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Where to look for responses to climate change: environmental secession?

Climate reporter Andrew Revkin wrote an essay in the NYT on Sunday wherein he tries to "bring the debate on global warming down to earth."

While I believe global warming is "breaking news" (it's the fate of Earth we're talking about after all), I'm not as interested in taking another shot at the "debate."

What struck me was the story I found in the graphs alongside the article. Several recent surveys show a fairly low level of concern for global warming and the environment generally among Americans. There is a striking disconnect between these survey results and the real, concrete steps being taken at local and state levels. Mark Hertsgaard points out one such example in the recent Vanity Fair green issue:

LCV hearts Barack

The League of Conservation Voters is having its annual Washington Dinner this Wed.

The keynote speaker? Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

David Ford, biz consultant and forest advocate, answers questions

David Ford. With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I am the president and CEO of Metafore, an enterprise nonprofit based in Portland, Ore. How does it relate to the environment? We help businesses align their practices so they achieve positive social and environmental outcomes. In Metafore’s view of the world, “Every business is in […]

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Blaming

Rising oil prices send lawmakers into frenzy of empty gestures The American public will take lots of things lying down — inaction on climate change, ill-conceived wars, erosion of civil liberties — but expensive gas? Hell no! With oil prices topping $75 a barrel, gas prices sneaking up on $3 a gallon, and some East […]

The Land of Disenchantment

New Mexico cracks down on its filthy dairy industry Industrial dairy farms deplete groundwater, fill the air with bacteria-laden dust, and, what with the massive lagoons filled with manure (ew), kinda stink. If goings-on in New Mexico — the nation’s seventh-largest milk producer, fastest-growing dairy state, and home to the nation’s biggest cheese plant — […]

The World Bunk

World Bank report urges cleantech boost in developing countries The World Bank is turning its attention to helping developing countries meet their growing energy needs without, you know, frying the globe. At the request of the G8 nations, the World Bank produced a report on the subject, released at this weekend’s meeting with the International […]

Hydrogen Fidelity

Bush stumps for hydrogen on Earth Day For Earth Day, President Bush visited a California hydrogen fuel-cell project, decrying the danger posed to the planet by … high gas prices. Predicting a “tough summer” and calling the scourge at the pump “a serious problem we’ve got to do something about,” he pledged immediate action. And […]

My problem with David Kamp’s NYT review of Michael Pollan’s new book

In his review of Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, published in Sunday's NYT Book Review, David Kamp expresses a bit of received wisdom that needs rethinking.

Kamp, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and GQ who himself is writing a book about food, generally approves of Pollan's well-documented indictment of the dominant U.S. food system and exploration of its alternatives (which I reviewed here).

But to the big-picture problems presented by Pollan, Kamp demands big-picture solutions. And here is where I think Kamp, like many commentators on the vast-scale environmental troubles plaguing our culture, goes astray.

Umbra on the greenhouse effect

Dear Umbra, Man-made greenhouse gases are blamed for recent global-warming trends. But man-made greenhouse gases account for only 5 percent of the greenhouse effect. Water vapor, over which civilization has virtually no control, accounts for some 95 percent of that greenhouse effect. Why has so much attention been focused on man-made gases when they comprise […]

Grist in the MSM

As a small, scrappy, poor non-profit magazine devoted to the environment, we naturally revel in our thoroughgoing moral superiority to the mainstream media (MSM).

We also, naturally, giggle like schoolgirls whenever they mention our name.

Amanda's interview with Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott is covered rather extensively in the business section of the New York Times.

Also, our Maximum Leader Chip is quoted (for reasons not entirely clear, but whatevs, we love it) toward the top of this story about carbon offsets.

Also, ML Chip is interviewed by NPR's Weekend America for Earth Day (second segment down), about the changing image of environmentalists -- a change, we find out from the disinterested interview subject, being led by Grist!

Also, ML Chip has an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle today, about the connection between poverty and the environment -- a little late for our Poverty & the Environment special edition, but then, it's not like the problem has gone away.

And that's that for Self-Promotion Sunday. Tune in next week!