Comments Mmimika has made

Jason & Canis

Jason,

Well, I agree that the Jewish definition of sin (missing the mark) better applies to recycling than, say, a Catholic definition of sin (separation from god). Neither is patently absurd though - here I think you are confusing your personal beliefs with what the word sin means in common parlance. Roughly speaking, both religions use the word to refer to a body of knowledge about a range of choices, large and small.

Canis, nice to see you! Not smarter, I just speak in code from time to time. Had no clue that Aristotle talked about hamartia, intalesting. On We've all got planks in our eyes posted 2 years, 7 months ago 60 Responses

At least once a day at work

I make a double espresso. Each shot comes in its own packet that gets inserted into the machine. While the shots are brewing, I prepare three creamers, each teaspoon of cream also coming in its own little packet.

Sometimes, working late, I also throw in two packets of Swiss Miss Rich Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix with marshmellows.

Sometimes I use a styrofoam cup instead of my coffee mug.
On We've all got planks in our eyes posted 2 years, 7 months ago 60 Responses

I believe in sin.

My green thinking has everything to do with my spirituality. I want to stop polluting the environment because I think it is morally wrong. It makes me feel guilty, it is a sin.

I wouldn't ask that you take on my beliefs, but why do you feel the need to call my world view infantile?

I'm really regretting that I skipped the interfaith panel at Agnes Scott last night on 'Is the Land Ours: biblical perspectives on man's relationship to the environment.' I'm sure I would have been able to write a better post on why I feel this approach is neither short-term, nor infantile. On We've all got planks in our eyes posted 2 years, 7 months ago 60 Responses

PBrazelton

To give credit where credit is due - Jabailo is moderating his comments. He is a semi-professional troll, after all.  

You should see what he says on the Linux forums... he's been trumpeting the wonders of Microsoft in 2003. What a hoot... isn't that a funny way to while away 4 years of your life!

Personally, I think we should all be grateful to Jabailo for being so moderate, given that we don't have killfiles on Grist. On Multimedia series honored in 'explanatory reporting' category posted 2 years, 7 months ago 7 Responses

bioD

Quick and messy observations on famine:

"the best strategy to avoid occasional famine is to have diverse and distant trading partners who can take up the slack when food crops fail from weather, pestilence, or whatever reason, or so claims Jared Diamond in Collapse."

People in the midst of crop failure are deathly poor and can't buy food from their trading partners. that point, you've got a political problem, (E.P. Thompson, the Moral Economy) - and you're at the mercy of your overlords and whether or not they give a damn if you live or die. So, crop failures which occurred in England and did not result in famine, (because the rabble successfully secured rationing and price controls) but similar crop failures which occurred in India and Ireland, did result in famine, either because the people didn't have the political traditions of resistance in time of famine, OR because the English didn't care whether folks lived or died.

Never read Diamond's collapse, famine knowledge comes from developmental econ and economic history.

Based on that, and IMHO, part of why famine happens today is because of the way US Aid is managed - as a bilateral tool to achieve policy ends. US Aid floods third world food markets with cheap or free grain, which of course kills local production which can't compete. The country decides that the US, their trading partner, is their backup in case of famine. Then, the US decides that for political reasons that that food is needed elsewhere, for example in the Great Russian Grain Robbery of 1972. All of a sudden, the supply of grain disappears.

Famine creation famine number 2 - US agricultural methods, involving high yield, but high risk methods (monocrops which demand expensive fertilizers, pesticides, and mechanical inputs) replace traditional methods, which are lower yield and lower risk (more famine-proof because they are bio-diverse mixed plantings, suited to the climate and soil, and don't create a haven for pests.) This, combined with - OK, undiversified trading partners, I'll give you that - but thats really shorthand for talking about US AID which creates that situation - and a lack of local emergency grain stores - creates the backdrop for famine to occur.

The best way to avoid famine is to be self sustaining, agriculturally. Use low-yield, low-risk methods. Maintain local silos in case of famine - don't rely on the US needing to do your country a political favor in the exact year you have a famine. And, when all else fails, make sure that the overlords give a damn whether you live or die.  Not willing to claim I know for sure how to achieve the last.  
On Quit talking about it already posted 2 years, 7 months ago 92 Responses

you're right, we're on the same side.

I'm all for cutting down on non-essential flight, and for making flight more environmentally sound.

The global food market thing, you were being facetious, right? On Something that destructive outside SHOULD be unpleasant inside posted 2 years, 7 months ago 22 Responses

now thats just rude.

Maybe you think seeing family is 'frivolous' - in which case, my condolences to your mother.

My parents live halfway across the world from each other. RT, its 40 hours in the air to get to Samoa. I'd love to find out a way to make that journey without destroying the earth and condemning millions  of people - which includes 170,000 Samoans I happen to actually care about - to misery and suffering.

Care to re-approach the problem of carbon emissions from planes with a more positive attitude? On Something that destructive outside SHOULD be unpleasant inside posted 2 years, 7 months ago 22 Responses

oh jeez,

it is Friday the 13th. Scary.

Thats a bummer Sam, theres nothing worse than feeling like your contributions are being valued on something other than merit.

Re: the democracy thing, I'm in the social sciences so this discussion has 'political science' written all over it. I don't especially mind grumpy though, I'm scrappy.

As for the topic at hand: I think the probability and stats underlying hypothesis testing and all that are actually very difficult to explain, because they are completely abstract.

Probably the best that I've heard is that Rumsfeld quote... "theres the things we know, the things we know we don't know, and the things we don't know we don't know." And he got hammered for speaking jibberish.

But I suppose we'll figure it out someday. Have a good weekend,

- MmiOn The public doesn't really need all that much science posted 2 years, 7 months ago 11 Responses

political limitations...

are harder to estimate, but I would dare say that they seem to intrude before the food, water, or land run out.

Pandu: must you describe in detail your sex life? If we start discussing grey water, will you demand that we consider the fact that one time after eating lasagna you took a big poo and had to break it up with a stick before it would flush? Sweet Baby Jesus. I know it was Wiscidea who decided to ask the crazy guy a series of open-ended questions about gender relations and reproduction, but for gods sake, crazy guy! Have some dignity, keep it to yourself!
On Quit talking about it already posted 2 years, 7 months ago 92 Responses

hmmm...

What was that scene in Cat's Cradle?

Secretary: "I take dictation from Dr. Horvath and it's just like a foreign language. I don't think I'd understand it--even if I was to go to college."

Scientist: "If there's something you don't understand, ask Dr. Horvath to explain it. He's very good at explaining. Dr. Hoenikker used to say that any scientist who couldn't explain to an eight-year-old what he was doing was a charlatan."

Secretary: ``Then I'm dumber than an eight-year old. I don't even know what a charlatan is!''

In a way, this is a debate between democracy and republicanism.

But given that we have a representative democracy, and thats not likely to change, then I say that what we've been seeing for the past few years is a failure on the part of politicians, and  possibly - the American educational system overall, not of scientists.

I think that scientists have a special responsibility as citizens to voice their opinions in policy matters to elected representatives. I think every computer scientist in Alaska should have been on the phone to their Senator the day after he attempted to explain net neutrality by announcing that "the internet is a series of tubes."

But I think that its the politicians who then have the responsibility to translate the esoterica into policy and then present it to the public. They've just been doing a really bad job lately. Its kind of sad. On The public doesn't really need all that much science posted 2 years, 7 months ago 11 Responses

nice.

Thanks.

I think the anti-communist fear of environmentalism is, at least in my neck of the woods, (Georgia) a quite sincerely held fear.
On Another conservative attack on motives posted 2 years, 7 months ago 8 Responses

feeding time...

Thank you so much for pointing out to Rod that he should not use profanity. The English language is, indeed, magnificent in its range, depth, tone, and diversity. As for your other comments, I certainly concur that in a textual environment such as this one, satire can be a terribly disruptive tool.  

I would like to proffer one edit to your post: please do not think I am nitpicking, I offer this correction most humbly, as I only found out today that I have been misspelling Caniscandida's name for some time now. I am sure you meant to say, "He has me about ready to scream." - our dear friend Caniscandida is a man, not a woman.On David James Duncan posted 2 years, 7 months ago 24 Responses

blueberry

>and so, here's a woman with some knowledge of birth control and a birth control device, but she's still got every reason in the world to have lots of babies, so she's going to.

This is going to sound cold, but without economic development, mortality rates keep population growth down. So birth control is a bad idea and would result in population decline.

>>the efforts I've seen/heard of so far in developing countries have been a stab at informing women and handing them condoms and then ignoring the vast physical and social capital differences that exist in the country to begin with.

Well, theres lots of stupid NGOs out there, and this GWB faith-based funding hasn't helped. I'll agree with you on that and even share some funny stories over a beer. But other than that, what are you going to do except try harder next time.

>>I'm uncomfortable with projecting our beliefs and values onto others' worlds.

Despite my western education, I am from the third world, and have lived other third world countries growing up, and I agree with you - you can't take western feminism and institute it wholesale in, say, Afghanistan. Its wrong, and it backfires in so many different ways.

>>If we say "empower the women and we'll get X result," then we are choosing a course for that culture to reach an end (population stability) that is probably worthwhile, but which may be attained in other ways.

But I think the idea of "empowering" third world women takes your concern into account. The theory instructs public health workers and policy makers not to choose a course for another culture, but to give individuals the tools to make their own choice - which may be to have 8 babies, or not. Research says that, given the chance, most women choose... sustainably.

As for other ways - if you have ideas, then shoot! I am just trying to summarize what I think is the latest consensus on this issue. But science moves forward, so feel free to start a new chapter!

>>Our culture... has population stability but not sustainability.

I disagree - the issue is probably how we define sustainable. In terms of social and economic development, the first world has had admirably sustainable growth. I agree that we've done poorly on the environment, but (in my view) not in a way that breaks the model.

I was actually asking Stephanie Obburn in a post about this - we were discussing organic coffee and the relationship between organic and free-trade farming practices in the third world. I'm still educating myself about that part... but maybe she can speak more about it.

Cheers!

- mimiOn Quit talking about it already posted 2 years, 7 months ago 92 Responses

blueberry

OK, my sketchy history of why womens empowerment matters:

In order for women to electively lower fertility rates, they must have a technological means for doing so. They can't just wish they had fewer children - they have to be capable of controlling how many kids they have. That means access to information and birth control: which is what we mean when we say empowerment.

Then comes the why: which you describe as:

# Reduced risk of childhood death (higher rate of survival),
# Reduced need for a workforce within the family,
# Reduced emphasis on the extended family, increased mobility, and so less support for the child-raising duties.

These three - to me - are part of sustainable development. With increased wealth comes better healthcare and lower infant death rates. Economic growth usually involves a switch from agricultural labor to factory or office work, in which the  family based economy is replaced by into waged labor, women enter the workplace, and children go into school to prepare for the work world.

You can see how both the motive to have fewer childrethink that sustainable development is key, not womens empowerment. Well, heres where I think the historical record is instructive. In the 18th and 19th centuries, we had the industrial revolution: economic development without womens empowerment. Women started working in factories, children started moving into schools, the family based economy dissolved, but population skyrocketed. It was only with the womens movement in the 20th century that population growth slowed in the industrialized world. On Quit talking about it already posted 2 years, 7 months ago 92 Responses

caniscandida

Sorry. Not intentional. Caniscandida. Canis. Candida. Got it. Do you have a preferred nickname?  

Genet the playwright, who delighted in thieves and liars and scallywags and - one would assume - today's internet scamps who enter an online space seeking to reveal it as a theatre de l'absurd, undermining the socially constructed basis of conversation by posting specious arguments, spouting jibberish, inventing facts, changing their name, making inflammatory claims, pretending to be functionally autistic, etc. etc.

I am not entirely sure what the point of mentioning the WaPo article was either. I was just musing that, if one is going to have ones public space taken over, by a troll or otherwise, ideally it would be by as handsome and accomplished a distraction as Joshua Bell. Whether he might have made more money or had a bigger audience I think is beside the point - given the news coverage of the event, and the number of times the video has been watched, seems silly to complain that nobody stopped to listen.  

I really must apologize, I have gone completely meta. I will endeavor to speak only about chickens and starfish from now on.On Organic coffee deep-sixed posted 2 years, 7 months ago 40 Responses

NYTimes

Ron,

When we finally cancelled our subscription, about three years ago, we mentioned our displeasure with both the articles and the advertisements. I think the lady in subscriptions was rather taken aback. The Atlantic Monthly of course has a right to run such articles and ads; but darned if I'm going to pay to have them take up room in my magazine rack.

Sadly, the lady in subscriptions was not surprised when I mentioned neocons, "balance", and Judy Miller in cancelling my NYTimes subscription.

I subscribe to Harpers now, for their pure, unadulterated refusal to adopt fair and balanced. I already live in Georgia, and get the opposing viewpoint without  mulching trees, and for free.
On In which Knut gets even cuter posted 2 years, 7 months ago 8 Responses

sea-level rise of up to 7 m and about 5 m,

scariest words I've heard.

I wish we could take, "the complete melting of the Greenland ice sheet and the West Antarctic ice sheet ," off the table.

Simple question: what needs to happen to keep that water frozen? On Summarizin' posted 2 years, 7 months ago 5 Responses

Candis

Never saw the movie. Please forgive me for thinking it looks like orientalist tiki kitsch. Real hurricanes, I'm not too worried. We're pretty much a country full of eagle scouts... know how to predict a storm, throw up a new fale, pickle the taro so theres no famine after all the crops get destroyed, etc. I'd rather the next 120 yrs in Samoa than in, say, Miami.

hmmm. Survivalism, millenarian anxiety about impending apocalypse, why does this remind me of BM07? I wonder, is Grist sending a team to black rock city in Sept for Greening Man? Try out some of these solar planes and battery powered bicycles on the unwashed, not-so-sober masses? Maybe pick up some tips and tricks from the other gear-heads the west coast has to offer?On Somehow, I don't feel that bad for you posted 2 years, 7 months ago 39 Responses

Geronimo..

Your profile compares a factory farm to a concentration camp.

A rather provocative statement. Are you here to get a reaction from people? On Organic coffee deep-sixed posted 2 years, 7 months ago 40 Responses

I think you guys should be nicer to Jabailo.

His ex-wife ran off with an environmentalist, the poor guy.

Leave him alone! On The innerworkings of it all posted 2 years, 7 months ago 69 Responses

I deeply apologize for that bad smell.

EEK, I was too clever by half.

I meant Baudelaire's flaneur as a figure of god-is-dead modernity: shallowness incarnate, indifference to the point of solipsism.

I didn't think of 'the flaneur' as queer in this example. But I can totally see how that reading can be made, and how, by pitting a figure coded  gay against the figure of established religion, I left myself open to be misinterpreted as an insult by my allies, and as encouragement by homophobes. I hope you can forgive - it was a mistake, and that reading is not representative of my politics, or my personal beliefs.

Theres a common confusion - very common where I live, of homosexuality and modernity. People conflate the two and think that if they ban gay marriage, they won't have to deal with modernity.  

I strongly sympathize with the fear of modernity, and that makes me in some ways traditional. But I've never confused modernity with being gay. I do not endorse homophobia, its smell, or other attributes. On Crafting a culture of change posted 2 years, 7 months ago 26 Responses

dietary restrictions

I am going to make another associative leap: this is exactly what Kosher/Halal/Sakahara/Buddhist Vegetarians are all about.

• Ethical treatment of animals, even when you kill them.
  
• Restraint in consumption and control over ones appetites.
  
• Creation of a culture and a community through dietary restrictions.

They often don't get that religious dietary restrictions are about more than trichonosis. They give you moral precepts with which to govern essential relationships: with your own appetites, food producers, food products, and the community you eat with.  On Crafting a culture of change posted 2 years, 7 months ago 26 Responses

Naw, just ain't no schools in East Kent Hill, WA

Some people have actually been to Fiji and know about the controversy surrounding the Fiji Pine Company.On As expected, the news is mostly bad, and then worse, and then worse still posted 2 years, 7 months ago 23 Responses

ugh...

if you listen to some activists out there hammering away at untrustworthy imported organics, this may have been the result. This is just speculation on my part, however.

I just feel like Free Trade goes hand-in-hand with Organics. Its a healthy, self-sustaining system-dynamic that you can't legislate or certify into existence. I would even say that Fair Trade goes hand in hand with conservation efforts. Less close of a link, but still.

Neither national political party has been on the right side of access to markets issue, its irritating to think that organic activists might be more interested in red tape than in creating the incentives needed for healthy communities to emerge. Or maybe its hard to tell the difference from here, an even sadder thought.

Thanks for the correction about the NOSB/NOP thing. I was doing internet research, trying to spot the crony! Guess the whole citizen journalism thing is harder than it looks, huh.

Can't wait to hear what Starbuck's has to say. You're calling them, right? Just tell them it's Katrina Heinze's office, they'll put you right through... ; DOn Organic coffee deep-sixed posted 2 years, 7 months ago 40 Responses

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly..

As a developmental economics issue, thats just absolutely criminal. Textbook definition of 'regulatory burden.'

Wouldn't be surprised, with this administration if it turned out to be a textbook definition of 'regulatory capture' too. This will surely benefit large plantation growers, as small farms go bankrupt because they have been legislated out of the market.

And increased size of large plantations leads to increased crop sizes which leads to mechanized crop planting and harvesting which leads to deteriorating current account balance as countries import expensive machinery (not to mention luxury items for the rich plantation owners to buy with all their money) just to prop up exports of cheap coffee. Large plantations and large crop sizes also lead to landless seasonal workers who are only needed during harvest times and are unemployed the rest of the year, which leads to increased income disparity in countries like Brazil that don't need it because when the extremely rich plantation owners get extremely richer and are surrounded by much poorer and poorer unemployed, well at a certain point the rich are so powerful and the poor are so powerless that it undermines Democracy and can even lead to Terrorism.

Thats what happens when you take the fair trade out of organic. You starve Democracy and feed Terrorism.

Oh who am I to talk, I buy Cafe Bustelo half the time anyways. But still. Thats terrible, I am very sad to hear that and I think it stinks to high heaven of someone corrupt somewhere making a deal. On Organic coffee deep-sixed posted 2 years, 8 months ago 40 Responses

flushable...

"flushable does NOT mean green.  In fact, it probably means the opposite.  Sewage treatment is very energy intensive, and stuff like this just adds to the load."

Fair Point. Heres how they answered the flushable question (entire interview with gdiapers here)

Q:I'm excited to see that gDiapers has received Cradle to Cradle design certification from MBDC, but I'm wondering if this award has taken the water and energy usage of sewage treatment into consideration. Does the environmental success of these diapers also require innovations such as low-flow toilets and a renewable energy source at the treatment plant?    -- Sara Marks, Aspen, Colo.

A: The MBDC certification assures that all the materials used in the flushable refill have been evaluated against 19 human- and environmental-health criteria and can be fully recycled without risk to ecosystems or human health. The environmental success of the product does not require low-flow toilets or renewable energy sources at the treatment plant, but both would make it even better. On Dare this mom to change her life posted 2 years, 8 months ago 36 Responses

cheers!

Thank you DR, and thank you for hosting one of the most informed and civil places on the internet that I've ever seen.

Atlanta has quite a car/sprawl culture going, but there are pockets of decent green experimentation going on. Emory and GA Tech have some remarkable alternative transportation programs - I'd love to see their data. Hopefully someone will do a write-up after the pilots go through - could be good test cases for greening the South. On Ten things posted 2 years, 8 months ago 16 Responses

double entendres

Tee hee, Candis, just ask the French about the cost of Samoan meat-eating practice ; D

Another nicer way to test for bad fish is supposedly flies do not land on them if they are bad. But when in doubt, here pussy pussy pussy!

(just teasing... )

On another forum for Polynesians we are sharing stories... one of Haipuka, The Brother Who Lived Among the Coral.

In the story, Haipuku is like that quote, "Of his bones are coral made/ Those are pearls that were his eyes/ Nothing of him that doth fade/ But doth suffer a sea-change/ Into something rich and strange." And then he gets civilized by his sister who washes off the coral with hot water and goes on to avenge the family... blah blah blah.

So many of our morals and aphorisms and speeches are based on these animals in the reef. Young men are like crabs without a bucket: directionless, undisciplined, tasty... that kind of thing.

Some best memories of Samoa is when I was a kid and the reef was still colorful and alive. Some of my best memories are still, sitting around on the shore just eating stuff (there is still crabs and sea cucumbers and octopus if you can catch it!) and floating and chatting.

I don't know you could give a speech in the fono (congress) if every other aphorism was about an extinct thing.. how we would raise a generation of well-bred Samoan kids who has never seen, or eaten, crabs and palolo worms.

Makes a teine mad enough to reconsider her meat-eating practice if you know what I mean. On This one will hit harder in the global south posted 2 years, 8 months ago 9 Responses

You forgot to mention...

...that it makes you very fat. Especially if you are Samoan.

But that said, I always thought of sprawl as something people do to maintain social difference.

I mean, isn't that the whole idea, people deciding that they don't want to be in a community with such-and-such other people, they don't want to see those people or be neighbors with those people or sit next to those people on the bus and they definitely don't want those people's kids to go to school with their kids.

So they withdraw their tax base out to the suburbs and make it as difficult and expensive for such-and-such people to get in.

I think half the things on that list would be considered pluses by the sprawl people. And the other half, along with the real estate market and the price of gas, just puts a limit on how much social difference they can afford. A bright red, shameful, humiliating limit, which chafes at their upper-middle-class aspirations. On Ten things posted 2 years, 8 months ago 16 Responses

yikes...

"But I would like her to relax her sense that Southern Christians are more truly Christian than us Northern Christians, and are more motivated by their Christian values than we are by ours.  Aside from that being offensive, it is untrue."

Candis, thank you for being so sweet, and I very much enjoyed your Easter tale. I want to say strongly that I do NOT think that people in the south are more Christian than people in the north. I don't know what that would mean - I'm not in a position to judge that sort of thing, or even argue one side or the other. It'd be like arguing that the Whigs were more Christian than the Tories. They are just different types of Christian, and the relationship between politics and religion was different for the Tories than it was for the Whigs.
    What I am trying to say is that if you working on an issue or a campaign in the South, (and I have worked on several - Kerry 04 in Tallahassee, against Ralph Reed for Lt. Governor in 06, and several minor local races) I'd evaluate any religious-coded rhetoric for its political valance, because your audience will. If you are selling a candidate or issue which is somehow connected to negative religious rhetoric, like communism, or abortion, or mormonism, or what have you, you're going to have to think about how to deal with that issue.

"Has it occurred to anybody that the establishment of a solid, utterly secular, religiously neutral polity could be a matter of great value to Christians and Jews"

Hmm. I've seen Christian-Jewish political conferences take place, but they tend to be about Israel, or about anti-Semitism and they address the theological issues that underpin various forms of Zionism and anti-Semitism. I'd say they are religio-political, rather than secular. And, there are structures with political capital in GA that are secular: Homeowners associations, neighborhood committees, parent-teacher associations, can be very politically powerful here. Although they can't lock up votes the way they do in some Northern cities, I've definitely left political campaigns of candidates whom I like very much because they failed to secure the support of either in city-wide elections. Newspapers carry a lot of weight in primary voting, as do specific advocacy groups. But no one can take on the Church in this region by using uncautious rhetoric.

"And I would also ask her to re-examine her interpretation of Barack Obama's speech at the 2004 DNC.  Not that my own interpretation is authoritative, but I certainly do not hear him saying that we should cave in to exclusivist Southern religious sensibilities."
I don't know much about Obama, I am still learning about him. I'd have to look at that speech again to respond. But it seems to me that part of his appeal is that he can be an idealist and Hillary, McCain, and Guiliani, and the rest in a bare-knuckled political brawl.

I agree with your general point - I don't think that we should cave into exclusivist Southern sensibilities. What I'm saying is, given that general principle, don't inadvertently trigger them because you are unaware of the regional political discourse. Idealism exists in the south. Community exists in the South. Forgiveness, respect, charity, democracy, love, exist in the South. They just go by different names.

Theres a lot less room for error down here than in more democratic cities. In the absence of great leaders who can work magic, you choose between worse and worst. You can't advance the cause for flu vaccinations for illegal immigrants, and keep RU486 in ER room rape kits, and have needle exchanges, and get intelligent design out of science class, and pass a gay marriage amendment (for, not against) and increase the budget for public transport. Each one runs against the tide, loses you net votes, and we're already in the minority. And the opposition is very conservative, and they do not pull any punches, its borderline-unconstitutional hardball, all the way. The first thing Karl Rove did when the GOP took the state was put in place new Voter ID restrictions that will shrink the ability of the black community to get to the polls. In your home state, I don't know what political issues you're debating in other states alongside global warming. Here its still Jim Crow.

I don't know that progressives in Georgia pander to prejudice so much as we're getting our asses kicked by prejudice. Pick an issue and talk to me about how we shouldn't have to compromise or pander to certain sensibilities, and I'll tell you a horror story about whats going on in the state because we didn't. My solution has been to pick my battles, acknowledge that the level of debate is where it is and go from there, build big-tent coalitions around specific issues, look for wedge issues that will hurt the opposition, and first and foremost, use language people understand. On It's the society, stupid posted 2 years, 8 months ago 12 Responses

and you wonder why...

the Christian Broadcast Network suspects the environmental movement of being a front for pinky-red-communist-nogoodniks.

"This is because a further piece of social-science research suggests that collectivist, social-welfare societies are a better incubator of pro-environmental behaviour than individualist ones where welfare is looked on with suspicion."

AHGERKGKN!!!! Shhhhhhh!!!!

Just a few days ago, there was a post of an article from the Christian Broadcast Network claiming that environmentalism was a front for communism in the US - and everyone here thought that just showed how insane the right was, to conflate communism with environmentalism.

Now that Dobson has made the connection so clear, will people back off their statements? Because it looks like CBN was right! Environmentalism and anti-market forces go hand in hand!!!

I find it highly ironic that Dobson casts this as some kind of "political" solution to the problem.  This may be a fruitful theoretical framework for research. He may in fact be factually, 100% correct. But to spout off like a book-knowledge liberal northerners that "research proves that the invisible hand encourages man to selfishly kill mother nature..." - and claim to be looking for a 'political' mechanism to get folks involved and reducing emissions...

Please. These kinds of phrases are political DISASTER here in Georgia and anywhere else on my latitude. I promise you, 30-48% of this country will have NOTHING to do with environmentalism if its associated with 'collectivism' or social 'welfare'.

If Dobson is right, and a politics which emphasizes community, not self-interest, is needed, there is only one institution you can tap into, one set of rhetorical tools that you can go to in the American South. I'll give you a hint: it has a steeple.

Sorry guys. But like the good ex-Defense Secretary said, you go to war with the army you have, not the one you wish you had. On It's the society, stupid posted 2 years, 8 months ago 12 Responses

Crumbelievable...

speaking of animal-welfare, you've got to see Karl "MC" Rove rap about his favorite hobby at last nights Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner. With Tony Snow as his fly girl.

Oh, America. On Cage-free Croissan'wich, anyone? posted 2 years, 8 months ago 1 Response

relationship management...

ok we're feeling frustrated because we solve -a- problem and then voila! we find a new problem with the solution thats unanticipated because it was outside the scope of the original problem. In this case, no one was thinking about mercury pollution when they named wasted energy in standard lightbulbs. It wasn't in the scope.

A lot of this discussion is about parsing how we conceptualize 'solutions' - should we aim for silver bullets, deux ex machinas, or are partial solutions acceptable.

"Relationship" is a way to rephrase the 'problem' instead of the 'solution'. A relationship, (as opposed to a problem) is not static. It can be improved or worsened, has a time dimension and incorporates the idea that one is dealing with a dynamic, responsive system.

An attempt to improve our "relationship" with artificial light and it plays in our lives, would lead to different approaches than the original formulation of the problem. Namely, any approach to manage this relationship they will take into account the possibility of feedback, blowback, or using trial-and-error as an effort to improve upon the current approach. Something GW did not do when he defined 'Saddam Hussein and WMD' as the problem.'
On Unintended consequences? posted 2 years, 8 months ago 46 Responses

context

I don't see anything mutually exclusive about these conservationist and resourcist pathways. They pretty comfortably coexist in my head. So I wonder if we're looking at a social rift rather one intrinsic to the 2 ideas. Perhaps instead of its an agriculture-industry split?

Perhaps rural folks, surrounded by nature which they use for farming, hunting and fishing, grow up in an instrumental context with nature.

Folks from industrial urban areas, growing up in built environments and earning a living on service and manufacture, grow up relating to nature for itself, having no 'need' for nature, and seeing it only in zoos, gardens, acquariums and parks, fauna in zoos.

If its true, you'll see regional splits between the two ideologies. And for the future of environmentalism, it would be important that each appreciates the other as a source, or rhetoric, or expression of environmentalism, rather than a competing strategy. On Earth Firster urges a return to conservationism posted 2 years, 8 months ago 42 Responses

a company is not a monolith

>>Sooner or later, Massey and company will get hurt by this

Sometimes the captain has absolutely no intention of going down with the ship. On More on coal in West Virginia posted 2 years, 8 months ago 8 Responses

you should be so lucky...

>>What will residents of SF do for picking up after dogs? Go out and buy plastic bags?

lol - you should be so lucky. No, the poo will now be collected in biodegradable waste carts for kilowatt harvesting.

POWERED BY POOCHES
Rather than let pet dung go to waste, experts explore its energy potentialOn San Francisco ... posted 2 years, 8 months ago 5 Responses

adaptations, selective pressure

Very interesting argument re: GM potato that allows farming techniques which are less harmful to the environment.

 My 2 cents though this is way outside my field. I wonder whether a comparison between crop blight and Malaria resistant mozzies is useful or not.
 In both areas, there is a concern that nature will take an end run around the technology through adaptation. But the selective environments of a fungus and a monocrop... as opposed to a multi-host parasite... are very different.
  Selective pressure dictates that most parasites do not kill their hosts before they can reproduce, and eventually, that they evolve into symbiotes.  Except... when humans are not the primary host, as in bubonic plague, malaria, toxoplasmosis, etc... there is less or no selective pressure on the parasite to keep the human alive because the parasites reproductive environment is actually a flea/mosquito/cat.
    I feel like the wrong way to approach malaria is to try and exterminate it - the selective pressure is still for malaria to find a way around the exterminator, be it an immune system, a drug, a mosquito net, what have you. And the probabilities are all wrong. In the millions of the mosquito-malaria match-ups that occur, there will be a few mutations in the malaria or the mosquito that result in survival, and then ... those mutations will spread.
    The right way to approach malaria is to create selective pressure in the host animal so that the only strains of malaria that survive are not as deadly to human beings - in effect, creating a selective environment that duplicates that of a parasite-host, rather than a parasite-host-incidentalhost. On But the Franken-mozzies will still bite ... and their eyes glow red in the dark! posted 2 years, 8 months ago 56 Responses

Oh dear

I do believe Dr. X's prose-poetry has broken the political classificometer in my brain.

Now I'll never figure out where any of this stuff belongs.
On 'Supporting global warming initiatives is tantamount to endorsing communism and the one world order' posted 2 years, 8 months ago 27 Responses

tha dirrrrrty south

>>it is we who are making serious efforts to be "universalist," it seems to me, while the conservative, Bible-reading Christians are the ones being exclusivist, exasperatingly fastidious and Pharisaical.

Well, yes. They are explicitly not universalists - forgiveness is conditional in these communities. It is irritating... but it is the religion they have chosen. As far as political coalitions go, the question is - well, purity vs. efficacy.

re: Rev. Lowry and Jay Bakker -- they're just two notables in the Southern Christian community who are somewhere along the spectrum towards Progressivism. Reverend Lowry is Methodist and founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr. Jay Bakker is the son of TV evangelists Tammy Fay and Jim Bakker and has made herculean efforts to dialogue outside his traditional circle. He used to preach at a fetish club down the street from me, and can now be found at a club on Lorimer St. in Williamsburg. I have little in common with either theologically, and neither is progressive on Choice, LGBT, womens rights. But they carry weight in their communities, and would be worth talking to on environmental issues.

>>"pandering," by the way, is not a word that I used...
Yes.. I rely too heavily on association in my thinking - sometimes its useful, but slippage is my worst fault.

>>On texts that I teach: the Bible; ancient Near Eastern literature, especially the Epic of Gilgamesh,
Wow. I really picked the wrong person to mouth off in front of about the meaning of the flood, huh... lol. Oh, typical me... On Why are environmental activists so clueless at marketing climate change solutions? posted 2 years, 8 months ago 36 Responses

pandering to bigots...

Hmm. I saw DR's post. And my reaction to the Christian Public Relations is totally different. I see that even fringe cultural conservatives  believe its important for a Christian to have zeal for stewardship (unlike, say, Exxon, whom we have no culture war against). But theres a caveat - they absolutely hate communists. To me that says that theres room for a working coalition around environmentalism (and nothing else) with these people.

"it is not my vocation to talk to people who are resolved to be ignorant, self-righteous, bigoted and condemnatory."

Pandering to bigots is not my cup of tea either. But thats not what I propose. I'm just seeing a mismatch in rhetoric. BioDiversivist articulates, in scientific language, a sort of chaos theory of the world we live in - irreducibly complex. Consequently, his policy advice is (at minimum) to maintain the biological status quo instead of attempting to take the reins and control the system ourself, which we are structurally incapable of doing.

I see this exact same concern and set of relationships described between man, the natural world, and the appropriate policies to pursue, articulated by Southern Christians, in religious/philosophical rather than scientific language. Some of them are irredeemable self-righteous bigots. Most are not - the South is home to the Reverend Lowry and Jay Bakker, not just Ralph Reed.

These two philosophies share a lot in common. Their object relations are structurally identical.  There is a lot of room for disagreement - obviously Biodiversivist holds views about evolution whcih Jay Bakker most likely would not.

But is articulating genuine and heartfelt similarities between the two worldviews, in the hopes of joining forces, really pandering to bigots? I don't think so.

As for the religious stuff, suffice to say that your words would be horribly offensive to many an evangelical. Textuality can be very threatening to someone who prays every day so they can hold their life together. And although the literary theory underpins vast theological differences, at heart I'm a universalist. Its not my place to teach them how to read, or tell them that they are in terrific error, and I just find it unnecessary to split with my neighbor when we otherwise have things in common.

I am curious - what sort of texts do you teach? On Why are environmental activists so clueless at marketing climate change solutions? posted 2 years, 8 months ago 36 Responses

Noah wasn't a cultural conservative...

Didn't you read the part about the big, fruity rainbow? Never mind his hedonistic drinking habit... and the indecent exposure... Jeez! Maybe someone should add Genesis to Grist's recommended book list...

Kidding. I'm just saying, You can claim the story of the flood as a cultural touchstone without being in bed with the Georgia Cobb County Charismatic Anti-Evolution Book Burning Brigade.
Everyone, left right and center, has heard of Noah and the Ark, and the moral/philosophical overtones are right. As opposed to "biodiversity", which has an ambiguous and poorly distributed cultural resonances. Quite simply, its bad framing.

Al Gore does it all the time. Nothing to do with his stance on gender politics, just being a good communicator.

PS - naw, actually serious. Someone should add the Book of Genesis to Grist's recommended reading list. On Why are environmental activists so clueless at marketing climate change solutions? posted 2 years, 8 months ago 36 Responses

Rune, I think most Americans ...

...don't have the antipathy towards markets that you do.

You're attacking carbon offsets because they're... market based? And Al Gore for being... a capitalist who puts his money where is mouth is? Are you an environmentalist or an economic activist?

Most Americans are capitalists - so I think a "market solution" is a good thing. I just have the feeling that if you had a carbon rationing... or  carbon welfare checks...  most Americans would dislike the policy for purely ideological reasons. And then where would the environment be?  
On Gore gets a warm welcome on Capitol Hill, and a few heated exchanges posted 2 years, 8 months ago 20 Responses

totally...

Watching the hearing, Inhofe's questions seemed so ridiculous as attempts to actually get information from Gore.

But Inhofe was not acting in the information-gathering arena. Inhofe and Fox News had already written their news stories for the following week. Inhofe was simply providing backfill - making sure the talking points actually occured - so that the political gesture could occur the following day.

I think Gore has been remarkably good on the 'political battle' - because he's found a way to shift the terrain from Fox News back onto discussions of science, partially by being polite and disarming, but mostly by being so darn accurate.

In a way, a lot of this feels like a technical communication problem. As long as the scientific results remained practically obscure to Americans at large, political outcomes happened regardless of facts.

Gore disseminated the science, communicated it, made it accessible. He put it into powerpoint. And now the conclusions of science exist in the political arena and have political existence of their own.On Time to quit pretending otherwise posted 2 years, 8 months ago 6 Responses

on Buying Locally...

maybe the problem is in the transportation method, and not with transportation in and of itself.

What I'm saying is that Buy Locally is an economic argument outside of being an environmental concern. As a progressive, its nice to buy locally because I reduce income disparity AND pollution in one fell swoop.

But not all environmentalists are economic progressives. In taking this path, are we possibly making more enemies that could be allies? Exxon will never approve of reducing carbon emissions. Walmart might - unless we insist on linking reducing emissions to a progressive economic policy to 'buy local'. In which case we've made an enemy of most of globalized capital/ marketing/ shipping - along with, as we can see in this article, developing nations attempting to improve their current accounts balance.

What if instead we worked to make all 18-wheelers and cargo ships carbon neutral? Give 'em solar panels or something, I'm sure theres a technical fix.

Then we'd just have Exxon to contend with... On A message from Kenya and Biopact posted 2 years, 8 months ago 48 Responses

we like the cars... the cars that go boom...

That video is too boring. A car with no bass is not sexy, its just vroom vroom vroom zzzzzzzz. Does it crash into a semi at the end or something?

Jabailo I misread at first and assumed the teen girls were the car owners. For a moment I imagined you overlooking some strange southern Sin City, full of Nascar Moms and autobody shops willing to Ho Yo' Ride. lol. I would love to visit a street of teen amazons revving their gleaming 1970's gashogs.
On Evil ... posted 2 years, 8 months ago 7 Responses

shoutout to my boys tracking the CO2 (ppm) at SMO

MALOOOO NOAA Tutuila station, American Samoa, Chuuu-hooooo!!! Keep those tuna in the sea, and those waters from rising!

Seriously though, this tool is fantastic. I can tell, even though I can't understand it. Even one click deep, I can't read many of the charts because I don't know what "fluxes" are.  Some kind of unit of change. But not defined anywhere I can see.

Even when the units are clear, I have no idea what conclusion to draw from the graphs. Why measure the StDev of flux? Is this a display of validity of data, or are these results? It looks like urban areas have much higher StDev than desert areas. Does that mean anything? Is that expected? What? Huh?  

The time series data seem to show the rise of C02 ppm over time. But the sites results seem to mostly focus is on 'flux.' Why? Public dialogue has mostly focused on net rise, not on the carbon flux. Is there a reason that we should be focused on the flux instead? Confused...

The tool is for policy makers, and "the community." I wonder.. policy makers aren't generally weather scientists, and neither are most journalists. Could be worth NOAAs time to invest in some laymens versions of the results... and a much bigger and badder FAQ and Glossary. Clear communication would help speed the dissemination of these results from the PhDs to the policy makers/voters/consumers. On Now We Can Watch Them Go Up posted 2 years, 8 months ago 2 Responses

people with terminal TB...

along with bike couriers and xtreme sports, do not make up 48% of the workforce, or the work-commute pollution in this country. So what difference does it make how they manage their bike commute. They can drive Hummers for all I care.

Bitter, feminist, marginalized, Mmimika is leaving the online west coast bike boy scene and going to a crunk-drag-king show to get drunk.

Have a good weekend... On Bike commuting fashion tips posted 2 years, 8 months ago 52 Responses

sweat and sun...

Well, I dunno that theres anything wrong with or even comical about being a manly-man. Its great. As long as no one expects me to be one, or excludes me because I'm not.

I like the idea of the electric/hybrid bike. I'm not sure whether it would really be the cure-all for bike commuters though. I (deliberately) live up hill from work, and theres basically no physical exertion for me to get to the office - I just coast for 2 miles from my front door to the office, lock my bike and I'm in the front door. In essence, thats your hybrid bike - pedal power + a little boost. If I had to live downhill from work, I would look into making a hybrid bike.

But the easy, seamless, bike ride to my desk only works when weather permits. Bikes, hybrid or not, don't offer protection from the elements. Rain, sun, cold, puddles... are incompatible with a work attire. Gear and stuff helps but when the weather is extreme, you're gonna get soaked, splattered, sweaty, windswept, and chilly. You've got to either change clothes, or not bike.

I have to say though, when people ask, "how do you do it," I always tell them having OPTIONS is key. A bike is not a magic bullet and neither is a hybrid bike. A hybrid bike + a bus pass + emergency change of clothes + emergency cab fare + a flexcar + walking shoes... now that will get you
work on time, every single day no matter your energy level, the weather, or daily circumstances.

ciao,

- MimiOn Bike commuting fashion tips posted 2 years, 8 months ago 52 Responses

Why would I want to wear manly gloves?

I'm a GIRL bike commuter.

My main clothing problems with biking to work: 1. I can't wear skirts anymore, just slacks. 2. With shoes, the problem isn't laces or rain, its heels. So they live in a drawer at work, and I wear flats or sneaks in and then change as necessary. 3. Getting my nice slacks caught up in the chain because either I forgot my little reflective velcro straps, or they slipped off the fabric.

As for the last, I keep wondering if theres something bigger I can use, that is as wide as a shin guard - I have about $200 worth of slacks in my drawer with tiny tears and oil stains. on the inside right ankle. - that can be quickly removed, won't velcro to wool, and can also be stored on the bike so I never forget it at home or work. On Bike commuting fashion tips posted 2 years, 8 months ago 52 Responses