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The proposed DC stadium

By 2008, there will be a new stadium for baseball on the banks of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. for the Nationals. The stadium and the associated development will "transform" the surrounding area. D.C. is unique in that the mantra of "grow up not out" faces some legal restrictions, namely height limits on buildings in the city.

In the spirit of hearing from the people, there's a transcript available of a live chat conducted by the Washington Post on Monday dealing with the stadium. The plans have very little detail at the moment, although you will be able to see the Capitol dome over the left field fence. (number of times the environment was mentioned: 1).

One of the participants was Jacqueline Dupree of the Post, who is running a blog-ish site about the project. The interactive map on the Post's main site is also pretty informative.

Umbra on biodiesel vs. straight veggie oil

Dear Umbra, I have the opportunity to convert a 1979 non-turbo Mercedes into a non-diesel. The question I have is: to which should I switch, biodiesel or vegetable oil? I can’t seem to find out which one is best, just that these two are better than any petroleum-based fuels, which we already know (thanks for […]

Our materialism disguises a deeper problem

I've been pondering religion a lot lately, what with all the kerfuffle over "Intelligent Design" (on that subject, you only need to read one thing: this).

Joel Makower's latest references an article by Worldwatch Institute Director of Research Gary Gardner called "Hungry for More: Re-Engaging Religious Teachings on Consumption." The idea, from what I can gather, is that all the world's major religions contain moral teachings against over-consumption and economic injustice -- and faith communities need to rediscover and embrace these teachings as they try to deal with a world in which "mass consumerism in wealthy countries has already broken the ecological bank."

To which I say: good luck.

I suppose there's no sense being coy about my distaste for religion (though I should stress that it's my own personal hangup, not representative of Grist or of the environmental community as a whole). But as far as I can see, religion in America -- ubiquitous though it may be -- is fairly toothless in terms of challenging people and getting them to change their behavior. The religion I see is either the "moderate" kind that's mainly devolved into a glorified self-help program or the "extreme" kind that mainly serves to offer its adherents objects of hate and derision (e.g., gays).

Gross oversimplification, yes. But still, the chances of religion in the developed world emerging as a genuine force in opposition to conspicuous overconsumption strike me as roughly nil.

But that's not my point.

What happens when the Polish and polar bears meet?

Did you hear the one about the three Polish scientists who almost got eaten by polar bears?

No, seriously. Three researchers were stranded for 15 hours on an island in Norway's Svalbard archipelago (I just really, really wanted to type that pair of words). Hungry polar bears were circling. Yesterday, shortly before Pole met polar, helicopters swooped in and picked them up.

Don't they know it only makes a good movie if you get et?

Trade to Black

U.K. market leads the pack in lucrative carbon-emissions trading Newfangled carbon trading has become quite lucrative in the Old World, where the European Union’s fledgling carbon market has taken off. Many doubted that the emissions-trading scheme (part of E.U. plans to meet Kyoto emissions-reduction targets) would prosper, especially since the U.S. — world leader in […]

Call Me Fishmeal

Cape Cod’s namesake may not rebound unless fishing is further curtailed Cod off the Massachusetts coast have declined almost 25 percent since 2001, and some fear the once-abundant fish may never bounce back unless fishing is further restricted. Many marine scientists worry that the overall cod population may be well below what’s needed for survival […]

The Expiration Superhighway

Sales of endangered critters rampant on the web What do deviant porn and endangered elephants have in common? No, not that, you twisted perv! The answer: Both are easy to find in the anonymous wilds of the world wide web. The International Fund for Animal Welfare found that in just one week, nearly 9,000 wildlife […]

David B. Williams sends dispatches from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

David B. Williams is a freelance natural-history writer based in Seattle. He is the author of The Street-Smart Naturalist: Field Notes from Seattle and has written for Smithsonian, Popular Mechanics, National Parks, and The Seattle Times. Friday, 29 Jul 2005 SEATTLE, Wash. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is at the center of one of the […]

Swimming out to the exurbs

What could be even more appalling to James Howard Kunstler and company than the suburbs? The exurbs.

If the extension of government services to the suburbs is a huge money sink, the extension of those services to the exurbs is a black hole. This is one issue mentioned in the three letters to the editor in response to the NYT article.

KB Home is the big, bad developer in this story, and the exurb in question is New River, Florida.

They know almost to the dollar how much buyers are willing to pay to exchange a longer commute for more space, a sense of higher status and the feeling of security.
...
The answer, the company decided, is that a house in New River must be $12,000 cheaper than the same house in the north Tampa suburbs, 15 minutes closer to downtown.

Suddenly, the situation described in last week's Washington Post article doesn't sound that bad -- many things are a five-minute drive, and everything is a fifteen-minute drive away.

The effects of three-dollar gas occur on different timetables in different sectors of the economy. The retail industry may be feeling the effects already. It takes longer for people to switch to more fuel efficient cars, and even longer for people to express that they value a shorter commute by increasing the demand for homes that aren't "in the middle of nowhere."

Might it be time to concede that people are unwilling to relinquish cars and instead promote communities where car use can be minimized?

Avian flu is on its way, and we are not prepared

Never let it be said that I ignore signs sent to me by the internet gods.

Today two of the smartest folks I know separately wrote me and urged me to blog about the rising threat of avian flu and the developed world's dangerous inaction. Instead, I'm going to let them do it for me.

Tom's Dispatch is hosting a stellar piece of writing by Mike Davis, author of the just-released The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu. It is a fairly easy-to-read primer on the threat the flu poses and the state of our preparedness (which is not -- spoiler alert -- good). Here's a taste:

As for a universally available "world vaccine," it remains a pipe-dream without new, billion-dollar commitments from the rich countries, above all the United States, and even then, we are probably too late.

"People just don't get it," Dr. Michael Osterholm, the outspoken director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota recently complained. "If we were to begin a Manhattan Project-type response tonight to expand vaccine and drug production, we wouldn't have a measurable impact on the availability of these critical products to sufficiently address a worldwide pandemic for at least several years."

"Several years" is a luxury that Washington has already squandered. The best guess, as the geese head west and south, is that we have almost run out of time. As Shigeru Omi, the Western Pacific director of WHO, told a UN meeting in Kuala Lumpur in early July: "We're at the tipping point."

Whee!

Taking a slightly more can-do tone, WC's Alex Steffen challenges bloggers and civilians alike to spread awareness of the threat in hopes we can collaborate our way out of it. He also has links to a number of resources and background materials. Of particular interest is this guide to spreading the word without spreading panic, by two World Health Organization communication advisors.

I highly recommend you read both pieces, educate yourself about the danger, and start pushing your state and federal representatives to put money behind serious preparation efforts.