Monday Links: October 13th, 2008

In an effort to salvage the economy and cash in on the bailout, not to mention end the country’s dependence on oil and combat obesity, Jarred and I both purchased bikes. [Just kidding--we didn't do it to cash in on the bailout.  That's just gravy.]  Jarred’s been a proud “self powered commuter” for a few days now and today (Monday) is my first day commuting by ‘cycle. I’ll report back on my experience navigating the congested streets of Winston-Salem; something tells me Jarred’s commute in sunny California with bike paths (imagine that) might be a bit more relaxing.  In any case, I plan to sing this song, out loud, on my way to and from the office:

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But enough about bikes.  How about links (a little abridged this week since I’m on deadline for my real job):

• This week’s NY Times Magazine is of great interest to me because it concerns one of my favorite things: food.  As you might imagine, the Times couldn’t put out a Magazine devoted to food without including a letter to the future president penned by Michael Pollan.  Here’s a taste (pun intended; an amuse bouche if you will…):

20th-century industrialization of agriculture has increased the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the food system by an order of magnitude; chemical fertilizers (made from natural gas), pesticides (made from petroleum), farm machinery, modern food processing and packaging and transportation have together transformed a system that in 1940 produced 2.3 calories of food energy for every calorie of fossil-fuel energy it used into one that now takes 10 calories of fossil-fuel energy to produce a single calorie of modern supermarket food. [...] This state of affairs appears all the more absurd when you recall that every calorie we eat is ultimately the product of photosynthesis — a process based on making food energy from sunshine. There is hope and possibility in that simple fact.

• Speaking of food, a large group of sustainable agriculture folks have endorsed the Food Declaration: a platform of sorts with 12 overarching principles to guide a food systems policy agenda.  I think it’s difficult to argue with many of the principles, which I guess is the point of a well-crafted public platform.  Still, I’m sure there are many out there who might debate the merits of these ideas, or who haven’t given food systems reform the thought it deserves, so it’s nice to see these tenets articulated in a thoughtful way.  [Hat tip: TreeHugger]

• This photo tour through a distressed jean factory (where designer jeans are faded and ripped just so) is fascinating and creepy in unexpected ways.  As the baby in the ETrade commercial says, “kinda underestimated the creepiness.”  A very cool glimpse of a strange, strange process.  [Hat tip: Kottke]

• You may have heard that the alternative energy production tax credits I wrote about a few weeks ago were extended as part of ye olde bailout; here’s a straightforward brief (PDF) on the energy items included in the bill.  [Hat tip: Cleantech Blog]

• These “Earth From Above” photos are unreal.  [Hat Tip: Treehugger]

• This origami trick for folding a CD/DVD sleeve took me a few tries to master, but I’m happy to say that if I can do it, you can too:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/712133/paper_cd_case.swf" width="400" height="345" allowfullscreen="true"/]

• In this week’s obligatory tip o’ the face shield to space exploration news: do yourself a favor and watch this video of the successful launch from SpaceX–the first privately owned and designed rocket to reach orbit.

Happy Monday…looks like a great day for a bike ride.