In the ever complicated environmental tussle between clean fuel and responsible use of resources the differing opinions over the use of biofuels has produced an interesting contrast of ideas — fueled by Ethanol.
Sean Penn, actor/activist has just initiated a
cross-country trek using a fleet of biodiesel buses carrying about 300 people that will burn the corn fuel for 1,800 miles from the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and ending in New Orleans for the annual jazz festival. Penn appeared twice yesterday at Coachella.
Call it the Big-Box Tipping Point, but you know the global food crunch has solidified from sad headline to
international reality when your local Costco gets walloped.
Shoppers at the Costco in Mountain View, CA felt the first tremors of the
clamp down this week — no rice. The usually packed shelves held but a few jumbo bags of rice and shoppers faced something the US hasn't really seen since WWII: rationing.
That's right.
In a tight race, political advisers have to stop at nothing to figure out how voters are thinking — all the way down to scrutinizing what's in their shopping carts. By looking closely at
consumer behavior, including how people eat, savvy advisers are seeing a way to scavenge for votes. In the voting biz it's called microtargeting (hello Soccer Moms!) and it's as much political discipline as cute concept.
The USDA
just shut down an LA slaughterhouse that had been the distributor for Westland Meat Company, the ground beef supplier for the National School Lunch Program.
Meanwhile, on the UK side of the pond, LEAF,
Linking Environment and Farming, just released a video to help kids learn that
sausages don't grow on trees. The video "demonstrates the sausage-making process, from farm to plate." True story. This comes after a
survey last year showed that 22 percent of adults didn't know that bacon and sausage come from farms.
Knowing where your food comes from and safety regulations are crucial.
