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Environmental justice groups gathered in Seattle this weekend

Unfortunately, I only got to catch the tail end of the Environmental Justice for All solidarity event up here in Seattle on Saturday. I missed the tour though ... 'cause I got lost. Hey, I'm new here, OK? But as the national tour drew to a close, it was good to see activity up in our corner as well.

The event, hosted by the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice, led folks on a tour of some of the most polluted areas here in the generally-conceived-of-as-green city of Seattle. South Seattle neighborhoods deal with a disproportionate number of environmental woes, including 22 facilities that have been found to release air pollutants, six hazardous waste treatment facilities, and 35 facilities that have reported toxic releases.

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Sorry to be so AWOL from the blog. I'm afraid it's going to stay that way for a few days. I'm working furiously on a few different things.

One of them is a series of interviews on the subject of God & the Environment, focusing for the most part on the recent evangelical environmental movement. All this is in conjunction with a Bill Moyers special on PBS on the same subject.

More -- much more -- on that Wed. Until then, well, keep each other company.

Plain speaking from an expert

To a layperson, the world of climatology can be an intimidatingly foreign land. Denizens of this world -- scientists -- speak a daunting, often-impenetrable blend of acronyms (AGW, IPCC, WPAC, ENSO), Latinisms (anomalies, coterminous, precipitation deficits), and math (confidence limits, regression-based, boundary knots).

Besides the sheer complexity of global climate systems, the dreariness of this jargon may be one of the big reasons the general public has been slow to awaken to the seriousness of the threat of global warming. In fact, a conference on climate change organized by Yale last year called for "training scientists to speak in language that is understandable to different audiences."

One scientist who needs no such training is Bill Patzert, an oceanographer and meteorologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., an institution closely linked to NASA. In the world of science, Patzert is known for his work matching TOPEX satellite weather data to the actual behavior of the Pacific Ocean and its weather systems, especially El Nino and its less-well-known counterpart La Nina. In the media world, he is a go-to guy for comments on weather patterns for the L.A. Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, and CBS News, in part because he has a sense of humor.

Patzert, who has briskly guided my reporting on climate questions for years, generously agreed to an extended email interview for Grist. Since he has become known for his work with the media, and even won medals for his outreach efforts, I thought I'd begin with a question about why the rhetoric of climatology is so turgid and difficult. His answer was more than I bargained for:

Animal welfare, that is

California governor signs major animal-welfare legislation. If we care this much about dogs, and reflect it in our legal system, it is obvious that moral consistency dictates we extend this consideration to many other animals. I think environmentalists should be among those leading this effort.

Organic Sugar Frosted Mini-Wheats and flat screen TVs

I watched Animal Planet on our new TV last night with my daughter. The infrared sensor on our old TV had pooped out. I'd lost the ability to channel surf, and with it a part of my manhood.

Fed up with my inability to flip, I jumped on my hybrid-electric bike, sped down the bike trail to Fred Meyers, bought the cheapest 20" flat screen they had, loaded it into my bike trailer, and was watching commercials within an hour of having set out. The bike, the electric components on the bike, the TV, and the wind-up flashing diode lights on the bike were all made in China.

Two commercials in particular caught my attention: one for organic Sugar Frosted Mini-Wheats (about time I say) and the other for Dawn dishwashing liquid. Apparently its new and improved grease-fighting formula works great to clean crude oil off of penguins. I don't know if commercials like this are good for the image of environmentalism. The ad execs obviously don't think we're all that bright.

Bern Johnson, head of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, answers questions

What work do you do? I’m executive director of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide. What does your organization do? ELAW helps grassroots lawyers around the world protect human rights and the environment. We’re working with partners in 70 countries and helping them challenge environmental abuses, enforce environmental laws, give communities a voice about the environment, […]

Umbra on reducing consumption

Dear Umbra, If recycling requires energy to turn one’s discarded waste into usable products, and “climate solutions take precedence over garbage-production concerns,” as you wrote in June, why are we so focused on recycling and not on reducing our initial consumption? Surely this should be at the forefront of the individual consumer’s attempts to help […]

Touched by an Angela

German Chancellor will focus on climate as she leads G8 and E.U. German Chancellor Angela Merkel intends to make climate change top priority when her country takes the reins of both the European Union and the G8 at the beginning of next year. Enviros are likely to welcome the leadership of Merkel, a former environment […]

Some States Get All the Luck

California wilderness bill passes Congress, Vermont wilderness bill doesn’t Just before adjourning for election season on Friday, Congress OK’d a bill to designate 273,000 acres in Northern California as wilderness, including a long stretch of stunning coastal land, and President Bush is expected to sign it into law. Conservationists and their congressional allies had been […]

Bordering on Ridiculous

Border-fence plan could wreak havoc on environment Congress approved a plan late last week to build a 700-mile-long, two-layer fence along the U.S.-Mexico border in an attempt to keep out illegal immigrants, eliciting an overwhelmingly negative reaction from environmentalists and, well, folks with a firm grasp on reality. “The fence is a knee-jerk reaction by […]