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A cartoon for our times … from 1939
The only cartoon ever nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, circa 1939: [vodpod id=Video.3402&w=425&h=350&fv=] Happy 2007.
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American automakers stuck with unsold gas-guzzlers
In 2006, droves (pun intended?) of Americans bought new fuel-efficient vehicles, while sales of large trucks and SUVs declined, leaving U.S. carmakers with hundreds of thousands of trucks and SUVs rusting on their lots. Chrysler alone had not sold 500,000 of its 2006 vehicles as of September! What an insanely colossal waste of resources that represents.
Jesse Toprak, Executive Director of Industry Analysis for the respected auto review site Edmunds.com, had this to say recently about the situation:
Gas prices will be a leading factor in how consumers choose what vehicles they purchase in the coming year. Automakers who are prepared for that trend will enjoy great success in 2007.
With the leading producer of hybrid vehicles, Toyota, about to overtake GM as the world's top carmaker, Detroit should take notice and stop making so many awful/unwanted vehicles.
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From Grist
Far above the golden clouds, the darkness vibrates The earth is blue And everything about it is a love song — Paul Simon
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Every one destined to be 100% correct
Last week I reviewed the top ten green stories of 2006. But looking back is easy. What’s going to happen in 2007? I have no clue. But being wrong carries no penalty in U.S. punditry, so I’m going to make a few predictions anyway. Twenty, to be specific. In 2007: Al Gore will a) win […]
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Time for greens to get over their fear of big government
In a recent post, Ron Steenblik wrote:
Indeed, I am generally a skeptic of heavy-handed market manipulation.
A perfectly reasonable position for environmentalists in general to take, especially after the history of Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Corn, etc. using their power with the state.
Not to dump on Ron -- who only provided the most recent example of this general skepticism -- but greens in general need to get over their suspicion of the state; in particular, they need to move beyond the small-government, market-focused ideas deeded to us by some of our brightest lights (the Amory Lovinses of the world.)
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Lots
Another year has come and gone and environmentalists of all stripes have good reason to be hopeful that 2007 is going to be a lot better for the environment than 2006. As we prepare for important work in the areas of marine policy, climate change, and the upcoming Farm Bill, it's a good idea to take part in a great New Year's tradition: looking back and seeing what we learned, especially things that challenged our preconceived notions.
So here's a partial list of things that I learned in 2006 (please feel free to add yours below):
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Robert Novak does it on purpose
A recent Gristmill post discussed an op-ed by Robert Novak on climate change.
One argument Novak makes against environmental regulations is that they're extremely expensive. Turns out when Novak's not outing CIA agents, he's getting his facts wrong.
Novak says:
The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that [the McCain-Lieberman climate bill] would reduce gross domestic product by $776 billion annually.
However, if you read the report he quotes you'll see that $776 billion is the cumulative and undiscounted cost of the program. $776 billion is not the cost per year.
The report actually says:
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Good stuff
Here’s the line-up from Friday night’s episode of the Charlie Rose Show: Segment 1: The pursuit of alternative energy and breakthroughs in green technology with John Doerr of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems, and K.R. Sridhar of Bloom Energy. Segment 2: A conversation about developments in the internet and the […]
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The year, alphabetically
When it comes to global warming and the environment, everything seemed to change in 2006 -- at least in terms of public awareness. Here's an A-to-Z accounting of just some of those changes:
A is for An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's scientific but surprisingly human documentary on the threat of climate change, which was expected to take in at most $6-7 million at the box office but went on to gross over $45 million, the biggest documentary of the year and the third-largest of all time.
B is for biofuels, which went from becoming a hippies-only fringe product to a highlight of the State of the Union address. To date, Washington has been focused mostly on ethanol, but other fuels requiring much less fossil energy to produce are coming to the fore and proving surprisingly popular. Or as the bumper sticker says: "Biodiesel: No war required."
C is for California, which set a new standard for pollution control by passing a bipartisan package of bills designed to cut tailpipe greenhouse-gas emissions by 30 percent by 2016 (and many other measures). For this, Iain Murray, a fossil fuel-funded think tank writer for the far-right National Review, declared: "It is hard to escape the conclusion ... that what California has done is to decide to join the Third World."
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