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Plastic, now with fresh, fruity scent!

Of the nasty things about plastic -- a subject upon which our own Umbra is prolific -- perhaps the worst is its origins in petroleum. What if the many wondrous benefits of plastic could be had without the petroleum inputs? That would be cool.

Along come researchers at Cornell University, who have apparently discovered how to make plastic from citrus fruits and carbon dioxide. Use less oil; use more CO2 (rather than pumping it into the atmosphere). Nifty.

(via BoingBoing)

Try a little togetherness

Speaking of how and to what extent progressives should band together (a key theme in our ongoing "Is environmentalism dead" discussion), anti-tax zealot and right-wing power broker Grover Norquist provides yet another example of how the right is kicking the left's ass on the unity thing.  A New York Times Magazine article on Bush's plans to trash the tax code starts off like this:

One afternoon late last month, I paid a visit to the offices of Americans for Tax Reform, the conservative lobbying outfit headed by Grover Norquist. ... Each Wednesday morning, more than a hundred leading conservative activists, policy pundits, talk-show producers and journalists, joined by assorted Hill staff members and White House aides, gather in Americans for Tax Reform's conference room to discuss the issues of the day, from prescription drugs to school choice. Within Republican circles, Norquist's job is to organize other organizations, making sure the different branches of conservatism are moving in the same direction, at the same time, to the greatest extent possible. His particular genius is for persuading one organization to reach beyond its own agenda to help out another -- for getting, say, the cultural traditionalists at the Eagle Forum to join the business libertarians at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in opposing fuel-economy standards for automobiles by convincing the traditionalists that, as Norquist once explained to me, "it's backdoor family planning. You can't have nine kids in the little teeny cars. And what are you going to do when you go on a family vacation?"

John Podesta is quoted in the article moaning about how the right's tax plans will screw the little guy. Righto, but tell me: Who meets at his Center for American Progress every Wednesday morning to hatch and hone a cohesive battle plan for the left? When will we see a progressive answer to Norquist's war room?

Top green products

organicARCHITECT, a green architecture firm and research think-tank, today announced the recipients of its 2004 organicAWARDS. This first annual award recognizes the most exciting products introduced in the past year that promote both design innovation and environmental responsibility.

Check it out. (I'm particularly fond of the stapleless stapler.)

Terrorists drive wind power

The surge in residents at Guantanamo Bay (from 2,500 to 10,000 in the past three years) has driven up energy needs for the self-sufficient U.S. Navy base that is a small slice of Cuba.

The LA Times (free registration required) reports that four new windmills and turbines, producing 950 kilowatts of electricity apiece, will soon replace diesel generators as the base's primary source of energy.  The need to be water self-sufficient drives extensive desalination operations on the base, creating the need for all that wind power.

Now if the war on terrorism could only extend that drive for energy independence to the mainland as well!

The other axis of evil

"Poverty, disease and environmental decline are the true axis of evil," according to Christopher Flavin, head of the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute. Speaking January 12 at the National Press Club, Flavin presented a global security agenda as described in the newly released State of the World 2005: Redefining Global Security.

Unless the world takes action to improve economic and environmental conditions around the world, security officials will face an uphill battle in dealing with the many consequences of vulnerable societies -- from wars and terrorism to heightened impacts from natural disasters.

This year's State of the World takes on this "true axis of evil" with a range of arguments on how environment, health, and demography constitute a global security agenda.

The King and We

Grist to honor civil-rights leader by taking three-day weekend On Monday, Grist will honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy by, well, not working. We’ll be back Tuesday with more of the wit and wisdom you’ve come to know and love, or at least tolerate.

Power Corrupts; Renewable Power Corrupts Renewably

Guantanamo military base to be powered partly by wind We’ve got good news and bad news. Bad news first? OK: The U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba is the alleged site of government-sanctioned torture, practiced on suspects whose guilt is at best uncertain, likely to leave a permanent moral scar on the nation’s […]

Uncritical Mass

Anti-nuke opposition muted even as U.S. nuclear industry expands Opponents of nuclear power in the U.S. have been having a rough time of late attracting attention to their cause, even as the nuclear-power industry gears up to build five new reactors by 2015 and as many as 50 by 2050, with enthusiastic backing from the […]

Clear Skies and Present Danger

Clean Air Act more effective than proposed Clear Skies bill, panel says A new report by the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the Bush administration’s proposed reform of current air-quality standards will effectively do less to reduce pollution than existing Clean Air Act regulations, much as critics, including John Kerry (remember him?), charged during […]

Christie Whitman’s forthcoming book assails GOP’s rightward lurch

When U.S. EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman left the agency in 2003, she said she wanted to “spend more time with her family.” If you believed that, Bernard Kerik‘s got a tax-free nanny he’d like to sell you. Those skeptical of Whitman’s resignation excuse may soon have their suspicions confirmed. It seems she quit because […]