Climate Culture

Realizing that freeways are not free

Every once in a while there's a truth that everybody knows, but that no one will acknowledge. And when someone finally says it aloud, it sounds shocking. Like this:

... what we're doing now isn't working. Not for drivers, taxpayers or the environment. We can't tax and build our way out of this.

That's Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat in his column this week, talking about what most people in Seattle already know: the area's freeway system is flat broke and busted. Even the biggest package ever to go before voters -- this fall's $16 billion roads-and-transit measure -- won't pay for the toughest infrastructure problems, like rebuilding the 520 floating bridge, and is only a fraction of the estimated $40 billion needed over the next few decades. Moreover, even that full $40 billion isn't expected to reduce congestion much. So what can we do?

Enter the occasion for Westneat's column: King County executive Ron Sims, who has stepped up (big PDF), yet again, with a remarkably visionary plan: region-wide congestion pricing. Wow. Without getting into the details here, Sims is proposing what is perhaps the only thing that could simultaneously generate the money, reduce congestion, and ease environmental impacts -- all without raising taxes. (In fact, that's why Sightline Institute has been preaching congestion pricing for years.)

If it all sounds too good to be true, it is.

Spitzer and Polish

New York governor’s mansion gets an eco-facelift You know, we’ve been thinking about eco-remodeling our 39-room mansion, and now New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his wife Silda Wall Spitzer are providing inspiration. The couple plans to green the governor’s residence in Albany, which was built in 1875 and has housed such luminaries as Franklin […]

Cities find that people like not being killed by cars!

Good story in the Christian Science Monitor about places that are taking steps (albeit tiny, tiny baby steps) to take back some of the public space given over to cars and letting people use it:

The KABMAN Game

Last week, David Roberts brought you the Keep America Beautiful Man videos. This week, I bring you ... KABMAN, THE GAME.

I came, I saw, and I collected 40 recyclable items on my second try. Top that, Gristiacs.

John Travolta’s private plane fetish brings the noise to a small Maine community

Oh, John Travolta. When will you and your planes stop p$#@ing off the populace?

Apparently it's not enough for Mr. Saturday-Night-Give-the-Planet-a-Fever to wander the globe in his private planes, trailing an excess of carbon emissions in his wake. He's also got to land his plane near his Maine residence during the area's voluntary no-fly period between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Come on, John. It's bad enough that you're contributing to warming the planet. Now you're going to keep granny awake in the process? For shame, Vinnie Barbarino, for shame.

Chait on the netroots

Jon Chait has an expansive new piece in The New Republic about the rise of the “netroots” — i.e., the partisan, activist liberal blogosphere. I have my quibbles with some parts, particularly in the second half, but overall it’s a far more comprehensive, fair, and respectful look at the netroots than you’ll find anywhere else […]

Speaking of CFLs …

This is funny.

Is the starfish story really just bunk?

The estimable biodiversivist wrote, in another thread, that "What we do as individuals is insignificant compared to changes in carbon neutral energy generation and transportation infrastructure."

Which is both true and not true, I think. It reminds me of the story about the little tyke throwing starfish stranded on the beach back into the water, and being told by the parent that it didn't matter, leading the child to say, "It does to this one."

Cute story, all chicken-soupy-for-the-environmentalist's soul and such -- but is it really just bunk?

Some students don’t want to go carbon neutral

As an undergrad at Brown University and a veteran organizer with the Sierra Student Coalition, Nathan Wyeth has his ear to the ground on campus sustainability issues. In this occasional column for Grist, Wyeth will report on what's afoot at the campus grassroots level and how he and his fellow students are making their voices heard.

As of today, 202 colleges and universities have pledged to move toward climate neutrality, or net-zero global warming emissions, with the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment. I've been part of a student group pushing Brown University to do the same.

But debate over the legitimacy of the "carbon offsets" that make climate neutrality possible is growing as fast as the number of companies, institutions, even countries that have committed to buying them. Are carbon offsets legit? And what does climate neutrality really mean?

For the past few months, I've been considering a phrase tossed out by my friend and fellow student organizer Billy Parish: climate positive. Consider it a step beyond climate neutral (which never had a very inspiring ring to it anyway) -- when institutions or individuals not only take responsibility for their own impact on the climate and our future but go beyond this to have a positive climate impact on the community around them.

An interview with Julia Russell of the Eco-Home Network

Gristmill commenter Lo Fleming posted a good Q&A with Julia Russell of the Eco-Home Network recently over on her blog. Check it out.