Articles by Chris Schults

Lost power source

Fans of the hit TV show Lost might have been wondering how the hatch/bunker gets its power. Last night we found out: geothermal energy.

Another example of a green energy source being mentioned during prime time television -- granted, it was for about five seconds, but we'll take what we can get!

And visitors to the Lost message boards can get a brief science lesson on how geothermal energy works from poster SlowElectron.

ABC’s Boston Legal tackles issue of fish farms

The Late Show with David Letterman was not the only television program last night to expose enviro themes to the late night crowd. Over on Boston Legal, something fishy was going on (and I'm not talking about their usual shenanigans).

Normally, I wouldn't watch the show, but I got a tip from a reliable source that it might be worthwhile last night. So after returning from a night of Green Drinks and dinner, I plopped down on the couch and hit play on my VCR. In short, I was pleasantly surprised.

Now, I had thought Boston Legal was one of those legal shows where a defendant chopped up his spouse and fed her to his pet tiger ... and the defense team knows he's guilty, but champions the case anyway ... and the lead attorney sleeps with him ... and the tiger escapes in court ... blah, blah, blah. I don't know about you, but I've had enough of reality shows. I prefer fantasy myself, which is why I tune in to The West Wing. Ah, if only ...

But I digress ... Boston Legal ... here's the synopsis of last night's episode:

Reeling over his break-up with Tara, Alan Shore [played by James Spader] heads to Nimmo Bay in British Columbia with Denny Crane [played by William Shatner] for some fly fishing and male bonding in an effort to cure his pain. When they learn that the salmon population is being threatened by sea lice produced by fish farms, Shore and Crane feel compelled to act.

Yes, you read that right. The Emmy Award-winning show tackled fish farming during primetime TV. And it was funny.

Confessions of a sustainable mind

Former Grist intern Jocelyn Tutak has written a short but interesting piece for the Sustainable Style Foundation's SASS Magazine in which she describes her love/hate relationship with Dansko clogs:

My paying job keeps me on my feet - literally - for eight hours a day. At about a mile an hour (oh yes, I clocked it with a pedometer), I put in forty miles a week just at work. My feet were no longer happy with me and quite vocal about it. I needed arch support, and I needed it bad.

Enter Dansko's Professional clog, the shoe of choice for doctors, nurses, chefs, and nearly anyone else whose job requires more than a bit of standing. This shoe carries the "Seal of Acceptance from the American Podiatric Medical Association." So I do a little research. My coworkers swear by them, and I even get a deal on buying them for work. The website promotes peace and earth-friendliness, and began as a mom-and-pop business. By looking at the site, the shoes, and those I know who wear them, you'd think they were helping save the world with each pair sold, with each step taken with their anti-skid tread. All is well until I check the specs on this Danish wonder-clog: The inner frame of this happy little shoe is made with PVC.

For those of you who don't know (and really, who can keep all these plastics straight), #3 PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, has been deemed the worst of the bunch. Bill Walsh, founder of the Healthy Building Network wrote in Grist that "the weight of available evidence tells us that ... it may well be the single most important source of many of the worst toxic chemicals plaguing the global environment today."

I can just picture it: Umbra on one shoulder and a tired, sore Jocelyn on the other. Who won out in the end? Find out.

BTW, to all you in the Seattle area on Tuesday ... the Sustainable Style Foundation will be hosting Green Drinks. There's a rumor some Gristers will be attending.

Participate!

Looks like Al is not the only one encouraging a participatory media movement. I give you Participate.net:

... where the power of media meets the strength of community to make a real difference in the world. Brought to you by Participant Productions, this is the place where activists, moviegoers, filmmakers and issue experts can come together around the real issues presented in our films. You can share your ideas, make friends, and create meaningful change. We hope you will help us build the community as a powerful resource for social activism. There will be fun activities and great rewards along the way!

And here is how you can get involved:

Do you know about an important story deserving of attention that the media has been missing or ignoring? Here's what we want you to do: Go out and report the truth. Film a news segment, record interviews, or write an editorial about something that moves you--civil rights abuses, government corruption, injustices of any stripe [perhaps one concerning the environment?]. Then post your work here, and we'll showcase it to the Participate community.

And similar to Current TV:

Your fellow Participants will then rate your work and tell you what they think. The best pieces may be broadcast to a much wider audience by our media partners, PBS, Salon.com, and XM Satellite Radio (we'll email you if your piece is chosen). So seize this opportunity to join a community of citizen journalists dedicated to being catalysts for change. Remember: Your voice has impact. And we want to hear what you have to say.

So do we. So hop to it!

(Via WC)