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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.

Find events in your community in the lead-up to Earth Day on April 22

Earth Day is this coming Saturday, April 22, and green goings-on will be plentiful all this week. Looking for a rally or beach cleanup or edifying lecture or "Lorax" screening in your 'hood? Check out Earth Day Network's searchable database of activities across the U.S. and around the globe.

Too Hot Not to Handle

Pretty sure I'm the last blogger on the block to mention this, but tune to HBO on Earth Day (April 22) for Too Hot Not to Handle, a special on global warming exec. produced by -- who else? -- Laurie David.

HBO has a hard-hitting interview with David on their site, with such incisive exchanges as this:

Who Killed the Electric Car? launch date set

In addition to An Inconvenient Truth, we've been also tracking the film Who Killed the Electric Car? This morning Grist received an email concerning the official launch date, which is scheduled for June 28th of this year.

The movie was screened at Sundance and will also be appearing at the following festivals:

San Francisco Film Festival (April 21-22)
USA Film Festival, Dallas (April 29)
Tribeca Film Festival, New York City (May 2, 4-6)
Mountain Film Festival, Telluride, Co (tentative: May 28)
Seattle Film Festival (tentative: June 9)
Atlanta Film Festival (tentative: June 11)

SOL: Sustaining Ourselves Locally

According to the Current TV Studio blog, SOL, a viewer-contributed piece about a sustainable development project in Oakland, will be airing on TV.

I think this is a good example of how people like you, armed with a camera and a passion, can produce a short film that could potentially reach 28 million homes (according to a company press release [PDF]).

Here's the synopsis on Current:

This is specifically a piece on an urban sustainable development project in Oakland that consists of 9 people working together to do community environment work. Amazing project that focuses on everything from compost and farming to food justice.

Watch it now.

Kevin Drum blows it by repeating the conventional wisdom

Kevin Drum, whose judgment and writing I very much admire, has made a rare lapse.

He points to this Washington Post editorial from Patrick Moore -- deceptively described only as a "co-founder of Greenpeace" -- and sighs that although he struggled with the decision, he's come to the conclusion that aside from nuclear power, "there aren't any other realistic alternatives for replacing coal-fired facilities."

Rather than repeat myself, I'll just reprint two comments I left on Kevin's site (slightly edited), in reverse order.

On Patrick Moore:

Patrick Moore did not just now "change his mind" about nuclear. He's been advocating for it for years.

And describing him only as "one of the founders of Greenpeace" is extraordinarily misleading. He's a notorious crank and industry shill.

And on nuclear power:

An environmentalism about human survival

Let's do a thought experiment.

About 251 million years ago, there was an enormous extinction event. No one knows why for sure, but one theory is ... global warming. 90% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrates were wiped out. Left behind? Mostly fungus.

If animals, plants, and ecosystems have value in and of themselves, we must view the Permian-Triassic extinction event as an almost unfathomable tragedy, far worse than anything human history has witnessed. It ought to make us tremble, shake faith in a benevolent deity.

But it doesn't. We don't view it as a tragedy that dwarfs any human violence, starvation, or disease, not really. Some might say it is, but I'll venture nobody on the planet feels it to be such.

It's just something that happened. Indeed, though it was the worst, it was but one of seven major extinction events -- including the one we're living through now, the fastest.