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One word … bamboo

China will host the 2008 Olympics, which are an expression of human nature, which is all about competition and status. The Olympics, in my humble opinion, are little more than a pissing match writ large. The Chinese will of course use this event to show the world how cool they are. One way they plan to impress visitors is to build things out of luxurious tropical hardwoods, like the rich, dark red Merbau tree, which grows in the jungles of Indonesia and Malaysia.

From the Jarkarta Post:

Experts forecast that China's drive to develop its infrastructure to host the Olympics will consume tens of millions of cubic meters of primary forestry products, including solid wood flooring.

Look who’s changing the world now

Recently, contributor Deborah Schimberg had the chance to attend the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School in Oxford, England. She shares a few thoughts here.

Should we see our contaminated and warring world as cause for despair, or as a call to action? Social entrepreneurs choose the second, and big-time business is getting on board. And of the 16 award-winners recently announced by the Skoll Foundation -- which was created by former eBay president Jeff Skoll -- several had a green bent.

There was Jim Fruchterman of Benetech, who is working on several sector-changing businesses, among them a software program that will help conservation groups standardize data collection and management. And Mindy Lubber of Ceres, which helps shareholders pressure major corporations like Ford to adopt forward-looking policies. Another, Albina Ruiz of Ciudad Saludable, has worked to set up eco-enterprises in 20 cities in Peru. These folks are all addressing serious structural problems in the environmental sector with systematic, business-like methods.

An interview with retiring Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, a GOP leader on environmental protection

Sherwood Boehlert. Photo: AP/Jim McKnight. When leading U.S. climate scientist James Hansen accused NASA earlier this year of stifling his public speech on climate change, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) sprang into action. Chair of the House Science Committee, Boehlert immediately fired off a stern letter to the NASA administrator, asserting that “when it comes to […]

Faking it

Ever visit this website? According to Mary Mycio, author of Wormwood Forest, the photos of the Chernobyl area were taken during a regularly scheduled bus tour, not by a hot chick riding solo on a motorcycle. Mycio spent a great deal of time in the contaminated zones and actually talked to the driver of that same tour bus (who I will assume was telling the truth). I just finished reading her book and although there have already been several good posts on the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, I thought readers could stomach maybe one more.

A poll!

You may have noticed that I can't bring myself to post about anything serious today. It's Friday, for chrissake, and the sun's finally out in Seattle. Instead, how about a stoopid poll. Vote below the fold.

The glossy backlash

Yesterday I took a few potshots at the Wired green issue.

Now the glossy backlash continues, with a DailyKos diarist going postal on the Vanity Fair green issue:

Every pathology of the overripe zenith of American hyperconsumerism and narcissism, proudly flaunted in one shiny, garishly overcoloured, borderline-porno, pretty-shiny-toxic package.  What an experience.

Bitchy is the new green!

Amen

Oh my goodness:

WASHINGTON, April 26 (UPI) -- A U.S. Christian group has grown tired of escalating gasoline prices and is set to stage a national prayer rally to lower the numbers at the pumps.

Various Christian clergy from around the country will convene around a Washington, D.C., gas station Thursday at noon to pray. For those who can't attend, a live Internet site and toll-free prayer line have been established.

In a release, the Pray Live group said many people are "overlooking the power of prayer when it comes to resolving this energy crisis."

Apart from sending a message to God, the rally had a message for humanity, said Wenda Royster, the group's founder.

"It is our hope that seeing and hearing some of the nation's most powerful preachers gathered around a gas station and the United States capital as a backdrop, will remind everyone who is really in charge of our world -- God," Royster said.

The Web site is at praylive.com. The toll-free phone number is 888-PRAYLIVE.

S'pose it has as much chance of working as this stuff.

(via EnergyBulletin)

Tarcísio Feitosa da Silva fights illegal logging in the Amazon

In the northern Brazilian state of Pará, where the mouth of the Amazon cuts into the continent, illegal logging, industrial farming, and a human-driven cycle of massive wildfires are destroying the tropical forests. Since he was a teenager, Tarcísio Feitosa da Silva has considered it his mission to help protect these forests, and the isolated […]

Worth 1000 words

Classic.

Update [2006-4-28 14:37:38 by David Roberts]: Ooh, Yahoo has a whole photo montage. Worth 10,000 words!

From Bo to ‘Boards

Bo, you do know diddly In honor of Global Love Day (serious!), we’re spreadin’ the love this week. And where better to start than with Bo Derek? The notorious “10” was just named U.S. special envoy on wildlife trafficking. Which we’re sure is unrelated to her wild times with Bush’s new chief of staff. Photo: […]