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Shocked, Shocked to Find Politicization in This Establishment

EPA inspector general finds proposed mercury rule biased for industry Brace yourself — your entire worldview is about to be shaken. Turns out, in coming up with its new rules on power-plant mercury emissions, the U.S. EPA violated agency protocol and ignored scientific evidence in order to stay in line with a predetermined goal that […]

Benign biotech

The environmental movement's opposition to genetically modified foods has always struck me as rather sloppy and knee jerk. While there are certainly evil corporations involved and real harmful effects possible, the issue seems to call for pragmatic approach, concerned with technique rather than good and evil. Perhaps the problem with GMO crops is not inherent in the very notion of genetic manipulation, but rather in the way they are developed, who owns the results, and who profits. (The same might be said of any number of technologies that enviros have typically recoiled from.)

For instance, I'm a big fan of open-source biotech.

The whole corporatized system [of biotechnology], however, rests on the ability to hoard information. The information and its dissemination have to be owned through government-granted patents and licenses, if the discoverer is to make big money on it. In one way, that's fine. The prospect of profits inspires research and our increasingly corporatized system has produced some notable medical breakthroughs and innovations....
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But hoarding information clashes directly with another imperative of scientific progress: that information be shared as quickly and widely as possible to maximize the chance that other scientists can see it, improve on it, or use it in ways the original discoverer didn't foresee.
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A small but growing number of scientists, most of them funded by the National Institutes of Health, are conducting cutting-edge research into the most complex problems of biology not in highly secure labs but on the Internet, for all the world to see. Called "open-source biology," this work is the complete antithesis of corporatized research. It's a movement worth watching--and rooting for.

Indeed. Not only are there considerable scientific and health benefits possible, but it also opens the way for local populations to develop solutions to their unique problems, particularly in developing nations.

Worldchanging has covered this before, and now they bring word of a concrete example: NERICA.

Developed by Dr. Monty Jones of the West Africa Rice Development Agency (WARDA), NERICA is a hybrid strain of rice, developed using biotech by West African researchers, which is on its way to bettering the health of West and Central African citizens, restoring agricultural sustainability, and improving the economics of food importation for the region.

Go check it out. This is something for future-minded enviros to keep their eyes on.

Enron

One often hears from opponents of renewable energy that wind, solar, biodiesel, etc. are not ready to compete in the market. Let us never forget, then, that the energy market is woefully rigged in a thousand different ways. What renewables lack is not economic potential but political patronage.

For a particularly galling vignette from that rigged market, read this NYT story on Enron.

Hybrid ceiling?

Interesting.  J.D. Power and Associates has released a report saying that the market for hybrids will top out at a 3% share in 2010, primarily due to the three or four thousand dollar premium consumers have to pay above a comparably non-hybrid.  Green Car Congress has some reflections.

New Republican leaders emerging in battle against climate change

Last week, an international task force co-chaired by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine) predicted a fast-approaching “point of no return” for climate change — possibly in as few as 10 years — after which the crisis and its symptoms will be irreversible. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). You probably didn’t read about it in the U.S. […]

Last Crichton post, I promise. Probably.

OK, I really shouldn't be giving Crichton this much attention for writing a dumb book, but just two more items. First, I forgot to draw attention to a great article by Seth Borenstein (whom I heart) on scientists' reactions to State of Fear. As usual, Borenstein doesn't pussyfoot around.

Second, just one last observation about the book. It starts with a series of vignettes in which nefarious characters -- a beautiful, raven-haired European woman, a broad-shouldered man in glasses, etc. -- buy, steal, and occasionally kill for the equipment they need to engineer huge natural disasters. You're reading this, wondering who these people are, how their stories will play out. But then... they don't show up again after the first chapter! Seriously! They just vanish, never to be heard from again. It's like Crichton started writing a complicated, intricate thriller, but after a chapter or two just couldn't be bothered. Amazingly lazy. Just astonishing.

OK, I'm done.

I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

In SOTU speech, Bush mentions eco-responsible energy, dodges climate In his State of the Union speech last night — in between 27 utterances each of the words “freedom” and “terror” or their variants — President Bush squeezed in a brief nod to green issues. He said that the country needs “environmentally responsible” energy sources, just […]

Run Away, Train

D.C. approves stricter regs on transporting toxic chemicals Worried about a possible catastrophic release of toxic chemicals that one study says could kill up to 100,000 people, Washington, D.C.’s 13-member city council has approved a measure limiting the transport of toxic chemicals within a 2.2-mile radius of the Capitol building. Shipments of explosives, flammable gases, […]

Eternal Sunshine of the British Mind

U.K. freedom-of-information rules promise access to crucial enviro data In sharp contrast to America’s growing number of terror-inspired no-right-to-know rules restricting citizens’ access to government info crucial to environmental health and safety, new rules in Britain that took effect Jan. 1 are intended to do just the opposite (no, not incite terrorism): ensure citizens’ access […]

Exeter Stage Left

Climate eggheads conclude we’re toast, not sure when we’ll hear the ding A three-day scientific conference on global warming in Exeter, U.K., that wrapped up today vividly illustrates the frustrating current state of the climate-change debate. There was a palpable sense of urgency among the scientists in attendance, as various studies predicted that global warming […]