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Enviros hope to make gains with gubernatorial races in key states

With Election Day just over two weeks away, Muckraker brings you part two of our roundup of gubernatorial races with important green angles. Last week, in part one, we chronicled the hottest campaigns along the Eastern seaboard. This week, we’re briefing you on a few of the must-watch races in the Midwest and Pacific regions. […]

Fun

Arnold Creek Productions has a whole series of short films -- mainly clips of smart people talking -- about sustainability and related matters. Lots of good stuff.

For instance, you can watch Michael Shellenberger & Ted Nordhaus say reasonably valid things in a tone of insufferable smugness.

Or, if you're less cranky, you can watch pastor Jim Wallis talk about why global warming is a religious issue.

A note to Arnold Creek (and this goes to all the folks out there making online videos): Quicktime won't work on some browsers, and works poorly in others. Same for Real and Windows Media. Start using Flash, like YouTube. And make it easy to embed your videos on other web pages. There's no excuse not to any more.

Unsolicited tech advice: part of the Gristmill value add.

A report shows how big businesses are preparing

The Pew Center published a report today on business strategies for dealing with climate change [PDF]. The report was authored principally by University of Michigan Professor (and recent Grist contributor) Andrew Hoffman.

I've only had a chance to glance at the report, but it looks like good stuff (here's an article about it).

Travis Bradford thinks so

This afternoon I talked with a guy named Travis Bradford, who has a new book out called Solar Revolution (you can read sample chapters here). In it, he makes a rather bold and startling claim. To paraphrase:

In coming decades, solar energy is going to become the dominant energy source on the global market. This is true irrespective of possible increases in the price of fossil fuels; irrespective of possible global warming regulations; irrespective of government subsidies; irrespective of possible future technological advances. Even given conservative assumptions about all those factors, the tectonic forces at work in the global energy situation make solar's dominance inevitable.

Bradford is not some hippie dreamer. He comes from the world of corporate finance, investment funds, and other such things I don't understand. (He now runs the non-profit Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development.) He doesn't make predictions idly.

Anyway, the Q&A will be up on the site in a week or two. This is just the kind of person I love to meet -- young, knowledgeable, forward-thinking, and in the thick of things rather than shouting from the sidelines. I may try to absorb him into the Grist Borg.

The Bees’ Needs

Scientists worry about declining numbers of honeybees and other pollinators Researchers are warning of a significant population decline in species that together pollinate three-quarters of all flowering North American plants, including more than 90 commercial crops. A study released yesterday by the National Research Council indicates a “demonstrably downward” trend in populations of birds, bees, […]

Power Shift

E.U. launches action plan for reducing energy use The European Union has adopted an action plan for reducing energy use 20 percent by 2020, saying increased efficiency could save it $125 billion by that year. Under the plan, the 25-nation bloc will expand building energy-efficiency rules to apply to smaller structures, and develop binding minimum […]

Ice Vice, Baby

Iceland to resume commercial whaling despite international ban Iceland plans to resume commercial whaling for the first time in nearly 20 years, despite an international moratorium. Through August 2007, the government will permit whalers to harpoon 30 minke whales and nine endangered fin whales. Iceland’s Fisheries Ministry says there are 43,600 minkes and 25,800 fin […]

How the legendary ski town is going green

Vail, Colo., is a town that’s defined by winter, when tourists from around the world descend on the area’s snow-covered slopes to ski, ride, and soak up the laid-back yet glitzy mountain lifestyle. But as the threat of global warming has begun to creep closer to the Colorado high country, Vail has been forced to […]

Weigh in on the question

Wiscidea raises an interesting question: Could GM be used to reduce the need for fertilizers and pesticides and boost the organic-food market? Would the sustainable-food movement accept genetically modified organic food?

Put aside for a moment the execrable global corporate-welfare copyright clusterfuck that is the current GMO industry.

Imagine instead collaborative, transparent open-source biotechnology, fueled by volunteers or money from progressive foundations, wealthy donors, and NGOs. Unlikely? Yes. But imagine.

Would environmentalists accept it, or is there something intrinsic to genetic manipulation that greens are supposed to object to?

What do y'all think?

U.K. opens eco-friendly chalk building

A new conference and events center in the U.K. is said to be one of Europe's "most sustainable and healthy" structures. And it was built with almost $1.5 million worth of chalk. No kidding.

Extracted from the White Cliffs of Dover, the chalk was literally pounded into place to create the walls of the structure. Other sustainable materials -- like locally sourced clay tiles and an insulated soil roof -- were used as well, and the building as a whole needs just 15 percent of a conventional building's energy requirements.

Revenue from events held at the Pines Calyx will go toward maintaining the grounds. Which, I can only imagine, will involve a lot of dusting. Perhaps they could put those furry hats to use?