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A chat with Andy Revkin about Inhofe’s attack

Andrew Revkin has been reporting on climate and science for The New York Times for over 10 years. He recently completed a book about his experiences in the Arctic: The North Pole Was Here, a straightforward but appealing you-are-here account of visiting the top of our home planet, where the air is thin, the "ground" is ice floating on the ocean, and everything is changing. The story is intended to be accessible to anyone over the age of ten. (The first chapter is available for free on the NYT site.)

You might think it unlikely that a children's book would warrant the attention or ire of a U.S. senator -- but then, you may not know Marc Morano. Morano is a communications director for Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), a former staffer at The Rush Limbaugh Show, and the first in the media to publicize the smears of the Swift Boat veterans. Since joining Inhofe's staff, Morano has issued communiques from the office of the Senate Environment Committee, which Inhofe chairs, blasting reporters that fail to give equal time to climate skeptics. (Read about Morano's attacks on AP reporter Seth Borenstein and ex-NBC anchor Tom Brokaw.)

Neither the senator nor his attack dog appear to have read Revkin's book, but it has drawn their fire nonetheless -- not because of what it says, but because it was written by a reporter.

According to a story broken by Greenwire (paid subscription required) on Wednesday, Morano called into doubt the 20 years of Revkin's reporting on climate change issues because "sales of Revkin's book ... would be enhanced by his paper's coverage of climate." Morano said: "We're not just shooting arrows."

I contacted Revkin to hear his point of view on the strange situation.

Subsidize this!

In a recent post on the four shifts in public policy that would have the greatest positive impact on the environment, number one was the elimination of natural resource subsidies. Every year, when I cover these subsidies in my environmental economics class, it amazes me that societies around the world continue to tolerate such vast abuses and wastes of money. They do so primarily because most people don't know about them (to educate yourself check here [PDF] and here), which is why I have decided to begin a campaign to lobby for their elimination.

Green is the new everything these days.

I just received a bumper sticker from ecoAmerica declaring that "Green is Red White & Blue."

But wait, no, green is the new black.

No, green is the new red.

Green is the new blue.

Gold.

White.

Pink.

Oatmeal?

I'm not sure what my point is. Maybe it's, damn people, get a new cliche (or is that an oxymoron?) Or maybe it's, I eagerly await the day when green is green. Not new. No need to be clever. Just infused in everything to the point that it's not even recognizable as green.

A bit of late-Friday philosophy.

The City Gas Guzzler

You gotta love this new ad from Greenpeace. Well, unless you're an SUV owner.

(Via TH)

Crime goes up with temperature, says a new study.

You're constantly inundated with information about global warming wreaking havoc on wildlife, plants, oceans, human health, and everything else unfortunate enough to be under our sun. Do you feel angry? Does it just make you want to punch or steal or shoot something?

Well, it could be less your reaction to the news and more just the warming weather itself. A new study by Canadian criminal psychologist Ehor Boyanowsky posits that crime rises in correlation with temperature.

Thom Yorke’s solo album focuses on climate change

Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead, is not the first pop artist to find success with a song about global warming.

Andrew Bird, a superb violinist and exciting new rock musician with a long-term interest in weather systems, already has an alternative hit with his Tables and Chairs, a soaring song with a great chorus about global warming:

so don't, don't you worry, about the atmosphere
or any sudden pressure change
cause i know
that it's starting to get warm in here
and things are starting to get strange

But Yorke is the first rock star to top the charts with a record focused on global warming, hitting number two this week with his new album The Eraser. Although usually loathe to discuss the meaning of his often-inscrutable songs with the press, he openly described to the L.A. Times what inspired the record:

Unorthodox strategy results in key victory for marine mammals

Yes, folks, it's true. The House demonstrated Monday that they will -- on occasion -- vote "yes" on conservation issues, when Rep. Richard Pombo put forward and the House passed a new version of the Marine Mammal Protection Act that left the Dolphin Deadline intact.

This was truly an amazing victory, and I'm not just saying this because my organization, Oceana, led the work that pulled this off. We took on those who wanted to kill the deadline -- the key timeline for government to ensure that commercial fishing operations minimize the catch of dolphins and other marine mammals in their activities -- and won. The amazing part is how we did it -- by going to Republicans and proving that supporting legislation that "kills Flipper" is not good politics for Republicans or Democrats.

How Much Wood Would a Woodpecker Peck If a Woodpecker Existed?

Judge halts irrigation project that could harm ivory-billed’s habitat A federal judge has temporarily halted a $319 million Army Corps of Engineers irrigation project in Arkansas, pending further study of potential impact to the habitat of the ivory-billed woodpecker — which may or may not be extinct. The last confirmed sighting of the bird in […]

Ya Sure, You Hetcha

New report feeds controversy over California’s Hetch Hetchy dam Activists have pushed for over 20 years to restore Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchy Valley to its natural state by knocking down a now 82-year-old dam and draining a 117-billion-gallon reservoir. This week, a California state report indicated that the project is technically feasible — although […]

Can we really buy the change we want to see in the world?

Dumb me. I went to the Zappa Plays Zappa concert last month. Great show, with Dweezil faithfully channeling his dad Frank. But I felt kind of dorky lugging my bicycle helmet around the theater.

You see, I had made the 10-mile round trip between lower Manhattan, where I live, and the Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side, by bicycle. Burning a gallon of gas to go 20 miles makes 20 pounds of CO2, so I figure that by biking instead of taking a taxi I prevented 10 pounds of climate-altering greenhouse gases from going into the atmosphere. That may not be much, but it's something.

But now I'm told that for 6 cents I could have been just as "climate-neutral" as I was by pedaling ten rather sweaty miles. Just a nickel and a penny could have purchased enough wind-generated electricity to keep the coal-fired power grid from burning a few lumps of bituminous and releasing 10 pounds of CO2 -- the same climate-altering amount the cab ride would have made.

Says who? The very popular, and now supposedly climate-conscious, Dave Matthews Band.