In anticipation of the upcoming film Food, Inc, we’ve been busy blogging about issues of food safety, intensive farming, organic farming methods, and other food issues in our Hungry for Change segment. Part of sustainable agriculture practices is knowing where your food comes from (”sourcing” in food circles). While we’ve covered how to find where your food comes from, have you ever thought about where your wine comes from? Beer, wine, and liquor are all based on agricultural products - just like the things you eat.

Last weekend I took a day trip to the Santa Rita Hills in Santa Ynez wine country to pick pinot noir grapes at the exemplary Clos Pepe Vineyards. A lot of smaller vineyards and winemakers in wine country contact volunteers to help them harvest and crush. This provided a great opportunity to meet with other wine enthusiasts, get close to the land, and see how much of wine production is still handled by hand.

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It’s lunch time here on the East Coast and the video below is making me hungry, not only for lunch but also for SCIENCE!

According to Boing Boing, the video is from “Philip Morrison’s 1987 PBS program “The Ring of Truth: Atoms” featuring chef Kin Jing Mark making noodles to demonstrate the principle of halving.”

I love Boing Boing, only there can you find a noodle video and a post about how Barack Obama supports user generated content and open debates. (click on the link to read, it is super important).

And takepart to support PBS one of the best places to find awesome science shows.

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As reported here by Danny, the massive $700 Billion+ bailout contained the much sought after extension of the renewable energy tax credit.  While the widely disparaged porkbarrel spending of the bailout bill may not be the most noble legislation around, it’s a large consolation to this taxpayer that there is a whole lotta Green Pork packed into this mother of all omnibuses.  Now that the bill has been more thoroughly combed over, let’s take a look at the spoils:

- Finally, the Renewable Energy Investment Tax Credit has been extended, a full 8 years, for investment in solar and wind energy.  This tax credit is vital to the growth of these industries going forward and makes a sector that was already a good bet, practically the best place around for capital in very uncertain financial times.  Plus, as a sweetener, the tax credit is paid for by a change to the tax code for oil and gas companies. 

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As I write this I proudly admit that my face is covered in a minty, muddy, natural face mask. And as I write this I can feel all the evil things that clog up my pores being sucked away, it’s a great feeling.  What isn’t a great feeling though is knowing that tons of folks are putting tons of awful chemicals on their skin and in their body as I write this.  Commercials for acne products/pills are everywhere and unfortunately there are a lot of folks who buy what these ads sell in hopes of clearer skin.

It isn’t easy having acne or problem skin, trust me, I know.  I’ve had acne since I was in elementary school, I remember a mean boy named Billy Morris said to me in the fourth grade “Boys don’t like girls with pimples” (my response was “girls don’t like boys that are mean”).  Your face is the first thing someone looks at when they meet you and having a face filled with things that society has deemed gross (even though it is a somewhat normal thing) is really hard  to deal with.   When I was 14 I went to a dermatologist and got put on tetracycline and various chemically filled creams in hopes of clearing my skin.  I got somewhat clearer skin, but I also started throwing up every morning (something I didn’t link to the pills until 4 years later) and just last year learned that all that damage helped cause the ulcers I now have.

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You like animals, right?  I thought so.  Well, I’ve got good news and bad news on that front.  The good news is, animals still exist.  The bad news is, maybe not for very long.  A new report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (I.U.C.N.) tells us that 1 in 4 mammals are threatened with extinction, and 1 in 3 amphibians are either threatened with extinction or already extinct.

The causes of the extinction threat are things we’ve heard before - habitat loss, hunting, and climate change.  And though there have been modest improvements here and there in revitalizing species, Jan Schipper, the director of global mammal assessment (actual job title) for the I.U.C.N. has this to say

“Although 5 percent of mammals are recovering, what we observe are rates of habitat loss and hunting in Southeast Asia, Central Africa and Central and South America that are so serious that the overall rate of decline has steadily increased during the past decade,” Mr. Schipper said.

So five percent up, 25 percent down.  Not exactly great progress.

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After our posts about Corn Refiner’s Association “Sweet Surprise” Ads and parody ads, Rebecca Bigelow wrote TakePart about a letter she sent to the CRA.  She graciously allowed us to share it here.

by Rebecca Bigelow

I recently wrote this letter to the CRA in response to their ads.  My son is allergic to corn and all corn derivatives, and their ads made me furious.  It is so impossible to find foods without a corn derivative, and I am sick of it!

“I am writing this letter to the Corn Refiners Association in response to the “Sweet Surprise” advertising campaign.

My husband and I have two sons.  My oldest, Alex developed allergies and sensitivities to some foods as he grew.  We monitored and modified his diet and environment as he became older, but as he reached 2 years of age, he became very sick with frightening physical and emotional symptoms.

We finally discovered that Alex was suffering from severe food allergies.  However, it took me months to discover what food.  He was reacting to almost everything he ate, every day.  I finally discovered the culprit.  It was corn.  I had never heard of a corn allergy, and I certainly didn’t realize that some form of corn was in nearly every item in our home.

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Over a month ago, I wrote about how the World Bank is investing heavily in fossil fuel development, thus going against its green pledge.  Well, I may have spoken a little bit too soon, as Reuters reports “World Bank funding for efficient and renewable energy rose 87 [percent] this year to nearly $2.7 billion.”  Ha HA, they schooled me.

This 87 percent jump in fiscal year 2008 (which ended June 30, because financial institutions get to do whatever they want) follows a 67 percent jump from 2006 to 2007.  So how did this $2.7 billion get spent?  Well, let me tell you!

– $1.1 billion for energy efficiency;
– $476 million for new renewable energy projects including wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and hydropower projects that will generate up to 10 megawatts per facility;
– $1 billion for hydropower projects with capacities of more than 10 megawatts per facility.

By my math, that doesn’t quite make it to $2.7 billion, but who’s really counting?

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When I wrote yesterday about blink-182, I completely neglected to mention Macbeth footwear, so I am making amends for that now, giving the company a full post.  It’s only fair.

Macbeth footwear is owned by Tom DeLonge, former blink-182 member.  The shoes look good, are designed by musicians and skaters and the like, and most importantly, Macbeth has a line of vegan footwear.  Here’s a video of DeLonge talking to Peta2 about the shoes.

I’ve got myself a pair of these shoes, and let me tell you, I look good in them.  Real good.  You can takepart yourself and check out the product line and pick yourself up some vegan shoes.

The State of New Jersey has announced plans to build a $1 Billion Wind Farm off its coast. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has picked Garden State Offshore Energy, a partnership between Public Service Enterprise Group Renewable Generation and Deepwater Wind, to construct an offshore wind farm capable of generating more 350 MW of electricity. The facility will be located in a rectangular grid situated between 16 to 20 miles off the coast of Cape May and Atlantic Counties, in South Jersey.

The location so far offshore will make the facility barely visible from land, as illustrated above in a visual presentation from PSEG, which alleviates the opposition of beachfront property owners and coastal communities to the technology. As much as people claim to love renewable energy, the “Not in my backyard” concern is still alive and well with these public works.

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Your Sunday Afternoon Vegetarian(s!) of awesome Vegetarianishness are the guys from blink-182, your favorite pop-punk band.  Yes, it seems (and again, this is with some really poorly-done research) that Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, and Travis Barker are all vegetarians.  I’ll talk a little about the band itself, and then a side project or two that I actually might find to be a little better.

Being one of the few truly successful bands to come out of San Diego, blink-182 made their best music right before breaking up, on their eponymous album.  So, instead of giving you a video of, say, “Dammit,” let’s try “Always.”  I’ll just go ahead and throw in that the girl in the video is Sophie Monk, who is also a vegetarian.  Sometimes, these things practically write themselves.

I’ll get back to blink in a minute or two, but let’s talk about side projects.

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