Monday, 22 Aug 2005

Eco-advice guru Umbra Fisk is privy to a lot of anxiety. Readers send her a landslide of questions: Should I toss away my carrot peelings or put them down the garbage disposal? Should I buy my beer in bottles or cans? Should I choose paper or plastic at the checkout counter? Umbra, ever the pragmatist, has this to say: It. Doesn't. Matter. If you can get past the either-or decisions that are keeping you up at night and focus on the bigger picture, you will be a much happier person -- and the environment will be better off too. She promises.

All The Ooze That's Fit to Print

The Gray Lady discovers peak oil

The peak-oil phenomenon made a mainstream-media splash this weekend in an extensive New York Times Magazine cover story. Devotees of this once-obscure issue won't find much that's new, but the article effectively summarizes the grim state of affairs. Output at many of the world's biggest oil fields has been declining steadily, and all eyes are now turned to Saudi Arabia, by far the world's largest oil producer, which refuses to allow independent audits of its reserves. The country's regime says it can still boost supply considerably, but many oil analysts have come to doubt those claims. Global oil supply and demand have been converging for years and are now tightly matched, which means any disruption in supply -- a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or unexpected decline in production at one of the big oil fields -- could mean sudden price spikes and catastrophic oil shocks throughout the world. If, as many expect, total supply begins an inexorable decline, the developed world's entire way of life could be jeopardized. Whee!


Amanda Lumry spends her days dreaming up new adventures for nine-year-old Riley, the main character in her book series aimed at educating elementary-aged children about the environment. As InterActivist this week, Lumry chats about her own adventures traveling the globe and trying to shape the next generation of eco-movers and shakers. Send her a question by noon PDT on Wednesday; we'll publish her answers to selected questions on Friday.

Light, Fruity, With a Hint of Smog

Winemakers in San Joaquin Valley will soon have to curb emissions

The 109 wineries in California's San Joaquin Valley -- home to the worst smog in the U.S. -- emit 788 tons of ethanol and other smog-forming gases a year, according to regulators. Plans are in the works to implement new air-quality rules by the end of 2005 that would mandate emissions controls on wine-fermentation tanks -- the first such regulations in the U.S. But the region's winemakers, including jug-wine behemoth Gallo Winery, protest that technologies designed to suck up gases from oil refineries and steel mills are ill suited to operations that generate merlots and chardonnays. The vino producers fear the machinery would harm the taste and smell of the wines, and breed bacteria that could cause contamination. So officials are considering novel trade-off options that would permit the wineries to pay for similar pollution reductions elsewhere in the valley -- say, curbing emissions from their delivery trucks -- rather than putting controls on their tanks.


We're laughing it up here at Grist HQ, and not over the latest story on species loss or climate disruption (ha ha ha, whew, good times!). No, this week we're doing what all cool people do: laughing at our own jokes. Namely the jokes in our new humor section -- Snort! -- which is so funny it needs an exclamation point. Come check out this week's featured cartoon. And if you've got an eco-themed cartoon of your own that you'd like to share, send it to and we'll let you know if it's Snort!-worthy.

Fang, Fang, Fang on the Door, Baby

Judge orders feds to restore Northeastern gray wolves

The U.S. government must intensify efforts to restore gray wolves to the Northeast, a federal court ruled on Friday. U.S. District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha said the Bush administration's decision to lump the sparse gray wolf population of the Northeast in with healthier populations in the upper Midwest, where restoration efforts have been more successful, was a "stark departure" from its original wolf-restoration plan and a violation of the Endangered Species Act to boot. The feds declared in 2003 that nothing more needed doing to return wolves to Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont -- a first move toward delisting eastern gray wolves entirely. But no backsies, Murtha told the government on Friday: You said that Northeast wolves are a distinct population and you can't go redefining them now to make them look healthier than they are. Environmental activists hailed the decision as a big victory.