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02.09.10

But will Google Buzz, the "Twitter-Killer", broadcast death?

News of Google's plan to announce the release of a new set of tools that will make Gmail more social permeated the... more

mario_a
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G.W. Bush 'Miss Me Yet?' billboard appears along I-35

A billboard along Interstate 35 in MN depicts Former President G. W. Bush with the caption, "Miss Me Yet." NO

lucasives
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DVDo's and DVDon'ts for Feb 2nd

Once again, you're petrified when it comes to purchasing media in disc format. Thankfully, we've got you covered along... more

jlichman
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Toyota announces massive recall

"Toyota’s president today announced plans for a global recall of more than 430,000 of its flagship Prius hybrid cars... more

Philip_Robibero
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Family learns of teenage son's car crash death through Facebook

Facebook has delivered a family the worst possible news after police fail to report a teen's death. When Angela and... more

TravG73
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Branson warns that oil crunch is coming within five years

Sir Richard Branson and fellow leading businessmen will warn ministers this week that the world is running out of oil and faces an... more

Vierotchka
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Audi's anti environment SuperBowl ad: Thanks for nothing.

And so the green movement is being marketed to men.

Or so Audi pretends in their Superbowl ad for their TDI Diesel (which can be converted to a biodiesel if you have a station in your home town).

Ya know, I like that Audi makes TDI’s. I do.

I hate this ad.

While on the surface it almost looks like a PSA that educates about the basic environmental practices in re: to plastics, battery recycling, composting, styrofoam and water usage; after viewing it I walked away with the odd association of feeling constricted and constrained by doing all of those small daily practices for the environment. What’s up with police state over monitoring my every move? (At least I would have gotten a laugh if they had broken in on a sex seen for some un-green sex practices…that’s SuperBowl Sunday appropriate, no?)

Frankly, I walked away with an anti-green feeling and irritation towards anyone between me and my ability to do the basic little things I enjoy in life (like eating, and grocery shopping, and hot-tubbing). Look Audi, go ahead and make your cars, but don’t go and F up all the work that so many environmental organizations have been developing to promote and educate that small changes in every day life can be easy to do and can make a difference.

The need for liberation and freedom imprinted in men’s DNA (this we have been taught via car commercials) was finally accomplished by breaking out of the line and driving the open road in Audi’s “green” car. Awesome. So this wasn’t about being green, this was just about a need for speed, and escape from the entrapment of family (perhaps I’m being harsh, perhaps this is really a pro-marriage ad….maybe the real underlying message is If you only had a woman to deal with all of those domestic chores you wouldn’t get stuck in silly entrapments, hence you would ultimately have more opportunity to roam the open road…)

Bah. Enough over analyzing. It’s kind of sad that I feel the need to dig deep into this ad to find some underlying messaging. But I offer this act of mindsturbation as a favor to Audi; otherwise all that would be left to say is, 'hey look, there goes Audi greenwashing' (c’mon guys, driving a car is just plain wasteful and harmful to the environment). So do us a favor, stick to selling your cars via the messaging about freedom and liberation that comes with having a car. Leave the environmental messaging to people who..well…care.

Believe me, we’ll respect you for it in the morning.And so the green movement is being marketed to men. Or so Audi pretends in their Superbowl ad for their TDI Diesel (which can... more

leahl
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32 comments

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12 days ago

Meet the Plastiki Pirates: David de Rothschild and Jo Royle:

David de Rothschild and Jo Royle dropped by Current HQ's to chat about their daring plans to sail from San Francisco to... more

leahl
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1 comment

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1 day ago

Dubai: World's tallest tower closed to public a month after opening

The world's tallest skyscraper has unexpectedly closed to the public a month after its lavish opening, disappointing tourists... more

xiola
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28 comments

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1 month ago

Embedded Tour Stop with Black Lips

We join Black Lips, the bad boys of Atlanta garage rock whose wild shows in India led to the band fleeing the country to avoid... more

mfarley
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2 comments

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1 day ago

Attacking the king of the ocean: The sharks that can't fight back

On my first open water dive in Hawaii I swam near a shark. Even though it demonstrated nothing but shy and skiddish behavior I couldn’t get that d#!# Jaws theme music out of my head. And for good reason, when most people hear the word shark, they think about the Great White shark, the king of the oceans, the top predator on the planet.

While attending the Ocean Film Festival this weekend I watched Requiem (while the film was too long and required patience to endure inexperienced filmmaking), it was worth it to see the awesome underwater footage as the filmmaker followed an underwater photographer from Hawaii as she familiarized herself with with the beauty, power and skills of one of the most infamous classification of sharks – the REQUIEM Family.

The film was filled with plenty of staggering facts such as three sharks are killed every second, 1 million are killed a year, and a myriad of fun comparison stats that compared shark attacks to the regular hazards on living on land such as in 1991 there were 1,300 deaths by bicycles and 4 deaths by sharks. The most staggering information was that many sharks are caught only to have their fins removed and then thrown back in the water and that while there is 350 or so species of sharks, 79 are imperiled.

Why should we care about these giants in the ocean that most of us will never come in contact with? Well…because they are what is considered a “keystone species“, in other words, they have a major influence on their entire environment. At the sustainable seafood pannel the following example was provided to illustrate the role and influence of sharks in the ecosystem: when the sharks disappear, there is an abundance of weak and diseased fish, which then influences the rate of the algae, which in turn influences the amount of oxygen in the water, which then influences the ability for all species in the area to survive. So in other words, if you want to keep eating your salmon and halibut, you might want to consider making sure that we don’t kill off all of the sharks.

How can you engage?

1. Learn more at wildaid, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Adopt A Shark, or the Shark Foundation.

2. Help get the information out to countries who are affected by the actions of their government but might not have access to the information (hello Twitter. We got a small thrill when one of our tweets about sea horse annihilation was translated and retweeted in Japanese, given that at the sustainable seafood panel one of the speakers stated that they did not have an education system in place to inform the Japanese population about the effects of the Japanese government policies).

3. Contact your local seafood restaurants and educate them about the dangers of shark fin soup. I felt a little nieve and shocked to find out that they serve shark fin soup right here in San Francisco (and if you want to get really crazy, start a campaign that educates the consumers at the restaurant about the dangers of shark fin soup).

Number of sharks that died while you read this post: approx 120

If you want to see more shark videos: check the blog post: http://blogs.current.com/green/2010/02/08/attacking-the-king-of-the-ocean-the-sharks-that-cant-fight-back-video/On my first open water dive in Hawaii I swam near a shark. Even though it demonstrated nothing but shy and skiddish behavior I... more

leahl
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7 comments

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1 day ago

Super Bowl ads show depressed men

Super Bowl advertisers know the aphorism: "I'm just watching it for the commercials" so they premiere their most... more

joshuaheller
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58 comments

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1 day ago

Michael Jackson's doctor charged with manslaughter

Dr. Conrad Murray could face up to four years in prison if he's convicted in the pop singer's death. He plans to plead... more

afitzgerald
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18 comments

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1 day ago

A new day for New Orleans: A Super Bowl and a mayor

I can't say I'm much of a football fan, but I do have a powerful love of the city of New Orleans. I was born... more

afitzgerald
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4 comments

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1 day ago

Holder shows no interest in justifying ‘preventive detention’

The five-page letter (PDF) that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder issued this week defending the decision to treat the Christmas... more

SleepDirt
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12 comments

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2 days ago

This Emerging Food Source May Get Banned from Organic (and it's not GMOs)

The USDA's National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which determines which products can be certified organic and carry the valuable organic sticker, is leaning against allowing innovative growing systems, such as aquaponics, from the program.

Why? Because, according to their logic, food not grown in soil cannot be organic, even if no pesticides, herbicides or hormones are used. Yet vegetables grown in recirculating systems are proven to have exactly the same nutritional value as any other and are perfectly healthy. Decades of research have shown this. Many vegetables on our store shelves now are grown hydroponically, but this question of plant health or nutritional value has not come up.

In a system like aquaponics, the roots are anchored onto some grow media, such as gravel or coconut fiber. Water flows through this easily, bringing the nutrients required by the plants, especially nitrates, which is a byproduct of the ammonia produced by fish as waste. A root does not care about "soil." It cares about light, heat, structure, water, oxygen, nitrates, phosphorous and potassium. The physical structure of dirt provides an anchor for the roots to grab, but other than that, earth is just a grow medium, the same as gravel or fiber. Give a plant as much of what it needs, and it will grow like crazy.

So where does this notion come from, that plants not grown in the bosom of Mother Earth are somehow not eligible for designation as organic? At least part of the answer comes from a religious belief that soil itself is sacred. According to one NOSB Board member, soil-less systems in Europe and Canada are not permitted to show the organic label because some Board members apparently put belief ahead of reason. The biodynamic movement is tilted in this direction, based on aspects of Rudolph Steiner's philosophy. Steiner is the German founder of Waldorf Schools, which are based on his theory of anthroposophy.

This coming March, the NOSB will formally put forth its recommendations for public comment, then they will make a final judgment. Between now and then various leaders from the aquaculture, hydroponics and greenhouse industries are developing a formal response, with hopes that the NOSB will listen to reason.

The advantages of having the organic label are huge. It will give an official stamp of approval on the concept of aquaponics for entrepreneurs, small and large, who can see its obvious advantages. This will encourage investment and growth of small, decentralized food production, something that is essential to the concept of economic sustainability. The economic value will drive education and practice of urban agriculture and aquaculture, which will in turn create jobs and further investment. More organic food, more local, more involvement of the little guy, which includes inner-city African Americans and rural whites, who generally are not considered part of the organic consumer base.

As a model for this, one need only look at Growing Power in Milwaukee. If you haven't heard of it, it is the quintessential model of the multi-faceted value of urban agriculture.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/organic-hydroponics-460110?src=rss

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What do you think? Are aquaponics not organic or is this requirement for soil a silly rule?The USDA's National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which determines which products can be certified organic and carry the... more