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California contains multitudes

California, home to the most stringent auto-emission restrictions in the U.S., is also home to the most SUVs in the U.S., with 2.8 million (Texas, by comparison, has 1.8 million). But wait, you're saying, California has no snow and most people live in cities...

"In Southern California, image is important," said Arthur St. Antoine, an editor-at-large with Motor Trend magazine. "I think the big allure is how the SUVs make you look. Any number of people would be better served by a minivan. They have more room and are more comfortable for five, but they don't have that rough-and-ready 'I just got off the Serengeti' image."

So people are willing to screw the planet to improve their image. Fine. But perhaps more depressing is this:

Thousand Oaks mom Sue Short, who bought a Chevy Tahoe after her third son was born, said the first time at the gas pump was a shock. "Oh my God," she said as the price to fill up rose. "Oh my God."

"Your first time filling up?" a fellow SUV driver nearby asked her. She's since gotten used to the price and loves her SUV.

Burning bright

Congrats to the tiger.  According to a survey of more than 50,000 folks by the cable TV channel Animal Planet, the tiger is the world's favorite animal, narrowly beating the dog. One wonders, of course, if it is the world's favorite why it is threatened with extinction in so many of its natural habitats...

Without further ado, the top ten:

Reindeer Power

Patricia Lovera, food safety crusader, answers questions

Patricia Lovera With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I am deputy director of the Energy and Environment Program at Public Citizen. We have campaigns on energy (fighting nuclear power and electricity deregulation), against the privatization of our water supplies, and on food safety (fighting food irradiation and other methods of industrialized food production that […]

Friedman: pigs sure would look pretty with wings

I'm not sure if Tom Friedman is just a stubborn optimist or whether he has somehow, after years on the international beat, not been divested of a childish naiveté.

His latest editorial in the NYT deplores the fact that the Republicans just cut the National Science Foundation budget by 2 percent. He says what they ought to do instead is marshal the country behind a massive effort toward energy independence, like Kennedy's call to make it to the moon. Political reform would follow in trouble spots around the world. Birds would sing. The lion and the lamb would lie down together. A new day would dawn.

Well Tom, to quote my granddad, you can wish in one hand and piss in the other and see which one fills up first. Time to come to terms with the people in charge. Earnest idealists they ain't.

Brilliant bit of Bhopal activism

On this, the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, hats off to Andy Bichlbaum for a brilliant bit of activist theater.  

Yesterday, the smooth-talking wag posed as a representative of Dow Chemical -- which in 2001 bought Union Carbide, the culprit in the deadly Bhopal catastrophe -- and got himself on BBC World TV news, where he announced that Dow was taking responsibility for the world's worst environmental accident and would pay $12 billion to victims to make amends.

Of course, it was all a charade.

Bill Moyers hearts us, and we him

Speaking of how great we are and how you ought to give us money: Bill Moyers (who we interviewed here)  loves us. He recently won the fourth annual Global Environment Citizen Award from the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. Meryl Streep gave him the award. Here's the speech he gave (note repeated Grist kudos, not that we're bragging, which we obviously are):

Update [2005-2-10 13:17:50 by Dave Roberts]:In the speech below, Moyers repeats a quote from James Watt that appeared in this story. It now appears that Watt never said any such thing, and a correction has been posted on the story. Moyers later apologized to Watt. The rest of the story, and Moyers speech, stands.

Hey brother, can you spare a dime?

Alaska! You rock!

That's right, the rest of you 49 laggards (you too, D.C.!). Alaska is the first state to go green in the United States of Grist.

Let us explain. Yes, we're doing a fundraiser. We gotta. We're a nonprofit and we rely on your gifts to keep going.

"Well shucks," you're thinking. "I rely on Grist for all my environmental news, served with a side dish of humor. My love for the mag is more than enough to prompt me to make a donation!"

Aww, y'all are sweet. But we like to have a twist. We're just like that. This year, we're sick of seeing that damn red and blue map everywhere, and we're sick of being told that the U.S. is composed of two alien groups who can barely recognize each other any more. We happen to believe Americans share some broad goals and principles -- clean air, clean water, and healthy food come to mind. We're all about unity, folks, and we think you are too.

So donate. When the number of donations from your state reaches its number of electoral votes, it turns from red or blue to green. Let's turn the whole country green!

We'll make a point, and oh yeah, we'll be able to keep bringing you award-winning environmental coverage. It's a win-win!

Original Cinergy

Energy giant Cinergy comes out in favor of greenhouse-gas regulations For some time, enviros have been predicting that with states and other countries starting to regulate their greenhouse-gas emissions, sooner or later large energy companies in the U.S. would begin craving the predictability of consistent federal guidelines. It appears that day is upon us, as […]

Philippine Philippic

Illegal logging in Philippines contributes to flood devastation Recent storms in the Philippines have wreaked havoc on the country, with hundreds killed or missing in landslides and floods, and enviros and government officials are both taking aim at what they call a principal culprit: illegal logging. Though unusually high rainfall and the geography of the […]