The Green Cynic

Why Didn't This Ever Happen to Geraldo?

2007-08-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

The TV news reporter who broke a story about how Chinese buns were made with cardboard has been jailed for a year. The story turned out to be bogus (or so Chinese officials contend).

Zi Beijia, a temporary employee at Beijing TV:

"orchestrated a news report last month that street vendors in the city were selling baozi -- a popular bun-like snack usually filled with meat or vegetables -- containing chemically-softened cardboard."

As China has recently been hit with a significant number of health-related scandals and assorted food debacles, the jail term isn't surprising. What is surprising is that the reporter hasn't been executed yet.

They do not kid around in China, friends.

Spend Your Money On Life, Not Fuel

2007-07-31T06:40:00.000-07:00

Well, okay. Why not? And with a call to action that bold, one simply has to listen.

Diesel Secret Energy (DSE), authors of the above exhortation, has pioneered a revolutionary method for the production of "inexpensive, high performance fuel that can power ANY DIESEL ENGINE" at an unheard of cost of 46 cents per gallon! (Capitals and exclamation point theirs.)

Unheard of, because according to www.dieselsecret.com:

You have NOT heard of this before. This is an entirely new way in America to make your own fuel from vegetable oil that takes only minutes.

Become Fuel Independent And Have More Money For The Good Things In Life! --Diesel Secret Energy

With more than 20,000 diesel driving customers worldwide, DSE's four-point plan couldn't be simpler:

1. Obtain the Correct Oil (we'll show you how to pick it up easily, and for FREE!)

2. Add the recommended ingredients including our exclusive Alternative Diesel Fuel Additive (an essential catalyst for our fuel to perform as intended)

3. Pump the oil through the filters and into your vehicle. Total cost only $0.46 per gallon!

4. Drive away happy and richer. --Diesel Secret Energy How it Works
Happy? Richer? Sign me up.

While this sounds too good to be true, DSE's extensive web site features video testimonials from satisfied customers and a very thorough FAQ page, not to mention the Seal of Excellence awarded by the Better Business Bureau.

Let's see: 46 cents per gallon for diesel fuel you produce yourself versus $3 at the pumps. Is this for real?

Absolutely. Search the internet and you will see hundreds of sites boasting thousands of people using vegetable oil as diesel fuel as either Bio-diesel or by converting their car. The great difference in our system is that the drawbacks of price and vehicle conversion do NOT apply to our system. Our variation of the European method is only now being brought to America because of our great experts. Take a look at the Expert/Customer Feedback link to see video of one of our experts as well as some of our happy fuel users. --Diesel Secret Energy FAQ

Sounds good to me.

Green Death

2007-07-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

GREEN DEATH greets millions of God’s human and animal children across America. Go to any mega-store, enter the lawn and garden section and you are immediately overwhelmed by the chemical smell of death.

So reads the introductory verbiage to, yes, GreenDeath.org. A most curious place to be sure. The feel-good welcome continues:

Americans have been brain-washed into believing that unless their lawn looks like Astroturf, they are second-class citizens. Thus they load their shopping carts with hundreds of pounds of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other dangerous cancer-causing chemicals that they spread over their monoculture lawns.

Silly me, at first glance I thought this was a web site about green burials, which are becoming increasingly more popular as even those exiting this Earth are attempting to keep it happy and healthy.

It seems that the point is more along the lines of: "If you have a nicely manicured lawn in this day and age, chances are good to excellent that you have achieved this through the use of harsh chemicals and processes that are the equivalent of asking the Grim Reaper to come on in and set a spell."

Yeesh.

I myself have no lawn, but if I did, I'd hate to think I was cultivating a beautiful swatch of the green, green grass of home at the expense of who knows how many children, animal or human (as the opening harangue notes).

Perhaps an email is in order to the site's creator:

This patriotic message if [sic] brought to you by George H. Russell

If?

Let's make that yeesh a yikes.

From McGrease Comes McGas - Isn't That McGreat?

2007-07-16T07:37:00.000-07:00

Joining the legions of businesses jumping aboard the green bandwagon, McDonald's - forever to be associated with fast, cheap and out of control food - is becoming part of the solution. It is planning on powering all of its truck in the United Kingdom with bio-diesel conveniently created from its own plentiful used vegetable oil.

In the next year, McDonald's intends to create enough fuel for 155 UK delivery vehicles and have some left over to sell to the public (perhaps in Happy Meals?). The fuel itself will 85% waste vegetable oil and 15% virgin rapeseed oil. Best of all, it will be 100% carbon neutral.

Senior VP of McDonald's UK Matthew Howe says: "As we get better at the refinement we will be able to remove virgin rape from the process." (Emphasis mine.)

But... yikes!

Sending Out An S.O.S. - Literally

2007-07-08T11:57:00.001-07:00

Originally posted at Ecotality.com on July 8, 2007.

A curious conclusion to an awesome event. The Police, joined by John Mayer (by pre-arrangement), on "Message in a Bottle," to cap off Live Earth.

What I want to know is: was Kanye West invited, or did he literally bum-rush the stage?

Discuss.

Hard Times For Mr. Softee In NYC

2007-07-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

Originally posted at Ecotality.com on July 6, 2007.

Within the first five days of a new noise ordinance taking effect in New York City, authorities have issued in excess of three dozen summonses. Thirty-eight noise perpetrators were cited this past Sunday alone, according to The New York Times.

Unlucky ice cream vendor Costas "Gus" Vamvakas received his summons while making the rounds in Queens piloting a Mr. Softee truck. Vamvakas apparently ran afoul of the law when he continued playing the truck's telltale jingle after stopping in a residential area - a direct violation of the new rule.

Vamvakas was "certainly one of the first" ice cream truck drivers cited under the new regulations, city Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Michael Saucier said.

In his defense, Vamvakas claims he was aware of the rule but feared losing business by turning off the music.

A broad array of sounds are now regulated under the revamped noise code including: jackhammers, barking dogs, music spilling out of bars, and yes, ice cream trucks.

New York City's Ban On Trans Fats Now A Reality

2007-07-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

No smoking, no noise, now no trans fats - New York City is continuing its journey toward health.

The Big Apple is making good on its pledge to ban trans fat cooking oils in all its restaurants. The concept, which initially met with a brand of skepticism worthy of a Republican’s stance on global warming, is proceeding smoothly. Most of Gotham’s fast fooderies claim to have made the switch prior to the July 1 deadline.

Conversely, another second restaurant rule isn’t going so well: that of the posting of calories on fast-food menus. That regulation is meeting with defiance from the major fast food suspects, who hope a lawsuit will overturn it. Fines will not be levied against violators of either rule until October 1.

The jettisoning of trans fats is being widely seen as a coup by health-conscious New Yorkers. Trans fats, found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, are the culprits behind clogged arteries and heart disease. Yet they are cheap and enjoy a longer shelf life, keys to the food industry’s unwillingness to dispense with them.

That all began to change last winter, when cooking oil companies started production of trans fat alternatives, and restaurant supply concerns followed suit by stocking kitchens with replacement products.

Big fast food chains that relied heavily on the old oils, from Burger King to Carl's Jr. to Kentucky Fried Chicken, announced they would eliminate the stuff from their fryers nationwide.

I am personally curious as to how KFC has managed to retain the “same great taste” of its fried chicken sans trans fats. Wasn’t their product pretty much just chicken pieces slathered in seasoned lard? If I can work up the guts to try the new stuff, I will post a report here.

McDonald's, which had demonstrated marked anguish over the impact trans fat removal would have on its cherished fries, said the use of new oils in thousands of its restaurants has been a non-issue among its customer base.

“The transition has been absolutely seamless,” said spokesman Walt Riker.

Aw, Shaddup! Big Apple Takes Aim At Noise Pollution

2007-06-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

Originally posted (in slightly modified form) at Ecotality.com on June 26, 2007.

On July 1st that sound you don't hear will be a quieter New York City. City officials have targeted that date for new regulations governing various annoying noises, from jackhammers to barking dogs to music to ice-cream trucks, to go into take effect. These regulations are the first revisions to the city's noise code in more than thirty years.

Even Mister Softee will have to keep it down: The ice-cream chain must now stop playing its maddening jingle — the tinkling tune that gets stuck in your head — when the trucks are stopped in residential areas.

Yikes! The Mister Softee theme?! This is serious!

Can a 24/7 city, regarded by many to be the cultural capital of the planet, actually be quiet?

"Last time I checked, this is New York," said Erik Foss, owner of a bar and gallery called Lit in Manhattan's East Village. "I don't know how you make it quiet around here. It wouldn't be New York if it were silent."

But noise complaints have increased steadily in recent years, from 38,660 in 2005, to 41,856 in 2006. Noise is currently the city hotline's top gripe, beating out construction, barking dogs and loud air conditioners.

On a recent weekend, 4,942 calls about noise - a record – were fielded by the city.

"Noise is so pervasive in the city that people don't even realize it's happening," said Robyn Gershon, a Columbia University expert on occupational health and safety. "But it affects your health. It has a cardiovascular impact, causes sleep deprivation. Plus, you can go deaf."

To put the matter – and danger – in perspective, the Environmental Protection Agency declares that human ears should not be consistently exposed to greater than 75 decibels. Heavy city traffic is clocks in at 85 decibels, an ambulance siren jacks the score to 120, while the subway trains average in the 90s. Bad news for anyone who values his or her hearing.

New York City officials point out that the new regulations feature a sensible approach they believe will result in fewer summonses, and a lot less noise.

The obsolete code relied on a more subjective noise measure, wherein a ticket could be issued if the offending noise was considered unreasonable to an individual of "normal sensibility." The revamped code says a bar or club can be ticketed if music is "plainly audible" to a police officer or enforcement agent a mere fifteen feet outside the establishment.

Fines for a first offense – which range from $3,200 to $8,000 - can be waived once an establishment commits to a plan to reduce the noise.

"I think it allows the nightclub to continue to be a great place to hear good music. It's just, the music has to stay in the club," said Emily Lloyd, city commissioner of environmental protection.

Whether it be a construction site, a barking dog, or bar whose DJ's spinning spills out into the neighboring street, New Yorkers are on notice.

"We can't turn New York City into Grover's Corners," Lloyd acknowledged. Instead, "we're trying to help create a good balance."

Rock & Roll Martial Artist: Lou Reed On Music, Meditation And Tai Chi

2007-06-21T20:43:00.000-07:00

Originally posted (in slightly modified form) at Ecotality.com on June 21, 2007.

I've discussed Lou Reed and his rejuvenation from drugged out rocker to enlightenment seeking tai chi practitioner on other environmental blogs before. Well, from an old friend comes this in-depth interview that outlines Reed's quarter-century interest in the martial arts and forays into meditation and music to inspire his practice.

Upon learning that filmmaker David Lynch was an avid devotee of transcendental meditation, and had created a foundation to bring meditation into schools, Reed said:

"Very, very shameful that that part of our education is completely ignored. It’s just really tragic. I think that’s why our foreign policy is what it is but that’s a whole other story. Anyway, good for David Lynch, isn’t that great?

I, for one, would have to agree.

Global Warming - Real Or Fake? You Decide!

2007-06-19T22:26:00.000-07:00

Originally posted (in slightly modified form) at Ecotality.com on June 20, 2007.

Top Ten Ways You Can Tell Global Warming is Real

1. Linen napkin sales skyrocket.
2. Michael Bloomberg dumps GOP affiliation, intending to run for President as an independent candidate.
3. Curious lack of concern among incensed Tennesseans regarding Al Gore's solar panels.
4. Carpooling suddenly seen as hip.
5. Polar bears observed body surfing toward the Jersey shore.
6. Christmas trees now have coconuts.
7. President Bush seen readying Air Force One escape pod to Alpha Centauri.
8. American flag colors changed to red, white and green.
9. Fox News taken over by federal government and turned into world's most powerful wind farm.
10. Two words: peak oil.