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Everyone to Asia: We don’t want your stinkin’ unsustainable palm oil

Everyone to Asia: We don’t want your stinkin’ unsustainable palm oil

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There’s great news this week for everyone except the people producing tons of unsustainable palm oil: Customers are jumping ship right and left, swearing off of the processed food grease that has become the top cause of deforestation in Southeast Asia.

Dunkin’ Donuts has agreed to phase out the palm oil it stuffs into its sweet, fatty pastry rings. The move came under pressure from the green-minded comptroller of New York state, Tom DiNapoli, who leveraged the state’s investment in Dunkin’ to bring about the change, 350.org-divestment-campaign style.

From the New York Times’ City Room blog:

The comptroller is best known for his role overseeing the state’s pension fund, not for pushing for breakfast-food reform. But in this case, the goals are one and the same: as of last week, the pension fund owned 51,400 shares of Dunkin’ Brands Group worth about $2 million, and Mr. DiNapoli seeks to prod companies in which the fund invests to embrace sustainable practices …

“Consumers may not realize that many of the foods and cosmetics they eat and use contain palm oil that has been harvested in ways that are severely detrimental to the environment,” Mr. DiNapoli said in a statement. “Shareholder value is enhanced when companies take steps to address the risks associated with environmental practices that promote climate change.”

Ironically, Dunkin’ had switched to using palm oil as a kind of healthy alternative (ha) during the Great Transfat Scare of the Mid-Aughts.

This week Norway, too, announced it has divested from Asian palm oil completely, due to environmental concerns. Reuters reports:

“We are very happy with this development in the palm oil sector,” said Nils Hermann Ranum, of Norway’s branch of the Foundation.

Still, he said that Norway should do more to pull out of other sectors that cause deforestation, such as logging companies, oil and gas firms, soy and meat producers.

Palm oil’s gotten too big for its own greasy britches, sending prices into the toilet as the market is “struggling to generate more demand,” according to Bloomberg. Struggle away, palm oil! We’ll find other ways to fatten up our terrible treats.

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Everyone to Asia: We don’t want your stinkin’ unsustainable palm oil

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New Volvo tech aims to keep drivers from hitting cyclists

New Volvo tech aims to keep drivers from hitting cyclists

Those outside-the-car airbags are pretty sweet, but what if we could make cars automatically stop before they, you know, hit people?

That’s what Volvo’s up to, with a newly updated auto-brake system that recognizes slow-moving pedestrians and now also fast-swerving bicyclists. “When bicyclists swerve in front of an automobile heading in the same direction, the setup immediately alerts the driver and applies full brake power — a world’s first Volvo says,” reports Engadget.

Volvo

Volvo’s promotional video of the technology in action presents the cyclist as a kind of clueless headphone-wearing dolt, while the car driver appears empathetic. Still, you can at least see how it works:

Bike Radar explains the tech in more depth:

The technology uses information from a radar unit in the grille and a camera in front of the interior rear view mirror to constantly assess potential collisions. If an imminent impact is detected the driver is presented with a red warning flash and the car activates full braking power automatically. …

The system doesn’t guarantee that the vehicle will stop but it should be effective in reducing speeds in a collision, and in many cases should avoid an impact completely.

The benefits for cyclists will be limited, as the system functions in front of the [hood] — as a result, its ‘field of vision’ is restricted to this area only. The technology won’t stop a car pulling out of a parking space on you but it could well prevent an accident at a junction, or stop a dangerous overtaking maneuver.

Technology can’t stop bad driving that endangers cyclists, but it could help create safer and more equitable urban streetscapes where folks on bikes aren’t riding in fear. It would be bad news if drivers came to rely on it instead of paying careful attention to the road, though. Hey, maybe Volvo could add a feature that counts up all the times a driver triggers the auto-brakes and scares them with the number once a week?

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WA state legislator doesn’t understand CO2, transportation, science

WA state legislator doesn’t understand CO2, transportation, science

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Ed Orcutt is confused.

Ed Orcutt is a Republican state representative in Washington, and he appears to be confused. As a member of the House Transportation Committee, Orcutt had a somewhat testy email exchange recently with a bike shop owner about a proposed bike fee. Reuters reports:

“You claim that it is environmentally friendly to ride a bike,” Orcutt wrote to Dale Carlson, the owner of three bicycle shops in the Tacoma and Olympia areas who voiced concern that a proposed $25 fee on bicycle sales of $500 or more could hurt his business.

“But if I am not mistaken, a cyclists has an increased heart rate and respiration … Since CO2 is deemed a greenhouse gas and a pollutant, bicyclist [sic] are actually polluting when they ride,” Orcutt wrote late last month.

Carlson thought Orcutt “was being sarcastic or something.” That wasn’t the case, but Orcutt soon felt compelled to apologize.

On Monday, Orcutt hit the brakes and made a U-turn.

“My point was that by not driving a car, a cyclist was not necessarily having a zero-carbon footprint,” Orcutt wrote in an email delivered to constituents. “In looking back, it was not a point worthy of even mentioning so, again, I apologize.”

Orcutt’s comments provide some insight into a twisted way of thinking. Cyclists breathe hard, so they’re just as bad as drivers! False equivalency! Republican science!

I mean, politics as usual.

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Proposed CA law: Bike at your own risk

Proposed CA law: Bike at your own risk

Busted streets + incompetent city employees + you + bike = potential lawsuit! At least for now.

In most cities, if you injure yourself because of a neglected or damaged sidewalk or street, you can file a “trip and fall” lawsuit and claim damages. But California may soon change that for bicycle riders.

Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, (R-Dana Point) has proposed a law that would provide total immunity for governments and their employees in the event of a bike accident caused by faulty city infrastructure. Public agencies already have “design immunity” under state law (i.e. you can’t sue because of the poor layout of a road or bike lane), but this bill would broadly extend that immunity:

This bill would provide that a public entity or an employee of a public entity acting within his or her official capacity is not be [sic] liable for an injury caused to a person riding a bicycle while traveling on a roadway, if the public entity has provided a bike lane on that roadway.

So OK, the state must be thinking that if you disregard the city’s very thoughtful bike lane and go riding out into the road and a city bus hits you, the city shouldn’t be responsible, right? Oh, except for this part: “The immunity set forth in this section is applicable regardless of whether the bicyclist was within the bike lane at the time of the accident.” (Emphasis mine because omg.)

And because of the broad language used, this bill wouldn’t just give cities immunity for their infrastructure — it would also indemnify the actions of city employees. As the California Bicycle Coalition puts it, “if you get hit by a drunk city employee, you’ll have no recourse.”

According to Cyclelicious, “State and local bike advocacy groups are already gearing up to fight this bill.” Hurry up, folks! And, uh, don’t trip.

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Public surprisingly OK with government policies that push healthy eating

Public surprisingly OK with government policies that push healthy eating

USDA Eat this!

Subsidize green veggies, slaughter big sodas, and steal candy from babies? These kinds of government policies intended to promote healthy eating are A-OK with most of the American public, it turns out. A new poll from Harvard’s School of Public Health found that people “were surprisingly positive about these new public health laws,” as NPR reports, with big percentages in favor of encouraging exercise, making fruits and veg affordable, pushing for healthier restaurant choices, and banning use of food stamps to buy unhealthy foods.

From NPR’s The Salt blog:

“We clearly saw that the more coercion was involved, the more people you lost,” says Michelle Mello, a professor of law and public health at the Harvard School of Public Health, who was a co-author of the study. It was published in the March Health Affairs.

The researchers were surprised to find that people with health problems like obesity and diabetes didn’t object to new laws targeting them.

“We thought that people who felt like targets would be much less likely to support them,” says Stephanie Morain, a graduate student in ethics who co-authored the study. “That wasn’t true.” …

But though people are pretty supportive overall, the results make it clear that they’re more likely to buy in if they feel like public health officials understand their values, and they have a voice in the process. “If people feel like they’re engaged in the policy-making process, they’re more engaged across the board,” Mello says.

The poll found interesting racial differences: Blacks were two to four times more likely to support government intervention than whites, and Hispanics were more supportive than whites too.

Who was least happy about being told what to do by The Man? Older white men, of course! I mean, I coulda told you that.

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Is McDonald’s coffee really going greener?

Is McDonald’s coffee really going greener?

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Over the past few years, McDonald’s has grown its subsidiary coffeehouse brand McCafe like a juiced-up Starbucks — there are now 1,300 Mc-coffee shops worldwide. That’s a lot of coffee! And now the company says it wants that coffee to be greener.

Over the next five years, McDonald’s plans to invest $6.5 million to help about 13,000 Guatamalan coffee growers produce fancier, more sustainable beans, to be used in a proprietary arabica blend. The company says it aims “to promote the environmental, ethical and economic long-term sustainability of coffee supplies.” From Bloomberg:

“Investing in both certification and sustainable agriculture training addresses the immediate need to assist farmers today, expands capacity for greater sustainable coffee production in the future and helps assure our customers we will continue to provide the taste profile they have grown to love and expect from McDonald’s,” Susan Forsell, the vice president of sustainability, said in the statement.

The company, which buys coffee from Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Brazil and Sumatra, said it already gets all of its Rainforest Alliance Certified espresso from sustainable farms. The [new] initiative seeks to address root causes of poverty among farming communities by expanding the use of techniques that will promote sustainable, profitable agricultural, McDonald’s said.

It’s not clear if this is on par with McDonald’s much-lauded switch to “sustainable seafood,” which, it turns out, is not super-sustainable.

As it happens, climate change could wipe out arabica beans. Central American growers are already having problems with higher temps and humidity that are making fungus grow like gangbusters across the region. Drink up while you still can, Ronald, because when arabica’s gone, all we’ll have is bitter but caffeine-jacked robusta.

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Shell to ‘pause’ Arctic drilling in 2013

Shell to ‘pause’ Arctic drilling in 2013

After an epic string of screw-ups, Shell is pulling way back on its plan to conquer the far north frontier and drill the ever-loving hell out of it. Pause, baby, pause!

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Shell’s Kulluk drilling rig, which the company

ran aground in Alaska

in December.

Shell has spent more than $4.5 billion in its quest for oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off the north coast of Alaska and so far has nothing to show for it but a series of embarrassing mishaps.

“Our decision to pause in 2013 will give us time to ensure the readiness of all our equipment and people following the drilling season in 2012,” Marvin Odum, director of Shell’s “Upstream Americas” operations, said in a statement.

The company pledges that it isn’t giving up on its quest for Arctic oil: “Alaska remains an area with high potential for Shell over the long term, and the company is committed to drill there again in the future. If exploration proves successful, resources there would take years to develop.”

But at least for now: Congratulations, Alaska!

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For Open Data Day, green hacks and snacks

For Open Data Day, green hacks and snacks

Civic-minded hacktivists, you best brush off those keyboards and pick out a cute outfit, because tomorrow is International Open Data Day.

Cities around the world will be hosting hackathons to turn government data dumps into useful interactive applications for citizen engagement. Check the map for info on a ‘thon near you.

For this special holiday occasion, San Francisco’s Climate Corporation is hosting EcoHack. “EcoHack is about using technology to improve and better understand our natural environment,” say the event’s organizers. “Based on the hacking model of quick, clever solutions to problems, EcoHack is an opportunity to make a difference while having fun!” Woo, nerds!

EcoHack days held in New York in the past have resulted in some sweet projects, from routing bikes and building pollution sensors to mapping deforestation (fun!).

This year’s crew will be working on mapping community solar projects, visualizing oil spills, and “food’ficiency,” among other worthy data-driven causes. Also there will be pizza, which goes surprisingly well with depressing statistics. Just trust me on this one.

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Farmers markets stand to benefit the poor the most

Farmers markets stand to benefit the poor the most

Farmers markets sometimes get a bad rap for catering to the moneyed set, as though only the well-to-do like to buy their produce in a pleasant, social, outdoor environment, direct from the source.

It turns out that’s all a bunch of compost. Low-income shoppers are actually the real farmers-market power users, buying bigger shares of their groceries at the markets than at other stores compared to middle- and high-income shoppers, according to a new report from the Project for Public Spaces.

The report looked at eight markets across the country in low-income neighborhoods with otherwise broad differences in demographic makeup. “[A]lmost 60% of farmers market shoppers in low-income neighborhoods believed their market had better prices than the grocery store,” the report states.

The main barrier to low-income shoppers patronizing farmers markets? Just basic information. Researchers found that shoppers often didn’t use their food-stamp benefits even though markets accept them, and shoppers didn’t know where markets were or when they were open.

If farmers markets embrace their low-income shoppers and just let them know what’s up, everyone could win.

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

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Laws banning harassment of cyclists spread like a wonderful virus

Laws banning harassment of cyclists spread like a wonderful virus

Cyclists may be the happiest commuters, but not when they’re getting shit from passing drivers. Flashback to the summer of 2011, when Los Angeles passed an ordinance to make harassing cyclists a civil and suable infraction. Throw a thing at a cyclist and they can take you to court and seek damages — revolutionary!

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L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti at the time said, “If L.A. can do it, every city in the country can do it.”

Well, we’re not quite there yet, but in the year and a half since L.A. passed its law, Washington, D.C., and the California cities of Berkeley, Sunnyvale, and Sebastapol have all passed similar ordinances. Healdsburg, Calif., is now considering one, too.

To be fair, Columbia, Mo., was actually the first city to enact an ordinance banning harassment of cyclists in 2009, but it didn’t include the all-important civil infraction bit. L.A.’s law and those modeled after it make it possible for cyclists to take their harassers to civil court, where there is a lower burden of proof.

“The biggest problem with prosecuting bicyclist harassment in the past has been the high level of proof needed in a criminal case — you pretty much needed a police officer to witness the crime in order to get the city attorney to take it to court,” said Chris Kidd, a cycling advocate who worked on the L.A. ordinance.

So, how long until we see a bike harasser takedown on a courtroom reality TV show? I wanna see Judge Judy ream some SUV drivers.

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Laws banning harassment of cyclists spread like a wonderful virus

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