I’ve commented before that as a society, we’ve become disconnected from our food.  Over-processed and over-packaged snacks and meals are part of the problem.  But I also think that there is another culprit:  Food Network.   (more…)

We’ve run our first annual trillion dollar deficit, renewable energy firms are withering because they cannot get promised stimulus tax credits fast enough, and our country needs an infrastructure and energy makeover.  Nevertheless, on Monday Congress proposed increasing the Essential Air Service program by 40%. (more…)

I’m not sure what the official flower of Los Angeles is.  But sometimes, when driving down Alvarado or Beverly, I’m convinced that the plastic bag is LA’s official symbol.  You see them floating everywhere, fluttering across the street, hanging in trees, flying under cars.  And a recent incident my better half experienced underscored how pernicious these little [...]

It figures France should get a mention on its two hundred twentieth Bastille Day.  We Americans are always happy to pick on France, but in its own way, France has undergone an impressive energy revolution . . . without losing too many heads.   (more…)

I’ve mentioned that gardening has become a happily consuming hobby of mine.  Of course, not all of us can garden in our yards or patio, but instead of spending your paycheck at some awful amusement park or watching some surly athletes at a sporting event, you may want to consider a different kind of family [...]

I recently had a discussion with like-minded folks where we bantered about what it meant to be “green.”  It’s gone from fringe to fashion, activist to academic, from mocked to a true movement. Growing up, the debate had always been so polarized.  Remember the spotted owl controversy of the early 1990s?  Then there was the [...]

I have become smitten with gardening, and millions of Americans have as well.  Go to the seed section of your local nursery or Home Depot and you’ll find empty slots everywhere—it’s driving me crazy because I can’t find the creeping thyme seeds to fill those gaps between my front yard paving stones.   (more…)

Los Angeles is often the straw man when you read about California’s environmental problems.  The left screams bloody murder at the thought of offshore drilling.  Conservative farmers ask why “their” water is going to swimming pools in Southern California.  LA = smog, which is the view of many people, including one former college pal who [...]

At the G-8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy, Russia announced that an 80% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 was unacceptable.  Developing countries applauded; developed ones cringed.  But can we really blame the Russians for balking at this goal? (more…)

Gotta love infomercials. Admit it: a Jack La Lane juicer would nourish you, the melon cream Cindy Crawford uses would make you look younger, and who can forget slogans such as “Set it and forget it” yelled with evangelical fervor! (more…)