ebrown53717’s Recent Comments

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  We need a physicist to kick in here (do you suppose there are any who read Grist?) I'm quite sure from my own high school Physics that because of the "thermal mass" of the food, a full freezer is in fact more efficent than an empty one. ie. the food will keep itself cold through 'thermal momentum' as it were but air has to be continually cooled.On Ask Umbra on canned and frozen foods posted 3 weeks, 5 days ago 23 Responses

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  Have to agree with Erik - these 'stache guys have really only taken half the pledge, don'tchathink?

  Ed, http://careofcreation.org http://ourfathersworld.org

   

  On Slideshow: Our favorite green mustaches posted 3 months, 1 week ago 6 Responses

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  Sometimes livestock are actually good for the land

  I know a farmer friend in Columbus WI (http://www.fountainprairie.com/) who made the decision a number of years ago to put his land (formerly corn and hogs) back into grass.  The question then became, "how can we still make a living off this land?"  The result is one of the finest herds of Scottish Highland cattle in the midwest.  He chose this breed after much research as one best suited to help to improve his land; he discovered later that he was raising some of the best-tasting (sorry, vegetarian friends) beef around.  He now supplies all of the best restaurants in the Madison WI area - and sells the leftovers to the rest of us at the weekly farmer's market.

  So here's a case of my eating his beef helps him keep his land healthy... seems to be a win-win.On Umbra on homegrown meat posted 11 months, 1 week ago 33 Responses

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  There's another side to this...

  I would highly recommend Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma".  In fact, when meat is raised in an environmentally friendly manner (grass fed cows, for example) there are benefits all the way around, from better pastures to using land (marginal grasslands) that would not otherwise produce food. It is very hard to maintain an organic farm without animals to provide the nitrogen needed by the plants. Yes, it can be done, but not easily. It may even turn out, as Umbra suggests, that many of the health problems associated with meat diets should correctly be associate with 'grain-fed meat diets'.

  Bottom line - we can't simply say that eating meat is bad for the environment.  Any more than we can argue that eating vegetables is good for it.  It all depends on where our food comes from and how it was produced.On Umbra on vegetarian remorse posted 2 years, 2 months ago 38 Responses

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  Homework eating dogs...

  "One potential downside: Groups of walking kids may be highly susceptible to homework-eating neighborhood dogs..."

  Only in Grist do we find such comprehensive analysis as this.  Who knows - maybe it will turn out that the environmental crisis has been engineered by gangs of kids looking for more homework excuses...!!!

  Good work, guys.On Municipalities try to encourage students to walk to school posted 2 years, 2 months ago 8 Responses