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From Bling to Brothel

Air of mystery Hmm, should we buy the ridiculously expensive “green” MacBook Air, or the ridiculously expensive “green” Air Jordans? What do they think we are, Million Airs? Photo: Apple.com Under where? When it comes to what we wear under there, we prefer eco-lingerie … though, truthfully, we’re most happy when we’re wearing nothing at […]

Federal officials suggest killing sea lions to protect salmon

To protect endangered Northwest salmon, the National Marine Fisheries Service suggests giving Oregon and Washington state officials the authority to kill sea lions, which last year gobbled up more than 4 percent of the salmon running through the Columbia River’s Bonneville Dam. The action would likely result in about 30 sea lion deaths a year. […]

House energy committee not primed to rush through climate bill

John Dingell says getting climate legislation done this year will "verge on impossible" (sub rqd), what with the compressed schedule and the presidential and Congressional elections. Oh, and also because Republicans are gearing up to block progress yet again. A while back, Denny Hastert left Dingell’s committee and there was some inside baseball speculation about […]

It’s not always just Monsanto screwing with the food system

Creating a food system that is "good, clean, and fair" involves more than the buy-local mantra and the anti-Monsanto-ADM-WalMart rhetoric I and so many others constantly chanting. Sometimes even more evil and insidious obstacles lie in our way.

Witness what's taking place in Kenya:

Notable quotable

“I like real food. Food that I can pronounce the name of.” — House minority leader John Boehner, protesting to the new, healthier menu offered at the House cafeteria thanks to Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s “Greening the Capitol” program (Background on opposition from ag lobbies here. Some rather … piquant comments from Chris Bower here.)

Coal lobbyists step up their game

A group called Americans for Balanced Energy Choices is waging a $35 million campaign urging Americans to make one choice in particular: coal. As U.S. activists step up their protests against coal plants — and find increasing success — the industry-backed ABEC is running ads chirping that the black rock “powers our way of life” […]

Vegan vixen designs shoe collection

Everyone’s favorite gangsta (and Official Grist Girl-Crush) Natalie Portman has designed a collection of vegan shoes for specialty retailer Té Casan. Styles range from satin sandals to faux-patent pumps to ballet flats. “As a vegan, it’s been challenging finding designer shoes made of alternative materials,” Portman says. “This collection offers a great selection without compromising […]

Second ‘major economies meeting’ this month in Hawaii

You know, there’s something I don’t get about these kabuki “major economies meetings” Bush is holding. Obviously, in reality it’s about creating the illusion that Bush is doing something on climate. But usually when something is done purely for looks, there’s some sort of plausible cover story, a purported rationale that can be put out […]

As economic indicators trend downward, the clean-tech sector is still looking up

As one key economic engine after another -- housing, finance, autos, retail -- sputters and stalls out, the fledgling eco-economy is purring right along, fueled in no small part by venture capital firms hungry for new opportunities in industries that promise outsized returns on their investments. In the first three quarters of 2007, VCs poured $2.6 billion into alternative energy and clean-tech firms, more money than they invested for the whole of 2006. The new year promises to be another record breaker.

And it's not only the Silicon Valley sharpies that are on the prowl: GE is promising to plow $6 billion into renewable energies by 2010, double what they were projecting only last year; Germany's Schott Solar is plunking down $100 million to build a plant in New Mexico, and predicts its investment will grow to $500 million when the facility is completed; and as 2007 drew to a close, Morgan Stanley made a $190 million investment in a clean-tech venture. Morgan, by the way, estimates the global renewable energy industry has a market cap in the neighborhood of $170 billion.

Certainly not all is rosy in the clean-tech patch. Tesla Motors and Imperium Renewables, once considered high fliers, have been dealt setbacks -- and as a result, have trimmed employee rolls. And alternative energy stocks are starting to look positively bubble-ish to some on Wall Street (the subject of a future post).

Recessions don't play favorites, for the most part. When U.S. consumers snap their pocketbooks shut, it creates a drag on the overall economy and everyone -- including governments that depend on tax receipts -- feels the pinch. The eco-economy probably won't be immune. But with the hundreds of millions of dollars streaming through the doors almost weekly, it's not a bad place -- and better than most -- to ride out the storm.

Green manufacturing could save the economy

Paul Krugman has been a hero of mine during the long, bleak reign of Bush the Younger, articulating arguments against Bush's philosophy and policies oh these many years. Krugman is one of the leading authorities on international trade, however, and so I was holding my breath, intellectually speaking, waiting to see what would happen when there were global economic troubles.

I can exhale, because he's revealed his Panglossian side: our current economic troubles are the result of a "global savings glut" -- that is, the U.S. is the victim of its own success. Foreigners are investing in our country because we are so wonderful, and the problem is that they got snookered into investing in scams like sub-prime mortgages.

What's this got to do with the environment? Krugman's argument, which was made first by now Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke (and the folks at the Cato Institute), distracts attention from what I think is the true problem: the decline of manufacturing. If people would understand the real problem, they might be more open to a greening of America by revving up manufacturing of renewable energy technologies, public transit, and retrofitting, to name a few.

But first let's take a look at what Krugman said: