Monthly Archives : July 2013

Amid Sensationalist GMO Swamp, Stellar Journalism Rises

https://www.petwantsclt.com/petwants-charlotte-ingredients/ During any given week, most articles on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) follow a simplistic and/or sensationalistic storyline. For example, here’s last week’s cover story in The Village Voice: The Monsanto-Is-Evil theme is a media staple, as is the GMO-Foods-Are-Dangerous theme, of which magazines like Details and Elle are piggybacking on. (I recently discussed the latter example). Too often…Continue Reading…

A Refreshing, Freshly Squeezed GMO Story in the NYT

Tramadol Order Online Canada There is so much to admire about this New York Times story by Amy Harmon I don’t know where to begin. [UPDATE: This insightful take by Maggie Koerth-Baker at Boing Boing–which I excerpt below–captures what is remarkable about the piece.] So let’s start with a tweet from National Geographic’s executive environment editor Dennis Dimick: Must Read:…Continue Reading…

The Future of Conservation

I’m tempted to cut to the chase and tell you at the outset that conservationists have come a long away from the sense of urgency that in the mid-1980s gave birth to the field of conservation biology, which Michael Soule defined as a “crisis discipline.” True, for foot soldiers carrying the biodiversity flag the core mission…Continue Reading…

Elle Magazine Hops Aboard the GMO Fright Train

https://www.petwantsclt.com/petwants-charlotte-ingredients/ As I have previously observed, “the belief that GMO foods are deadly or potentially harmful” has come to dominate the public discourse on agricultural biotechnology. I suppose we can thank the whacky fringe elements for this (and their influential enablers). At this point, scientists and science-based communicators who engage in the biotech realm should be…Continue Reading…

The Zen of Chicken Coops

When I was a boy growing up on suburban Long Island in the 1970s, my grandfather had a chicken coop enclosed behind a mesh wire fence in his West Babylon backyard.  Like many of his generation seared by the 1930s depression, he developed a self-reliance and waste-not ethic (dare I leave food on my dinner…Continue Reading…

Green America Takes on GMOs

https://drcarlosarzabe.com/dr-carlos-arzabe/ As if the meaning of “natural” wasn’t already overly twisted for ideological and commercial purposes. Check out this campaign recently launched by the nonprofit Green America: Here’s the pitch: If you thought that one way to cut GMOs from your diet was to avoid foods with high-risk GMO ingredients, think again. Meat and dairy products, while not…Continue Reading…

Did You Know You Were Part of a Massive Science Experiment?

I have previously noted that the GMO labeling campaign in the United States is “couched as a consumer rights issue, but really it’s based on fear.” What are people afraid of? Let’s go to a recent op-ed by Linda Stender, a New Jersey politician who is sponsoring a state bill to label genetically modified foods….Continue Reading…

Is Peak Oil Dead or Just Postponed?

Several months ago, I wondered if the media’s fascination with peak oil, which crested in the mid-2000s, had ended. A big concern of many in the energy/sustainability nexus had found expression in popular culture and in visuals like this: But now the zeitgeist has flipped, from crude awakening to crude abundance, thanks to advances in…Continue Reading…

Why Jenny McCarthy's New TV Gig is So Unsettling

Best as I can tell, most of the internet has denounced ABC’s decision to hire Jenny McCarthy as a cohost of The View, a popular daytime talk show on American television. The uproar, in case you just returned from a week-long, off-the-grid monastic retreat, owes to McCarthy’s role as a prominent spokesperson for the anti-vaccine…Continue Reading…

Getting Into the Weeds

Well, this is fun. Carl Zimmer has a piece on the biology of weeds in the New York Times. One of my go-to sources in this field tweeted his reaction: Perhaps the best (non-sensationalized) article about herbicide resistant weeds I’ve read: http://t.co/l2RQZiVPd3 by @carlzimmer — Andrew Kniss (@WyoWeeds) July 15, 2013 I say this is fun…Continue Reading…