tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:54:29 +0000http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/noreply@blogger.com (AM)Blogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-3748349131527982353Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:43:00 +00002010-03-01T17:54:29.336-05:00There's nothing like getting into the middle of a great idea for seeing its pitfalls. Case in point: government subsidies for energy-saving home renovations. I've spent the last month or so wrestling with two different subsidy programs, and I've spent more of that time than I'd like wondering why on earth I'm even bothering.The bigger of the two, Home Performance with ENERGY STAR, sounds http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2010/03/you-sure-you-want-those-energy-saving.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-5786105044050849200Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:04:00 +00002009-10-15T13:12:56.878-04:00Hopenhagenclimate changeElizabeth KolbertChristopher SwainBill McKibbenThis is blog action day, and we're all supposed to be blogging about climate change. Which, one way or another, is what I generally blog about.My suspicion, though, is that the blogosphere is going to give us, today, a great deal of just what - in my view, at least - we don't need. Which is terror, gloom and doom.Granted, it's hard to avoid. The situation is grim, and the prospects for the http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/10/how-to-flight-climate-change-lets-try.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-8089561699844511340Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:01:00 +00002009-10-05T17:12:16.657-04:00high-speed railAndrew Adonis/antrackI'm heading off to Madison, Wisconsin tomorrow, which may be one reason that a couple of items about high-speed rail travel caught my eye this morning. Not that I'm going to be taking high-speed trains. I only wish....I did think about taking a train. When I first came to New York, I used to take the train home to Chicago for Christmas; in fact, it was in the dining car on my first trip home http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/10/but-i-want-to-take-train.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-3779844024507663047Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:10:00 +00002009-09-28T16:01:21.431-04:00energy efficiencyGreen Building Advisorprogrammable thermostatsurban mythsheatYou wouldn't think the subject of programmable thermostats would spark a passionate argument, but there's one going on right now at Green Building Advisor, where Martin Holladay included the devices in his list of the 10 most useless energy-related products. Well, actually, he says, "these devices aren’t really useless — they’re just unnecessary and insufficient." The point he's making is that http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/09/programmable-thermostats-stirring-up.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-2345170044519942640Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +00002009-09-23T16:42:37.928-04:00energy auditheatpeak oilnatural gasAbout a year ago, I went to a meeting sponsored by our local councilperson about saving energy. Frankly, I expected it to be the usual pablum - put in CFLs - but in fact it was fascinating. I was especially entranced by a Con Edison official who'd done his own green retrofit and took us through all the tax credits, rebates and tax deductions that made it practically free.This summer I finally http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/09/adventures-in-energy-audit-land.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-7087617221012612558Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:54:00 +00002009-08-25T17:03:32.432-04:00350.;orgDavid Robertshealth careclimate change ObamaBill McKibbenDavid Roberts really is wonderful.I have been seeing - and deliberately not reading - dozens of op-eds, analysis pieces and blog posts about all the ways that President Obama is messing up the health-care fight. They all follow exactly the same pattern: if Obama would only do (or, if you think the battle's lost, had only done) what I say he should, we would have a health-care bill. Well, maybe.http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/08/if-going-green-is-hard-passing-green.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-5432182380791850390Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:56:00 +00002009-08-21T15:50:56.895-04:00Rebecca Solniteasy ways to go greenclimate changeIf I see many more headlines about easy ways to go green, I'm going to go bananas. I just did a Google search for variants of that pernicious little phrase and came up with 41 million hits. 10 easy ways to go green. 5 cheap and easy ways to green your wardrobe. 8 easy ways to green your reading. 50 easy ways to go green. Here's the problem: if they are really going to make a difference, http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/08/easy-ways-to-go-green-dangerous.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-1916299070712843771Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:15:00 +00002009-08-20T17:17:28.071-04:00British AcademyQueen Elizabeth IIeconomic growthenergyMonarchs definitely have their uses.The Queen of England has become the focal point of a fascinating economic debate...all because of an innocent (or perhaps not so innocent) question she asked last November in a visit to the London School of Economics. Why, she wondered, was nobody able to foresee what she called this "awful recession"?Had anyone else asked that question (as indeed many people http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/08/of-queens-and-letters-and-limits-to.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-4171625509933617726Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:01:00 +00002009-08-19T14:51:05.807-04:00ethicsClimate Progressclimate changeThe other night I saw an ad for ABC News in which the ever-avuncular Charlie Gibson touted the program as focusing on what matters to you in the news. I've seen this kind of pitch often enough, heaven knows - every news program on the air claims to tell you how the news will affect you - but this time it really bugged me.What, may I ask, makes them think they can know what matters to me? They http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/08/does-media-stoke-our-national-whats-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-7851685068391610827Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:04:00 +00002009-08-10T18:03:50.469-04:00urban farmingAmy HepworthJust FoodbeekeepingYesterday I went to a book party for Jill Richardson's Recipe for America. I found out a lot about the good guys and bad guys in Washington (at least on food issues).But what has stuck with me wasn't the book (which I haven't read yet); it was a conversation I had when we broke for refreshments. Somehow it came up (in local food circles it tends to come up) that my husband is a beekeeper. http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/08/there-is-nothing-romantic-about-growing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-4019229109172197600Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:23:00 +00002009-08-09T15:32:51.259-04:00Green Builder Magazinecash for clunkerstranspotation policyThis is sort of a guest post; it comes from GreenBuilder Vantage, the email newsletter of Green Builder Magazine. (You can subscribe to the magazine here; I've no idea how to subscribe to the newsletter, which simply began appearing in my inbox not long after my story on Amory Lovins ran on MSN.)I thought it was interesting, so here (with permission) it is.One of the top news stories this week http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/08/are-clunkers-enough.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-1562054490737165014Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:25:00 +00002009-08-08T16:17:28.419-04:00Joel Makowerevangelical churchesRob HopkinsTransition TownsClimate Progressclimate changeRick WarrenBreakthrough Institutepeak oilenvironmentalistsIf you follow green blogs and tweets, as I do, it's hard to miss the ongoing slanging match between Climate Progress and the Breakthrough Institute. And I'm not, at least in this post, picking a dog in that fight. But I have been reading Breakthrough - the book that birthed the institute - and it seems to me that Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, the book's co-authors, have at least one http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/08/transition-towns-and-evangelical.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-6648133050382823705Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:58:00 +00002009-08-07T17:49:49.374-04:00Steve brillforagingwild foodWell, I finally did it. I went on a Central Park foraging trip with "Wildman" Steve Brill. Years ago, in our Mother-Earth-News-let's-live-off-the-land days, my husband and I knew quite a lot about wild edibles. I've read all of Ewell Gibbons, and some of it has stuck; I regularly harvest the purslane and chickweed that comes up in my garden. But years of living in New York have dimmed my http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/08/well-i-finally-did-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-6314825626698128330Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:50:00 +00002009-08-06T15:26:31.443-04:00Jonathan Bloomfood wasteCHOWTurns out I didn't need to source a British writer( in yesterday's post), on the subject of outrageous food waste. We have a home-grown expert, Jonathan Bloom, who's tracking the subject for an upcoming book. By his estimate, Americans waste 40% of our food. That's over $100 billion a year, folks!In a recent post, he writes about a Binghamton, NY food recovery (sounds a lot better than http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/08/feeding-hungry-with-thrown-out-food.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-1882711046291529740Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:12:00 +00002009-08-05T15:36:23.919-04:00energy efficiencyMcKinseyfood wastecarbonEven before I started worrying about global warming and peak oil, I had a real thing about waste. I don't know where it comes from. True, my parents grew up in the Depression and my mother, especially, was marked by it, but I don't remember her being a particular demon about wasting things. We sure produced out enough trash - as I remember vividly, since throwing it out was my job.But the http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/08/is-waste-centurys-greatest-sin.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-7985499249744998001Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:53:00 +00002009-08-04T20:59:06.158-04:00seasonal foodCSAlocal foodcookingA lot of the people I follow on Twitter are foodies, and many of them belong to a CSA. (CSA is short for Community Supported Agriculture; you buy, basically, a share of a farm's harvest, and then each week you pick up whatever the farmer is providing).Each week, they wax eloquent about the abundance they've received. And abundant it is. But what they don't talk about (and I acknowledge that http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/08/playing-hand-youre-dealt-csa-challenge.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-7357867365607014147Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:01:00 +00002009-07-22T13:56:16.434-04:00FiveThirtyEightChelsea GreenTransition Townsclimate changeeconomic growthpeak oilThe question of the juncture - or is it disjunction? - between sustainability and economic growth is being raised all over the place right now. Over on Rob Hopkins' Transition blog, there's a lively debate on the UK's low-carbon transition plan and its emphasis on economic growth. Nate Silver, at FiveThirtyEight, responds -- with a mordant logic worthy of Jonathan Swift -- to arguments that http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/07/if-growth-is-measure-of-all-things-why.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-5906712013562381345Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:53:00 +00002009-07-10T15:16:52.586-04:00garden sharingworm compostingsharingcompostingpigschicken coopHugh Fearnley-WhittingstallSharing is in. And not just because I wrote about it for MSN. It's even got its own website, The Sharing Solution. You can also find dozens of websites covering particular kinds of sharing. Garden-sharing's got several, including (but by no means limited to) Sharing backyards, Urban Gardenshare, and Hyperlocavore. And neighbors are beginning to get together to share the work of raising http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/07/we-share-gardens-and-chickens-why-not.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-2718567706737098931Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:23:00 +00002009-07-08T16:02:47.342-04:00global warmingbiochargreenhouse gas emissionsgardeningI believe in all the big solutions to global warming - really I do - but what gets me truly excited is finding really effective solutions that will work on a local scale. And by really effective, I mean stuff that's a lot more dramatic than switching to fluorescent light bulbs. (Even though all the bulbs in my house are indeed fluorescent.) God knows I've written enough stories touting the http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/07/reversing-global-warming-in-your.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-6531117801873664087Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:43:00 +00002009-06-18T13:01:35.123-04:00health carewaterrationingfoodI've spent most of my career covering business and finance, which means I've dealt with a lot of corporate executives in my time. And a whole lot of (gulp) investment bankers. And, to tell the truth, I've liked most of them very much. They're not out to trash the world, and they believe that their companies are doing good things (which, much of the time, they are). So when my radical friends, http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/06/rationing-delusion-its-not-just-health.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-198584003147120798Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:26:00 +00002009-06-09T14:19:32.254-04:00greenhouse gas emissionsZipcarvehiclesmass transitGroovy Green's got a link to a fascinating cradle-to-grave study of vehicle energy use and greenhouse gas emissions per passenger kilometer traveled. And the winner is? An urban diesel bus - at peak hours only. During non-peak hours, the same bus is just about the worst offender in both categories. Urban light rail and commuter trains stack up a lot better than off-peak buses, but I wonder http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/06/why-you-shouldnt-take-empty-bus-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-2880933297390166339Wed, 27 May 2009 20:55:00 +00002009-05-27T21:16:40.937-04:00food systemfood safetylocal foodSo now it turns out, according to The New York Times, that America's packaged food manufacturers don't actually know whether their food is safe. In fact, they don't have a very clear idea of where the ingredients they use come from. So they want to make us responsible for the safety of their food. All we need to do, they say, is heat it properly - in other words, hover over our microwaves, food http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/05/food-safety-and-giant-supply-chains.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-6568307213788873934Wed, 20 May 2009 00:01:00 +00002009-05-19T20:28:56.672-04:00laundryOne of the things hanging out the laundry has done - for me, anyhow - is to make me wonder about the vision I always had about our forebears. Back when men were men and women were houseproud, I thought, they always did laundry on Monday. I don't know just where I got this idea - was there a household schedule in Mrs. Beeton's book? - but I sure had it. There was a Baking day, there was a Cleaninghttp://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/05/of-laundry-and-sunshine-and-washing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-4182129735802902791Wed, 13 May 2009 22:44:00 +00002009-05-13T20:12:30.706-04:00ecological intelligenceclimate changeconsumerismThe Financial Times recently reviewed Daniel Goleman's Ecological Intelligence," a follow-up to his Emotional Intelligence of a few years back. Now I haven't actually read the book yet, so it's distinctly presumptuous of me to sound off about it. But I'm going to, because from everything I've read about it, I think the book is wrong-headed in two directions at once. The subtitle of Goleman's bookhttp://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/05/is-there-such-thing-as-ecological.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3947890440575915643.post-6691589372426031334Sun, 03 May 2009 15:44:00 +00002009-05-03T12:32:08.734-04:00Chelsea Greenraw milkSandor KatzI don't mean to pick on Chelsea Green, but.....This morning they had a post publicizing Sandor Katz's new book (and a wonderful book I'm sure it is - I went to one of his workshops and not only did I have a ball, but I've been making kimchee ever since).What worried me was their introduction, which said "We know that raw milk is now the single most briskly traded illicit commodity in the US, http://www.annmonroe.com/blog/2009/05/its-nice-to-be-linked-to-but.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (AM)0