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Blogs

For some reason I missed this New York Magazine article on blogs when it came out, but if you're interested in the medium and the social relationships that shape it, you really should check it out. Most mainstream media articles on blogs sound like they're written by dimwitted, half-ass anthropologists, but this one came from an insider. It's fascinating.

Albatross numbers dwindling

It's no surprise that long-line fishing is depleting our fish populations in staggering numbers. But many don't realize that the effects are felt above the ocean's surface as well. As the BBC reports, up to 100,000 albatrosses a year get caught on the baited hooks of long-lines and are pulled down to drown. Populations of three species breeding on South Georgia (country, not state!) and outlying islands have declined by about a third in the past 30 years. Dr. Sullivan of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said simple measures such as "flying streamers behind the fishing boat or adding weights to the line so they sink more quickly would help to stop albatrosses being killed."

That's easier said than done. If fishermen were willing to take "simple measures," we wouldn't have the massive dirty fishing problem we have today.

Shiver Our Timbers

Washington state timber industry gets exemption from species act For the next 50 years, the Washington state timber industry will be shielded from prosecution under the Endangered Species Act for harming salmon. In return, the industry has agreed to help the fish by leaving more trees standing near critical streams, reducing logging on unstable slopes, […]

Across the pond looks like over the rainbow: Business and gov’t dealing with climate change together

The Guardian reported yesterday that "heads of some of Britain's biggest companies are meeting Tony Blair today to demand tougher targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions."

What's this? Industry demanding that government set tougher targets? Has the metric system created a different economic system where business likes regulation?

Americans and Climate Change: Setting goals II

"Americans and Climate Change: Closing the Gap Between Science and Action" (PDF) is a report synthesizing the insights of 110 leading thinkers on how to educate and motivate the American public on the subject of global warming. Background on the report here. I'll be posting a series of excerpts (citations have been removed; see original report). If you'd like to be involved in implementing the report's recommendations, or learn more, visit the Yale Project on Climate Change website.

Today's excerpt is long but I love it -- it's one of my favorite bits of the report. It's about the "four paradoxes of urgency."

Groovy Green

Groovy Green has left its blog cocoon and become a magazine. You can acquaint yourself via a thought-provoking list of ways to localize your life.

Soccer’s biggest to-do goes green.

This article says that more than 30 billion people -- out of a world population of 6.6 billion -- are expected to tune into the upcoming soccer football World Cup. So that just goes to show you how popular soccer football is.

The event kicks off (ha!) on Friday in Germany and my fiancé would be happy to tell you when all the games are being played, which team is playing which, what their chances are of moving to the next round, what color each team wears, the name of every player on every team, and precisely how to work, eat, sleep, plan a wedding, and watch six hours of soccer football every day for over a month. Me -- all I've got is the green angle.

Says the World Cup environmentalness website:

Pollan on Wal-Mart and organic

Michael Pollan covers Wal-Mart's move into organic food in the NYT, and it is, predictably, the best piece I've read on the subject.

PAYD in full

Right now, most of us -- at least those of us with cars -- pay for our car insurance in big lump sums, just a few times a year. And how much we pay for our coverage has very little to do with how much we drive.

Sure, many insurance companies offer lower rates for low-mileage drivers. But the discounts are piddling. According to this article, for example, if you drive 5,000 miles a year or less, you might be able to cut your premiums by a paltry 10 percent -- that is, you drive one third as much as a typical policyholder, but still pay 90 percent of the insurance premiums. People who drive a lot pay less than they should, while people who drive only a little subsidize the policies of high-mileage drivers.

As my daughter would say, "No fair."

Congress to tackle climate change and peak oil

Only not:

With only a few months left on the legislative calendar, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has decided to abandon any efforts at bipartisanship in favor of using his chamber to hold a series of highly partisan, mostly symbolic votes on conservative causes, including amendments banning gay marriage and flag burning, and fully repealing the estate tax.

Although Frist has peppered the Senate schedule with a handful of substantive issues -- including likely votes this week on a new U.S. trade representative, a Native Hawaiian-rights bill and a new mine-safety czar -- the chamber will put off work on major legislation such as the fiscal 2007 Defense authorization bill in order for Frist to pursue items of special interest to his party's conservative base.

(via WM)