Latest Articles

Syriana thoughts

My review of Syriana will be published tomorrow, but in the meantime, a few stray thoughts and links that didn't fit in it.

First: Go see it. Really.

Second, director Stephen Gaghan is a smart, articulate guy, and gives good interview. Check out this interview on AintItCool. Also worth reading is the transcript of this interview of Robert Baer (the ex-CIA agent whose book See No Evil inspired Gaghan) by Robert Siegel.

Third, several reviewers seem aggravated by the complicated, hard-to-follow plot. They think it reduces the chances of mainstream success, which is probably true, that it reduces the chances that the movie's message about oil will sink in, which may or may not be true, and that it reduces the movie's artistic merit, which is certainly not true.

Gaghan has said he made the plot convoluted and confusing on purpose. It's an artistic choice certain to reduce the movie's popularity, but I think it works. It tosses the viewer into action that seems like it's already ongoing -- like we missed the beginning and it will continue after we're gone, like we're getting a peek into places we're not supposed to see. Several strong and contradictory points of view fly past, making it hard to discern what's really going on, but that's how the world is. Gaghan said:

I would travel around the world, I would meet people, and they would seem so certain of their point of view. Just articulate, brilliant, knowledgeable. An hour later, I would meet somebody articulating the exact opposite position. Brilliantly, nuanced, certain. And it was scary. Scary.

Lots of people don't like to be scared and confused, so I can understand not enjoying the experience, but it's a mistake to think it reflects some sort of failing on Gaghan's part.

Fourth, I would take issue with the conclusion of Oil Drum's Super G:

TIME’s vengeful mother of the year

Seems "Mother Nature" is likely to be TIME Magazine's Person of the Year for 2005.

Fast facts about avian influenza

3 — types of influenza virus (A, B, C)1 1 — type that can cause pandemics (A)1 1 — A-virus subtype currently freaking the world out (H5N1)1, 2 0 — successful vaccines against H5N1 avian flu currently available3 18 — people infected by avian flu in Hong Kong in 1997, the first case of direct […]

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)