Uncategorized

The Sum of Squall Fears

What’s the link between hurricanes and global warming? The devastation wreaked on the Gulf Coast this week by Hurricane Katrina is sure to reignite debate over hurricanes and global warming. […]

Worldchanging editor discusses optimism and technology

[editor's note, by Dave Roberts] This is part one of a three-part interview. Part two is here and part three is here.

In April, I sat down for a long, wide-ranging conversation with Alex Steffen, executive editor of the (now newly incorporated and redesigned) Worldchanging.com. Gristmill readers likely need no introduction to Worldchanging, an online salon of activists and thinkers dedicated to the proposition that "another world is here" -- that the tools and techniques we need to reverse the global malaise already exist and await only our imagination and willpower. If it isn't on your daily reading list, it should be.

Originally, I was going to run this interview alongside a rather ambitious long-form piece of my own, but as time has passed -- and I really can't believe how much time has passed -- it's become clear that said piece is indefinitely postponed. Since I have a baby due [checks calendar] three days ago, it's unlikely I'll soon have time to return to it.

Lest it get even older, I'm going to go ahead and run it here. There's lots of good stuff in it, but it's very long, so I've broken it into three parts -- I'll publish the first today and the others in coming days.

In part one, we discuss optimism, technology, and the open-source movement.

Indian movies need to take up the plastic-bag fight

Plastic bags may be banned in the Indian state of Maharashtra due to concerns that by clogging the city's drains they contributed to the floods that swept the coast last month and brought life to a halt in buzzing Bombay. There are protests from the predictable quarters; apparently, 20,000 people in the state are employed to painstakingly manufacture thin bags that are good for carrying one coconut for ten yards before stretching out and leaving you with a bag with a hole in it but no coconut.

Will Gucci be next?

Now that Chanel's off limits.

McDonough

Nothing new in this short profile of William McDonough, but as a confirmed McDonough fanboy, I feel obligated to link to it.

Nothing he wants to go affirming to the UN

Uh oh, this doesn't sound good.

The Bush administration, whose pro-business policies on climate change have long rankled environmentalists and U.N. delegates, has done it again. The United States is pressing to scrap a proposal to have world leaders gathering in New York next month express "respect for nature."

Eh, pardonne moi?

That phrase was included in a draft statement of principles to be agreed to by 175 heads of state and government attending a Sept. 14 United Nations summit on poverty and U.N. reform. The statement invited leaders to embrace a set of "core values" that unite the international community, including respect for human rights, freedom, equality, tolerance, multilateralism and respect for nature.

Is there some confusion in the Washington Post offices? Is this some kind of treaty? Mandated CO2 emissions cuts? Banning of toxic chemicals? Compensating poor nations for the effects of climate change?

The offending phrase would place no fresh legal or financial burdens on U.S. taxpayers...

WTF?!

...but the Bush administration voiced concern that it would distract attention from the main goal: reforming the United Nations.

WTF!?

Um, wait, so, 175 nations are gathering in New York to work on U.N. reform. To start off, they want to affirm their shared principles. Bush is okay with this. Human rights? Sure. Equality? Yup. Multilateralism? Ah, what the hell.

Respect for nature, though? C'mon. Let's not go off the rails!

Ric Grenell of the U.S. mission to the United Nations said the phrase "is too broad a subject, and if we had to define the multiple ways the U.S. government respects nature, the document would be too long and way off its original intent."

Oh, gosh, the ways we respect nature ... don't get us started!

No, really. Don't. We mean it.

Where’s the line between scientific accuracy and effective advocacy?

It's hard to know what to say about the ongoing disaster in New Orleans (good coverage here). Good luck to all our readers there.

It sounds like it's not going to be as bad as feared, which is some comfort. For a glimpse at how bad it could have been, read Mooney's prescient AP piece from three months ago. And for a lament about the woeful lack of preparation, read his followup: "prescience sucks."

Katrina is sure to reignite the ongoing debate over hurricanes and global warming. A few thoughts on that debate below the fold.

Gas prices in Parade? What next?

Today's news of Gulf-Coast battering deserves lots of attention. But first, let us return to Sunday. Ahh, Sunday.

Spotted two instances of environmental shtuff creeping into otherwise "fun" parts of the paper. First, as further proof that the Sunday comics really aren't for kids (don't get me started on how my nephews are supposed to understand the Lockhorns ...), one panel showed a guy getting his car towed. Caption: "The car's fine, but with gas prices the way they are, it's cheaper getting towed everywhere." Ba-dump-bump.

Even more revolutionary: in Parade magazine, somewhere between the celebrity Q&As and the medical tips, lay a one-paragraph squib on local food. With gas prices rising, it reported, food prices might also rise. So buy local. This message brought to you by the Earth Policy Institute, which must have a persistent PR person. Well done.

OK, now back to our regularly scheduled weekday.

La Cage aux Hasselhoff

Humans go on display at London Zoo Five women and three men — ranging from a professional dancer to a veterinary student — have put themselves on display as the […]

Athens Never Looked So Good

Beijing struggles with pollution, gridlock as 2008 Olympics approach China has promised to throw a “green” Olympics in Beijing in 2008 — but simple livability may be the megacity’s bigger […]