Wednesday, 15 Mar 2006

There aren't many scintillating documentaries about health care or tax policy, but give filmmakers an eccentric farmer converting his family farm to organic, or a determined activist sitting in a tree for two years, and they fall all over themselves to start filming. A crop of environmental film festivals has been springing up around North America, and Paul Henderson shines a klieg light on the trend.

They're Just Not That Into You

U.S. oil execs defend record profits -- again -- in Senate testimony

ExxonMobil, Chevron, and the gang took another turn at the Senate's cotillion yesterday, flirting with the Judiciary Committee and making coquettish demurrals about record profits and price gouging. Unlike November's fete with the Senate Commerce Committee, this time oil executives were sworn in (no accounting for modern romance). Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), playing hard to get, noted that while oil-company mergers have lowered industry costs, consumers' costs have increased. Hush, Dianne, whispered the execs; that's just surging demand and higher world oil prices talking. Winking, Chevron Chair David O'Reilly suggested that "streamlining" -- that is, weakening -- the process for approving new refineries, or opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, might help execs get in the mood. But when asked by a clearly jealous Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) if an industry earning record billions in profits needed to keep $2.8 billion in subsidies, the execs could only smile shyly.


A reader wants to win a debate about environmental issues with a Bush-loving friend -- and she needs ammo. Advice maven Umbra Fisk tells her where to load up, suggests some targets, and offers gun safety tips, to strain the metaphor.

(Tell Me Why) I Don't Like Tuesdays

Scientists report even less Arctic ice, even more greenhouse gas

In the wake of unprecedented summer melts, Arctic sea ice has failed to grow to its typical winter reach for the second year running. Researchers fear this signals -- stop us if this sounds familiar -- an irreversible amplification of the effects of climate change in the region. Dark, open water absorbs the sunlight (and heat) that bright white ice would reflect; thus, accelerated warming. "We keep looking for the ice to recover, but it isn't," said researcher Mark Serreze. "Coupled with recent findings ... that the Greenland ice sheet may be near a tipping point, it's pretty clear that the Arctic is starting to respond to global warming." You think? Other cheery news: NASA reports that ozone also seems to be contributing to intensified warming in the Arctic, and NOAA reports that CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere reached a record 381 parts per million last year. We can hardly wait for tomorrow!


Washington, D.C., has ambitious plans to turn the sullied Anacostia River into a showcase along the lines of its better-known counterpart, the Potomac. Could be great for the city, but what about the low-income residents who live along the river now? As restoration and redevelopment get under way in a long-neglected area of the city, some locals and activists worry that a spruced-up Anacostia will leave them without a place to call home. Ethan Goffman explains the dilemma.

Bicker Agua

World Water Forum to get controversial kickoff this week in Mexico City

If you're going to be in Mexico City on Thursday, don't drink the water. Oh, and you might want to swing by the World Water Council's not-very-creatively-named World Water Forum -- or a protest march timed to coincide with its opening. Dozens of government ministers, hundreds of water companies, and thousands of other water-interested folks from countries around the world are expected to attend the triennial gathering. While the theme "Local Actions for Global Change" and the hundreds of planned water-related sessions may sound benign, the forum is being boycotted by numerous nongovernmental organizations that claim the agenda is to privatize water resources. Mexico City provides a creepily apt backdrop for a controversial water forum: Many of the city's 20 million residents have as little as one hour of running water per week, wastewater goes largely untreated, and the entire city is rapidly sinking on the aquifer that it's furiously pumping dry. Ironical, dude.