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An international poll points to a window of opportunity for U.S. leadership.

A new international poll finds worldwide agreement that climate change is a threat. Opinions are split, however on the nuts and bolts -- in particular, whether to act immediately and whether countermeasures are worth the investment. Even so, a window of opportunity seems to have opened that would allow leaders with bold solutions to spark international cooperation and make real strides. The poll included 17 countries, representing more than 55 percent of the world population (though not all the questions were asked in each of the countries). Western European countries and Canada* were not included.

While global opinion trends are encouraging, the United States -- the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases -- has some catching up to do. That is to say, an attitude adjustment is in order:

Woe, Canada

Canada, as has been pointed out on this blog before, does not have the greatest record when it comes to climate change -- or the environment generally, for that matter. Dramatically increasing production of tar-sands oil has meant that Canada, while signing the Kyoto Accord, actually has a worse record on CO2 emissions (relatively speaking) than the U.S., which famously didn't sign.

Worse than the Americans! Well, we can't have that. There's nothing we Canadians love more than our high horses. Today, Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion -- elected leader of his party with a promise to clean up Canada's act -- made his proposal to restore our smugness public.

A bit of wonky analysis, plus a bit of background for Canadian political neophytes, follows.

Still got the ‘mmmm’ factor

Over at Chews Wise, one of our contributors attended a book party in New York last night that featured a tasting of "gourmet" Twinkies, organic-vegan Twinkies, and the off-the-shelf commercial version.

Wired reports on undersea mining plans

Speaking of mining and threats to marine life, Wired is reporting that there is the potential for a huge undersea gold rush and very few environmental groups seem concerned:

Not your father’s backyard garden

Is there an urban, suburban, or peri-urban garden in your community, where you can sustainably produce or buy fresh local produce? Well, I think there should be, and I'm not alone.

As part of my interest in "eating local," I have embarked on a mission to try to increase the amount of sustainable agriculture in my own neighborhood. Since I live on an island (admittedly a rather large one called Long Island), I would include the whole thing as my neighborhood, but the west end has already got a big head-start and the east end hasn't yet become as "well developed," so I'm going to concentrate a little narrower and stick to my home county, Nassau.

Demanding action on elementary school below coal slurry pond

Gristmill readers have heard before about Marsh Fork Elementary school, in Raleigh County, West Virginia, perched about 300 feet downhill from a massive, leaking coal refuse dam holding back billions […]

But aren’t those things mutually exclusive?

A hopeful Friday note: a significant downloadable report (PDF) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. It was just brought to my attention, but it's from 2004. Its message bears repeating: energy efficiency/technologies have the potential to dramatically reduce energy use while supporting economic growth.

This European agency estimates that the E.U. could accommodate a 65 percent increase in energy services by 2050, yet simultaneously use two-thirds less energy than today. In the U.S., the estimate is that we could reduce energy demand to one-sixth of our use today through more efficient technologies.

NRDC report on military and sea habitats

The interplay between the U.S. military and the environment is fascinating. On land, many military policies have actually been beneficial to the environment -- the military has been a good steward of many endangered habitats.

Out at sea, the reality is not quite as good. The sonar systems employed by the Navy are increasingly implicated as a source of major damage to marine mammals from whales to dolphins, as this new NRDC piece outlines. This issue will continue to heat up and should be watched closely.

Brown to make green

NYT has a story today about some prominent "green-tech" venture capitalists who are investing in fossil-fuel development, making them more "brown-tech."

Defense of this muddying of the green-tech profile rests on our collective worship of the profit motive ("I'm here to make the kind of green my limited partners can spend"). But what made me laugh out loud (even as my stomach was turning) was this quote by Joseph Lacob, a managing partner at Kleiner Perkins, which is investing heavily in Terralliance, an oil and gas exploration company: "If we can improve the efficiencies of the oil and gas exploration, in some ways that's a green message as well."

Please, please please tell me how expansion of oil and gas development is a "green message"?

is a smart guy.

… was great on the Daily Show: