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Makower thinks the retail giant might just be turning over a new leaf

We debated whether to write up this story of Wal-Mart's alleged "going green" in Daily Grist, but at a quick glance it seemed trivial and a bit self-serving. But Joel Makower, who knows as much about these matters as anyone, thinks there may be something to it.

I, for one, am skeptical that the great, great Wal-Mart turnaround is nigh. But I'm also not ready to write off Lee Scott or his company as sustainability poseurs. I believe we'll see a steady stream of new initiatives coming out of the company's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters in coming months.

He even quotes an anonymous colleague tantalizingly saying, "This has the potential to be the fastest turnaround ever on sustainability and the most comprehensive." If that were true it could have potentially epochal consequences. As Joel notes, Wal-Mart may account for as much as 1% of China's entire GDP. That's a lotta skrill.

Of course some folks will say that "green Wal-Mart" is an oxymoron. Activists of virtually every stripe have legitimate beefs with the company. But the thing here is to be dispassionate. The 'Mart has more power than many governments. It is, for good or ill, here, and enormously influential. If even a fraction of its power can be turned to stimulating green markets and establishing green practices, it could be a game changer.

Oil spiel

Now that the Arctic Refuge is one step closer to being despoiled, I am starting to wonder what we are doing wrong (like I am the first). It does not matter if oil comes out of the ground or from palm trees, if the means of production has potential to destroy biodiversity, it should be resisted.

Our population here in the U.S. is growing at a rate that would fill a city the size of Boston every two months, and the world's population is slated to increase 50%. Add to that the growing world economy and anyone with a brain can see that the pressure to develop land is not going to slow down in the foreseeable future. I am not feeling confident that the environmental movement (as it is presently called and organized) is going to be all that effective.

Personal energy conservation in Houston

Why it seems like just yesterday I was harping on the notion that, as long as our public policies yield built environments in which eco-friendly choices are difficult, eco-friendly choices will not be the norm.

Today I find a superb illustration of my pet notion in the Wall Street Journal, in the form of an excellent piece by Jeffrey Ball. I beg of you: go read it. (Of course, you can't unless you subscribe to WSJ, which you don't, so ...)

It's about people trying their best to conserve energy (you might recall that the president wants us to be "better conservers") in Houston, Texas. Long story short: it ain't easy.

Admittedly, one part of the problem is the typical American craving for luxury and comfort:

Brownie

We all know that then-FEMA director Michael Brown's response to Katrina was grossly incompetent. But now a regional director of FEMA has started talking to the press, and as Josh Marshal says, it's worse than you thought. Savor this:

Later, on Aug. 31, Bahamonde frantically e-mailed Brown to tell him that thousands of evacuees were gathering in the streets with no food or water and that "estimates are many will die within hours."

"Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical," Bahamonde wrote.

Less than three hours later, however, Brown's press secretary wrote colleagues to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening. "He needs much more that (sic) 20 or 30 minutes," wrote Brown aide Sharon Worthy.

"We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a location of his choise (sic), followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you."

Powering rural areas with freakin’ laser beams

As part of their special report on wireless technology, Wired reviews the possibility of wireless power beams:

[S]cientists have shown that one can generate power, convert it to lasers or microwaves, beam it to another point and reconvert it into electricity. Such a system could beam power to hard-to-reach rural areas without running expensive power lines -- or could even beam it down to Earth from power stations in space.

But while proponents argue that wireless power beams could solve the world's energy problems, skeptics aren't so sure. In addition, the concept hasn't proven itself as a practical energy alternative: at least not yet.

If you think this all sounds too crazy, consider this:

One long-sought application is aviation. In 1987, Canada successfully flew its Stationary High Altitude Relay Platform aircraft using power generated from a microwave beam on the ground. In 1992, Japan successfully flew its own version of a microwave-powered plane as part of a project known as MILAX.

And in October 2003, NASA actually used a ground-based laser beam to power the flight of a tiny 11-ounce aircraft made of balsa wood and carbon fiber tubing, and covered in Mylar film.

Others have imagined terrestrial networks of power-beaming stations that could fuel electric cars and other vehicles, which would essentially "top off" every time they passed by a station. Some could power up vehicles at stoplights.

Considered Animation

If you thought Nike's Considered line of shoes was weird, just check out this video. Cool, but weird.

(Via PSFK)

An eye on this year’s record-setting hurricane season

1 — rank of Hurricane Wilma in Atlantic storm intensity on record1 12 — Atlantic hurricanes so far this season, tying a record set in 19692 21 — named storms so far this season, tying a record set in 19332 145 — wind speed of Wilma at press time, in miles per hour3 140 — […]

Oil drills getting closer than ever to the Arctic Refuge

The future of the Arctic Refuge? “The threat to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has never been greater than it is today,” according to Brian Moore, legislative director for the Alaska Wilderness League. And, though the battle over the refuge has a Groundhog Day quality to it — haven’t we heard this same alarm sounding […]

All Features Great, and Small

Teensy fuel cells offer greener power sources for small gadgets Yes, yes, your new iPod nano is very cool. But wouldn’t it be just that much cooler if you could recharge it with a small bottle of clear liquid? It might happen: Toshiba and other Japanese electronics firms are developing itty-bitty fuel cells to juice […]

EI, EI, No

Bush admin waives environmental assessments in public-lands energy rush This past summer’s energy bill contained provisions making it easier to drill on public lands — and for the Bush administration, that’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull. The Bureau of Land Management recently told field managers to omit environmental reviews and […]