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All salmon, all the time

Fishery managers voted to cancel the chinook salmon fishing season off the coast of California and most of Oregon in light of the fish population's rapid collapse. The commercial fishery is worth an estimated $30 million ...

... many fishermen considered supporting the ban on West Coast salmon fishing in light of this year's record low catch. "There's likely no fish, so what are you going to be fishing for?" said one.

... while some other fishermen went ahead with a pre-season barbeque, although it was less well attended than in past years ...

Adam Werbach calls for a new movement of a billion consumers

On April 10, Adam Werbach gave a speech in San Francisco calling for a new "blue" movement of consumers pushing for sustainability (previewed in this post). Here's the full text of the speech for your reading pleasure. (Watch video here.)

The Birth of Blue: A speech to the Commonwealth Club by Adam Werbach

In 2004 I came here to the Commonwealth Club and performed a eulogy for environmentalism. Eulogies by their nature are the last word on the subject. But I made a promise on that cold December day to come back in the spring and share a set of solutions. It took me a few more years than I thought, and the world has changed a fair bit since that time, but I'm back.

Let me quote from that speech:

A reasonable case [could] be made that environmentalism needed to package seal pups, redwoods, clean air, Yosemite, clean water, and toxic waste under the brand of "environmentalism" in order to pass a raft of environmental laws in the 1970s. But for at least 20 years and maybe longer, the basic categorical assumptions that underlie environmentalism have inhibited the environmental movement's ability to consider opportunities outside environmental boundaries.

It is at moments like these that we need to take a hard look in the mirror.

We must not trade our fear of what will come next for our affection for environmentalism.

I remember shaking as I spoke, knowing full well that the reaction would be swift and harsh. No one likes to be called dead when they perceive themselves to be alive.

Friday music blogging: Grand Archives

Long ago in a galaxy far away, there was a Seattle band called Carissa’s Wierd that played hushed, pretty, melancholic music they called “slow-core.” They had some modest local renown and then drifted away. Though they never found chart success, the band did prove extraordinarily fruitful at producing kick-ass descendants. Singer Jen Ghetto went on […]

MoJo uncovers the eco-spies

Mother Jones has a blockbuster scoop today on the private security firm that spied on green groups on behalf of corporate clients: A private security company organized and managed by former Secret Service officers spied on Greenpeace and other environmental organizations from the late 1990s through at least 2000, pilfering documents from trash bins, attempting […]

A roundup of news snippets

• Activists ask officials to halt the slaughter of Yellowstone bison. • Palazzo Las Vegas named largest green building in the world. • North Dakota and Montana may harbor up to 4.3 billion barrels of oil. • Clean diesels get ready for their closeup. • California authorities say aerial spraying against moth totally not why […]

Congress has a chance to protect sharks from finning

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the U.S. Court of Appeals' decision to throw out penalties against a fishing vessel carrying 64,695 pounds of shark fins in U.S. waters. Shipping a cargo full of shark fins without sharks is illegal in the United States, but the King Diamond II sailed through a loophole that allowed it to carry fins it had gathered from other ships.

Something good has come out of this: The decision has galvanized pressure to end the brutal practice of shark finning, which kills tens of millions of sharks annually, including many species already threatened by extinction.

Late on Wednesday, Delegate Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) introduced the Shark Conservation Act of 2008, which will not only require all sharks to be landed with their fins, but also require any other sharks imported into the United States to have the same protections. It's an intermediate step in ensuring protection for sharks worldwide, but it's a vital step all the same.

As nonstop flights between the U.S. and E.U. increase, what will be the effect on climate?

Throw open the skies and get your passports ready! You may have heard by now that the proverbial jump across the pond is about to get much easier and, perhaps, cheaper. As of March 30, an “open skies” agreement between the United States and the European Union has gone into effect, opening up more possibilities […]

World Bank should get out of carbon-offset market, says report

Carbon-offset dealings by the World Bank have been criticized (and not for the first time) in a report released Thursday by the Institute for Policy Studies. In the past two years, the report charges, the bank has loaned $1.5 billion to fossil-fuel companies to make minor greenhouse-gas reductions. It then sells carbon credits for those […]

Entrepreneur Lyndon Rive wants to solarize your house for a low, low price

Would you pay $25,000 to $30,000 to put solar panels on your home? If you’re like most cash-strapped Americans, you’d balk at that five-figure expense, no matter how green you aspire to be. OK, what if you could do it for $1,000 or $2,000? SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive. SolarCity, based in sunny Silicon Valley, has […]

From Ruslana to Russia (With Love)

Ukraine’s world Meet Ruslana: the pre-shears Spears of Eastern Europe — and a vocal supporter of clean, green energy. We can’t quite make out all those lyrics, but we’re pretty sure her skimpy outfits are a commentary on the effects of global warming. Photo: Ruslana.ua Trying to rubber the right way Hard up for ways […]