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Plastic, now with fresh, fruity scent!

Of the nasty things about plastic -- a subject upon which our own Umbra is prolific -- perhaps the worst is its origins in petroleum. What if the many wondrous benefits of plastic could be had without the petroleum inputs? That would be cool.

Along come researchers at Cornell University, who have apparently discovered how to make plastic from citrus fruits and carbon dioxide. Use less oil; use more CO2 (rather than pumping it into the atmosphere). Nifty.

(via BoingBoing)

Try a little togetherness

Speaking of how and to what extent progressives should band together (a key theme in our ongoing "Is environmentalism dead" discussion), anti-tax zealot and right-wing power broker Grover Norquist provides yet another example of how the right is kicking the left's ass on the unity thing.  A New York Times Magazine article on Bush's plans to trash the tax code starts off like this:

One afternoon late last month, I paid a visit to the offices of Americans for Tax Reform, the conservative lobbying outfit headed by Grover Norquist. ... Each Wednesday morning, more than a hundred leading conservative activists, policy pundits, talk-show producers and journalists, joined by assorted Hill staff members and White House aides, gather in Americans for Tax Reform's conference room to discuss the issues of the day, from prescription drugs to school choice. Within Republican circles, Norquist's job is to organize other organizations, making sure the different branches of conservatism are moving in the same direction, at the same time, to the greatest extent possible. His particular genius is for persuading one organization to reach beyond its own agenda to help out another -- for getting, say, the cultural traditionalists at the Eagle Forum to join the business libertarians at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in opposing fuel-economy standards for automobiles by convincing the traditionalists that, as Norquist once explained to me, "it's backdoor family planning. You can't have nine kids in the little teeny cars. And what are you going to do when you go on a family vacation?"

John Podesta is quoted in the article moaning about how the right's tax plans will screw the little guy. Righto, but tell me: Who meets at his Center for American Progress every Wednesday morning to hatch and hone a cohesive battle plan for the left? When will we see a progressive answer to Norquist's war room?

Top green products

organicARCHITECT, a green architecture firm and research think-tank, today announced the recipients of its 2004 organicAWARDS. This first annual award recognizes the most exciting products introduced in the past year that promote both design innovation and environmental responsibility.

Check it out. (I'm particularly fond of the stapleless stapler.)

Terrorists drive wind power

The surge in residents at Guantanamo Bay (from 2,500 to 10,000 in the past three years) has driven up energy needs for the self-sufficient U.S. Navy base that is a small slice of Cuba.

The LA Times (free registration required) reports that four new windmills and turbines, producing 950 kilowatts of electricity apiece, will soon replace diesel generators as the base's primary source of energy.  The need to be water self-sufficient drives extensive desalination operations on the base, creating the need for all that wind power.

Now if the war on terrorism could only extend that drive for energy independence to the mainland as well!

The other axis of evil

"Poverty, disease and environmental decline are the true axis of evil," according to Christopher Flavin, head of the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute. Speaking January 12 at the National Press Club, Flavin presented a global security agenda as described in the newly released State of the World 2005: Redefining Global Security.

Unless the world takes action to improve economic and environmental conditions around the world, security officials will face an uphill battle in dealing with the many consequences of vulnerable societies -- from wars and terrorism to heightened impacts from natural disasters.

This year's State of the World takes on this "true axis of evil" with a range of arguments on how environment, health, and demography constitute a global security agenda.

The King and We

Grist to honor civil-rights leader by taking three-day weekend On Monday, Grist will honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy by, well, not working. We’ll be back Tuesday with more of the wit and wisdom you’ve come to know and love, or at least tolerate.

The important thing

I have great respect for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., but this AlterNet essay exemplifies a fundamental flaw in the thinking of current mainstream environmentalists. His argument is that, despite Bush's re-election, the election actually demonstrated broad support for environmental protections. He says:

In the face of recent rhetoric about an alleged mandate, it's clear the challenge is greater than ever. But the important thing is that the fundamental politics of the environment did not change with this election.

But this gets things backwards. The "important thing" is not that despite Bush's election, people still support green positions. The important thing is that despite people's support of green positions, Bush got re-elected.

Broad support for environmentalism should not be blithely considered good news for enviros. We are losing -- losing elections and losing momentum. That we are doing so despite public support for the substance of our agenda is an indictment, not an indication that the losing is some sort of incidental challenge.

Winning is not everything, as Vince Lombardi once said. It's the only thing.

What a Falloon!

I groaned when I saw this story on global dimming the other day. It's about a documentary soon to be aired on BBC, presenting the research of Dr. Peter Cox. The spin Reuters' Matt Falloon puts on it is that reducing fossil fuels will accelerate global warming. Who knows why he's adopting that spin. (Or why he says "Scientists differ as to whether global warming is caused by man-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse" gases, by natural climate cycles or if it exists at all," which is narrowly true but distorts what is a broad and robust consensus on the issue.) Falloon is, wittingly or unwittingly, providing yet another piece of ammunition for climate change flat-earthers to forward to each other and trumpet on talk radio. The notion is, to be blunt, hoo-ha.

For a sensible look at global dimming, see our article "Dim Sun," this BBC story which describes Cox's report more fully, and this helpful summary by Jamais Cascio.

Howl’s About That?

Enviros celebrate 10th anniversary of wolf release Today marks the 10th anniversary of the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park, an area from which they were eradicated by the 1920s. The transplant experiment, meant to help restore wolf populations protected under the Endangered Species Act, stirred strong feelings, both positive and negative, in 1995, […]

Waste to energy

Folks in the U.S. tend to be convinced that technology will save us. Traditionally, environmentalism has opposed itself to this tendency, scolding that technology is, in fact, the source of all eco-evil. I would suggest that, while technology's record is, shall we say, mixed, this is the wrong way to go, both substantively and politically. More on that subject later.

I certainly count myself a technological optimist, so I get excited about every story like this: Today, Treehugger gives the rundown on two new machines that make energy from waste. The first creates (brace yourself for some technical jargon) a really ginormously strong tornado that batters the waste into power. The second does something that even the Treehuggers don't pretend to understand -- "a thermal depolymerization process" -- to squish virtually any carbon-based waste into three products: "high-quality oil, clean-burning gas, and purified minerals that can be used as fuels, fertilizers, or specialty chemicals for manufacturing." They're pretty psyched about it:

That sounds weird, but imagine this: If this thing works, most toxic waste problems would disappear--and so would imported oil. According to its manufacturers, if the U.S. were to convert its agricultural waste alone into oil and gas, according to Discover magazine, it would yield the energy equivalent of 4 billion barrels of oil annually. Four billion barrels! That's nearly as much as we import each year.

Yes, yes, it's still in development, might not pan out, might have unforseen side effects. But still: Neat.