Culture & Ethics
Carbon Tweets
Do you twitter? If so, you might be interested in this feature at the Washington Post, which aggregates tweets relating to climate issues.
CONTINUE READINGWhat’s in Your Toothpaste?
A new UCLA study raises health concerns about a nanomaterial found in a broad range of consumer products. Nanoscale titanium dioxide, which is used in toothpaste, sunscreen, paint, cosmetics, vitamins, food coloring, and nutritional supplements, has not been extensively studied for its toxicological properties. A team lead by Robert Schiestl, a professor of pathology, radiation oncology …
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CONTINUE READINGChristianity and Environmental Stewardship
The title of this post refers to a subject that I lack standing to discuss. But this being Christmas, I thought it might be appropriate to link to the Evangelical Environmental Network, which has this to say: The earthly result of human sin has been a perverted stewardship, a patchwork of garden and wasteland in …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Great Environmental Christmas Tree Debate
Real or artificial? I haven’t been able to find a full lifecycle analysis of the environmental impacts. The real trees don’t release carbon when they’re growing, but it does take carbon to get a fresh tree to market every year. The artificial ones require carbon but only have to be shipped once. In addition, there …
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CONTINUE READINGUCLA Sustainable Technology Policy Program Receives Grant for Alternatives Assessment
The Sustainable Technology Policy Program, an interdisciplinary project of UCLA School of Law and the UCLA School of Public Health, has received a research grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Public Health Law Research Program to study safer alternatives to the use of lead in industrial and consumer products and processes. The grant, in …
CONTINUE READINGRemembering Tom Graff
Last week, California and the nation lost a true giant of water law and policy, Tom Graff, who founded the California office of the Environmental Defense Fund in 1971 and had a hand in every key water battle or negotiation (as well as many other environmental developments) since then. EDF’s memorial page is here; it …
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CONTINUE READINGThe multiple values of nature
Two interesting storylines came together last week about what nature does for people. The first has to do with economic value, the second with non-economic value. On the economic side, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, a project of the United Nations Environment Programme, the European Union, and several European nations, released a report for …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change versus the Benzene Case
The Benzene Case — more properly, Industrial Union Dept. v. American Petroleum Inst. — is almost thirty years old, but is still the Supreme Court’s most important statement on risk regulation. After considering mountains of evidence, OSHA issued a rule restricting benzene in the workplace. Benzene was known to be a carcinogen; the evidence was …
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CONTINUE READINGOne-Stop Shopping for Climate Information
CITRIS, which is a University of California engineering consortium, has a really useful site called Climate Navigator. The site is a great source of information about the many dimensions of climate change, from policy to energy technology. One neat feature is an interactive model that allows you to design your own global climate policy, setting …
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CONTINUE READINGA red-letter day for washing machines
Under the Bush administration, which was implacably hostile to state environmental regulations exceeding federal minimum requirements, the Department of Energy refused to consider California’s request for permission to issue state rules setting water efficiency standards for washing machines. The Ninth Circuit has now set aside that action as arbitrary and capricious, and ruled that DOE …
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