(Source: The New York Times)
NYC Accepting Your Ideas
NYC has launched a new website to encourage citizens to submit ideas to the local government to help make the city more environmentally sustainable.
It’s called Change By Us, check it out.
Screw the Food Pyramid; let’s switch to the Food Plate instead!
Meet the worst graphic ever created. You may have heard about this thing. It’s called the MyPyramid. There’s some random dude running up it to remind people to exercise, which it’s honestly never done for us. But there aren’t any numbers, no good explanation, and few details to explain what people should eat. It’s one of the greatest travesties the USDA has ever created. It’s as terrible as the 2012 Olympics logo, except worse, because it’s meant actually teach people how to eat healthier; that hasn’t happened. And it might finally get replaced by a completely different shape. Finally. About time. A little history:
- pyramid In 1992, the USDA introduced the Food Pyramid as a way to explain to people how much food they should be eating. It wasn’t considered a success.
- pyramid In 2005, USDA officals replaced the pyramid with “MyPyramid,” a vertically-oriented chart derided for being even more confusing than the original version.
- plate? Perhaps hearing the cries of those who want to see a simpler food graphic, the USDA plans to launch a version of the graphic that revolves around a simple plate. source
» Why this is a good idea: Simply put, the basic idea behind this graphic needs to be as simple as possible, and while the original graphic wasn’t terrible, its replacement was. What we’d like to see is a shape that looks like a cafeteria tray, with compartments for each piece. However, the independently-produced Power Plate (which notably doesn’t include meat products at all) is also a worthy option, too. Let’s hope they don’t screw it up.
(Source: shortformblog)
US budget deal – A (science) first look
The purple columns are the big take-away here. That’s the final deal that was struck. It certainly isn’t good news for science funding (especially when nations like China are expanding R&D), but when you compare it to HR1 (red column) it’s a helluva lot better than it could have been.
What Other Dirty-Sounding Words Would the GOP Like to Ban?
Maybe not green-related, but this whole ‘uterus’ business is just ridiculous. Government should be led by adults!
Fresh on the heels of Uterusgate (and the hashtag meme #GOPnames4uterus), we wondered what other dirty-sounding non-dirty words Republicans would prefer that you not say on a legislature’s floor. So far we’ve got:
- Uterus
- Moist
- Knickers
- Penal
- Caucus
- Assonance
- Ventricular
- Annals
(Source: Mother Jones)
So this is fascinating to me, young people actually wanting to serve their government. When I was in school, public service was low on the list of places to apply. Since starting to work for the government, I’ve learned so much about policy, laws, civic duty, yadda yadda. The government is so much bigger than I imagined, and I think every U.S. citizen should be required to do a short internship with the feds at some point, just to get an idea of where your tax dollars are going. It would create a population of citizens that are more interested and involved in the public sphere, and we would hold the government accountable for actions and spending.
One can only assume that Congress will find its way at some point, pressured by voters who expect more from their public servants.”
~ A paragraph from ‘Into Ignorance’, an editorial published today in Nature, one of the world’s most respected science journals. The article comments on current Republican efforts to prevent the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009, the EPA determined that greenhouse gases “threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.”
Note, with Japan, Bahrain, and Libya on fire, Republicans held emergency meetings to defund NPR. Today, they’re banning abortion funding. Regardless of opinions on NPR and abortion, it is crystal clear this Congress is completely out of touch.
(via climateadaptation)
(Source: plantedcity)
(Source: The New York Times)
8 Ways the GOP is Trying to Dismantle Environmental Protections
I’d like to preface this article with the fact that I understand that Democrats also aren’t achieving many huge environmental advancements either. But it’s getting out of control. If the earth had a voice, she’d be laughing at us silly humans.
Oh and they are doing this all over the country… and soon the world. With their uncharted rhetoric.
(Source: sustainable-sam)
