There’s more to talk about in Iran than nukes.

U.S. news coverage of Iran these days is a one-trick pony — their nuclear program and what is George W. Bush going to do about it. Today, as Iranians vote for their new president, we may read a bit more. But there are environmental stories to tell, and in some cases they are a reaction to the cacophony surrounding the nuke story.

Last month I traveled to Tehran to attend the International Conference on Environment, Peace, and the Dialogue Among Civilizations and Cultures, a two-day conference co-sponsored by the UN Environment Program and the Iranian Department of Environment. The conference, featuring an eclectic mix of environment ministers and NGO and academic experts, was itself a bid for alternative dialogue on something, anything frankly, other than the contentious nuclear proliferation issue.

Because it was a UN-sponsored meeting, the incredibly valuable and thorough Earth Negotiations Bulletin team covered the event and provide a detailed summary and numerous pictures here and here. I wrote a bit more about the conference here as well.