Gristmill

The World Bank offers to loan developing countries the funds to pay for climate change adaptation

What would you say if someone drove a truck into your house, then jumped out and offered you a loan to help rebuild?

After you stopped screaming at them, which might take a while, you'd demand that they pay for damages that they caused, of course. Over time though, if no one forced the truck driver to pay for the damages, you might be tempted to take the loan. Sure, its a rip-off, but at least you get the money you need to rebuild.

This is exactly what's happening today with much needed funding for adaptation to climate change impacts in the developing world. The World Bank, backed by Northern taxpayers, is "offering" to loan the developing world the money needed to adapt to climate change impacts.

Ethically, this is abhorrent.

Two projects uniting veterans and green jobs

Two grassroots projects recently came to my attention aimed at finding green employment for vets, too many of whom return to no jobs, many bills, and much debt, creating an awful lot of strain on them and their families. Veterans Green Jobs was conceived to create "solutions for three of the most urgent issues of our time: the rebuilding of a sustainable green economy, reversing deteriorating environmental conditions and climate change threats, and the need to reintegrate over a million military service veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who are in need of healing and meaningful new careers."

And in San Diego, Archi's Acres Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training program's three-month, 40 hour-per-week course offers returning vets both hands-on training and textbook learning in organic production, from seeds to sales. Started by ex-Marine Colin Archipley, a three-tour veteran of the Iraq war, it's making a big difference for its participants. Check this great story from a local TV network on its impact both in terms of new skills learned and the therapeutic effect of growing food:

Hats off to you, Colin.

Sen. Barbara Boxer rolls out her climate policy principles, with very few details

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, on Tuesday rolled out six principles for climate legislation that she said would guide the panel’s work on a bill in the 111th Congress. She said she aimed to have cap-and-trade legislation approved by her committee by the end of the year, […]

What do you expect from a party that wants to be more like Sarah Palin?

You can indeed fool some of the people all the time -- if those people are conservatives.

Rasmussen Reports made headlines last month reporting that 41 percent of Americans blame global warming on human activity, down from 46 percent, two years ago. The conservative pollster gleefully noted:

Al Gore's side may be coming to power in Washington, but they appear to be losing the battle on the idea that humans are to blame for global warming.

It is, however, the details of the poll that are the most telling. In January 2009:

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democrats blame global warming on human activity, compared to 21% percent of Republicans. Two-thirds of GOP voters (67%) see long-term planetary trends as the cause versus 23% of Democrats.

This compares to December 2006 result:

Fifty-six percent (56%) of Democrats say human activity is the cause while 51% of Republicans identify long-term planetary trends as the culprit.

That's right. Slightly more Democrats now understand that humans are the primary cause of global warming, whereas substantially more GOP voters -- a full one-sixth -- have been duped into thinking long-term planetary trends are the cause.

Why the growing divergence?

A very cool 'only in California' development … bike valets

Slate V posted a short video about the bicycle valet service provided at the farmers market in Santa Monica, Calif.

Brilliant! But do the valets help repair flat tires?

Inside joke of the day

Check out the first comment on this article.

Then click on the name.

A new sustainable sushi book, restaurant, and debate

Sustainable Sushi: A Guide to Saving the Oceans One Bite at a Time, the definitive guide to sustainable sushi, was written by Casson Trenor, alum of the International Environmental Policy Program at the Monterey Institute.

What I particularly like about this volume is that Casson outlines vegetarian alternatives to fish at the end of the book, since as he freely admits, not eating fish is one of the best ways to protect the oceans.

Casson is not only spreading the printed word, but also walking the walk by putting all of his knowledge into practice at his new sushi and sake bar Tataki Sushi in San Francisco -- the world's first sustainable sushi restaurant. It has garnered rave reviews and has been nominated for the city's No. 1 sushi restaurant. He is constantly updating the menu to keep pace with developments in science, policy, and business practices.

And for anyone who can make it to Monterey, Calif. on Feb. 19, Casson along with Kim McCoy of Seashepherd (and the star of the show Whale Wars), Stanford PhD student Dane Klinger, and myself will be participating in a debate entitled, "Seafood sustainability: Is it real and is it enough?" Info here.

New travel and cooking shows valorize the very practices destroying frogs and other living things

Remember when food shows were about cooking stuff? Now we have shows featuring guys who travel the world stuffing food in their pie holes just so they can tell us how it tastes (usually while the food is still in their mouths). You just can't get a fresher description than that. Because we can only eat so much, we can now entertain ourselves between meals by watching other people eat.

The latest incarnation is the Man V. Food show where Adam Richman runs around the country trying to eat the ubiquitous gargantuan promotional meals offered by so many restaurants, which include everything from a seven-pound monster breakfast burrito to an eleven-pound pizza (which was barfed back up).

One show I find particularly irritating is the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, who for some reason reminds me of a turtle. He eats a lot of wildlife, which can't help but fan the flames of the growing wild food trade that's consuming biodiversity. From a recent NYT opinion piece:

As global wealth rises, so does global consumption of meat, which includes wild meat. Turtle meat used to be a rare delicacy in the Asian diet, but no longer. China, along with Hong Kong and Taiwan, has vacuumed the wild turtles out of most of Southeast Asia. Now, according to a recent report in The Los Angeles Times, they are consuming common soft-shell turtles from the American Southeast, especially Florida, at an alarming rate.

Here he is eating a still beating frog heart:

All your whatever we want are belong to us

Without apparent self-consciousness, The New York Times reports on the galling trend of Bolivians "closely controlling" their country's lithium and "keeping foreigners at bay," since they are "not willing to surrender it."

That's the problem with resources -- there's always a bunch of foreigners between us and what's rightfully ours!