Latest Articles

Why federal farm support deserves a fresh look

Note: Over the course of three weeks, as Congress begins discussion of the 2007 farm bill, Victual Reality will be devoted to analyzing the political economy of farming and teasing out an agenda for a socially and environmentally sustainable farm policy. It’s more exciting than it sounds, we swear! [Read the first installment below, the […]

Uh-oh

This is not good.

They flattered my kids — quid pro quo!

A few months ago, Maywa mentioned a service called Greendimes, which — in exchange for $5 $3 a month — will take over the arduous task of reducing your junk mail by getting your name off distribution lists. It will also plant a tree in your name each month. Partly thanks to procrastination and desperation, […]

Al Gore and the Oscars

Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth has received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary. I’m on record predicting it will win. Should we start a betting pool?

Oh, the irony

Savor the ironies: TXU Corp., the largest Texas electricity producer, said its plan to build $10 billion of coal-fueled power generation in the state appears "consistent with" a business group’s proposal to curb global warming by capping carbon-dioxide emissions. Does this mean that TXU is psychotic or that the corporate U.S. Climate Action Partnership is […]

Bush no longer matters on climate

Sebastian Mallaby notes the recent heating up of the climate change issue and correctly teases out the main political implication: Bush has become irrelevant.

Lots of talk, little action

The media is abuzz that Bush will unveil new energy proposals in the State of the Union address. But it really is a "dog bites man" story.

Has any president ever talked so much about a problem while doing nothing to address it? The President's sweeping rhetoric on energy independence, unfortunately, has never been accompanied by serious policies -- he has actually cut funding for the key energy-saving technologies -- which is one reason our dependence on imported oil has kept rising throughout Bush's presidency. So we should take any new words in the 2007 address with many, many grains of salt.

Here are the relevant excerpts about energy from Bush's previous State of the Union addresses:

Coolio

Here’s an interesting bit from a Q&A with Reid and Pelosi: I have a couple questions about global warming. First, to Mr. Reid, does the Senate plan to follow Ms. Pelosi’s plan to create a new select committee? Will you actually create a new select committee? And then for both of you, I’m curious, you’ve […]

This Just (W)in

Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth nominated for best-documentary Oscar Sure, Dreamgirls may be getting all the pre-Oscar press, but a little flick we like to call Dreamy Al has picked up two nominations of its own. There’s the Best Documentary Feature nod for An Inconvenient Truth, not all that surprising, and then there’s … Best […]

Only 2,012 Days to Go

London Olympics striving to be all green, all the time We were about to write yet another blurb on the current climate-change climate when we remembered: today marks 2,012 days until the London 2012 Olympics! So here’s a quick rundown of plans for the “greenest games to date.” Organizers say they’ll cut Olympic Park carbon […]