Glenn Scherer’s Posts

• The Food, the Bad, and the Ugly

  In a warmed world, even food won't be as good for you 4

  Posted 4 years, 3 months ago

  Humanity is on the threshold of a century of extraordinary bounty, courtesy of global climate change. That's the opinion of Robert Balling, former scientific adviser to the Greening Earth Society, a lobbying arm of the power industry founded by the Western Fuels Association. In a world where atmospheric carbon dioxide levels soar from the burning of fossil fuels, he says, "crops will grow faster, larger, more water-use efficient, and more resistant to stress." Quoting study after study, he invokes visions of massive melon yields, heftier potatoes, and "pumped-up pastureland." Bumper crops of wheat and rice, he… Read More

• Courting Disaster

  Bush judicial nominees could shake the foundations of environmental law 0

  Posted 4 years, 9 months ago

  William G. Myers III is George W. Bush's choice for a lifetime position on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. That court's jurisdiction covers three-quarters of all federal lands, in nine Western states where contentious battles rage over energy, mining, timber, and grazing.

  

  Which way will the scales of justice tip?

  Unlike most judicial nominees, Myers has never been a judge. Instead, his qualifications include decades as a paid lobbyist and lawyer to the coal and cattle industries. In his recent position as the Bush Interior Department's chief attorney,… Read More

• Play to Winslow

  A green financial expert dishes up election-related investment tips 0

  Posted 5 years ago

  

  Matt Patsky knows his green.

  As the election looms, green-investing guru Matt Patsky has joined the political fray, making the radio talk show rounds to tell investors and voters why another Bush presidency will not only be bad news for the environment but also a disaster for the market.

  Patsky is the portfolio manager for the Winslow Management Co., a pioneer in environmentally responsible investing. Winslow was founded in 1984 by Jackson Robinson, who believed -- in opposition to much of the investment world -- that companies which benefit the… Read More

• The Godly Must Be Crazy

  Christian-right views are swaying politicians and threatening the environment 3

  Posted 5 years ago

  

  A kind of secular apocalyptic sensibility pervades much contemporary writing about our current world. Many books about environmental dangers, whether it be the ozone layer, or global warming or pollution of the air or water, or population explosion, are cast in an apocalyptic mold.
  - Historian Paul Boyer

  When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter… Read More

• The story the Times did cover, and that I missed

  Glenn Scherer 2

  Posted 5 years agoOkay, a special thanks to Gristmill readers for keeping this blog accurate and honest. I stand corrected, and with blog on my face. An excellent AP story written by Charles Hanley did indeed run starting on March 20, 2004, in many U.S. papers and worldwide, reporting a disturbingly large increase in atmospheric CO2 for 2003.