Monday, 21 Aug 2006

It's time for Americans to get over their sense of entitlement to cheap energy, bite the bullet, and institute a progressive fuel tax, says economist Charles Komanoff. Making energy more expensive would result in a host of benefits, both at home and abroad. It might even be politically palatable. But it needs a vocal public champion. How about ... Ralph Nader? Discuss.

Yes, Virginia, There Is Global Warming

Va. governor asks climate skeptic to avoid state climatologist title

Patrick Michaels is a noted skeptic about global warming, cited frequently in the mainstream press and funded amply by fossil-fuel interests. He goes by the title of "Virginia state climatologist." That makes the commonwealth of Virginia uncomfortable, apparently, and it seems determined to distance itself from the increasingly wackadoo skeptical position. The governor's office has said that Michaels does not represent the state; in fact he belongs to the University of Virginia, where he oversees the local office of the American Association of State Climatologists. The university responded that, hey, Gov. John Dalton appointed the guy in 1980, so whaddya gonna do? The governor's office responded that the state code "does not provide for the governor to appoint a state climatologist," and please, luvagod, could he at least refer to himself as the "AASC-designated state climatologist"? The university then replied, "no, he's yours, double no takebacks, no do-overs!" (OK, we made up that last bit.) Sounds like a certain skeptical somebody needs to read Virginia's Just Not That Into You.


If you're like us, you take your car to the car wash religiously, without fail, at least once a ... year? Decade? Yeah, we've never been so good about that. But others are better. Today a reader from North Carolina wonders how she can give her car its regular bath in a more eco-friendly manner, and advice maven Umbra Fisk waxes philosophical.

Damned If ... OK, Just Damned

CFC alternatives contribute to global warming

When signatories to the 1989 Montreal Protocol phased out ozone-depleting, heat-trapping chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in foams and refrigerants, most replaced them with more-ozone-friendly-but-still-heat-trapping hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Too bad: HCFCs and HFCs will add the equivalent of 2 billion to 3 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere by 2015, according to the United Nations. "A massive opportunity to help stave off climate change is currently being cast aside," says Alexander von Bismarck of the nonprofit watchdog Environmental Investigation Agency. Climate-friendly refrigerant alternatives like ammonia and hydrocarbons are, unfortunately, more expensive and less energy-efficient. The ozone layer, meanwhile, is recovering, but slowly -- the World Meteorological Organization and U.N. Environmental Program predict that most areas will be back to pre-1980 levels by 2049, five years later than forecast in 2002. The ozone hole over Antarctica is unlikely to fully recover until 2065. By then, however, global warming may have killed us all. Sweet irony!


Used to be that the environmental movement only had to focus on cleaning up our air, water, and soil. Not so anymore, says Gregg Small, executive director of the Washington Toxics Coalition, a group working to educate the public about the hazardous chemicals in our environment -- and in our own bodies. As InterActivist this week, Small chats with Grist about how his work at Green Corps changed his life, why mountaintop-removal mining blows his mind, why a civil-rights activist is his environmental hero, and more. Send Small a question of your own by noon PDT on Wednesday; we'll publish his answers to selected questions on Friday.

To Everything, Tern, Tern, Tern

Buzzards Bay wind farm faces tough obstacles

Amidst the hype over the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound, developer Jay Cashman unveiled a proposal to erect up to 120 wind turbines in nearby Buzzards Bay. But a recent report by Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs Stephen Pritchard concludes that Cashman's project would violate state law and could threaten an endangered bird species. The law in question is the 35-year-old Ocean Sanctuaries Act, which prohibits the "building of any structure on the seabed or under the subsoil" in the area that Cashman hopes to develop. The bird in question is the roseate tern; the report says the proposed location "is both within and proximate to the breeding, nesting, and foraging habitats" of the endangered species. Cashman, writes Pritchard, "faces a high threshold in addressing these issues." The report, says Massachusetts state Rep. William Straus (D), is bureaucratese for, "[I]f you want to go ahead, knowing there's a strong chance you're going to be turned down, it's up to you."