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A nice package of stories that aren’t about rich people

L.A. Weekly has a package of stories on green building that, in the words of editor Linda Immediato, "DOESN'T involve tear-downs, massive square footage homes and insane water-intensive landscaping." Huzzah for that!

The lead piece is "Green Without Envy," about the many ways existing homes can be added to, tweaked, or remodeled -- instead of torn down -- to increase their green-friendliness.

Also check out similarly sensible articles on lawns, floors, and individual rooms, as well as a piece on the shortcomings of LEED and another one on, er, re-using a Boeing 747 as a house.

Good stuff.

Jerks.

I try to be a good person. I try to keep love in my heart for all people. Why do they make it so hard?

Declaring them "mature technologies" that need no further funding, the Bush administration in its FY 2007 budget request eliminates hydropower and geothermal research, venerable programs with roots in the energy crises of the 1970s.

We're talking about -- cumulatively -- roughly $50 million in research money. There's nowhere else in the federal budget we could find $50 million to trim? Really?

Oh, wait, but look, we're not even saving the money, just reallocating it:

Any savings from the cuts would be nil since all of the nearly $24 million ($1 million from hydropower and $23 million from geothermal) research funding would go to other programs such as biofuels.

Why? Why?

It's a small amount, but it matters quite a bit to the people laboring in the trenches studying this stuff:

More ideas needed

Here's a recent story of how two poachers, while posing as tourists, managed to slip away just long enough to kill a couple of rhinos and cut their horns off.

National Geographic has this story about the discovery of a critically endangered male Sumatran rhino in Malaysia. Problem is, that horn sure would make a nice dagger handle. It is just a matter of time now before the locals find out one is there.

This problem has been discussed a few times in letters to Science magazine: Biologists report finding an endangered species only to lose it again to collectors and poachers who learned of its whereabouts from the same report. This profit motive thing is powerful. Maybe we should be looking harder for ways to use it to protect what remains.

Why canvassing no longer works

A while back, Nathan Wyeth wrote a Soapbox for Grist about the crappiness of green-group canvassing operations. It kicked off quite a discussion.

If you're interested in the subject, Dana Fisher has a good piece on it at The American Prospect:

You Can’t Always Nyet What You Want

Russia plans enormous sports complex near pristine national park Hoping to strengthen its bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, the Russian government has approved an $11.3 billion project to turn […]

You are now entering science fiction land …

Sometimes life in the 21st century feels like a weird science fiction movie -- one so unnerving it's difficult to distinguish reality from nightmare.

Here are some science fiction-y nightmares well-known scientists, writers, and bloggers brought forward this week:

And why is it still around?

Why isn't it the 21st century's spray-on deodorant?

Let me explain, and meet me after the jump.

And it’s OK to support Cali’s Prop 87

Prop 87 is a California ballot initiative that would tax oil drilling in the state, and use the money to reduce petroleum usage. Passage is by no means assured, as the opposition is incredibly well-funded.

Here, sometime Gristblogger Ana Unruh Cohen writes a rebuttal to Robert Rapier, one of the measure's critics.

To her many fine points, I would also add one more.

Canadian climate change challenger taking it to court

Rather than, you know, letting science decide this sort of stuff, Canada's most well-known climate-change skeptic is taking opponents to court.

The case revolves around a letter to the editor that he claims was a "malicious attack" on his credibility.

Tim Ball has made a name for himself as an outspoken challenger to the overwhelmingly accepted (especially in Canada) consensus that humans are causing global climate change. He authored an opinion piece on global warming for the Calgary Herald last April which drew at least one letter to the editor questioning his credentials.

Interview with J. Matthew Sleeth

It's a bit late to ask, but tomorrow morning early I'll be speaking with J. Matthew Sleeth, author of Serve God, Save the Planet, a book calling on Christians to renew their responsibility as stewards of the earth.

What should I ask him?