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Melinda Kramer, advocate for grassroots women activists, answers questions

Melinda Kramer. Photo: Caitlin Sislin. With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I am cofounder and codirector of Women’s Global Green Action Network, an international organization that unites and empowers grassroots women advocates, entrepreneurs, and community leaders around the world who are working in the areas of environmental, economic, and social justice. How does your […]

Army Corps of Darkness

Army Corps of Engineers has screwed up more than NOLA levees The Army Corps of Engineers spends hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on ill-designed, ineffective, and environmentally disastrous projects — and that’s not the enviros talking. Harsh critiques of the Corps — whose work includes draining wetlands and mucking about with rivers — have […]

Americans and Climate Change: Intro and executive summary

We've talked a great deal on this site about how best to "frame" global warming. How can we shrink the gap between what science tells us about the dangers of climate change and the relative disengagement of the American public? How can we get the public fired up and thus spur more aggressive policy responses?

That's the subject of "Americans and Climate Change," a new report from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, based on a conference held late last year. The 200-page report can be ordered in book form or downloaded for free as a PDF (uh, PDF). (It's written by Associate Dean Daniel Abbasi, based on notes from the conference.)

Now, normally, a post like this would end here. I would recommend the report and move on.

But let's face it. None of you are going to pay $20 to order a conference report. None of you are going to read a 200-page PDF.

And here's the thing: I actually read this one. The whole thing. And it's extraordinary: lucid, insightful, and practical. So I don't want to let it pass by. (Incidentally, thanks to the NYT's Andy Revkin for recommending it.)

I contacted the folks at Yale, and they've agreed to let me reprint some or all of the report (depending on how it goes), in small chunks that are easier to read than, say, a 200-page PDF.

I hope it starts some discussion. And I hope it isn't, as my wife tactlessly suggests, the dorkiest, wonkiest thing anyone's ever done, ever.

Below you'll find the beginning of the Executive Summary, which frames the rest of the report.

Attribution 101

The Wall Street Journal editorial page is responsible for a great deal of the FUD that still surrounds global warming. But their news operation is top notch.

Case in point: Here's an excellent, plain-language explanation for how climate scientists attribute warming to human activity, from Sharon Begley. Bookmark it and send the link to friends who've been reading too many WSJ editorials.

(via Deltoid)

As the windmill turns: A native perspective

Who would have thought my sleepy little home town of Corpus Christi and nearby Padre Island would be in the news so much this year. First dead-eye Dick Cheney shoots his friend in the face at a ranch nearby, and the victim is whisked to our local hospital. Now the largest wind farm in the U.S. is slated for waters a little ways down the coast. (This picture showing the location of the wind farm even includes the town of Armstrong, near the Armstrong Ranch where the hunting of quail and shooting of friends took place!)

So as you might guess, the news of the new wind farm caught my attention.

President Al Gore’s SOTU

Somewhere, in an alternate reality ...

Thanks SNL!

Update [2006-5-15 11:10:13 by David Roberts]: It appears the video was yanked off YouTube. For now, at least, it's still available on Crooks & Liars.

Update [2006-5-16 15:11:25 by David Roberts]: It's also available on iFilm.

Tug of war

I have tried to stay out of the ethanol debate because I always assumed it would die a natural death. However, it does not seem to be going away, so I thought I would look into the latest hoopla.

A tug of war is quietly taking place inside environmental groups as individuals sort out where they stand on a given biofuel issue. For example, Mongabay has an upbeat article on biofuels, surrounded by articles showing its destructive potential. I suspect the same thing is happening inside the Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, and everywhere else. The idea that environmentalists are now in bed with God-fearing patriots on the issue of oil independence might seem unsettling at first, but to be honest with you, neither side has a monopoly on rational thought. When our heads start to hurt from thinking too much, we tend to just go with what feels good.

Rest in infamy

GM has killed the Hummer. The big one, anyway. Baby steps.

(via Environmental Action)

Feebird!

Continuing with the recent spate of attention to "feebates," Republican senator Gordon Smith from Oregon floated the feebate concept at a recent congressional hearing. Bully for him!

With gas prices as high as they are, and the security costs of ensuring North America's petroleum supplies (think, say, of the cost of America's military involvement in Iraq), feebates are an idea whose time has come. And Smith's support suggests that the idea may even have some bipartisan appeal.

The basic idea of feebates is to charge car buyers an extra fee when they buy a gas guzzler, and rebate that money to people who buy efficient vehicles. The amount of the fee or rebate depends on the miles-per-gallon rating of the vehicle, compared with the average for all new cars sold. (For more details, see here).

The beauty of feebates is that they create incentives for continuous improvements to vehicle efficiency. That is, no matter how efficient the average car or truck becomes, feebates will still help boost sales of the most efficient vehicles on the market.

Grist props

Columbia Journalism Review has a very flattering write-up of our late, lamented Poverty & the Environment series. Cool.