Water
Blog
Your Last Minute Shopping List: PRI’s 2018 Holiday Book Guide
It’s December 20 and many are scrambling trying to find last-minute gifts for their family and friends. Heck, some folks won’t even begin their shopping until the afternoon of December 24th. Back by popular demand for weary shoppers is PRI’s annual holiday book guide. We asked our PRI colleagues to ...
Commentary
New York mandates create ‘energy poverty’ for citizens
New York has a proud tradition of environmental conservation. From Frederick Law Olmsted creating Central Park in the 1870s to the national environmental movement inspired by trailblazing President Theodore Roosevelt to the lush nature preserves created in the Adirondack and Catskills mountains, wise environmental stewardship has always been a cornerstone ...
Commentary
Do polystyrene bans actually accomplish anything?
The California rush to ban foam takeout food containers is starting to look like a frenetic race that would embarrass even the most aggressive Black Friday shoppers. Currently, 119 cities and counties in California prohibit businesses from providing customers with takeout food packaging made of polystyrene. San Diego is in ...
California
Statewide Polystyrene Ban Would Bring Unintended Consequences
Supposedly civic-minded prohibitions on consumer conveniences always have unintended consequences. California’s single-use plastic bag ban, for instance, has led to a surge in E. coli infections, created a swarm of thicker plastics bags that are a greater environmental hazard than the outlawed single-use plastic bags, boosted shoplifting, and been the ...
California
San Diego Ignores Alternatives in Rush to Ban Styrofoam
San Diego has just dreamed up a Styrofoam prohibition so harsh that it will require consumers to change their foam containers to alternative packaging when they visit city property. The City Council recently voted 5-3 to approve an ordinance banning “the distribution of egg cartons, food service ware, and food trays which ...
Commentary
The Latest Target Of The Eco-Fundamentalists: Plastics
By Hank Campbell and Henry I. Miller A recent op-ed harangue in the Washington Post — “Scientists know plastics are dangerous. Why won’t the government say so? — by radical activist Paul Thacker seeks to create concern about the health effects of plastics and plasticizers. It reads like a cross between a trial attorney’s plea ...
Commentary
Banning Polystyrene Won’t Help California’s Environment — But It Will Hurt Jobs, Economy
Having successfully outlawed plastic bags and straws, the next target of California lawmakers, who seem intent on criminalizing as many consumer conveniences as possible, just might be those foam containers used to hold take-out food. Polystyrene, often called by its brand name Styrofoam, is used for more than packaging food — ...
Blog
BART Blues
In this November election, it’s unfortunate that there’s only one seat up on the BART board (for non-Bay Area readers, BART is the region’s electric train line), because if I had one command as Queen for a day – a question Tim Anaya likes to ask our podcast guests — ...
Agriculture
Eco-Bullying Crosses the Pond
Some bad ideas have originated in America. Reality television, spray-on cheese, pineapple pizza, and deep-fried Hostess Twinkies come to mind. But the most obnoxious of all may be eco-activist campaigners armed with Freedom of Information Act requests, or FOIAs, who pervert the intention of the law in order to undermine ...
Agriculture
The U.N. Celebrates 15 Years of Screwing Up Biotech Regulation
Although best-known for its peace-keeping in areas of conflict — where it enjoys a mixed record, at best — the U.N.’s agencies, programs, commissions and international agreements have a dismal record of accomplishment, especially while acting as the world’s regulator-wannabe for all manner of products, processes and activities. The U.N. ...
Your Last Minute Shopping List: PRI’s 2018 Holiday Book Guide
It’s December 20 and many are scrambling trying to find last-minute gifts for their family and friends. Heck, some folks won’t even begin their shopping until the afternoon of December 24th. Back by popular demand for weary shoppers is PRI’s annual holiday book guide. We asked our PRI colleagues to ...
New York mandates create ‘energy poverty’ for citizens
New York has a proud tradition of environmental conservation. From Frederick Law Olmsted creating Central Park in the 1870s to the national environmental movement inspired by trailblazing President Theodore Roosevelt to the lush nature preserves created in the Adirondack and Catskills mountains, wise environmental stewardship has always been a cornerstone ...
Do polystyrene bans actually accomplish anything?
The California rush to ban foam takeout food containers is starting to look like a frenetic race that would embarrass even the most aggressive Black Friday shoppers. Currently, 119 cities and counties in California prohibit businesses from providing customers with takeout food packaging made of polystyrene. San Diego is in ...
Statewide Polystyrene Ban Would Bring Unintended Consequences
Supposedly civic-minded prohibitions on consumer conveniences always have unintended consequences. California’s single-use plastic bag ban, for instance, has led to a surge in E. coli infections, created a swarm of thicker plastics bags that are a greater environmental hazard than the outlawed single-use plastic bags, boosted shoplifting, and been the ...
San Diego Ignores Alternatives in Rush to Ban Styrofoam
San Diego has just dreamed up a Styrofoam prohibition so harsh that it will require consumers to change their foam containers to alternative packaging when they visit city property. The City Council recently voted 5-3 to approve an ordinance banning “the distribution of egg cartons, food service ware, and food trays which ...
The Latest Target Of The Eco-Fundamentalists: Plastics
By Hank Campbell and Henry I. Miller A recent op-ed harangue in the Washington Post — “Scientists know plastics are dangerous. Why won’t the government say so? — by radical activist Paul Thacker seeks to create concern about the health effects of plastics and plasticizers. It reads like a cross between a trial attorney’s plea ...
Banning Polystyrene Won’t Help California’s Environment — But It Will Hurt Jobs, Economy
Having successfully outlawed plastic bags and straws, the next target of California lawmakers, who seem intent on criminalizing as many consumer conveniences as possible, just might be those foam containers used to hold take-out food. Polystyrene, often called by its brand name Styrofoam, is used for more than packaging food — ...
BART Blues
In this November election, it’s unfortunate that there’s only one seat up on the BART board (for non-Bay Area readers, BART is the region’s electric train line), because if I had one command as Queen for a day – a question Tim Anaya likes to ask our podcast guests — ...
Eco-Bullying Crosses the Pond
Some bad ideas have originated in America. Reality television, spray-on cheese, pineapple pizza, and deep-fried Hostess Twinkies come to mind. But the most obnoxious of all may be eco-activist campaigners armed with Freedom of Information Act requests, or FOIAs, who pervert the intention of the law in order to undermine ...
The U.N. Celebrates 15 Years of Screwing Up Biotech Regulation
Although best-known for its peace-keeping in areas of conflict — where it enjoys a mixed record, at best — the U.N.’s agencies, programs, commissions and international agreements have a dismal record of accomplishment, especially while acting as the world’s regulator-wannabe for all manner of products, processes and activities. The U.N. ...
