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Beyond a Reasonable Drought

Massive Amazon drought may be linked to warm Atlantic waters With the Amazon rainforest suffering its worst drought in a half-century, Brazil has declared a state of emergency in the hardest-hit area. Some scientists speculate that warmer North Atlantic waters — the same factor driving the intense Atlantic hurricane season — are causing more air […]

No Justice, No Peas

Sustainably grown food still the province of the wealthy The sustainable-food movement has a class problem. While lower-income rural and inner-city residents eat over-processed, nutrient-light food — and grow obese and sick — bourgeois suburbanites feed a growing market for locally produced, sustainably grown food. This disparity is driven by structural factors: for one, development […]

Jacques Leslie’s Deep Water sheds light on dam dramas

What does hell look like to an environmentalist? In the classic Encounters With the Archdruid, writer John McPhee imagines this particular inferno. The outer ring, he writes, is a moat filled with DDT. Inside lies another moat brimming with burning gasoline, and still deeper are masses of bulldozers and chainsaws. In the middle — at […]

Umbra on soy vs. meat

Dear Umbra, I finally went vegetarian several months ago, and one of my main reasons was the environmental impact of meat production. The other day, however, a friend pointed out that soy foods take a great deal of energy to produce too. So is there really that big of an environmental difference between TVP [textured […]

Energy efficiency resources for business

I should have done this several days ago, but better late than never:

Check out Joel Makower's excellent list of resources for businesses looking to save (or make) some money through energy efficiency. As he says:

Energy efficiency (the more business-like alternative to "conservation") has a strong foundation in a bottom-line-centric world. And there are rich resources -- case studies, how-to manuals, calculators, incentive programs, technical assistance agencies, and more -- to help companies manage the process. There's also a sizeable industry that's grown up around helping companies audit, assess, implement, and finance energy-efficiency solutions.

And yet, we've barely begun to harvest the low-hanging fruit, let alone sow the seeds of an economy that can continue to grow and prosper using continually less energy from oil and other polluting resources.

Get to it!

French SUV-haters deflate gas-guzzling tires

Most every cyclist who's rolled alongside cars for any amount of time knows the feeling, the one that makes you pump your fist at that driver who nearly ran you over, or that one whose tailpipe is emptying its contents into your face, or the one who's emissions are melting that glacier you liked so much (anger rising, rising). It's this sort of frustration that makes regular bicycle commuters and eco-conscious citizens of all stripes regularly curse outright at aggressive, too-large-vehicle drivers: "you just wait. You'll get yours."

Now some activists in France are dishing out those just desserts to a growing number of SUV drivers in wealthy neighborhoods in the form of empty, but undamaged, tires. The Deflators (or Les Degonfles), a group of French SUV-dislikers tired of the massive vehicles clogging Paris' streets, have been quietly deflating SUV tires in the dark of night. Repeatedly.

And without damaging the vehicles, it's essentially just setting free the air within, they argue, but with amusing side effects.

It's not all late-night pranks, though. Their masked leader has braved a televised debate with the president of the French SUV-owners' association and is apparently working on some sort of a movement anthem, set to appear as both a children's song and a dance mix (oh, those savvy French).

Though The Deflators, who also often post fliers and smear mud on the targeted vehicles, have been in touch with sympathizers and potential deflators on this side of the Atlantic, it seems the mischievous Parisians have much less cultural inertia to overcome than their American counterparts in their quest to spread the message that SUVs sucketh throughout the land, what with openly SUV-hostile city officials and a national SUV-owner tax. Also, SUVs in France, according to the Los Angeles Times, make up only about five percent of the market, whereas Americans would be up to their eyeballs in potential deflationary targets, with SUVs comprising about one-quarter of its market.

Of course, that doesn't mean SUV deflations are a bad idea in America, just a lot of work ...

Defeat from the jaws of victory

Call it environmentalism, Bush style. A new federal tax credit will help allay the extra cost of purchasing hybrid vehicles, but the Byzantine formula for calculating the savings provides greater financial incentives for buying heavy SUVs than more fuel-efficient cars.

Read the rest at Wired.

(Via TP.)

Pharmaceuticals may be saving species

You may have heard that measurable levels of pharmaceuticals have been turning up in water supplies, causing concern about the potential effects on wildlife. But did you hear that they may also help preserve endangered species?

As noted today on Green Media, a recent study shows that, in China at least, widespread availability of Viagra-type drugs has decreased the demand for endangered animal body parts used to treat erectile dysfunction in traditional Chinese medicine. In all, the study names eight animals that stand to benefit from this trend, including seals and green sea turtles.

Sadly, tigers and rhinos are not on the list, because their body parts are used in the treatment of many, many other ailments.

Clearly Pfizer needs to come out with pills to address these other disorders, so that other endangered species can be saved as well. Maybe they could combine effects into one pill, depending on which animals' parts are usually used:

Got arthritis? Suffer from insomnia? Ulcers, rheumatism, epilepsy, hemorrhoids, skin disease? Tooth ache, fever, acne? Alcoholic? Try our little orange-and-black striped pill! It's grrrreat!

Bye, Local

Organic farmers in U.S. losing business to foreign growers Organic is seen as a niche that helps smaller American farmers endure, but a sizeable chunk of the organic foods sold in the U.S. are being sourced from overseas suppliers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that as much as $1.5 billion of organic food was […]

Beswitched

Jeb Bush’s switcheroo on drilling causes rift in Florida delegation Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) is backing a bill in the House of Representatives that would open some new federal waters, including the eastern Gulf of Mexico, to oil rigs — and in so doing, he’s fractured the state’s long-standing bipartisan political consensus against offshore […]