Gristmill

Enviro journalist winners

I meant to mention this last week:  The Society of Environmental Journalists announced the winners of its third annual awards for excellence in environmental journalism.  Congrats to Seth Borenstein (who, you will recall, I heart) in print, Ilsa Setziol in radio, Ed Rodgers in television, and the many other winners. According to SEJ:

The number, quality, and diversity of entries vying for this year's awards signaled a renewed interest in environmental journalism after a year in which the nation's attention -- as well as the news media's -- had been focused on terrorism and war.

Wishful thinking? I hope not.

Once upon a time you dressed so fine

In a Rolling Stone interview with magazine founder and media bigwig Jann Wenner, John Kerry says that global warming would be his No. 1 environmental priority.  Asked whether he agrees with Al Gore that the time of the internal-combustion engine is ending, Kerry, ever the audacious fella, says, "I wouldn't make that kind of a bold pronouncement."

Much as Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) does in Grist's interview with her, Kerry endeavors to sell his environmental plan as a jobs plan.

I want American workers working; I want American cars made in America; I want American cars to be able to be sold anywhere in the world. I want to lead the world in these technologies. So I want these companies part of the solution -- not the problem. I think we can get there -- I really believe that.

Kerry disputes that environmental issues have disappeared from the presidential campaign and says he talks about the environment and energy independence in every stump speech.

In all, Wenner asks the candidate eight or nine questions on the environment. Kerry hasn't been quoted as much on the environment since, well, Grist's exclusive environment-only interview with him ...

In the spirit of crazy horse …

Fans of The Snow Leopard, Killing Mister Watson, At Play in the Fields of the Lord -- or for that matter, anyone who cherishes good writing and clear thinking -- might want to check out Orion Online's three-part video interview with wise man Peter Matthiessen. The interview series is entitled "Our Political Environment:  Environmental Policy, Corporate Ethics, and Global Warming."

More power to the sweet stuff

A story in The New York Times last week reports the increasing popularity in Brazil of flex fuel vehicles that can use gasoline or ethanol interchangeably. Drivers with these snazzy cars can choose a fuel for the day's driving based on availability, price, or sheer whim. These flex fuel vehicles might have a market well beyond Brazil now that oil has hit $54 a barrel. While using ethanol as a transportation fuel won't solve all air quality problems, it can be part of the solution in many countries.

Laying eggs

Tom Toles in The Washington Post.

Two ships in the night

Despite being joined at the hip, the environment and development communities don't talk much. These Siamese twins -- separated at birth -- speak different languages.

While each community respects the other's gig, they don't play well together -- no one wants to be second fiddle. Some even see the environment and development agendas as opposing forces.

Efforts on the ground can bear that out. When conservationists set up protected areas without considering the people living in them, they seem more interested in "lovable huggables" than struggling locals.

On the other side, people-centered development often treats environmental issues as luxuries that only the idle Northern rich can afford. But the "develop now and worry later" approach ignores how much our health, food, economy, and livelihoods are dependent on a healthy environment and well-managed natural resources.

Despite the bad news, some people get it. While a few projects may be partnerships of convenience, others truly integrate environment and development (I won't go so far as to utter the hopeful words "sustainable development").

Post posting

In a lukewarm endorsement of John Kerry today, The Washington Post makes a fleeting, single-sentence reference to the environment and the candidates' environmental records:

Where Mr. Bush ignored the dangers of climate change and favored industry at the expense of clean air and water, Mr. Kerry is a longtime and thoughtful champion of environmental protection.

Oink, oink

Bush signed the massive corporate tax giveaway yesterday, though his handlers didn't make a big stink over it.  Perhaps they were hoping we little people wouldn't notice that it's an unconscionable $143-million-over-10-years pork smorgasbord for the oh-so-special interests, at a time of record deficits ($413 billion and counting).  Oh, and it's an environmental abomination too.  

Commentator Connie Rice of The Tavis Smiley Show on NPR -- who dubbed the bill the "Corporate Looting and Piracy Act" -- summed up just a few of its most stomach-churning provisions:  

Unlike the Leave No Child Behind bill, this corporate boondoggle is fully funded. ExxonMobil, Home Depot, cruise ships, corn farmers, coffee roasters, and makers of fishing tackle boxes, bows and arrows and ceiling fans all have special tax breaks specially tailored for their needs. And unlike the nation's children, who will be paying down our trillion-dollar deficit their whole lives, 60 percent of these corporations will likely continue to pay zero federal taxes, because their armies of lawyers will figure out how re-open newly closed loopholes that allegedly will pay for this bill. ... And get this: [Congress] also cut the charitable car donation deduction that middle-class people take, cut the child tax credit for the poor, blocked restoration of overtime for millions of workers, cut unemployment benefits, cut and then restored war veterans hospital benefits, and made it harder for regular folk to apply for bankruptcy.

As reported in The Washington Post:

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) dismissed [the corporate tax bill] as "a lobbyist's dream and a middle-class nightmare." Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called it "the worst example of the influence of special interests that I've ever seen."

They’re coming to eat your children!!!

Bush just debuted a new swing-state campaign ad called "Wolves."  You can watch it on his website. It shows a pack of wolves prowling through a dark forest, makes the usual bogus claims about Kerry cutting intelligence budgets (and fails to note that Bush's hand-picked new CIA head Porter Goss actually did propose huge cuts), and concludes that "weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm."  In other words:  A vote for Kerry is a vote for terrorists eating you.

The ironies are rich.  This comes from an administration that has pushed to downlist wolves from the endangered species list. If they see wolves as the terrorists of the wild, I guess it's no surprise. But I wonder where they found the wolves for the ad ... perhaps outsourced to Canadian wolves?  And were any harmed in the making of the ad? Where's Defenders of Wildlife when you need 'em?

UPDATE: Check out this hilarious follow-up from Wolf Packs for Truth.

UPDATE: Gary Wockner of the Colorado Wolf Working Group is not amused by this ad. At all. He says so here.