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Umbra on old clothes

Dear Umbra, I promise that I searched the archives before emailing you, so hopefully you haven’t already answered this question. I’m wondering about the best way to dispose of old clothes and shoes — the tired, well-loved, and much-worn items that thrift shops really don’t want. I wear my clothes until the bitter end, and […]

Tax-funded press release ‘highly partisan and political’

There's not much new info in Jim Motavalli's review of the infamous AP article and Inhofe's infamous response thereto. But I thought one bit was fairly remarkable. Recall that the Inhofe press release came directly from the Senate Environment and Public Works committee -- your tax money at work, as they say. Witness:

Marc Morano, a spokesperson for the Senate majority on the Environment and Public Works committee ... denied, however, that the press release was "an official government action," implying subpoenas or hearings. "This was not from a senator, but from the Republican majority," Morano said. "It's up to others to decide if it was unusual or not. I'd be surprised if there was no precedent, because many congressional committees are highly partisan and political."

(Morano, you'll recall, is a long-time Republican media thug.)

Notice that Morano implicitly concedes two things. The first is that he and his boss view global warming purely as a "highly partisan and political" issue. The second is that it's now scarcely noteworthy that Senate committees are used for the personal partisan vendettas of their chairs.

The moral and political bankruptcy of the gang in charge in D.C. is now accepted fact, one they don't even bother to deny.

Database of sustainability communication projects

The United Nations Environment Program must have been listening to all the Grist chatter (here and here) about how to communicate environmental issues, because they have just launched the Creative Gallery on Sustainability Communications, described as the ...

Try This on for Seismic

Climate change may lead to more earthquakes and volcanic eruptions Geologists are concerned about the seismic repercussions of disappearing glaciers, noting that the sheer weight of the humongous blocks of ice helps to keep the earth in place. Glacial melting and the reduction of that weight may release pent-up pressure in the planet’s crust, leading […]

What’s Your Price for Flight?

European Parliament calls for jet-fuel tax to curb enviro impact of flying The European Parliament has voted in favor of a jet-fuel tax to help offset the environmental impact of air travel. The consumer cost of the fuel tax would be up to about $75 per roundtrip flight within Europe. Also, as the European Union […]

With This Ping, I Thee Dead

Judge temporarily restricts Navy’s sonar use to protect whales The U.S. Navy is temporarily forbidden to use high-intensity sonar in war-game exercises off the coast of Hawaii, a federal judge declared on Monday. She ruled that environmental groups had provided “considerable convincing scientific evidence that the Navy’s use of … sonar can kill, injure, and […]

Happy Independence Day, only without the happy part

(Obviously, this post was meant to be up yesterday.)

The obligation to deliver an uplifting message of hope about the real meaning of Independence Day hovers. But I just don't have it in me.

I said last Thanksgiving, "I am acutely conscious of the blessings I enjoy, my privileged place in a shrinking world." Every holiday my awareness grows more acute, as those blessings stand in starker and starker contrast to the disaster taking place on the world stage.

Two situations are reaching a crisis point.

Assault on the free press: a parable

To illustrate a point, let me tell a quick story:

On June 23 , The New York Times ran a story on SWIFT, the Bush Treasury Department's terror finance tracking program. Most of the information had been revealed in other publications, and insiders knew that the program was no longer producing much. The Wall Street Journal and the L.A. Times also ran stories on SWIFT.

Nonetheless, needing to change the headlines, Bush and his agents attacked the NYT. The official rhetoric was merely stern, citing unspecified damage to our national security. But Bush's most popular and enthusiastic defenders were not so circumspect. Charges of "treason" bounced around the conservative cable tv and blog circuit (again). You mean treason, like the high crime punishable by death? Says radio talk show host Melanie Morgan: "I would have no problem with [NYT editor Bill Keller] being sent to the gas chamber."

So, the NYT was accused of deliberately helping terrorists. Freaky enough. Then things took a turn for the Super Freaky.

Hood Games: Stop clearcutting the youth

Over at Treehugger TV, there is a new video about Comet Skateboards (a green 'board manufacturing company) and their community event, Hood Games:

In addition to raising funds and for a sustainably designed skate park in downtown Oakland CA, Comet has collaborated with others to put on Hood Games. Hood Games 4 took place in Oakland, and brought together a truly remarkable gathering of the skateboarders, parents, and friends for a full day of music, art, and of course -- ecofriendly skateboarding!

For more information about Comet Skateboards, check out this InterActivist and this Current TV video. And of course, their website.

Our ongoing environmental and economic setbacks are the successes of the current administration’s co

Anyone who's been following the systematic dismantling of environmental protection occurring in this country knows that the Bush administration is anything but incompetent. The people in power have very specific goals, and a lack of competence wouldn't have gotten them as far as they are today. Over on AlterNet, George Lakoff explains the philosophy that has brought about our recent failures and setbacks:

The conservative vision for government is to shrink it - to "starve the beast" in Conservative Grover Norquist's words. The conservative tagline for this rationale is that "you can spend your money better than the government can." Social programs are considered unnecessary or "discretionary" since the primary role of government is to defend the country's border and police its interior. Stewardship of the commons, such as allocation of healthcare or energy policy, is left to people's own initiative within the free market. Where profits cannot be made -- conservation, healthcare for the poor -- charity is meant to replace justice and the government should not be involved.

So the federal response to Katrina was actually a success: