Roughly 80% of all US grain production goes to feeding livestock, along with all of the fossil fuel, pesticides, and land use that it entails. Since the animal spends about 90% of that energy just staying alive, it leaves only 10% for human consumption. In general, eating lower on the food-chain greatly decreases the ecological impact of your diet. Forget vegetarianism for a minute. It.s great if you can do it, but let.s face it we all like a steak every now and then. The trick is to just cut down on how much meat you do eat. Next time you.re at the Hop, try going for the meatless wrap or maybe get the veggie option at Homeplate a couple times per week. Even opting for a smaller animal like chicken will increase the efficiency of your diet. Aside from the green benefits, it.s healthier for you anyway.

In a study recently released by Yale and Columbia, the U.S. ranked 28 out of 133 countries on the improved Environmental Performance Index. The index measures each country’s proximity to universal standards in areas such as clean water and energy efficiency. Admittedly an oversimplification, the index aims to quantify environmental health in a way that facilitates comparison. So just think about France’s #12 slot before you cast that next slur.

Continuing its staunch refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the U.S. nevertheless joined forces with China, Australia, India, Japan, and South Korea in the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate (AP6). These countries, which produce 50% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, have agreed to set individual national goals for reducing these emissions. Like a younger sibling intent on distancing itself from the older Kyoto even if it means being an underachiever, the AP6 has no built-in enforcement mechanism.

“America is addicted to oil,” declared President Bush a few weeks ago in his state of the union address. A statement long past due, it’s still somewhat heartening to hear that the Bush administration is at least beginning to talk the talk of staving off an oil crisis. In his speech, the President suggested expanding US reliance on other energy sources like biofuels and nuclear. So far this initiative looks to be shaping up well as 75% of American military bases in the Middle East report being ready to begin importing nuclear generated electricity from Iran.

Scarcely two months after the Senate struck down the House of Representatives’ approval to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (a measure that was added as a rider to a defense spending bill), the issue has resurfaced in proposals for the 2007 budget. Even though the prospect of drilling met a quick death in the Senate last December - no thanks to Senators Gregg and Sununu from New Hampshire - Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens are already hard at work to bring it to a vote again. Gregg is not only a supporter of drilling in ANWR but as the chair of the senate budget committee has significant influence on whether it will become a reality.

There is a Hebrew phrase, tikkun olam, which means the perfecting or the healing of the world. Translated into action, this Jewish concept is essential to the environmentalist cause; as human beings continually evolve, the earth turns on its axis and resonates with conscious energy. A concrete expression of such environmental awareness is making itself known through Israeli kibbutzim, unique communities with a distinctly Jewish ideology and social vision. These small societies have always been utopian in a sense: with equality of education, consumption, production, and property, each member contributes to and cooperates with this contained universe. A response to materialistic living, the kibbutz was originally born as a functioning communist world. Now, in a leaping stride forward, the Green Kibbutz Group is reaffirming the kibbutz’s place at the forefront of social innovation by revising their mission statements to directly include sustainability.

Read the rest of this entry »

Many Americans dismiss environmental concerns as a problem for the future. While they believe that the United States should protect the environment, there is no sense of urgency. It is a common belief that Western culture and business can afford to damage the environment as long as we do not cross a certain threshold after which the environment can no longer support mankind. Many Americans do not realize that the limit of environmental degradation has already been exceeded, and furthermore that countless individuals have already suffered as a consequence of the United States’ lack of concern for environmental problems. Our disregard for the environment has accelerated global warming which is contributing to the recent worldwide increase in natural disasters. The United States must take active measures to counteract environmental destruction.

Read the rest of this entry »

Over 500,000 miles of roads exist within our national forest system. Most of these are unused, unmaintained, and ecologically damaging roads that are only used by the most rash off-road vehicle devotees. These roads fragment fragile habitats, increase stream sedimentation, accelerate erosion, and increase wildlife mortality. Clearly it is time to do something about them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Every year, the department of Environmental Studies offers ENVS 50, Environmental Problem Analysis and Policy Formation, in which a group of students identify and research a local environmental problem and develop a solution that can be integrated into existing policy. In Spring 2004, students in this class were given the following mission: “Identify the most effective environmental choices that Dartmouth College should make right now.” In the resulting 226-page report, the students described Dartmouth as embodying a “social paradigm” of “inappropriate” reliance on fossil fuels and stated that switching from this image of an ignorant, wasteful follower to that of a progressive leader in environmental awareness and responsibility should be a top priority for the college.

Read the rest of this entry »

At Dartmouth College, our Environmental Performance indicators for energy use, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions, and waste disposal per capita have been on the rise since 2001. These data, although sobering, helps us face the sustainability challenge squarely.

Read the rest of this entry »

So stop me if you’ve heard this one: “I’d pay more attention to current events if they weren’t so depressing.” It’s a sentiment that I run into a lot these days and I can understand it: Abramoff, Iraq, George Bush. Every now and then, we’ve all just got to put down the paper. But no matter how upset that person, place, or thing makes you, ignoring it isn’t the answer. If something’s making you upset, the most rational thing you can do about it is… well, do something about it. It’s frustrating, exhausting, painful, but it’s the only way.

Read the rest of this entry »