Climate Politics

And other words from readers

  Re: The Noble Citizen Dear Editor: This is the first time in my life that I’ve felt moved to cry upon hearing that someone I didn’t know personally had died. I feel that I’ve come to know Donella Meadows in the past couple of years. Many times I have praised her writing, her clear […]

Boxer Rebellion

Democrats say that President Bush’s recent moves to roll back environmental protections have given them their first rallying point since Bush took office. “We believe that George W. Bush has declared war on the environment,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) last week. Mark Mellman, a leading Democratic pollster, said, “I think Bush is in the […]

The case for oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Who doesn’t want to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? It’ll be fun! We will wear special outfits, and when the oil gets in our mustaches, we’ll take silly pictures and send them as postcards. The future, now more than ever, is a vast, inky utopia. Babies will squeal with delight and […]

Can laws be written that inspire reverence for the land?

As usual, Charles Wilkinson is pacing. Hands stuffed in the front pockets of his Levi’s, head down, he paces the lecture hall, up one stairway and down the other, his students’ heads swiveling to follow him. Charles Wilkinson, law man. Photo: Larry Harwood, University of Colorado at Boulder. But on this December morning, during the […]

Recount!

1.2 billion — number of dollars raised by Democratic and Republican candidates for federal office in the 2000 election cycle 110:1 — ratio of anti-environmental (construction, chemical, and energy/natural resource) PAC contributions to environmental PAC contributions 9 — estimated number of dollars spent by candidates for federal office per registered voter in the United States […]

Whitman Sampler

Muckraker hears from a reliable and informed source that Linda Fisher, EPA assistant administrator for toxics and pesticides under Bush the Elder, will return to the agency to serve as Christine Todd Whitman’s number two. The source described the Fisher appointment as close to a done deal, a fact that did not sit altogether well […]

Some Assembly Required

Causing anti-globalization activists to cry foul, the World Trade Organization decided yesterday that it will hold its first top-level meetings since the infamous 1999 Battle in Seattle in Qatar, a Persian Gulf nation with a questionable human rights record and little history of public protest. In the past, the U.S. State Department has said that […]

Monica Who?

El Nino — and El Other Nino

In its first move on global warming, the Bush administration has asked that the next international summit on climate change be delayed two months. When talks to hammer out the details of the Kyoto treaty collapsed last November at The Hague, Netherlands, the chair of the talks, Jan Pronk, scheduled another session for this May. […]

"Clean cars" are the devil's tools, diverting attention from truly green solutions

The “clean car” is cool this season. “Is your car an energy hog? Get a new one,” a web ad bombards me before I have finished the morning’s second cup of coffee. “Your vote counts here,” says the flashing ad that rates the energy efficiency of the web surfer’s car, luring owners to buy a […]