Wednesday, 08 Nov 2006

A Green Party

Midterm election results find U.S. environmentalists hopeful

Whew, what a night. Environmentalists of all stripes hailed this year's election results, though exit polls determined that Democrats were 53 percent giddier. With eco-foes like Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) defeated and green-leaning govs like Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) reseated, things are looking up. "The American people's vision of a [different] energy future ... is the winner," said League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski, "and Big Oil is the big loser." (Well, except in California, where voters shunned a renewable-energy oil tax endorsed by the likes of Bill Clinton and Julia Roberts.) In Nairobi, Kenya, U.N. climate conference delegates celebrated: "This is good news for climate," said Hans Verolme of WWF, while Greenpeace's Steve Sawyer said the results show that "the U.S. is moving substantially in the right direction and climate is very much front and center on the political agenda in the U.S." Be still our beating hearts.


Devoted readers of advice maven Umbra Fisk learned on Monday that replacing inefficient windows can lead to household energy savings as high as 40 percent. But what if you can't afford to sashay into the window store? A California resident wonders how to get through winter using more affordable sill-utions, and Umbra reflects.

Silent But Deadly

Researchers say industrial chemicals may be linked to increases in autism, ADHD

Note to glue-sniffers everywhere: two researchers have suggested a link between industrial chemicals and an increase in brain development disorders like autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, terming the trend a "silent pandemic" affecting millions of children around the world. In an essay published online today in the U.K. medical journal The Lancet, doctors Philippe Grandjean of the Harvard School of Public Health and Philip Landrigan of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine say they have identified 202 potentially harmful chemicals, half of which are commonly used. While they note that only five -- lead, mercury, PCBs, arsenic, and toluene -- have been proven to cause damage to developing brains, they say that short list "should be viewed as the tip of a very large iceberg." Says Grandjean, "The bottom line is you only get one chance to develop a brain. We have to protect children against chemical pollution because damage to a developing brain is irreversible."


There's a certain name for people who obsess over food, people who gaze at grapes with abandon and fuss over frittatas like there's no tomorrow. But does taking great pleasure from tasty meals really make you a food snob? Tom Philpott says the culinary culture of the U.S. is structured to keep eaters from relishing their meals -- and he says it's time for that to change.

Heart of a Howard

Australia plagued by historic drought, not-so-responsive leadership

Wondering how Australia's doing? It's dry as a dead dingo, thanks for asking. The "Sunburnt Country" is undergoing a severe drought -- the worst in 1,000 years, according to one expert. The lack of precipitation could cut agricultural output by 20 percent, and it's only going to get worse: a government organization has predicted that the eastern part of the country will see 40 percent less rainfall and a temperature rise of more than 12 degrees by 2070. The 91 percent of Australians who say global warming is a problem apparently does not include Prime Minister John Howard, who has refused to back the Kyoto Protocol. A full 62 percent of Australians are dissatisfied with the government's response to global warming, but citizens shmitizens: Howard, a gung-ho nuclear-power promoter, recently dismissed another poll indicating that only 17 percent of Australians are pro-nuclear, sniffing, "I can't have a policy on something like this dictated by an opinion poll." Sic the dingos on 'im!