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They met on the Prius showroom floor …

Environmentalists were there to lighten their ecological footprint. Neocons were there to lighten the fat Saudi pocketbook, full of petro dollars that fund terrorism. According to Robert Bryce, writing in Slate, the strange bedfellows have come together to advocate measures that would increase car fuel efficiency, lessen foreign oil dependence, and pump up renewables.

While Bryce pitches the "sleeping with the enemy" angle, the key point is there are multiple, compelling reasons to aggressively pursue (and for the government to subsidize) energy efficiency, renewables and alternatives to fossil fuels, and reduced dependence on overseas oil. Greens have often worked this issue with one hand tied behind their backs.

Soap Opera

Degassed water may reduce need for detergents Researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra have found an effective alternative to caustic, strong-smelling detergents: water. Good ol’ water. Degassed water, to be specific. According to their findings, published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry, if dissolved air present in everyday water is removed, H2O becomes […]

Packaging

Among the many assaults on our aesthetic and environmental sensibilities prosecuted by modern consumer culture, ugly and excessive packaging is among the most ... ugly and excessive. Luckily there are green alternatives and they are summarized aptly over at Treehugger.

Give Peas a Chance

War-torn countries fight to protect genetic variability of crops Scientists and agricultural breeding specialists have developed a system to recover and restore rare but valuable crop varieties that might otherwise be lost forever to the ravages of war and heedless development. Called “smart aid,” the strategy involves searching out important genetic varieties — such as […]

The Clear Skies’ the Limit

Lawmakers defend states’ rights, introduce Clear Skies competition Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) and George Pataki (R-N.Y.), in a letter to a Senate committee that’s convening today to deliberate the Bush administration’s Clear Skies bill, emphasized the importance of protecting state environmental enforcement powers. Both California and New York have put in place environmental regulations stricter […]

The Lion, the Switch, and the … Oh, Forget It

Neoconservatives and greens find common cause on energy conservation And the lion shall lie down with the lamb indeed. A strange political alliance is taking shape in Washington, D.C., as neoconservatives anxious to sap political strength from their Middle Eastern nemeses form common cause with enviros anxious to slow global warming. What unites them? A […]

Renewable, my ass

So say nearly 50 enviro, business, anti-nuclear, sustainable-energy, and energy-policy groups in response to Bush's recent claim that nuclear power is "a renewable source of energy."

Here, a letter these groups sent today to the Nuke Lobbyist in Chief:

Perfect Pitch

Gristmill launches contest to find environmentalism’s elevator pitch Inspired by a similar (OK, nearly identical) initiative at fellow mag The American Prospect, we’ve launched a contest: We want you, dear readers, to develop an elevator pitch for environmentalism. Imagine yourself on an elevator with Jane Average Citizen, and you have seven floors to pitch her […]

Chlorine and mercury

The Oceana Network has a splashy (ha ha) new report out today revealing that chlorine plants are responsible for scads of mercury emissions, possibly as much as all U.S. power plants combined. To get the details on chlorine plants in your state and find out what you can do to help, start with this post on the Oceana blog. Scary stuff.

“America’s Providential History”

So I'm reading Harper's this morning, and they have an excerpt from America's Providential History, by Mark A. Beliles and Stephen K. McDowell, published by the Providence Foundation. Says Harper's, "the authors hold courses and seminars based on the book that were attended by more than 25,000 last year." Take it away, fellas:

A secular society lacks faith in God's Providence, and consequently men find fewer natural resources. The secular or socialist has a limited-resource mentality and views the world as a pie (there is only so much) that needs to be cut up so that everyone can have a piece. In contrast, the Christian knows that the potential in God is unlimited and that there is no shortage of resources in God's earth.

While many secularists view the world as over-populated, Christians know that God has made the earth sufficiently large, with plenty of resources to accommodate all the people He knew would come into existence.

Kinda makes you think about this.

(Incidentally, God also hates the Federal Reserve and Social Security. FYI.)