Latest Articles
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It’s All About the Benjamins
Neglect of clean energy hurts economy as well as environment The lack of aggressive clean-energy policies at the federal level is taking its toll on the U.S. economy. As recently as a decade ago, U.S. companies claimed 50 percent of the market for solar photovoltaic panels, but now that number is down to 10 percent, […]
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Tennessee Faults
Conservationists use market to save Cumberland Plateau hardwood forests The 19.4 million acres that comprise the Cumberland Plateau and surrounding mountains in the southeastern U.S. contain more threatened and endangered species than any ecosystem in the country outside California’s Central Valley. But the hardwood forests that cover the area are rapidly being clearcut and replaced […]
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David Orr, environmental educator and writer, answers questions
David Orr. What work do you do? I am disguised as a professor at Oberlin College, but consider myself an Educator, capital E, not an educational technician or bureaucrat, and certainly not one “in the box” of a single discipline. At its best, education means to “educe,” or draw forth, so I consider it essential […]
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Enviro issues play big in the race for Florida’s electoral votes
The brutal hurricanes have passed, but now Florida is in the eye of the swirling swing-state storm — and environmental issues are being swept into the fray by high-ranking politicians and hot-ticket celebrities alike. The Everglades are now faced with a campaign hurricane. Photo: USGS. © Martin Miller. With its 27 electoral votes — more […]
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Umbra on protecting decks
Dear Chip, You may remember me; we met most recently at Jenny’s parents’ house for dinner when you all were here in New Jersey. Anyway, the reason I’m writing you is because I’m looking for some advice. Do you have any recommendations on environmentally conscious ways to protect household decks? Lori and I just bought […]
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Two ships in the night
Despite being joined at the hip, the environment and development communities don't talk much. These Siamese twins -- separated at birth -- speak different languages.
While each community respects the other's gig, they don't play well together -- no one wants to be second fiddle. Some even see the environment and development agendas as opposing forces.
Efforts on the ground can bear that out. When conservationists set up protected areas without considering the people living in them, they seem more interested in "lovable huggables" than struggling locals.
On the other side, people-centered development often treats environmental issues as luxuries that only the idle Northern rich can afford. But the "develop now and worry later" approach ignores how much our health, food, economy, and livelihoods are dependent on a healthy environment and well-managed natural resources.
Despite the bad news, some people get it. While a few projects may be partnerships of convenience, others truly integrate environment and development (I won't go so far as to utter the hopeful words "sustainable development").
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Post posting
In a lukewarm endorsement of John Kerry today, The Washington Post makes a fleeting, single-sentence reference to the environment and the candidates' environmental records:
Where Mr. Bush ignored the dangers of climate change and favored industry at the expense of clean air and water, Mr. Kerry is a longtime and thoughtful champion of environmental protection.
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Oink, oink
Bush signed the massive corporate tax giveaway yesterday, though his handlers didn't make a big stink over it. Perhaps they were hoping we little people wouldn't notice that it's an unconscionable $143-million-over-10-years pork smorgasbord for the oh-so-special interests, at a time of record deficits ($413 billion and counting). Oh, and it's an environmental abomination too.
Commentator Connie Rice of The Tavis Smiley Show on NPR -- who dubbed the bill the "Corporate Looting and Piracy Act" -- summed up just a few of its most stomach-churning provisions:
Unlike the Leave No Child Behind bill, this corporate boondoggle is fully funded. ExxonMobil, Home Depot, cruise ships, corn farmers, coffee roasters, and makers of fishing tackle boxes, bows and arrows and ceiling fans all have special tax breaks specially tailored for their needs. And unlike the nation's children, who will be paying down our trillion-dollar deficit their whole lives, 60 percent of these corporations will likely continue to pay zero federal taxes, because their armies of lawyers will figure out how re-open newly closed loopholes that allegedly will pay for this bill. ... And get this: [Congress] also cut the charitable car donation deduction that middle-class people take, cut the child tax credit for the poor, blocked restoration of overtime for millions of workers, cut unemployment benefits, cut and then restored war veterans hospital benefits, and made it harder for regular folk to apply for bankruptcy.
As reported in The Washington Post:
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) dismissed [the corporate tax bill] as "a lobbyist's dream and a middle-class nightmare." Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called it "the worst example of the influence of special interests that I've ever seen."
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Fish ‘n’ Chicks
Study finds excessive mercury in 20 percent of women of childbearing age A new Greenpeace-commissioned study on the correlation between fish consumption and levels of mercury in the body has produced interim results, and they may cause you to think twice about your next order of a tuna-salad sandwich. The study analyzed hair samples sent […]
