Latest Articles

Fry Me a River

China’s benzene spill flows toward Siberian tiger territory in Russia China’s latest claim to international infamy — a Songhua River-borne, 100-ton, 90-odd-mile-long benzene spill — is expected to reach the Russian city of Khabarovsk, on the Amur River, next week. Conservationists in the region worry that the toxic slick will further imperil the extremely endangered […]

Cheers and jeers for the GM seed giant.

Two takes on Monsanto crossed my path yesterday. One came from the stock market, the other from Fedco, the small vegetable-seed purveyor that supplies many small, sustainable-minded farms across the land, including my own Maverick Farms.

The market applauded Monsanto Tuesday, driving its share price to an all-time high; Fedco, in its 2006 seed catalogue that arrived at Maverick the same day, gave it the finger.

Canadian city elects progressive red-green city government

The recent local elections in Montréal might spark some ideas for attendees of the COP11 summit: a pro-urban, "red-green" political party has surfaced in City Hall.

The new Projet Montréal party secured a city council seat in the dense, diverse Plateau neighborhood, winning 12% of all votes cast citywide in a three-way election against two established parties. Its platform brings the spirit of the red-green (social-democrat and environmentalist) urban coalition -- the governing majority in major European cities like London, Paris, and Berlin -- to North America.

Unlike most stateside Green political parties, which take a skeptical stance towards urban growth, Projet Montréal embraces population and housing growth as a way to curb car use and suburban sprawl. Its leader, Richard Bergeron, is a transit-agency technocrat whose political heroes (link in French) include mayors Ken Livingstone in London and Bertrand Delanoë in Paris. In London, a wildly successful downtown toll has cut traffic by nearly 20% even while a crop of new, environmentally friendly high-rise office towers rises. In Paris, city officials heckle SUV drivers, close roads to cars for weekly "Paris Breathes" days, and will soon convert a riverfront highway into a beach. The "red" in the coalition comes from a strong appeal to working-class voters with new public-works projects and affordable housing.

More!

About a week ago I did a short post on Prius/oil-related matters that seemed to irritate a few folks. I hadn't noticed until today that our occasional contributor (and pundit nonpareil) Clark Williams-Derry posted a response. He seemed to be approaching the question the same way some other people did, so I thought I'd offer a reply.

To recap:

A Wall Street Journal editorial (sub.) said this:

Petroleum not consumed by Prius owners is not "saved." It does not stay in the ground. It is consumed by someone else. Greenhouse gases are still released.

Treehugger's Lloyd Alter said (I paraphrase): What a jerk.

I said (again paraphrasing): Yes, he's a jerk, but on this narrow point, he's right.

Several commenters thought I was making a point about the futility of energy conservation generally. But I wasn't -- the point is about oil in particular.

Bart, and at greater length Clark, mentioned the "rebound effect," whereby reduced demand lowers price, which subsequently raises demand. Both of them make the point that although the rebound effect is real, demand only bounces back about 30-50%. So, while using less oil may not make the total efficiency gains you'd want, it does make some efficiency gains. It does save some oil.

To which I say: For "energy" generically, yes. For electricity, yes. For something like coal, where supply is plentiful, yes. But oil?

Obama ’08?

As a confirmed Obamaphile, I feel obliged to note that speculation is afoot.

Bush accentuates nuke positives, inspires malefactors everywhere

George W. Bush developed an interesting habit this year when he talked about energy. In his speeches, words like “oil,” “coal,” and “natural gas” shivered in the dark with no adjectives, while “nuclear power” consistently got two. Bush used this spiffy phrase in, among other places, his State of the Union address and a spring […]

A must-read investigation into the lives of foreign guest workers in America’s public forests

Speaking of must-read pieces of journalism, don't miss the Sacramento Bee's three-part story about pineros.

Pineros ("men of the pines") are the Latinos that do the dirty, exhausting work in America's forests.

A nine-month Bee investigation based on more than 150 interviews across Mexico, Guatemala and the United States and 5,000 pages of records unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act has found pineros are victims of employer exploitation, government neglect and a contracting system that insulates landowners - including the U.S. government - from responsibility.

The treatment of these workers is bad enough on its own, but is particularly egregious in the context of a government-run guest-worker program, on public land.

The Bee's package is not just a superior piece of journalism but a fine piece of web design -- it's an attractive site with judicious use of flash, audio, and video. Really a model to aspire to for all you budding environmental journalists out there.

Read it.

Ah-Ha California

California pushing ahead with ambitious plan to fight global warming Earlier this year, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) broke with the Bush administration’s do-nothing stance on global warming when he pledged that by 2050, his state would shrink its greenhouse-gas emissions to 80 percent of 1990 levels. On Thursday, the state’s Climate Action Team will […]

Into Thin Bear

New Jersey bear hunt gets under way New Jersey’s second bear hunt in 35 years kicked off yesterday despite last-minute attempts by activists to halt the six-day season. By Monday afternoon, 54 bears had been killed. Joisey’s growing bear population is estimated at 2,000 to 3,000, and human-bear encounters are increasing. Hunt advocates claim bear […]

The Long, Hot Summit

U.S. senators, E.U. ministers press Bush to join climate talks At the U.N. climate summit in Montreal, there’s increased pressure on the U.S. to join in — and when we say “pressure” we mean “begging.” On Monday, 24 senators, including four Republicans, sent President Bush an open letter asking the administration to participate in the […]