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Clear Skies takes a fat whack

Bush's Clear Skies Act is on life support after a vote today in the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee failed to draw enough support to push the measure to the Senate floor. The committee had been deadlocked 9-9 on the bill for weeks, and James Inhofe (R-Okla.), committee chair, was unsuccessful in his arm-twisting attempts to sway at least one more senator to his side. (Barack Obama [D-Ill.] had been thought a potential swing vote, but he held his ground. Phew.)

As AP's John Heilprin writes, "The committee vote doesn't preclude Republican leaders from bringing the bill to the full Senate for action" -- though they'd have to do it through unconventional methods. "But it also arms opponents with several parliamentary tactics that they can use to defeat it on the Senate floor." Whatever that means.  

Inhofe knew just who to blame: "This bill has been killed by the environmental extremists who care more about continuing the litigation-friendly status quo and making a political statement on CO2 than they do about reducing air pollution."

Ellen Degeneres outbid for titi

The monkey, people. The monkey.

The right to name an unidentified species of titi monkey in Bolivia has been sold for $650,000. No word yet on what the name is, but it has to conform to the rules of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Presumably that rules out titi jokes. Sigh.

Huh?

Insects dislike the smell of garlic as much as human beings do, according to a Bangladeshi scientist who has used it to develop an environment-friendly alternative to pesticide.

Um, what human beings are we talking about here?

Turning air into water

If I posted about every cool widget that popped up on Treehugger I'd end up doing nothing else, but this particular widget for some reason caught my fancy.

It makes clean water! Out of air!

In five years this thing will be the size of a coffee mug. The Future: Live It!

African life spans, II

A couple days back I posted on an amazing graph of the drop-off of life spans in Africa. Bona fide Africa expert Ethan Zuckerman has a long post up, clarifying and expanding on the graph. It turns out that the graph is perhaps a tad misleading, as it chooses precisely those countries where AIDS has hit the hardest. Of course Ethan doesn't mean to minimize what is an epic tragedy, but he does provide a more balanced picture of what's happening on the continent. Give it a read.

Small farmers and organic

Via WC, a study by the International Fund for Agricultural Development concludes that organic farming offers farmers in developing countries higher earnings and a better standard of living. The higher earnings come from organic product being worth more (duh), and the better standard of living comes from the higher earnings and the not being poisoned with herbicides and pesticides.

I was looking around in there for some reason why the conclusions wouldn't transfer straightforwardly to small farmers in developed countries. The answer seems to lie mainly in transition costs -- since developing world farmers don't really use expensive technologies and chemicals anyway, it's a pretty easy jump to organic (the main impediment being certification and other paperwork).

But still. I'd like to see some sort of similar study done in the U.S. How long would it take for a small U.S. farmer (we still have a few right?) to make back the money he/she spends transitioning to organic? Presumably the data's out there somewhere, but as a rushed, overworked blogger, I think I'll just conclude by asking readers if they know where to find it. (It's called a bleg.)

Polluter Actually Pays

Illinois power plants will spend half a billion on pollution controls A 1999 lawsuit against Illinois Power has ended in a proposed settlement of more than $520 million, most of […]

Half a Bridge Over Troubled Water

EPA proposes stronger protections on lead in drinking water The U.S. EPA has proposed strengthening protections against lead in drinking water for the first time since 1991. The move comes […]

Oh You Nasty Soy

Brazil solves problem of illegal GM soy production by legalizing it In a victory for biotech conglomerates everywhere, lawmakers in Brazil last week lifted a ban on the growing of […]

Cap Dancing

EPA skewed analysis in favor of cap-and-trade mercury regs, GAO says The U.S. EPA misrepresented the analysis of its plan to regulate mercury emissions from U.S. power plants, the nonpartisan […]