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Dear Patricia J. Sadowski of Whitefish Bay, Wis.,

I don't know whether to shake your hand or smack you upside the head (ahem, metaphorically).

On the one hand, your letter to Newsweek (third one down) introduces a very large audience to the vital environmental issues related to the tsunami, namely that poor land-use decisions, deforestation, and heedless development removed many of the natural barriers that might have helped protect the coastlines. Kudos.

But then you pin the blame as follows: "It seems our endless desire for 'progress' bears responsibility."

First of all, must you put "progress" in scare quotes? Are you trying to play into the stereotypes that bedevil the environmental movement and provide its enemies cover?

Second, "our endless desire for progress" is not at fault. Presumably you wouldn't condemn the poor coastal peoples of Sri Lanka for wanting a measure of the health and comfort you enjoy? What's at fault is an irrational, poorly planned process of development driven by the short-term greed of small, corrupt government and business elites. The answer to this problem is not to renounce progress but to open up and reform governments, enforce the rule of law, develop more intelligently and sustainably, and seek prosperity in a way that distributes the benefits to those in need as well as those who already possess wealth.

Better progress. Smarter development. That's what enviros should be pushing for.

Love,
DR

The Terminal

Enviros gear up for international battle over Siberian oil pipeline Russia’s 2,565-mile, $15.5 billion trans-Siberian oil pipeline — currently under construction — is at the center of a major emerging international environmental brouhaha. At issue is the Pacific terminal site. Recently, the terminus was abruptly moved from Vostochny, Russia’s main Pacific industrial port, to Perevoznaya, […]

Executive Disorder

Industry unhappy with Bush’s back-up air-pollution plan President Bush’s Clear Skies legislation has stalled out in Congress, unable to muster support even from a sufficient number of Republicans. To compensate, Bush is planning to implement some of the bill’s provisions by issuing executive orders — for instance, an order establishing a mercury-emissions trading program. But […]

You gotta be kidding me

Factory farms are a major source of pollution in the Midwest, and regularly violate air quality laws and regulations.  The Bush EPA's solution? Exempt them from Clean Air Act standards.

Look! No more violations!

Here's a press release from the Environmental Integrity Project:

Hydrogen ho!

Here's a great speech from Metaldyne CEO Tim Leuliette on energy independence and what a real push for a hydrogen economy would look like (PDF) (he calls Bush's $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative "a token gesture"). It's a relatively good (and short) read, but if you want the cliff notes and some juicy quotes, check out the summary at Green Car Congress.  Here's a tidbit:

It's an issue we raise periodically and then put away when concerns fade from the nightly news. It's an issue we like not to talk about unless we have to. It's an issue that with one senseless act, one government collapse, one hiccup in a global distribution system, will become our worst nightmare.

The issue is the drug that our industry, our society, is hooked on...it's called oil.

Land of the free, home of the spent uranium

I was medium-surprised to read that the U.S. just signed a 10-year agreement to take spent uranium fuel rods from Australia, but I was outright baffled to read that "the U.S. already accepts spent fuel containing uranium previously enriched in the U.S. from 41 countries." We do? Where do we put it?

Inhofe is better than fiction

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works: global warming is "the second-largest hoax ever played on the American people, after the separation of church and state." Awesome!

Ex-FBI agent charges feds with radioactive coverup at Rocky Flats

The plotline sounds as absurd as a made-for-TV movie: An FBI agent exposes deadly contamination at an old nuclear-weapons plant, but the federal government conceals the findings. Years later, Congress votes to convert the tract into a wildlife refuge and open it to school field trips and public recreation. The site becomes a poster child […]

Hm.

Over the last two days, a question has circulated around the NEW office, asked by green architect and NEW friend Rob Harrison. His quandary: Which car should he buy to replace an automobile that was totalled?

He's narrowed his choices to four -- a super-efficient Toyota Prius, a VW or Subaru station wagon, or a 1992 Honda Accord -- and is weighing factors including price, reliability, safety, utility, and environmental performance.

I can't claim any special expertise on the subject, but I can say this much (and I'm preparing to duck when people start throwing blunt objects at me): For most city dwellers, buying a new Prius is a fairly expensive way of reducing your environmental impacts.

Oxford green, for now

Did you know that the University of Oxford is run entirely on renewable energy? Me neither. But maybe not for long.