Wednesday, 31 May 2006

Ever wonder where the food on your plate came from? Writer Michael Pollan wondered, and has spent some 15 years finding out, tracing edibles back to their sources and uncovering a stomach-turning web of industrialization, government subsidies, and ignorant, unhealthy eaters. With his writing for The New York Times Magazine and a quartet of books -- the latest is The Omnivore's Dilemma -- Pollan has become a celeb among foodies. He dropped by Grist's office to chat with David Roberts about industrial organic, ubiquitous corn, and the cult of convenience.

The Freak-Out Before the Storm

Officials try to scare Americans into preparing for hurricane season

As hurricane season approaches, officials in storm-prone states are determined to scare residents into being ready to take care of themselves -- because as we all saw last year, government sure ain't up to the job. Florida officials are broadcasting public service announcements with recordings of terrified 911 calls made during 2004's Hurricane Ivan. Mississippi's "Stay Alert. Stay Alive" campaign urges people to pack an evacuation kit and, like many states, orders residents to stockpile at least three days' worth of food and water. Recent polls show that a majority of residents remain stubbornly unprepared. Maybe they will be jolted into action by two new studies supporting the theory that global warming is linked to more intense, destructive storms. Now that's scary.


You've probably noticed an uptick in ethanol talk lately. With gas prices high and oil supplies tightening, is this crop-based concoction the fuel of the future? Today, a skeptical reader asks advice maven Umbra Fisk if we should really be rushing headlong into the ethanol era -- and Umbra expresses her tanks.

The Vandals Took the Handles

Water privatization brings a flood of problems in U.S. cities

As of 2003, some 1,100 U.S. municipalities had privatized their drinking-water systems, hoping that mismanaged public systems could be made higher-quality at relatively low cost. So much for that idea. Private firms in cities across the country have been investigated for illegally discharging sewage into rivers, shirking on maintenance, and failing to disclose high levels of toxics in drinking water. Shady business abounds: as a convicted Cleveland, Ohio, water broker said in a wiretapped conversation, "Ninety percent of getting public contracts required greasing the palms of public officials." Low cost isn't guaranteed either: after the water of Chualar, Calif., was privatized, some residents' water bills leapt from $21 a month to over $500. Residents of some cities have launched takeover campaigns in response to proposed private-company rate increases, declaring that water should not be a commodity. Says one citizen lawyer: "We are on the front line of a global issue."

A Bid for a Whale, and It's About to Set Sail

Japan may have enough votes to set stage for repeal of whaling ban

The end of the 20-year-old global commercial-whaling ban is a looming possibility, as pro-whaling Japan may have garnered enough allies to win control of the 66-member International Whaling Commission. The IWC's pro-whaling contingent now numbers about 35 countries, including some which have recently joined the IWC despite having no history of whaling or, um, a coastline. An immediate return to commercial whaling would take a 75 percent majority, but depending on who shows up to vote at the IWC meeting in St. Kitts in mid-June, Japan may push procedural changes that set the stage for a full repeal a few years down the line. Japan has been aggressively lobbying poor nations, pledging aid in a thinly veiled bribe for a pro-whaling vote. Anti-whaling countries' lobbying efforts have been largely rebuffed. Meanwhile, Japan, which hunts whales in the name of scientific research, and Norway, which flouts the whaling ban, are glutted with unwanted whale meat.