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The Log Days of Bummer
GAO blames Bush administration for high cost of Biscuit timber salvage The Bush administration, not environmental lawsuits, is to blame for the nearly $11 million cost of a logging project that will salvage only $8.8 million worth of timber, says a new study from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. After the 2002 Biscuit fire burned […]
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Gloom and Plume
Hazardous-waste plant explosion forces evacuations in Apex, N.C. An explosion at a hazardous-waste disposal plant in Apex, N.C., late last night forced the evacuation of more than half the town. Some 17,500 people left their homes, and more than 40 have been hospitalized. The toxic plume that emerged from ironically named Environmental Quality Industrial Services […]
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Two announcements next week will advance the ball on global warming and sustainability
Next Tuesday, you'll hear two announcements that will have the words "tipping point" on the tongue of every analyst and pundit in medialand. For once, they may be right.
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Woodward’s new book is terrifying
From Woodward's new book:
During a meeting in the Oval Office, according to Woodward, Bush personally thanked Bandar because the Saudis had flooded the world oil market and kept prices down in the run-up to the 2004 general election.
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A Grist special series
Environmentalists and their politically progressive allies have long dismissed conservative evangelical Christians as repressive moralists and industry apologists. The suspicion and hostility are mutual: evangelicals see environmentalists as godless, anti-human pagans and socialists. Not exactly a match made in heaven. But relations are slowly thawing — in part thanks to, well, thawing. As glaciers and […]
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To Catch a Leaf
FBI raids companies linked to E. coli-tainted spinach Federal agents raided two produce plants in Salinas Valley, Calif., yesterday, as part of a criminal investigation into whether they violated food-safety and environmental laws in distributing E. coli-tainted spinach. The FBI and the Food and Drug Administration executed search warrants for the plants operated by Natural […]
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White House supports bottom trawling ban
I seem to be developing a habit of writing pro-Bush posts here (see this one and this one), but doggonnit, Bush is developing a habit of making pro-conservation ocean policies.
On Tuesday, the White House issued a statement calling for a halt to destructive bottom trawling on the high seas and promised that the U.S. "would work with other nations and international groups to change fishing practices and create international fishery regulatory groups if needed." See -- who said the White House doesn't play nice with other countries? Oh right, lots of people.
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Really
I'm in the last throes of getting camera and dive gear ready for a longish trip and a million other things, but I had to make the effort to let Gristmates know about this bit of news. This has been a contested issue -- up to now, at least. Perhaps now we can move on towards finding ways to protect wild salmon from the dangers posed by farming instead of arguing about whether those risks are real. They are.
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Rethinking ‘overpopulation’
"Overpopulation" is one of them. "Gay" is another. You can insist on calling yourself gay out of a stubborn refusal to let language evolve, but unless you are gay, you will be giving a lot of people the wrong impression.
The word "overpopulation" (which remains vague and poorly defined) has fallen out of favor and is rarely used in polite company. We can thank, at least in part, those who called for an increase in death rates and draconian restrictions on childbirth for that. They provided the fuel needed by hatemongers like Ann Coulter to make comments like, "We believe in populating the earth until there's standing room only, and then colonizing Mars."
It has also been interesting to watch, over the last 30 years, organizations like ZPG change their names (Population Connection) and evolve into, basically, women's reproductive-rights organizations, joining ranks with NARAL, NOW, and Planned Parenthood. Having won the struggle for lower fertility rates, these organizations now fight a running battle to protect past gains. Read this article from the Associated Press to see how well that battle is going:
Abortion access in many states is being curtailed, activists are uncertain about the stance of the U.S. Supreme Court, and South Dakotans vote Nov. 7 on a measure that would ban virtually all abortions in their state, even in cases of rape and incest.
Correction: The original post said that NPG [not ZPG] had changed their name.
