Monday, 23 Apr 2007

The Gothman Prophecies

New York City mayor unveils ambitious sustainability plans

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg used Earth Day to announce plans to make his burg bloom. The comprehensive "PlaNYC" outlines 127 green dreams, including a congestion charge for lower Manhattan that would -- like programs in London and Singapore -- see drivers cough up a fee for entering the city at peak traffic hours. Bloomie also wants to improve public transportation, plant more than 1 million trees, and clean up 7,600 acres of polluted brownfields. The plan would make the Big Apple "the first environmentally sustainable 21st-century city," he said. British Prime Minister Tony Blair concurred in a video appearance, saying the plan would "mark out New York as a global leader in halting climate change." Bloomberg's big ideas face a couple of big obstacles -- state leaders in Albany and money, money, money -- but the biz-minded mayor was optimistic: "Our economy is humming, our fiscal house is in order, and our near-term horizon looks bright," he said. "If we don't act now, when?"


Republican Sens. Dick Lugar (Ind.) and Pete Domenici (N.M.) are teaming up with Democratic colleague Jeff Bingaman (N.M.) against an enemy all Americans can agree to fight: energy waste. Last week, the trio introduced a bill that would ramp up energy efficiency across a wide swath of the U.S. economy, from vehicles and consumer appliances to buildings and industrial equipment. New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) followed on their heels with an aggressive new energy plan for his state that aims to slash energy use 15 percent by 2015. "It costs one-third as much to save a given amount of energy through efficiency as it does to produce the same amount of energy by building a new power plant," Spitzer said. "Energy efficiency makes economic sense." Muckraker takes a good look at the new plans to amp up efficiency efforts.

Vote Surly, Vote Often

Aluminum smelting defining Iceland elections

You no doubt know that Iceland's elections are coming up on May 12. But here's something you may not know: the country's aluminum-smelting boom has become a key issue in the race. With three smelters up and running and three more planned, fans and foes alike are fired up. A new party, the Iceland Movement, has a platform with exactly one issue -- a five-year moratorium on big industrial projects while the effects of the current boom are studied -- and the Left Green Party also opposes the smelters. The author of an anti-smelter book says efforts to please aluminum giants like Alcoa have created a "heroin economy" and worries that leaders are "diverting the whole ecosystem of the east." But supporters say the plants create jobs and, since they run on geothermal and hydro energy, can provide a fix for the world's current mess. Says Prime Minister Geir Haarde, "These smelters are not polluting in a global sense, if you were producing here what you would be producing by gas or coal somewhere else."


We're so busy we can barely write this sentence, and Tracey Smith would not be pleased. The British writer and broadcaster presides over National Downshifting Week, which kicked off this weekend -- on Sustainable Sausage Saturday, to be precise -- and encourages participants to "slow down and green up." As InterActivist this week, Smith takes the time to answer questions on her dissatisfaction with Tony Blair, why she won't be stereotyped, and how far she's come since being "chuffed to bits" about her first radio interview. Send Smith a question by noon PDT on Wednesday; we'll publish her answers to selected questions on Friday.

Barack Tease

Obama pledges to save the civilized world with baby steps

"This is our generation's moment to save future generations from global catastrophe," declared Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in a speech on Friday. He heralded a "grassroots effort to make America greener and end the tyranny of oil." And just as greens were up on their collective tippie-toes, primed for a collective Obamagasm, he ... proposed a small boost in U.S. vehicle fuel-efficiency standards. Oh. Obama's "National Low Carbon Fuel Standard," which would federalize vehicle emissions standards put forward by California and since adopted by eight other states, would lower vehicle fuel carbon intensity by 10 percent by 2020. (That's the equivalent of taking 32 million cars off the road by 2020. There were 204 million cars on American roads in 2003.) Count that as something more than faint-hearted American automakers think they can accomplish, but far short of ending the tyranny of oil or saving future generations. Even Arnold doesn't congratulate himself this much.


In today's column, a reader and devoted cyclist wonders if there's such a thing as recycled bicycle tires, since regular riders tend to tear through the petroleum-based products with abandon. Advice maven Umbra Fisk -- an occasional pedal-pusher herself -- investigates the wild world of bicycle tires and the spin offered by manufacturers, then comes up with a wheely smart answer of her own.