Monday, 16 Jul 2007

Second to Naan

A worried India takes steps toward national climate plan

India -- home to more than a billion people and a fast-expanding economy -- is taking its first steps toward a climate-change plan. On Friday, at the kick-off meeting of the National Council on Climate Change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave a preview of a "Green India" strategy that will call for planting trees on 15 million acres of denuded land. He emphasized the importance of planning for energy efficiency and sustainable development and of helping the country's citizens cope with the effects of global warming, including melting Himalayan glaciers. He did not, however, talk about actual targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. A draft of the government's climate policy should be completed in October, ahead of a U.N. climate meeting to be held in Bali in December -- and that's none too soon for many Indians, who were found in a recent international poll to be more concerned about climate change than the citizens of any other nation, and more optimistic about finding solutions.


As green causes go, the plight of the Great Plains is pretty neglected -- they don't call it flyover country for nothing. But expanses of tallgrass are top priority for Jarid Manos, author of the upcoming Ghetto Plainsman, who combines his passions for peace and prairies as the CEO of the Great Plains Restoration Council. As InterActivist this week, Manos speaks plainly about his run-ins with hate and violence, why inner-city youth are drawn to the hurting prairie, and how he just doesn't fit the environmentalist stereotype. Send Manos a question by noon PDT on Wednesday; we'll publish his answers to selected questions on Friday.

No Rush Hour

New York hems and haws over Manhattan congestion fees

Today is a make-or-break, do-or-die, fish-or-cut-bait, poo-or-get-off-the-pot, we-wish-we-could-think-of-more-hyphenated-clichés day for New York, as state legislators, Governor Eliot Spitzer, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wrestle over Bloomberg's proposal to enact traffic congestion fees. Following the lead of cities like London and Singapore, the Big Apple would charge a fee for vehicles entering or exiting Manhattan below 86th Street at peak hours. Supporters say the plan will reduce air pollution and associated health problems while boosting public transportation; opponents fear it will increase parking and pollution in the outer boroughs. While infinite bickering is fun, today is the deadline for $500 million in federal transportation funding. Bloomberg can't get the money without the approval of the state legislature, which has no session scheduled today. But he's gone to Albany to sweet talk the higher-ups, while lawmakers are rumored to be meeting behind closed doors.


With all the hype about compact fluorescent light bulbs these days, you'd be forgiven for thinking they're a hitch-free solution to the world's problems. But there's one little hitch: CFLs contain a teensy amount of mercury, and must be disposed of as hazardous waste. Should that keep you from making the switch? Advice maven Umbra Fisk says no -- she explains her logic in today's column.

Leo, I've Got a Feeling We're Not in Hollywood Anymore

DiCaprio-produced series will rebuild tornado-ravaged Kansas town

It's official: Nine months after the rumors began, Leonardo DiCaprio has confirmed that he and a partner will give birth to ... a reality series on green building. DiCaprio will executive produce the 13-part Eco-Town on the Discovery Channel's Planet Green arm, launching in 2008. The original notion was to upgrade Anywhere, USA, for a show called E-topia, but the new series will focus on rebuilding a Kansas town that was hit by a tornado in May. The tornado caused 10 deaths, displaced almost all of the town's roughly 1,500 residents, and leveled homes, a hospital, and other buildings. And we're not saying Leo and his peeps are crass, cold-hearted vultures, but how excited do you think they were when Mother Nature wiped out a town called -- wait for it -- Greensburg? "This is not about a TV show and about a cable channel that reaches 50 million homes," says Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav. "We're the number one non-fiction media company in the world, but we also want to make a difference."