Environment Tag

National Mall Trashed After Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day Concert Oh, the delicious, delicious irony. Yesterday was Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day, which was celebrated with a concert and other festivities on the National Mall. While the concert itself was powered by solar energy, the attendees could have learned a lesson or two about taking care of planet Earth. For instance, check out these trash and recycling cans I spotted near the National Mall, close to the Washington Monument:

scenes from the Earth Day concert on the Mall pic.twitter.com/3kKQOe2qax — Christine Rousselle (@crousselle) April 18, 2015

That means that when the latest version of the government's dietary guidelines comes out, it may push even harder than it has in recent years for people to choose more fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and other plant-based foods — at the expense of meat. The beef and agriculture industries are crying foul, saying an environmental agenda has no place in what has always been a practical blueprint for a healthy lifestyle. The advisory panel has been discussing the idea of sustainability in public meetings, indicating that its recommendations, expected early this year, may address the environment. A draft recommendation circulated last month said a sustainable diet helps ensure food access for both the current population and future generations. A dietary pattern higher in plant-based foods and lower in animal-based foods is "more health promoting and is associated with lesser environmental impact than is the current average U.S. diet," the draft said.

After fifty years of trying to eradicate the incredibly destructive pocket gopher, a small but exploding population of these pests lives and breeds in the innumerable shell holes and ground fractures caused by the Ft. Lewis artillery range. A subset of these gophers -- of which we have no shortage – have been given endangered species protection by the US Fish and Wildlife Agency. Why give endangered status to a species that is in fact so out of control that it can only be called a pest? Well, because the males in this small sub-population apparently have larger-than-average reproductive organs. That’s not proven, by the way – merely asserted – but it was enough for the anti-growth, anti-human eco-weenie zealots in Thurston County to put draconian restrictions on what people can do own their own property in the name of protecting these fragile, delicate, large-membered gophers that were bred on an active artillery range. Since these are obviously conservative gophers the irony becomes almost unbearable. ...