Tuesday, 05 Apr 2005

In recent columns in The New York Times, Thomas Friedman has argued that enviros and neocons should find common cause, pushing for a sharp reduction in U.S. oil use in order to spur economic and democratic reform in Middle Eastern autocracies. He defends his "geo-green" proposal and bashes Bush for what he has called a "waste of a presidency" in an interview with Amanda Griscom Little.

Busy Bee

Environmental series on Hetch Hetchy Valley wins Pulitzer Prize

The best opinion writing takes the unthinkable and makes it a live possibility. That's what Sacramento Bee Associate Editor Tom Philp did with "Hetch Hetchy Reclaimed," his editorial series on breaching the dam that has held Yosemite National Park's famed valley under water since 1923. The Pulitzer board, which yesterday awarded Philp the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing, hailed the "deeply researched editorials on reclaiming California's flooded Hetch Hetchy Valley that stirred action." Indeed, Philp's pieces have contributed to growing momentum behind the idea of breaching the dam, which only a few years ago seemed like a tree-hugger pipe dream. There are new suggestions from water officials of ways to meet the Bay Area's water needs without the dam, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) administration is studying the possibility of doing away with the dam. Between this and Wangari Maathai's Nobel Peace Prize, the environment is finally getting some much-deserved limelight.

Better Dead Than Sissy

Declining fuel efficiency of military vehicles puts troops in harm's way

In decades past, fuel comprised about 30 percent of the total supply tonnage moved to and fro on the battlefield. Today, according to a 2001 Defense Science Board study, that number may have risen as high as an astonishing 70 percent. America's 150,000 soldiers in Iraq now consume roughly nine gallons of fuel apiece every day. Unfortunately, says study chair Richard Truly, the prevailing wisdom at the Pentagon is that "fuel efficiency is for sissies." Tell that to the troops, who are stuck in a vicious cycle. The more "improvised explosive devices" -- which have been responsible for roughly a third of U.S. casualties in Iraq -- that explode under military vehicles, the more armor is plated onto them, and the worse fuel economy they get. The Bradley fighting vehicle gets less than two miles per gallon, the M1 Abrams tank less than one, and the Hummer ... well, you know about the Hummer. More and more fuel must be shipped in from Kuwait, Turkey, and Jordan; those fuel convoys provide, you guessed it, more targets for the insurgents.

Hunting Irony

Alaskan wolves, bears hunted for hunting what the hunters want to hunt

These are not the best of times for Alaska's wolves and bears. A well-studied family of wolves in Denali National Park recently lost two senior females when they wandered outside park borders and were killed by trappers; a similar fate may befall the injured alpha male. Egged on by conservation groups, a trio of Democratic senators -- Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), and Carl Levin (Mich.) -- sent a letter last week to Interior Secretary Gale Norton calling the Denali wolf situation a "biological emergency" and asking her to take action. Norton has yet to respond. In addition, it seems that some 80 brown bears and 600 wolves will be shot in Alaska this season. Their crime? Well, they eat the moose and caribou that human hunters want to shoot. Shot for eating things humans want to shoot! There's a joke in there somewhere. Amid the tears.

Diamonds Are Forever

Swiss glacier to be wrapped up, saved for later

A Swiss ski resort worried about global warming's ill effects on its future is taking matters into its own mittened hands. At the ski season's end in May, the Andermatt resort will cover some 32,200 square feet of the Gurschen glacier with an insulating PVC foam in hopes of keeping its black diamonds from melting into bunny slopes. The foam, which costs some $84,000 and can be stored during winter for reuse, was constructed by Swiss technicians to protect the snow layer from heat, ultraviolet rays, and rain. The country's glaciers have lost about a fifth of their surface area in the last 15 years, according to a Zurich University study linking the loss to global warming, and the ice field above Andermatt is retreating by about 16 feet a year, a resort spokesperson says. If the PVC-foam trial is successful, the resort plans to cover more of the glacier, and other resorts may also get in on the doggy-bagging technique.