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Jared Diamond’s Collapse traces the fates of societies to their treatment of the environment

I will always think of Jared Diamond as the man who, for the better part of the late 1990s, somehow made the phrase "east-west axis of orientation" the most talked-about kind of orientation there was -- freshman, sexual, or otherwise. His 1997 Pulitzer Prize-winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies began with a simple question -- "Why did Pizarro conquer the Incas and not the other way around?" -- and then managed to tell, over the course of only 400-odd pages, the history of why humanity has turned out the way it has. For most readers (and there were millions), Guns was their first exposure to theories of geographic determinism. To broadly simplify, Diamond's book posited that human populations on continents with a primarily east-west orientation benefited from a more consistent climate and therefore developed more quickly than those living on continents with a north-south orientation. It had the kind of paradigm-shifting impact that happens with a book only once every few years, and it turned Diamond -- a professor of geography at UCLA -- into something of a rock star.

Libby, Libby, Libby on the Liable, Liable, Liable

W. R. Grace faces stiff federal charges over asbestos at Montana mine Mining company W. R. Grace & Co. was formally charged yesterday with knowingly exposing mine employees and residents of Libby, Mont., to asbestos and concealing evidence about its potentially dangerous health effects. The indictment marks the closing chapter of what U.S. Attorney Bill […]

More budget

Green Car Congress has a good breakdown of energy spending in Bush's budget -- think nuclear and fossil fuels -- and Geoff Hand has more.

Seeing Is Believing

Dramatic weather convinces many Westerners of global warming As the Western U.S. increasingly suffers from what many scientists believe are the effects of climate change — reduced snowpack, massive forest fires, alternating drought and torrential rain — more and more residents are accepting the reality of the phenomenon. “Do I believe in global warming? Absolutely,” […]

Imaginary Numbers

Bush’s new budget relies on imaginary Arctic Refuge revenue You’re the president, you’ve promised to cut the country’s enormous deficit in half by the end of your term, and you’re required to produce a budget showing how you’re going to do it. You’ve got a Congress that hasn’t consented to drilling in the Arctic National […]

These regs, not those

Honda joined in the lawsuit against California, trying to stop the state from instituting its own fuel-economy regs. To make it up to enviros, the company just asked the feds to tighten fuel-economy regulations. It doesn't object to regs, it says, just different regs in different states.

If fuel-economy regs are really harmful to the economy, harmful to automakers, as the Bush admin. says, Honda's behavior seems awfully peculiar. Why, it's almost like they know something Bush doesn't!

Greenpeace shifts tactics as it looks ahead to four more years of Bush

At a time when environmental groups are facing questions about their own mortality and rethinking strategies for surviving Dubya‘s second term, Greenpeace USA — the environmental group best known for in-your-face, laws-be-damned direct action — is getting in touch with its inner Gandhi. Greenpeace rabble-rousing in days of yore. Greenpeace/John Cunningham. In the last few […]

They’ll be back

At a U.N. conference in Bangkok this week, nations and NGOs are debating the merits of the Terminator. No, not the esteemed governor; the controversial biotechnology developed by the USDA and the agricultural industry in the late '90s that can make plants produce sterile seeds. As a result, farmers would be forced to buy seeds anew each year. They'd benefit from hardier crops and higher yields, proclaim the corporate giants; growers and their advocates -- especially in poorer countries -- beg to differ.

The U.N. has placed a moratorium on the Terminator, and governments in Asia and Africa have called for an outright ban. But Canada is making a splash this week by recommending case-by-case assessments instead. "The Canadian government is doing the dirty work of the multinational gene giants and the U.S. government," says a concerned Canadian foundation.

Follow the latest developments -- or just check out the scintillating action shots. Hey, Greenpeace: If you're not gonna wear a tie, could you at least button up?

Yeah, protect the environment and what else?

Political junkies (hi) may want to check out this Democracy Corps poll and strategy memo (PDF), called "Toward a Democratic Purpose." There's a lot in there to chew on, but one salient fact for our purposes : The public is very clear on the fact that Democrats are the party that protects the environment. They are also very clear on the fact the Republicans protect the interests of corporations and the rich.

What does this mean? Well, for one thing, you're not going to get much electoral traction by pounding on those two facts. People already know. Again, all you enviros out there: People already know. Whatever your elevator pitch, it shouldn't be based on the facts that progressives love the environment and conservatives love the rich.

What are people up in the air about? They are uncertain of who will most help the middle class, and although they think Dems are fiscally responsible, they also suspect Dems are bad for economic growth.

The lesson here is to link the environmental message already in people's heads to the other leverage points that can sway them.

Can environmentalists tell a story about how environmentally responsible policy helps the middle class and stimulates economic growth? If not, they better get on it, and quick. 2008 will be here before you know it.

(Via Matt Yglesias, who's got more thoughts on the matter.)

Global warming … maybe you’ve heard of it?

Let's be honest. Global warming is a dreary subject. Even for those of us -- and by "us" I mean "just about everyone in the world except for the U.S. executive branch and a few industry-funded skeptics" -- who take it seriously.

Nonetheless, new evidence about climate change trickles out every day. It can be hard to keep track, especially 'cause of the dreariness. So Tom Engelhardt has done a real public service by gathering all that evidence into one essay.

He also addresses, toward the end of the essay, why it is that most Americans seem so unwilling to think about climate change, even when they know it's real -- i.e., he addresses the dreariness, and has some interesting stuff to say:

Instead, it's quite clear that, faced with various scary scenarios, we've become a can't-do nation; that conservatism has really meant a kind of conceptual hunkering down when it comes to anything but the present moment; and that an increasingly fierce imperial holding-on when combined with a sense of futurelessness and helplessness has consigned the environmental movement to the antlers of a dilemma.

As they say, read the whole thing.