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Massey Energy CEO is a really bad dude

The venerable print magazine Old Trout was recently relaunched with a splashy issue on "The Thirteen Scariest Americans." I was asked to write up the scariest American from an environmental point of view.

The choice was not difficult. The scariest polluter in the U.S. is Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy. The guy is evil, and I don't use that word lightly.

The issue is out now. (Look for it on a newsstand near you!) The folks at Old Trout have given me permission to publish an expanded version of the piece after a suitable period of exclusivity. So watch for that at the beginning of December.

In the meantime, check out three things.

It’s, um, slogan-y

Grist's fair HQ of Seattle has revealed a new city slogan, posted prominently on top of the famous Space Needle. And that slogan, my friends?

METRONATURAL.

As defined by Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau:

adj. 1: Having the characteristics of a world-class metropolis within wild, beautiful natural surroundings. 2: A blending of clear skies and expansive water with a fast-paced city life.

n. 1: One who respects the environment and lives a balanced lifestyle of urban and natural experiences. 2. Seattle.

Mmmmkay. First of all, "metrosexual" is so last year. Second of all, to some people, including myself, it's not eliciting the response the tourism bureau hoped for ("Wow, it's a city and it's nature!"). One Pike Place Market vendor says, "How do you use that in a sentence? 'Welcome to Metronatural.' ... It's an airport where you can buy organic bananas."

Yes, it beats See-@-L. But what doesn't?

BioDee was in Arizona

Kaela was able to deduce where I was with very few clues because this ecosystem in Arizona is so unique. Would developers cover the Saguaro National Park in subdivisions given the opportunity? Sure they would. The only reason they don't is, they can't. This is another function of government -- protecting biodiversity from the profit motive.

This time, the lovely hand model holding the flying grasshopper is my youngest daughter. We didn't see many hummingbirds, but at one bush I counted five butterfly species.

Won’t give interviews

Rep. Richard "Dick" Pombo has decided that the way to win his race is to clam up, avoid the media, and allow his name recognition and the native conservatism of his district to carry the day. He figures that's enough.

Others disagree.

Iceland resumes commercial whaling

The recent decision by Iceland to resume whaling, and to blatantly ignore the nearly two-decade-old moratorium established by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), is infuriating and puzzling.

Iceland's Ministry of Fishing justified its decision by arguing that the "catches are clearly sustainable and therefore consistent with the principle of sustainable development," but conveniently left out the fact that the fin whales now on their whaler's list are also on the International Conservation Union's "red list" of endangered species.

Within hours of the decision, the first harpooners were off on their mission of "sustainability," and the first two fin whales have already been caught.

Iceland's actions make the next IWC meeting all the more important. In the meantime, let's tell Iceland to call the fleet back in.

Help! We Need Somebody

Grist seeks volunteers for festive events in San Francisco You know how they say if you’re going to San Francisco, you should wear flowers in your hair? Well, Grist is getting the organic Gerbera daisies ready. We’re going to be in town from Nov. 10 – 12 for the Green Festival, and we’ll be holding […]

Brazil wants you to buy one.

This may be good for Big Ethanol:

Brazilian company ABC Esso will soon sell an adapter in the U.S. that lets any gasoline vehicle burn up to 100 percent ethanol.

But perhaps not that good:

According to Vidar Lura, managing director of Abcesso, the product will sell for between $500 and $900.

"Abcesso" is much funnier than "ABC Esso."

Beware, ye Halloween pirates and princesses.

We just received a timely pre-Halloween press release from the Sierra Club, warning about the dangers of toy jewelry. Not the choking hazard, or the dressing-like-Mr.-T-for-the-fourth-year-in-a-row hazard, but the leaching-toxic-metals hazard.

Toy jewelry, apparently, can have high amounts of lead. It also, according to the Sierra Club, has become a popular trick-or-treat item in recent years. (Thanks, but I'll take the candy. Unless you have a locally grown, organic apple sans razor blade?)

Lead is bad for you, particularly if you are a trick-or-treating-age tot -- even more particularly if you are a trick-or-treating-age tot with a propensity for putting anything and everything into your mouth.

Slate and TH challenge readers to lose 2.5 tons apiece

Slate and fellow green blog TreeHugger have just launched an eight-week Green Challenge carbon diet. The goal: to get readers to cut their carbon emissions 20 percent through the usual variety of actions. The kicker: an interactive "my emissions" evaluation tool that friends can use to challenge one another. Nothing like a little competition to spice things up.

(I'd love to share my results, especially since this week's theme is transportation, but it's not yet working for me. Anyone else?)

It never ends

Last Wednesday, conservative Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby cited me by name in a column about how liberals want to destroy free speech.

This represents the latest (last?) stage in what has been a textbook conservative media swarm. It starts when a movement ideologue (in this case Marc Morano, hired attack dog of Sen. James Inhofe) plucks a quote out of context from an obscure source (in this case, Gristmill) and uses it to caricature the entire left side of the political spectrum. Then the context-free, already-spun quote spreads like wildfire around the conservative echo chamber, which is always ravenous for tidbits that reinforce its worldview. After buzzing around for a while, it drifts upward, being cited on talk radio and eventually in mainstream outlets like Fox News and now the Boston Globe.

It's a well-oiled machine. I have no illusions that I can stop it or alter its course. The right's sense of aggrievement, its victim complex, is adamantine, and nothing I can do will dent it.

Nonetheless, I sent a letter to the editor to the Globe. They printed an edited version of it today. Below is the original: