The Story of Cap & Trade

The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill.

Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the "devils in the details" in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from what’s really required to tackle the climate crisis. If you’ve heard about cap and trade, but aren’t sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you.

Michelle Obama visits Sesame Street

Debate flares on limits of nature and commerce in National Parks

Furor over a lease to harvest oysters at the Point Reyes National Seashore, as told in this New York Times article, has also drawn in partisans across the country. Playing into an old debate, the question is raised: Are the national parks primarily for preserving untouched wilderness, or for preserving the historic human imprint on the land, too?

Ideas for Badlands Raise Land-Use Fears

Should local residents be involved in land-use decisions made by government?

Federal and state officials are at odds over listing about 12,000 acres of North Dakota Badlands on the National Register of Historic Places to recognize an area that inspired Theodore Roosevelt.

The U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service are pushing for the designation to highlight the significance of the region, where Roosevelt ran his cattle more than a century ago. But ranchers and state officials fear it would hinder development and say local residents were not consulted.

Sense of Taste from a Sense of Place

Blogger April McGreger writes about her personal experiences and the many rewarding aspects of eating locally. In particular, she has enjoyed exploring her own region (North Carolina) in depth. She aptly quotes the wisdom of Wendell Berry, who says, “You’ve got to know where you are. You’ve got to consult the genius of the place.”

McGreger discusses her increased awareness that the food choices she makes are governed by the competing considerations of identity, convenience, price, and responsibility.

Sense of Place, for many people, revolves around not only physical spaces but also the food, community, and culture of a place - be it a house, a city, or a larger geographical region.

Michael Pollen on "Talk of the Nation"

Michael Pollan recently participated in a discussion on NPR's Talk of the Nation program with farm representatives and the VP of the Corn Growers Association. The discussion was not as contentious as one might have expected.

The Mess Hall - School Lunches and Privatization

A recent article in the Washington Post by Jane Black brought up several issues pertaining to school lunches (quality vs. affordability, for one). A blogger, Tom Philpott, over at the ever eco-conscious site Grist posted a rather ill-informed response. This in turn brought a flurry of critiques from readers and other bloggers.

The online dialogue created here is a good example of how one piece of journalism can inspire debate and conversation among concerned readers.

An Interview with Michael Pollan

In preparation for a cover story in this week's Isthmus newspaper, news editor Bill Lueders conducted a telephone interview with author Michael Pollan.

Lueders shares an edited version of the interview here. This may give readers of the book In Defense of Food insight into Pollan's journalistic motivations and some of the delimma's he faced in writing this book and others.

Growing the ‘Good Food’ movement - A Conversation with Will Allen

Blogger and grassroots coordinator Erik Hoffner recently caught up with Will Allen who was keynote speaker at the Northeast Organic Farming Association’s Annual Conference in Amherst, MA. Allen is founder and CEO of Growing Power, the country’s premier grassroots urban gardening program. He is also a MacArthur Genius Award Winner and former pro-basketball player.

Growing Power demonstrates growing methods through on-site workshops and hands-on demonstrations, and has farms in Milwaukee and Merton, Wisconsin, and Chicago, Illinois, where they grow vegetables, fish, bees, livestock, worms, and more. They have also established satellite training sites in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Mississippi.

Wendell Berry - The Agrarian Standard

Wendell Berry's book The Unsettling of America was published over thirty years ago; it is still in print and is still being read. As its author, Berry says he is tempted to be glad of this, and yet, if what is said in the book is to be believed - and many do believe it - then we perhaps should be anything but glad.

The book, says Mr. Berry, would have had "a far happier fate if it could have been disproved or made obsolete years ago." This essay is a reflection by Mr. Berry written for Orion Magazine in 2002.