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Roger Mustalish, Amazon researcher and protector, answers questions

Roger Mustalish. With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I’m president of the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research Foundation, a U.S. nonprofit with offices in West Chester, Penn., and in Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado, Peru. What does your organization do? ACEER’s mission is to promote environmental conservation by being a catalyst for awareness, […]

The Songhua Remains the Same

Pollution from November spill in China still taints downstream waterways Months after a factory explosion in China dumped benzene and other chemicals into the Songhua River, thawing ice is releasing a second wave of toxins into downstream waterways near Khabarovsk, Russia. More than half a million residents of the city have been advised not to […]

Roger That

Roger Mustalish, Amazon researcher and protector, answers Grist‘s questions Imagine strolling along a walkway that weaves through the treetops of a lush Amazonian cloud forest in Peru. Construction on this canopy classroom will begin this summer, thanks to Roger Mustalish and the nonprofit he runs, the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research. As InterActivist […]

Daschle and Obama on energy and climate change

You can ask questions:

Curious George and Jack Johnson

A little while back, on a whim, I downloaded Sing-A-Longs & Lullabies for the Film Curious George, a set of songs by crunchy-mellow-surferdude Jack Johnson. I haven't seen the movie and I don't own any other Johnson albums, but my kid went through a Curious George phase, so I figured he might like it.

I'm somewhat embarrassed to reveal that he's not the only one. In the shower the other day I found myself humming:

Farmers markets

We're all fairly familiar with the environmental and economic benefits of farmers markets -- they prevent food from traveling long distances, they keep money in the regional economy, they encourage organic farming, they keep land in the hands of local farmers and out of the hands of sprawly developers, etc. etc.

But as I strolled around the Ballard farmers market today, I was most struck by the social benefits.

Insuring pork

Two articles in the Washington Post jumped out at me this morning. Neither is explicitly "green," but both have important environmental implications.

The first, "Insurers Retreat from Coasts, Katrina Losses May Force More Costs on Taxpayers," was front-page, above the fold -- even in my waffle-deprived state I couldn't miss it. What the story missed was any mention of the idea that perhaps the role of governments -- local, state, and national -- was not as an insurance backstop for development exposed to high risk of natural catastrophes, but as preventer of such development in the first place. Insurance policy is not my forte, and after reading the article I can't say which competing proposal would be better, but I'm sure a better policy than either would be preventing development in some these areas. Better policy, for sure, but more difficult politics ...

And as Michael Grunwald makes clear in his "Pork by Any Other Name," in this day and age politics beats policy every time. To quote him, "Congress often seems to have devolved into a policy-free zone, where pork not only greases the wheels of legislation, but is the very purpose of legislation."

When we rely on humorists …

... you know journalism has problems.

(Here's the video.)

Media Shower: Al over the place

On Thursday, Dave attended a press screening of An Inconvenient Truth, so expect a review of it soon. And on Tuesday, May 2nd, he'll be chatting with the star of the film, Al Gore. If you have any burning questions, just let Dave know.

In related news, David Remnick of the The New Yorker published a glowing review of his own, in which he writes: "An Inconvenient Truth is not the most entertaining film of the year. But it might be the most important." Word.

One word … bamboo

China will host the 2008 Olympics, which are an expression of human nature, which is all about competition and status. The Olympics, in my humble opinion, are little more than a pissing match writ large. The Chinese will of course use this event to show the world how cool they are. One way they plan to impress visitors is to build things out of luxurious tropical hardwoods, like the rich, dark red Merbau tree, which grows in the jungles of Indonesia and Malaysia.

From the Jarkarta Post:

Experts forecast that China's drive to develop its infrastructure to host the Olympics will consume tens of millions of cubic meters of primary forestry products, including solid wood flooring.