Making Maple Syrup and Saving the World

Ten small ways you can help the planet

Maple syrup production in the United States peaked in 1860.  This had nothing to do with agricultural trends or culinary tastes.  It was political and moral beliefs in action.

The Northern states were abolitionist, but their political efforts to end slavery in America had gone nowhere.  That was not the end of their activism.  Abolitionists urged people to eat no sugar made by slaves.

By happy coincidence, the north had its own source of sugar—the sugar maple tree.  Tens of thousands of Americans made maple sugar on their farms, doing their part for the cause of freedom.

Today, as in the 1850s, political gridlock has blocked progress on a crucial issue:  global warming. Read more...

“The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”  So said NRA President Wayne LaPierre just after the Sandy Hook massacre.  If a ‘bad guy’ pulls out a gun and starts shooting, the only answer, according to Mr. LaPierre, is for someone to pull out another gun and take the ‘bad guy’ out.

The NRA and the Republican Party advocate what they call “Constitutional carry”—allowing anyone to carry a gun, openly or concealed, at any time and anywhere (excluding, one presumes, people with felony convictions).  Republicans all over the country are attacking background checks, gun-free zones, and laws that require a permit to carry a loaded, concealed weapon.

The Democratic Party approach is different; it focuses on preventing people likely to misuse guns from getting them in the first place.  The background check law has stopped over 1.5 million ‘bad guys’ from buying guns since 1994.  That law passed after a Republican filibuster failed.

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