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According to the Bucharest Daily News (on the cutting edge of automotive news stories -- who knew?), Nissan plans to bring plug-in hybrids to market by 2010.

Also, the California Air Resources Board ZEV Symposium, aka Electric-car-a-palooza, starts tomorrow. If Sacramento is not in your travel plans, try the webcast.

Value judgments are inescapable

In the ongoing debate (which has been great) over the extent to which environmentalism should expand beyond notions of sustainability to the welfare of individual animals, I have never once challenged the core belief that preventing species extinction is of paramount concern to all environmentalists. But once we unpack that assumption a little more, we will discover that the entire realm of environmentalism is fraught with contentious moral and value judgments.

Pretty much what you’d expect

As we speak, Sen. James Inhofe is on the floor of the Senate making a "major speech" called "Hot & Cold Media Spin: A Challenge To Journalists Who Cover Global Warming." The full transcript is not yet available, but you can see a press release with excerpts.

Or you can watch it live here.

At least at the moment, he's spouting the "it's not a problem but even if it were Kyoto wouldn't do anything because it's too weak" argument that I still fail to understand. If it's too weak, do something stronger. No?

More later.

Update: Now it's the "restricting dirty-energy development in the developing world would keep them poor forever" argument.

Update: Now he's citing Bjorn Lomborg, with whom he recently canoodled.

Update: Now he's saying global warming activism is cover for an insidious quest for global governance.

Update: Now it's the "technology is the answer, especially nukes" argument.

Update: Now it's the "scientists used to predict global cooling" argument. More on that here. In short: no they didn't.

Update: Ooh, now a cheap shot at Gore, saying he's just using global warming to get in the White House. Yeah, that makes sense.

Update: I've counted about 50 uses of the words "alarmist" and "hysteric" so far.

Update: Apparently James Hansen, legendary climate scientist, is nothing but a "political activist."

Update: Now he's attacking NYT's Andy Revkin for writing a children's book.

Update: "Balance" is slowly catching up to "alarmism" and "hysteria."

Update: Gore's An Inconvenient Truth is one of the "sickest scientific propaganda films" ever. Sick! He's quoting Richard Lindzen about the movie. For "balance," you know.

Now it's a droning recitation of alleged errors in Gore's film -- all of which have been debunked ad nauseum. Wonder if his fellow senators know that, though.

All right, I gotta go to a meeting. All I'll say is, debunking all the bullshit in this speech would require a long, long, long time. I'll be back later with the transcript.

Couldn’t get enough signatures

Well, sorry, all you third-party valorizers. The Green candidate in Pennsylvania's senate race has been booted from the ballot. He couldn't get enough legitimate signatures, even with Republicans working so hard to help him.

Why are Republicans working so hard to help him anyway? They must agree with many here that They're All the Same, and instead of accepting The Lesser of Two Evils, it's time for The System to be taken on by some Outsiders (Who Agree With Me).

Read it

Don't miss this week's op-ed in The New Yorker from Elizabeth Kolbert (Grist interview here; Field Notes from a Catastrophe review here). It's about transformers ... sorta.

It begins by looking at the president's and Congress' failure to push for stringent energy-efficiency standards for distribution transformers, the little boxes that convert current from the grid into usable juice for households:

Orrin H. Pilkey, shoreline expert, answers questions

Orrin Pilkey. What work do you do? I am a retired professor in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke and am still actively engaged in research and writing. The North Carolina Coastal Federation is the only environmental organization I belong to because I want to make sure my views bear the stamp of […]

When Teshekpuk Comes to Shove

Sensitive Alaska wetlands spared from drilling plan — for now In good news for conservationists, the Department of Interior has announced willingness to exclude the sensitive Teshekpuk Lake wetlands from a region of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska that it wants to open to oil and natural-gas drilling. The move has little to do with concern […]

Circuit Breaker

Senators clash over proposal to split green-friendly 9th Circuit Court For years, Republicans have loathed the San Francisco-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation’s largest federal appeals court and most left-leaning. Its long record of upholding environmental laws is but one of its sins in the eyes of conservatives. Now, for the umpteenth […]

Box Populi

Wal-Mart will push suppliers to reduce packaging by 5 percent In its latest effort to woo enviros (and, of course, save some dough), Wal-Mart has unveiled a five-year plan that it believes will reduce packaging on the products it sells by 5 percent. Speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting on Friday, Wal-Mart CEO Lee […]

Umbra on recycled toilet paper

Dear Umbra, The few brands of recycled-content toilet paper available are nasty. Why is it so difficult to manufacture TP that’s not from virgin trees but doesn’t feel like bark on one’s sensitive skin? What exactly is the technological barrier the nation’s scientists must overcome in order to make a roll that’s sensitive, both against […]