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Leadership gap

Here's U.S. News & World Report's list of America's 25 Best Leaders.

See any environmentalists in there?

Update [2005-10-26 15:36:3 by David Roberts]: Okay, lest I just be sour, let's turn this into a positive exercise. What American environmental leader do you think deserved a place on this list? Leave your candidates in comments.

And look to nature

Jeremy Faludi over at WC has written what I've found to be a fascinating primer on biomimicry:

It's easy to talk about how exciting biomimicry is, and how we'll see more of it in the future, but it's another thing to actually design and built things that are biomimetic. Most designers, engineers, architects, and other people who build things just don't know that much about biology and the natural world; and even when they do, there's often a gap of capability in available materials, manufacturing methods, and economic systems. Some of these obstacles are out of the designer's hands, and you just have to move on to things that are more feasible. (But don't forget your ideas; maybe ten years from now the technology will be there.) Even with existing technology, however, an enormous realm of possibilities is feasible, it just requires the right approach. Here is my attempt to describe the biomimetic approach, with a comprehensive list of principles. It combines lessons from Janine Benyus, Kevin Kelly, Steven Vogel, D'Arcy Thompson, Buckminster Fuller, Julian Vincent, and my own limited experience. I also mention at the end where biomimicry will not help you, a subject often glossed over, as well as further resources (books and schools).

And to get the discussion going here in Gristmill, are there any natural designs that you think humans can steal learn from?

Whither New Orleans?

Speaking of rebuilding New Orleans, NPR's Living on Earth this week talks to a cross-section of city denizens -- including an artist, a bar owner, an environmental-justice activist, and a co-chair of Gov. Blanco's Louisiana Recovery Authority -- to get their opinions on what should come next for the Big Easy. Listen, or check out text and photos, on the LOE website.

Top green-building system is in desperate need of repair

This piece is excerpted from the essay “LEED Is Broken; Let’s Fix It.” The full essay can be found here. Pan of green gables. Once the narrow province of hippies in beads and Birkenstocks, the green-building world has in the last five years blossomed and taken on a professional sheen. That’s thanks in large part […]

LEED green-building program confronts critics and growing pains

“I didn’t like the ‘LEED is broken’ part, but I did like the ‘Let’s fix it’ part,” said U.S. Green Building Council President and CEO Rick Fedrizzi, referring to a critique of his organization’s building-certification program that has been much discussed in green-building circles. Green building is growing up. Published this spring by somewhat sympathetic […]

Fallen Idles

Electrified truck stops let tired drivers turn off their diesel engines Long-haul trucking, however much our economy depends on it, is an environmental nightmare. For one thing, there’s all the gasoline burned. For another, as a recent episode of The Daily Show revealed, there are the sealed bottles of pee truckers throw out their windows […]

Let My People Slow

Katrina revealed longstanding “automobile apartheid” One of Hurricane Katrina’s many lessons is that those who walk, cycle, or ride public transit instead of owning a car get treated like second-class citizens. Getting stranded during a natural disaster is an extreme example, but it’s of a piece with public-policy decisions across the country that prioritize the […]

Stickin’ to the Mann

“Hockey stick” climate study largely holds up to collegial scrutiny The dispute over global-warming science has become something of a soap opera in the U.S., and the latest episode portrays a stinging blow to skeptics. Previously, on As the World Burns: In June, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chair of the House Energy Committee, ordered an […]

Shake, Rattle, and Bankroll

Hillary calls for Big Oil to fund a cleaner energy future Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) says the oil industry should pony up for a multibillion-dollar “Strategic Energy Fund” that would invest in clean-energy technologies and help folks struggling with spiking heating costs. At the Cleantech Venture Forum in D.C. yesterday, Clinton called for Big Oil […]

LEEDing Us Astray?

Green-building certification system confronts growing pains and critics Is LEED broken? The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program is rapidly becoming the dominant system for certifying buildings as eco-friendly. But green-building practitioners Auden Schendler and Randy Udall fear the program is seriously flawed. In a provocative essay that’s been stirring […]