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They’re Not Kidding

Anxious over declining population, Italy pays citizens to procreate While many environmentalists fret about overpopulation, Italians are fretting over the opposite. Despite the stereotype of its massive Catholic clans, Italy actually has one of the lowest birthrates in the world, a population set to shrink by a third by 2050, and the world’s highest percentage […]

Politicized science at U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Speaking of Chris Mooney, he draws my attention to something that is sure to be hitting the news in a big way tomorrow: The Union of Concerned Scientists, in their words, "distributed a 42-question survey to more than 1,400 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologists, ecologists, botanists and other science professionals working in Ecological Services field offices across the country to obtain their perceptions of scientific integrity within the USFWS, as well as political interference, resources and morale." Despite explicit word from USFWS administrators that they were not permitted to answer, 30 percent of the scientists did.

Many reported political interference, unwillingness to properly use the Endangered Species Act, intimidation, and a lack of proper resources. You can read a summary and find links to the full questions and answers here .

Mooney has more on a particularly hated and feared administrator, Julie MacDonald.

Expect to see more about this in coming days.

The actual for-reals last Crichton post

Readers are well aware that I was not impressed by Crichton's book or his footnotes. In the Boston Globe, Chris Mooney draws attention to another group of unimpressed folks: the very scientists Crichton cites.

New Ford hybrid SUV

Ford recently announced their second hybrid SUV, the Mariner. What I'm saying is, when's the hybrid minivan coming? There's got to be a huge market, no? Take me, for instance. As the patriarch of a growing clan of resource-sucking, overpopulation-contributing children, a minivan looms large in my future. I'd love to be able to show-off my eco-credentials while porting around my clan and their inevitable sports gear, musical instruments, academic awards, etc.

My god, I think I lost half my remaining manhood just by writing that sentence.

Anyway, if you're curious about the Mariner, the place to find more, as with all matters green and automotive, is Green Car Congress.

Update [2005-2-9 12:27:47 by Dave Roberts]: Ah, have y'all heard of this site "google"? It's quite nifty. Anyway, turns out there's already a hybrid minivan on the Japanese market (shocking, I know), and according to HybridCars.com, a hybrid Toyota Sienna may be headed for the U.S. market as early as 2007. Good to know Japanese automakers continue to kick our asses in this department.

Libby, Libby, Libby on the Liable, Liable, Liable

W. R. Grace faces stiff federal charges over asbestos at Montana mine Mining company W. R. Grace & Co. was formally charged yesterday with knowingly exposing mine employees and residents of Libby, Mont., to asbestos and concealing evidence about its potentially dangerous health effects. The indictment marks the closing chapter of what U.S. Attorney Bill […]

More budget

Green Car Congress has a good breakdown of energy spending in Bush's budget -- think nuclear and fossil fuels -- and Geoff Hand has more.

These regs, not those

Honda joined in the lawsuit against California, trying to stop the state from instituting its own fuel-economy regs. To make it up to enviros, the company just asked the feds to tighten fuel-economy regulations. It doesn't object to regs, it says, just different regs in different states.

If fuel-economy regs are really harmful to the economy, harmful to automakers, as the Bush admin. says, Honda's behavior seems awfully peculiar. Why, it's almost like they know something Bush doesn't!

They’ll be back

At a U.N. conference in Bangkok this week, nations and NGOs are debating the merits of the Terminator. No, not the esteemed governor; the controversial biotechnology developed by the USDA and the agricultural industry in the late '90s that can make plants produce sterile seeds. As a result, farmers would be forced to buy seeds anew each year. They'd benefit from hardier crops and higher yields, proclaim the corporate giants; growers and their advocates -- especially in poorer countries -- beg to differ.

The U.N. has placed a moratorium on the Terminator, and governments in Asia and Africa have called for an outright ban. But Canada is making a splash this week by recommending case-by-case assessments instead. "The Canadian government is doing the dirty work of the multinational gene giants and the U.S. government," says a concerned Canadian foundation.

Follow the latest developments -- or just check out the scintillating action shots. Hey, Greenpeace: If you're not gonna wear a tie, could you at least button up?

Yeah, protect the environment and what else?

Political junkies (hi) may want to check out this Democracy Corps poll and strategy memo (PDF), called "Toward a Democratic Purpose." There's a lot in there to chew on, but one salient fact for our purposes : The public is very clear on the fact that Democrats are the party that protects the environment. They are also very clear on the fact the Republicans protect the interests of corporations and the rich.

What does this mean? Well, for one thing, you're not going to get much electoral traction by pounding on those two facts. People already know. Again, all you enviros out there: People already know. Whatever your elevator pitch, it shouldn't be based on the facts that progressives love the environment and conservatives love the rich.

What are people up in the air about? They are uncertain of who will most help the middle class, and although they think Dems are fiscally responsible, they also suspect Dems are bad for economic growth.

The lesson here is to link the environmental message already in people's heads to the other leverage points that can sway them.

Can environmentalists tell a story about how environmentally responsible policy helps the middle class and stimulates economic growth? If not, they better get on it, and quick. 2008 will be here before you know it.

(Via Matt Yglesias, who's got more thoughts on the matter.)

Global warming … maybe you’ve heard of it?

Let's be honest. Global warming is a dreary subject. Even for those of us -- and by "us" I mean "just about everyone in the world except for the U.S. executive branch and a few industry-funded skeptics" -- who take it seriously.

Nonetheless, new evidence about climate change trickles out every day. It can be hard to keep track, especially 'cause of the dreariness. So Tom Engelhardt has done a real public service by gathering all that evidence into one essay.

He also addresses, toward the end of the essay, why it is that most Americans seem so unwilling to think about climate change, even when they know it's real -- i.e., he addresses the dreariness, and has some interesting stuff to say:

Instead, it's quite clear that, faced with various scary scenarios, we've become a can't-do nation; that conservatism has really meant a kind of conceptual hunkering down when it comes to anything but the present moment; and that an increasingly fierce imperial holding-on when combined with a sense of futurelessness and helplessness has consigned the environmental movement to the antlers of a dilemma.

As they say, read the whole thing.