by frog
One Fewer SUV, via Treehugger, has the story of Ryan Mickle who wants to get rid of his inner city SUV in a way that makes sure it stops polluting for good:
Ryan wants your suggestions. Should he blow it up or convert it to biodiesel? Donate it to some organization? Convert it to electric? He’s looking for ideas that are both eco and attention-getting.
Russel and Trevor Mallard ‘debated‘ water quality yesterday:
Dr Russel Norman: What does the Minister think that Kiwi parents will make of his national policy statement, when its ultimate goal is that 17 kids per 1,000 will be made sick when they swim in their local river, and that this goal may never even be achieved, because there is no time line or deadline for achieving it?
Hon TREVOR MALLARD: Unlike that member, I do not aim to make kids sick.
Good witty thinking on your feet, Trevor. Why not just say ‘Na-ah’ and blow a raspberry?
The European Union’ Food Safety Authority reckons cloned meat might be safe to eat. But the body with the final deciding power, the The European Commission, is not so sure:
…the final arbiter on the commercialisation of food from cloned animals, is under political pressure to give the go-ahead after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded that meat and milk from cloned cows, pigs and goats are safe to eat.
In an initial reaction the commission said the report “gives rise to increased concerns on aspects of animal health and welfare” and left open questions of food safety. Its ethical advisers said earlier this year they saw no convincing arguments to justify the production of cloned meat.
The Hand Mirror’s Anna McM has a nuanced debate about parents’ rights or otherwise to determine the fertility of their children.
Celias has the story of Dan Glass, the man who superglued himself to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in protest against the expansion of Heathrow and the effect that adding a third runway will have on climate change issues.
Treehugger also the story of Toronto’s concert pianist who helped steal over 2000 bikes, much to the anger of this Canadian journalist:
Horse thieves were among the very lowest, mangiest, least-tolerated kinds of criminals. When they were caught, they were hanged.
Not to draw a parallel between a hunk of metal and a living animal, but we hold a similar disregard for bike thieves. Those who ride bikes to navigate the city are performing all kinds of social goods – they pollute less than motorists or transit users, they ease gridlock, they pose no real threat to anyone else on the road and, in a way, they even ease the price of gas by lowering the total pool of demand. It isn’t that all of them have chosen to be martyrs for the greater good – cyclists are also, very often, among the least affluent members of society, unable to afford to drive a car or hold a Metropass. Cyclists develop relationships with their bikes, tune them up and learn their quirks and – as we were reminded at the Toronto Cyclists Union’s recent screening of the epic film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure – become quite attached to them.
Photo Credit: Eye Weekly
Published in Environment & Resource Management | Society & Culture by frog on Fri, July 25th, 2008
Tags: , bike theives, cloned meat, fertility, Frog, frogblog, Gordon Brown, green party, greens, new zealand, Russel Norman, superglue, toronto, Trevor Mallard, water
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
Turn it into a home for someone?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/19/homeless.mom/
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“Unlike that member, I do not aim to make kids sick”
No, he actually makes them sick, by allowing toxic chemicals in our food, shit in our waterways, vehicle emissions in our cities, and refusing to legislate against our freezing houses which cause high levels of diseases almost unknown elsewhere in the developed world.
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Frog’s radar might need a tune-up. This US DoE press release seems to have gone un-noticed by everyone:
U.S. to Work with New Zealand to Encourage Utilization of Natural Renewable Energy Resources
“For New Zealand to reach our ambitious renewable energy targets we are clearly going to require new policies and technology to help the uptake of clean energy technology,? said Ambassador Ferguson. “We look forward to working with the United States, and other future partners, to expand the sphere of knowledge around renewable energy research and development, government policy, and the commercial deployment of renewable energy technology.?
Representatives of the United States and New Zealand signed the EDIN terms of reference coincident with the Business Roundtable Caribbean Renewable Energy Conference hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Nassau. This event brings together the main stakeholders in energy and biomass energy derived from agricultural practices of the Caribbean to facilitate the expansion of sustainable energy development throughout the region.
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dont laugh bj, i have several ‘homes on wheels’. Heres a link to my loverly
old vehicles can make good spare rooms/storage/animal shelters – especially vans, and presumably SUVs? with all that space…
I keep lots of stuff safe, clean and dry in another retired, garaged L300 van i purchased for $100. No seats in back, instead a recycled mattress sitting on full banana boxes (stuff i saved from landfills) and a few old radios, speaker boxes etc. There are currently a couple of guitars sleeping there too.
I am thinking about cutting out the roof to make some extra headroom, doing some carpentry and making it a ‘camper’ (being deregistered it never goes anywhere). The roof of the van currently functions as a shelf too, with empty boxes stacked there.
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my attempts to make text a hyperlink from the frogrealm arent working! heres the link to my loverly starwagon: http://autos.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/MitsubishiL300/photos/view/a7cc ?b=1
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A chook shed? The motor for scrap metal and the tyres recycled…
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