Articles by Kif Scheuer

Some hope from HOPES

A couple of folks on another post commented on how environmental activity is limited to progressive cities and campuses. Since I just got back from a green campus in a green city, I thought readers might want to hear about some good stuff going on in that small corner of the world.

The University of Oregon's annual HOPES Conference just wrapped up on the 16th. Now in it's 12th year, HOPES is a student-run environmental-design conference. If you are depressed by the level of environmental apathy around you, this was a place to recharge your faith and hope in humanity, especially the college-age segment of humanity.

Where to look for responses to climate change: environmental secession?

Climate reporter Andrew Revkin wrote an essay in the NYT on Sunday wherein he tries to "bring the debate on global warming down to earth."

While I believe global warming is "breaking news" (it's the fate of Earth we're talking about after all), I'm not as interested in taking another shot at the "debate."

What struck me was the story I found in the graphs alongside the article. Several recent surveys show a fairly low level of concern for global warming and the environment generally among Americans. There is a striking disconnect between these survey results and the real, concrete steps being taken at local and state levels. Mark Hertsgaard points out one such example in the recent Vanity Fair green issue: