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Where does your gas come from?

Chicago Tribune reporter Paul Salopek spent the last year on "an energy safari," working backwards from the customers and night-shift clerks at a single Marathon gas station in exurban Chicago (and the downstate refinery that supplies it) to the exact fields where the oil first left the ground. Last September, for instance, 71% of its gas came from the U.S., 20% from Africa, and 10% from Saudi Arabia.

The eight stories and related multimedia (photos from Iraq, Louisiana, Nigeria, and Venezuela, and a 12-part video documentary) neatly tie together the disparate lives on both ends of the petroleum pipe: an angry gang recruit in Itak Abasi, Nigeria, an oilfield manager in Basra living under what amounts to solitary confinement, fiercely Chavista village elders in Venezuela, the gas station manager who spends a third of her pay on gas, and a "concerned" Hummer-driving realtor in St. Charles, Illinois. The Tribune calls our "globe-spanning energy network" "so fragile, so beholden to hostile powers and so clearly unsustainable, that our car-centered lifestyle seems more at risk than ever" -- a bit out of character for a Republican newspaper with a suburban circulation base.

Checklist liberalism

It's slightly off topic for this blog, but what with all the environmentalist exhortations to "form coalitions" and whatnot, I thought it would be a public service to link to Mark Schmitt's typically wise words on the subject of "checklist liberalism."

Does this Shahtoosh shawl make my butt look big?

Ever wonder why warthog fur coats never caught on? Infinitesimal progress is being made to control the illegal wildlife trade (outpaced only by the illegal drug and weapon trades). According to this article in the Independent, 250 "shahtoosh" shawls and four tons of ivory were intercepted just this summer. Some elements in Japan are starting to irritate me no end. In addition to undermining whaling bans and paying $50K for a tuna, they now want to resume the ivory trade.

The role of government in environmental protection

There is an ongoing debate about the appropriate role of government for solving environmental problems, with many environmentalists calling for increased government intervention and many people more predisposed to individual responsibility calling for less.

Jim Moriarty, president of Surfrider Foundation, answers questions

Jim Moriarty. What work do you do? I work at an environmental, action-sports-oriented nonprofit called Surfrider Foundation. What does your organization do? We exist for the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves, and beaches. Two examples: we fight for clean water and beach access. How do you get to work? Mini Cooper S or telecommute. […]

Partisanship

This is why I worry about global warming becoming a partisan issue:

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 […]