Comments kaganove has made

  • Nobel goes to green chemists

    Schrock, Grubbs and Chauvin do great work, you'll have to take my word on that.  However, I think it's a bit of a stretch to call what they do "green chemistry".  By that criteria, everything chemists do is "green chemistry" if it improves efficiency, which is pretty much what everybody tries to do.  A more rigorous definition of "green chemistry" would focus on improving sustainability, or using renewable, non-petrochemical sources to make plastics and other products of everyday living.  A better example of "green chemistry" is the work of Professor Richard Gross of Polytechnic University (see http://chem.poly.edu/gross/prof_gross.cfm for examples).  Perhaps he'll get a Nobel one day as well.On Nobel goes to green chemists posted 4 years, 1 month ago 1 Response

  • Why Not More Publicity?

    I was pleased to have the opportunity to attend the Arctic Refuge Action Day yesterday.  It felt great to be able to do some "hands on" lobbying with our legislators.  However, I do have a complaint:  why was there so little advance notice and publicity for this event, including on the Daily Grist website?  If not for a heads-up from a friend who belongs to Defenders of Wildlife, I would have never heard about the event.  A link to it only appeared on the Sierra Club website a scant few days before the event.  This is no way to organize on critically important issues!  If you want people to show up to rallies, you've got to let them know about it weeks, if not months in advance!  Having a few thousand dedicated souls show up was nice, but the number could have easily been 10 to 50 times that amount if the environmental community had seriously worked together.  As Senator Clinton said yesterday, we can (and must) do better!On A family sends firsthand accounts from the rally posted 4 years, 2 months ago 3 Responses

  • Correction - Espirit de Gore

    "Former Republican Rep. Pete McCloskey said the performance was 'Dynamite!'"  Good for him.  However, I believe former Rep. McCloskey is actually a Democrat.  He used to represent Bloomington, IN and surrounding communities prior to the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994.  He was replaced by a fellow by the name of Hostettler, who has recently made the news with his increasingly pugnacious, right-wing rhetoric.
    I would imagine that it is quite an embarressment for the good faculty of Indiana University to be represented by such a person.On Gore is transforming into fiery climate evangelist posted 4 years, 4 months ago 11 Responses

  • Re: Black Man to Head up NWF Board

    Before this goes much farther, it should be noted that the longtime host of the environment-themed NPR program "Living on Earth", Steve Curwood, is in fact African American.On A first: Black man to head up NWF board posted 4 years, 8 months ago 2 Responses

  • Why Are We Focusing On This

    I agree with karmacaptain, to a point, that the environmental justice issues should not be ignored or marginalized.  But I don't think that's happening.  There is a rich tapestry of pressing envronmental issues in which one can choose to get involved, and we all chose based on our values and personalities.  As a child in the '60s, one of the formative events in my life was the effort by family friends and neighbors to save a local wooded area from development.  The effort succeeded, and from that time on I have always taken the issue of preserving key wild and scenic places very personally.  To me, the refuge is highly symbolic of my life experiences, and I would frankly rather eat dirt than see it despoiled.  For the past 5-10 years, I have seen it as the "line-in-the-sand" that shall not be crossed, or else!  But that's just me.  If you want to direct the bulk of your energies to other worthy issues, more power to you.On Arctic Refuge vote posted 4 years, 8 months ago 12 Responses

  • Amen to Send a Message

    Thanks to "hardisun" for emphasizing a point I tried to make a few days back.  Even if this comes to pass, oil companies first have to bid on leases to ANWR.  Despite their arrogant use of power, public image is still important to them, and if we jawbone them relentlessly in public, it will have an impact.  There are also other options such as boycotts, shareholder resolutions, disruption of shareholder meetings, divestment of stock, etc.

    These tactics have worked in the past (e.g, South Africa divestment in the 1980s), and they can work now if the commitment is there.

    Companies to watch:  Exon/Mobil and Chevron/Texaco.  BP/Amaco will never do it, they care too much about their image.On Arctic Refuge vote posted 4 years, 8 months ago 12 Responses

  • Arctic Refuge update

    Yes, in point of fact I am feeling helpless about the situation described above.  I will probably send a letter to my senators and representatives similar to the template kindly provided by Dave Roberts.  If all else fails, however, I do have a few ideas about what to do AFTER catastrophe hits:

    1. Civil Disobedience
    2. Target senators who vote in favor of opening up ANWR to oil exploration for defeat, particularly those from "blue" or "purple" states, and beginning with Pete Domenici (R-NM)
    3. Make a note of companies that intend to bid on oil leases and a) subject them to blistering public criticism, b) mount a compaign to "short" their stock, c) mount a divestiture campaign with potentially sympathetic progressive stock-holding organizations such as blue state universities, TIAA-CREF and CALPERS.

    I'd rather prevail in the Senate and not have to do any of this.  However, having a plausible "Plan B" isn't a bad strategy either.  We're creative, well-educated folks; we can do this. Fancy joining me?On Arctic Refuge update posted 4 years, 8 months ago 2 Responses