Latest Articles

Hydrogen girlie man?

Schwarzenegger blusters on about building a Hydrogen Highway in "the great state of California," but little ol' D.C. has beat him to the punch on one key front. This week, the District of Columbia became host to the first hydrogen-dispensing pump at a public gas station in North America.

Green-leaning folks may or may not think the hydrogen revolution is an admirable or even attainable goal, but it seems to be inching forward nonetheless.  Or, considering the fact that the new Shell-owned pump will be servicing a mere six demonstration minivans owned by GM, millimetering forward?

D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams could take a few lessons from Arnold on enthusiasm, though. "This is a good thing, unless I'm missing something," was the most effusive praise he could muster at the opening bash for the new pump.

Vision trouble

Democrats, environmentalists, and other left-leaning sorts are arguing heatedly over whether to move the party to the left or to the right in the wake of the election (those who aren't arguing over whether the election was legitimate, that is).  One wag challenged those who disapprove of any rightward slide to ask themselves: "What states did John Kerry lose that Howard Dean would have won?"

I find this line of argument terrifying.  If we have to make the left into the right in order to win, I don't want to win.  The problem isn't Dean or Kerry.  The problem is that the left has utterly, drastically failed to generate a broadly compelling discourse about America.  We absolutely could do that -- could saturate the nation with a democratic (small d and large) vision of justice, fairness, hardwork, opportunity, creativity, exploration, unity, diversity, solidarity, and success.  We could also expose the current far-right agenda for what it is really about: fear, control, cronyism, corruption, exploitation, homogeneity, and government and corporate control.

Instead, we're squirming around inside the narrowminded narrative of the right, trying to carve out some tiny, safe, identifiable space that is ours.  It'll never happen.  We can't beat them on their terms -- only when we begin to define the rules of the game.

Ted says all is not lost

Veteran environmental writer Ted Williams says that, despite recent setbacks, the green movement has made enormous progress since it was born and there is ample reason for optimism.

The urban archipelago

My hometown alternative weekly The Stranger has an unbelievably good article running this week -- it's the first thing I've read post-election that actually felt authentic and hopeful to me. It says that relevant red/blue divide is not a matter of states but a matter of rural vs. urban. Cities vote Democrat. It's time to celebrate that, celebrate cities and the values of diversity, vitality, and imagination that make them run, and turn our attention to making cities ever more aesthetically, practically, and politically attractive.  My eye was particularly drawn to this passage:

And, as counterintuitive as it may seem to composting, recycling self-righteous suburbanites, living in dense urban areas is actually better for the environment. The population of New York City is larger than that of 39 states. But because dense apartment housing is more energy efficient, New York City uses less energy than any state. Conversely, suburban living--with its cars, highways, and single-family houses flanked by pesticide-soaked lawns--saps energy and devastates the ecosystem.

I recommend reading the whole thing.

Wise words

If I sometimes seem obsessed with the cultural dimensions of contemporary politics, it's because I am in a continuing rage over two dumb ideas that far too many Democrats are determined to embrace, losing election after losing election: (1) economic issues, if you scream about them loudly and abrasively and "populistically" enough, will trump cultural issues, which are essentially phony, and (2) there's no way to deal with voters' cultural anxieties without abandoning Democratic principles, since cultural issues are all about banning abortion and gay marriage and so forth.

Read the whole thing.  More on this stuff later.

The Shipping News

Global warming may open Northwest Passage to shipping Global warming may melt arctic ice enough to make the legendary Northwest Passage a viable trade route, trimming almost 40 percent (roughly two weeks) off the current Asia-to-Europe route, which involves a large detour down through either the Suez or Panama canals. Some view this as a […]

Himalaya Hatas

Himalayan glaciers melting; catastrophe in the wings Researchers are raising alarms about the rapid rate of melting in Himalayan glaciers, the lack of current scientific data and monitoring thereof, and the possibility of resulting catastrophic floods in the short term and water shortages in the long term. Some 2,300 of the Nepalese Himalayas’ 3,300 glaciers […]

Sage Brush With Death

Millions of oil and gas dollars at stake in sage grouse controversy The question of whether to list the sage grouse — a chicken-sized bird that roams the sagebrush plains of the U.S. West — as threatened is shaping up as an epic conflict, with millions of dollars in revenue from oil and natural-gas drilling […]

Election serves as whack upside the head for environmental community

Post-election, enviros are thinking about values — and praying for a better outcome next time. The Bush victory dealt a devastating wallop to the environmental community, but some members say it also delivered a much-needed reality check to a movement struggling to find its soul. Understandably, many environmental leaders who jumped into the election fray […]

Umbra on birds bursting into flames

Dear Umbra, I saw the following on the CNN website. Can this possibly be true? I see birds hit, land on, peck at, and poop on power lines all the time, but I’ve never seen one burst into flames. LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Weather forecasters predicted little relief Monday for firefighters battling wildfires that […]