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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
When will people on bikes be treated as well as smokers?
Bike racks in rain, smokers under cover |
JMG |
25 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| I am pissed. I just learned that my county would rather provide shelter from the weather for its employees who smoke (and drive up healthcare costs) than let those citizen-terrorists on bikes park out of the rain near the county building.So I have to go to the county building today after a lunch meeting. Rather than drive, I hop on my bike and dodge traffic and the shards of cars swept into the so-called "bike lanes." I get to the county building and it's starting to r ... |
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| Topics: bikes, green living, placemaking, travel (all these topics) |
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Turbocharged crap by any other name would smell as ...
Biofuels scam at 12 o'clock high! |
JMG |
25 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Is there anything that the rich and venal won't do to stave off limits on jet flights? The new scam is a discussion of laundering the fossil fuels through 'biofuels' ...Yeah, it's not enough that we're going to starve people and destroy the 'last six inches of topsoil in Iowa' to propel SUVs ... now we have to add jets to the mix. With creative accounting (and ignoring that jets pump tons of water vapor into the atmosphere [_at a level_] where it has no natural presence) we can ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy, green living, travel (all these topics) |
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Tunnels everywhere!
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John McGrath |
20 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| First a train tunnel between Africa and Europe, now the Russians want to build the long-dreamt-of tunnel between Russia and Alaska. The tunnel would theoretically carry natural gas, oil, electricity, and fiber-optic wires. The more and better tunnels we have for rail, the more competitive rail will be with less efficient transport systems like air travel. This is better for energy efficiency and therefore the environment. This project still has a lot of problems - ... |
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| Topics: Alaska, green living, placemaking, Russia, travel (all these topics) |
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The jet set
Only the little people fly scheduled airlines |
JMG |
19 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| In response to this story, about how the airport tax paid by proles being herded onto commercial boxcars is spent to make life even cushier for the big guys flying Lear jets, someone defended the poor abused jet setters thus: It is worth pointing out that those 'Learjets' burn bunches of fuel and pay the corresponding fuel taxes, so they aren't getting a totally free ride. Figure 200 gallons an hour as a usable figure (jet pilots figure burn in pounds, with taxes of $.50 a ga ... |
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| Topics: energy, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, travel (all these topics) |
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They Have Reservations
U.S. EPA adopts green guidelines for travel planning |
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19 Apr 2007 |
Daily Grist |
| They Have Reservations U.S. EPA adopts green guidelines for travel planning As of May, hotels and convention centers hoping to woo government accounts might need to polish their eco-cred. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has crafted a list of must-ask questions for potential hosts on topics from energy efficiency to paperless billing to towel reuse. (Anyone else picturing Johnson toweling off, or is it just us?) ... |
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| Topics: green living, news, travel, US EPA (all these topics) |
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An argument for cell phones on airline flights
Something that destructive outside SHOULD be unpleasant inside |
JMG |
15 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| A comment left on Sam Smith's Progressive Review discussion of cell phone bans on commercial airline flights: I don't give a wet slap why the FAA continues to ban cell phone use on airplanes so long as the keep doing it. People who use their cell phones in public places are loud and obnoxious, and on an airplane there's nowhere for anybody else to go. I can always move to the next car on BART, or get off the bus and walk, but for eight hours across the Atlantic trapped in a met ... |
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| Topics: green living, travel (all these topics) |
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Conservation cowboys
Rich Westerners bypass gov't to save rainforests |
David Roberts |
10 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| I have mixed feelings about these "conservation cowboys" -- rich Westerners who tromp down South in pursuit of grandiose eco-preservation schemes. They possess immense amounts of discretionary capital and can often sidestep cumbersome, slow-moving government machinery. But there's a tinge of colonialism about it. If they tread too heavily, I fear they'll end up sparking a populist backlash in the South that casts environmentalism as a form of imperialism (mo ... |
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| Topics: green living, travel (all these topics) |
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Trash talking the airline industry
A little holiday guilt for ya |
Kate Sheppard |
20 Dec 2006 |
Gristmill |
| Just in time for your holiday flight back to whence you came, a little news about the environmental effects of your holiday airline travel that will make you feel almost as guilty as your relatives will. Much like your family tree (OK, maybe just mine), your trip will inevitably generate trash. Airlines throw away tons and tons of cans, bottles, and paper each year, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council. In one year, they dispose of enou ... |
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| Topics: air travel, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, travel, waste (all these topics) |
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Vacation tips for a climate-changed world
WSJ ranks island getaways by how they'll hold during global warming |
Lisa Hymas |
31 Oct 2005 |
Gristmill |
| Power players in the U.S. are finally sitting up and taking note of climate change. But don't get hopeful just yet. They're not leaping to figure out how to retool our industrial system and stave off disaster. Rather, they're calculating which islands will make the best vacation getaways for the rich and famous in a globally warmed world. Yes, The Wall Street Journal has helpfully published 'The Global Climate-Change Island Guide' [subscribers only, alas], informed by t ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, green living, travel (all these topics) |
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Ecotourism tips
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David Roberts |
28 Jan 2005 |
Gristmill |
| I am, like most enviros, somewhat conflicted on the subject of ecotourism, and I wish I knew more about it. In the end, I'm inclined to think that the damage such tourism does to the ecosystems where it takes place is outweighed by the simple fact that it offers a source of revenue other than resource extraction. There is, of course, good ecotourism and bad ecotourism -- if you, as an aspiring ecotourist, want to know which is which, MSNBC's 12 tips for ecotravelers is ... |
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| Topics: green living, travel (all these topics) |
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'Til Cruise Do Us Part
On cruises |
Umbra Fisk |
06 Feb 2003 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, My husband, though a very warmhearted man, does not follow the environmental tides quite as much as I do. He would desperately like to take a cruise for our second honeymoon. I know cruise ships dump waste in the oceans and are not good for the ecosystem in general, but could you tell me which cruise lines are the most environmentally conscious? In the spirit of compromise, I have agreed to go, but would like to make the ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, oceans, travel, waste, water pollution (all these topics) |
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