Thursday, 29 Mar 2007

Granma Muses

Castro breaks editorial silence to berate U.S. over biofuels policy

Say you're a legendary communist leader sidelined by a secret illness. You're eager to break your months-long silence with an editorial, and you're looking for just the right topic. Do you choose ... your prognosis? Your island nation's health? Heck no. If you're Fidel Castro, you choose the U.S. infatuation with biofuels. An article printed today in the Communist Party daily Granma (not to be confused with the weekly Granpa) hints at Castro's views on ethanol and economics under the headline "More than 3 billion people of the world condemned to premature death by hunger and thirst." The recovering revolutionary says he's been "meditating quite a bit since President Bush's meeting with North American automobile makers" and slams the "sinister idea of converting food into combustibles." Instead, he says, countries should follow Cuba's lead and ... switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs! That, he says, "would give climate change a break without starving the poor masses of the world."


The environment brought them together. And now, together, they've brought out a book on the environment. (No flip-flop jokes, please!) John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry, who met at an Earth Day rally and started getting chummy at the Rio Earth Summit, have just released This Moment on Earth, in which they argue that grassroots activists are invigorating the green movement. Amanda Griscom Little caught up with the duo and asked about the people they profile, their 2004 campaign experience, and the role the environment will play in the next presidential election.

And Then There Were Nine

Rise in sea level could affect one in 10 people worldwide

If you currently live in Colorado, Nebraska, or South Dakota, you can stop reading this story now. But if you are one of the 634 million people worldwide living in a coastal zone, be advised: you may be in deep trouble. New research using population models and NASA satellite data estimates that one in 10 people in the world -- some 75 percent of them in Asia -- live in coastal regions that will be at risk of being affected by flooding and intense storms brought on by global warming. The low-lying coastal areas, defined as less than 33 feet above sea level, are found in more than 180 countries and include some 70 percent of the world's large cities, notably New York City, Tokyo, Mumbai, India, and Shanghai, China. On the fortuitous flip side of this news, a new Google mapping interface called Flood Maps allows users to get a jump on waterfront property speculation. So build that beach house now! In Ohio.


Springtime means an explosion of activity on farms. But you don't have to wait for harvest time to reap the benefits -- you can plant seeds of change in your own corner of the world with a home vegetable garden, a community garden, or even just windowsill pots. Farmer and foodie Tom Philpott tells you how to get started -- and, even more important, why.

As the World Burns

House hearing addresses missing oil and gas royalties

The steamiest soap opera in D.C. continues this week with a House hearing on $1 billion in uncollected oil and gas royalties. A cast of star-crossed witnesses testified to the Natural Resources Committee about the forbidden love between the Minerals Management Service and Big Oil. Handsome leading man Bobby Maxwell, an auditor-turned-whistleblower, said he was told "not to bother the oil companies." Supporting actor and ex-auditor Kevin Gambrell said he'd been blocked from collecting royalties owed to Native American tribes. But dashing U.S. Interior Assistant Secretary C. Stephen Allred rose to his employer's defense, saying the feds are collecting fees properly -- and have formed a panel to review the process. "At best, [MMS'] performance might be described as slipshod, but some argue it is something more sinister," said committee chair Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.). "It does appear we're getting ripped off." At which point he ripped off his shirt, only to reveal -- sorry, fans, tune in tomorrow.