My old college bud, Kenny Scharf, is arguably the original green artist – a brilliant guy from L.A. who began his career nabbing trash from the streets of Manhattan and embellishing old appliances with his phantasmagorical, Fifties-inspired, squiggly creatures and symbols.

Working alongside East Village graffiti muralists like Keith Haring and Jean Michel Basquiat, his uproariously spacey icons were quickly embraced by Andy Warhol and other enthusiasts with clout. He quickly rose to the ranks of artist superstar.

Scharf  conveyed his …

Tags: AIDS , alternative transporation , Andy Warhol , art , bikes , Brazil , Brooklyn , carbon footprint , Cosmic Cavern , East Village , emissions , graffiti , Jean Michel Basquiat , Keith Haring , Kenny Scharf , los angeles , New York City , pop art , recycle , reuse , sculpture , trash art

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Debate is raging over Rio De Janeiro’s proposed eco-barriers designed, according to officials, to protect its endangered Atlantic coast forest.

There’s no question that the Atlantic forest, which has over 20,000 plant species, 950 bird species and more than two dozen Critically Endangered vertebrate species, needs protecting. More than 90 percent of the forest has already disappeared over the past hundred years – initially due to coffee and sugarcane plantations and later, to urbanization.

But the building of the huge concrete walls (up to 10 feet in some …

Tags: Atlantic Forest , Brazil , eco barriers in brazil , eco-barriers , Rio De Janeiro , rio de janeiro's eco barriers

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When farmers in Mato Grosso, the top soy-producing state in Brazil, were introduced to GMO soy varieties, they jumped at the chance to plant them, even though the country’s government hadn’t yet approved their use. It was a foolish risk to take; the GM soy these farmers planted has consistently provided lower yields than conventional soy varieties.

About half of the soy grown in Mato Grosso is genetically modified, but because of the lower yields – and the fact that many distributors are shunning GMO – quite a …

Tags: Brazil , farming , genetically modified organisms , GMO , soy

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The topic of soy can create a big debate among healthy folks, and the viewpoints can be extreme. Who knew a humble green bean could be so controversial? Some tout soy products as a panacea for health and wellness, while others swear that soy is a sure ticket to infertility and “man boobs”. What are the facts?

Aren’t Asian cultures particularly healthy because of consumption of soy?

Asians don’t actually eat as much soy as we think – only about 10-36 …

Tags: Brazil , children , environment , food , health , nutrition , protein , rainforests , soy , vegetarian

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Princess Isabella of Spain outlawed slavery in Brazil on May 13, 1888. And that would seem to be that. But it’s not. Raj Patel, in his book Stuffed and Starved, writes that there are somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 people enslaved in Brazil.

Though sugarcane and cattle ranches are known culprits, slavery happens on soy plantations, too. In 2003, the last year for which figures are cited, 4,932 slaves were freed from farms in Brazil – and that’s just the farms that were inspected.

As we saw …

Tags: Brazil , fair trade , farming , human rights , slavery , social justice , soy

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You may have seen or read exposés on corn monoculture – notably, the series here at EcoSalon back in November. But there’s another crop that is just as pervasive and potentially problematic. It’s soy, which we will be exploring in a series of articles over the next few weeks.

Soybeans were first cultivated in China at least 3,000 years ago and are now an important worldwide crop for use in cooking oil, animal feed, processed food, and bio-fuels.

The U.S., Brazil, Argentina, and China produce close to 90% of …

Tags: bio fuel , Brazil , deforestation , soy

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