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Calling Mr. Bean

Although the U.S. and Europe are meandering down the same road to fuel efficiency, they're driving in different lanes. Hybrids, which have caught on among a certain set on this side of the Atlantic, are just now hitting Europe. On the other hand, thrifty Europeans have embraced diesel -- in the form of the teeny-tiny, 60-mpg "smart car" -- and are sending some this way. Of course, knowing American proclivities, they've made an SUV version called -- and I audibly groan here -- "formore."

In other green car news, the mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., is converting the city's trucks to biodiesel and buying hybrid cars. Hmm ... will they be red or blue?

Fareed on hybrids

I'm a huge fan of Fareed Zakaria, who's both one of the most insightful political commentators around and one of the best repeat guests on the Daily Show. I don't find his column on hybrid cars to be his best work, but it does fall within this blog's purview, so I'm gonna link it anyway. Basically, Zakaria says that we could, with concerted effort, exceed Kyoto CO2 emissions targets and break our dependence on foreign oil purely through hybrids (not today's hybrids, of course, but future plug-in hybrids that also accept biofuels). Pretty bold, and also, I suspect, a little overly optimistic. Nonetheless, this passage is worth quoting at length:

If things are already moving, why does the government need to do anything? Because this is not a pure free market. Large companies -- in the oil and automotive industry -- have vested interests in not changing much. There are transition costs -- gas stations will need to be fitted to pump methanol and ethanol (at a cost of $20,000 to $60,000 per station). New technologies will empower new industries, few of which have lobbies in Washington.

Besides, the idea that the government should have nothing to do with this problem is bizarre. It was military funding and spending that produced much of the technology that makes hybrids possible. (The military is actually leading the hybrid trend. All new naval surface ships are now electric-powered, as are big diesel locomotives and mining trucks.) And the West's reliance on foreign oil is not cost-free. [Energy security advocate Gal] Luft estimates that a government plan that could accelerate the move to a hybrid transport system would cost $12 billion dollars. That is what we spend in Iraq in about three months.

We get letters

From reader MF:

Thanks for your newsletter. It would be funny, if it weren't so serious, that [Sen. Richard] Pombo's name, with the addition of just an 'i' after the P, becomes Piombo, which is Italian for Lead. There's a town on the otherwise idyllic coast of Tuscany called Piombino which has mined and shipped lead and other metals since Etruscan times and I can tell you that driving through it - which is all one would ever want to do unless you are one of the poor devils who has to live there - is one of the few depressing things in that region! So I think you should 'accidentally on purpose' refer to him as Mr Piombo in future!

Hmm...

Wait, THE Steve Johnson?

Today's nomination of Steve Johnson to head the U.S. EPA has been met with a resounding "Uh... who?" Nobody seems to know much about the guy, other than the fact that he's a scientist and has been with the agency for 24 years. ENS's story seems as substantial as any I've seen yet.

And, in a sign of grim things to come, Judith Lewis has this ominous tidbit.

Enviro-justice activists send a dispatch from a panel with The Reapers

Thursday, 3 Mar 2005 SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. The Asian Pacific Environmental Network was invited to speak on a panel yesterday with “Death of Environmentalism” coauthor Michael Shellenberger, Taj James, executive director of the Movement Strategy Center, and Adam Werbach, past president of the Sierra Club. The goal was to broaden the debate about the future […]

This bears repeating

Warning: there is no merit, journalistic or otherwise, to this post. But recently, while looking through my nephew's Ask magazine -- a cool science rag for kids -- I learned a little something. It seems new research shows that pandas pee on trees while doing handstands. (And hey, if the BBC's reporting it, it must be news.)

In this gloomy world, when all talk is of climate change and other catastrophes, let us simply take a moment to savor that.

Yes, clothes really do make the activist

If environmentalism is dead, then that ratty sweater has to go, too. Ditto for sandals as everyday footwear — only one man ever pulled off that look, and that was during King Herod’s reign. One more thing: piling your dreads under that knit cap makes your head look like a Jiffy Pop about to explode. […]

Deathy deatherstein

The other problem with all this hooey is that [The Reapers] look at the bunch of suits we got in San Francisco and Washington DC and say, "This is the movement." It's like the blind tourist who touches the elephant's ass and decides the elephant is rather like stale doughnut.

That is one of many priceless lines from "Is Environmentalism Dead, Or Are You Just Stupid?" by Mike Roselle. If the title alone doesn't make it obvious: You should read it.

Umbra on moving to Canada

Dear Umbra, Did you really move to Canada? Did you get resident status? How hard was it to do? ValerieMiddleburg, Va. Dearest Valerie, I haven’t actually moved to Canada. I was being dramatic (lying) and I apologize to all who were duped by my ruse. I was also deeply touched by the hearty if unnecessary […]

A cautionary note

I have been hard on climate-change skeptics on this blog, as I think is entirely appropriate -- most of them have a political ax to grind, and if they want to grind it they should just grind it, without distorting science in the process.

But.

Those of us who would like to see a broad shift toward sustainability should also be wary of trying to use climate science as a magic wand to get what we want. While the basic fact of anthropogenic climate change is fairly well established, there remains considerable uncertainty about the how much's and the when's and the why's. I don't doubt that CO2 plays a big part, but I must confess I'm a bit suspicious of the notion that simply modulating this one variable gives us reliable control over something as extraordinarily complex as climate. I suspect as time goes on the real story will turn out to be much more complicated.

On that note, I would (with some reservations) recommend this post by Philip Stott. I disagree with Stott about a lot of most things, but his cautionary note about the difficulty of separating science from the predilections and preoccupations of the current cultural zeitgeist is well taken.

(Via Jon Christensen)