Walter Lowdermilk was recruited by Rexford Tugwell in 1933 to serve as the second-in-command of the new Soil Erosion Service, later called the Soil Conservation Service. In 1938, he was tasked with studying how soil affects human life and well-being. He spent two years exploring lands once ruled by the Romans to find answers. ThisContinue reading “Lowdermilk in Fascist Italy – December 1938”
Tag Archives: environment
It’s a Plastic World. Part 2: The Plastic Pollution Crisis
Never let a crisis go to waste, even, or especially, if it’s a manufactured one. It’s “plastics versus our planet,” California Environmental Protection Agency secretary Yana Garcia tells the camera. Secretary Garcia invoked the memory of the first Earth Day commemoration to announce California’s new regulations on . In doing so, she mixed politics withContinue reading “It’s a Plastic World. Part 2: The Plastic Pollution Crisis”
It’s a plastic world
Micro- and nanoplastics, found in the plaque within our arteries, are born from the ubiquitous presence of plastics in our environment. They are raising eyebrows and heart rates among scientists and physicians, courtesy of a groundbreaking study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Plastic Plague: Unwelcome Guests in Your Arteries? (Chuck Dinerstein, MD,Continue reading “It’s a plastic world”
I Want the Freedom to Pour Hot Coffee on My Balls
We know from the last Green Chain post, that Jerry Brown (aka Governor Moonbeam) is a Prophet. Fewer folks know that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth–son of Edmund G. “Pat” Brown–and a stick up his butt. As a prophet (a Jesuit one, at that), he believes that people ought toContinue reading “I Want the Freedom to Pour Hot Coffee on My Balls”
Is Campbell’s GMO Announcement Mmmm mmm…good?
Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB) today [January 7, 2016] announced its support for the enactment of federal legislation to establish a single mandatory labeling standard for foods derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs)….Campbell is prepared to label all of its U.S. products for the presence of ingredients that were derived from GMOs. There’s an interestingContinue reading “Is Campbell’s GMO Announcement Mmmm mmm…good?”
Is Campbell’s Soup Company’s GMO Announcement Hot or Cold?
WARNING: This product contains deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). DNA is linked to a variety of diseases that affect both animals and humans. It is a risk factor for cancer and heart disease. Pregnant women are at very high risk of passing on DNA to their children. Yesterday, January 7, 2015, the Campbell’s Soup Company announced thatContinue reading “Is Campbell’s Soup Company’s GMO Announcement Hot or Cold?”
Beer and Civilization—Who Knew?
This will be in tomorrow’s today’s Record-Bee in the Green Chain column. It is also cross-posted on my Batch-22 blog. I hope you had a happy Earth Day. It happened, thanks to beer. Fermentation First Evidence mounts almost daily that beer started humans on the path to civilization even before the invention of agricultureContinue reading “Beer and Civilization—Who Knew?”
Weekend Postcards of Deforestation
I know the Weekend Postcards are normally devoid of argument and point making. But, I thought it would be fun to look at deforestation differently. To see that deforestation is not necessarily the result of logging (illegal or otherwise). Deforestation comes about from people using the land. Agriculture heads up the list of deforestation causesContinue reading “Weekend Postcards of Deforestation”
Working landscapes, environmental correctness
According to a 2001 agricultural economic report, “urban expansion claimed more than 1 million acres per year between 1960 and 1990″ in the United States, and that expansion follows one of two two routes: 1. expansion of urban areas or 2. large-lot development (greater than 1 acre per house). (Heimlich 2001) Land trusts throughoutContinue reading “Working landscapes, environmental correctness”
Trees ain’t thermometers
I used to work on Mountain Home State Forest in the southern Sierra. MHSF has about 3000 specimen-sized sequoia within its boundaries. Dendrochronolgists often visited to see the stumps from logging in the mid to late 1800s. These were often over 2000 years old when they had been cut. The Dendrochronolgists were interested in theContinue reading “Trees ain’t thermometers”
Nullius in Verba 