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Cutting-edge nature writer discusses … nature

Jenny Price is a nature writer, but unlike most of the species, she insists on writing about nature as it actually exists in our lives. If that means writing about plastic pink flamingos and concrete-bound rivers, well, that's the nature we see in the 21st century.

Her recently published dissertation from Yale is the remarkably light and witty Flight Maps. On the site L.A. Observed, she has a popular guide to half-secret access routes to the beaches of Malibu. For The Believer, she recently wrote a spectacular essay on the Los Angeles River, and last month published a tribute to the late, great plastic flamingo for The New York Times ($) that concluded: "Rest in peace, my pink plastic friend. It was fun while it lasted."

She is a Guggenheim fellow whose writing takes chances, and can open minds. For Grist, she graciously consented to an interview via email, which went back and forth for nearly two weeks. Take a look:

Kit Stolz: Last month the Union Products factory that has been making the plastic pink flamingo for nearly fifty years shut down, and the inventor Don Featherstone said he thought his creation would soon become extinct. Can we use that word for something that was never alive in the first place?

Jenny Price: Well, I think it's more accurate to say it's stopped reproducing.

Or, how to stick a lot of information in a very short post

Following up on this airline news, Planet Ark reports:

The European Union's executive arm approved plans on Wednesday to include aviation in its emissions trading system, giving international flights in and out of the EU a one-year reprieve before they have to join.

Intra-EU flights will join the scheme, aimed at cutting global air pollution, in 2011. Flights into and out of the bloc will be included the following year, giving non-EU carriers time to prepare and see how the scheme works.

More articles here and here and here. Airlines' "cautious welcome" here. Greens' skeptical reactions here and here and here.

A guest blogger weighs in on the impact of sports balls

The following post is from guest sports blogger Scott James, founder of Fair Trade Sports.

Here's a quick primer on sports balls, the materials of which they are made, and their environmental impact.

Sports balls consist of three main components:

• the outer shell (synthetic leather -- about 30 percent of the total ball);
• the inner air bladder (rubber -- about 70 percent of the total ball); and
• the dyes (less than 1 percent of the total ball).

Codes are springing up in cities big and small

Just in the last month I've noticed signs of a major shift in green building practices around the country.

Green building codes and ordinances are springing up all over the place. We may be seeing the beginning of one of the best environmental stories of 2007.

Sign up for Grist’s telephone survey

Here it is, the chance you've been waiting for: Tell us what Grist means to you, and where you think we should go from here. Sign up to take part in a telephone survey.

It's like writing a letter to Santa and telling him what you really want this year -- except on the phone, and you can rest assured that we won't give you any coal, no matter how bad you've been.

Just in case you need another reason to oppose ag subsidies

They waste money, trash the environment, wreck trade relations, and oh, devastate small farmers.

Pitfalls of emissions trading

More and more, I'm thinking a carbon tax and putting new energy technologies freely into the public domain is the way to go, especially after reading stuff like this.

Newer and cheekier!

With sincere respect to my colleagues across the Atlantic (this is all a matter of opinion, after all), I'm dismayed by some of the choices on their list of most important environmental books. Hoary tomes like The Lorax, an analysis of the impact of pesticides on the environment that's nearly a half-century old (I shake in my boots to criticize La Carson thus) ... if the list were of books that had a big impact in their time, or books that will bolster the sentiments of the already-sympathetic, then it would be enough.

But the "small is beautiful," "earth as organism," "pursue simplicity" approach to eco-reform reflected in most of these choices has not proven a big winner in Western mass culture. Right or wrong, converting Western mass culture is the task at hand today, if we're going to solve the problems addressed by these authors over the decades.

What are the books that speak to more recent science, contemporary events, and our evolving understanding of the intersections of environment with economy, culture, and human rights?

Here are some titles I'd consider:

Rev. Joel Hunter speaks out on broadening the evangelical agenda

In July, Rev. Joel Hunter was named president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America, the legendary political advocacy organization founded by Pat Robertson. Rev. Joel Hunter.Last month, just before he […]

Namely, biofuels

I happened to disagree with a very reasonable critique I found on Gristmill last week, and want to use an article called "Stuck in the Middle with Fuel" (a great title by the way) by Eliza Barclay as a foil. It is a perfectly good article. I am using it as an example of traditional journalism only because it was timely and handy. Getting a piece past a battery of editors is one hurdle; having it pass muster on the comments field of the blogosphere is another thing altogether.

Keeping with tradition, Eliza must feign neutrality. She begins her narrative by painting a picture in the reader's mind, subtly suggesting that biofuels will rid third world countries of smoke belching diesel trucks:

Occasionally these rural taxis are new vehicles, but most are rickety, rusted, and running on antiquated engines and exhaust-spewing diesel.

Next, she must obtain interviews from experts: