Climate Culture

Two Green Builders Take Trains Leaving From Different Stations…

U.S. schools betting on benefits of going green When we were kids, the only thing green about our schools was the vomit-hued paint on the bathroom walls. But times change, and these days, schools across the U.S. are incorporating green features that save money, improve student performance, and help protect the planet. The trend is […]

An hour-long discussion

Here’s Al Gore appearing on Charlie Rose. It’s about an hour long:

Taking on the belief that technotoys will allow the status quo to continue

James Howard Kunstler, dyspeptic critic and peak oil Paul Revere, nails the people whose approach to the twin calamities of global heating and peak oil is to spend all their time trying to cobble together the McGyver solution that saves the day, rather than trying to adapt to the new, low-energy imperative.

By Mark Twain

The war prayer: For background, see Kevin Drum and the war prayer site.

Good stuff in the new issue of the ‘journal of food and culture’

Edible Media takes an occasional look at interesting or deplorable food journalism on the web. Anyone who loves food, and enjoys reading about it, should check out the quarterly magazine Gastronomica, which calls itself the “journal of food and culture.” It’s published by the University of California Press, but it’s no academic rag. It tends […]

Maybe we’re wrong thinking that airline executives don’t get it

This Washington Post story suggests that the airline industry is not being led by dumb people who just don't get it.

No, the darling of the industry, the best and the brightest, the folks heading the industry vanguard, aren't stupid. They get it.

They just don't care. They believe that personal wealth will protect them and their children and grandchildren.

They plan for growth, even as the planes carry fewer people, which means they plan to keep increasing both their overall greenhouse gas emissions and the per-mile traveled emissions, as well as to have more planes emitting more water vapor into the atmosphere where is serves as powerful heat trapping barrier.

But you're not supposed to think ill of them, because they earn money for helping destroy the climate.

At least the damage inflicted by cigarette companies is felt mainly by the smokers and the people close by -- these guys are helping push a rock over a cliff onto millions of people who can't even afford an in-flight magazine, much less a flight.

A new website assesses property risk

Earlier this week I learned that I'm eligible, via my mother, for Dutch citizenship, which means I could potentially work, vote, and live in Holland without having to go through the hassle of visa applications.

Before moving to a country that lies largely below sea level, though, I might want to check out Climate Appraisal, which, as its name suggests, is a website where you can size up the environmental hazards of your desired address. A joint project of a former banking executive and climate scientists at the University of Arizona in Tucson, the site has plenty of free information on numerous ways your property might perish, including earthquakes, shoreline reduction, hurricanes, tornadoes, drought, fire, and flood. Each of those categories provides a definition, scientific overview, and scientific links. If you're willing to fork over actual cash, the premium subscription will generate maps, graphs, and tables in each of the hazard categories specific to your address. (Clicking on the floods tab, for instance, might tell me how many times the rivers in my county have breached their banks in the past 100 years.)

What’s in your status symbol?

That's right. I actually saw a Hummer pulling a trailer with stuff in it yesterday. Although stunned, I recovered in time to get a shot of his trailer as he pulled away from the transfer station. Coincidentally, I was also pulling a trailer on my bike (also visible in the lower right hand corner). We smirked at one another as we passed. I think it's adorable how he painted is little red wagon to match his big red Hummer.

Hummers are a joke in some circles and a huge badge of honor in others. Not long ago, while I was over in Kirkland, which is a wealthy suburb of Seattle, I counted eight or so Hummers in the span of half an hour. In Seattle, just on the other side of Lake Washington, you could easily count that many Priuses in that time frame.

Condi in a Tesla

I give you Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, riding in a Tesla electric car: More gape-worthy Tesla pics here. More about Rice here. (thanks LL!)

Friday music blogging: Mark Ronson

Two of the best pop albums of the last year are Lily Allen‘s Alright, Still and Amy Winehouse‘s Back to Black. What do they have in common (besides cute, clever female singer-songwriters, that is)? Producer Mark Ronson. The guy’s a mad pop genius. As it happens, Ronson puts out albums of his own. The latest […]