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You’ve Got Gale

Interior Secretary urges more energy extraction on public lands According to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, the current vicious hurricane season has taught the Bush administration a lesson, namely: Keep doing the same stuff. She says that Katrina and Rita show the folly of concentrating the nation’s fossil-fuel infrastructure in one geographic area, and that the […]

Re-Pete Performance

Endangered Species Act coauthor wants to oust fellow Republican Pombo Former Rep. Pete McCloskey (R-Calif.), coauthor of the 1973 Endangered Species Act, is considering a 2006 primary-election run against the man who wants to kill it: Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.). McCloskey, who served in the House from 1967 to 1983, has denounced Pombo’s proposed rewrite […]

Umbra on bicycle commuting

Dear Umbra, My question regards my daily half-hour (each way) bicycle commute through fairly heavy city traffic. I’ve been wondering if the benefits (exercise, sunshine, free and fast transport) are outweighed by the negatives (primarily breathing in diesel and other exhaust, but I’d also throw in the risk of almost getting run over, despite the […]

Who’s going to push the new New Orleans in a green direction?

It sure would be nice if New Orleans would be rebuilt with an eye toward sustainability. And yet, all indications are that it will be a characteristically Bushian undertaking, riddled with inefficiency, waste, vice, cronyism, and wishful ideological thinking.

How to avoid this? Well, people need to organize. Quickly. Only voluble, sustained political pressure will push Bush and Congressional Republicans toward transparency, accountability, and social/environmental responsibility.

I was heartened, then, to see an article on Alternet called "Green Relief and Reconstruction." It contained many such inspiring assertions as the following:

Eco-friendly companies, social justice groups and concerned professionals are forging a nascent "Green Relief" movement that is already delivering results on the ground, working to replace today's snapshots of oil-soaked abandon with visions of locally-crafted communities bustling with bike paths, sidewalks, lots of green space, healthy housing, and powered by clean energy.

They are? Awesome! Uh ... who? Where?

It goes on in this vague way for a while, eventually outlining some sensible principles of progressive reconstruction. But where's this budding movement he keeps talking about? Who are these people? What have they done? Where can I sign up?

Bizarrely, it is only toward the end that a link is provided -- but the reason becomes clear once you click on it.

GreenRelief is an effort organized by the Healthy Building Network (www.healthybuilding.net) and others to encourage and assist Hurricane Katrina relief efforts that promote environmental restoration, environmental health, and environmental and social justice.

GreenRelief will bring international expertise, resources, and materials to achieve the goals of restoring community, rebuilding homes, restoring the environment, and rebuilding the economy.

Site under development.

Godspeed, fellas. Hurry up.

The latest bid for Arctic Refuge oil

As everyone surely knows by now, Republicans are using the devastation of a region of our country to push for their long-time goal of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The idea is, depending on which bullshit happens to be flying at the moment, that oil sales will bolster the federal budget, or that the oil will make up for shortfalls caused by the hurricanes, or that the oil will lower gas prices. All these claims are, as has been demonstrated ad nauseam, quite obviously false.

According to a July 2005 report (PDF) by the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, it will take 10 years to get the first drop of oil out of the Refuge. In 20 years, when production is at its peak, Refuge oil might bring down the price of a gallon of gas ... by a penny. The Wilderness Society has a one-page summary of the report here (PDF).

Why do Republicans really want to drill in the Refuge? Well, oil-service companies are hot for it. And also, well ... because it's there.

L.A. Weekly on smog

The entire current issue of L.A. Weekly is devoted to the issue of air pollution in Los Angeles, a battle once hailed as a victory for environmentalists that is now slipping into the loss column. There are oodles of stories, and many lessons for those of us in other parts of the country. Give it a look.

Those Canadians, they really care

Today I bring word from Canada -- a postcard, if you will. On a fluffy tourist excursion to Victoria this weekend, I encountered a (very) civil action. Maybe a tie-in to the big peace march, for those who couldn't trek from BC to DC.

Dozens of marchers had taken over the right lane of a main street, chanting and waving signs to protest the U.S.-led war in Iraq. (The best: "Make levees, not war.") They earned mild curiosity from onlookers: "If I were driving," I heard one guy say, "I'd be honking right about now." Then the marchers came to a red light. They all dutifully stopped, until someone up front shouted -- or, really, declared -- "We're already blocking traffic. Don't stop for the light." The rally continued.

Canada! I love you.

Later, in a pub, the quiet chatter of four middle-aged men reached my ears. Their topics: the U.S. in Iraq, the U.S. hurricanes, the U.S. health-care crisis, the U.S. leadership crisis.

Canada! I'm sorry we're lousy neighbors.

And, uh, what's new with you guys?

The legalities of carpooling — in China

Normally you drive to work.
But gas prices are climbing.
You decide to carpool.
You chip in a few bucks to help pay for gas.
What you've just done is illegal. At least in China.
Really.

Taking It All Offset

House GOPers want to cut enviro and other programs to pay for rebuilding Rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is expected to run the feds around $200 billion. A group of House Republicans called the Republican Study Committee has unveiled an “Operation Offset” plan with proposed budget cuts to pay for the […]

Ban on the Run

Chinese consider legalizing domestic trade in tiger parts China may soon drop its domestic trade ban on tigers and goods made from tiger parts, which has been in place since 1993. Though the change under consideration would only allow trade based on farm-bred, captive tigers, wildlife campaigners worry that it would push up demand and […]