Uncategorized

Rising sugar prices mean even more profit for the ethanol king.

In today's Main Dish, I attempt to lay out the long and twisted tale of Archer Daniels Midland's government-aided hijacking of the nation's biofuel market. (A while back, during the Poverty and the Environment series, I tried to tell the related story of how ADM high-jacked the food system.)

A few days ago, an interesting bit caught my eye in the Wall Street Journal that I couldn't fit into my piece. It's a twist on the topic of ADM, high-fructose corn syrup, ethanol, and Brazil.

Watch out, EPA dudes!

Kevin Drum flags this little bit from the latest Evans-Novak Political Report:

He understands you … and you too

Let's discuss Barack Obama, shall we?

I'm about 3/4 of the way through his book. The first half or so is mostly him telling stories -- his own history, stories from his campaigns, stories about his fellow senators. The writing is just spectacular: clear, engaging, slyly funny, self-deprecating, perfectly paced. It's got those touches of idiosyncrasy no ghostwriter can capture (if you've read ghostwritten books, you know they all have a certain feel). It's clear he's uncommonly self-aware, intelligent, authentic, and charismatic. It's impossible to resist the guy.

But when he turns to discussion of the issues, the tic emerges. In every case, there are two moldy, entrenched positions, politicized extremes advanced by shrill partisans. In every case, neither of those moldy positions adequately addresses our current realities. He, however, has a clear-eyed, above-the-fray position of his own that synthesizes all the best of both extremes.

We Mine the World

Nuclear-hungry nations eye Africa’s uranium deposits In the 1980s, western nations tried to help Africa by assembling celebs to croon about its woes. Today we see how silly that is, so we’re back to extracting resources instead. It’s so much more direct, and with energy consumption rising, it will help for a long time! As […]

Lunguna Beach

Study says California diesel responsible for 1,100 premature deaths Overpopulation plaguing your state? Follow California’s lead and kill ’em off! A Union of Concerned Scientists study says diesel emissions from old construction equipment contributed to 1,100 premature deaths and half a million sick days in California in 2005, costing an estimated $9.1 billion. “Construction equipment […]

They’re getting nervous

When it comes to global warming, Andrew Revkin of The New York Times is without peer at clarifying the science and Elizabeth Kolbert of The New Yorker is the scariest writer in the land.

But this year, The Washington Post established itself as the newspaper best at showing us how global warming is happening right now, with superb articles on the alarming spread of the mountain pine beetle, on changes in the movements of butterflies, polar bears, and mountain water sources, on energy producers ready for regulation of carbon emissions, and this past weekend a major story on how the insurance industry has changed its attitude about homeowner policies in Florida and along the East Coast, thanks to global warming.

Joel Garreau is not the first reporter to cover the story, but his story -- "A Dream Blown Away" -- brings it home with more clarity and verve than any in memory.

To wit:

Bird flu will enter the U.S. from the south, say researchers

While the pure panic over a global avian flu pandemic seems to have died down, the virus continues to spread. To date, H5N1 has showed up in 55 countries, but has not yet touched the Western Hemisphere. Also to date, the U.S. government has assumed that the most likely route for bird flu's arrival into the lower 48 would be through wild birds; accordingly, they've put some $29 million into surveilling wild birds migrating from Asia to Alaska and down.

Sweeping political repudiation …

... isn't going to stop Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) from being a tool.

Meetings, meetings who love meetings

Sorry for the lack of blogginess today. I've been in some marathon meetings about Grist's target audience, how to reach them, what they want, what we want to become, and how to select a concrete course out of the almost limitless possibilities in front of us. Heady stuff.

There's all sorts of interesting stuff going on out in the world, including a new report ranking carbon offset providers that has created quite a fuss in that sector. But alas, it shall all have to wait until tomorrow.

Funny video alert!

These retractable pillars are traffic-control devices in Manchester, England. People don't seem to really get them: