Articles by Andy Brett

The human and the sublime

While we're on the topic of wild spaces, there's a great article in the New York Times this morning. Even though the author, Edward Rothstein, did some of his exploring in a car, he captures the awe-inspiring beauty of nature in way that will wake you up faster than that cup of coffee.

Highway bill passes the House

Both Gristmill and the nation's editorial boards have been abuzz about the recently passed energy bill, and rightly so. However, another piece of legislation found its way through the House today: the highway bill. Typically described as "pork-laden," the bill passed the House by a wide margin and contains $286.5 billion in pork spending. It's expected to pass the Senate as well.

Development in NYC

Way back in June (seems so long ago, doesn't it?) I posed the question of what constitutes a city. People frequently cite the statistic that half the world's population will soon live in cities, but those 3.4 billion people will not be living in anything close to downtown Manhattan. The definition of "urban" under which the majority of the planet's people live in urban areas is more inclusive than what people usually think of as a city -- the mega-cities like New York or London.

Considering this, I picture the view looking west from Manhattan. The first time I saw it, it hardly looked like a major city at all, just abnormally dense suburbia. While it does have the efficient mass transportation net characteristic of many cities, Brooklyn is lacking in density.

Energy bill is (surprise!) also a budget hole

The CBO sent this letter [PDF] to Joe Barton, Chairman of the Energy Committee, to let him know that yes, indeed, the energy bill will be putting a hole in the budget. The CBO estimates that the bill will reduce revenues by over $2 billion a year in 2008 and by a total of $12 billion over the period from 2005-2015.

However, I don't know that the CBO included this lovely addition from one Tom Delay. That story isn't really getting too much press this morning -- the Boston Globe is probably the most widely circulated paper running a story.