Strollerderby : environmental impact

Teeny Tiny, Itty Bitty Tatas

Madeline Holler — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:04:00 GMT

A car company at the New Dehli Auto Expo in India lifted its shirt earlier today to expose one perky, proportioned, pert little Tata. The unveiling got the attention of high-level executives. Cheapskates around the world are certainly aroused. Today, everybody is talking about Tatas.

They are teeny tiny, itty bitty, suuuuuuuuper cheap five-person cars. Retailing at around $2,500, it's meant to get India's growing middle class off scooters and into cars. Tata's Nano runs on something like a souped up lawn mower engine, topping out at about 50 miles per hour and gets 50 miles to the gallon. But here's why I, an admitted trunk woman, am getting excited about Tatas.

The Wall Street Journal: [Tata's] Nano is part of a global race to lower the prices of entry-level cars for millions of new developing world consumers.

That's good news! Because (1) we just don't need 2 billion people driving around in massive Chrysler Escalades and (2) maybe this means we'll get some super-tiny, cheap, cheap, cheap cars for sale here in the U.S.

I want one.

For almost seven years, we have been a one-car family, which is about one car too many for the hardcore urbanite, but since we live in Southern California, I think we're doing pretty well. However! There are times when I wish we were more like a one-and-a-half car family. As my kids get older, the schedules don't always coincide. But I hesitate to spend even $10,000 on something that will sit in front of the house most days of the week. Car-sharing isn't available here.

Anyway, how about you? Are you ready to wave good-bye to the era of enormously bloated and expensive cars and usher in spare and cute wheels? What do you think of these Tatas? Think even a single carseat would fit in the back? Yeah, me either.

Selfish Breeders Doom the Planet

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:25:00 GMT

If you're a parent, you're selfish. And you're dooming the planet. So says Toni "I'm better than you" Vernelli, a British woman who aborted her pregnancy and later had herself sterilized all for the love of Mother Gaia.

"Having children is selfish. It's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet," says Toni, 35. "Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of over-population."

Also, "I think dolphins will inherit the world and form a master colony in the land of chimpanzees."

OK, fine, I made the last part up. Because really, what else can you say? Other than I think this particular person made a very sound decision.

[Photo from Daily Mail]

Organic Food: Not As Great As We Think?

Karen Murphy — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 17:37:00 GMT

I've been paying the extra bucks and feeding my kids organically-grown foods for years now, because like many parents, I believe that pesticide-free food is better for small developing bodies that are less likely to be able to effectively assimilate chemicals. I know, too, that eating locally is also "better": not only does it help support your local economy via mostly small family farmers, but energetically it's preferable as well (stay with me here: this is macrobiotic theory), as your body can better use the energy from foods from your climactic and geographical region.

But how to balance the two? Typically, the organic produce I see in, say, Whole Foods isn't local (nor, mostly, is the other stuff, but that's beside the point). So, is it a big deal? Why yes, it is, actually, if part of your reason for eating organically also has to do with the environment and the chemicals released through large-farm production. Because guess what? The environmental cost for organically-grown produce may actually be higher than conventionally-grown produce. Grown without pesticides and herbicides, organically-grown produce is more labor-intensive (think about all those weeds in your own garden), and the cheapest labor is the farthest away, at least if you live in North America.

Yikes! Makes you think, doesn't it? It does me. Right now is a good time, seasonally speaking, to be thinking about making changes, as there are in most areas plentiful options that are local, and in most cases, cheaper: farmer's markets, CSAs, local family farms. But what about the rest of the year? Unless you have your own space for gardening and grow enough to put up the excess for the winter, it's a quandary. I guess it's time to decide how much that kiwi and that mango means to you in January, let alone those strawberries.

[original article pointed by Karen Rani guesting at The Zero Boss]