Culture & Ethics

What Is Green Kosher?

“Green Kosher” is the new advertising tag for Empire Kosher food processors, based in rural Pennsylvania.  But what does it mean? There is an important backstory here.  Empire is the nation’s leading kosher poultry producer, which has aggressively pursued a progressive image in the media (and particularly the Jewish media).  It has done this even …

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A Judicial Win for PACE Clean Energy Financing

Finally, some good news from the courts for advocates of PACE financing for energy efficiency and renewables.  Federal Judge Claudia Wilken in the Northern District of California issued a ruling late Friday on the Federal Housing Finance Authority’s (FHFA) motion to dismiss a challenge from the Sierra Club, Placer and Sonoma Counties, Palm Desert, and …

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Quest for the Best

Public Health Degree has a list of the twenty cities in the world with the cleanest air.  (I was pleased to see my prior home Minneapolis on the list — not surprisingly, my current home in the Bay Area didn’t qualify.)   That got me interested in looking for other listings of high environmental quality. There …

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Enviro Videos

Public Policy Degree, a site aimed at policy students, has assembled fifty YouTube videos relating to the environment.  Besides being fun, it may give the more tech-savvy teachers among our audience some resources to include in presentations.  I noticed that one of the videos is by former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who is now teaching …

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The Environmental Journalism Issue in the Presidential Race

There is one enormously striking thing about the New York Times article that Dan references in the post below.  The article details how virtually all the Republican candidates have essentially declared war on the Environmental Protection Agency, claiming that environmental regulation is responsible for job losses and sluggish growth.  It also quotes people from Republicans for …

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“Please Don’t Murder Me”

Musical accompaniment to Justin’s post below.  “I cut my deck to the Queen of Spades, but the cards were all the same”: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhqyg_dTaTg]   More information here.

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Green Tweets

Donald Smith has put together a list of environmental tweeters worth following, including environmental scientists, other scientists with environmental interests, media folks, and environmental groups.  For that matter, you can also follow my blog posts via @dfarber if for some reason that’s easier than using the Legal Planet website to keep track.  I have to …

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California Works to Promote Energy Efficiency Retrofits

California has much to brag about when it comes to energy efficiency. Per capita, the state’s residents use far less energy than our national counterparts while enjoying an equal or better standard of living, thanks to energy efficiency standards developed in the 1970s: But the state is committed to doing better. Last week, I was …

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The Greening of Tisha B’Av

Three days ago, I fasted on the Jewish holy day of Tisha B’Av, which marks and commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. Jews observe the day also by reading Eikha, the biblical Book of Lamentations.  No fast day could be considered pleasant, but it has always been a particularly meaningful …

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Gifford Pinchot’s Birthday

Gifford Pinchot (the final “t” is silent) was born on August 11, 1865.  He was responsible for founding the Yale School of Forestry, which remains a major center for environmental research and teaching today.  Like Chief Justice John Marshall, he is also considered the founding father of an institution even though he wasn’t the institution’s …

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