Uncategorized

Further data on the environmental movement’s diversity challenge

Hot on the heels of a recent Gristmill feature by Marcelo Bonta of the Center for Diversity and the Environment on this issue, an article on the environmental movement's lack of diversity appeared in The Oregonian this weekend, which dug into the details close to home:

The 115 staff members for the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, Oregon Environmental Council, Ecotrust, Oregon Wild and the Audubon Society of Portland include two Latinos, two Asian Americans, one Native American and no African Americans, their leaders say.

So yes, green groups can do better in terms of hiring. But Bonta, who's interviewed, makes the case again that these groups need to go beyond recruiting to engage in dialogue on the issue. They'll be very likely to find, and surveys back this up, that people of color are just as committed to conservation as they are.

Boston Gullible

Via Autoblog Green, it looks like the widely discredited study showing that Hummers beat Priuses has now reached prime time: For Gristmillian debunkings of the study, see biodiversivist and Joe Romm.

California’s chinook salmon population near “unprecedented collapse”

The number of chinook salmon returning from the Pacific Ocean to California’s Sacramento River is near record lows and points to an “unprecedented collapse,” according to fisheries managers. In 2007, only about 90,000 adult chinook returned to the Sacramento River, down from about 277,000 in 2006 and a high of over 800,000 in 2002. Even […]

Gimme my P-Per

According to Yanko Design, this mobile phone — the lamentably named "P-Per," designed by the folks at Chocolate Agency — is eco-friendly because it minimizes materials, consisting "of just 4 layers, a printed circuit board, extruded polycarbonate, recycled titanium, and a wrap around flexible haptic LED touchscreen." Gaze upon it: photo: Yanko Design I want […]

Notable quotable

“… perhaps the worst example of inter-specific aggression any of us had ever seen. This young female had literally had the life beaten out of her.” — members of the Cetacean Research and Rescue Unit, commenting on the recent discovery that packs of dolphins are attacking, pursuing, and bludgeoning to death not only porpoises but […]

If people want to keep up with the Joneses, could they at least adopt a different set of Joneses?

Social scientists tell us that having more material goods doesn’t make us happier, but that we buy them in order to retain parity with our social group. It is very difficult to resist this urge to keep up with the Joneses. It is, however, possible to voluntarily adopt a different set of Joneses with a […]

GreenPrint now free

GreenPrint, a piece of software that helps individuals and businesses reduce printing waste, is now free. FYI.

U.S. green movement is decidedly white

Photo: iStockphoto When it comes to race, the actual color of the green movement is decidedly white. According to a survey conducted from 2004 to 2006, more than one-third of U.S. mainstream green groups and one-fifth of eco-related government agencies have no nonwhite staff members. Minorities tend to join up with grassroots environmental-justice groups, leaving […]

Mine safety agency realizes it hasn’t been penalizing law-breakers

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration recently discovered that it has failed to follow up thousands of safety citations with actual, you know, penalties. Seven years now, since 2000, some 4,000 citations for safety violations have been followed up with … bupkis. Oopsie! Said Matthew Faraci, MSHA spokesflack, "Given that this seems to have […]

Iraq ratifies the Kyoto Protocol

While presumably having plenty else to worry about, Iraq has found time in its busy schedule to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. In other news, reports have it that U.S. President Bush, who refuses to ratify the protocol, will deliver a State of the Union speech tonight lauding progress in Iraq. Oh, the irony could make […]