Comments Shalini Ramanathan has made

  • Birds: Stupid but we love them

    You have hit upon a central truth: Birds are perhaps not the brightest of creatures. But they're delightful nonetheless, and, short of difficult-to-implement awareness programs to educate birds on the dangers of turbine blades, the answer is surely to not put turbines in the Pacific flyway or on the Gulf of Mexico migratory pathway.On Wind farm follies posted 3 years, 6 months ago 47 Responses

  • a very good thing

    in east africa, farmers use mobile phones to find out where they can get the best prices for their crops -- this results in more money in farmers' pockets, which is a good thing.

    it's fine (wonderful, even) to be an eccentric without a cell phone in a country with well-developed infrastructure. it's quite another to be without communications capacity in an isolated african village. cell phones are wildly popular here for a reason: they make life easier and sometimes put prosperity within reach.On Africa goes cellular posted 4 years, 2 months ago 9 Responses

  • biofuels

    Apologies for the digression, but I'd like to respond to this line in David's post:

    Once you start growing the biomass for the sole purpose of generating energy, it becomes energy negative. The energy inputs of tilling the ground, planting seeds, fertilizing, harvesting, and processing into fuel consumes more energy than the resulting fuel provides.

    -x-

    It depends on the fuel being displaced by a given biofuel. If a commercially produced biofuel can displace heavy fuel oil or coal, even full-cost accounting of all inputs may show that biofuels are desirable from an environmental and climate mitigation perspective.

    The issue of land use is a further complication in assessing biofuels. But unless you're going to clear virgin rainforest to plant jatropha, it's not a reason to dismiss biofuels as unpromising.

      On Mega-mall in upstate New York could give birth to a clean-energy awakening posted 4 years, 4 months ago 9 Responses

  • it's harder for them than it is for us

    I think progressives need to do a better job of scrutinizing the personal purity of the right wing lot that now rule our fair land. While it's hard to lead an environmentally benign life, it must be even harder to go to prayer meetings every day, regularly break up gay weddings, etc. We should cast the first stone!On There are worse things than hypocrisy posted 4 years, 4 months ago 8 Responses

  • the "C" word

    You can't really talk about the sad state of Indian forests (and their inhabitants, human and non-human) without talking about colonialism. The British colonial government set up a forest management system that focused on timber extraction above all else and that persecuted locals who had previously lived on forest lands. The net result -- even after a half-century of independence -- is that forest policy is a mess and does  not engage local communities.

    A further complexity: Adivasis (the PC word for tribals)  are practically invisible in "mainstream" India, aside from the occasional travel story on how darn picturesque they are. So there is little government support for enlightened management of local resources. And little understanding of how such support might just reduce the appeal of gun-toting Marxist terrorists.   On Market mechanisms are the last best hope for many of the world's most threatened animals. posted 4 years, 5 months ago 3 Responses

  • It's complicated

    Paul Wolfowitz's efforts to reduce agricultural subsidies to Western farmers and open Western markets to African ag exports are welcome, of course. But lifting Africa out of poverty will take much more. As long as African farmers export raw goods (such as agricultural commodities), they won't make enough money to transform this continent. Kenya, where I live, exports fresh flowers to European markets. This industry has created jobs: horrible ones, with long hours and little pay. What Africa really needs is the investment that would enable goods to be processed, so that value is added to products here instead of in the West.On Reform at the World Bank. posted 4 years, 5 months ago 4 Responses

  • sorry to add to the burden of motherhood...

    but I must point out that the leader of India's non-violent struggle against British colonialism was GANDHI, not GHANDI.On Are greens overlooking a key constituency? posted 4 years, 6 months ago 40 Responses

  • hmm, a vow of silence...

    Francis seems like a lovely guy. Why is it that only good-hearted lefties take vows of silence? Has no one suggested the power of this approach to, say, Tom DeLay? On John Francis, a 'planetwalker' who lived car-free and silent for 17 years, chats with Grist posted 4 years, 6 months ago 7 Responses

  • baby you can waste my gas

    I was late to work this morning because of a traffic jam created by collard greens. Or rather, by a terrible driver who upended his load of produce going over a bump, then chose to block both lanes of traffic while picking up his precious green cargo. My point is not that sensitive souls shouldn't move to Nairobi (though they shouldn't), but that the explosion of cars in the developing world does not, alas, necessarily imply an increase in competent drivers. Inept driving creates traffic jams, which lead to wasted fuel and avoidable air pollutant and GHG emissions. I bet driver's ed, along with the traffic calming measures someone mentioned earlier, could make a big difference in traffic flow and so in transport emissions.  

     On Now we know where it all went. posted 4 years, 6 months ago 6 Responses

  • a vroom of one's own

    While buying stuff used is generally a good idea, it's not true with cars. If you do a full life cycle analysis, you'll see that emissions from car use have a far greater environmental impact than the one-time materials used in manufacture. The single best thing you can do, if you must drive a car, is to own a fuel-efficient one. And, leaving the lunacy of SUVs aside, newer cars are more fuel-efficient than old ones.

    Also, what's wrong with the bourgeois sense of self-satisfaction that come from owning a hybrid car? It seems silly to say that one shouldn't use an environmentally friendly technology/product/service unless everyone can afford it. This would mean that none of us should use green cleaning products, recycled content paper, or even CFLs. How would it benefit the poor or the planet to forego these products? On Umbra on whether to eco-retrofit an old car posted 4 years, 6 months ago 12 Responses

  • Semi? He thought they said Demi

    So I can watch Punk'd again? Oh man, this is so great. Do you have anything that can make me feel better about TRL?On Semi? He thought they said Demi posted 4 years, 8 months ago 1 Response

  • Mad Max

    There's no question that rational urban design in India and China will be absolutely essential to manage GHG and air pollutant emissions in those countries and to prevent the loss of arable land and wilderness to roads and sprawl. Setting an example -- showing that efficient public transportation and compact, vertical urban design strategies are good enough for developed countries, too -- is sure to be more effective than just preaching that other countries follow a path we've abandoned.On Clark Williams-Derry posted 4 years, 8 months ago 2 Responses

  • What's the Arctic Refuge worth to you?

    I'd like to redirect the debate back to Dave's original point: what is ANWR worth to you? If we could, for example, make a structural change (such as the adoption of renewable energy portfolio standards by every state) along with a guarantee that the change couldn't be easily undone, would it be worthwhile to concede something that, while important, is a geographically bounded issue?

    I hate losing ANWR for all the obvious reasons...but I also hate losing it because I think it is an issue that a lot of hunters, fishers, and outdoors people can get passionate about. I'd like to think that outrage over drilling in ANWR might influence the outcome in 2008, but I don't think memories are that long. On What's the Arctic Refuge worth to you? posted 4 years, 8 months ago 13 Responses

  • the new economic powerhouse

    I am scared of penguin labor. Very, very scared.

    i will look up Hot Commodities, thanks for the suggestion.
    On The new economic powerhouse posted 4 years, 9 months ago 3 Responses

  • shrinkage

    Overpopulation and overconsumption are about human desires and the systems we build to satisfy those desires. I live and work in developing countries, and I simply don't find it helpful to fret about how overpopulated the planet is (or about how wasteful people are). I think it's far better to put that energy into concrete projects, like educating and empowering women (it's the best birth control tool at our disposal) and greening commerce so that it isn't inherently wasteful.

    The bottom line is that there are 6 billion of us on the planet now and, unless you want to be the one to cheer tsumanis and the like on, we have to find a way to accomodate people's needs and desires without razing too much more of the planet.On Shrinkage posted 4 years, 9 months ago 13 Responses

  • geo green

    The U.S. dependence on oil has many trouble geopolitical consequences; the American propping up of the House of Saud is but one. Right now, the U.S. is strengthening its support of Nigeria in order to have a secure, non-Middle East supply of oil. It's hard to imagine that life in the Niger Delta is going to be improved by this development. And, unless life in Nigeria gets better, you're going to keep getting emails from MRS. SANI ABACHA WHO NEEDS YOUR HELP URGENTLY IN DEPOSITING 10 MILLION DOLLARS

    I wouldn't want to promise geopolitical change, either. But everyone knows that oil is polluting and hey -- most people don't care. If linking oil dependence to instability to the Middle East is the way to build support for energy self-sufficiency, what exactly do we as environmentalists have to lose by going along with the hypothesis?On Go "Geo-Green" posted 4 years, 9 months ago 5 Responses

  • a modest proposal

    thank you dave! whenever anyone complains about the impacts of wind turbines, i just say: and you think burning COAL is pretty? there are no perfect energy options, and the drawbacks of wind energy can largely be addressed with intelligent design and conscientious site choices. but i still encourage people to throw their little bundle o' fleas into turbines -- aim high!On A modest proposal posted 4 years, 10 months ago 2 Responses

  • More windmill tilting from PETA

    Gotta stick up for Dave here...I'm a lifelong vegetarian, and even I don't think we must speak of PETA only in hushed tones of reverence and awe. I think there is a legitimate debate here about whether the enviro movement should be aligning with hunters/fisherfolk who are conservationists but not necessarily liberals, or with animal rights activists. Considering the spanking we got in the election, there's a case to be made that a focus on fish feelings (while delightfully alliterative) is not really the best way to make progress in Red America.

    These boards are going to be really dull if we have to walk on eggshells, not step on toes, and adhere to other cliches in order to protect the feelings of the thin-skinned.On More windmill tilting from PETA posted 5 years ago 7 Responses

  • palatable

    OK, just for Christine, I'm going to try to stop whining...

    I wonder if it might be possible to work with the new moral majority to get them to put pressure on the Bush administration to be more environmentally friendly? For instance, when drilling in ANWR comes up, how about if enviros work aggressively with churches to send disapproving messages to Congress and the White House?

    If good environmental stewardship is a Christian responsibility, maybe we need to start raising awareness of Bush's real environmental record with his natural constituency.

    Any thoughts on this?
    On Making environmentalism palatable to social conservatives posted 5 years ago 19 Responses

  • palatable

    Earlier this year, there was an article in the New York Times Magazine about how Howard Dean was successful in mobilizing people because those who volunteered for him not only liked the cause -- they liked each other. The social ease they had as a group enhanced the campaign, since Dean volunteers were more than happy to spend weeks on end organizing and hanging out. While Dean's campaign is now just an asterisk in the history books, I think the central argument in that article is relevant to this discussion. Many (not all, of course) enviros are reflexively liberal on social issues. I don't know that it's possible to make common cause with social conservative environmentalists (more divides us than unites us). Even if it were desirable, I just don't think that groups of people whose values are so different can work together for political change.

    And it's a mistake for the environmental movement to hop on the wagon of any group who might be able to get us to victory, especially if the cost is to alienate the core. On Making environmentalism palatable to social conservatives posted 5 years ago 19 Responses

  • Wince

    I was just waiting for the international media to dig up the HIV comments which had, until now, only been reported in the Kenyan papers.

    Wangari is interesting because she is an active politician as well as a Nobel winner. Unlike Nelson Mandela, another notable entry in that category, Wangari was far from revered in her own country when she won the Nobel. She is only an Assistant Minister, after all.

    It is hard to be a living saint and an active politician at the same time; this is paricularly true in the rough and tumble world of Kenyan politics, where making outrageous statements is a sure-fire way of getting a bit of attention for a day.

    Wangari made that comment when speaking to her rural constituency, and I'm sure the anti-Western sentiment was a big hit. When speaking to a Western audience, I'm equally sure her tone, message, and goals are completely different.

    It will be interesting (and possibly painful -- prefer to wince more) to see how she plays to local audiences now that the international spotlight is shining on her so brightly.On Wince posted 5 years, 1 month ago 1 Response