Latest Articles

The dynamics of Arctic Refuge drilling in Congress

A subscription-only article in Congressional Quarterly adeptly summarizes the complicated dynamics at work in Congress right now. Arctic Refuge drilling hangs in the balance. A long excerpt below the fold.

Is too few people the new “population problem”?

Alston wants your women. All’s quiet on the Alston front. Photo: www.visitcumbria.com. And not just any old hags, either — residents of this northern English town would prefer strapping young things who aren’t afraid to get dirty. “Quite frankly, old people are not going to give us the vitality that we need,” says Vince Peart, […]

Can China’s government balance an economic boom with environmental degradation and public protest?

By now it should be clear that China is the big story of the 21st century, in geopolitics generally and global environmental health in particular. Last week saw yet more news of grassroots protest in the country, this one "improperly handled" by police, who killed up to 20 villagers.

The general outline of China's story is one of rapid economic growth, rapid growth of environmental degradation, rapid growth of political dissent, and genuine uncertainty about whether the communist government can keep all these balls in the air without a) acceding to democracy, or b) imposing harsh, country-wide political suppression.

It's hard to overstate the degree of complexity and uncertainty involved here, or the stakes. Depending on where you look, you can find signs that economic growth will continue or run up against hard limits, that environmental degradation will accelerate or that the government will leapfrog past the woes of West's industrialization, that political unrest will spread out of control or calm down as prosperity spreads, that the government will lose control or manage the transition smoothly.

Nobody really knows, and as Gristmill readers will recall, the experts' predictions are no more likely to come true than those of a reasonably educated observer.

That said, I commend you to this post from Anne-Marie Slaughter (or rather, a unnamed friend of hers who lives in China and works in the environmental movement there). It's a great rundown of the role environmental issues are playing in China's political dynamic.

A long excerpt is below the fold, but you should, as bloggers are so fond of saying, read the whole thing.

Population activist David Nova took his message to the trail

David Nova. While camping alone in the Mojave Desert three years ago, David Nova was suddenly struck by the lack of human influence — no buildings, no streetlights, no cars, all the way to the horizon. It wasn’t the first time the avid hiker had thought about the effects of population on the environment, but […]

When it comes to having kids, this global citizen can’t bear it

This old earth has spun ’round the sun 40 times since my founding egg and sperm got cozy with each other, and yet I’m still a solo act: no wife, no family, no tribe. While a life partner and tribe can be left to happen whenever they happen — if they happen — I’m at […]

Solar Survivor

California utility commission recharges Governator’s solar energy plan California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) Million Solar Roofs initiative — a casualty of partisan squabbling in the California legislature’s last session — has been partially resurrected. On Tuesday, the California Public Utilities Commission responded to a groundswell of public support with a $3.2 billion plan to increase […]

Unjust Breathe

Blacks more likely than whites to be breathing polluted air Sadly, few will be shocked to hear that black Americans are more likely than whites to be breathing the nation’s most unhealthy air. An Associated Press analysis of year-2000 data from two federal sources — the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory and the Census Bureau’s population […]

Not Shafted Yet

Controversial mining-law revisions dropped from budget bill You might think we could take it for granted that millions of acres of national parks, forests, and other federal lands won’t be sold off to developers, but these days, it’s worthy of celebration: Late yesterday, struggling to pass a big budget bill before the holiday break, Republicans […]

Gas prices

It's an open question how much gasoline prices affect gasoline consumption. But apparently gas prices are pretty tightly correlated with something else. Click to find out what.

(Via Tapped)

Is buying up hunting rights a smart conservation move?

From the wilderness of British Columbia comes an innovative conservation tactic about which I am strongly ... ambivalent. Raincoast Conservation Foundation is acquiring the guide-outfitting hunting rights to five areas along the central BC coast, a remote area of vast wilderness home to the rare "spirit bear," among other species. The angle here is probably obvious: Raincoast bought the rights in order to put a stop to hunting.

Raincoast and other conservation groups have a strong interest -- one I share -- in protecting biodiversity and relatively pristine wild places. So what's my beef? It's a two-parter.

First, I'm not sure that hunting is bad for the species being hunted. Second, I'm not sure the price -- Can $1.35 million plus annual licensing fees -- is the best conservation use of the money.