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Sure It’s Not the Politics?

Wildlife waste blamed for pollution in D.C.-area waterways Tired of being left out, nature has decided to join in the fun and pollute itself. A significant amount of harmful bacteria in Virginia and Maryland waterways has been pinned on, well, wildlife poop. The Potomac and Anacostia rivers and an additional two dozen or so streams […]

The Big Glad Wolf

Wolf population thriving in Rocky Mountain states The wolf population in the Northern Rocky Mountains has grown by more than 20 percent since last winter. Officials estimate that 158 wolf packs, totaling at least 1,229 members, are living it up in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. The midyear estimate is the highest population estimate since wolves […]

Fear it

Take a big breath, hold your nose, and here we go!

Clever

Jeffrey Sachs:

The biggest energy crisis of all, it seems, involves the misdirected energy of a US foreign policy built on war rather than scientific discovery and technological progress.

Check out the KiteShip

Shipping costs (and emissions) got you down? Try a KiteShip, winner of the prestigious California Clean Tech Open.

How cool is that?

WTF?

Let's take a moment, shall we, and dig through the layers of conservative talking points on the Kyoto Protocol.

The main claim is that it's "unfair" because it requires emissions reductions in developed countries, but not in developing countries (especially China and India) -- a commonly cited rationale when senators refused to vote for it under Clinton.

This is, as many others have pointed out, a morally troglodytic argument. The developed countries put the CO2 up there. That's how they got developed. That's how they got rich. Of course they have an obligation to act first and do more to solve the problem. If you spend years crapping in your house, and then take a homeless person in as a roommate, you don't quibble with your new roommate over who cleans up the shit. You clean it up. It's your shit.

Oy.

But then you have another argument which, instead of insulting the intelligence and moral standing of those in the developing world, adopts an unctuous tone of concern for their wellbeing. Consider this bit from Inhofe's goofball speech:

A heaping helping of paranoia

I went through a brief period of being obsessed with the Bush administration’s transparent attempt to elevate so-called "eco-terrorism" to the status of Biggest, Baddest Domestic Bogey Man. (Honestly, what threat will these supposed tough guys not piss their pants about?) But the Bushies are caught up in other struggles now, and the propaganda push […]

Smells like election season

Thanks to Matt over at TPM's Election Central for pointing this one out. Check out this recent ad from the Tennessee senatorial race:

An interview with Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx

Majora Carter is no ordinary environmental leader. For starters: She’s a woman, she’s black, and she’s not afraid to publicly challenge Al Gore. Majora Carter. Photos: Sustainable South Bronx In 2005, she was honored with a MacArthur “genius grant” for her work with Sustainable South Bronx, a group she founded to mobilize grassroots environmental activism […]

How would you spend it?

A new congressional analysis shows that we are spending roughly $2 billion a week on the Iraq War.

(Amusingly, when I Googled the subject, Google asked: "Did you mean: congressional analysis two million a week" -- I wish, Google. I wish.)

Meanwhile, Bush's FY06 budget request pushes for steep cuts in renewable energy funding.

Let your mind wander a bit. Imagine, if you will, that the situation were reversed: that Bush pushed for cuts to military spending and poured $2 billion a week into researching, developing, and deploying new renewable-energy and energy-efficiency technologies.

$2 billion a week. What would you do with it?