Sundance Channel

BMW Guggenheim Lab says eat local, you wuss

Perrin Drumm — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 20:30:17 +0000

I eat an apple every single day. I order them from Fresh Direct, and unless I click the 'organic' option I get four Granny Smith apples delivered right to my door "fresh" from Chile. Like most people, I rationalize this somehow. "My farmers market is only once a week," I reassure myself, "and I need apples more than just once and besides, they don't even have the tart and crisp Granny Smiths that I need and love." As environmentally aware and responsible as I like to think I am, it didn't even cross my mind that if a farmer in New York isn't growing Granny Smith apples, maybe I just don't get to eat them.

New Austin grocery store will be packaging-free

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:50:28 +0000

On our kitchen counter, my wife has a set of glass jars designed for storing staples: flour, sugar, coffee, tea, etc. Of course, we have to buy the products that go into those jars at the store, empty them from their packaging, and then either recycle or trash whatever they came in. Wouldn't it be great if we could just take those jars to the store and fill them?

The school community garden: college students getting their hands dirty

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:05:17 +0000

You likely associate community gardens with neighborhoods: residents (either with permission or "guerrilla gardening"-style) take over an empty lot and turn it into a green space. It turns out that colleges and universities have gotten in on the act: a number of schools around the US now offer space to students, faculty, and staff members who want to dig in the dirt, and grow their own food. The University of Idaho is the most recent school to host a community garden; others have done it for years, or even decades. Here are just a few...

5 US towns seeking energy independence with renewable resources

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:00:20 +0000

You may have gotten your fill of the phrase "energy independence" with last year's election: both parties and presidential candidates touted the idea repeatedly. It's a compelling concept... it's also contentious. For some, energy independence means harvesting solar, wind, and geothermal power; for others, it's the motivation behind "Drill, baby, drill!" Either way, it's a challenging goal at the national level.