Posted in Economics & Globalization, Politics & Public Policy, Technology & Science, tagged adjustment, ahead, alternative energy, alternatives, Amazon, American Dream, Baby Boomers, bailouts, banks, big box, Big Coal, Bowling Alone, budget, buy local, buying, buying decisions, cap and trade, careers, cars, Cash for Clunkers, chain stores, challengers, change, climate, commodity, communitarianism, communities, community, community centers, community purse, companies, compete, computers, concentration, consequences, constrain, consumer confidence, consumers, cookie cutter, crude, Dark Age, debt, debtor, demand, demographics, desertification, destinations, developments, digital, discontinued, discounters, diversity, domain, double dip recession, downsizing, e-commerce, e-tailers, ecommerce, economists, education, efficiency, Ellen Ruppel Shell, energy, entitlements, evolution, Federal, financial, forecast, fossil fuels, free shipping, frugal, fund, future, gains, gasoline, globalization, GNP, governments, Green, Greening, growth, hardware, here to stay, heritage, hikes, hindsight, horizon, income, increases, independence, inflation, infrastructure, innovation, internet shopping, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Goodell, jobless recovery, jobs, landscape, lifestyle, lingering, local, local color, long term, loss, losses, market forces, marketplace, Marshalls, money, moneysaver, mouse, myth, necessity, new normal, oases, oil, oil refineries, outlook, overstock, Perfect Storm, petro, pitfalls, population, postal service, prediction, price wars, prices, production, projection, public safety, purchases, question, rates, reality, red tag, refining, regulation, retail, retailers, revolution, risks, Robert B. Putnam, Ross, sales, scale back, sell, shift, shipping, shop, shop locally, shoppers, shopping, signs of life, Social Security, society, spend, stagnation, standard of living, state, suburbia, SUVs, TARP, tax base, tax revenues, tax-free, taxation, thrift, time, TJ Maxx, toll, too little too late, towns, trade, transport, travel, trends, unintended, United States, urban, vacuum, wages, web, web bargains, websites, welfare, workforce on March 22, 2010|
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For years “energy independence” has been the catch-all solution promoted by politicians, talk radio hosts, newspaper columnists and others who point out that the U.S. is short on oil refining capacity. Nonetheless, petroleum production facilities are not only in the process of downsizing in response to a weak economy, but permanently so the Los Angeles Times reports in “Oil companies look at permanent refinery cutbacks” [March 11, 2010].
The oil industry, which as recently as 2007 broke so many profit records that allegations of collusion and price-gouging surfaced, is singing a different tune: Limiting supply to increase sagging profit margins is the solution, analysts say, for losses induced by everything from fuel efficient cars to retiring baby boomers who no longer commute to and from work.
And to think: Just a few years ago SUVs, with their paltry ~13 mpg, were the rage from Coast to Coast. Could it be that Cash for Clunkers, unintentionally so, was a little too effective — or are oil industry insiders selling Americans up the river when they can least afford it? Whatever the case may be, nothing says Green like fuel-efficient automobiles and the beginnings of an alternative energy infrastructure. Even so, the picture the LAT paints is far from complete. The Perfect Storm of tightening supply, increasing commodity prices, rising taxes and further job losses looms on the horizon.
Hang on to your hat! The price of life is going up.
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Posted in Health & Environment, tagged adverse, agency, agriculture, anthropogenic, Apidae, approval, asthma, autism, autoimmune, babies, bathroom cleaners, Bayer, bee, beekeepers, biomagnification, biomarkers, biomonitoring, blame, Bloomberg, butterfly effect, buyer, cancer, carcinogen, care, chemistry, children, cleaners, coating, colonies, colony collapse disorder, commercial, companies, consequences, control act, cooking, cookware, cord blood, corporate interests, court, crops, death, decline, demand, die-off, disease, DNA, DuPont, effects, empower, empowerment, enlightened consumer, environmental, EPA, epidemic, epigenetics, famine, farming, fate, fertilize, food, food chain, fungus, future, genes, genetic code, GMO, grandchildren, groups, harm, harvest, have our backs, Health & Environment, hives, homologue, honeybees, hunger, illness, immune system, impact, industrial, ingredient, inherited, injunction, insect, institute, Internet, judge, lawmakers, learning disabilities, legislature, look in the mirror, lost headline, magnifier, market, marketplace, Media & Social Media, mice, mirror, mite, modern, modified, Movento, mutate, national, new year, New York, newborns, nonstick, numbers, nutrition, packaging, pans, parasite, pest, pesticides, PFOA, phase out, pocketbook, policy, pollen, pollinators, population, precautionary principle, profile, profitable, protection, public health, public interest, rationalize, reaction, reduction, reflection, regulators, represent, reproduction, research, retailers, risk, risk factor, ruling, safety, science, Scotchguard, self interest, serve, shopper, shrinking, sick, smart consumer, Spirotetramat, stain repellents, Stainmaster, stay, stewardship program, stock, stores, study, substances, take charge, Teflon, tipping point, toxic, traits, trigger, trouble, tumor, voting with our wallets, weeds, welfare, withdraw, working group, zero on January 6, 2010|
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Remember that story a few years back about the mysterious honeybee affliction known as Colony Collapse Disorder? It didn’t remain in the headlines for long but it should have: Honeybees pollinate up to 1/3 of the world’s crops. Lose them and we lose a great deal of human civilization to malnutrition.
I was reminded of this sad phenomena over the holidays when, from city to city, county to county, I kept stepping over dead and dying honeybees. Not just one, but several. Not merely one week, but several weeks in a row. Three years earlier — and what first brought CCD to my attention when I came online in search of an explanation — I took a walk in a local park and saw hundreds of bees dying on the ground. It was all I could do to keep my dog from stepping on them, a number of them still trying, fruitlessly so, to fly. A few weeks later at another park, I saw the same phenomena. The carnage became so commonplace that year that I eventually lost count.
Now here comes a late-breaking 2009 headline nearly lost amidst end-of-year festivities:
Bayer ‘Disappointed’ in Ruling on Chemical That May Harm Bees | Bloomberg.com
Bayer’s newest chemical wonder, Spirotetramat, was not on the market when CCD surfaced, but what is alarming about this story is that the EPA apparently approved it, critics allege, knowing that it could heighten or accelerate the harm to a critical link in the food chain.
Our food chain.
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The Social Critic 