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Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now

Louisiana sliding into the Gulf of Mexico, new report says Talk about kicking a state while it’s down. A new report says swampy southeastern Louisiana isn’t just sinking — it’s sliding sideways into the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists say Mississippi River sediments are causing Cajun country bedrock to shift. While those rebuilding the hurricane-ravaged area […]

That Was the Year That Was

Grist looks at the top news stories of 2006, wings it for 2007 Welcome to your new year! Before we rush into this great unknown annus, let’s pause to reflect on the wonders of 2006. Remember when George W. Bush proclaimed that the U.S. was “addicted to oil”? Yep, that was just 12 months ago, […]

Ignore them

As most of you have probably noticed, Gristmill has attracted a few trolls. I guess we can attribute that to some combination of increased popularity and the recent Coby-driven focus on global warming. There’s a lot to say about this, but I’m jammed with other things right now, so just a quick note. I’ve been […]

A cartoon for our times … from 1939

The only cartoon ever nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, circa 1939: [vodpod id=Video.3402&w=425&h=350&fv=] Happy 2007.

American automakers stuck with unsold gas-guzzlers

In 2006, droves (pun intended?) of Americans bought new fuel-efficient vehicles, while sales of large trucks and SUVs declined, leaving U.S. carmakers with hundreds of thousands of trucks and SUVs rusting on their lots. Chrysler alone had not sold 500,000 of its 2006 vehicles as of September! What an insanely colossal waste of resources that represents.

Jesse Toprak, Executive Director of Industry Analysis for the respected auto review site Edmunds.com, had this to say recently about the situation:

Gas prices will be a leading factor in how consumers choose what vehicles they purchase in the coming year. Automakers who are prepared for that trend will enjoy great success in 2007.

With the leading producer of hybrid vehicles, Toyota, about to overtake GM as the world's top carmaker, Detroit should take notice and stop making so many awful/unwanted vehicles.

From Grist

Far above the golden clouds, the darkness vibrates The earth is blue And everything about it is a love song — Paul Simon

Every one destined to be 100% correct

Last week I reviewed the top ten green stories of 2006. But looking back is easy. What’s going to happen in 2007? I have no clue. But being wrong carries no penalty in U.S. punditry, so I’m going to make a few predictions anyway. Twenty, to be specific. In 2007: Al Gore will a) win […]

Time for greens to get over their fear of big government

In a recent post, Ron Steenblik wrote:

Indeed, I am generally a skeptic of heavy-handed market manipulation.

A perfectly reasonable position for environmentalists in general to take, especially after the history of Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Corn, etc. using their power with the state.

Not to dump on Ron -- who only provided the most recent example of this general skepticism -- but greens in general need to get over their suspicion of the state; in particular, they need to move beyond the small-government, market-focused ideas deeded to us by some of our brightest lights (the Amory Lovinses of the world.)

Lots

Another year has come and gone and environmentalists of all stripes have good reason to be hopeful that 2007 is going to be a lot better for the environment than 2006. As we prepare for important work in the areas of marine policy, climate change, and the upcoming Farm Bill, it's a good idea to take part in a great New Year's tradition: looking back and seeing what we learned, especially things that challenged our preconceived notions.

So here's a partial list of things that I learned in 2006 (please feel free to add yours below):

Good stuff

Here’s the line-up from Friday night’s episode of the Charlie Rose Show: Segment 1: The pursuit of alternative energy and breakthroughs in green technology with John Doerr of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems, and K.R. Sridhar of Bloom Energy. Segment 2: A conversation about developments in the internet and the […]