Uncategorized

What to make of Ford?

You got this, but then again, you got this. What's an enviro who thinks of the world in terms of black and white, good and evil, supposed to do?

Clark Williams-Derry

Cars that get five hundred miles per gallon?  According to this piece by LA Times editorialist Max Boot, it's possible using today's technology, including plug-in hybrids and "flexible fuel" vehicles that run on both petroleum and biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel.

Now, I'm inclined to agree with the editorial's main points:  North America's petroleum dependence is a profound strategic and economic vulnerability; and we can make our transportation system much, much more fuel efficient using existing technologies--and without waiting decades for new technologies, such as hydrogen fuel cells, to catch on.

But what about this statement:  "How to do better? Biking to work or taking the train isn't the answer. Even if Americans drive less, global oil demand will surge because of breakneck growth in India and China."

What on earth is he talking about?

Blown away

With a drop in recycling rates, Chicago is wondering: how come no one cares anymore? The city's "blue bag" program, introduced in 1995, sells bags for recyclables that are collected alongside regular trash. Last year, 90,000 tons filtered through, compared to 126,000 in 2000.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Mayor Richard Daley says it's not working because Chicagoans are apathetic. (Way to inspire 'em, Dick!) Critics, meanwhile, say the method is inconvenient, the bags break, and people think their goods -- and goodwill -- are just bound for the trash compactor. Oh yeah, and much of the waste has been recycled right into a field in Indiana.

One Chicago TV station offers an interesting comparison between recycling in the Windy City and the Big Apple. How's it going in your neck of the woods?  

 

Behind Enemy Livestock

Ranchers, greens unite to fight oil and gas wells in West Ranchers and environmentalists have traditionally gone together like chocolate and, uh, people who really hate chocolate. But of late, they have been overlooking past tussles to fight a common enemy: increasingly ubiquitous oil and gas drilling in the Western U.S. The ranchers say the […]

Solar death ray

Yes, you read that right.

(Via Judith Lewis)

What’s the Arctic Refuge worth to you?

In my experience, environmentalists are ... uh, how to put this delicately ... not very politically pragmatic. So, here's a thought experiment.

Imagine that, for whatever reason, the Republicans' current effort to drill in the Arctic Refuge was defeated, and the Refuge was taken off the table.

Now imagine, further, that Bush and the Republicans approached the major environmental organizations and their backers in Congress and offered a deal. They said, for instance, "if you let us get drills into ANWR, we'll sign onto Kyoto."

Would you do it?

What would you take in exchange for drilling in the Refuge? Click "read more" and vote in the poll.

Feebates in the U.K.

Just like Canada, the United Kingdom is seriously considering vehicle feebates, reports the invaluable newsletter Green Budget News.

To recap, feebates (sometimes called "freebates") are a great way to harness market forces to encourage energy efficiency and discourage pollution. The article above gives a good explanation of how they'd work:

The proposal would require owners of more polluting vehicles to pay an extra levy, while drivers of environmentally friendly cars would reap the benefits and receive a grant as a reward for buying fuel-efficient vehicles.

So people who buy gas guzzlers pay a fee that's refunded to people who buy gas-sippers--creating a powerful incentive for continual improvements to automobile efficiency.

One of the great features of feebates is that they pay for themselves -- taxpayers don't even get involved.  In fact, the UK proposal is to use feebates to replace the existing vehicle excise duty, which apparently has had little effect on consumers' vehicle choices.

And by the way -- I can't recommend Green Budget News enough. Almost every article holds some fragmentary insight into tax shifting and market oriented sustainability. And while it's focused on the European Union, it's chock full of ideas that could be adopted in this part of the world as well. The current edition of the newsletter, which is published by Green Budget Germany, also contains informative updates on congestion pricing in Scotland and Austria and vehicle, pollution, and energy taxes in Denmark.

Kristof’s blog

Did you know that Nicholas Kristof has a blog? As far as I can tell he's the only NYT columnist with one (hosted on the NYT site, anyway). It's a neat idea, though rather clunky and difficult to navigate in practice. The idea is that he can use this quasi-blog to interact with readers, but it mostly seems to involve just printing reader letters.

Regardless, go here and scroll down to the bottom two posts, which consist of letters on his execrable column on environmentalism. Most take him to task, justly. He does not respond.

Clark Williams-Derry

Wonder no longer: oil and gas get subsidies out the wazoo. Here's the latest example from British Columbia...

The province will spend $408 million over 15 years to bolster northeastern B.C.'s oil and gas industry, Minister of Energy and Mines Richard Neufeld said Tuesday, which includes new or expanded support for resource road construction, community infrastructure, education and the reclamation of abandoned natural gas wells.

Of course, this sort of subusidy is just the tip of the iceberg: in much of the US, oil and gas extraction get special tax treatment -- and, some would argue, privileged access to public lands; gas & automobile taxes don't pay for the full cost of roads; the health costs of car accidents and smog aren't included in the price of highway fuels; and the risks associated with global warming are borne by everyone across the globe, not just by those lucky enough to be able to afford to drive.

To me, this puts the subsidies for, say, wind power in perspective. Renewable energy subsidies probably don't give an unfair advantage; they're just a way of levelling the playing field, so that--given all of the subsidies that already go to fossil fuels--wind and solar can compete on something approaching even footing.

Do You Ear What I Ear?

Government kept mum about GM corn’s mistaken identity Over a four-year period, Swiss biotech giant Syngenta AG inadvertently sold unapproved strains of genetically modified corn seed to U.S. farmers. The corporation claims the sales, which began in 2001, resulted from a case of mistaken identity between two genetically similar varieties of GM corn. Although the […]