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Two new books on nature reveal three writers’ ways of seeing

“It was on Cape Cod during fall a few years back, after the century fell but before the towers did, that I began paying a series of visits to the writer John Hay.” With this opening line in The Prophet of Dry Hill, David Gessner sets the tone for a quest that is both personal […]

Environmental taxes: a good thing

A few days ago the New America Foundation's Fiscal Policy Program came out with a proposal to completely re-engineer (PDF) the federal tax system in the United States. I'm not enough of a tax geek to cast judgment on the specifics, but some of the details look very intriguing. In particular, the idea of "environmental taxes" -- taxing, say, global-warming emissions, or natural-resource consumption, or pollution -- makes loads of sense.

PVC-ing the Light

Microsoft will be PVC-free by the new year Keep up the pressure, letter-writers: In response to customer concern, Microsoft has joined Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and other large corporations in declaring, “No vinyl, that’s final!” The software giant announced yesterday that it has eliminated about 361,000 pounds of polyvinyl chloride packaging since July and will phase […]

Para Normal

Violence against activists continues in the Brazilian rainforest A trial begins in Brazil tomorrow for two men accused of murdering Dorothy Stang, a U.S.-born nun who had spent 30 years in the Amazon opposing illegal ranching and logging that razed the rainforest and displaced peasant farmers. But despite promises from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula […]

As the World Spurns

U.S. attacked on three fronts for obstructing climate action Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin took direct aim at the U.S. during yesterday’s climate summit meetings in Montreal, reproaching the planet’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases for not joining in international efforts to combat global warming. “To the reticent nations, including the United States, I say […]

Let’s Take This Slow on the Road

Campaign by right-wing U.S. group aims to derail E.U. climate policy American lobbyist Chris Horner is trying to convince major European companies to join a campaign against the Kyoto Protocol and any future such strategies to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases — but he’s not making much headway. Horner is a senior fellow at the […]

2005 saw historic levels of attention

Matthew Nisbet takes a look at media coverage of climate change and finds that "in 2005, climate change received its second highest level of news attention historically." We can probably thank the G8 summit, the ginormous hurricane season, and the Montreal summit for that. It will be interesting to see whether we've entered a period of sustained interest or if it will fall off next year.

Climate change still gets less press attention than the Pope, though. People's fascination with the Pope never fails to baffle me. But then, I spend most of my time these days baffled.

I wonder what the Pope's stance on climate change is?

(via Mooney)

Dare to dream

Is Pombo in trouble?

Roosters, meat, and biodiversity

I ran across this article looking for information on avian flu. South Carolina is the capital of the poultry industry, but even there, nobody wants to live next to a commercial chicken house. Thomas Brickle, who owns three egg houses in the area, made one comment I found particularly inspiring:

"We have flies," he said. "We had flies before we had chicken houses, and we probably had flies before we had chickens."

OK, so, what has no fur, struts around on two legs, thinks he is good looking (but isn't), and likes the sound of his own voice?

This little light of Pete’s

In Congressional Quarterly, via reader SCB:

Light it up, and don't fret about the electric bill. When House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., flips the switch tomorrow to light the Capitol Christmas tree, "significantly less energy will be used thanks to the first-time addition of Light Emitting Diode (LED) holiday lights." So says Senate Energy Chairman Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M., whose home state not only produced this year's giant tree but also is home to Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, a leading center of research and development for LED lighting. Domenici said the bulbs use about 90 percent less electricity than traditional holiday lights and last 20,000 hours (the equivalent of more than 100 holiday seasons). Guess someone had better take them off carefully after New Year's and stuff them away for next year.

Thanks, Pete! That energy bill? Forgiven!

In other CQ news, the cover story this week is called "Getting a Grip on Carbon." Sadly, I can't read it, since I'm not a subscriber.