Pink Slime: What the Heck is it?
The Ominous Sludge that Your Kids are Eating
The “pink slime” uproar – the campaign against lean finely textured beef, used as filler in ground beef products – illustrated, above all, the power of words and language to mobilize people like little else. The Washington Post put it best: “People, [...]
Dilemmas Over How to Store Spent Radioactive Fuel
Nuclear Energy, Fission and Waste Disposal Issues
Nuclear power has always been controversial. There still exists a continuing debate over its value as a source of sustainable energy, or whether it’s inherently dangerous, based on several notable accidents such as Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Since the first nuclear [...]
The Controversy Surrounding Hydraulic Fracturing and Natural Gas
Hydrofracking in New York State
Although natural gas is cheap and abundant when compared to wind and solar power, there are concerns as to how green a solution it really is. While natural gas leaves less of a carbon footprint than coal or oil, there are environmental costs to [...]
Drones and their Use in the War on Terror
How the MQ-9 Reaper has Forever Changed the World
Inside of most Americans there exists a paradox: we hate the wars that are being fought but deeply admire those that are fighting them. Our soldiers lay their lives on the line in order to protect our freedom. Nowadays our [...]
Wind Power: Costly at First, but Effective in the Long Run
The Great Lakes Wind Energy Consortium
Wind power is a renewable energy source that has zero pollution and requires no fuel costs. For each year of use one megawatt of wind energy can counterbalance 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide and supply energy to 350 homes. At [...]
The Hubbub about Electric Cars
Increasing Gas Prices Inspire a Re-evaluation of Alternative Cars
There are both pros and cons of owning and driving an electric car, but the advantages outweigh the downfalls when taking into consideration how green you are. As automakers lean towards making more energy efficient vehicles in the future, the price of batteries [...]
The Unstoppable Worm
The Western Corn Rootworm and its Damaging Aftermath
In 2003, seed giant Monsanto introduced what was thought to be among its most revolutionary products since Roundup – corn with insecticide (Bacillus thuringiensis, commonly known as Bt) genetically engineered into it. Suddenly, farmers could plant continuous corn crops without worrying about the invasion of a [...]
A Guide to Composting
Composting may look like science, but it’s really more of an art. There are ways to optimize the decomposition going on in your backyard pile, but no one right way of doing it. There is no master recipe of what to add, only guidelines. Any time you throw organic matter in a [...]
German E. coli Outbreak: Most Deadly on Record
The New York Times feels that the German E. coli outbreak brings into sharp relief the “difficulties of following a pathogen through the complex food supply chain as well as the deficiencies in even the most modern health systems in diagnosing this deadly illness.” Humans sometimes appear to [...]
Food Energy and the Modern Food System
There is much to be said for the relative efficiency and ease with which the US food system produces large quantities of food for large quantities of people. As agriculture and food distribution grow more consolidated, less labor and human capital are needed. But at what cost? When we [...]
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