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I’m dreaming of a warm Christmas

Speaking of humor, Bush, and global warming, the folks over at Current TV aired the latest Super News episode on the very same topic. Enjoy.

(Yes, I realize I'm a little late with this one, but I've been on vacation.)

Willie no longer free; Willie now $2.37

The New York Times has a nice piece on Willie Nelson's efforts to combine love (of family farmers) and hate (of oil wars) in a new business venture: biodiesel branded as BioWillie.

"I knew we needed to have something that would keep us from being so dependent on foreign oil, and when I heard about biodiesel, a light come on, and I said, 'Hey, here's the future for the farmers, the future for the environment, the future for the truckers'," Mr. Nelson said in an interview this month. "It seems like that's good for the whole world if we can start growing our own fuel instead of starting wars over it."

With Volkswagen TDI's getting 45-50 MPG, what's not to like?

Make it your new year's resolution. I did.

Reuseable menstrual pads are P.I.M.P.-in’

Squeamish boys should read no further. Sorry, fellas, it's not that kind of party.

As Umbra has pointed out, a lady's monthly menses doesn't have to be an environmental catastrophe (emotional catastrophe is another matter). Instead, it can be a party! It can be a Party in My Pants! It can be PIMPin', though in this case Jay-Z-style Big PIMPin' might be less than desirable.

Enthusiastic Grist reader Elka alerted us to this undercover fashion statement, pondering, "Hm ... should I snap on some martini glass PIMPs this morning, or perhaps some cowgirl PIMPs?" Party in my pants, indeed.

Check 'em out at health food stores and co-ops in the Midwest and Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco.

Gerald Prolman, CEO of Organic Bouquet, answers questions

Gerald Prolman. What work do you do? I’m CEO of Organic Bouquet. How does it relate to the environment? Organic Bouquet is the world’s first online organic florist. All the flowers we sell are grown in a manner that is gentle on the earth and safe for the farmworkers, wildlife, and the environment. Non-organic flowers […]

Logically, Bush could just decree it.

Consider:

• President Bush argues that we are at war (against "terror"), that the war will go in indefinitely, and that he alone decides what constitutes a cessation of conflict.
• President Bush argues that the executive branch has what amounts to absolute power on matters of national security during wartime, irrespective of statute and without Congressional oversight.
• President Bush argues that making the U.S. independent of "foreign oil" is an issue of national security.
• President Bush argues that drilling in the Arctic Refuge could help make the U.S. independent of foreign oil.

Given the above, why can't Bush just decree that the Arctic Refuge will be opened to drilling?

‘When you drive, society becomes an obstacle.’

This screed by George Monbiot is mostly directed at a particular set of UK organizations, but it contains worthy insights with broader application:

Increased lava flow …

I once claimed that environmental humor is never funny.

But Will Ferrell as President Bush, speaking on global warming? Kinda funny.

(via EE)

Umbra on replacing appliances

Dear Umbra, I’ve done the research, and I’m ready to buy my first front-loading washing machine. And then a pesky friend starts asking the tough questions. “Does your existing machine work?” Yes. “Are you going to sell it to someone else who will keep using it?” Yes. “So, two machines where there used to be […]

Chock full of good news … ha ha …

Top 10 lists are all the rage, but if seeing King Kong the other night taught me anything, it's that more isn't always better. In that spirit, here are my nominations for the top five environmental stories of the year.

1. Katrina

The discussion about Hurricane Katrina and global warming largely missed the point. Of course global warming didn't cause Katrina -- any given weather event is the nexus of thousands of causes, proximate and distal. The exact degree of attribution scientifically supported is a question for eco-wonks and science geeks.

The point about Katrina that will linger in the public's mind is: Oh, that's what climate can do.

And, relatedly: We are totally and completely unprepared.

2. Bush wins on climate change

Despite taking fire from an astonishing array of sources -- Tony Blair, Democrats, city mayors, state attorneys general, celebrity spokesfolk, science advocacy groups, a majority of the public, and even Republicans in Congress -- the Bush administration succeeded in delaying significant efforts to address climate change for another year. At home, at the G8 summit, at the Montreal U.N. climate talks, it simply dug in its heels. No one figured out how to move it.

McKibben in NYRB

I don't have a new intro, so I'll just steal my last one:

"Every column Bill McKibben writes on climate change becomes more dread-laden and portentous, but I never stop enjoying them."

The latest is "The Coming Meltdown," in the New York Review of Books. There's not a lot of new info in it (unless you're interested in the two books reviewed), but as always, it's engagingly written and contains some juicy quotes. How about this, from Harvard's James McCarthy:

Scientists are by training and nature conservative and ... have probably underestimated our impact. Fifty years from now -- I hope I'm wrong -- I think you may be living in a world where you don't go outside between one and four in the afternoon.

Whee!

And some classic McKibben:

It is hard not to approach this year's oncoming winter in an elegiac mood .... We are forced to face the fact that a century's carelessness is now melting away the world's storehouses of ice, a melting whose momentum may be nearing the irreversible. It's as if we were stripping the spectrum of a color, or eradicating one note from every octave. There are almost no words for such a change: it's no wonder that scientists have to struggle to get across the enormity of what is happening.