The new face of hunger -- “World agriculture has entered a new, unsustainable and politically risky period” says the International Food Policy Research Institute. Food riots have erupted in countries all along the equator because of soaring food commodity prices. So, where does the world get more food? If the extra supplies are to come mainly from large farmers in America and Europe, then they may be trapped in a farm subsidy Catch-22. Increase production per acre? We just learned about the myth of GM crops (previously of MeFi). All of this is why some are just sitting out Earth Day.
posted by netbros on Apr 22, 2008 - 114 comments

Australian inventor Chris Bosua, frustrated by the inefficiency of his air compressor, devised a method of recycling the exhaust air from air tools. His Exhausted Air Recycling System (E.A.R.S.) improves efficiency by eighty percent. It runs cooler, almost halves the power consumption, extends the life of the compressor, provides a cleaner working environment, and reduces the noise of an air tool to that of a sewing machine. Happy Earth Day, everyone!
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium on Apr 22, 2007 - 31 comments

Greenwashing is a term for "Disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image." The Green Life recently released their annual America's Ten Worst Greenwashers list. It's a good overview of companies and organizations that talk the talk but don't quite walk the walk. [via treehugger]
posted by mathowie on Apr 23, 2005 - 20 comments

WhatSpeak?
Republican pollster Frank Luntz realized he had a problem. Many of his GOP clients had a consistently bad rap on the environment. Word on the street was they took in millions in contributions from polluting industries, and either sat idly by while environmental safeguards were weakened or, worse, led the charge to undermine decades of protections.

What to do? Instead of counseling his clients to take a principled stand against these polluting policies, Frank simply wrote a memo and invented LuntzSpeak - an exciting new way to put a positive spin on an abysmal environmental record.

Of course, this memo was supposed to be confidential. But lucky for us, Jennifer 8. Lee at the New York Times was given a copy by the Environmental Working Group. Now all of us can learn how to decode and use LuntzSpeak for ourselves!

Submitted in belated recognition of Earth Day. Hope you enjoy.
posted by nofundy on Apr 23, 2003 - 10 comments

Happy Earth Day. We probably need an all-encompassing post. So post your links here. Find local events here and here (hint: they're not all taking place today, many are this upcoming weekend). Do something for the future generations.
posted by Ufez Jones on Apr 22, 2003 - 18 comments

Happy Earth Day! Calculate your ecological footprint. How many earths would we need if everyone lived like you?
posted by fieldswn on Apr 22, 2002 - 46 comments

Just in time for Earth Day. A colleague forwarded this to me with the subject line "Sac. Bee does expose' on eco-movement!!!", but it doesn't read entirely like that. There's the obligatory "Look how much their CEOs make!" (pdf) as well as a Philanthropic Report Card, rating groups on how much of their budget is spent on a "charitable" purpose. That's the contentious eye candy -- there's also some decent writing. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the week's stories.
posted by dcehr on Apr 23, 2001 - 2 comments

Do something for Earth Day. Zeldman's recent post talks about doing without television, cell phones and the Internet for an hour. If you're a geek like me who doesn't get out enough, find an event in your area today.
posted by bkdelong on Apr 22, 2001 - 20 comments