Climate Culture

Extinction of an outdated industry on the horizon?

... you ignorant ass.

You may have noticed the ads here on Grist from the International Fund for Animal Welfare calling for an end to the Canadian seal harvest. This short, simple, balanced article from MSNBC is a timely rehash of this annual controversy.

Because sustainability is ostensibly the main goal of environmentalism, it's difficult to criticize the Canadian seal harvest, because it appears to be a classic case of a sustainably harvested natural resource providing poverty reduction for those who live close to that resource.

Here are the two main reasons the IFAW wants to end the seal harvest: It is cruel and puts the harp seal species at risk.

Quit talking about it already

We’re constantly getting yelled at here at Grist for not discussing population, which according to the yellers is the ultimate problem of all problems, such that addressing any other problem without addressing it first is to demonstrate one’s total subjugation to The Man and False Consciousness. The issue came up in this thread, so I […]

Due Deferens

Separate studies show chemicals, cigarettes may affect male birth rate The percentage of boys born in the U.S. and Japan each year has gradually declined over the last three decades, a new study says — and pollutants are a possible cause. “Male reproductive health is in trouble,” says lead researcher Devra Lee Davis of the […]

The biggest factor is still the bottom line

An influential group of CEOs, senior officers and trustees of institutional investors, asset managers, and corporations called for action (PDF) on climate change back on March 19. It's a good thing the rich and powerful in the U.S. are starting to recognize that action must be taken. But as should be expected, what they call for is the minimum they think they can get away with rather than what is needed.

In which Knut gets even cuter

Vanity Fair‘s second annual “green issue” hits newsstands today (though it arrived last week in “special” cities like New York, L.A., and, apparently, Seattle). And I must say, though its inside contents can’t compete with last year’s edition featuring Grist’s own Chip Giller, it does feature on its cover the equally lovable and (sorry, Chip) […]

Billie Jean King builds a green fitness facility

Thought Calamity James, Bob Burnquist, Hijo del Santo, and Yao Ming were the only big-ish names is green sporting? (Because I know you spend a lot of time pondering the big-ish names is green sporting.) Well, add these to your list: Pioneering tennis phenom Billie Jean King is involved in plans for a green community, […]

Funny

Here is Stephen Colbert discussing the “reduce reuse re-psychos” and interviewing Colin Beavan, whose family is shooting for a year of zero eco-impact. Beavan puts in a plug for Step It Up. Nice work Mr. Beavan! Funny stuff:

I prefer to fly

I changed my mind. I no longer want a plug-in hybrid car. Them's for punks.

Now I want a solar/plug-in airplane. Video below the fold.

Takeaway message: battery technology is the roadblock. That and rain.

Ticket info and line-ups also announced

After much back–and–forth over D.C. locations for Al Gore’s Live Earth Concerts on 7/7/07, organizers today announced the U.S. concert will be held at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Tickets for the show will go on sale Monday, April 16, at 10 a.m. EDT. Locations were also announced for five of the other seven concerts […]

Political parties may be divided on the issue of climate, but Americans agree on solutions

On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency has authority to regulate greenhouse gases as a pollutant (some called it a strong rebuke of the Bush administration's policies), George W. Bush saw fit to ramp up his language on the issue of global warming (hint: the new key word is "serious"):

The decision (of) the Supreme Court we take very seriously. It's the new law of the land. I've taken this issue very seriously. I have said that it is a serious problem. I recognize that man is contributing to greenhouse gases.

But, despite this outpouring of concern, the Prez kept to old-school thinking, arguing that "anything that happens cannot hurt economic growth." (Clearly, nobody gave him any of the the reports on the enormous costs that we will likely bear as a result of climate changes, or for that matter, the compelling memos that have been circulating about the economic opportunities the climate challenge presents to those with a touch of "American ingenuity.")

The American public, on the other hand, appears more ready than Bush to embrace new thinking when it comes to solutions. Republicans and Democrats alike broadly embrace actions to curb emissions.

Based on a March telephone survey of 1,009 American adults, ages 18 and older, Gallup reports that an overwhelming majority supports stronger government restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions. And, majorities, regardless of political persuasion, say we should spend more tax money to develop alternative sources of fuel and energy.