News Roundup

Some more recent articles worth reading in the Christian Science Monitor:

New Alternative Fuel: Chocolate!

Is Bioplastic a Viable Alternative to "Paper or Plastic"?

Person-To-Person Lending: Internet Based Microloans Helping Internationally.

File Under Greenwashing: Shell's CO2 Flowers

Shell's new "green" campaign features an image of a flower spewing factory and claims that they're doing their part for the environment by recycling waste products (like diverting CO2 to grow flowers) under the tagline "Don't throw anything away. There is no away." But Friends of The Earth Europe, beg to differ and have filed complaints in several countries claiming the ads are misleading, noting among other things that Shell "uses less than 0.5% of it's waste CO2 to grow flowers". You can read the full complaint here (PDF).


Thanks Mim!
Details via Environmental Leader

World Without Oil

What will the world be like when we run out of oil? Find out in real-time in the alternate reality of World Without Oil. The site records the stories of average citizens that are dealing with the 2007 oil crisis which began with a price spike on April 30th and led to current gas prices of $5.56 a gallon and a 7% shortfall. Add your own story via images, audio, video and/or text here.

Ethanol Is Not Green

A recent report from Stanford University concludes that the much hyped corn based Ethanol is not only NOT a "clean-burning" eco-fuel, but that in the long run it may cause more deaths than traditional gasoline. According to Mark Z. Jacobson, the scientist that conducted the research:

"In our study, E85 increased ozone-related mortalities in the United States by about 200 deaths per year compared to gasoline, with about 120 of those deaths occurring in Los Angeles," Jacobson said. "These mortality rates represent an increase of about 4 percent in the U.S. and 9 percent in Los Angeles above the projected ozone-related death rates for gasoline-fueled vehicles in 2020."

Read more about the report's conclusions here.