Uncategorized

British Airways eases passengers’ minds

If you're flying British Airways anytime soon (say, to see the London Design Show), check out this news: the airline is now charging an optional fee for passengers to offset the impacts of travel. The surcharges (the amount varies depending on the trip's length) will be donated to Climate Care, an Oxford-based company that cancels out carbon with partners ranging from a bank to a yoga center.

Is British Air's move a step in the right direction or, as one critic put it, a way to "make passengers feel less guilty about their unsustainable lifestyles"? Would you pay more for a plane ticket if the money "cancelled out" your carbon? Should more airlines get on board?

Uh …

[Former FEMA Director Mike] Brown told the Times that he had such difficulty dealing with [Louisiana Governor Kathleen] Blanco that he communicated with her husband instead.

Pollsters aren’t asking the right questions about energy issues

There's more to this article than the headline, but the headline alone says quite a bit: "Poll: 8 in 10 want drivers to drop SUVs." That's another tentative -- though possibly shallow -- sign that high gas prices are turning Americans against their gas guzzlers. Of course, since SUVs, trucks, and minivans have commanded roughly half of the new-vehicle market in recent years, one wonders if this means that 3 in 10 people want other drivers to drop their low-mileage vehicles.

Other poll responses are equally telling. Seven out of 10 respondents want the government to fight rising gasoline bills by establishing price controls. Of course, holding down prices makes us consume more gas than we otherwise would. Plus, in a world of limited petroleum supplies, price controls could lead to all sorts of other problems -- shortages, rationing, etc. (As The Washington Post's Robert Samuelson reminds us, Cheap Gas Is a Bad Habit.)

Seven out of 10 also support new government spending on transit. But almost six in 10 now think it's more important to explore for new sources of energy than to protect the environment; and five in 10 favor opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development, up from just 42 percent earlier in the year.

Are smoking bans fair?

Well, I'd subject you to more TV updates, but I actually went out last night and had a life. Which involved being in a smoke-filled bar for several hours. Which got me to thinking ... yuck.

Seattle's one of the country's healthiest cities, yet it's only just now getting around to considering a smoking-ban referendum. If the effort passes, Seattle will join the growing list of cities (Boston, Minneapolis), states (California, Delaware), and even countries (Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden) that have put butts under wraps.

This public-health progress has come despite agitated protests on business, political, and personal grounds. I have to admit, I didn't have strong feelings about such bans until I lived (pre-Seattle) in a city that instituted one. And then I realized: breathing? It's a good thing.

Upload your very own enviro-themed videos

Do you blog? Podcast? Post your homemade music or videos on the web? If so, you belong to "Generation C" as coined by the folks at Trendwatching.com who define this group like so:

No, this is not about a new niche generation of youngsters born between March 12, 1988, and April 24, 1993; the C stands for CONTENT, and anyone with even a tiny amount of creative talent can (and probably will) be part of this not-so-exclusive trend.

So what is it all about? The GENERATION C phenomenon captures the avalanche of consumer generated "content" that is building on the web, adding tera-peta bytes of new text, images, audio, and video on an ongoing basis.

The two main drivers fueling this trend? (1) The creative urges each consumer undeniably possesses. We're all artists, but until now we neither had the guts nor the means to go all out. (2) The manufacturers of content-creating tools, who relentlessly push us to unleash that creativity using, of course, their ever cheaper, ever more powerful gadgets and gizmos. Instead of asking consumers to watch, to listen, to play, to passively consume, the race is on to get them to create, to produce, and to participate.

For perspectives on Generation C, check out WorldChanging and FutureWise.

Now, to all you enviros who are members of Generation C, wouldn't it be cool if your environmentally themed short films actually appeared on television? Sound too good to be true? Then check out Current TV.

And, according to Wired, this fledgling cable channel needs your help. Nay, your videos.

EPA loophole could allow pesticide testing on kids

Just take a look at this San Francisco Chronicle headline:

EPA rule loopholes allow pesticide testing on kids

That's right -- if this story is to be believed, the EPA has created a loophole that would allow the pesticide industry to test whether its wares are safe by using real, live kids.  

But astonishingly, the real story is actually even uglier than that. According to the Chronicle, the EPA rules -- allegedly designed to protect kids and pregnant women -- specifically allow testing on "children who have been abused and neglected." Just read:

[W]ithin the 30 pages of rules are clear-cut exceptions that permit:

-- Testing of "abused or neglected" children without permission from parents or guardians.

-- "Ethically deficient" human research if it is considered crucial to "protect public health."

-- More than minimal health risk to a subject if there is a "direct benefit" to the child being tested, and the parents or guardians agree.

Read the story -- I'm not making this up.

102nd use for a dead cat

Turn it into biodiesel.

This smells a bit like a hoax. But perhaps it's not: after all, if you can turn turkey guts into biodiesel, why not felines?

And, come to think of it, why stop with cats?

Flood Is Thicker Than Water

Assessing toxic hazards in New Orleans challenges the EPA The post-Katrina mess of pollution along the Gulf Coast is “the largest national disaster that we at EPA or, we believe, […]

Which airlines are going down?

Two major U.S. airlines, Delta and Northwest, have declared bankruptcy, citing high fuel costs as a reason. "Hurricane Katrina was probably the last straw," said a securities analyst keeping an eye on the proceedings.

Carriers in other countries are also feeling the petroleum pinch: Air China, British Air, and others are increasing the fuel surcharges that pass costs along to customers.

The two U.S. airlines -- the nation's third- and fourth-largest, respectively -- will keep plying the friendly skies. But don't expect extra pretzels.

A bonanza of energy-related stories in The New York Times

Today's New York Times has a bonanza of energy-related stories -- some tied to the most recent price increases triggered by Katrina and others to some longer-term trends ...