Uncategorized

It’s easy if you try

Everyone should check out this amazing piece on New Scientist: "Imagine earth without people."

I'm not one of your humans-are-a-cancer greens. That kind of talk is philosophically vacuous and pragmatically disastrous. But even an I Heart People enviro like me can take a moment to marvel at just how much better the earth's ecosystems would be without us.

The piece is not just casual people-bashing. It goes into quite a bit of depth, tracing the cascading effects of our sudden absence. As it says, "The humbling -- and perversely comforting -- reality is that the Earth will forget us remarkably quickly."

Also of note in the same vein is this graphic from The Times.

Not as dirty as it sounds

If you liked Dan Whipple's piece today on property-rights initiatives -- and how could you not? -- be sure to head over to New West and check out his evisceration of the position on global warming taken by Wyoming's Kooky Kongresslady Barbara Cubin (R).

It is amusing, in an are-these-people-really-in-charge? sort of way.

The Great Warming goes to God

My dad, Mike Taylor, has spent most of his adult life running a small production house in Montreal. High production values, integrity, and so on, but no glory, no glamour. Actually, the studio, like so many others there, used to be between the hooker district and the gay village, so I guess there was a certain showbiz air ...

Anyway, the business was what he knew, and he felt a duty to employees to keep it going. Now, the success of the company's first documentary, The Great Warming, may screw all that up -- but it's really his own fault.

Reopening of conservation area threatens sea turtles

Pacific leatherback sea turtles have survived ice ages, major volcanic events, meteor impacts, and most every predator in the sea. But their nearly 100 million years on this planet could come to an end because of a simpler but deadlier foe: string.

Texas gov. loves him some coal companies

A new raft of coal plants proposed in Texas may damn the world to decades of increased climate warming, but they sure seem to be paying off for Texas Gov. Rick Perry:

An interesting thesis on why the disgraced Congressman suddenly switched on Cafta.

Did President Bush and the House leadership not only know about Mark Foley's predilection for page-chasing, but use their knowledge last year to blackmail him to vote "yes" on Cafta?

Not as dirty as it sounds

I've had the pleasure of covering all sorts of environmental matters, and interviewing fellow enviro-writers, in the past few years, often for Grist. But so far no piece has reverberated quite like Naughty by Nature: Ever thought about the toxins in your sex toys? Not that I'm complaining; my reputation as the author of this article consistently precedes me into various NYC green gatherings, leading to all manner of astonishingly frank conversation with casual acquaintances or total strangers. And when asked at dinner parties to explain what I do as an environmental journalist, it sure beats the melting Arctic or the destruction of the Everglades for upbeat chat.

Happily for the sexual health of every American, interest in this topic just won't quit. To wit: I have a couple soundbites in this inaugural installment of TreeHugger Radio, a partnership between our pals at TH and EcoTalk Radio. As a huge fan of radio -- and environmental journalism in all media formats -- I wish them the best of luck.

Living in the suburbs may not be so cheap

The conventional wisdom is that it's cheaper to live in the outer suburbs (i.e., a long drive from jobs, stores, or schools) than closer to a town or city center. I suppose that's true enough -- if you're looking only at the cost of housing.

But if you live a long way from most of the places you want to go, you wind up driving a lot more. And that, of course, costs money too -- not just for gas, but also for depreciation on your car, maintenance and the like.

Which leads to the obvious question: what happens if you combine transportation costs and housing costs into a single budget? Is living at the urban fringe still cheaper?

There have already been a couple of attempts (see, e.g., here) to look this issue. Now there's a new study, noted here in The Washington Post. The key finding: when you combine travel and housing, living in a suburban outpost can cost more than living closer to a town or city center. According to the study's author:

Global warming goodness

As if you need more reason to watch the meteorological smorgasbord that is the Weather Channel, every Sunday they are now showing the Climate Code, an hour long program focusing on climate change causes, effects, and solutions. I haven't seen the show yet, but if the website is any indication, it should be great.

Wow

A landslide in Japan: