Climate Politics

Julie Sze, enviro-justice advocate and professor, answers questions

What work do you do? I’m an assistant professor in American Studies at the University of California at Davis. How does it relate to the environment? My research and teaching interests are in environmental justice, race and science, the politics of the urban environment, health and risk, social movements, and community activism. What do you […]

What Would Jesus Ride?

Raging Cyclists push for bike-friendly reforms in Santiago Inspired by Critical Mass, the cycling activist group formed in San Francisco in 1992, the Furiosos Ciclistas — or Raging Cyclists — of Santiago, Chile, are inspiring real reform in that polluted city. The group is one of more than 200 inspired by Critical Mass in cities […]

Bela-ruse

Poor Belarusians returning to areas contaminated by Chernobyl It’s been 18 years since the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the Ukraine exploded and spewed forth a cloud of radiation that contaminated some 22 percent of neighboring Belarus. Now many poor Belarusian residents are returning to normal life there, foraging for mushrooms and planting crops in areas […]

Welcome to the Measure Dome

Oregon voters lash out against land-use planning For more than three decades, Oregon’s comprehensive anti-sprawl land-use planning rules have funneled development into urban cores and preserved vast swaths of land covered by farms and forests. Sixty percent of Oregon voters apparently found this state of affairs intolerable. On Nov. 2, despite opposition from current and […]

Kvetch Hetchy

Schwarzenegger admin will consider undamming Hetch Hetchy To the surprise of, well, just about everybody, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) resources secretary announced yesterday that he will pull together a thorough assessment of a project once considered entirely fanciful: tearing down O’Shaughnessy Dam and restoring Yosemite National Park’s Hetch Hetchy Valley. As attractive as the […]

The urban archipelago

My hometown alternative weekly The Stranger has an unbelievably good article running this week -- it's the first thing I've read post-election that actually felt authentic and hopeful to me. It says that relevant red/blue divide is not a matter of states but a matter of rural vs. urban. Cities vote Democrat. It's time to celebrate that, celebrate cities and the values of diversity, vitality, and imagination that make them run, and turn our attention to making cities ever more aesthetically, practically, and politically attractive.  My eye was particularly drawn to this passage:

And, as counterintuitive as it may seem to composting, recycling self-righteous suburbanites, living in dense urban areas is actually better for the environment. The population of New York City is larger than that of 39 states. But because dense apartment housing is more energy efficient, New York City uses less energy than any state. Conversely, suburban living--with its cars, highways, and single-family houses flanked by pesticide-soaked lawns--saps energy and devastates the ecosystem.

I recommend reading the whole thing.

Election serves as whack upside the head for environmental community

Post-election, enviros are thinking about values — and praying for a better outcome next time. The Bush victory dealt a devastating wallop to the environmental community, but some members say it also delivered a much-needed reality check to a movement struggling to find its soul. Understandably, many environmental leaders who jumped into the election fray […]

We Was Cobbed!

NAFTA panel says U.S. GM corn is invading Mexico A panel of scientists convened by NAFTA at the request of Mexican farmers and officials has concluded that genetically modified corn grown in the U.S., where it is legal, is crossing the border and contaminating crops in Mexico, where it is not, and that the contamination […]

The energy bill is alive — alive! — and that could be bad news for ANWR

A day after winning the presidential election last week, George W. Bush made this now-legendary — and, to some, menacing — statement: “I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.” Without dwelling on the notion that conservatives are supposed to protect and grow capital, not fritter it away, […]

Terry on, My Wayward Son

Schwarzenegger promotes environmental advocate to Cabinet secretary California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) will elevate self-described tree hugger Terry Tamminen from his current position as environmental protection secretary to the more powerful position of Cabinet secretary, where he’ll serve as a liaison between the governor and department and agency heads. While Tamminen made decisions opposed at […]