[OKC] Green Lantern: New Studies, New Questions

[Miles, Karen]

New Studies, New Questions


Three recent reports make sustainable consumption more complicated.


By Nina Shen Rastogi
Posted Tuesday, April 6, 2010, at 7:05 AM ET 

________________________________

This week, the Lantern takes a break from answering your green lifestyle
questions to report on three studies that raise brand-new environmental
dilemmas.

Is meat less of a climate-change culprit than we thought?
One of the Lantern's frequent tips is to cut back on your meat intake
for the sake of the planet. But according to Frank Mitloehner, a
researcher from the University of California-Davis, that advice is
hogwash
<http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_
ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=222&content_id=CNBP_024345&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=
region1&__uuid=> . .....

Are we outsourcing our greenhouse gas emissions?
When we talk about a nation's carbon footprint, we generally mean the
emissions produced within its borders-i.e., whatever gets pumped out
from its power plants, factories, and so forth. But because goods
produced in one country may be used in another, tallying up direct
emissions may not be the best way of assigning responsibility for
climate change. So two researchers from the Carnegie Institution of
Washington, Steven J. Davis and Ken Caldeira, decided to construct an
alternate emissions inventory-one that reflected countries' consumption
patterns as opposed to just their production practices. .....

Can personal choices really make a big difference?
The Natural Resources Defense Council thinks so. The environmental
action group just released a report
<http://www.simplesteps.org/billion-tons> , in conjunction with the
Garrison Institute's Climate, Mind, and Behavior Project
<http://www.garrisoninstitute.org/programs.php?type=transformation_ecolo
gy&proj=climatemind> , that outlines 14 free or low-cost things
individuals can do that would collectively eliminate a billion tons of
carbon dioxide equivalent-or almost 15 percent of America's total
emissions. .....

Is there an environmental quandary that's been keeping you up at night?
Send it to ask.the.lantern at gmail.com
<mailto:ask.the.lantern at gmail.com?subject=Question%20for%20the%20Lantern
> , and check this space every Tuesday.

Nina Shen Rastogi is a writer and editor in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Article continues at URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2249868/

 

Copyright 2010 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC

 

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