•
Corn plastic is hyped as a green alternative to petroleum-based plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the stuff of almost all consumer packaging. Wal-Mart, for example, introduced it in some packaging as part of their “big corporate goals for the environment.” Advocates tout that the corn plastic, formed from polylactic acid (PLA) resin, is biodegradable and can be composted into fertilizer. And it can. Under the right conditions. In the new issue of Smithsonian, writer Elizabeth Royte digs into whether the corn plastic is as good as it sounds. Apparently, it’s not.
•
Here’s a cool blog by a fellow Bay Area resident who loves to make her own vegan ice cream.
As well as recipes she gives general tips and advice on how to develop your own recipes.
You can also email her your creations to share with other enthusiasts.
•
In the latest edition on Trivial Pursuits (vol. 6) there’s a bunch of questions on PETA. Here’s a sample
What outfit sends squads of salad-clad “Lettuce Ladies” to hand out vegetarian recipes?
What Cold Mountain starlet, a vegan since age eight, was PETA’s female Sexiest Vegetarian Alive in 2002?
What should the winner of the Indy 500 slurp instead of milk, according to PETA members?
What group created billboards of a severed cow’s head with the query “Do you want fries with that?”
According to PETA – How many millions of chickens are killed each year to satisfy North Americans craving for cruelty?
The last one was mine 
•
Interesting, but dubious study concludes that hybrids cost more in terms of overall energy consumed than comparable non-hybrid vehicles. But even more surprising, smaller hybrids’ energy costs are greater than many large, non-hybrid SUVs. For instance, according to the study the energy cost of the bunny-sized Honda Civic hybrid is $3.238 per mile vs $1.949 per mile for the Hummer.
I disagree with the conclusions drawn from the study. When comparing a Hummer to a hybrid, the author says that the Hummer has 2 big advantages – total miles the vehicle will last for (300k Hummer vs. 100k hybrid), and much lower manufacturing costs for the Hummer because it is less complex, more generic, and uses cheaper materials.
However, the author ignores the fact that hybrids will never close the gap in those 2 categories if manufacturers continue to shy away from producing them. If hybrids were the norm, you can bet their reliability and total mileage would increase, and that production costs would go down. While the Hummer may currently have a lower total energy cost (which I am not totally convinced of, having not read the actual study yet), hybrids have a lower POTENTIAL energy cost… a lower cost that will take time and effort on the part of both consumers and manufacturers to realize.
•
From a news report on Discovery.com:
The adage “like a kid at heart” may be truer than we think, since new research is showing that grown-ups are more immature than ever.
Specifically, it seems a growing number of people are retaining the behaviors and attitudes associated with youth.
As a consequence, many older people simply never achieve mental adulthood, according to a leading expert on evolutionary psychiatry.
I can certainly related to this. I find myself more facinated every day with things from my childhood and youth.
•
Not sure if this is a good thing or not.
Nickelodeon has a new kids show called “Mr Meaty”, a bit like Clerks meets the Muppets and set in a fast food restaurant called “Mr Meaty”. Seems to be developed by CBC.com in Canada, but I’m sure there’s some connection the the meat industry there somewhere. More info on Wikipeidia too.
They’re intro jingle goes “All God’s creatures fresh off the grill, so come on down to Mr. Meaty where friends meet to eat meat.”
The pilot episodes can be found on YouTube, and the first has the employees Josh and Parker trying to make a horror movies in the restaurant and having a run in with an animal rights activist who puts them both in hospital.
I thought it was funny, but I’m sure vegans and the poor animals will be the butt of their jokes each week.
•
Check out the results of the Humanitarian Youth Culture Study.
Label Networks, Inc describes itself as “the leading global youth culture marketing intelligence + research company authentically measuring the most trendsetting and mainstream subcultures in the world.”
Label Networks recently released what they describe as “the 1st consumer study to ever quantify the potential effects of ‘green marketing’ and provide in-depth marketing intelligence about the perceptions of 13-24-year-olds about the environment, humanitarian causes, volunteerism, + their future.”
According to the study, “PETA is the #1 overall non-profit organization that 13-24-year-olds in North America would volunteer for” by a nearly two-to-one margin over the second-highest vote-getter (the Red Cross).
They go on to say “The younger the demographic, the higher the percentages who would volunteer for PETA, peaking among 13-14-year-olds at 29.1% of this age group.”
Major congratulations to PETA and especially the PETA2 team.
•
Today’s commute from San Franciscoto to Montara was awful. We exited Bunker Hill Road off 280 at 4:24 pm
Within 30 seconds, we were at a complete standstill. It was a parking lot for about 15 minutes.
Finally the traffic started moving, slowly, in fits.
We heard on the radio there was an injury accident at Pilarcitos Creek.
Fortunately I had good company with my carpool so at least we could complain to each other. And laugh when I stalled the car because stop and go traffic sucks when you’re going uphill and your car has a manual transmission like mine.
And the irony was being stuck in traffic when a radio ad encouraged people to visit the San Mateo coast, Pacifica and HMB, saying something about the coast being clear. I would not encourage anyone to visit the coast until Hwy 1/Devil’s Slide is repaired.
I finally got home about 6:30 pm .. we left SF at 4 pm so it took 2.5 hours — twice what it takes on a “good” day now. Sigh, and this isn’t even a far distance, it’s EIGHT miles ..
•
Ever wanted to figure out the inner workings of a McDonald’s franchise? Well here’s your chance. This free online game allows you to go from bulldozing forest and raising cows (who might get mad cow disease) to running the actual chain where billions and billions are killed. There’s even commentary in the game about activists, or, as they call them, bored youth.
[via veggiedude]
•
Mark Hawthorne, in the current Satya magazine, gives a real good summary of the vegan radio shows and podcasts out there today.
As Mark says there’s “a virtual vegan radio smorgasbord” of shows. The feature is also online here.
The only two I’d add to the list are:
- Toronto Vegetarian Association’s podcast
- Easy Vegan from VeganPorn (a cooking show)
I know I have trouble keeping up with all the shows. How about you?