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Heck, I’d cycle nude even if it wasn’t for a good cause

Speaking of naked protests: This weekend, hundreds of cyclists across the world rode in what is by far my favorite protest -- the World Naked Bike Ride. Riding against oil dependence, for cyclists' rights, or just to feel the breeze on all their parts while surrounded by a bunch of naked friends and/or strangers, protestors bared all in some 50 cities in 17 countries, including London, Chicago, Seattle, and Madrid. And what could be better? Naked cycling protests combine the energy and exhilaration of three already pretty exhilarating activities: public nudity, protesting in the streets, and cycling.

Seriously, if you've never ridden in one, pencil it in on your calendar for the same time next year -- they're a blast! Not surprisingly, I guess, shedding your clothes -- or at least, most of them -- really does seem to make a difference; people in cars are almost never as nice to cyclists as they are when they're in the middle of a rolling naked party. (There's a lesson in there somewhere.) The WNBR is like a titillating, slightly more focused Critical Mass, with once-a-year energy. So go on, cycle naked for a good cause when you have the chance.

And in case you're wondering, it looks much more painful than it is.

Umbra on finding the right green job

Dear Umbra, I am in the midst of getting my master’s in environmental science and policy. I am so sick of reading and researching — I just want to get out and do something. My thesis is on composting (of industrial and municipal wastes), but my true love is water. While I have a pretty […]

Matt Petersen, CEO of Global Green USA, answers questions

Matt Petersen. What’s your job title? President and CEO of Global Green USA, the U.S. affiliate of Green Cross International. What does your organization do? What, in a perfect world, would constitute “mission accomplished”? When founding Green Cross International, Mikhail Gorbachev presented a challenge: We must foster a value shift that reconnects humankind to the […]

And Squad Said, Let There Be Blight

Judge orders dam spills in Northwest; critics may call on higher power Just two weeks after ruling that the Bush administration plan to protect Northwest salmon was inadequate, on Friday U.S. District Judge James Redden issued an order for large-scale spilling of water at a number of dams that are hindering the ability of juvenile […]

Who’s Minding the Shore?

Senate measures threaten to open U.S. coasts to drilling The battle to open up U.S. coastal waters to oil and gas drilling is escalating, with supporters in Congress pushing a number of pro-drilling bills and amendments. An energy-bill provision up for debate this week would mandate the first complete oil and gas inventory of all […]

If the Suit Fits, Wear It

BT and other multinationals call for action on climate change More and more prominent suits are issuing calls to action on global warming. The latest is Ben Verwaayen, chief exec of U.K. telecom company BT, who this week became the first Brit corporate bigwig to say publicly that climate change is hurting his business — […]

Environmentalism and liberalism shouldn’t be joined at the hip.

A couple of quick prefatory remarks -- several readers interpreted my earlier posting as an attack on liberalism. That was not my intent at all: While I am not a liberal, as the saying goes, "Some/most of my best friends are liberals." The only goal of the previous posting, and the one that follows, is to suggest the harm that comes from automatically coupling liberalism with environmentalism.

In my previous post, I discussed our movement's international problems. But back in America, we're not doing much better. When the American environmental movement began, Lake Erie was on fire, the bald eagle was on the verge of extinction, and L.A. was choking on its own smog. When environmental regulations seemed to reduce these problems, the public was all for them. But as regulations multiplied, environmentalism became associated in many minds with costly regulatory expenditures, failed Superfund clean-ups, and lots of bureaucratic red tape. Big government enviroliberalism took over a grassroots movement.

Why should liberalism be the Siamese twin of environmentalism? If I am pro-life, against affirmative action, or for private accounts in Social Security, does that mean I don't care about protecting forest ecosystems or saving blue whales?

Cities vs. those suburbs

Last week certainly was a "week to rejoice" if you love cities, although I think John Tierny missed the boat on exactly why. With the Accords signed, the sustainable (and not so sustainable) ranked, and the cul-de-sac revived and debunked, it was enough to give any aspiring urban planner a headache.

The statistics getting tossed around are staggering too. Just the first clause of the Urban Environmental Accords contains two rather impressive facts:

• The majority of the planet's population now (well, almost now) lives in cities;
• continued urbanization will result in one million people moving to cities each week.

And that got me thinkin': Whaddaya mean, "city?"

In search of the answer to this eloquent question, I headed to the webpages of the UN, since it is their Environment Program after all. Turns out that:

Because of national differences in the characteristics that distinguish urban from rural areas, the distinction between the urban and the rural population is not yet amenable to a single definition that would be applicable to all countries or, for the most part, even to the countries within a region.

Don't worry, our hero will not give up that easily; more below the fold.

Porous pavements potentially prevent problems

NPR's Living on Earth ran an interesting story this Saturday about porous pavements such as Ecocreto. In places where a good deal of the land surface area is made of impervious materials like regular concrete or pavement, rainwater can sometimes go unused, be discharged to the sea (think Los Angeles or Mexico City), and contribute to flash floods along the way. By absorbing the water and slowly releasing it, permeable concrete is designed to alleviate these issues.

Also available on their website is an interview [mp3] with Bruce K. Ferguson, director of the School of Enivironmental Design at the University of Georgia, on the same subject.

Environmentalism should look in the mirror to find the source of its troubles.

Hi ... my name is Jeremy Carl, and I'll be guest-blogging here for the next couple of weeks.

I'm currently a Visiting Fellow in resource and development economics at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi, India. I spent several years in the private sector and then a few more working with various environmental organizations in the states before moving here, where I spend my time researching and writing about various aspects of the enormous environment/development conundrum in India and China. In the fall, I'm leaving India to head off to Stanford to do a doctorate, continuing the work I have begun here.

For now, I'm going to use my bully pulpit to talk a little bit about my frustrations with our movement, where I think we are going wrong, and hopefully, what we can do to get back on the right track. I imagine I may tread on some toes -- but I hope we can have a spirited and respectful discussion.

I think modern American environmentalism commits two deadly sins: First, we are way too focused on domestic problems (thinking only locally and acting only locally). And second, I think environmentalism is far too monolithically liberal, which both hurts us politically and also impedes our ability to come up with good policy solutions. I'll focus on the first problem today and the second in a follow-up tomorrow.