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Coconuts: Good for more than just tropical drinks and bras

As fuel prices soar, the smaller and more remote the land mass, the bigger the crisis. But Pacific Islanders may have found their solution: coconuts. An article in Reuters today details efforts to make biofuel out of coconut oil.

It began when the Professor developed an idea for a bamboo boat motor, but the Skipper said they lost all their fuel when the Minnow ran aground. Gilligan suggested, "I have an idea. If we have phones made of coconuts, and a space shuttle made out of coconuts, and small tactical explosives made from coconuts, then why can't we have biofuel made from coconuts?" Then the Skipper hit Gilligan with his hat, which looks like a hostile act but is really a sign of affection.

The new discovery may also be an industry incentive, bringing much-needed revenue to rural-island populations, whose coconut supplies until now have been used to meet the massive demand for carved souvenir monkey heads with wire-rimmed glasses.

Gore and environmentalists

Ah, just as I expected. The Gore interview is kicking up quite a bit of feedback. And much of it is some variant of the following: "If Gore cares so much about global warming, why didn't he do anything about it when he was in the White House for eight years?"

So, let's talk about it. Lots and lots of hardcore enviros I know loathe Gore. They think he talked a good game on the campaign trail and then totally abandoned them when he got to power. There's lots and lots of pent-up anger toward him.

Another line of thought goes like this: Two years after they got to the White House, Clinton/Gore got stuck with a Republican congress that made it a mission to block everything they tried. In this they were aided and abetted by big industries, notably Detroit. On top of that was an endless succession of trumped-up pseudo-scandals. They had to retrench and triangulate to survive. And their consultants and strategists told them that environmental issues opened them up to charges of lefty wackiness, and wouldn't have any strong public support. So they did what they could given the circumstances.

To be honest, I don't have a great grasp of the history. My inclination is to think that progressives in general and enviros in particular often have politically unrealistic expectations -- an insufficient appreciation for the real constraints that politicians work under. This leads them to constantly valorize up-and-comers and then demonize the same folks once they get some power. A little realism would help. But like I said, I don't have the historical details at hand.

So let's throw the floor open.

What do y'all think?

An interview with accidental movie star Al Gore

Al Gore is on the campaign trail again, and he actually seems to be enjoying it. Like Brad Pitt, but wonkier. Photo: Eric Neitzel/WireImage. For those who remember his ponderous, consultant-driven bid for president, the idea of Gore enjoying anything about campaigning may seem far-fetched. But this time, the campaign’s not about him; it’s about […]

Archer-Daniels Midland’s stock soars on ethanol, biodiesel hype

Earlier this year, after Archer Daniels Midland reported surging profit for the fourth quarter of 2005 -- largely driven by its ethanol unit -- I dubbed the company the Exxon of Corn.

As if to prove my thesis, the grain-processing giant tapped an oil exec as its new CEO last week. And, like any respectable would-be oil company, it also reported another quarter of robust profit growth. The ascension to CEO of Patricia Woertz, most recently executive vice president at Chevron, marks the end of a four-decade run at ADM's top by the Andreas family. That venerable clan, whose chicanery runs from a key role in the Watergate scandal to a price-fixing scheme in the 1990s, built ADM into one of the U.S.'s most politically connected corporations. Congressional beneficiaries of ADM's campaign generosity likely need not fear; G. Allen Andreas, who has served as CEO since 1997 (when his uncle and predecessor was convicted of fixing the price of lysine, a corn product used in animal feed), will stay on as chairman of the board of directors.

In a country run by oil execs, why shouldn't the largest food-processing firm also be run by oil execs?

The move eloquently signals ADM's intention to continue its rush into the auto-fuel market. The company has made billions over the years extracting the Midwest's soil fertility and transforming it into crappy food products like high-fructose corn syrup, buoyed by government commodity policy and the sugar quota. Now it intends to do the same in service of the internal-combustion engine.

The Love Vote

Grist wins Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Magazine! Thanks to all of you — our dear, beloved readers — for wading through the labyrinthine Webby Awards site to vote for us. It worked! We won the Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Magazine. Some outfit called “National Geographic” won the “official” Webby (whatevs!), but […]

Corrode to Perdition

BP closes two more North Slope pipelines Oil giant — oops, beyond oil giant — BP is shutting down two more of its pipelines on Alaska’s North Slope, at the expense of 22,000 barrels of crude (worth some $1.5 million) a day. Neither pipe had leaked yet, but BP officials have been monitoring serious corrosion […]

Village of the Dammed

China nears completion of massive Three Gorges Dam, plots more dam-building Construction of the world’s largest hydroelectric dam — the Three Gorges Dam in China — may be completed as soon as May 20, nine months ahead of schedule. The $22 billion dam on the Yangtze River will eventually flood the homes of some 1.3 […]

Curses, Fideled Again

U.S. lawmakers see offshore drilling near Cuba and feel left out The U.S. has a years-old ban against offshore drilling in the Florida Straits, but it looks like the area might get drilled anyway — by Cuba. The island country has rights to resources in half of the straits under a 1977 agreement, which President […]

Has the corporate-responsibility movement lost sight of the big picture?

Just as people sailing full-tilt into an iceberg zone can get distracted rearranging deck chairs, those of us advocating corporate responsibility may be guilty of spending too much time fiddling with the nuances of the language that describes our work. We do this even as abrupt climate change, pandemics, and other mega-trends float, quiet but […]

Move over HGTV, here comes GBTV

PBS is going to start airing a show called Building green in September.

A green-building TV show sounds interesting, but also makes me nervous. Will it be more of the shallow consumerism that defines most home shows? Or will it actually seek to give average people the comfort and confidence to try green-building projects themselves.