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And has no chance of winning

Attentive readers of Amanda's column know that green groups are trying to take out Rep. Richard "Dick" Pombo (R-Calif.) in 2006. They don't have, you know, a candidate or anything ... but they have hope!

One such hope is that former Rep. Pete McCloskey -- a Republican about whom the adjective "maverick" is inevitably used -- would jump in the race, as he's frequently threatened.

Well, it looks like McCloskey's in.

Former U.S. Rep. Paul "Pete" McCloskey, a maverick Republican who opposed the Vietnam War and helped write the Endangered Species Act, said Friday he will run against Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy), a leading critic of how the government has applied environmental protection laws.

Sounds like the Pombo camp is seriously worried:

Julia Butterfly Hill, activist and onetime tree-sitter, answers questions

What work do you do? I founded Circle of Life in 1999 while living in the branches of an over-1,000-year-old redwood to keep it from being cut down by MAXXAM-owned Pacific Lumber Company. What does your organization do? Circle of Life activates people through education, inspiration, and connection to live in a way that honors […]

A Greening Tide Lifts All Boats

Reports say cutting greenhouse gases will enhance California’s economy Curbing greenhouse-gas emissions will massively boost California’s economy, according to two independent analyses of the state’s ambitious plans for fighting global warming. The Center for Clean Air Policy, a D.C.-based environmental think tank, found that California could meet its proposed 2010 emissions goals — mandated last […]

More on glass recycling and reuse

About this previous post on glass recycling -- some astute readers noticed that by focusing on recycling, I'd ignored more important priorities: reducing the use of packaging, and reusing glass bottles where practical.

That's a fair enough critique. But it did make me wonder: What happened, exactly, to the practice of reusing glass bottles? I can still remember drinking Coke from reusable bottles as a kid, but I rarely see that anymore. How come? And, more to the point, how would a system of reusable glass bottles stack up against recyclable glass and plastic containers?

We’re No. 28!

U.S. environmental performance ranks below Malaysia, Chile, 25 others We beat Cyprus! Yeah, boyee! The Mediterranean island nation comes in at 29th in a landmark pilot study ranking countries by their environmental performance. The U.S. comes in at a blazing 28th — just behind most of Western Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Chile, and, […]

Time to Bust Out the Scare Quotes

Feds indict 11 people for alleged eco-crime conspiracy On Friday, 11 alleged “eco-terrorists” were indicted on a total of 65 counts in connection with a five-year string of arsons and vandalism. The indictments were announced at a press conference attended by Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, FBI Director Robert Mueller, ATF Director Carl J. Truscott, U.S. […]

If ELF didn’t exist, the Bushies would have to invent it.

Why are the DOJ, FBI, and ATF making so much noise about "eco-terrorism"?

FBI deputy assistant John Lewis said, "The No. 1 domestic terrorism threat is the eco-terrorism, animal-rights movement."

Put aside for a moment the conspicuous running together of two different movements. By no reasonable metric would eco-terrorism and animal-rights direct action combined be judged the premiere domestic threat of our times. The number of lives taken and property damaged by organized crime swamps anything done by the ELF, even if we accept every claim made on its behalf. Drugs, prostitution, smuggling, piracy -- all kill more and damage more property. Hell, white collar crime makes the $23-million-over-10-years attributed to "eco-terrorism" look like a laughable rounding error.

In terms of lives and lucre, there are manifold forms of crime under the FBI's jurisdiction that do more damage. Other than its status as "terrorism," as determined on the sole authority of the executive branch, what marks "eco-terrorism" worthy of the enormous time and resources being devoted to it?

Especially since, as we were all recently reminded, Osama bin Laden is still very much alive, and radical Islamic terror has already done more than $23 million in damage -- in one day, you might recall.

The cynical among us might suggest that it is to the executive branch's great benefit at the moment to be seen securing high-profile victories over terrorism, however defined or identified. It is also to this administration's advantage to associate environmentalism -- a source of vocal and embarrassing bi-partisan and international criticism -- with violence and extremism. If the ELF didn't exist, the Bush administration would have to invent it.

So say the cynics. Dirty, no-good cynics!

Who will be the next UN Secretary General?

The search for the new UN Secretary-General is starting to find its way into the press and public commentary. Although the SG focuses day-to-day on issues deemed remote from environmental concerns, the person at the top can really make a difference in how the UN tackles environment, population, health, and poverty questions.

Former Norwegian Prime Minister and WHO head Gro Harlem Brundtland, for example, is a commonly mentioned candidate. Brundtland chaired the mid-80s panel that produced Our Common Future, the influential volume that helped set the agenda for the 1992 Rio Summit and provides the most commonly used definition of sustainable development.

Asian countries believe it is their turn, but splits between China and Japan, among others, may keep a single Asian candidate from emerging.

You can read all the gossip on who is up and who is down at "Who will be the next Secretary General?"

It’s pretty low-end

I would hope it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: I do not condone the acts of the ALF or, to the extent it's extant, the ELF. Arson is a crime and should be prosecuted. Flooding, vandalism -- not cool. Graffiti, well, it's a menace.

To deem one's cause more worthy than a living, breathing human being is the ultimate in jackassery. As yet, ELF has not gone there.

But destroying people's stuff is also jackassery. A distinctly lower-order form of jackassery, but jackassery nonetheless. Only a jackass indulges in jackassery.

And let's face it. Somebody's going to get hurt. The more the feds inadvertently (?) publicize ELF, the more ELF will attract attention and self-proclaimed membership. Eventually it will attract a crank who will injure or kill someone. My sympathy for that crank is nil and I'm all for throwing the book at him.

My concern is not whether "eco-terrorism" should be morally or legally condoned -- it obviously shouldn't. My concern is whether it is particularly significant, in terms of threats to the health and welfare of Americans. It seems to me the Bush administration is using it quite crassly, for political purposes, in a manner all out of proportion to the real danger it poses.

Eco-terrorist commits suicide

This raised my eyebrow:

[U.S. Attorney Karin] Immergut said a pledge by the defendants to never reveal each other's identities to law-enforcement officials made the investigation more difficult. But investigators persuaded some alleged participants to act as informants, providing details of the crimes.

...

[40-year-old Arizona bookstore owner William C.] Rodgers, who also was identified by federal prosecutors as the mastermind of the 1998 arson at Vail, Colo., but was not charged in connection with that crime, committed suicide last month in an Arizona jail.

From the indictment, Rodgers appeared to be a key figure in the cell, allegedly involved in many of the most high-profile crimes.