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At Marsh Fork Elementary, danger is spelled M-A-S-S-E-Y

In Raleigh County, West Virginia, about 45 miles from Charleston, just over 200 students attend Marsh Fork Elementary School. Though small, Marsh Fork is important to the folks in the Coal River Valley, and not just because it's the only school in the county with high enough enrollment to remain open. No, the fate of Marsh Fork matters more because it represents all the special interests and politics that have come to define life in the shadows of Big Coal.

Not 300 feet away from where children learn and play nine months a year sits a leaking, 385-feet tall coal refuse dam with a nearly 3-billion gallon capacity. Never mind the coal dust that has been found in the school. Never mind the drinking-water contamination that has been reported. If this dam breaks, it will destroy everyone and everything within 30 miles. So why are 200-plus children still making the trip to school every day despite the constant threat of illness and even death?

Because they have nowhere else to go.

Read and be dazzled by the techno-futurism

David asked contributors for end-of-year lists. Since I normally focus on conservative assumptions, I thought I'd use it as an excuse to look at future breakthroughs and cost improvements.

I was going to weasel by calling these "possibilities," but instead I decided to use the time-tested technique of public psychics: I'll call them predictions, crow over any that come true, and pretend the rest never happened.

1. Power storage that will make electric cars cheaper than gasoline cars.

Ultracapacitors, various lithium systems, lead carbon foam (PDF), and aluminum are among the candidates. The first storage device with a price per kWh capacity of $200 or less, mass-to-power ratio as good or better than LiOn, and ability to retain 75% or more of capacity after 1,000 cycles in real world driving temperatures and conditions wins.

Cool

A new report by occasional Grist contributor Jon Christensen reaches a conclusion that, to me at least, was a surprise: "Land trusts are now protecting more land than gets developed across the western United States each year."

Perhaps we have, in the words of our beloved leader, turned the corner. Heedless development is in its last throes!

More on the report here.

Yummy and eco

As regular readers know, Gristmill is scrupulously independent, fiercely resistant to even a hint of conflict of interest. We accept no donations or gifts, and offer no quid pro quo.

Except when it comes to chocolate and liquor. For those, we happily prostitute ourselves.

Case in point: A "mission-based" company called SweetRiot in NYC sent me a box of their chocolate-covered cacao nibs. They are, in a word, delish. They come in cute little tins, with cute little factoids tucked away in each one. The people who run the company are cute. The web page is cute. The whole damn enterprise is cute. And environmentally progressive. And yummy.

So forthwith, official Gristmill product placement: SweetRiot chocolate! Yippee!

Why does he taunt us?

Obama toys with our emotions:

Featuring the singer from Midnight Oil!

The Australian opposition Labor Party has selected a new, green leadership team to challenge the long-serving conservative Prime Minister John Howard in national parliamentary elections at the end of 2007. Kevin Rudd, a Chinese-speaking former diplomat, and his deputy, Julia Gillard, decisively defeated incumbent leaders Kim Beazley and Jenny Macklin.

But much of the attention is focused on Rudd's Sunday appointment of Peter Garrett, a Greenpeace board member and former lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil, to take charge of crafting Labor's new policies on climate change.

"Climate change represents one of the most significant and important issues that Australians must confront now and into the future," Garrett said. "I want to work for leader Rudd to make sure that we roll up our sleeves and do the very best that we can, and I want to put the Howard Government on notice that it's fiddling while Australia burns."

It’s Better to Give Than to Receive … Unless You Do Both

Grist fundraiser continues, ups the ante with mall-defying giveaways You’re a good person. You’ve spent lots of time in stores this month, or online, buying eco-friendly gifts for those you love. And even though you know it’s better to give than to receive, you’re quietly hoping you don’t get lousy gifts in return. Fear not! […]

The Incredible Bulk

Al Gore plans to launch grassroots carbon-freeze movement When is a grassroots movement not a grassroots movement? When it’s started by a kajillionaire movie-star politician, we’d say. But you can’t blame Al Gore for trying. At a venture-capital conference last week, Gore returned to the “carbon freeze” idea he’s been bandying about for a while, […]

Gems Fightin’ Words

Federal agency predictions that mines would not pollute water were wrong, study says Before giving a precious-metal mine the go-ahead, federal agencies must find that the operation will not taint surrounding waterways with chemicals like arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead, and cyanide. But for the past 25 years, agencies’ pollution predictions “did not generally agree with […]

Mileage in Mirror Is Smaller Than It Appears

U.S. EPA revises vehicle mileage formula for 2008 and beyond Wondering why your Escalade gets eight miles to the gallon, not the 11 that was advertised? U.S. EPA to the rescue! In a move reflecting “real-world numbers,” the agency has revised the way it crunches mileage numbers for the first time since 1984. The new […]