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The power of ideas, or rather, the lack thereof

In The New Republic, Jonathan Chait has one of the best essays on politics I've read this year. Sadly, it's a cover story, available only to TNR subscribers.

(Bugmenot will give you a working name and password, but that's ethically questionable, so of course I'd never advocate it.)

Chait is responding to the notion, which has become conventional wisdom lately, that Republicans are ascendant because they are the "party of new ideas" and the Dems are on the rocks because they're bereft of new ideas.

It is flattering to elected officials, campaign consultants, policy wonks, and political junkies to think that ideas and policy proposals are the driving forces in American political life. But it's wrong. Campaign tactics, candidates' personal charisma, and outside circumstances are what drive elections.

I'll put some juicy excerpts below the fold, but if you're interested in politics, it really is worth doing whatever you can -- even subscribing to TNR -- to read the piece.

Gas saver

I return today from a week spent reuniting with family at a state park in Middle Tennessee, where I was raised (the state, I mean, not the state park). I didn't spot any hybrids, but this scrappy, rusting gem -- sitting in a patch of grass off the highway, next to a sunken old garage I believe doubles as a used car dealership and quite possibly a residence -- shows that even in rural America, they know the value of fuel efficiency.

Happy Independence Day, y'all.

A local ponders the implications of the EPA’s approval of a large gold mine in Alaska

On Wednesday, the EPA granted Coeur Alaska the final wastewater discharge pollution permit it needed to begin building its Kensington gold mine near Alaska's capital city, Juneau.

For background, see:

Planet Ark

Juneau Empire (more complete, but free registration required)

An unfortunate rule change in 2002 that redefined Kensington's particular type of mine-tailings as "fill" allowed the permit to move forward. Coeur Alaska plans to dump its tailings into a nearby freshwater lake.

Global concerts to focus on G8, but not climate change

With the G8 Summit just days away, pop stars the world over are preparing for marathon concerts tomorrow in each of the eight wealthiest nations in the world. Modeled after the Live Aid concerts 20 years ago (when the likes of U2, David Bowie, and Mick Jagger performed for some 1.5 billion people and helped raise money for Ethiopia's famine), the Live 8 concerts aim to draw attention to and demand action from the leaders gathering at the summit.

Unfortunately, however, Live 8 is focused on only one of summit leader Tony Blair's two main goals for the meeting -- and it's not climate change. Don't get me wrong; I'm definitely anti-poverty-in-Africa. I just wish some of the media attention this Live 8 concert will get on outlets like MTV and VH1 -- where younger, impressionable viewers will be watching -- could be focused on that other major issue.

O’Conner announces she’ll be leaving

Pundits and press have been chewing over the possibility of a resignation on the Supreme Court this week, with most of the focus on ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist. But the script has changed: This morning, Justice Sandra Day O'Conner announced that she'll be leaving the Court before the beginning of its next term.

BushGreenwatch (disclaimer: I wrote for BGW last year) ran an overview of what a vacancy on the court could mean for environmental laws, and it won't surprise anyone to read the anxious prognosis. I'd say this forecasting is even more relevant with O'Conner's departure than Rehnquist's. Less doctrinaire than either her most liberal or conservative colleagues, she was often the swing vote on the Court from case to case. Replacing her may well mean a real shift in the Court's balance of power.

Thoreau vs. central climate control

It's hot. I am coming to understand that spending the summer outside and below the Mason-Dixon line is slightly less pleasant than spending the summer outside and in the Green Mountains, where I read Walden (not for the first time) last summer (it's a different experience when you read it in the woods).

But the combination of those two experiences has got me thinking. Thoreau talks about the "animal heat" that we all need to maintain if we're going to stay alive. He notes that in warmer weather, we consume less food than in colder weather. Makes sense -- we need less fuel to keep our bodies at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit if the ambient temperature is close to it anyway.

So global warming is good, right?

Perfection at WorldChanging

There are times when you read a post and simply have nothing to add but want to hold it up to the world and say, "Ecce!"

While that might have received some attention in ancient Rome, I find that linking to it works much better these days.

So here it is, courtesy of Alan AtKisson at WorldChanging. It's the kind of post I mean to write when I write things like this or this, but trust me, this one is much better.

Ore. ranchers welcome ideas about protecting geese

Via Nature Noted, here's another story of typically at-odds parties coming together to create a win-win for species preservation, as with the wolves of the North Rockies.

In Southern Oregon, the largest stretch of uninterrupted grasslands left on the Oregon and Washington coasts, dubbed "New River Bottoms," hosts domestic sheep and cows, and also tens of thousands of Aleutian geese, which stop over in the area every spring. It's a prime migration way station on their way to breeding grounds in Alaska -- the last stop they make. Other species finding habitat on the grasslands include federally protected birds such as threatened snowy plovers and endangered California brown pelicans.

Ranchers using the land to graze their herds have considered themselves at odds with the geese, which chow down extensively on the lush grass. Now, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is studying the potential for designating nearly 6,000 acres of the land as a national refuge, by offering landowners compensation easements or outright purchase of their lands.

Eco-action.org’s new mascot is tres adorable

So, when did this cute lil' bunny become the eco-action.org mascot?  Kawaii meets ecodefense.

GAO to investigate whether Cooney’s editing was illegal

Chris Mooney has a good catch today: Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have asked the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, to determine whether recently-resigned Bush administration official Philip Cooney violated federal statutes against obstruction of Congress and false statements.

Cooney, as you may recall, is the former oil industry lobbyist, turned chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality who edited research reports to play up uncertainties about global warming. Turned, uh, oil industry lobbyist. (To everything turn, turn, turn, eh?)

Lautenberg and Reid are also asking the Climate Change Science Program to retract the redacted reports, writes Chris. "I don't know what kind of results this will achieve, but it's a new tactic, as well as a strong demonstration that Congress is getting serious about the science abuse issue."