COLIN BEAVAN, PhD

Environment

Using less

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A lot of people are talking about improved energy efficiency as a means of solving the climate crisis, which is great. But I am not convinced that technology will bring us quite enough increased efficiency to make the required reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. I think, too, that the climate crisis—not to mention the planet’s numerous other environmental problems—calls […]

Real environmental heroism

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For all our talk of polar bears and melting icebergs and “possible” future catastrophes, there are many, many people around the United States and the rest of the world who are already living in the midst of environmental disasters. Often, these people are poor and they lack the political power to stop our power plants, our garbage dumps, our […]

Have fun!

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As I write, I’m getting ready to ride my bike out to the South Bronx to meet my local environmental hero Kate Zidar, who works, among other places, at the Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice. We’re going to paddle around the Bronx River and look at one of NYC’s ten worst combined sewer overflows (CSOs), which regularly dumps […]

Why eating less meat helps the environment

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According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization’s November, 2006 report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow–Environmental Issues and Options”: 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock (more than from transportation). 70 percent of previously forested land in the Amazon was cleared to pasture cattle. Two-thirds (64 percent) of anthropogenic ammonia emissions, which contribute significantly to acid rain and acidification […]

Where the deeply personal meets the political

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This morning I woke up and did the laundry in the bathroom sink and then asked my two-year-old, Isabella, and my wife, Michelle, if they wanted toast. They both said no. Assuming Michelle could gauge the truth for herself, I made only enough for me and Isabella. Then Michelle changed her mind and started eating toast I’d earmarked for Isabella. […]

Getting traffic off our city streets

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I’ve written recently about how the environmental crisis offers us the opportunity to make life in our cities more pleasant while reducing our greenhouse gas emissions—a win/win situation. Part of the way for cities to do that is to adopt policies based on a green transportation hierarchy, which puts pedestrians, bicyclists and public transit users before automobiles (people before cars). […]

Guidelines for discussion–a reminder

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I want the comments section of this blog to have real value for its participants. To accomplish that, up until now, I haven’t felt the need to moderate the discussion at all. My recent gardening experience, however, has taught me that a little judicious pruning can make an organism more healthy! So: I’ve decided to […]