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Groovy Green

Groovy Green has left its blog cocoon and become a magazine. You can acquaint yourself via a thought-provoking list of ways to localize your life.

Soccer’s biggest to-do goes green.

This article says that more than 30 billion people -- out of a world population of 6.6 billion -- are expected to tune into the upcoming soccer football World Cup. So that just goes to show you how popular soccer football is.

The event kicks off (ha!) on Friday in Germany and my fiancé would be happy to tell you when all the games are being played, which team is playing which, what their chances are of moving to the next round, what color each team wears, the name of every player on every team, and precisely how to work, eat, sleep, plan a wedding, and watch six hours of soccer football every day for over a month. Me -- all I've got is the green angle.

Says the World Cup environmentalness website:

Pollan on Wal-Mart and organic

Michael Pollan covers Wal-Mart's move into organic food in the NYT, and it is, predictably, the best piece I've read on the subject.

PAYD in full

Right now, most of us -- at least those of us with cars -- pay for our car insurance in big lump sums, just a few times a year. And how much we pay for our coverage has very little to do with how much we drive.

Sure, many insurance companies offer lower rates for low-mileage drivers. But the discounts are piddling. According to this article, for example, if you drive 5,000 miles a year or less, you might be able to cut your premiums by a paltry 10 percent -- that is, you drive one third as much as a typical policyholder, but still pay 90 percent of the insurance premiums. People who drive a lot pay less than they should, while people who drive only a little subsidize the policies of high-mileage drivers.

As my daughter would say, "No fair."

Guilt tripping

The Tyee is running an interview with University of British Columbia professor and sustainability guru John Robinson, with some sage advice on how to coax us out of cars:

"We should stop guilt-tripping people, stop telling them that they are putting three tons of carbon a month into the air with their cars when they live 40 kilometers from work and there is no transit. That actually makes them more resistant to change. The way you get behaviour change is through integrated programs aimed at behaviour, not just people's heads. There is a lot of work in health promotion -- in anti-obesity campaigns and breast-cancer screening and anti-smoking campaigns -- that shows the way to much successful behaviour-modification programs. We should learn from those." [Emphasis added.]

That seems just about right to me. Ultimately, guilt isn't motivating; it's just dispiriting.

Congress to tackle climate change and peak oil

Only not:

With only a few months left on the legislative calendar, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has decided to abandon any efforts at bipartisanship in favor of using his chamber to hold a series of highly partisan, mostly symbolic votes on conservative causes, including amendments banning gay marriage and flag burning, and fully repealing the estate tax.

Although Frist has peppered the Senate schedule with a handful of substantive issues -- including likely votes this week on a new U.S. trade representative, a Native Hawaiian-rights bill and a new mine-safety czar -- the chamber will put off work on major legislation such as the fiscal 2007 Defense authorization bill in order for Frist to pursue items of special interest to his party's conservative base.

(via WM)

A five part journey to protect the oceans

Mother Jones just launched a unique website that highlights the threats facing our oceans. What's noteworthy about the site is that it doesn't focus on the work of one organization, but rather highlights the best of the best of what a multitude of nonprofits are doing to conserve our oceans. Oceana's mercury pollution work, Greenpeace's pirate fishing work, and World Wildlife Fund's polar bear work all live in perfect harmony. It's refreshing to find journalists that are more interested in the big picture than playing favorites. Check it out.

If a tree falls in a desert …

Speaking of desertification, we learn of this depressing story via Boing Boing:

The Ténéré wastelands of northeastern Niger were once populated by a forest of trees. By the 20th century, desertification had wiped out all but one solitary acacia. The Tree of Ténéré, as it came to be called, had no companions for 400 km in every direction. Its roots reached nearly 40 m deep into the sand. In 1973, the tree was knocked over by a drunken Libyan truck driver. It has been replaced by a simple metal sculpture.

Global warming and the courts

We all know about climate skeptics getting funding from corporate entities with an interest in preventing the U.S. from taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But did you know they are influencing the courts as well? Check out Eric Schaeffer's piece from Sunday's Washington Post to learn the sad truth.

And to learn more about the case in question and why the Supreme Court should take it up, read this piece (PDF) by two smart lawyers, Jennifer Bradley and Timothy J. Dowling, at the Community Rights Counsel.

Americans and Climate Change: Setting goals I

"Americans and Climate Change: Closing the Gap Between Science and Action" (PDF) is a report synthesizing the insights of 110 leading thinkers on how to educate and motivate the American public on the subject of global warming. Background on the report here. I'll be posting a series of excerpts (citations have been removed; see original report). If you'd like to be involved in implementing the report's recommendations, or learn more, visit the Yale Project on Climate Change website.

Today we get into one of the biggest and meatiest chapters, about the process and substance of setting concrete goals for fighting global warming. A variety of strategic concerns, and psychological and institutional impediments, are discussed. There are great insights aplenty. I'll start today with the brief intro.