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• The Next National Shortage

  You know how we've been running low on everything from oil to rice recently? Looks like the next commodity to start drying up might be doctors.
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  • Date: May 12 2008
  • Posted by andrewprice

• Contraception And Sustainability

  In a new book, More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want, Robert Engelman, Vice President at the Worldwatch Institute, a research organization that seems to focus on population issues, makes an interesting argument about contraception. "It makes sense that those who bear children and do most of the work in raising them should have the final say in when, and when not, to do so," Engelman said. "By making their own decisions based on what's best for themselves and their children, women ultimately bring about a global good that governments could never deliver through regulation or control: a population in balance with nature's resources." It seems clear that more contraception means fewer people. But we're not entirely convinced that women have fewer children in response to stresses on their environment. Suburban mothers in America don't make decisions about family size based on the efficiency of their toilets or how much Freon their refrigerators use. His argument is probably most applicable in areas where food or water is scarce. And the global population is certainly an issue that matters. If you think peak oil is uncomfortable, imagine peak population.
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  • Date: May 09 2008
  • Posted by andrewprice

• Nothing But Nets

  The United Nations Foundation's Nothing But Nets is an organization you can count on in crunch time. It delivers much needed bed nets that protect people from Malaria mosquitoes. In honor of World Malaria Day (tomorrow), it's launched a campaign to increase the number of nets it distributes. All you have to do is play this awesome (and free) interactive game and a net will be delivered in your name. Simple. Effective. Fun. You can take a look at a slide show of real world distribution here and, should you feel so inclined, offer a traditional financial donation here.
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  • Date: Apr 24 2008
  • Posted by Patrick James

• Lifestraw

  The Lifestraw Family water filtration system is a small gravity- and hand-powered apparatus that renders dirty water drinkable. It could really improve life for the millions of our fellow humans without water sanitation. Each system costs $25 and is good for 15,000 liters, which, we're told, is two years' worth of safe drinking water. Totally worth it. There's more about the Lifestraw Family at Inhabitat here. If you're hurting for some good karma (maybe you have a taste for expensive bottled water shipped from a pristine, far-away island) you can donate one of these filters through Project H Design (on this page, to be exact).
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  • Date: Apr 23 2008
  • Posted by andrewprice

• Shot

  A while back we posted about the Montana Meth Project, a particularly powerful PSA series on the perils of crank (spoiler: it's very perilous). We were similarly rattled by this borderline-NSFW MTV spot. The fact that heterosexual women under 30 are the fastest growing group of people infected by HIV says nothing about how big that group is relative to all new HIV cases. We have a few follow-up questions on that point. But the basic idea—that unsafe sex can end lives—that we read loud and clear.
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  • Date: Apr 15 2008
  • Posted by andrewprice

• Ancient Hairless Magical Mexican Dogs Still Healing?

  The Xoloitzcuintli, a breed of ancient Mexican dog—of which half are oddly un-furred—were once revered by the Aztecs for their supposed healing powers. Yet even in the face of debunking by doctors, a host of contemporary advocates maintain Xolos' propensity to magically regenerate the ill. One Aztec belief was that if you take the dog to bed with you for three nights, the disease will go from you to the dog, says the president of the Xolo Club of America—who happens to be a non-believer. Another woman says the dogs ease her pain, serving as live water bottles that she places around her neck while driving. Some owners and doctors believe that the animals' warmth—which radiates with greater intensity due to the lack of hair—rests at the root of the myth. Still others go on in faith. Via ABC News
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  • Date: Apr 11 2008
  • Posted by danielriley

• Gordon Brown: English Idol

  Tonight, on American Idol, English Prime Minister Gordon Brown is announcing that the UK will pledge 20 million bed nets to help fight malaria. Brown also wrote an op-ed on the importance of fighting malaria in The Sun today. We hope he actually sings the announcement. Maybe to the tune of Endless Love? He'd probably get excoriated by Simon, though. You don't get a free ride just because you're eradicating malaria.
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  • Date: Apr 09 2008
  • Posted by andrewprice

• Blogging Probably Won't Kill You

  We've started posting here intermittently—very intermittently, for now—over the weekends. This piece from the New York Times, covering the heart problems plaguing some high-profile bloggers, had us worried we might not survive the experiment. But we think the perspective offered by the Wall Street Journal is closer to the truth: blogging probably isn't any more stressful than newspaper reporting, and offers writers a lot of control, which keeps job stress low.
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  • Date: Apr 07 2008
  • Posted by andrewprice

• Vaccine Insanity

  Jenny McCarthy (yes, that Jenny McCarthy) wrote an op-ed on CNN.com today about her autistic child, and how her and husband Jim Carrey are helping recover from his condition. Then they drop the hint that childhood vaccinations caused or contributed to his autism. With all our thoughts and prayers with their child, and with all due respect, we have to say that this is absurd. You may have missed this, but there is a growing trend among people—who are in no way medical professionals (and who count Jenny McCarthy as one of their most vocal members)—to link vaccinations with autism. This is, of course, totally made up. There is no scientific evidence for it. One of the made up hypotheses is that a mercury-based preservative in vaccines was causing the problem. Then they took it out of vaccines. No change in autism diagnoses. Oh well, there must be something else then. Sadly, a federal court that exists specifically for vaccine cases recently awarded money to the parents of an autistic girl, in some way admitting that the vaccines may have had something to do with her condition. And so, more and more crazed parents everywhere are preventing their kids from getting vaccinated, which is a severe public health hazard, and has already resulted in things like serious measles outbreaks that should not be happening in the 21st century. Here is a pretty clear-eyed Times op-ed from by a doctor (i.e., not by Jenny McCarthy) about how the entire theory is bunk. The real question is, why does CNN think its ok to run this drivel? We understand that it's an op-ed and that "The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer." If, say, Carmen Electra wanted to write an op-ed saying that the U.S. government was behind 9/11, or that the moon is made of cheese, they wouldn't allow it. This is on the same level of demonstrably false arguments that shouldn't be being put into a public forum, unless it's by doctors well-equipped to present serious scientific evidence to the contrary. ABC really got a lot of heat for letting the vaccines-cause-autsim drivel on to the execrable new show Eli Stone, and hopefully CNN will hear it for this, too.
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  • Date: Apr 03 2008
  • Posted by Morgan Clendaniel

• America's Healthiest Chain Restaurants

  While we did our best to track down America's Tastiest Streets in our March/April Food issue, Health magazine has given us America's healthiest (and unhealthiest) chain restaurants. Rather than focusing on the city-specific gems, this list highlights the go-to eats you can find anywhere in the country. Sneak peek: Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes, P.F. Chang's, Ruby Tuesday, (and in the fast food category) Cosi. Check out the rest here. Via Health
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  • Date: Mar 24 2008
  • Posted by danielriley