Thursday, 16 Sep 2004

Character Actors

Environment serving as lens through which voters see character

All the talk this campaign season is about swing states and swing voters. In several of these battleground states, environmental issues -- say, nuclear waste dumping at Yucca Mountain in Nevada -- are big topics. Does that mean the environment matters in this year's presidential election? Well ... kinda. It may be that the environment, like most "issues," is simply a proxy via which the candidates can spin their "character," or have their character spun. Read about this character-based campaign in Muckraker -- today on the Grist Magazine website.

All in the Family

Kerry draws on family and Clinton admin folks for environmental advice

Check out MSNBC for a handy roster of John Kerry's top advisers on the environment. At the center of his advisory circle is family, namely wife Teresa and stepson Andre Heinz. Teresa -- who first met Kerry at an Earth Day rally -- serves on the boards of several enviro organizations and has used her inherited ketchup fortune to fund numerous environmental initiatives. Andre, as Grist readers will already know, has worked on environmental issues his whole adult life. Filling out the list are numerous Clinton policy hands, including Bruce Babbitt (former interior secretary), Carol Browner (former EPA chief), and David Hayes (former deputy interior secretary). Aside from Deb Callahan, head of the League of Conservation Voters, few leaders of national enviro groups give counsel directly to the candidate, perhaps because the Kerry campaign doesn't want to appear "too green." Interestingly, Al Gore had more enviro figures on the inside of his campaign, yet he spoke less frequently about environmental issues than Kerry -- and he was still tarred as "extremist" on the environment.

A Bridger-Teton Over Troubled Water

Chalk up a win for Wyoming wildlands

Here's a rare victory for the wilderness crowd: The U.S. Forest Service announced this week that it will suspend plans to open 157,000 acres of Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest -- much of it roadless -- to oil and gas drilling. Enviros say the forest is one of the most important wild areas in the country to have been marked by the Bush administration for drilling. Local and national conservation groups organized resistance, as did many ranchers, hunters, and anglers. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D), a moderate who has long backed the natural-gas industry, also spoke out in opposition. But the turning point came when Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) declared that the area is "inappropriate for drilling." Hours after his statement, the agency announced that it would delay implementation of the lease until concerns were resolved. Enviros hailed the decision, industry groups expressed frustration, and the world learned that a single Republican voice raised in defense of our natural resources can move mountains -- or have them left alone, as the case may be.

She's Got Sol and She's Super Bad

Umbra on solar-friendly states and policies

You may hear a fair bit about solar-power generation, but how often do you see it in action? In which parts of the U.S. has it really taken hold? What are the solar prospects for your neck of the woods? And what's the deal with electric companies buying solar power back from home solar producers? If you've got solar questions, Grist research guru Umbra Fisk has solar answers. Bask in the rays of knowledge -- in Ask Umbra, today on the Grist Magazine website.

Boilerplate Tectonics

Bush and Kerry discuss their positions on science

In the latest issue of the journal Nature, President Bush and John Kerry each respond to 15 questions about science and related topics. Because the responses are written, neither candidate sounds like himself -- there are no Bushian malapropisms or Kerryan layered qualifiers -- and for the most part they simply regurgitate campaign-trail boilerplate. However, there are revealing differences, particularly on global warming. When asked, Bush acknowledged that it is a "serious long-term issue," but then said the following: "In 2001, I asked the National Academy of Sciences to provide the most up-to-date information about the science of climate change. It found that considerable uncertainty remains about the effect of natural fluctuations on climate and the future impacts climate change will have on our natural environment." This is, at best, misleading. The NAS reported overwhelming consensus that humans are responsible for climate change and that it is a problem worth worrying about. Or, as Kerry put it, "The scientific evidence is clear that global warming is already happening and rising levels of global warming pollution are making the problem worse."