Articles by David Roberts

Is that Bush’s Johnson, or is he just… oh never mind.

Two stories on Bush's new EPA guy Steve Johnson -- in the L.A. Times and the Christian Science Monitor -- confirm what was basically my gut reaction when I heard about him. It seems the Bushies have figured out that there's no margin in having a high-profile figure in charge of EPA. It's the president who sets the course for policy; all the EPA administrator needs to do is keep the trains running on time, stay on board, and otherwise stay out of the way. Whitman was a politician, ultimately concerned with positioning herself for bigger things in the future (though that didn't really work out). Leavitt was a true believer (which means he really did have a future in the party). He offered a big target. Johnson is by all accounts a mild-mannered, non-ideological bureaucrat, nobody you could really get worked up about. Bush administration environmental policy won't change -- it will just be a little quieter.

Tomorrow's Muckraker will more or less back this up.

BTW, there's an easy way to test if this theory is right. Johnson, as a toxic substances scientist, knows full well how bad mercury is. If he gets fully behind Bush's Clear Skies legislation, with its unforgivably weak mercury regulations, we'll know he's just a more bland face on the same ugly beastie.

Consumers await you, green biz

I would follow Elizabeth in recommending this Idaho Statesman story, from which we learn that while 75% of Americans consider themselves green consumers, only 10% actually, you know, buy green stuff consistently. While it might be tempting to raise yet another hue and cry about American hypocrisy (zzz...), I would also endorse Elizabeth's conclusion that this is good news. The percentage of people willing to sacrifice, pay more, research, go out of their way, etc. is always going to be small. However, if businesses make eco-friendly products easy to identify, easy to find, and easy to buy, there's an enormous market waiting for them.  75% of all American consumers! That's huge.

Dissonance

Well Nike Considered certainly has made a splash -- in the blogosphere at least. I was dismayed to find from this ID Fuel post that "the most innovative idea is their incorporation of a woven hemp-polyester upper."

This basket-like tongue, based on one of their earlier Presto technologies, the Air Woven, allows material to be used as it is needed, rather than creating scrap leather by cutting out complicated patterns. As an added bonus, the shoes have a very forgiving fit, so people with high arches, or non-so-average bones won't be uncomfortable. And even better, when varying color lacing is used, the shoes can take on a one of a kind patchwork look that is unique to each pair.

But it's so... ugly. I'm having some real moral/aesthetic dissonance here.

Faster growth, kill kill kill!

I missed this last week, but apparently Virginia has followed Oregon in nixing some strong limitations on development. Times are tough for the Slow (read: sane) Growth crowd.

(via Pat Burns)

Update [2005-3-7 11:16:15 by Dave Roberts]: And more from Jon Christensen, who also points to a Joel Kotkin article in Architecture Magazine arguing that urban planners need to get over their aversion to suburbs and start helping them become more livable, because like it or not, suburbs are the future. Ugh.

Update [2005-3-7 11:32:30 by Dave Roberts]: I suppose I should add, for those of you too lazy to click on the link (surely not!), that the VA thing was a court decision, not a referendum like OR's, and the VA thing was a county issue, not a state thing like OR's. The two are united only by the fact that they will result in the rampant loss of green space. Oh, and by sucking. FYI.