Friday, 03 Aug 2007

Scurry Up and Wait

With August recess looming, Congress pushes energy, climate, water bills

Know how, when you're about to go on vacation, you suddenly realize you have a ton of work to do, so you scramble to finish it all, and you do kind of a half-assed job, but you promise yourself you'll deal with the loose ends when you get back? Hellooooo, Congress. With the four-week August recess starting Monday, the House and Senate have been getting bizzy. The House is debating its version of the energy bill today; to move things along, House leaders skirted a discussion over fuel economy, but will revisit the idea in September. Yesterday, Sens. John Warner (R-Va.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) unveiled plans for a climate bill that would cut greenhouse-gas emissions 70 percent by 2050; they'll draft the bill in ... September. And Wednesday night, the House passed a $20 billion national water bill that includes funding for projects in Louisiana, California, Florida, and elsewhere; President Bush has threatened a veto, but Congress can likely override it. Eh, they can deal with that later.


Every summer, tens of thousands of revelers gather in the desert of Nevada to make art, music, and one heck of a mess. Despite efforts to curb the impact of Burning Man over the years, the event has not exactly learned how to lessen its big, burning footprint. But this time, things are different: from a "Green Man" art theme to composting bins and biodiesel generators, organizers are trying to show that eco-consciousness can go hand in hand with -- well, blowing stuff up. What are their plans, and will they succeed? Judith Lewis investigates.

Freight Fright

Organic farmers in Africa fear for their livelihoods as U.K. frets over food miles

Small-scale organic farmers in Kenya and other African countries are waiting anxiously to find out whether the U.K.'s main organic certifier, the Soil Association, will withdraw organic certification from food items that are flown in from far-flung regions. Concerned that the air-freighting of food contributes to global warming, the Soil Association has been contemplating the move as a way to get Brits to buy local. Critics of the proposal say it could destroy the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Africans who work on organic farms. Critics also question the assumption that food produced in Britain has a lower carbon footprint than food flown in from developing countries, noting that British farmers may heat greenhouses in cold climates, use tractors, and drive to their fields in cars. Says Elijah Koinange of the Organic Farmers' Group in Kenya, "They say our products are polluted, but the consumers take jets and create much more pollution than we do."


GreenPrint founder Hayden Hamilton makes tree- and ink-saving software, and he'd love to get it pre-loaded onto every new computer (you listening, Gates?). He'd also love to give it away free, but apparently free isn't a good business model. As InterActivist this week, Hamilton answers reader questions about how to get a (discounted) copy of his software, why he left the corporate world, and, perhaps most important, whether he's single.

Man, the Arctic is Hot

Russia plants flag under North Pole, India launches its first Arctic expedition

Earlier this week, we reported that Russia was planning to stake a claim on the North Pole. Or, rather, the seabed deep underneath. Yesterday, two mini-submarines planted a titanium national flag on the sea floor, causing celebration in Moscow and consternation in Canada, which also claims ownership of the area. "You can't go around the world these days dropping a flag somewhere," said Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay. "This isn't the 14th or 15th century." Denmark, Norway, and the U.S. also own territory within the Arctic Circle; scoffed U.S. State Department spokesperson Tom Casey, "I'm not sure of whether they've put a metal flag, a rubber flag, or a bed sheet on the ocean floor. Either way, it doesn't have any legal standing or effect on this claim." Meanwhile, a less blustery expedition is heading north this month: a team of scientists from India will make that country's first-ever Arctic research trip, exploring the link between the polar reaches and India's fabled monsoons.