Wednesday, 30 Aug 2006

In the year since Hurricane Katrina triggered the devastation of New Orleans, plenty of fingers have pointed toward the "villains" of the story: FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security, inept local and national leaders, poverty, climate change. But Washington Post reporter Michael Grunwald says the real scoundrels can be found in the Army Corps of Engineers, which designed and built the levee system that failed so disastrously. The Corps has a long history of spending enormous sums on politicians' pet projects, many of them ineffective and many of them environmentally calamitous -- and it doesn't seem to have learned any lessons from last year's failures.

Reality Bites

U.S. automakers acknowledging that gas prices are likely to stay high

Expect gasoline prices to stay between $3 and $4 a gallon for the rest of the decade, says ... no, not some fearmongering environmentalist or peak-oil nut, but Chrysler CEO Thomas LaSorda. In fact, all of Detroit's Big Three automakers have resigned themselves to current gas prices and are revamping their business models accordingly. "We are looking at it as if it's going to be much higher, rather than hoping it comes down," LaSorda said this week. Ford's chief sales analyst agreed, but declined to cite a price range, sniffing, "I think only a fool would forecast gas prices." Nice to see the nods to reality, but as it takes three to four years for an automaker to develop a new vehicle, the Big Three will inevitably be playing catchup: Pickups, SUVs, and minivans comprise about 75 percent of Chrysler's sales, about 67 percent of Ford's, and about 60 percent of GM's, while Toyota, Honda, and Nissan all boast sales lineups that are over 50 percent cars.


The looming threat of global warming has got engineers designing the next generation of wind turbines, economists figuring out schemes for trading carbon emissions, corporate CEOs pushing for greater energy efficiency, and documentarians following in Al Gore's footsteps -- but it hasn't yet gotten people out in the streets to demand the large-scale change that's needed. Environmental writer Bill McKibben is helping to change that in his home state of Vermont, where he's about to join a multi-day march calling for political action to tackle climate change. He'll be sending dispatches along the way; read the first one today.

An Eden Break

Birds return to Iraq marshes, but long-term recovery in doubt

Birds have begun to return to restored wetlands in southern Iraq, the famed marshes rumored to have been the location of the biblical Garden of Eden. In decades past, ornithologists recorded more than 250 bird species in the region, including the fun-to-say Iraq babbler and lesser white-fronted goose. In the 1980s and '90s, Saddam Hussein drained the marshes to only 7 percent of their original size; thanks to post-Saddam restoration efforts, 39 percent of the wetlands are again wet. A recent winter survey by Iraqi naturalists found 74 species of birds. Unfortunately, increased water demand from farmers and cities puts long-term recovery of the wetlands in doubt, especially when (if?) the political situation stabilizes and more water is earmarked for agriculture and hydroelectricity. Says Duke University's Curtis Richardson, who conducted a study on marsh recovery, "The amount of restoration is directly proportional to the amount of water available."


You have to admit, buying local is a lot more fun in summer than in winter. In summertime, you've got bustling farmers' markets and luscious strawberries and sweet tomatoes and greens that come in a thousand different shades. Whereas in winter, you've got ... what, squash or something? Farmer and columnist Tom Philpott acknowledges that the cold-weather options can be limited, but says it's possible for that to change, with a little research, technology, and investment.

The Visible Hand of the Market

BP under investigation for possible manipulation of oil and gasoline markets

Petro-behemoth BP is being investigated by two U.S. agencies for possible manipulation of crude-oil and unleaded-gasoline markets. (These are, of course, in addition to ongoing investigations of BP over a Texas refinery explosion, an Alaska pipeline spill, and alleged manipulation of the U.S. propane market.) The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has subpoenaed BP in the oil-market probe, which concerns possible evildoing in 2003 and 2004 in the over-the-counter market (trades conducted out of sight of regulators, by phone or electronically, in products not listed on exchanges). The gasoline inquiry, which concerns a single day's trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 2002, has been under way for over a year and includes a criminal probe by the Justice Department. Considering how Americans feel about gas prices, beleaguered BP may have to add appeasing a peeved public to its ever-growing list of things to worry about.


When our precious bundles of joy grow up to be precious bundles of student, the last thing we want to do is send them off to spend the day in a toxic environment. But many school buildings, especially those that are newly constructed or renovated, are tainted with none-too-wholesome substances. A mother wonders if there's anything she can do to make her daughter's new preschool a healthier place, and advice maven Umbra Fisk offers a lesson plan.