NORTH OF MONTANA — When a recipe calls for fruit or vegetables, Madeleine Grafton has her pick, not in the neighborhood grocery store, but in the backyard of her home where an orchard of orange, fig, apricot, avocado, lime and lemon trees thrive.
Dear EarthTalk What do organizers hope to accomplish at the upcoming (Dec. 7-18, 2009) United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in Copenhagen? F.
CITY HALL — The future of the City Yards could hold less noise and odor for its neighbors. Those are the plans for a new Resource Recovery Center that will be located at the southern end of the City Yards off Michigan Avenue, housing a new self-haul facility, buy-back center, expanded transfer stati
Dear EarthTalk Can you enlighten on the environmental impact of the fashion industry? As I understand it, the industry overall is no friend to the environment.
When thinking about my new goal to become more efficient in every aspect of my life, I was taken by a sudden realization: my new iPhone is the center of my universe.
CITY HALL — Not only is the cost of living considered high in Santa Monica, but so will the afterlife. A new rate schedule for interment at Woodlawn Cemetery will go before the City Council tonight for approval, raising fees in some cases to nearly six times that of current prices.
Dear EarthTalk I don’t understand why many people oppose wind power just because they have to look at the turbines. If you ask me, wind turbines are much nicer-looking than coal-fired, waste-to-energy or nuclear power plants.
Dear EarthTalk Why is the plankton in the oceans dying? And what does this mean for the health of the oceans and marine life? Marilynn Block Portland, OR As the lowest link on the marine food chain, plankton — that tiny aquatic plant, animal and bacterial matter floating throughout the world’s ocean
Dear EarthTalk Has anyone ever studied the environmental impact of discarded cigarettes? I’m constantly appalled at the number of drivers I see pitching their butts out their car windows.
As the food supply is increasingly altered by controversial practices like liberal use of antibiotics, genetic engineering and irradiation, food labels take on greater significance as shoppers’ only link to how products are produced.
DOWNTOWN — When Santa Monica Place reopens late next summer with a new look, it will do so with the distinction of being one of the few certified environmentally-friendly shopping centers in the country.
Dear EarthTalk How are heating, cooling and electricity produced by geothermal energy? I don’t understand how it works. Delano Stewart Wyandanch, NY The term “geothermal” is derived from the Greek words for Earth (geo) and heat (therme).
