A dispatch from the launch party for Vanity Fair’s green issue

Wednesday, 19 Apr 2006 New York, N.Y. Why was last night different from all other nights on which people have...

Anne Kajir combats the greed of Papua New Guinea’s timber barons

The highlands of Papua New Guinea cradle some of the most remote places in the world, and are home to...

Clean Edge Energy Trends 2006

Clean Edge just published their annual report on clean energy trends. The trends are upward:

According to Clean Edge research, biofuels (global manufacturing and wholesale pricing of ethanol and biodiesel) will grow from $15.7 billion in 2005 to $52.5 billion by 2015. Wind power (new installation capital costs) will expand from $11.8 billion in 2005 to $48.5 billion in 2015. Solar photovoltaics (including modules, system components, and installation) will grow from an $11.2 billion industry in 2005 to $51.1 billion by 2015. And the fuel cell and distributed hydrogen market will grow from $1.2 billion (primarily for research contracts and demonstration and test units) last year to $15.1 billion by 2015.

In total, we project these four clean-energy technologies, which equaled $40 billion in 2005, to grow fourfold to $167 billion within the coming decade.

Europe should push U.S. to more fully fund the Global Environment Facility

Recently, in Moscow, at the meeting of G8 Finance Ministers, the Europeans gave us a repeat performance of an all-too-familiar...

Japanese, Norwegians, and Icelanders spout off in favor of whaling

If you’re into eating whales, Kouji Shingru’s shop is the place for you. Located on a pedestrian-only street in Tokyo’s...

Activists are fighting a new agreement between the U.S. and Peru

A logger drives his freshly cut mahogany logs upriver toward Ivochote, a scratchy, low-slung jungle town in Peru’s eastern Amazon....

The Weinberg Group and manufacturing uncertainty

Some good stuff on Environmental Science & Technology today.

Check out the piece on the Weinberg Group, a scientific consulting firm that specializes in helping chemical companies battle off lawsuits and criticism of their products, by coordinating marketing and hiring scientists to produce contrary studies. The marketing proposal to DuPont about PFOA (PDF) (a dangerous chemical used to make Teflon) that Paul D. Thacker got his hands on is pretty stunning. Among other things, it says:

[W]e will harness, focus and involve the scientific and intellectual capital of our company with one goal in mind -- creating the outcome our client desires. ... This would include facilitating the publication of papers and articles dispelling the alleged nexus between PFOA and teratogenicity as well as other claimed harm.

Greens like to talk about the Precautionary Principle -- preventing the use of chemicals before they've been definitively shown to cause harm. But I doubt most people know just how many resources are available to rich corporations to help them keep selling chemicals that have been shown to cause harm. There's a whole industry devoted to manufacturing uncertainty about issues important to corporations. How about a Cautionary Principle?

What’s behind the boom in environmental film festivals?

On the final day of the Planet in Focus film festival in Toronto last fall, the packed house at the...

On spiritual environmentalism

A few weeks ago, I sat down for a long chat with Rabbi Michael Lerner. The first half -- most directly related to environmental issues -- is here. The second half, wherein in we discuss general spiritual and theological issues, is below.

In his new book The Left Hand of God (you can read an excerpt here), Lerner says the religious right offers what he calls the right hand of God: a stern authoritarian father, who punishes sin, demands self-reliance, and inspires fear. The political right has gained momentum and adherents in recent years, Lerner says, because only conservative Christianity has been vocally and unapologetically addressing the spiritual needs of Americans, their quest for meaning in a materialist, consumerist culture.

Lerner thinks progressives should offer an alternative: the left hand of God, a loving, nurturing presence that forgives imperfection and inspires a sense of hope and wonder.