Friday Finds: For Those With An Itch To Read

Bedbug scourge, "eggregious" industry, greening Facebook and Obama

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Bedbugs take Manhattan
Okay, so the tenaciously itchy pests haven’t consumed Gotham City just yet, but bedbugs do seem to be quickly making their way across the country, wreaking havoc Arachnophobia-style. The pest problem is so bad that many a desperate home and apartment dweller have begun spraying toxic outdoor pesticides inside their homes—all in the name of a good night’s sleep. But spraying pesticides indoors can cause major health problems, so the EPA has begun warning people to keep outdoor pesticides sprays where they belong. Of course, outdoor pesticides can also contaminate your groundwater and harm wildlife, which is why Earthjustice has asked the EPA to set safety standards for outdoor pesticides. Sweet dreams!

Egg industry cracks under latest recall, begins blaming consumers
Public outrage over the latest recall involving salmonella-tainted eggs has the egg industry fighting back. This week a spokesman for United Egg Producers blamed consumers for the outbreak, arguing that people should be cooking their eggs thoroughly or risk getting sick. But egg-over-easy fans aren’t buying it.

Nancy Donley, board president of a food-safety consumer group, recently told USA Today, "The problem isn’t how consumers are preparing the food. The problem is that the food is contaminated," she says. Egg-xactly.

Facebook faces off with environmentalists
This week, Greenpeace took on Facebook, the popular online social networking site, with a new online campaign that protests against the organization’s plans to run its giant new data center on electricity produced by burning coal. Facebook tried to dampen the environmental group’s accusations by telling the Guardian that the company has big plans to generate more electricity from renewable energy, but so far the social networking site has been suspiciously weak on details. Dislike.

Bill McKibben chats with Letterman about global warming, solar panels
This week, environmental advocate Bill McKibben sat down with David Letterman to talk about his latest book, Eaarth, and to plug his campaign for getting solar panels back on the White House roof. The panels, which were put on during Jimmy Carter’s presidency and promptly taken down once Reagan came into office, are currently housed at Unity College. Next week, McKibben will use good-old-fashioned arm-twisting by hand-delivering those solar panels straight to the White House, leaving President Obama with little choice but to put them back up.

 

Jessica is a former award-winning journalist. She enjoys wild places and dispensing justice, so she considers her job here to be a pretty amazing fit.