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Federal officials suggest killing sea lions to protect salmon

To protect endangered Northwest salmon, the National Marine Fisheries Service suggests giving Oregon and Washington state officials the authority to kill sea lions, which last year gobbled up more than 4 percent of the salmon running through the Columbia River’s Bonneville Dam. The action would likely result in about 30 sea lion deaths a year. […]

Green manufacturing could save the economy

Paul Krugman has been a hero of mine during the long, bleak reign of Bush the Younger, articulating arguments against Bush's philosophy and policies oh these many years. Krugman is one of the leading authorities on international trade, however, and so I was holding my breath, intellectually speaking, waiting to see what would happen when there were global economic troubles.

I can exhale, because he's revealed his Panglossian side: our current economic troubles are the result of a "global savings glut" -- that is, the U.S. is the victim of its own success. Foreigners are investing in our country because we are so wonderful, and the problem is that they got snookered into investing in scams like sub-prime mortgages.

What's this got to do with the environment? Krugman's argument, which was made first by now Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke (and the folks at the Cato Institute), distracts attention from what I think is the true problem: the decline of manufacturing. If people would understand the real problem, they might be more open to a greening of America by revving up manufacturing of renewable energy technologies, public transit, and retrofitting, to name a few.

But first let's take a look at what Krugman said:

Nora Roberts will match donations to Defenders of Wildlife

Well, well, well. Who ever said that trashy romance novels couldn’t change an endangered species’ life? Ferret-related plagiarism by romance novelist Cassie Edwards has brought the world more than just a discussion of the various outdoor places our readers like to get down and dirty. (But, um, that was very enlightening.) According to Smart Bitches […]

Judge temporarily drops two restrictions on Navy’s use of sonar, retains others

Earlier this week, President Bush exempted the U.S. Navy from parts of an environmental law so it could continue to use mid-frequency sonar off the California coast. Mid-frequency sonar has been linked to deafness, beachings, and other injuries of marine mammals. Responding to Bush’s move, the federal judge who earlier this month ordered the Navy […]

Green groups seek to overturn mine exemption from ESA reviews

Four green groups and two state agencies have filed a petition with federal wildlife and mining agencies seeking to change the long-standing policy of exempting mountaintop-removal mining from specific Endangered Species Act reviews. In 1996, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided that mountaintop-removal mining wouldn’t unduly imperil threatened species if mines followed other environmental […]

Deal reached to remove Klamath River dams for salmon; obstacles remain

The Klamath River near the California-Oregon border has been a hotspot in the clash over endangered salmon runs and the irrigation needs of area farmers, but a formal deal reached yesterday suggests a way out of the long-standing disagreements. The plan — agreed to by a diverse group of stakeholders in the region including Indian […]

Wildlife writer discusses being plagiarized by a romance novelist

Did our writeup of a romance novelist’s plagiarism of a wildlife magazine pique your curiosity (or anything else)? Read a hilarious firsthand account of the action by Paul Tolme, who originally wrote the description of black-footed ferrets that romance writer Cassie Edwards lifted for pillow talk between a libidinous Lakota chieftain and a provocative pioneer. […]

Protesters converge on Japan’s whaling fleet; Aussie court rules Japan hunt illegal

It’s been high drama on the high seas the past few days as the unpopular Japanese whaling fleet has been at the heart of legal action and a target of direct-action protest. Earlier this week, Greenpeace successfully tracked down Japan’s whaling fleet in Antarctic waters and has been chasing them around, disrupting the hunt. Today, […]

Forest Service official threatened with jail time, Britain will push ahead with nuclear power, and m

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: You’ve Got Jail Border in the Court Nuclear Skies Ahead The Splice of Rice in China Tiny Tata Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Good Thymes and Bad For Give Worn Yesterday

Umbra on green donations

Hey Umbra, With strict instructions from me, my parents decided to skip most of the presents this Christmas and give me the big-ticket item I had requested: money to give away. They’ve given me $1,000, far more than I expected, to donate to the charity of my choice. What environmental organizations would you recommend? (Other […]