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Global warming may be primarily to blame

"The violence in Darfur is usually attributed to ethnic hatred. But global warming may be primarily to blame," concludes the Atlantic Monthly (sub. req).

The article is worth quoting at length, for two reasons. First, the world needs to understand its moral obligation in Darfur if human emissions of greenhouse gases were a major contributing cause to the crisis. Second, the article almost single-handedly contradicts an absurd article that appears in the same issue by Gregg Easterbrook, suggesting that global warming might have as many winners as losers (which I will discuss in a later post). Here are the key parts of the Darfur article:

Global warming is going to f*ck us all kinds of up

A new Gallup poll finds that "most Americans believe it will be a decade or more before the manifestations of global warming begin to wreak havoc." Meanwhile, from Seth Borenstein’s account of the leaked draft of the IPCC WGII report (which I wrote about here): “Changes in climate are now affecting physical and biological systems […]

Daylight saving time

To get Gristmill to display the proper time under posts, I had to go into my profile and change my time zone from PST to PDT. Perhaps you need to do the same. Just FYI.

We don’t need to keep burning coal, oil , and gas for electricity

In "A simple choice," David points out the absurdity of framing the greenhouse debate as "we have no alternatives." He points out how foolish it is to assume that reducing emissions has no value, that paying even slightly more for electricity is out of the question, that increasing efficiency even slightly is out of the question.

Even under those assumptions, we have alternatives. Suppose we stupidly decided we are not going to replace one incandescent light bulb with compact fluorescent lamps. Suppose we stupidly decided not to take advantage of all the ways we have to increase the efficiency of motors, especially the motor-driven pumps that account for much of our electricity use. Suppose we stupidly decided to phase out electricity emissions solely by replacing our existing electrical infrastructure with low-carbon infrastructure.

It turns out that even this is less stupid than what we are doing now. We could replace every non-hydro power plant in the U.S. with wind generators and electricity storage and lower our electricity bill.

Even Homer Simpson is in on it

As wildfires rage (uncharacteristically) in early March in Southern California, the New York Times runs a front page story on new movies about environmental revenge. Several big productions, including a $200 million attacking aliens effort by Terminator creator James Cameron, will be released next year and show humans threatened by the consequences of damaged environments. Even Homer Simpson is getting into the act.

The lazy girl’s (and guy’s) secret to toxin-free moisturizing

No, that's not an overstatement, and, no, I don't have secret stock in some Greek olive oil soap manufacturer (though come to think of it, that's not a bad idea). What I do have is just-shy-of-leathery skin and a lazy streak when it comes to moisturizing anything but my face. Not so good traits when you're 10 -- even worse when you're pushing 33.

How to form a vegetarian dining co-op

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a meal I'd made for my weekly vegetarian dining co-op. A reader asked how we went about setting up the co-op, because he wanted to create a similar group that would focus on local, sustainable foods. Since he lived in the area, we invited him and his wife to dinner on March 18. He modestly replied, "I'm in a band with an Irish flavor and we're kind of busy that weekend." (Kind of busy? He's in The Larkin Brigade, and they're gigging all over the place. Check out their video.)

So I've written up some tips from our dining group that I hope will be helpful to him and to anyone who wants to start a co-op of their own.

Anybody heard about this too-good-to-be-true solar company?

OK, I’m probably the last kid on the block to notice this, but … This company, Citizenrē, says it will put a solar voltaic system on your house for no upfront cost. All you have to do is pay for the electricity produced by the system, and the company pledges that the cost for that […]

Bush visit to Brazil coincides with rising food prices

Three articles appeared before me in the last half-hour: "The hard truth about ethanol," "Palm-oil frenzy taking toll" (both on the second page of the Sunday Seattle Times), and "Why grocery bills are getting bigger" from MSN Money.

From the first article:

Sting along

Oh, Sting. How I love thee and thy ageless, yoga-chiseled physique. And now that I'm older and grateful for any sane voice that rises above the usual blah-blah-blah media clamor, I also relish your tireless political activism. Sure, I haven't really liked any of your music since that weird but haunting '80s song about the Russians loving their children too ("Mr. Krushchev said we will bury you/I don't subscribe to that point of viiiiieeeeeeew" -- love it). But there must be some reason I perk up every time I see you and Trudi on the telly.