Uh-huh, the title is a joke. But our article this month does cover a few ways to make your yard experience safer and more environmentally friendly, as well as easier and less costly. See
Eco/Green Yard Tips.
Carl Safina presents some astonishing findings from his visit to the Gulf disaster zone, including why he thinks the biological effects of the catastrophe will be "hemispheric." Watch
oil leak effects video.
We've said more than once that all the "left-right" bickering is just a distraction. The real fight is "up-down," as these easy-to-digest
facts
from Business Insider show.
Do you feel like the world is going crazy? Are you less and less able to relate to things as they are? You may regain a sense of calm by delving deeper into concepts like matrix consciousness, the influence of stellar cycles on earthly events, and the potential for a quantum shift. A good starting point is our page of
transformation audio and videos.
Country-rock verses, a Bangles-style hook, and a hip-hop bridge—somehow it works! ... and delivers a strong message about our need to transition to clean energy. Watch oil music video. Drill, baby, drill...
Spill, baby, spill...
Kill, baby, kill...
Drill, baby... still?
What toxic chemicals lurk in those innocent-looking jugs and spray bottles you use to clean house? Find out how to make the move to
green cleaning in Grinning Planet's feature article.
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Alice Shabecoff, author of Poisoned for Profit:
"Air fresheners turn out to be among the most toxic products in our homes.... Even air fresheners labeled "natural" contain harmful ingredients. "Natural" is a term without any standards behind it."
Clif High has released a new predictive report that builds on the May 2010 release. You can read our
Web Bot report summary. Toxic air pollution from the Gulf disaster is a key feature.
In his new book Straight Up, physicist Joe Romm explains how climate action can improve the economy, how we can swap green energy for coal, even why Sarah Palin wears a polar bear pin.
More description for Straight Up
Like we've been warning for years, a presidential panel now reports that the impact of industrial, agricultural, and consumer-product chemicals on the incidence of cancer has been grossly and systematically underestimated. See
PANNA or
Natural News;
or some of our
articles on chemicals.
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Deirdre Imus:
"Ol' MacDonald had a farm—until America's corporate animal factories plowed it under..."
We won't say the new Web Bot report is a must-read for everyone—it's only for those who want a glimpse of coming events they might need to be prepared for. See the summary on Grinning Planet's
Web Bot predictions page. And yes, the "oil volcano" is a central issue.
While we're generally not fans of pro-globalization big-box stores, we do appreciate that Target has set up their stores to take recyclables like glass, aluminum, and plastic beverage containers as well as old MP3 players and cell phones.
More at Earth and Industry
QUOTH THE MAVEN
"The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order [the capitalists], ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it."
-- Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations
For keeping your tomato plants from flopping on the ground, this Master Gardeners'article
presents a number of neat ideas beyond just simple stakes and strings.
TUNE IN ... DAVE MATTHEWS BAND — “ONE SWEET WORLD”
A cool contemporary song suggesting that there is really no alternative to taking care of the planet that sustains us. If green should turn to grey,
Would our hearts still bloody beat?
If the mountains crumble away
And the river dry,
Would it stop the stepping feet?
Today's "factory farms" are designed to raise animals for meat, eggs, and dairy in ways that are most efficient and yield the best profit margin. But there are some problems... Learn more in Grinning Planet's feature article on
CAFOs and Factory Farming.
If little black ants have invaded your kitchen, you'll be pleased to know our article on how to solve your
problem with ants
naturally has some new tricks, including the "peanut-butter-and-jelly solution."
THE GREAT TRANSFER OF WEALTH — UPWARD
Les Leopold, author of The Looting of America, points out an astonishing fact: In 1970, the ratio of the compensation of the top 100 CEOs compared to the average production worker was 45 to 1. Just a quarter of a century later the ratio had skyrocketed to 1,723 to 1.
Call it a revolution in how things will run in the future; call it a major curve ball on the playing field known as planet earth; call it the last best hope for reigning in the money-mad Powers That Be. Call it the
Web Bots Predictions.
Grinning Planet provides a summary of the March 2010 Web Bot report.
If you want to know who really runs things in the world, you'll need to check out Grinning Planet's
Diagram of “The Powers That Be”. Hint: It's not the US government.
QUOTH THE MAVEN
George Ure, Urban Survival:
"We're captives of a business model that has passed its useful limits. [But] until there's a fundamental change in the underlying rules set, the model will keep yielding the same output."
Dryer sheets and fabric softeners are essentially chemical delivery systems for your clothes. Find out about non-toxic
alternatives to fabric softener...
As Big Slide opens, the US is in chaos. Three generations of the Freeman family have gathered at their rustic country estate to weather the storm. Can this bunch hole up without starving, freezing, or being overrun? ...
Read Grinning Planet's review of Big Slide
New energy sources alone cannot balance our future national energy budget. We need a massive reordering of our energy use, and conservation and efficiency will be central. Learn more with Grinning Planet's feature article:
Peak Oil and Energy Demand
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Richard Heinberg:
"Surveying the available alternative energy sources for criteria such as energy density, environmental impacts, reliance on depleting raw materials, intermittency versus constancy of supply, and the percentage of energy returned on the energy invested in energy production, none currently appears capable of perpetuating this kind of society."
Want to cut the political power of the big banks? You can hit them where it hurts by moving your money to a credit union or a small, safe, local bank. Tips and pointers at the
Move Your Money
campaign.
Your home may be your sanctuary from the cruel world outside, but your indoor air is likely even worse than the polluted outdoor air. Find out why—and what you can do about it—in our updated piece about
indoor air quality problems and solutions...
With the economy bad, flu pandemics in the news, peak oil getting more recognition... and now all these gloomy predictions... what's a person to do? We recommend that you undertake Grinning Planet's "Resilient Household" challenge, which will make you more able to easily endure disruptions of many types. Find out more about
The Resilient Household
Talking trash in school is part of the educational experience, but your kids' meals there don't have to be trashy. Check out Grinning Planet's feature article on how you can pack healthier,
Waste-Free Lunches ...
Grinning Planet gets a mention in a
Yale Climate Forum article
about environmental issues getting more play in prime-time entertainment programming. Cool! Here's the
environmental movies
page mentioned.
Mitch Hedberg:
"I hate turkeys. If you stand in the meat section at the grocery store long enough, you start to get mad at turkeys. There's turkey ham, turkey bologna, turkey pastrami. Some one needs to tell the turkey, 'man, just be yourself.'" More funny turkey quotes
Global warming is not a hoax, scientifically speaking. There is, however, a conspiracy. Find out all about it in Grinning Planet's feature article,
Global Warming Hoaxes and Conspiracies.
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Adam D. Sacks:
"[Because] corporations must have physically impossible 'endless growth' in order to survive, corporate social responsibility is a myth. The only socially responsible act that corporations can take is to dissolve."
November brings the much advertised, sensationalistic movie 2012. If you want to dig deeper into the serious issues related to the year 2012, the Mayan calendar, and the possibility of a coming transformation, check out our
2012 books page.
Whether you're a casual social drinker, a moderate imbiber, or a serious sot, here's an excellent HealthWorld article that discusses all facets of alcohol consumption—its positive and negative effects on health and general well being, as well as strategies that can be used to eliminate (or at least reduce) the negative effects of alcohol consumption.
The "Web Bots" predictions include... a coming collapse of the US dollar, widespread food shortages, another American revolution, even the sacking of the Vatican. Wow! Really?? Dunno. But the work and the man behind it are very, very interesting. Grinning Planet has compiled a summary of the latest
Web Bots predictions/interviews.
Not sure which plastic is safe for food or kids? This Environmental Working Group article will help you make the
right choices among plastics (sorry, no longer available).
You may also like this Grinning Planet article about
plastic food containers.
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Dave Barry: "Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer."
The spirit of St. Francis is making an appearance on Grinning Planet to offer a parable about
Cell Phone Distraction ...
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Mother Teresa:
"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature---trees, flowers, grass---grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls."
A very cool song about how we focus on being busy consumers at the expense of being good citizens and compassionate humans. Musically, somewhat reminiscent of the Smithereens and REM. We gotta clean up the air—
Pollution rampant everywhere...
Shootin' wolves from the air
Shows you couldn't really care...
Take a break from the mental heavy lifting and enjoy a slew of cartoons from the eco section of the newspaper comics pages with Grinning Planet's
Green Toons page...
In this animated short film, the sense of mystery about the shepherd and his quest give the film a warm, intriguing feel, and the plot pacing ensures the viewer's attention never wanders. Watch
film about forests (free).
Multi-national food corps are trying to grab hold of the rising "local food" business, but this Indy Week article points out that they're cheating—they're local-washing.
Stacy Mitchell: "The grassroots movement for locally produced goods and independently owned businesses now sweeping the country is having a measurable impact on the choices people make."
A few insightful video and audio commentaries and interviews that discuss the insanity that has become our economic and financial policy. See this month's
economic report...
How much less energy does a laptop use compared to a desktop PC? Does using a screensaver save energy? Those answers and more at Sierra Club's
How Green Is My PC?
GREEN STUFF FOR JUL 2009
THE PLACE SETTING IN BARBIE’S PLAYHOUSE JUST GOT BIOPLASTIC SURGERY
Are the new "bioplastics" truly biodegradable, making them a better choice that standard plasticware? Find out in our article on the
advantages and disadvantages of bioplastics ...
Dryer sheets and fabric softeners are essentially chemical delivery systems for your clothes. Find out about non-toxic
alternatives to fabric softener...
In May we pointed you to the Cornucopia Institute's scorecard for brands of
organic milk
Now they're taking on brands of
soy products,
including organic soy milk. Glug-glug—or not.
TUNE IN ... MICHAEL JACKSON — “EARTH SONG”
The King of Pop transforms himself into a philosopher-king with this one, as he winds his way through war and peace and environmental bone-headedness. What about nature's worth?
It's our planet's womb...
What about animals?
We've turned kingdoms to dust...
Do you favor organic when you grocery shop but still put synthetic fertilizers and chemicals on your lawn and garden? Start the switchover with a few of our
good organic gardening tips.
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Rachel Carson, from Silent Spring:
"Is it reasonable to suppose that we can apply a broad-sprectrum insecticide to kill the burrowing larval stages of a crop-destroying insect … without also killing the 'good' insects whose function may be the essential one of breaking down organic matter [and maintaining healthy soil]?"
We've updated our popular article about chemicals getting into food from
plastic food storage containers,
including a couple of new books about green living and a section on whether the plastic lids that come with many glass containers are a problem.
Investigator Michael Ruppert, author of the seminal
Crossing the Rubicon,
has a new book that lays our out last chance for fixing the twin problems of constrained energy supplies and the corrupt money system. See description of
A Presidential Energy Policy.
Beyond our weekly downloadable news, we also just revamped our links for the best (most honest/relevant) news sites. There are sites for reading, listening to, and watching
Energy/Environment News. General news is split onto two pages: read news at the
Investigative Journalism and News Analysis page; watch/listen at the
Audio and Video News page.
GREEN STUFF FOR MAY 2009
BIOMASS ONLY LOOKS GREAT IN A FUN-HOUSE MIRROR
The US and European push towards significantly greater use of biofuels is already having unintended consequences such as increased food prices (because biofuel plants are competing for limited grain supplies) and increased clearing of rainforests (so more palm oil plantations can be planted). Are solutions such as cellulosic ethanol for cars and burning biomass for electricity real? Or might they create more problems than they solve? Get our take in Grinning Planet's feature article,
Biomass and Sustainability.
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Alice Friedemann:
"When plants die, they're recycled into basic elements [by the biota in the soil] and become a part of new plants. It's a closed cycle. There is no bio-waste."
YOUR ORGANIC MILK – MOOEY BUENO?
Organic milk grew from a niche field to a big business, so it's no surprise that Big Business wanted to get in on it. And it's no surprise they found those pesky organic standards to be a hindrance to maximizing profits. At every turn, agribusiness players have worked to shirk the standards and change them to their advantage. You can make sure you're not supporting such shady players by checking out your favorite organic milk brand(s) on the Cornucopia Institute's
rating scorecard.
(If Horizon is your brand, you will not be happy!)
TUNE IN ... STEVE FORBERT — “GOOD PLANETS ARE HARD TO FIND”
Some great lyrics appreciating the little blue and green jewel we live on, sung in a melodic (if gravelly) manner over a soft rock 'n' roll backing. Good planets are hard to find;
Temperate zones and tropic climes;
True currents in thriving seas;
Winds blowin' through breathing trees;
Strong ozone and safe sunshine;
Good planets are hard to find...
Is your home town gambling that gasoline and diesel supplies won't experience future shortages? That electricity outages and disruptions to critical services will be minimal? Probably. Find out what they should be doing in Grinning Planet's feature article about
Fuel Shortages and Power Outages.
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Rick Munroe:
"There are few problems which have greater potential to quickly unsettle the North American public and strain essential services than suddenly being denied access to fuel."
Doing your own fruit and vegetable garden is a great way to save money on food, increase your nutrient intake, and improve your food security. To help you work smarter, not harder, we've collected a few dozen top books on topics like ... gardening for food security; homesteading; fruit and vegetable gardening; food storage and preservation; natural pest control; composting; even backyard animal raising! Check 'em out at our
Food-Gardening books
page. Also see our review of
The All-New Illustrated Guide to Gardening,
a great new go-to gardening book from Reader's Digest. Related GP article:
Food Security.
TUNE IN ... THOMAS DONOVAN — “CALLING AROUND THE WORLD”
A very nice, bright shiny techno-pop song whose message calls for a change in approach to solving planetary problems. 'Love' is what the answer is,
No matter what the question is!
Love is what we're needing now
To get the world to turn around.
"Our special tonight is tuna roll stuffed with rice, ginger, and mercury"... Eh? What's that? You'd rather have your fish without the mercury? Then you should check out Grinning Planet's article on
mercury in fish
to find out which fish have the mercury problem—and how they got it ...
In this one little paragraph, we're going to provide the pointers you need to evaluate how to best use solar energy to increase your energy security and decrease your carbon footprint. (1) Read our
Home Solar Energy
article to understand the basics. (2) Once you've decided which solar track(s) to pursue, become more knowledgeable by reading some relevant
Solar Energy Books.
(3) Find out what rebates are available from the Feds, your state, and your utility at the
DSIRE
site. (4) Find solar installers near you through
FindSolar.com.
Catherine Austin Fitts served in a high-level position in the federal government and saw first-hand just how vast the corrupt ties are between the banking cartels, the drug cartels, and the elite "powers that be". To be more accurate, we're not really talking about corruption—it's plain old crime. But the thievery is on a scale so unimaginable that it takes one's breath away to hear the tale. But unless you prefer an ostrich existence, hear the tale you must. This short
two-part article
by Fitts at Solari.com explains how the current financial-meltdown/bailout scam is really just the end-game of something that started more than a decade ago. It also offers some thoughts on what "smart investing" means in this environment.
TUNE IN ... IRON BUTTERFLY — “SLOWER THAN GUNS”
A surprising—and excellent—eco song from one of the best known psychedelic bands of the late 1960s. Miles and miles of gasoline fumes
In the air like transparent tombs.
Feel secure? They're all around you . . .
Woe to the simple cotton plant, suffering the indignities of genetic engineering and copious dousings with chemical pesticides. A lot of us have recognized such dangers in our food and have modified our eating habits, moving them towards an organic diet. Should we move our clothing purchases in the same direction? Find out in our feature article:
Benefits of Organic Cotton
A compact fluorescent light bulb uses 75% less energy than an incandescent bulb with the same light output, and it lasts up to 10 times longer. Even though there's a higher up-front cost when you purchase a CFL, it will save you lots of money in the long run. But what about the issue of mercury in CFLs? Get the scoop on that, as well as an analysis of which CFLs are best by checking out the Environmental Working Group's free
Shoppers Guide to Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (sorry, no longer available from host site).
As we noted in our
review of the documentary King Corn,
corn permeates the American diet. Michael Pollan was more pointed in his criticism, offering in
The Omnivore's Dilemma
that corn's dietary hegemony is really not a good thing. This Chicago Tribune
blog
narrows the corny finger-pointing to high fructose corn syrup, a ubiquitous, noxious sweetener that health guru Dr. Mercola has regularly
lambasted.
And this Static
blog article
points out that through the billions of US tax dollars provided to the corn industry, we're actually subsidizing the energy-stupid pursuit of corn ethanol and the diet-stupid trend towards increased obesity. Corn may be king in the world of agriculture, but it's a joker in the deck of life.
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Michael Pollan: "The correlation between poverty and obesity can be traced to agricultural policies and subsidies."
TUNE IN ... J.P. TAYLOR — The Last Frontier
Blending the vocalizations and stylings of artists like Mark Knopfler, John Hiatt, and Sting, this 9-song CD by J.P. Taylor offers up some very solid coffee-house rock. Fair-trade organic coffee-house rock, that is—all of the songs on the album have a distinctly earth-friendly slant, gently touching on issues such as conservation, clean air and water, global warming, and the need for all of us to start pulling together. J.P. Taylor isn't just "doing good" here—he's doing good music. LYRICS SNIPPET:
Temperature's rising
Soon we're gonna have a fever;
We can't keep doing
What we've been doing
So long (but)...
We can turn it around,
If we'll just come together....
In December 2007, we told Grinning Planet readers that they reeeaaally needed to start paying attention to what was going on in the financial world (among other things). In our
2008 wrap-up,
we look back at all of our predictions from a year ago and see where things stand now. Next we offer a backgrounder on the
causes of the financial crisis.
We conclude with our thoughts about the
2009 trends
that are likely to be up, down, or disastrous. Topics include the economy, the banking system, energy, and the environment.
Grinning Planet has started a weekly
news MP3
service. Our picks for weekly audio clips are intended to help you to learn and stay informed by simply listening to your MP3 player while you drive or putter around the house, or as you veg out in a chair listening via your computer. Find out what's really going on, not just what the mainstream-media spinmeisters think you should know. Our future depends on your brain!
Jim Hightower: "The real bias of the media is not to the left or to the right, but to the thin strata of economic elites at the top of our society."
More from America's #1 populist here.
TUNE IN ... CROSBY & NASH — “THEY WANT IT ALL”
A searing indictment of the money-grubbing Powers That Be, from a surprisingly good recent Crosby-Nash album. Want that Mercedes, that Gulf Stream too;
They want to get, get it from you.
They want your life savings
and your mother's ring;
They'd like to have everything.
There are many important intersections between our modern food system and our main sources of energy: oil, natural gas, and coal-generated electricity. That means any problems arising with our energy supplies will ultimately mean problems for the food supply. Learn more in Grinning Planet's feature article,
Food and Energy ...
It's best to recycle your empty bottles, right? Hmm. It depends on what you mean by "best." Check out GP's findings regarding
recycling vs. reuse of glass ...
WATT'S OBAMA GONNA DO?
What should the Obama administration do regarding US energy policy? Here's a great set of suggestions
from ASPO-USA {no longer available}, the top Peak Oil watchdog in the US. Opens as PDF.
You may also be interested in Grinning Planet's own take on which
peak oil/energy solutions
make sense. We also recently completed a
peak oil resource sheet
—the front is a summary of what we face; the reverse is a list of helpful books, movies, and web sites. It's a good single-sheet printout for handing to relatives, friends, and neighbors who want/need a quick take on the situation. Opens as PDF.
Will President Barack Obama be our savior in this time of crisis, an agent of true change? Or will he just be the new, less-buffoonish hired executive for USA, Inc., employed by the wealthy elites to run the corrupt money system and save banks and big investors at the expense of us working stiffs? Get Grinning Planet's take on it in our article,
Role Players in Obama's Cabinet -- Dark Wizards or White Knights? ...
Not all fabulous films are full of flashing fannies, foooming fireballs, and freaks from faraway galaxies. Grinning Planet's list of multi-star green-tinged movies offers dozens of choices that are popcorn-worthy AND mind-expanding. See Grinning Planet's
environmental movies
page...
Lester Brown:
"Among the environmental trends undermining our future are shrinking forests, expanding deserts, falling water tables, collapsing fisheries, disappearing species, and rising temperatures. The temperature increases bring crop-withering heat waves, more-destructive storms, more-intense droughts, more forest fires, and, of course, ice melting. We are crossing natural thresholds that we cannot see and violating deadlines that we do not recognize."
See Lester Brown articles on Grinning Planet
As the trillions flow from our public treasury to the private needs of wealthy, whiny banks and investment houses, GP is left wondering if maybe this crisis was not just a gargantuan multifaceted goof, but rather an intentional strategy to loot the treasury (i.e. your pockets and mine). Maybe letting Lehman Brothers go belly up really wasn't a mistake—maybe it was simply one step in the plutocrats' overall plan.
In this Guns and Butter interview, Wall Street economist Michael Hudson offers a scorching appraisal of how we're being bled, not led, by Henry Paulson and the rest of the super-villains overseeing the financial mess. This is
must-listening, folks, especially if you think it's just one-party problem. If you prefer reading, see Hudson's piece
Rescue for the Few, Debt Slavery for the Many on Counterpunch.
Peak oil is upon us, we have ever-worsening environmental degradation, and we face a deepening global financial crisis. While we at GP feel a visceral hopefulness at the upcoming change of administration, we have seen this movie before, and we have every reason to think that we will find that newly offered solutions are still bound by the iron envelope of today's reigning free-market plutocracy. Thus it should be no surprise that we were pleased to read a book that explained how to reframe this troubled situation and strategize to take advantage of any coming chaos. The book's title is The Upside of Down—Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization, by Thomas Homer-Dixon.
Read full review of The Upside of Down
... or ... check out on
Amazon.com
TUNE IN ... TOMMY JAMES AND THE SHONDELLS — “CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION”
A classic from the '60s flower-pop library, sending out good vibes for a better tomorrow. Look over yonder, what do you see!
The sun is a-rising, most definitely;
A new day's coming, people are changing.
Ain't it beautiful? Crystal blue persuasion . . .
There's a concept among voters that if the candidate you really prefer has no apparent chance of winning, then it's a waste of your vote to check the box for that candidate. To address this issue, we've been forced to break out our light sabers. See our article,
Wasting Your Vote
— The Voters' Choice in 2008: Darth Vader, The Emperor, or Luke Skywalker.
Do you think our politicians should do better at addressing air and water pollution, chemicals in household products, and the need for clean energy? Then you might want to check out our
environmental voting guide
and our article
Why Vote Green? ...
We don't hear that much about environmental issues on the news these days, but when we do hear it, it's sometimes hard to separate the info from the spin-fo. To help you decipher the code words, Grinning Planet presents an update of our
Environmental Doublespeak
article.
When it comes to politics, democracy, and the many other challenges of our lives, media play a central role. But, unfortunately, their value is usually negative, leaving us uninformed at best and propagandized at worst. What ever happened to true investigative journalism? Why has the press stopped doing it's job of counterbalancing those in power? Why is "media concentration" a death sentence for informative local TV, radio, and newspaper coverage? How does mainstream media send inappropriate social signals to our children and adolescents? There are lots of great books on these topics, and we have collected them on our recently upgraded
Media Books list.
TUNE IN ... EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER — “BLACK MOON”
An excellent and uncharacteristically activist song from ELP. As for the album of the same name, it's one of the few times a formerly great rock band put out something new that really was "sort of like their old stuff." LYRICS SNIPPET: We never learn—
Even deserts burn,
And all politicians lie.
They won't do nothin'
'Til we reach high noon...
Black Moon...
If you've been engaged in kitchen warfare with little black ants all summer, you'll be pleased to know we've updated our article on how to solve your problem with
sugar antsnaturally.
When it comes to alerting readers to the coming impacts of peak oil, has Grinning Planet finally reached "peak articles"? Nope. We've published a lot on the topic recently, but this issue is so important, we will keep the info-flow going until the petro-medulla section of everyone's brain is topped off. This time we present an update of Grinning Planet's two-article series based on the works of Richard Heinberg, who is widely respected as one of the planet's most clear-headed thinkers about energy issues and their impact on economies and societies. (Pt 1, Pt 2)
Also available are two excellent short videos from Heinberg: #1 (3 min), #2 (12 min)
Mike Adams, Natural News: "In promoting this food radiation policy, the FDA has accomplished what all the terrorists in the world could not: The mass irradiation of the US food supply."
GP note: We agree with Adams that irradiated food is a really bad idea. You can read his entire rant at the
Natural News site.
We also note that two of his solutions are growing your own food and buying food at local farmers' markets—two things that will also help make you more resilient in the face of future fuel and
food disruptions.
TUNE IN ... SIMON & GARFUNKEL — “THE SUN IS BURNING”
The song starts out with pastoral images of everyday life, culminating in the terrifying end described in the lyrics below. A great anti-nuke song from the 1960s folk-rock era. Now the sun has come to earth,
Shrouded in a mushroom cloud of death.
Death comes in a blinding flash
Of hellish heat and leaves a smear of ash . . .
And the sun has come to earth.
Ice-melting horror shows are playing in theaters globally this summer—from the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica to the permafrost of Siberia, from Glacier National Park to the snow cap on Kilimanjaro. The planet has become the Wicked Witch of the West—"I'm mellllting!" Find out what it means for the future of humans on the planet ... in Grinning Planet's feature article,
Global Warming / Melting Ice ...
Pope Benedict, 17 July 2008: "Perhaps reluctantly we come to acknowledge that there are also scars which mark the surface of our Earth—erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world's mineral and ocean resources in order to fuel an insatiable consumption." See
Mongabay coverage
of the speech.
The Pope's recent remarks on humanity's tendency to make a mess of the planet brought to mind a cartoon we did few years ago,
Problems You May Encounter After You Die.
It was a pure "funny toon," not a political or green cartoon. But now we would be inclined to add the following to the heavenly punch-line list: Non-stop phone calls from your kids asking why the envelope marked "my beloved children" contained nothing but planetary bills.
More seriously, if you suddenly feel the eco-spirit stirring within you, a good place to learn more about the connection between religion and environment is at the web site of the
National Religious Partnership for the Environment.
Like some crazed electronic horseman galloping through inboxes and browsers, shouting out the alarm, Grinning Planet is determined to alert people to the need for personal preparation regarding Peak Oil and related "disruption events." We recently published a thorough, 8-page Peak Oil FAQ, but some people wanted a shorter version they could forward to friends and family, so here's a 1-page version:
Peak Oil Summary
TUNE IN ... ZAGER & EVANS — “IN THE YEAR 2525”
One of the most out-there, futuristic songs to ever make the Top 40. Great stuff about where we're going as a species.
In the year 9595,
I'm kind a wond'rin' if man is gonna be alive—
He's taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain't put back nothin' . . .
We've updated our list of eco songs—tunes with a great green message paired with equally good melodies and musicianship. We've added some new songs, and upgraded the page so you can hear MP3 clips and see lyric snippets right from the page. There are still more songs we need to add, but you can check out our progress so far:
environmental songs ...
As summer heats up, electricity prices are rising. Keep A/C costs down by checking out Grinning Planet's article,
Money-Saving Tips on Air Conditioning .
For your woes at the filling station, check out
The Gas Mileage Bible
book at Amazon.com.
Are we really running out of oil? Can't we just get more by drilling in Alaska and off the coasts? What about ethanol and liquefied coal and oil shale? Find out whether the oil crisis is real, a scam, or just a bad joke ... by reading Grinning Planet's
Peak Oil FAQ ...
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Kenneth S. Deffeyes:
"Through our inattention, we have wasted the years that we might have used to prepare for lessened oil supplies. The next ten years are critical."
ROAD RAGE
The old "Road to Serfdom" was a myth sold to the American public by big-money types that said any interference in the free markets would kill capitalism and prosperity. It was a myth designed to help them convince the public of the wisdom of their program of deregulation, privatization of public assets, low taxation of the wealthy, and suppression of workers' wages. Today's ever-worsening banking crisis—which is a result of free-market excesses and under-regulation—clearly puts the lie to their propaganda. In an audio
interview on KPFA,
economist Michael Hudson explains the new threat: The plutocrats, rather than giving up, are using emerging and converging crises to drive us toward a new type of economic serfdom. Everyone should hear this! When you get to the page, the item is titled (( Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 -- "The New Road to Serfdom" ))
MALODOROUS MALADY MARKETING
We modern humans suffer a range of ailments and worries, and drug companies have figured out that in most cases we're very ready to believe there's a new pill that will make it all better. In the book Our Daily Meds, Melody Petersen exposes Big Pharma's hyper-driven marketing campaigns, showing how all too often they're putting the "sham" in shaman. See Bill Moyers'
interview
with her, or check out
her book
at Amazon.com. Also worth viewing:
"The Drugs I Need"
-- a funny animation on the subject from Consumers Union.
We're all aware that Washington's talking heads don't get out enough and that their mouths often seem unattached to anything resembling a brain. But occasionally one of these overpaid orating orangutans does something that's simply too much to ignore. Thus, Grinning Planet presents the case of George F. Will and the
Stupid Global Warming Idiots.
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, retired, former US Army chief of staff:
"Climate change is and will be a significant threat to our national security and in a larger sense to life on earth as we know it to be."
Many of the ways we consume corn are obvious enough: corn on the cob and canned corn ... pop corn and corn chips ... corn bread and taco shells. But there are some insidious ways we eat the stuff, most notably via meat consumption and corn sweeteners. The scale of the corn-related food economy in the US is hard for the average person to fathom, but King Corn feeds us the complex truth of corn in a manner that is entertaining and educational....
Read GP's full review of King Corn
In a 2003 article, Grinning Planet asked the flippant question, "What would Satan drive?" and discussed why a driver in an SUV is not necessarily worse than some other driver in a non-SUV. Fresh back from trading in some gold bars at the gas station, we decided it was time to update the
SUVs/Environmental Issues piece.
Our article about
chemicals from plastic food containers
getting into leftovers and lunch fare continues to generate lots of reader emails asking us where to buy non-plastic food storage containers. Apparently, such containers are not as easy to find in stores as we thought! So, now we've done some legwork for you. Online at Amazon.com, you can check out the wide variety of non-plastic food-storage options offered by
Pyrex
and
CorningWare.
If you take dishes to picnics, parties, and potlucks, there's also the Pyrex
Portables
collection. For large-volume food storage (gallon-size and up), check out the wares from
Anchor Hocking
(glass) or
StainlessLUX
(stainless steel).
Pollution is not just something that happens to "the environment." It affects the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the land we grow our food on. When it comes to us water-drinking, air-breathing, food-eating humans, see Grinning Planet's feature article to find out about the relationship between pollution and health.
QUOTH THE MAVEN
Lester Brown: "In Mexico City, Tehran, Kolkata, Bangkok, Shanghai, and hundreds of other cities, the air is no longer safe to breathe. In some cities, the air is so polluted that breathing is equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes per day."
Deluged with dandelions but not liking the idea of spraying your lawn with 2,4-D pesticides in areas where kids and pets play? Check out our article on non-toxic dandelion removal methods, including the recently added reader suggestion, The Dandelion Stomp.
We hope you took heed of our Jan-Feb-Mar series on the coming food crisis.
The subject is now front-page news, but it's not too late for you to take action. This is not a drill!.
Related GP stuff:Books for Surviving Peak Oil
GREEN STUFF FOR APRIL 2008
CLOUDS IN YOUR COFFEE? TRY LESS STYRO, MORE FOAM
Do chemicals leach from foam cups and containers into your food? Check out our article about the potential health effects of foam cups and food containers. We'll also explain why there is actually no such thing as a "Styrofoam cup"!
QUOTH THE MAVEN
US EPA: "Just as there may be a time lag between [pollution] emissions and exposure, there may also be a time lag between exposure and [human or ecological] damages." More quotes
TRULY GREEN GRASS
Spring is springing, dandelions are roaring, and homeowners everywhere are eyeing the ever-thickening grass out in the yard. Why not forget about lawn chemicals this year and go green? Check out our three-part series on natural lawn care.
EMISSIONS MISSIONS, PT. 1
Climate change scientists are telling us we have to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, assuming we prefer a planet that isn't extra-crispy. That may sound impossible, but Carl Pope of the Sierra Club points out that if we just reduce 2% per year, we will reduce carbon emissions by MORE than 80% by 2050!
EMISSIONS MISSIONS, PT. 2
If "80% by 2050!" now doesn't sound like enough of a challenge, let's try 80% by 2020—the goal set by Lester Brown in his book Plan B 3.0. He talks about how we can get there—without returning to the era of the Flintstones.
WHAT'S THE DEAL??
Site updates once or twice a month,
with new cartoons, animations, videos,
articles, quotes, book/movie reviews,
and more... Informative, entertaining, family-friendly ...
Uh-huh, the title is a joke. But our article this month does cover a few ways to make your yard experience safer and more environmentally friendly, as well as easier and less costly. See
Carl Safina presents some astonishing findings from his visit to the Gulf disaster zone, including why he thinks the biological effects of the catastrophe will be "hemispheric." Watch
We've said more than once that all the "left-right" bickering is just a distraction. The real fight is "up-down," as these easy-to-digest
Do you feel like the world is going crazy? Are you less and less able to relate to things as they are? You may regain a sense of calm by delving deeper into concepts like matrix consciousness, the influence of stellar cycles on earthly events, and the potential for a quantum shift. A good starting point is our page of
Country-rock verses, a Bangles-style hook, and a hip-hop bridge—somehow it works! ... and delivers a strong message about our need to transition to clean energy. Watch 
What toxic chemicals lurk in those innocent-looking jugs and spray bottles you use to clean house? Find out how to make the move to
Alice Shabecoff, author of 
Clif High has released a new predictive report that builds on the May 2010 release. You can read our
In his new book Straight Up, physicist Joe Romm explains how climate action can improve the economy, how we can swap green energy for coal, even why Sarah Palin wears a polar bear pin.
More description for 
Many of us try to improve our health via diets and better nutrition. It's also worth considering a switch to
The oil-leak disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is a BIG deal. We're providing in-depth coverage each week on our 
Like we've been warning for years, a presidential panel now reports that the impact of industrial, agricultural, and consumer-product chemicals on the incidence of cancer has been grossly and systematically underestimated. See
The cooling season is coming.... Time to check out Grinning Planet's plans/DIY instructions for a
While we're generally not fans of pro-globalization big-box stores, we do appreciate that Target has set up their stores to take recyclables like glass, aluminum, and plastic beverage containers as well as old MP3 players and cell phones.
For keeping your tomato plants from flopping on the ground, this Master Gardeners'
Today's "factory farms" are designed to raise animals for meat, eggs, and dairy in ways that are most efficient and yield the best profit margin. But there are some problems... Learn more in Grinning Planet's feature article on
If little black ants have invaded your kitchen, you'll be pleased to know our article on how to solve your
Les Leopold, author of 
Call it a revolution in how things will run in the future; call it a major curve ball on the playing field known as planet earth; call it the last best hope for reigning in the money-mad Powers That Be. Call it the
If you want to know who really runs things in the world, you'll need to check out Grinning Planet's
As Big Slide opens, the US is in chaos. Three generations of the Freeman family have gathered at their rustic country estate to weather the storm. Can this bunch hole up without starving, freezing, or being overrun? ...
Read Grinning Planet's 
New energy sources alone cannot balance our future national energy budget. We need a massive reordering of our energy use, and conservation and efficiency will be central. Learn more with Grinning Planet's feature article:
Want to cut the political power of the big banks? You can hit them where it hurts by moving your money to a credit union or a small, safe, local bank. Tips and pointers at the
Your home may be your sanctuary from the cruel world outside, but your indoor air is likely even worse than the polluted outdoor air. Find out why—and what you can do about it—in our updated piece about
From dollar woes to retirement income at risk to climate solutions staying stuck in the gate, get all of Grinning Planet's
With the economy bad, flu pandemics in the news, peak oil getting more recognition... and now all these gloomy predictions... what's a person to do? We recommend that you undertake Grinning Planet's "Resilient Household" challenge, which will make you more able to easily endure disruptions of many types. Find out more about
If the squirrel in
Talking trash in school is part of the educational experience, but your kids' meals there don't have to be trashy. Check out Grinning Planet's feature article on how you can pack healthier,
Sometimes an old cartoon seems eerily foresighted. Check out the young banker in this funny
Grinning Planet gets a mention in a
Mitch Hedberg:
"I hate turkeys. If you stand in the meat section at the grocery store long enough, you start to get mad at turkeys. There's turkey ham, turkey bologna, turkey pastrami. Some one needs to tell the turkey, 'man, just be yourself.'"
Global warming is not a hoax, scientifically speaking. There is, however, a conspiracy. Find out all about it in Grinning Planet's feature article,
November brings the much advertised, sensationalistic movie 2012. If you want to dig deeper into the serious issues related to the year 2012, the Mayan calendar, and the possibility of a coming transformation, check out our
Whether you're a casual social drinker, a moderate imbiber, or a serious sot, here's an excellent HealthWorld 
The spirit of St. Francis is making an appearance on Grinning Planet to offer a parable about
Oil and fuel prices are on the rise again, a sign that oil supply limits are real. We've updated our articles on
Take a break from the mental heavy lifting and enjoy a slew of cartoons from the eco section of the newspaper comics pages with Grinning Planet's
Multi-national food corps are trying to grab hold of the rising "local food" business, but this Indy Week 
How much less energy does a laptop use compared to a desktop PC? Does using a screensaver save energy? Those answers and more at Sierra Club's
Are the new "bioplastics" truly biodegradable, making them a better choice that standard plasticware? Find out in our article on the
In May we pointed you to the Cornucopia Institute's scorecard for brands of
We've updated our popular article about chemicals getting into food from
Investigator Michael Ruppert, author of the seminal
Beyond our weekly downloadable news, we also just revamped our links for the best (most honest/relevant) news sites. There are sites for reading, listening to, and watching
The US and European push towards significantly greater use of biofuels is already having unintended consequences such as increased food prices (because biofuel plants are competing for limited grain supplies) and increased clearing of rainforests (so more palm oil plantations can be planted). Are solutions such as cellulosic ethanol for cars and burning biomass for electricity real? Or might they create more problems than they solve? Get our take in Grinning Planet's feature article,
Is your home town gambling that gasoline and diesel supplies won't experience future shortages? That electricity outages and disruptions to critical services will be minimal? Probably. Find out what they should be doing in Grinning Planet's feature article about
"Our special tonight is tuna roll stuffed with rice, ginger, and mercury"... Eh? What's that? You'd rather have your fish without the mercury? Then you should check out Grinning Planet's article on
In this one little paragraph, we're going to provide the pointers you need to evaluate how to best use solar energy to increase your energy security and decrease your carbon footprint. (1) Read our
Woe to the simple cotton plant, suffering the indignities of genetic engineering and copious dousings with chemical pesticides. A lot of us have recognized such dangers in our food and have modified our eating habits, moving them towards an organic diet. Should we move our clothing purchases in the same direction? Find out in our feature article:
A compact fluorescent light bulb uses 75% less energy than an incandescent bulb with the same light output, and it lasts up to 10 times longer. Even though there's a higher up-front cost when you purchase a CFL, it will save you lots of money in the long run. But what about the issue of mercury in CFLs? Get the scoop on that, as well as an analysis of which CFLs are best by checking out the Environmental Working Group's free
As we noted in our
In December 2007, we told Grinning Planet readers that they reeeaaally needed to start paying attention to what was going on in the financial world (among other things). In our
Grinning Planet has started a weekly
There are many important intersections between our modern food system and our main sources of energy: oil, natural gas, and coal-generated electricity. That means any problems arising with our energy supplies will ultimately mean problems for the food supply. Learn more in Grinning Planet's feature article,
Will President Barack Obama be our savior in this time of crisis, an agent of true change? Or will he just be the new, less-buffoonish hired executive for USA, Inc., employed by the wealthy elites to run the corrupt money system and save banks and big investors at the expense of us working stiffs? Get Grinning Planet's take on it in our article,
Peak oil is upon us, we have ever-worsening environmental degradation, and we face a deepening global financial crisis. While we at GP feel a visceral hopefulness at the upcoming change of administration, we have seen this movie before, and we have every reason to think that we will find that newly offered solutions are still bound by the iron envelope of today's reigning free-market plutocracy. Thus it should be no surprise that we were pleased to read a book that explained how to reframe this troubled situation and strategize to take advantage of any coming chaos. The book's title is The Upside of Down—Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization, by Thomas Homer-Dixon.
There's a concept among voters that if the candidate you really prefer has no apparent chance of winning, then it's a waste of your vote to check the box for that candidate. To address this issue, we've been forced to break out our light sabers. See our article,
Do you think our politicians should do better at addressing air and water pollution, chemicals in household products, and the need for clean energy? Then you might want to check out our
We don't hear that much about environmental issues on the news these days, but when we do hear it, it's sometimes hard to separate the info from the spin-fo. To help you decipher the code words, Grinning Planet presents an update of our
When it comes to politics, democracy, and the many other challenges of our lives, media play a central role. But, unfortunately, their value is usually negative, leaving us uninformed at best and propagandized at worst. What ever happened to true investigative journalism? Why has the press stopped doing it's job of counterbalancing those in power? Why is "media concentration" a death sentence for informative local TV, radio, and newspaper coverage? How does mainstream media send inappropriate social signals to our children and adolescents? There are lots of great books on these topics, and we have collected them on our recently upgraded
When it comes to alerting readers to the coming impacts of peak oil, has Grinning Planet finally reached "peak articles"? Nope. We've published a lot on the topic recently, but this issue is so important, we will keep the info-flow going until the petro-medulla section of everyone's brain is topped off. This time we present an update of Grinning Planet's two-article series based on the works of Richard Heinberg, who is widely respected as one of the planet's most clear-headed thinkers about energy issues and their impact on economies and societies. (
Mike Adams, Natural News: "In promoting this food radiation policy, the FDA has accomplished what all the terrorists in the world could not: The mass irradiation of the US food supply."
Ice-melting horror shows are playing in theaters globally this summer—from the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica to the permafrost of Siberia, from Glacier National Park to the snow cap on Kilimanjaro. The planet has become the Wicked Witch of the West—"I'm mellllting!" Find out what it means for the future of humans on the planet ... in Grinning Planet's feature article,
The Pope's recent remarks on humanity's tendency to make a mess of the planet brought to mind a cartoon we did few years ago,
We modern humans suffer a range of ailments and worries, and drug companies have figured out that in most cases we're very ready to believe there's a new pill that will make it all better. In the book Our Daily Meds, Melody Petersen exposes Big Pharma's hyper-driven marketing campaigns, showing how all too often they're putting the "sham" in shaman. See Bill Moyers'
We're all aware that Washington's talking heads don't get out enough and that their mouths often seem unattached to anything resembling a brain. But occasionally one of these overpaid orating orangutans does something that's simply too much to ignore. Thus, Grinning Planet presents the case of George F. Will and the
In a 2003 article, Grinning Planet asked the flippant question, "What would Satan drive?" and discussed why a driver in an SUV is not necessarily worse than some other driver in a non-SUV. Fresh back from trading in some gold bars at the gas station, we decided it was time to update the
Pollution is not just something that happens to "the environment." It affects the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the land we grow our food on. When it comes to us water-drinking, air-breathing, food-eating humans, see Grinning Planet's feature article to find out about the relationship between 
Deluged with dandelions but not liking the idea of spraying your 
We hope you took heed of our Jan-Feb-Mar series on the coming 
Do chemicals leach from foam cups and containers into your food? Check out our article about the potential health effects of 
US EPA: "Just as there may be a time lag between [pollution] emissions and exposure, there may also be a time lag between exposure and [human or ecological] damages." 
If "80% by 2050!" now doesn't sound like enough of a challenge, let's try 80% by 2020—the goal set by Lester Brown in his book Plan B 3.0. He talks about how we can get there—without returning to the era of the Flintstones.
WHAT'S THE DEAL??