Toyota to American public: we make bad cars too!

A wire story just caught my eye. The subject? How Toyota is preparing for the potential backlash caused by its growing popularity in the U.S. (Cue Lee Greenwood here.)

Seems that last month, Toyota's U.S. sales increased 7.8 percent, while GM's fell 5.5 percent and Ford's fell 3. It's just part of the bad Detroit juju of late. But according to this article, Toyota -- maker of some of the most fuel-efficient cars on the planet -- is hastening to remind us that it, too, makes gas guzzlers. And that it, too, could be hurt by tougher fuel economy standards in the U.S.

There are too many amazing angles to poke at here. But what a sad state we're in when the good guys have to pump up their bad reputation.

Green architect Raphael Sperry answers questions

Raphael Sperry. With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I’m the president of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, which is a...

It’s gonna be ugly.

On Monday, the Supreme Court meets for the last time before its summer break. Several high-profile cases will be decided, but the real nail-biting anticipation is reserved for the possible retirement of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, which would create the first vacancy on the court in 11 years. (Bill Kristol has speculated that it might be O'Connor, not Rehnquist, who retires next week, but popular conservative blog Redstate says nope, it's Rehnquist. These things are hard to predict.)

Thus far the White House has been mum about possible replacements, but names are a'floatin'. There's a great analysis of some possible candidates in this TNR piece.

Scuttlebutt in the progressive blogosphere has it that Bush will nominate the most outrageous far-right candidate possible, just to pick a fight and fire up his base. That is, after all, what he does. The conservative blogosphere relishes such a fight.

Everything I've seen inclines me to believe it's going to get ugly. Stay tuned.

David B. Williams sends dispatches from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

David B. Williams is a freelance natural-history writer based in Seattle. He is the author of The Street-Smart Naturalist: Field...

Nuclear and drilling: whatever happened to NIMBY?

Today's LA Times headline should be no surprise by now: "Nuclear Industry Lays Foundation for Comeback." However, here's the opening paragraph:

CLINTON, Ill. -- Along the streets of this economically depressed farming town, optimism is running high that a proposed nuclear power plant could bring in new jobs, give a boost to local retailers and increase taxes for schools.

While the risks of a nuclear plant in your backyard are high, the benefits are great too. I personally know that Perry, Ohio has the nicest high school and athletic facilities around because of the revenue it got from the nuclear facility there.

Drilling in the Arctic Refuge also enjoys popular support from Alaskans.

If we are going to oppose these measures, what can be done to convince the people who will see the most benefits from such projects that it really isn't a good idea? We are facing an uphill battle when rebate checks or increases in school funding are so concentrated and have such a large impact on a small number of people.

Replacing fossil fuels with biodiesel may do more harm than good

I remember when real environmentalists drove smoking VW vans with bumper stickers that said stuff like, "You can't call yourself an environmentalist if you eat meat." They didn't get the best gas mileage, but hey, you could do worse. They were replaced by the forest-green Subaru Outback (Eddy Bower edition if you were really cool), seen by the dozens in any REI parking lot. These are presently being eclipsed by the ubiquitous Prius. But, there is stiff competition from the diesel Jetta replete with biodiesel stickers all over the butt end.

As we all know by now, biodiesel can be made out of a lot of things:

Soybeans: 50 gallons per acre
Rapeseed: 150 gallons per acre
Jatropha: 175 gallons per acre
Palm oil: 650 gallons per acre

To limit the impact on the planet, maybe we should start pressuring our biodiesel distributors to sell fuel made only from palm oil? According to the World Wildlife Fund, we would also need to demand that it be made out of palm oil grown only on degraded, non-forested land:

Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Obrador’s Heaven

Ambitious new bus rapid-transit system hits the road in Mexico City Mexico City mayor and popular presidential hopeful Andrés Manuel...

Logging keeps Asian elephants in business … for now

At a fork in the road, our guide points to the right. “That’s the main road there,” he says. “We’ll...

Will individual actions stop climate change?

Between the Urban Environment Accords signed by over 60 mayors at the World Environment Day conference, Arnold Schwarzenegger's pledge to reduce California's GHG emissions, 158 other mayors pledging to reduce their cities' emissions, and carbon-neutral driving, gift-giving, and rocking becoming popular (well, maybe not popular), could it be that sub-national groups of people or even individuals are going to take a leading role in combating soaring emissions?

The answer, of course, is still up in the (hot) air. Obviously if everyone in the world made all of their actions carbon neutral, we'd be all set. But is it reasonable to assume that everyone who has the means (or the disposable income) to afford a climate neutral lifestyle will do so? A shift in climate that's a long way off may never be enough to get anybody "fired up," and many people may be deterred by the fact that even if they eliminate all their own carbon emissions, it won't even put a dent in the several gigatons the world emits.

Hope below the fold ...