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Today’s NYT

Michael Pollan says some smart things in this piece about ethics and animals.

I wonder whose arm got twisted to get this mash note to Robert Kennedy Jr.

Gosh it's hard bein' green -- so many options!

We can expect to see many more stories about strange biotic migrations and infestations.

I'm telling you, read Goodell's book. Too bad the reviewer saw fit to scoff at the notion that we change our thinking about energy -- instead, fusion gets a shout out. WTF?

This "prototype hybrid system using hydraulic fluid and a high-pressure pump instead of electrical current and a generator" sounds extremely cool, but the piece sounds like somebody's press release (barely) filtered through a reporter.

Still, not bad for one day, Gray Lady!

(And from yesterday: Coal is ravaging China too:

Fuel tax magic, part one

The following is part one of a guest essay from Charles Komanoff, an economist and environmental activist in New York City. For more on taxing carbon fuels, go to http://www.komanoff.net/fossil/.

For part two of this essay, go here.

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"Pam and Matt Keith spent Memorial Day weekend on a houseboat on Lake Oroville in Northern California. But because of high gasoline prices, the Keiths never even untied the boat from its mooring slightly offshore. When they ventured away from the shore, they supplied their own power -- in kayaks."

So began The New York Times take on the start of the summer driving season in an age of $3 gas: "Holiday Travelers Hit the Road, but Scrimped a Bit."

The Times' page-one piece was guaranteed to bring smiles to both economists and despisers of motorized recreation. As a member of both camps, I ate it up. I loved that the Keiths were kayaking instead of houseboating around the lake, and that another California couple, Celia and Michael Shane, had shelved their annual jet-skiing trip in Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada. "To save the $70 per tank it now costs to fill up their minivan," the Times reported, "the Shanes were barbecuing instead." For guys like me who can let a single roaring jet ski ruin an entire beach day, fewer decibels mean more happiness. And after a year's drumbeat of articles insisting that higher gas prices hadn't dented Americans' "love affair with their cars," it was heartening to see the paper of record start acknowledging the No. 1 tenet of economics -- higher prices mean lower demand.

The world's thirst for petroleum breeds war, props up dictators, and imperils the climate. Known oil deposits are shrinking by the day. So no question in economics is more pressing than whether, and by how much, changes in the price of gas reduce the demand for it. I've been examining this question since May 2004, when the price first edged past two bucks. Every month I faithfully enter the latest price and consumption data into a spreadsheet. This has to be done just right. For one thing, because gas use follows seasonal patterns, monthly data must be compared over intervals of 12 months (or 24, etc.). For another, changes in price must be adjusted for general inflation. Most important is netting out the upswing in gasoline use that ordinarily accompanies expanding economic activity when the price of gas is stable. Only after taking these steps can one isolate the effect of higher pump prices on gasoline demand.

Spinning NAS

ThinkProgress has a little more on rightwing attempts to spin yesterday's NAS report, as well as Gore's reaction to said efforts:

Gore explained that science, by nature, thrives on uncertainty and tries to eliminate it; politics, on the other hand, is vulnerable to being paralyzed by uncertainty. When science and politics converge, Gore argued, the chance for "cowardice is high."

You could say that.

Goodell on coal gasification

My officemates are furiously packing, washing, dusting, and hauling in preparation for the Big Grist Move (you could help out by sending a few dollars our way!). I fled the scene to come home, using the excuse that somebody has to keep the blog going. So I guess I better blog about something ...

On Wednesday, I had a long, fascinating conversation with Jeff Goodell, author of Big Coal. I hope we can get it up in a week or so. In the meantime, check out the great op-ed Goodell just wrote for the NYT, which echoes many of the things we discussed. It's mainly about the big push behind coal-to-liquid plants.

About sequestration:

The possibility of failure

A fascinating essay by Bryan Appleyard in The Sunday Times Magazine argues two things:

• Human civilization is facing unprecedented crises;
• the pace of innovation has long been slowing, and we may not be able to think our way out of this one.

But that woefully oversimplifies the piece. I encourage you to read the whole thing.

It reminded me of something that's been on my mind lately. To wit:

Something Fishy: Fossil fish catches could be bad news

Yo-ho-ho, me hearties. 'Tis ye favorite pirate here with a quick news bit to satisfy yer cravin'. Me plundering sked is keepin' me busy these days, and I gotta tell ye, wifi ain't so great out here on the high seas.

That said, I've got a tale for ye about the African Coelacanth, an archaic (we're talking tens of millions of years old) species long thought to be extinct until one was caught in South African waters in 1938. I'm pretty sure it was the "Lord God" of fish at the time.

Bill and peak oil

Bill Clinton is officially on the peak oil bandwagon, and wants the nation's newspaper editors to hop on with him.

(via Oil Drum)

Dartmouth students ride the future

If you've been reading Gristmill -- as I'm sure you all have! -- you'll know that I just returned from a trip to cover the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. (And what a long, strange triperoo, it was!) One of the many things I didn't get to mention in my story is that I met these folks while I was there.

This book was made for walking

It makes intuitive sense that living in a community that encourages walking -- with sidewalks, good street connections, and homes that are close to shops and services -- would make you active and healthier.

As Sightline Institute's new book -- Cascadia Scorecard 2006: Focus on Sprawl and Health -- points out, such communities are also safer. (Full disclosure: I work at Sightline.) Residents who live in a compact community have significantly less chance of dying in a car crash -- not because they're better drivers, but because they drive less. (And car crashes, of course, are the leading killer of young people.) And they also tend to weigh less and have less risk of chronic diseases associated with obesity.

Check out the press page for pdfs and fact sheets about the new research. And check out media coverage: front page of the Vancouver Sun and in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as well.

But for a quick take, here are my top ten facts from the new Scorecard:

Cool books for hot sunny days

Well, folks, it's officially summer. I know this because it's finally -- gasp! -- sunny here in Seattle. So get out those flip-flops and the sunscreen, settle into that lawnchair or hammock, and hand me a margarita ... it's time for the summer reading list.