U. of North Carolina students say no to Smithfield pork | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist

an inspiring story of how students can be the engine of their own change (just like we were in the 80s with apartheid). living the change you believe in--a beautiful thing.

An animal lover in the lion's den - Los Angeles Times

factory farming of meat. is. evil.

read this one and weep.

if these people are right, there is no other topic of import to discuss other than global warming. maybe dr. james hansen is a crank. or maybe he's just so smart we can't keep up. i suspect the latter. his suppositions and theories about where we stand re the earth's temperature and how much carbon we can continue to put out are frightening. and how we respond, or rather what paradigm of human social interaction we use in order to literally save our skins--all of them--that becomes the key question. probably the key question in all of modern human history.

it's...food for thought, though maybe not my cup of tea.

Organic food is better for your children.

but that's not really a surprise. what is a surprise from that article is how quickly you can get horrible chemicals out of your children's systems--as little as 5 days!

anyway, another reason to start thinking organic. now the question remains: how can organic food become as available and abundant for those less well off as for those fortunate enough to be able to afford whole walletfoods?

it reminds me of the introduction of airbags into the US marketplace--first only people who could afford fancy cars (mercedes, IIRC) were able to have this life-saving device. in fact, lee iacocca swore they would never catch on, by which he meant "i can still sell crappy unsafe cars to my american customers."

it took 10 years before airbags became legally mandated. i'd like to see organic methods become legally mandated as well.