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Reform at the World Bank.

When Paul Wolfowitz was nominated and confirmed to be the next head of the World Bank, many people were more than a little upset. His neo-conservative label preceded him. However, Wolfowitz and the World Bank have done admirable things both times that they've been in the news since then.

There's this move to help the world's largest emerging energy market grow up as a renewable one.

Wolfowitz has also called for cuts in agricultural subsidies in developed countries because of their adverse effects on poorer countries that cannot compete against the treasury of the world's largest economy. The effects on African nations are particularly devastating, and Wolfowitz appears to be making that continent a priority for his tenure.

The current melee going on over at the world's second largest (collective) economy is largely over agricultural subsidies. Farm spending makes up nearly half of the EU's budget, nearly 49 billion Euros a year.

Maybe he's pulling the (sheep's) wool over our eyes, but just looking at what he's done since his appointment, this guy doesn't sound half bad.

Robert Neuwirth gets down and dirty

While the housing market here gets ever more media attention, over one billion people -- a sixth of the world's population -- live in "squatter cities," where deeds and titles to land are non-existent.

A closer look at the media, however, reveals this column today on that very subject. Carol Lloyd reviews "Shadow Cities," by Robert Neuwirth, a fascinating first-hand account of four of these squatter cities (I would be remiss if I did not note the coverage it got over at WorldChanging as well).

Among other things, Neuwirth:

• notes that in some places, "squatter infrastructure" rivals the official infrastructure;
• highlights the fact that these cities have simply developed on their own, free of government control until attempts are made to shut them down; and
• contrasts the notion of property in squatter cities with American notions (Carol Lloyd expounds on this in her article).

(And there's no way to do his work justice with three bullet points, so I apologize for that.)

The lessons here for cities in the developed world are many; I'm still trying to get a handle on them myself. Neuwirth is "perhaps the first journalist to travel the globe living in the most deprived and violent shantytowns." I'd love to be the second.

In addition to the book, Neuwirth also has a blog on squatter cities. Lloyd's article, Neuwirth's blog and lecture, and the coverage at WorldChanging all provide excellent further reading.

Politicians protect the industry from ‘burdens’ at the expense of the public.

The news yesterday that the lawsuits by Clinton against coal-fired power plants hit a legal roadblock is bad. Very bad. Nothing as exciting as the Michael Jackson verdict, mind you, but bad. If you want an extremely vivid picture of just how bad, go read this post on Sprol. It contains this tidbit:

Pollution from coal-burning power plants causes an estimated 30,000 deaths a year in the United States - more than drunken driving, AIDS, or homicides, according to one analysis. That analysis was done by Abt Associates ... Abt has been used by the EPA to quantify the health effects of federal policies.

See also this edition of BushGreenwatch about maximum achievable control technologies (MACT). The Bush administration has been scrambling to weaken the regs on MACT in the Clean Air Act ever since it took office. Just in regard to its change in the rules on industrial boilers and plywood manufacturing plants:

Industry ‘science’ generates confusion in other areas than just climate change.

Climate change is not the only place where interested obfuscation is pervasive these days.

Former energy department official David Michaels writes in the June issue of Scientific American that business groups are pursuing a broad strategy of manufacturing uncertainty around science that might hurt the bottom line. His examples include beryllium, used in nuclear weapons and linked to lung cancer (Michaels was the "chief safety officer for the nuclear weapons complex" as assistant secretary of energy for environment, safety, and health from 1998 to 2001), and the appetite suppressant and decongestant phenylpropanolamine (PPA), linked to hemorrhagic strokes.

But he makes broader indictments about the process of using industry funded "science" to contest inconvenient scientific research.

Industry have tried to manipulate science no matter which political party controls the government, but the efforts have grown more brazen since George W. Bush became president. I believe it is fair to say that never in our history have corporate interests been as successful as they are today in shaping science policies to their desires.

Incidentally, environmentalists come in for criticism as well. Michaels says:

Furthermore, the denial of scientific evidence and the insistence on an impossible certainty are not limited to business interests. For instance, some zealous environmentalists remain adamantly opposed to food irradiation--the use of gamma rays, x-rays or electron beams to kill microbes in meats and produce--even though the benefits of the practice greatly outweigh the risks.

Delay sure appears to have a conflict of interest on MTBE, but we’re sure it’s nothing.

The energy bill currently being hashed over in the Senate, if passed there, will go to a House-Senate conference committee. It may well die there. The most likely culprit is the issue of a legal liability shield for manufacturers of gas additive MTBE.

Who's the most stubborn champion of the measure, the one willing to kill his own party's bill by defending it? Tom Delay.

But oh, look at this:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay owns stock worth more than $50,000 in ExxonMobil, according to financial disclosure reports, while at the same time he is one of the driving forces behind legislation that would shield that company and other manufacturers of the gasoline additive MTBE from lawsuits that could cost them millions.

Already under fire for alleged ethical lapses, DeLay, a Texas Republican, has hired the Houston law firm Bracewell and Giuliani to defend against those charges. But the firm, in which former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is a partner, also represents a host of MTBE manufacturers in court and in Congress.

But hold on, now, before you go jumping to conclusions ...

Dan Allen, DeLay's spokesman, scoffed at the suggestion the second highest-ranking House Republican has done anything untoward.

"First of all, everyone knows Congressman Tom DeLay bases his votes on the merits of legislation before him and only the merits of the legislation," Allen said.

Oh, right, right, I knew that! I just forgot for a moment.

(Via Carpetbagger via WM)

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.

Facts and figures on air quality and Latino health in the U.S.

92 — percentage of the U.S. Latino population living in urban areas in 20002, 3 80 — percentage of Latinos living in counties that violated at least one federal air-pollution standard in 20022 57 — percentage of non-Latino whites living in counties that violate at least one federal air-pollution standard in 20022 50 — percentage […]

GMOs have their upsides and downsides; a little balance is in order.

In my previous post, I noted some of the things we've done right as a movement. But as those who read my first two posts know, I think we're doing a lot of things wrong as well.

For example, lets take GMOs -- I want to build on Andy's excellent post from yesterday.

GMOs have been been a "Great Satan" of the environmental movement for some time now. And its not the goal of this post to say that GMOs are by any means universally necessary or desireable. But I do want to talk about the ways in which many environmentalists are oversimplifying a complex issue -- and hurting our credibility with the people who are aware of those complexities.

Don’t Go Fish

Historic bottom-fishing restrictions adopted for West Coast waters The Pacific Fishery Management Council this week approved a permanent ban on trawl fishing for nearly 300,000 square miles of federal waters off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. The plan — which will now be forwarded to the National Marine Fisheries Service for final approval; […]

Buenos Vistas

New EPA effort to cut haze in national parks The U.S. EPA this week released new regulations designed to clean up hazy air in 156 national parks and wilderness areas. The rules aim to eliminate 1 million tons of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide emissions a year by 2014. States must identify the industrial sites […]