as through Coke is going to follow many other corporations and simply settle for appearing to be sustainable. I am basing this off of their ad campaign (see pic below), which emphasizes human-health issues over environmental ones.



Its not that I don't think health issues are important ones but, over all, they are not a direct part of "sustainability." There are ways that we can (and do) answer human health questions in unsustainable ways. Secondly, I applaud Coke's attempt, but in my mind, soda is not going to be the vehicle for improved human health. The most ridiculous is the vitamin-enriched coke. Well, you are getting vitamins in a delicious, high-fructose corn syrupy, beverage with caffeine (which, incidentally, dehydrates you). Some of those vitamins are bio-available, some may not be. But, regardless, it would be better to get those vitamins from the place they below, namely real food.

I chose the title of this blog from the Coke ad pictured above, which states proudly, "You've Got Choices." Do we? Is excessive, pseudo-environmental consumerism really a choice? Or are they just trying to point us away from the possibility that consumerism is inherently un-sustainable. You tell me.

Travel the World for Free

I have found a truly awesome opportunity which I recommend all current students (undergrad or grad) apply to. STA travel hosts a student to travel the world every summer. The basis of the program is that you will take video footage and blog about your experiences. Your main responsibility is to act as a "student perspective" - actively interviewing tour guides and videoing your entire journey. In return for the advertising, various travel companies will pay for your trip.



The itinerary for 2008:

You begin the summer by learning the basics of shooting travel videos from people at the Travel Channel.

You then fly to Madrid, courtesy of "Contiki Holidays"

To Greece, Albania, and Crotia, courtesy of "Topdeck"

and to China and Vietnam, thanks to "Intrepid".

Requirements:

Excellent creative, written and verbal skills
outgoing personality
video camera/photography skills
basic computer skills
enjoy being active and able to hike, bike, kayak
must be between the ages of 18-26.

The application deadline is really soon - March 1st. So check out this website and apply!

This is the website with the description of the project:
http://www.statravel.com/cps/rde/xchg/us_division_web_live/hs.xsl/About-World-Traveler-Internship.htm


This is the website with the actual application information:
http://statravelers.com/internship

Buying Bread Hurts My Head

Whole-wheat, White bread, wheat bread (with wheatberry), mixed grain bread, French bread, Pita bread, Italian bread, rye bread, reduced calorie wheat bread, cracked-wheat bread, pumpernickle bread, reduced calorie white bread, Nature's own honey wheat bread, egg bread, health nut bread, light wheat 99% fat free bread, Country Hearth sour dough bread, Country hearth life 100% stone ground whole wheat, pepperidge farm , 100% whole wheat whole grain bread, Aunt Millie's whole wheat bread, reduced-calorie rye bread, white bread, low sodium bread, natural oven's bakery multi grain bread, 12 whole grain bread, Mrs Baird's Honey wheat, Oatmeal bread, . . .

This is merely a selection of the different types of bread offered by the CT grocery - Stop and Shop. Its like I stop to shop, and then I never leave because I am seized with indecision.

Can you believe how many different kinds of bread there are??
The worst is the grain issue. I know that I want to buy some healthy, grainy bread. Whole wheat is not enough, no siree, I plan on delving further on into the realm of the 'whole grain.' And then I must face the question, how many grains are enough? Do I want "multi-grain" "5 grain" "7 grain" "12 grain" or should I settle for naming a specific type of grain, like "oatmeal." What IS a grain? Is it better to have fewer calories, or more grains?

I feel like I need a phD in nutritional science to buy my own bread.

However, never fear. In a quest to become the educated consumer, I have scoured the internet and found a few bread health facts that will make your healthy purchasing much more simple.

1. Look for the words, "whole grain." If the grain is not whole, you are not getting many healthy benefits, such as high fiber content and anti-oxidents.

2. A grain is considered whole when it contains the bran, the germ and the endosperm. Wide rice, brown rice, whole wheat, oatmeal, whole oats, barley, whole rye, bulgar and popcorn are all types of whole grains.



3. "Multi-grain" "stone-ground" "100% wheat" "seven-grain" or "bran" MAY NOT BE whole grain bread products. Instead, quickly check the ingredient list to make sure the whole "whole" appears.

4. Color is not a good indicator of bread quality, as "caramel" coloring is often added to make bread look brown.

Conservation Concessions

How much would you pay for 830,000 hectares of tropical rain-forest in Cameroon? Included are the beautiful and undisturbed wildlife conditions, forest elephants (see below) and gorillas.



$1.6 million dollars per year sound reasonable?

Hard to tell. Part of me wants to say that any amount of money is worth it to protect still undeveloped areas. Plus, it sounds like a paltry amount when compared to the US military budget. However, I would guess that there are few environmental organizations able to afford that kind of money every year.

But, $1.6mil is the price that Joseph Matta, the forestry minister of Cameroon is offering to any conservation group willing (and able) to lease the forest land known as Ngoyla-Mintom. He says that he prefers to lease the land to a conservation group rather than a logging company, but that the profit would have to be comparable. He has actually increased his rates recently, due to his estimation that the conservation organization would have to compensate the country for the loss of logging-related jobs and business(1).

The question is, can any conservation group afford to spend $1.6 million each year on this project? Additionally, even if the group is able to afford paying to lease the land, will they actually be able to protect it from poachers and other types of illegal development?





(1) Information from "The unkindest cut" The Economist. Feb. 14, 2008.

Eco-friendly? Or just lame.

Hey, I appreciate the newest main-stream environmentalist wave. I'm down for wearing organic cotton, buying local (!!!!), and drooling over new hybrid car models. But why is it that when things really percolate through main stream culture, they tend to get a bit screwy? Like today, I was reading about the newest suburban-mom fad - being an "EcoMom." Apparently groups of these mothers get together to discuss environmental politics, and the best ways to "green" their home. The suburban mom is a force to be reckoned with, and it warms my heart to hear people discussing how we can decrease the negative environmental impacts of our every day actions.

(See the NY Times article at:
"For EcoMoms Saving the Earth Begins at Home")

However, because I can't help making fun of some aspects of the green-extreme, I will show you all a website I found while following up on the green mom article. It is called the "alternative gift registry" and it is an organization devoted to "greening" the wedding gift tradition. Here are some of their sample wedding gift ideas:

1. Recipe cards:"John and I want to know your favorite recipes. We're especially looking for quick or crock-pot dinners, since we'll both be working full time and will be hungry and out of energy when it's time to cook, but we're also really eager for holiday and dessert recipes that are worth a little extra effort.'

2. Cleaning 911: "We're hopeless at cleaning, and are looking for two or three experts who could give us their best tips then wouldn't mind if we called or emailed during our first year for those little emergencies (like when I spill red wine all over our brand new tablecloth)."



(To visit this site, see http://www.alternativegiftregistry.org/)


Hmmmm...lets not kid ourselves, fellow lovers of the environment. These are not wedding gifts. In fact, they sound suspiciously like things friends do for eachother all the time, no wedding required. If I was going to get a green wedding gift, how about a mini-composter for the kitchen, tons of organic chocolate or how about edible flowers (see below). Don't worry, there are non-lame green wedding options out there, so check out www.portovert.com to get some hip ideas.

Yogurt, food of the gods.

What do the following items have in common. . .?

1. Skim chai lattes
2. Fat free, organic frozen yogurt (stonyfield farm)
3. Fat free Greek Yogurt
4. Honest tea
5. Pre-made pesto
6. freeze-dried fruit, especially mangoes


This is my running list of things that I consume in high quantities at Wesleyan, but will not be able to eat/drink if I am unemployed when I graduate. They are the expensive, yuppy snicky-snacks that inhabit my life. However, this all changed today.

Today, an event occurred which I was pretty sure was never going to happen. Namely, someone offered me employment, a real job. One that I will have to dress up for. And I accepted, happily. This environmental consulting firm has agreed to hire me to research adaptation to climate change strategies - plus I get to work out of a hip downtown office. ARE YOU HEARING THIS??? It is pretty much a dream come true for me. Minus the whole dressing up for work thing. Today I noticed a girl staring at me in one of my classes and I suspect it was because I had been wearing the same shirt for three days in a row. Anyways, I plan to spend the rest of the day celebrating by eating my favorite yuppy snacks.

PS. I think non-fat frozen yogurt is the food of the gods. This entire pint, which I may or may not have just finished. Only has 400 calories in it. In the entire thing!!!

Inadvertent Weather Modification

Wesleyan's science library generally includes good coverage for the 1960s, 70s and 80s. However, to the chagrin of many students here, it tends to drop off after that point - apparently already resigned to internet supremacy. Anyways, I am writing a thesis on general circulation models used in climate research, and a few days ago I stumbled into a bunch of books entitled "weather modification" - dusty and unloved in the sci li stacks.

One of the interesting things about the so-called global warming debate in this country is that the discussion takes place as a single debate that progresses over well-worn tracks, instead of as a series of different debates over the huge issue of human interference in the climate.

For my thesis, I am devoting a small amount of space to historically contextualizing the current climate debate. Actually, before I started, I was under the impression that this debate had begun in the 1980s. In fact, the history of our awareness of climate change is long and heterogeneous (For example, Thomas Jefferson had some opinions on the subject).

There is no time to go into whole history (plus, I am not sure if you guys would find it as interesting as I do) - but I thought that I would blog a bit about weather modification - a topic of much interest in the 1950s-early 70s.

When people first began to develop more sophisticated numerical weather prediction models in the 1950s, one of the primary applications they had in mind was controlling the weather. This was during the Cold War, when worries over Soviet expansion ran high. In fact, the Soviets were running cloud seeding experiments (using silver iodide to coax cloud formation). They were also interested in opening the Bering Straight by somehow melting the ice and diverting rivers into Russian wheat fields (Schneider, Nature, Jan 2001).


The debate during the Cold War was over when our climate models would allow scientists to run experiments predicting the reaction of the climate system to certain well-planned interventions. Idealists from the period envisioned more rain and fewer storms.



"To counteract global warming, John Latham of the National Center for Atmospheric Research has proposed a system of enormous eggbeater-like turbines that would stir up seawater, thickening the cloud cover to reflect more of the sun's energy back into space. (Photo / Stephen Salter)." Picture and credit from The Boston Globe article, "Don't Like the Weather, Change It" which can be found at:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2005/07/03/dont_like_the_weather_change_it/


Anyways, as you can see from the above picture. The science of weather modification continues - and members of this small field tend to refer to climate change as "inadvertent weather modification." There are actually numerous schemes found on the fringes of modern day climate science which creatively attempt to solve parts of global warming with geo-engineering projects. For example, these scientists argue that increasing the net reflectance (albedo) properties of the earth might help stave off temperature rise.