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Green votes

Will Rogers has a hopeful editorial in the NYT today, pointing out that despite the relative silence of the mainstream media on the story, environmental initiatives won broad support on Nov. 2.

Across the country, in red states and blue states, Americans voted decisively to spend more money for natural areas, neighborhood parks and conservation in their communities. Of 161 conservation ballot measures, 120 -- or 75 percent -- were approved by voters. Three-and-a-quarter billion dollars were dedicated to land conservation.

Such measures won support in areas where Kerry won and areas where Bush won. Seems to show that there's a broad consensus about conservationist issues generally, a consensus that overlaps but is not tied to support for the Democratic party.

More on this subject soon.

He made his bed …

... and now he's sleeping in it.  And boy, it doesn't look comfortable.

Last week French President Jacques Chirac took a public swipe at Tony Blair, saying he'd gotten nothing in return for his unstinting support of George W. Bush.  "I am not sure," said the francophone dryly, "that it is in the nature of our American friends at the moment to return favors systematically."

Meanwhile, Blair has been under immense pressure at home -- from his party, the opposition party, even the Queen -- to prod the intransigent Bush on the subject of global warming. Surely, the reasoning goes, Blair should get something for tying his political fate to Bush's when other leaders wouldn't.

Well, no.  Today The Independent reports that Bush "reprimanded" Blair for making such a fuss over global warming, according to "senior Washington sources." Among other things, Blair has been planning to make global warming a central topic at the G-8 Summit in January. For this he is ... "reprimanded."  Ouch.

Blair has never wavered in his public support for W, but after such high-handed treatment, you gotta wonder if he's starting to have violent dreams.

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The issue with issues

Freelance writer Christopher Hayes spent the last seven weeks of the campaign talking to undecided voters in Wisconsin. He recounts his experiences in The New Republic (requires registration), and it is simply fascinating. And a little depressing. Most conventional wisdom about undecided voters is wrong, he says.

The Tree Police, They Live Inside of My Head

Brazil opens environmental police academy in Amazon The environmental movement in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is arming itself, literally, for the fight against illegal mining, animal and plant piracy, and other […]

Nom de Gloom

Do you hate the word “enviros”? At least one Grist reader does. He wrote in this week to reprimand us Gristers for frequent use of the abbreviated moniker: “Don’t you […]

Do you hate the word “enviros”?

Greg Artzner of Takoma Park, Md., does. He wrote in this week to reprimand us Gristers for frequent use of the abbreviated moniker:

Boy, I wish you and all environmentalists would STOP using the term "enviros." Don't you all realize that our avowed adversaries use that term as a pejorative to describe us?  It's their ad hominem dismissal of us as wackos. I have heard it used in personal conversation by Mark Rey, undersecretary for natural resources and environment (known as "Darth Vader" of the forests to those of us working to save the trees). He and many others who stand in direct opposition to what we believe routinely insult us by using that very term. Please stop using it.  

Sincerely,
Greg Artzner, environmentalist

I and my colleagues at various green-focused journalistic enterprises have used the word enviros with frequency over the past decade, with no intent to belittle or demean. Really, I just think it's kinda fun. And it's a damn sight shorter than the overly syllabic environmentalists. As for whether the greenies or the pollutocrats coined the term, I can't say -- anyone care to share their etymological theories? (Oh, wait -- is greenies demeaning too?)

Still, as enviro(nmentalist)s think about (re)framing their message and burnishing their image after this month's election, is it time to give this label a second thought, or even the heave-ho? I'm not yet convinced that it is, but not dead set against it either. A few other perspectives on the matter here.

Cast your vote on whether the word enviro sucks or rocks, in the upper right-hand corner of the Grist homepage, through Monday, Nov. 15.

If loving The Onion is wrong, I don’t wanna be right

Two years ago, a friend challenged me to get through a single day without quoting The
Onion even once. Couldn't do it then; can't do it now.

Here, just in time to celebrate Russia dropping off accession papers on the ratification of Kyoto, comes a sober overview of climate change impacts.

Moving in the Wrong Directional

Bush admin changed rule to facilitate drilling under parks, suit charges Without the required public input, the Bush administration changed a federal rule, making it easier for oil and gas […]

Kyoto Kicks In

Mark your calendar -- the U.N. has designated February 16, 2005, as the day the Kyoto Protocol comes into force. The Russians gave U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan their official notice of ratification today in Nairobi where the Security Council is meeting.  Read more from BBC or the U.N.