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Going local

The Bush Administration's plan to put greater control of National Forests into the hands of local forest rangers is provoking cries of outrage from the environmental movement and Democrats, as reported by many publications just before Christmas. I share the discontent but, unlike many of my mainstream environmental associates, I am attracted to one rather un-green reordering of public-lands governance. Just not this one.

Is “Clear Skies” really so ghastly?

David Whitman, in a compelling article in the Washington Monthly, argues that Bush's Clear Skies initiative is getting a bum rap from enviros. (He also argues that the much-vilified Jeff Holmstead, the Bush appointee who heads the EPA's Office for Air and Radiation, doesn't wholly deserve his anti-green rep.) Whitman asserts that the bill would do some real good, and debunks the widely repeated claim that the proposal would permit more pollution than the Clean Air Act. (Turns out there was more than met the eye to that bit about a secret EPA PowerPoint slide asserting that Clear Skies would make compliance cheaper and easier for utilities.)  

Earthquake

Our hearts go out to all those affected by the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunamis in South Asia. For more info, visit Wikipedia. For links to firsthand accounts, visit WorldChanging. For ways to help, visit this blog.

In case you weren’t convinced about the horrors of dioxin …

just look at the face of Ukranian presidential candidate Victor Yushchenko (before and after photos here).  Yikes. The bizarre case of his poisoning has brought renewed attention to this frightening substance, a byproduct of herbicide manufacturing, paper milling, waste incineration, and other nasty industrial processes.  

As BushGreenwatch points out, the Bushies are dragging their feet on curbing dioxin pollution, both domestically and internationally. "They've done nothing in regulations, and I don't see anything on dioxin moving on the federal level in the next four years," said Lois Gibbs, executive director of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice and an activist who made a name for herself by fighting for justice at Love Canal.

One might think this ghastly, high-profile assassination attempt -- complete with very public, physical evidence of the horrific damage dioxin can do -- could provide a needed kick in the pants. But don't hold your breath.  

Vacation: not just for Europeans any more

As alert readers know, every year around this time, Grist takes a two-week publishing break, while we staffers try to get used to being away from a keyboard for a while. The finger-twitching usually dies down right about the time we have to come back.

The break starts Monday, and consequently posting will be very light, possibly (one can hope!) absent entirely.

We'll be back on Jan. 3, with some exciting developments for Gristmill. Stay tuned.

Green bytes

Some tips over at About.com on greening your high-tech purchases.

Wangari Maathai’s Nobel Lecture

Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, in Oslo, Norway, on Dec. 10, 2004:

The Gonad Test

Joel Gallob, who writes for the Newport (Oregon) News, has a fascinating column on Tidepool.

It points out the awful time lag between how fishing is regulated and how fish populations change. There's too much fishing when fish populations plummet and too little fishing when populations surge. And he suggests an ingenious mechanism -- involving the gonads of female black rockfish -- for synchronizing fishing with fish numbers. Check it out.

And to All a Good Fortnight

We’re leaving for two weeks; we’ll miss you As is our yearly custom, Grist will be taking a two-week publishing break, starting Monday. We’ll return on Jan. 3, rested and […]

Regular Folk

Human compost boosts harvests in Mozambique The more than 2,500 residents of Mozambique’s impoverished village of Matimangwe have harnessed the power of their poo to fertilize their crops, and the […]