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Some Portland skepticism

In re: the post below on Kristof's obsession with Portland, David Appell writes to say that the main claim -- that Portland has reached pre-1990 GHG levels -- is probably false anyway. The Portland Office of Sustainable Development apparently all but admitted as much.

See "Portland's Compliance with Kyoto: The Birth of an Urban Myth" (Word doc) for details.

Drop It Like It’s Hot

Heat wave shuts down nuclear reactors in Europe Remember how nuclear power was going to save us from global warming? Heh. Funny story. As Europe has gotten, you know, warm lately, a handful of nuclear power plants have been forced to reduce or stop production. Seems the continent’s relentless heat wave has warmed the rivers […]

From Sea to Declining Sea

Oceans are really messed up, L.A. Times reports in special series The Los Angeles Times is running a snazzy multimedia series on the distressing decline of the world’s oceans, with photos, video, and depressing statistics galore (for example, 97 percent of elkhorn and staghorn coral off Florida’s coast have disappeared since 1975). In part one […]

Arnie on Blairoids

Blair and Schwarzenegger joining forces to fight climate change Perhaps finally sensing he’s been poodling to the wrong pseudo-manly Republican, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair has decided to wag his tail for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: The two leaders are planning to create a trans-Atlantic cap-and-trade system for carbon dioxide allowances. The alliance will be […]

Umbra on car trade-ins

Dear Umbra, I’m the not-so-proud owner of an 18-year-old Honda Civic — great car in that it gets 39 mpg, has a decent amount of zip, and generally runs well. However, it needs some mechanical work, the paint and some of the upholstery are shot, and the AC runs on Freon. I’ve reached the point […]

Kristof vu

Nic Kristof, last July:

"Kyoto would have wrecked our economy,'' Mr. Bush told a Danish interviewer recently, referring to the accord to curb carbon emissions. Maybe that was a plausible argument a few years ago, but now the city of Portland is proving it flat wrong.

Newly released data show that Portland, America's environmental laboratory, has achieved stunning reductions in carbon emissions. It has reduced emissions below the levels of 1990, the benchmark for the Kyoto accord, while booming economically.

Nic Kristof, this July:

But all across the country, states and local governments have chipped away at those arguments for delay -- actually, pretty much demolished them -- by showing that there are myriad small steps we can take that significantly curb carbon emissions and that are easily affordable.

A leader of that effort has been Portland, earnestly green even when it is wintry gray. In 1993, the city adopted a plan to curb greenhouse gases, and it is bearing remarkable fruit: local greenhouse gas emissions are back down to 1990 levels, while nationally they are up 16 percent. And instead of damaging its economy, Portland has boomed.

Kristof really likes Portland. Or else he's having trouble finding other good news.

Corn-fed NASCAR

OK, so I'm a little behind on my NASCAR news. But I was at the gym today when I saw up on the TV cars whizzing around the track followed by ... a bucolic scene of corn blowing in the wind. "NASCAR," the the closed-captioning read, "is helping save the environment." Here's CBS's coverage of the matter

One statement in particular is highly misleading:

According to Argonne National Laboratory, the use of only 10 percent of the clean-burning fuel reduces gas emissions by 12 to 19 percent compared to conventional gasoline.

No way does this figure take into account the carbon emissions from growing the corn and manufacturing the ethanol. This is just the tailpipe savings.

Could the first Indy car sponsored by the Sierra Club be far behind?

Doubt it. But maybe an Indy-sponsored Archer Daniels Midland car.

‘Tis the Season (to BLT or not to BLT)

Tomatoes are one of summer's greatest pleasures and, for many people, the ultimate tomato creation is the BLT. Unless, of course, you don't eat meat.

There is a strange phenomenon among some vegetarians, however, even strict, long-term, sincere vegetarians: they occasionally lose their resolve when faced with bacon. "It's the smell," a seemingly committed vegetarian friend recently confided to me, "it gets me every time."

Indeed, in all the couples I know of where the party of the first part is a vegetarian and the party of the second part is not, it is usually the preparation of bacon by the party of the second part that leads to the ultimate downfall of the party of the first part. In short, it's a slippery slope, made all the more slippery by the application of aromatic, sizzling bacon grease. From enjoying a once-in-a-blue-moon BLT, it's not a far cry to the occasional sampling of prosciutto at parties ("social" bacon use) to regularly adding ham hocks to soups "just to flavor the stock" to late-night, shame-based trips to 7-11 for a handful of Slim Jims. "It's a gateway meat," explains The Late, Late Show's Craig Ferguson -- and he's so right.

It needn't be that way. I eat meat now and then, but even I don't necessarily want to eat bacon every time I fancy a BLT (which is constantly, when decent tomatoes are to be had). So I've come up with some bacon alternatives. Or, I suppose I should say, alternatives to bacon alternatives. I don't have anything at all against soy-based strips made to look and taste (kind of) like bacon, I just don't think they're necessary when there are so many other choices.

Carbon trading in the news

Check out the latest article on carbon trading in The NYT Magazine. It is quite interesting and underscores why markets and property rights are almost certainly going to be the foundation of any large scale carbon-reduction policy.

Lay media starting to get serious

I got a call this week from David Hyde, assistant producer of an excellent local public radio (KUOW) talk show called Weekday. He was doing research for a show (it ran last Thursday) titled "Biofuels: Hope or Hype?" I was able to call in for a quick question about how the pollution from biodiesel cars compare to gasoline cars (with all of their modern air-pollution controls). The gist was missed and the guest ended up comparing biodiesel to regular diesel instead, as usual. Oddly enough, nobody appears to have done the gasoline/biodiesel comparison yet ... except me. Maybe I planted a seed though.

It was an interesting show. Click here to hear it on RealAudio.