Tuesday, 15 Feb 2005

If the leaders of the U.S. environmental movement need a shot of adrenaline, they would do well to sit down with Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. In the face of daunting odds, Maathai founded a movement that inspired women to plant 30 million trees in Kenya, helped bring down that nation's corrupt regime, and then joined its new government, first as a member of parliament, then as assistant minister for environment and natural resources. What does her work have to do with peace, and what could Americans learn from it? Plenty, as she explains in an interview with Amanda Griscom Little -- today on the Grist Magazine website.


Tony Blair has fashioned himself a climate champion of late, vowing to make the issue of global warming central to the U.K.'s 2005 leadership of the G8 nations. So it's rather embarrassing for him that the E.U. has just threatened to take legal action against the U.K. over its projected carbon-dioxide emissions. Last April, the U.K. submitted a plan to the European Commission calling for the country to be permitted just over 811 million tons of CO2 emissions. In early July, the commission approved the plan, giving the U.K. two months to request changes. In October -- not two months later, but three! -- in response to heavy industry pressure, the U.K. revised its plan to include almost 22 million tons more -- a, um, whopping 3 percent increase. This week, a spokesflack for Stavros Dimas, the E.U.'s environment commissioner, said flatly that it would be "illegal" for the U.K. to institute its revised plan. Legal action could take years to resolve and throw Europe's new carbon-trading system into chaos. U.K. Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett vowed to fight on.

You'll Never Drive Alone

Carpooling, car-sharing companies offer driving alternatives

Eighty-four percent of commuters who use a car to get to work say they drive alone, and more than half say it's because carpooling is inconvenient, according to a recent survey on traffic issues conducted by major news organizations. But a company called NuRide is trying to change that. Its website hosts a directory of participating D.C.-area commuters and makes it simpler for folks heading in the same direction at the same time to arrange car pools. Meanwhile, car-sharing companies like Flexcar and Zipcar place vehicles throughout urban areas and allow members to reserve the nearest car for short trips. Says Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith, "Our members are savvy. They don't need to own a car to enjoy mobility." Now, big-city businesses are getting savvy too; Seattle engineering firm URS Corp. sold five of its fleet cars after joining Flexcar, and the company now saves $12,000 a year in parking fees alone. Flexcar user Joan Steelquist says the benefits extend beyond saving money: "[S]haring cars with others gives me the good feeling of being part of a community."

Green's Labor Lost

Enviros, labor unions clash over Clear Skies legislation

With the Senate Environment Committee set to vote tomorrow on the Clear Skies Act, both supporters and critics of the legislation are in high gear. Enviros, who have fought Clear Skies since it was first unveiled by the Bush administration three years ago, have been running ads in various Capitol Hill publications, and yesterday sent senators heart-shaped candy boxes with a message about the bill: "Clearly a sweetheart deal for polluters." Over the weekend, labor-union members -- who support the bill based on predicted economic and employment-related benefits -- papered Illinois with fliers aimed at influencing the state's new senator, Barack Obama (D), a member of the committee. So far, the committee is split 9 to 9 over the measure, which means the act lacks the majority support needed to bump it out of committee and onto the Senate floor; still, the Senate leadership could end up bending the rules to get it a floor vote.

Ask Your Dealer Today!

Organic marijuana certification sought in California county

Need your pot, but worried about all the chemi ... dude, you gonna eat that? Wait, where were we? Oh, for all those who prefer their pot free of toxic chemicals (and have a user card allowing them to smoke it for medical purposes, of course), there's good news from Mendocino County, Calif. -- the very county that last year brought you the first ban on genetically modified crops in the nation. Now it's working on another first: certifying marijuana as organic. Concerned about consumer health and safety, two medical-marijuana growers in the area asked the county for organic certification, and now county officials are appealing to the California ag secretary for direction on how to proceed. As there are practically no marijuana-specific agricultural products on the market, some growers have been treating cannabis with chemicals developed for ornamental plants, which worries Mendocino officials. "We regulate wine grape growers and pear growers and everybody else, so why shouldn't we also regulate pot growers?" asked Tony Linegar, the county's assistant agricultural commissioner.