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The Daily Grist Headline Battle Royale: Match 8

It is no surprise (to me) that last week's winner is "Enthuse Your Curbism" with 53% of the vote. What I do find surprising is that "Waddle They Do Now?" faired better than "Good Mennonite, and Good Luck". Go figure.

Also a little disappointing is the number of votes: 13 (an alltime low). I'd like to think you were spending all your time voting for us in the People's Choice Awards. If so, thank you, as Grist is currently kicking butt.

Anyhoo, here are the next batch of nominees:

1. Let's Make a Meal: Michael Pollan's new book digs into the mysteries of the U.S. diet
2. Oh No He Didn't: Chrysler official takes public potshot at oil companies
3. What a Tangled Webby We Weave: Grist nominated for Webby Award -- go vote for us!
4. Governor, May I Take One Baby Step?: Schwarzenegger calls for slow and steady climate action
5. RGGI or Not, Here They Come: Maryland senator chats with Grist about joining regional climate pact
6. Life's a Bleach and Then You Die: Caribbean coral reefs hammered by bleaching, disease

Vote!

The ghost of Ayn Rand reminds us that environmentalists want to KILL US ALL [cue music from Psycho]

We received this op-ed submission from the Ayn Rand Institute, for reasons I don't fully understand. Perhaps they didn't read the site too closely?

I dabbled with Rand when I was a bitter adolescent ... which is the appropriate time to dabble with Rand. When you don't grow out of that phase, well, you go to work for the Institute.

Anyway, I present, for your amusement and edification:

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To save mankind requires the wholesale rejection of environmentalism as hatred of science, technology, progress, and human life.
By Michael S. Berliner

Earth Day approaches, and with it a grave danger faces mankind. The danger is not from acid rain, global warming, smog, or the logging of rain forests, as environmentalists would have us believe. The danger to mankind is from environmentalism.

Terrain Johnson and Colleen Contrisciane of Earth Force answer questions

With what environmental organization are you affiliated? Terrain Johnson. Johnson: I’m a 6th grade student at Masterman Middle School in Philadelphia, and I work with Earth Force. Colleen Contrisciane. Contrisciane: I am a program coordinator with Earth Force, a national organization that aims to engage young people as environmental citizens. What does your organization do? […]

Coal: Totally, like, awesome

Advertisers and marketing types everywhere want to know: What common interest unites pre-teen African Americans and young white skateboarders?

Well, I've found the answer! It's American coal, which is abundant, affordable, and oh-so-clean! Why, it's so darn cool the skateboarder is "stoked" about it.

Learn more here.

(And PS, is that the kid from The Squid and the Whale?)

‘Eco-terrorism’: The not-particularly-interesting parts

The cover story of Pacific Northwest Magazine is about "eco-terrorism." It's decent enough on its own terms, but disappointingly cursory.

Moderately Bueno!

Mexico City air is a little better than it used to be Two decades ago, Mexico City’s air was widely deemed the worst on the planet. Today, while the city of 20 million is still one of the world’s most polluted, it’s no longer top dog. (Several cities in China now dominate the charts.) A […]

They Put the “Dies” In “Subsidies”

Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” traced back to farm subsidies You know that massive “dead zone” that shows up every year in the Gulf of Mexico? The oxygen-starved, life-free patch of water about the size of, oh, Connecticut? That’s your tax dollars at work. The zone is caused largely by nitrogen-based fertilizers, which flow downriver […]

The Kittens Are Next …

Global warming is bad news for baby walruses It seems global warming is now separating babies from their mothers. Heartless bastard. The cute and bristly walrus makes its home on Arctic ice shelves, which are melting rapidly as unusually warm water flows in from the Bering Sea. As their happy walrus home melts and collapses, […]

Krugman on Raymond and Exxon

In today's New York Times, the Sultan of Shrill, Paul Krugman, takes a richly deserved swipe at outgoing ExxonMobil Chairman Lee Raymond.

Since it's behind the Time$elect subscription wall, here's a large chunk:

Nuclear energy and power devolution

I just got done watching Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight, a documentary on the American military-industrial complex (a term coined by Dwight D. Eisenhower in his extraordinary farewell address) and the enormous influence in exerts over our foreign policy. It's depressing, but still, I can't recommend it highly enough.

It got me thinking about the nuclear question again, and a post I wrote almost a year ago -- one of my favorites -- called "Renewable energy and the devolution of power." The idea was basically this: The kind of distributed-energy/smart-grid future greens envision would, if implemented, devolve political power outward from Washington. It would substantially increase regional self-sufficiency. This, as much as any technical debate, explains why the power elite has neglected to pursue it, and even fought against it.

It also, I think, explains Washington's love of nuclear energy. Nuclear is a familiar template for them: a large industry with one or two dominant corporations, with lobbyists that move in and out of government positions -- the usual chummy arrangement. It's something they can understand and control.

If regions create their own energy, they have much less need for, and are much less in thrall to, D.C. That has enormous implications. I'm not sure renewable-energy advocates have really thought it through.