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Ford and CEI

By now everybody has seen, and mocked, the pro-CO2 ads from CEI. Many people have also noted that CEI is funded by industries with vested interests in the oily status quo.

As Andrew Leonard rather scathingly pointed out, Ford Motor Co. is one of those funders. The same Ford that's been trying so hard lately to be a good environmental citizen. The same Ford who recently forged a partnership with TerraPass to encourage its drivers to offset their emissions.

This proved slightly embarrassing to the folks at TerraPass. They contacted Niel Golightly, Ford's Director of Sustainable Business Strategies, to get some answers. Golightly sent them this response:

Wind and intermittency

A while back I raised the problem of intermittency -- the fact that solar and wind power depend on the sun shining and the wind blowing, neither of which happens continuously -- and asked if anybody knew about ways of storing energy generated during peak sun/wind and releasing it into the grid during lulls.

Ask, and ye shall receive: There's a piece in Spectrum called "Taking Wind Mainstream" that directly addresses the issue. It contains all sorts of stuff I didn't know and has me feeling downright optimistic.

It begins:

Canada opts for empty symbolism

It's official: Canada wants to join the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Climate Change. The APPCC, for those not familiar, is less a climate treaty (the term "non-binding" is the first clue) than another "free" trade treaty whereby North American nuclear and coal companies lock in developing-world markets.

By creating the APPCC "alternative," Bush has gone beyond neglecting Kyoto to actively pulling participants away from it.

Obama’s new book

It's not strictly environmental, but I thought readers would be interested to see this preview of Barack Obama's new book, The Audacity of Hope (available Oct. 2006). This should give you an idea of the theme:

CEI ad reviews

Tim Lambert rounds up some reviews of the pro-CO2 ads from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Funny.

Last chance to save South Central Farm

Via BoingBoing comes word that the South Central Farm -- probably the largest urban garden in the country, where 350 low-income families grow their own food -- will soon vanish if folks don't rally to save it. In its place will sit a massive Wal-Mart warehouse.

The farmers held off bulldozers by legal action, but the developer recently received approval from the court to evict them. The Trust for Public Land, a national, nonprofit, land conservation organization that is working to save the farm, has until Monday, May 22, 2006, to raise approximately $10 million to purchase the land. They are part of the way there, but need several million more.

You can learn how to make a donation here.

We've discussed the farm previously on Gristmill here, here, and here.

Grain ethanol: wack

Robert Rapier has all your (grain) ethanol-bashing needs covered with this latest salvo:

Cork Screwed

Drop in cork demand could endanger Mediterranean forests What wine goes best with endangered forest? Perhaps a nice pinot gris? Mediterranean cork-oak forests provide 15 billion cork stoppers a year […]

Americans and Climate Change: Scientific disconnects I

"Americans and Climate Change: Closing the Gap Between Science and Action" (PDF) is a report synthesizing the insights of 110 leading thinkers on how to educate and motivate the American public on the subject of global warming. Background on the report here. I'll be posting a series of excerpts (citations have been removed; see original report). If you'd like to be involved in implementing the report's recommendations, or learn more, visit the Yale Project on Climate Change website.

OK, now we're getting past the introductory stuff and into the meat of the report. The first chapter is on the challenges science and scientists face in communicating to the public about global warming. It's incredibly revealing, touching on several things we've discussed here.

It's a long chapter, so I've split it into three parts. The first is below the fold.

Speedboat powered with ass fat.

Uh, folks, is this story real?

Saving the planet can be a real pain in the butt. Just ask Peter Bethune, who's powering his speedboat with biodiesel made of fat from his backside.

That's right, Wired is reporting that some dude turned his own liposuction fat into a liter of biodiesel. OK, so he admits it's just a symbolic gesture -- part of a publicity stunt to promote renewable fuels. The main event is breaking the round-the-world speed boat record in a rad-looking, biodiesel-powered boat.

Assuming this isn't a hoax, is it even a good idea? I mean, leaving aside the fact that speed boats are energy hogs (and an outsized environmental offender, according to this book), does it help promote renewable fuels to link the concepts of "biodiesel" and "ass lard" in people's minds?