Climate Culture

Dems and Republicans buy different kinds of cars; guess who likes big American SUVs?

You could probably guess that Prius drivers tend to be Democrats and Hummer drivers tend to be Republicans. But that's just the tip of the iceberg on car-and-driver political connections, writes John Tierney in The New York Times, summarizing new market research that I find both fascinating and hilarious.  

Jaguars, Land Rovers, and Jeep Grand Cherokees are very "Republican" vehicles. Volvos are the most "Democratic" cars, followed by Subarus and Hyundais. (Funny comment from Slate columnist Mickey Kaus: "Subaru is the new Volvo --that is, it is what Volvos used to be: trusty, rugged, inexpensive, unpretentious, performs well, maybe a bit ugly. You don't buy it because you want to show you have money; you buy it because you have college-professor values.")

Umbra on conserving water

Dear Umbra, Twenty years ago, I lived off the grid and learned how to conserve water. That lesson stayed with me, and it’s agonizing for me to witness the cavalier, wasteful treatment of precious freshwater. My elderly mother moved in with me two years ago, and all is lovely and fine, except that she wastes […]

Girl, You Trippin’!

Cameron, Arnold lead brigade of celeb eco-spokesfolk What formative experiences led to movie star and galactic hottie Cameron Diaz’s commitment to the environment? “Nothing, dude. Life! Life!” We couldn’t have said it better. Or hotter. Diaz will be bringing her commitment to a new MTV series called Trippin’, debuting tonight, in which she travels around […]

Robyn Griggs Lawrence, editor of Natural Home & Garden magazine, answers questions

Robyn Griggs Lawrence. What’s your job title? Editor in chief, Natural Home & Garden magazine. How does it relate to the environment? Working under the tagline “Living Green, Living Well,” our magazine’s mission is to show mainstream America that living lightly doesn’t mean giving up a thing — that they don’t have to go live […]

Hearth Warming

Biofuel catching on in the home-heating arena Using biofuel — a mix of vegetable oil and diesel — to power vehicles is already popular in certain highly vocal circles, but using biofuel to heat homes is just starting to catch on. A recent surge has taken place largely in the U.S. Northeast, where there remains […]

Dust, but Verify

New study finds toxic chemicals in household dust Samples of household dust from 70 residences in seven U.S. states were found to contain a toxic cocktail of industrial chemicals — all of which have been shown to harm animals, all of which are legal and commonly used. The study, conducted by consumer-advocate group Clean Production […]

How a little blue pill could get big results — in species conservation, we mean

Quick: what do sea turtles, black bears, and Philippine fruit bats have in common? Rise up on behalf of the turtles. At first glance, not much. They don’t look alike, and they have very different ranges and habitats. In fact, one would be hard-pressed even to find them on any of the same guest lists. […]

Too Crunchy for My Shirt, So Crunchy It Hurts

New York fashion show highlights eco-friendly garb Green may soon be the new black, some fashionistas say. Case in point: the FutureFashion runway show last month during New York’s Fashion Week. Everything worn in the show — including clothes by high-profile designers Oscar de la Renta and Proenza Schouler — was made with eco-friendly fibers […]

Umbra on spending wisely to help the environment

Dear Umbra, I read your column on how best to spend six hours of time a week on environmental issues, but how about the best way to spend limited financial resources on environmental issues? Obviously, giving a gift to Grist would help, but what can I do with my limited pocketbook to make the most […]

If you mainstream it, they will come

I took two tidbits away from this interesting Clint Wilder piece on framing clean energy (via Sustainablog). Here's the first:

In opinion research conducted last year in Rhode Island, the Clean Energy States Alliance and marketing consultancy SmartPower found that the label of "clean" energy had a much more positive public reception than "green" (too political), "renewable" (too niche), or "alternative" (too much of an implication that its users must adopt a new lifestyle).

These kinds of things are small but important to know for everybody who writes or talks about environmental issues. Little bits of repetitive framing add up. For my part, I'm going to make a habit of using "clean energy" instead of the alternatives.

Here's the second:

But even when viewing clean energy as positive for the environment, the public was skeptical of its ability to replace fossil fuels.

...SmartPower ran a public information campaign, including TV ads narrated by actor Peter Gallagher spotlighting renewable-powered houses, hospitals, and factories with the tagline, "Clean energy: It's real. It's here. And it's working." The result? A thousand new customers switched to the local utility's green power option in 100 days, and the number of people who agreed that clean energy is as reliable as fossil fuels jumped from 40% to 51% in the same period.

That's a pretty extraordinary shift in opinion in response to one ad campaign.

I draw the same lesson from this that I drew from the news that 75% of people consider themselves "green shoppers" -- there's broad interest in green issues out there. Mainstream America is sniffing around at organic food and clean energy. Folks don't know if the stuff is ready for prime-time, and they're not yet willing to go out of their way (or pay lots more) to support it, but once they're convinced it's legitimate they are willing to take the leap. (See: Prius, Toyota)

There's a huge market waiting.