RSS
February, 2008
-
Green DIY: Finding My Inner MacGyver
I grew up in a back-to-the-land household awash with Foxfire books and Whole Earth Catalogs. In the larder, huge jars of limas and black-eyed peas, some dried fruit, maybe some carob cookies. (Blech.) We even had, as the centerpiece of our living-room decor, a trunk-thick segment of a branch that a storm had ripped from the huge cherry tree in the back yard; my stepfather lopped it to just fit vertically in the living room, bolted it to ceiling and floor, and anchored one end of a Mexican ham...
-
Wal-Mart and Me
"Don't get me started."
That's usually my way of yelling FORE!! as I gather myself for yet another long-winded, arm-waving rant about the evils of Wal-Mart. I've made a pastime out of bending people's ears about Sprawl-Mart's labor practices, its habit of sucking the life out of town centers and local economies, and its starring role in the relentless homogenization of the American landscape.
No doubt to the relief of family and friends, it's become little more difficult to get my hate on. ...
-
Battling Malaria with Bed Nets
It's not hard to understand why anyone who's seen the ravages of epidemic malaria -- especially in sub-Saharan Africa -- would seriously consider any measure that might slow it down. The mosquito-borne disease kills a million kids a year, 90 percent of them Africans. That's just appalling, and it explains the talk in recent years of resuming widespread use of DDT, the villain of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.
Where the worst malaria epidemics rage, DDT is still brought to bear -- with ...
Behold, The Lord God Bird