A zillion Diaries this week on the gasoline tax holiday. Since I’ve already been twice accused this week of hyperbole, the number was actually only 72 – so far. While many Diarists had a lot to say about the holiday and the two presidential candidates (Senator McCain and Senator Clinton) who have proposed it, few suggested what to do about it.
Which makes it this week’s eco-action item. Since Clinton is taking the idea to the Senate, now’s the time – as Riterzbloc suggested in his Gas Tax Email-Action required Diary – to contact your elected officials and let them know what you think of the idea.
Since I have been recommending an incrementally rising gasoline tax with revenue directed toward alternative fuels research since 1981, you probably know what I’m going to be saying to my two Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and my Representative, Xavier Becerra. The tax holiday is a terrible idea. I hope you’ll do the same. If you don’t believe me, check out the Diaries on the subject: They’re the last category in this week’s Rescue (which begins after the fold).
The DailyKos Environmentalists can be found here.
ANIMALS
Coconut Crabs were the latest entry in Mark H’s long-running Marine Life Series: "Arthropods, including crustaceans, insects and arachnids, are by far the largest group of animals that exist on Earth, comprising over 80% of all known species of animals. And the single largest land-dwelling arthropod is the coconut crab (Birgus latro). Found on tropical islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans, these monsters may reach a leg span of well over six feet."
Fantastic discussed efforts to bring back the devastated salmon population in Salmon Restoration and Dam Removal: "Last year, just four sockeye salmon returned to spawn in Redfish Lake in Idaho. Four Fish. To a lake named for its abundance of spawning Salmon. The Coho Salmon that historically spawned in the Snake River are already extinct. The leading contributor to the catastrophic decline in salmon runs in this watershed: Four Lower Snake River Dams. These four dams have the lowest economic benefit for the region, and the highest fish mortality. Built mainly for barge transportation to and from Lewiston, Idaho, these dams do not provide much in the way of other benefits for the region. The dams are run of the river dams, and do not offer significant water storage, flood control, or even irrigation. In fact, the only irrigation drawn from the four dams is off of Ice Harbor Dam, the lowest of the four. Of, Washington's total cropland of about 6,500,000 acres, the 35,000 irrigated acres which use Ice Harbor water amount to roughly 1/2 of 1% of that total. And since all of these irrigators are using pumps, they could continue to draw water off of a free-flowing river."
lineatus provided us the serenity of the weekly Dawn Chorus Birdblog: Springtime favorites: "My friend and I made our annual pilgrimage Mines Road (south of Livermore, CA). Since she first introduced me to the spot 15 years ago or so, I visit every year - often twice, if I can make it. It's a nice loop of a day trip, and there are three or four species to see here that are hard to find in the rest of the bay area. It's also a really nice wildflower location, which just makes it that much more of a treat. Join me over the jump for a daytrip, and maybe share some of your own favorites."
The right whale was on The Baculum King’s mind in Cheney Even Hates Whales??: "Assuming the next Administration is Democratic, we'll need one office somewhere dedicated solely to following Cheney's tracks throughout our Government, just to track down every vestige of his influence and root it out." mwmwm also noted that Right Whale survival blocked by Cheney.
pattisigh lamented A Slaughter in Yellowstone: "My husband & I lived in Montana some years ago as I mentioned in a beautiful small town nestled next to the Bitterroot Mountains near the Idaho border. It coincidentally was about 50 miles south of Missoula where my husband graduated from the University of Montana. In our time there, I met several of his old friends from college, colorful characters all, who were still making their homes in Missoula. ...The last we spoke, he had taken the drastic step of moving to and camping in/around Yellowstone for each winter when bison are apt to step over the line outside the park to forage. Mike has made it his life's work, in affect, to save the bison & to video document every instance of capture & kill that he can."
Another on-going Yellowstone-area slaughter caught sheddhead’s attention in 37 Wolves Killed in 30 Days: "The NRDC has - with 11 other groups – ‘filed suit this week in federal court to stop the killing and restore the wolf's desperately needed Endangered Species protection.’As they continue this fight, they ask that you let congress know that you also stand against poisoning of gray wolves (and other wildlife.)"
Texas Revolutionary had a bird tale of his in True Stories of Birds: Northern Cardinal: "... one day, we heard tapping on the window. It turned out to be a male Northern Cardinal flying into our window. He was driving our cat Soxie (who is sadly no longer with us) insane. At first, we thought that Soxie had eaten his mate. But then we saw the female sitting in a nearby tree, watching her mate attack our windows. Perplexed, we checked online to see what the internets had to say about Cardinals. As it turns out, they are very territorial, and they will attack their reflection in windows. ... Today, the old Cardinal is dead, and the new generation has taken over. Every once in a while we hear a tap tap tap as the son attacks his reflection in the glass."
cumberland sibyl wrote a Retrospective for the Snail Darter and the Little Tennessee Valley: "This is the tale of the tragic flooding of the Valley of the Little Tennessee River, the heroic folks who fought the TVA action, the creative lawyers and law students who won the precedent setting supreme court decision, the brave folks whose farms were taken and the stoic Native Americans whose homeland it was before - and the roles of the snail darter and the crazed rabbit. And how it all comes down to - you guessed it - politics."
GREEN PHILOSOPHY & MISCELLANY
Contributing Editor Devilstower gave us a wonderfully crafted green fable in Grasshopper Planet: "Considering the amount of work we do, we might well sympathize with the ants, but societally, we're grasshoppers. In fact, we've built a whole "Grasshopper Planet" in the name of efficient global business. It's a system that glorifies short-term profit over long term planning. It's a fat-free, no plan for a rainy day, system, and it's supporting six billion grasshoppers. Though you wouldn't know it from looking at American waistlines, globalization has shaved the fat from planet Earth. Like a metal bridge slowly being eaten away by the passage of water and time, the supports of this system grow more delicate by the day -- on purpose. Competitiveness and fragility have become synonymous. ... Sooner or later the population will be controlled, perhaps by choice, and if not then by war or disease. Or famine."
dolfin66 looked at the same issue from another angle in Humans in Danger of Extinction: "...I am going to vent about what an evolutionary biologist thinks about the human condition and why we are destined to cause our own extinction sooner than you might think. The bible and the churches tell their unsuspecting followers to ‘go forth and multiply.’ O.K. We've done that. We have done that so well we are on the brink of destroying our life support system: the Earth's ability to produce enough fresh drinking water and sufficient calories to feed our voracious mouths. When I was in 7th grade back in 1954, my geography teacher told us that the world population of humans just passed 3 billion. In 2000 I told my biology students that the human population just passed 6 billion. Now, in 2008, I'm reading about 6.7 billion individuals on Earth with one-third of those being Chinese or Indian. The demands placed on the planet by this growing hoard is especially disturbing when you consider that China and India will purchase and use more automobiles in the next decade than the entire rest of the world combined. That said, I ask: ‘Where do you suppose all that oil is going to come from?’"
Bogleg was glad because My Long Winter is Over: "Today, I got up from my computer for awhile. I turned my phone off. I went outside. I stepped away from superdelegates, Gas Tax Holidays, Florida and Michigan, and a host of other real or unreal issues that have been drumming their way across this and other news outlets. I put pastors, ministers, reverends, priests, rabbis and immams of all stripes behind me, and I grabbed my fly rod."
Compound F went on a major snark run in Uppity Indigenous Peoples Cruising for Regime Change!: "It is charming that the indigenous peoples want to learn how to live well, but somehow I think [Bolivia President Evo] Morales is missing the point entirely in offering alternatives to ‘egoism, regionalism, and the pursuit of luxury,’ as if feeling good about oneself and pursuing luxury were bad things. It’s called luxury because it’s luxurious! And before we start meddling with complex economic systems and entrenched and proven political realities, and start replacing them with abstract notions like altruism, Mother Goddesses, flute-dancing, dream hoops, or what have you, let’s take a closer look at the nuts and bolts of the above-mentioned Ten Commandments."
Chaoslillith compiled a list of eco-stories in Green Goodness: "Australian researchers are a step closer to turning plants into ‘biofactories’ capable of producing oils which can be used to replace petrochemicals used to manufacture a range of products."
GLOBAL WARMING
Contributing Editor Plutonium Page took on some fakers in Eco Open Thread: '500 climate scientists' list smacked down: "It's a very bad day for the chronic climate change deniers at the right wing ‘think’ tank, the Heartland Institute. The folks at DeSmogBlog have discovered an inconvenient truth about the Heartland Institute's ‘500 climate scientists’ list: Dozens of scientists are demanding that their names be removed from a widely distributed Heartland Institute article entitled 500 Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares."
Eric Zencey voiced an opinion on that subject, too, in his The Big Lie on global warming: "The problem: the list is a lie. Scientists on the list do NOT deny that global climate change is happening. Nor do they deny that human emissions are causing it. Quite the opposite: many of the scientists on the list are the scientists whose work established that the climate is changing and that human emissions are the primary cause. Dozens of them who have been contacted are outraged at having their work misrepresented and are demanding to be taken off the list."
You could almost hear the sigh from TheGreenMiles in the DiaryAnother Primary, Another Month of Media Ignoring Climate Change: "The Pennsylvania presidential primary has come and gone, and still the media refuses to talk about global warming."
Running In Circles Around Climate Change is getting us nowhere, wrote Mentarch: "Fighting Global Climate Change is not just about saving the planet. It is first and foremost about saving ourselves.But the way things have been going with regards to the Kyoto Protocols and Environmental summits over the last year or so, it looks like we keep running in circles around the matter of fighting Global Climate Change - while we keep on screwing up the planet's climate cycle."
SpamNunn said it shouldn’t give us reason to relax about global warming just because German Scientists Say It's Unpredictable: "Notwithstanding this article, the same German scientists agree that the cooling of these ocean currents is not an indication that global warming is not a serious problem. However, they agree that it is an indication that even the conventional wisdom may need to be re-examined, as the Earth continues to fool us. Examples: North American ski areas are taking advantage of record snowfalls, even as the Arctic ice pack shrinks with record celerity. The bottom line? As long as we are unsure as to what is really happening, every effort to stem global warming has value, as no one can be sure if even these efforts will prevent cataclysmic climate change. Better safe than sorry."
Mike Tidwell wondered 8 tornadoes in VA - signs of global warming?: "A recent study by the NASA Goddard Institute shows that our area can expect stronger wind events because of a warming climate. In the warmer climate simulation there is a small class of the most extreme storms with both strong updrafts and strong horizontal winds at higher levels that occur more often, and thus the model suggests that the most violent severe storms and tornadoes may become more common with warming. It’s impossible to link a single storm to climate change, but what scientists seem to be saying is that you can make a pretty accurate prediction that Virginians are going to see more severe weather in the next 50 years than we have in the last 50 years."
FOOD, AGRICULTURE & HORTICULTURE
Scaredhuman conjured up quite a controversy with A Mennonite Farmer is Hauled Away for Selling Raw Milk. No One Arrested for Cancer-Related Milk: "According to reports from neighbors and the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, several officials of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture participated in the raid, and while Mark was being transported by police car to the courthouse, PDA officials confiscated $20,000 to $25,000 worth of dairy products and production equipment. Neighbors reported the farm had been closed and that a large group of officials had gathered, with videos prohibited." http://www.thecompletepatient.com/... ‘Mr. Nolt was told that people had gotten sick from eating his food, but no one ever came forward and no proof was ever offered.’ ‘This is a Gestapo raid,’ Jonas Stotlzfus said, ‘complete with state troopers, raiding a hard-working farmer selling milk to friends and customers. And his customers ARE his friends.’"
In You wouldn't know it, but natural gas prices affect food prices, Daxton16 let us read his letter complaining about how the author of an article in the St. Petersburg Times missed a major point: "I am no agricultural economist, but I am going to bet the farm on this one: The greatest SINGLE cost behind fertilizer increase is the increase in the price of natural gas."
bink wrote About That Rice Shortage of Last Week ...: "I got a bit nervous when news stories starting coming out last week, asserting that large American retailers were imposing limits on the number of bags of rice that customers could buy ... Not because I feared a food-shortage, especially, but because I was afraid of the impact of the spread of false stories about food availability. The New York Sun led the ‘journalistic’ charge, with a hyperbolically-titled article, ‘Food Rationing Confronts the Breadbasket of the World.’ Um, no. ... Some facts in the story were true. But important facts that would have helped readers extract the truth from the story were omitted."
Hardhat Democrat urged – Let's Start Ending Hunger Locally: "Oregon has too many agricultural resources to ever lead the nation in hunger again. And so does every other state, for that matter. I'm just speaking on the state that I know, but I'd love to see the day where the state with just one hungry person 'leads the nation' in hunger. There are so many ways to take this, so many issues to focus on...but the one place we can all start is just by donating a few dollars or a few hours of your time to your local food bank. I knock on doors, greet people and gather signatures. I'm not a policy wonk, but it's pretty clear that we've been traveling down the wrong path for quite some time. So I do what I can personally and directly do, while voting for the good guys and trying to make it clear to them what we need."
teacherken followed the Washington Post’s series on the food crisis with a connected series of his own, starting with Where Every Meal Is a Sacrifice: "Perhaps you have heard the expression of ‘eating your seed corn.’ That phrase is meant to illustrate how attempting to address a short-term need of hunger can lead to long-term starvation. The Post article addresses it another way, using the example of a poor family slaughtering a female goat for a few day's meat and thereby depriving itself of an ongoing source of milk. Or equally as bad, attempting to sell a goat only to discover that so many families are so desperate for a little cash to purchase the crops whose price has soared that simultaneously the price of goats has dropped, further aggravating the desperation of those trying to sell. Why focus on Mauritania?Like most of the world's poorest nations, Mauritania is caught in a global food trap, producing only 30 percent of what its people eat and importing most of the rest. As prices skyrocket, those who can least afford it are squeezed the most as the world confronts the worst bout of food inflation since the Soviet grain crisis of the 1970s.
There was also his The New World of Soaring Food Prices - even in the USA, The destructiveness of corn-based ethanol, and Global Food Crisis at home: Crimping, Scrimping, Saving.
Milos Janus Outlook also wrote a series on The Global Food Crisis: A Hydra-headed Monster: "I have a long list of critical issues requiring immediate attention when a new U.S. president takes office in January, the length and nature of which will make FDR’s ‘Hundred Days’ plan look small (getting out of Iraq, caring for veterans, dealing with war crimes charges against Bush administration officials, developing an appropriate strategy for combating terrorism, turning the economy around, moving on a plan for universal health care, undergirding Social Security, restoring civil liberties, re-establishing international credibility, cleaning out politicized and crony-corrupted federal agencies, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, to name a few). But, as someone who worked with an NGO on the world food crisis of the 70’s, I’m not sure any of the problems listed above cloud the future more than the current global food crisis. Who would want to be president and face this problem?"
Here is Part Two: The Food Crisis and Carbon Footprints.
New Deal democrat offered some Scenes from the World Food Crisis: "In order to understand the origins of the World Food Crisis, one must first go back to those reckless fiscal policies of budget and trade deficits, and of running wars without paying for them."
OrangeClouds115 told us about a new book that delighted her in The Poor Get Diabetes; The Rich Get Local and Organic: "... I read Mark Winne's new book, Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty... I fell in love with Closing the Food Gap by page 6 at the latest. And the book starts on page 3. Winne's writing style would hold a reader's attention even if he were writing, say, an 800-page treatise on slime mold. As it so happens though, the topic he write about is urgently vital to building a better society. I don't know how to put it other than: Mark Winne is the real deal. He's been working to end hunger in our country since before I was born, and trying just about every single tactic imaginable to do it. That is not to say that he's been 100% successful. I think he'd be the first to point out that there have been a few failed experiments here and there. But as he shows in the book, he's learned from each of his experiences (good or bad) and he will always pick himself back up and try again. What's the food gap the book's title speaks of? In the past, it was the fact that the rich ate and the poor didn't. Today, as Winne puts it, ‘the poor get diabetes; the rich get local and organic.’
Dave Donelson’s opinion is that Food Crisis Everybody's Fault: "Culprits on both the supply and the demand side have caused the current crisis in world food prices. Everything from weather to a new taste for richer foods are to blame, exacerbated by import curbs and agricultural subsidies by rich nations and export bans by poor ones. Even the well-intentioned but controversial move to biofuels has impacted markets. There may be a silver lining, though, as sky-rocketing prices and the resultant food riots around the globe might prompt some meaningful long-term changes in both trade policies and aid practices."
janefleming wrote that she sees a very big problem with people who are Sowing Blame: Farmers, Food and Fuel: "There seems to be lots of controversy around corn these days.Time magazine says corn-based ethanol is killing the earth, Bill Maher asks how environmentalists got it so wrong, political pundits are saying farmers are getting rich off of a fuel that may be renewable but isn’t clean and is causing more harm than good including increasing the price of food.Hogwash...farmers are feeding and fueling our country, we need to support that, not buy into the demonizing of them. Corn-based ethanol was never THE solution to making America energy independent and to stop global warming, it was always part of the solution."
ScarySteve let us know he is pretty upset about Our Tainted Food: "Recently, I saw Breyers on the shelf in Southern California, where I now live. I purchased some. It made me ill. I checked the ingredients. Sure enough, there was ‘guar gum’ and a few other chemicals. The former Pledge of Purity that Breyers touted had been changed. The carton still said ‘All Natural’ because guar gum is, after all, a plant product and is, therefore, ‘natural.’"
Monsanto + Monoculture = Monopoly was hannah’s no-punches-pulled headline: "If the human species has one unique characteristic, it may well be the propensity to kill things it doesn't like or that simply displease. Other species destroy to sustain themselves; humans just do it because they can. Now there's big money in it. One of the biggest money makers is Monsanto, the organization that brought us Agent Orange, dioxin, RoundUp and, most recently, acquired the company, Delta&Pine Land, that developed, together with the Department of Agriculture, the terminator gene."
(most) Kossacks Don't Know Farming!? claimed SlyDi in reference to those who had responded to a previous Diary: "Of the 90 or so responses too my "what should I do with 40 acres in west central Minnesota" quiery, there were 43 suggestions. Sadly, only 12 of them were even remotely viable."
The Denver weather gave Frankenoid fits again last week as she explained in Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 4.11: "The weather here in Denver has been, uhm, interesting. On Wednesday, April 30, we topped 80° for the first time this season. Oh, such a lovely day, especially as I was not at the office but, instead, outside working in the yard, breathing the mingled scents of sun-warmed lilac and the first lawn mowing. And May Day? Although the official high for the day was 44°, that temperature came during the wee morning hours. The daytime high was about 50° cooler than the day before, somewhere in the mid-30s. We had flurries of wet, sloppy snow, interspersed with rain. And wind. Oh gawd, wind."
WATER & OTHER RESOURCES
Asinus Asinum Fricat compiled a long list of Water News stories: "A recent Gallup Poll showed that Americans perceived polluted drinking water as more of a threat than climate change, with 53% saying that they worried ‘a great deal’ about it and 37% expressing the same level of concern over global warming. Gallup noted that pollution of drinking water has been a major concern since 1990."
JohnnyRook suggested that there are Ten Things America Can Learn From Spain's Water War: "Can the United States, like Spain, a developed country with a growing water problem, draw useful lessons from the Spanish experiences? It would seem prudent to at least have a look. .. 2. The first solution to water shortages should always be conservation and efficiency. Such measures rarely require huge capital outlays and save money in the long run and boost economic productivity in the long run. If Barcelona can cut it's per capital water use to 110 liters per person so can Las Vegas."
GREEN ACTIVISM
Do You Want Cleaner Air? was sedrik39’s admittedly rhetorical question, "but I know that I do. The question, then, is how we get it. I'm reminded of the adage, ‘Think globally, act locally.’ As a result, I'm taking matters into my own hands and riding in my local Clean Air Adventure, the Clean Air Challenge 120! This is a 120-mile bicycle ride over two days to raise money for the American Lung Association. If you're interested in sponsoring me on this ride, you can do so by clicking here. More information about the ride and why it accomplishes the goal below the jump."
plf515 offered a means for How to make green cool: "So, here's one brilliant marketing idea I know of. It was used by a toy manufacturer. What they did was go to a big urban school. They asked a bunch of kids to name the 5 coolest kids in school. Then they asked the kids who were named by a lot of kids to name the 5 coolest kids. Then they found those coolest kids, and paid them to use their toy. Now, this isn't cheap, but it's a lot cheaper than advertising. Once things are cool, they go viral. What should be cool? Riding a bike to work. Taking mass transit ..."
TRANSPORTATION
Lefty Coaster asked What Kind of Mileage Do You Get? How Far Do You Drive?: "We Americans have built the most automobile dependent transportation system in the world. The development patterns this system have given rise to have resulted in sprawling suburbs around our central cities, and the far flung exurbs beyond those suburbs. Many Americans have made a tradeoff of longer commutes for more affordable housing or the aesthetics of a remote location. Americans also drive the biggest gas guzzlers of any country on the planet."
A Siegel admitted that he was a big fan of of Plug-in Hybrid Electric School Buses in his Diary, Energy COOL: PHESBs for the kids ...: "With all the (welcome) focus on PHECs (Plug-In Electric Cars) like the Volt, Prius, and others, the real potential for some gamechanging through fleets of large fleets seem to be falling by the wayside. In fact, school buses offer some quite serious opportunities for breakthrough benefits and merit serious attention. Happily, we are seeing some serious news advancing the possibility of actually seizing these benefits."
POLLUTION & REGULATION
New research means new links between air pollution and life expectancy of american women was Code Breaker’s discouraging write-up: "A study published last week showed that life expectancy is now shorter than it was in 1980 for American women living in 1,000 counties, representing about 12 percent of all U.S. women. This is the first time the United States has seen a drop in life expectancy since 1918 and the Spanish influenza. Increases in deaths from diabetes, lung cancer, emphysema and kidney failure are several causes for the trend, as well the obesity epidemic across our nation. However, the phenomenon of falling life expectancy is not seen in all parts of the world; it's particularly American."
Dow Chemical Wins Removal of EPA's Mary Gade, Region V Administrator wrote LakeSuperior: "EPA political appointees force removal of well-respected EPA Regional Administrator Mary Gade after pressure from Dow Chemical Company. ...Gade had been pressing Dow and the State of Michigan on cleanup of chlorinated dibenzo-dioxins/furans -- some of the most toxic substances known - in the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers downstream from the Dow Chemical facilities at Midland, MI. The contamination has spanned decades and extends into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron."
The Cunctator had some harsh word for Stephen Johnson, The Environment's Alberto Gonzales: "Alberto Gonzales brought disgrace to the Department of Justice as Attorney General, putting loyalty to the President above duty to the country, until the weight of numerous scandals forced his resignation in August 2007. As The New York Times described, he left ‘a Justice Department that has been tainted by political influence, depleted by the departures of top officials and weakened by sapped morale.’ Now all eyes are turning to Stephen L. Johnson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -- set up by President Nixon in 1970 to be an independent watchdog for the health of the environment and the American people. It has become clear that Johnson has subverted that mission, in contravention of science, ethics, and the law. What Gonzales did to Justice, Johnson is doing to the EPA."
The Cunctator also took on Gade’s removal in EPA SCANDAL GROWS: Top Official Forced Out For Making Dow Clean Up Dioxin: "As a congressional investigation revealed this week, the EPA's regulation of toxic chemicals like dioxin has been corrupted by interference by the White House. But this case is even more egregious: For the past year, Gade has been locked in a heated dispute with Dow about long-delayed plans to clean up dioxin-saturated soil and sediment that extends 50 miles beyond its Midland, Mich., plant into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. (. . .) Though regional EPA administrators typically have wide latitude to enforce environmental laws, Gade drew fire from officials in Washington last month after she sent contractors to test soil in a Saginaw neighborhood where Dow had found high dioxin levels. She said top lieutenants to Stephen Johnson, the national EPA administrator, repeatedly questioned her aggressive action against Dow, which long ago acknowledged it is responsible for the dioxin contamination but has resisted federal and state involvement in cleanup plans.
ECONOMIC JUSTICE
It’s not everyone who can get a spouse to write his Diaries for him, but Asinus Asinum Fricat probably owes his wife a royalty for Poverty & Environmental Degradation in the South: "Another diary penned by Ms AAF, who's toiling away on her psychology master. I did a little edit, not much. The causes of environmental degradation in the South are manifold, and poverty is a symptom of a global economical and social system which drives this environmental degradation, both in North and South, in pursuit of short-term financial gain and greed, without consideration for future generations and sustainable development. Citing poverty as the single cause for environmental degradation would be simplistic and plain false as both phenomena must be seen in their local, national and international context. The extreme affluence of the North (or formerly ‘First world’) with their associated hunger for resources , drives environmental degradation in the South (formerly Third World) as much as the extreme poverty found there. Both conditions (extreme wealth and poverty) are unsustainable, but to achieve change the balance of economic, social and political powers would have to undergo radical change."
ENERGY
Among his many Diaries of the week, A Siegel gave us An invitation: Join a Conversation about Energy: "For several years now, various agencies of the US government have been sponsoring a monthly evening lecture series on energy issues: The Energy Conversation. Held in Crystal City, Virginia, these lectures (conversations?) bring together an eclectic mix of people who generally share a passion about one issue: concerns about the US approach to energy and a desire to see a shift toward more sensible approach toward energy within the United States (and globally). Tonight's lecture: Lester Brown (registerfor this free event, $10 for dinner) from Earth Policy Institute /etc ...Brown's lecture, as with past events, will be available via the website."
He pondered Bagels vs McSUVs?: "A week ago, the Post reported that Montgomery Aims to Make Green Homes Mandatory. In addition to speaking to changing building codes, the article spent a few paragraphs to discuss other Montgomery County, Maryland, initiatives to reduce carbon emissions. These include ‘increasing fuel-efficiency standards for its fleet of 1,430 cars, 286 SUVs, 252 vans and 168 pickup trucks’ and reviewing SUVs annually ‘to determine which employees could use a more efficient vehicle.’...Note that the article also notes that County government would do its part by ... using biofuels for all diesel vehicles. In other words, Leggett's vehicle isn't alone. Montgomery County is moving toward biofuels which may (or may not) help on the Global Warming front.And, it can hurt on other fronts."
He took on Robert Samuelson in Truthiness Samuelson Strikes Again at the Post: "Robert Samuelson has a real talent, a real expertise in turning fact into truthiness when it comes to the economics of energy and global warming issues. ... With Start Drilling Samuelson is pandering to George W. Bush's sad parody of energy policy as enunciated in his press conference yesterdayand providing a sad parody of sensible energy concepts on the opinion pages of The Washington Post. In this OPED, as with any good truthiness attack on sensibility, Samuelson mixes fact, sensible comments, with near lunacy."
And, finally, he explained who is Energy Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest ...: "My six-year old son is addicted to the Berenstein Bears. One of his first successfully read books: Ready, Get Set, Go which teaches adjectives and suggests that no one is best at everything. How many times read between us? 10? 25? Maybe 50? As any parent can tell you, a favored book like that becomes imprinted in your brain. ‘Good, Better, Best ...’ is the tag line in Ready, Get Set, Go. Well, in the past few days, we've seen an example of this in reverse, something more from the film world. When it comes to politics and energy, we've had a display of Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest. Clinton, McCain, Bush.
faithfull noted that for Gore: Mountaintop Removal is a CRIME, and ought to be Treated as a Crime: "Al Gore recently addressed Appalachian resident Ed Wiley, Ed's granddaughter Kayla, and the audience at the 2008 Nashville film festival, to present Director Michael O' Connell the 2008 ‘Reel Current Award’ for his most recent piece ‘Mountain Top Removal.’ You'll remember Ed Wiley as the grandfather who walked 455 miles from Charleston WV to Washington DC to speak with Senator Byrd about mountaintop removal mining in his community, and Marsh Fork Elementary School which sits right below a sludge impoundment holding 2.8 billion gallons of toxic sludge." Gore on MTR: [MTR] just kills the landscape, and it kills the prospect for Kayla and her generation to have the same kind of beautiful place to live and the same healthy place to live. And all for what?
Mountaintop Removal Mining: Tennesseans, GET ON IT was TN yellow dog’s call for action: "The fact is you have to MAKE it into a crime. This is a practice so perverse that even states that regulate mining don't have statutes adequate to protect from MTR (mountaintop removal). Needless to say, at the federal level, the Bush team is dedicated to making sure coal mining regs are gutted, not improved. The states must lead the charge on this issue. Tennesseans, you may not know that we fact new threats of MTR, and that there has been action in this legislative session in 2008 to make MTR illegal."
WattHead WSJ Says: Don't Bet on LNG to Reduce US Natural Gas Prices
There are many reasons to be concerned about imported liquefied natural gas, or LNG, natural gas that has been supercooled to negative 260 degrees F in order to turn it into a liquid ready to transport on specially-designed tankers from LNG exporting countries like Indonesia, Russia, Iran and Qatar. From increased dependence on foreign fossil fuels to increased greenhouse gas emissions, seized farmland for new pipelines and health and safety concerns, citizens of potentially impacted communities have found plenty of reasons to rally against LNG terminals and pipelines.
The principle argument to forge ahead with new LNG terminals despite these concerns is the assumption that increasing North American natural gas supplies with LNG imports will reduce prices. It's a simple "laws" of supply and demand that increased supply will reduce prices, right? That's what we all learned in economics 101, right?
Unfortunately, a recent front page article in the Wall Street Journal (April 18) warns us that the economics of LNG is a bit more complicated than that.
refinish69Laymen's View of the Texas Solar Forum
On April 24th & 25th, I attended the Texas Solar Forum at the capital. It would probably have been better to send someone with a science background to cover it but I did learn quite a few interesting facts about solar power.
A survey was done 25 years ago asking people where they thought they would be getting their energy in the 21st century. 48% of the people surveyed said they would be using solar power. Sad to say in Texas only .01% of power is supplied by solar power at this time."
mcgee85 made A case for Nuclear energy Our country needs to get off of the oil economy. We are paying more and more for a finite resource that we have no control over. I will try to make a case for a newer nuclear technology called Pebble bed modular reactors or PBMR."
Buckeye State Goes Green: Ohio Passes Renewable Energy Standard was the delighted WattHead’s Diary: "The Ohio state Senate unanimously passed legislation setting strong new renewable energy and energy efficiency standards last week, sending the bill on to Governor Ted Strickland for signature. Sub. Senate Bill 221 establishes a 12.5% by 2025 renewable energy standard (RES), making the Buckeye State the 26th state in the nation to adopt a renewable energy requirement for electric utilities ... The legislation also includes a strong energy efficiency standard that is expected to result in a 22% cumulative reduction in energy usage by 2025."
The BBQ Chicken Madness explained an alternative energy source I never heard about previously in SOAE - Plasma Arc Power Plants: "How a plasma arc power plant works can be explained as a fairly simplistic process. A furnace sits at the heart of the facility, burning municipal solid waste (MSW) at a temperature of over 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This extremely high temperature means there are no restrictions as to what can be burned, since the arc can literally vaporize anything that may be put into it. This process creates a pair of byproducts. First, the solid matter (soot) left over is allowed to harden and become slag, which can be sold for use in road asphalt. The synthetic, combustible gas (SynGas) created is used to drive turbines, which produce power. This is, for all intensive purposes, a ‘Mr. Fusion.’ Bringing this revolutionary process to the US has already begun."
OrangeClouds115 informed us about The Stimulus Package/Energy Policy I Want the Dems to Propose: "Here's my idea: Let's create jobs by upgrading our power grid and by putting solar panels on government buildings. We'd pay now but reap the savings later, so we won't have to pay ourselves back or pay China back. We'd reduce our use of dirty power and reduce our carbon footprint. We'd create a load of jobs and thus stimulate the economy. We'd presumably reduce our demand for oil (or dirty power at least) and hopefully thereby drive the price down. I would also FULLY support a windfall tax on the gas companies to pay for some of this."
IntertubeGuy announced McCain Energy Policy Watch (Widget!): "John McCain has now been officially running for president this cycle for more than a year, and he has yet to put forward any concrete or specific policy proposals regarding America's energy challenges."
tunesmith took a chance and asked "What if Dick Cheney isn't crazy?" in Cheney's Rational Energy Policy (Thought Experiment): "Oil was king once again. Alternative energy companies went out of business, and Carter bore the brunt. Alternative energy became something to scoff at, all because we got conned by the Saudis. R&D was devastated. It set us back decades. This uncertainty has been priced into the Alt Unit cost since then. We're not going to really start ramping up on alternative energy until we're really damn sure, and until a sudden drop in oil prices is either not possible, or won't devastate the alternative energy sector if it happens. The energy companies know this. Dick Cheney knows this. And the oil executives are part of large companies that are perfectly capable of entering the alternative energy markets when it becomes economical for them to do so."
Left Brain Kansas was incensed over Record Prices a the Pump = Record Profits for Big OilBig Oil has been announcing staggering first-quarter oil profits this week: Exxon Mobil: $10.9 billion; Shell: $9.1 billion; BP: $7.62 billion; ConocoPhillips: $4.12 billion. And while these record profits help to line the pockets of Big Oil CEO's, those same CEO's line the pockets of rotten politicians like Pat Roberts and Todd Tiahrt (R, KS-04). ... who have been taking money from Big Oil for years and repaying them by voting for billions in tax breaks and incentives - we are stuck with empty pockets and no plans for a summer vacation."
Farlfoto also weighed in on the subject in Exxon-Mobil 17% rise in profits. Obscene!!!: "Can you imagine? They just posted the 2nd highest profit margin for a corporation in HISTORY!!! What is wrong with this country? Why don't we just hand all of our money over to the corporations and get it over with? That's 17% for the first quarter of this year, in a time when everyone is suffering. When the middle class is trying to hold on to their houses, when soldiers are dying in Iraq for the sake of the oil companies, and when our President still says the war was not about oil."
nuketeacher opined re: The Price of Oil: "Put simply, the beginning of the end of the age of oil is at hand. Hubbert's Peak is a reality and we are either right at or slightly just beyond that peak. Hubbert's Peak is a symmetrical curve. Since we have enjoyed a 6% annual growth rate in fossil energy consumption over the last 150 years since Drake first tapped into the world's finite oil supply, this means we are destined to now see a 6% annual REDUCTION in the oil that is available to consume. This is going to have MAJOR repercussions, and we are just beginning to see them. ... How high will the price go? Your next opportunity to consume oil has the answer. Ask yourself: how high would the price of gasoline have to be to prevent me from consuming that next gallon of gasoline? As draconian as it might seem, the best (and therefore never to be adopted) solution is to get that price rise over with as quickly as possible by imposing a huge disincentive to consume, through the imposition of a large consumption tax."
Doug Johnson MD also wrote in this vein in his Diary, Raising the gas tax would lower the price of gasoline There are several reasons why an increased tax on gasoline would lower the price of gasoline. 1) The certainty of a significant tax would encourage energy conservation, public transportation, and more fuel efficient cars, reducing the demand for oil. A small fall in demand would allow US refinery capacity to keep up with demand. 2) Letting the world know that the US is serious about reducing our dependence on oil would reduce speculation. 3) The $150 billion yearly revenue and resulting improved US economy and budget deficit would strengthen the US dollar."
And SanAntonioKrusty wondered Do Americans feel the high price of gas?: "So here we are in the latter stages of the primary season and we have a policy debate about a tax holiday - a full out pander by two of remaining cadidates. Funny thing is, changing driving habits just a little bit could save more money than such fool policy. Even though I now drive a Prius and love it (mainly for being greener) I have also learned to change my driving habits. From my observations though, many here in Texas still drive their large SUVs and drive solo 90% of the time. So I open the paper this morning and see a column stating - gas prices not hurting enough."
Raising the gasoline taxes is precisely the opposite of what McCain and Clinton suggested, however; they seek to get rid of the federal tax for the summer, and among Kossacks the response to this idea was deafening.
poblano wrote Krugman calls out Clinton on the gas tax ... or not: "There are few issues on which you'll find a broader consensus of economists, environmentalists and policy-makers: the gas tax is a good idea. Lowering or suspending the gas tax would be a bad idea. In fact, the gas tax should almost certainly be raised."
RFK Lives wrote that Friedman Makes More Sense than Krugman on Gas Tax: "Tom Friedman is, for better and for worse, now back from his op-ed sabbatical. In today's column, he hits a bulls-eye on the McCain/Clinton gas tax holiday. Meanwhile, in his latest blog entry, Paul Krugman proves, once and for all, that he's in the tank for HRC. Krugman openly acknowledges that the whole idea is nuts. Like Friedman, he points out the economic fallacies behind the move. Unlike Friedman, however, he lets HRC off the hook for her latest bad idea."
Let's be clear: Cutting the Gas Tax is a Very Bad Idea wrote Gray: "Sure, the lovely headline in today's NYT is "Democrats Divided Over Gas Tax Break." And the politics are confusing: on one side we have Clinton, McCain and plenty of Republican state lawmakers. On the other side, Obama, Republican Senator Cornyn from Texas, and even (it would seem) Bush. But let's set aside the confusing political landscape of this, and examine the idea on its merits."
kubla000 wrote Barack and Nancy: Bloomberg Blasts Gas Tax Bribe as 'Dumbest Thing'
And it wasn’t even a big bribe, wrote Vyan in The Gas Tax Holiday is nothing more than a Bribe!: "Let's get real here people. We all know what this is, we all know what this is about. Hillary Clinton and John McCain are trying to BUY YOUR VOTE for a measley $30. A half a tank of gas."
jackbauer8393 wrote that 150 Economists Petition Against Clinton-McCain Gas Tax Holiday: "Here's a quote from a statement signed by 150 (yes, one hundred and fifty) economists. As economists who study issues of energy policy, taxation, public finance, and budgeting, we write to indicate our opposition to this policy. There are several reasons for this opposition. First, research shows that waiving the gas tax would generate major profits for oil companies rather than significantly loweing prices for consumers. Second, it would encourage people to keep buying costly imported oil and do nothing to encourage conservation. Third, a tax holiday would provide very little relief to families feeling squeezed. Fourth, the gas tax suspension would threaten to increase the already record deficit in the coming year and reduce the amount of money going into the highways trust fund that maintains our infrastructure. "
ablington wrote McCain's idiotic gas tax plan loses him a vote: "So, my father is a civil engineer, and he has worked for a small Maine construction firm for many years. This business is family owned by DEDICATED Republicans...Republicans who have embraced such lame GOP ideas as medical savings accounts, etc. My father, a lifelong Democrat (and Hillary supporter, as far as I know), has generally been at odds with his office mates in terms of political views. But finally, they found something they can all agree on...McCain's gas tax relief plan SUCKS FAT ROCKS. My mother gleefully sent me this email today: read this. (Dad's company) are in a panic. (Dad's Boss) isn't even voting for John McCain anymore because of this stupid idea. A republican for Obama!!"
MBNYC wrote that Clinton campaigns against Democrats on gas prices: "Triangulation is alive and well, it seems. Hillary Clinton, descending ever deeper into the grotesque, today called out the Congress, the body of which she is a member and that is controlled by her party, to do something about gas prices. Hotline: ’I believe it would be important to get every member of Congress on record,’ she said, per NBC/NJ's MIke Memoli. ‘Do they stand with the hard-pressed Americans who are trying to pay their gas bills at the gas station or do they once again stand with the oil companies? That's a vote I'm going to try to get, because I want to know where people stand, and I want them to tell us - are they with us or against us when it comes to taking on the oil companies?’ Once again standing with the oil companies against us? Is she high?"
eugene also challenged Hillary Clinton's Attack on the Democratic Congress: "By introducing her idiotic gas tax cut idea as a Senate bill she is forcing her fellow Congressional Democrats to have to on record about whether they support this stupid concept or not. This is not helpful to the efforts to expand our Congressional majorities this November, and by introducing this as a bill, Hillary may have given a huge opening for Republicans."
Woodwards Friend wrote Yeah higher gas prices!: "I won’t defend oil companies anymore than I will defend the New York Yankees but I have no patience for hand-wringing over gas prices. Frankly they need to go higher. I don’t give a good God damn about the single mothers or college student the politicians will drag up on stage in a pathetic attempt to humanize a problem that is our own fault and no politician dares to offer a real solution."
Joe in Illinois wrote Gas Tax holiday? Pshaw.: "Hillary and McCain showed themselves to be of the same timber today in suggesting that we should institute a Gas Tax Holiday. This is a foolish idea, but it gives Obama a crucial opportunity to show his progressive leadership. McCain will simply allow the revenue to disappear, while Hillary suggested a windfall profits tax on oil producers, an idea which has a difficult history.’
lowkell cheered Finally, Someone With a Brain on Gasoline Prices: "Finally, there's someone with a brain on gasoline prices. No, it's certainly not John McCain or Hillary Clinton, both of whom have resorted to the most pitiful pandering imaginable... No, the voice of rationality doesn't come from a politician at all, but from a Hill staffer named Bill Wicker, spokesperson for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources."
bcriss wrote What we're selling to pay for gas: "This is my first diary that i've posted but in light of the ever increasing gas prices, this is something I just had to share. I've been reading articles on what people have been doing to supplement their income to pay for the increase in food and gas. Last week I read that pawn shops are seeing an increase in people selling items from electronics to gold teeth, yes gold teeth. I also read this morning that craigslist has been seeing increases in all sorts of items being sold on its pages."
AuthorEditor wrote Fuel Prices Will be #1 Issue: "One problem with high fuel prices for progressives is that the issue cuts different ways. Many seem to like the idea that high prices should eventually cut demand, therefore saving oil and hopefully the environment. But, on the other hand, high fuel costs are a very regressive tax on those who can least afford it. Many working poor and lower middle class folks do not live in urban areas with alternative means of transportation. The family gas guzzler may be the only way to work, or it might even be part of the worker's job. Newspaper delivery, pizza delivery, and truck deliveries come to mind."
FishOutofWater wrote Bill Clinton & Global Fertilizer Crisis Hit Sanford, NCEx-president Bill Clinton touted Hillary's endorsement of a summer gas tax holiday today while farmers here struggled to pay the tripled cost of fertilizer. As we waited for Bill Clinton to show up (late) I talked with many Democrats in the crowd. The most surprising discussion centered around how agriculture here has been hard hit by the enormous increase in the cost of fertilizer. The global fertilizer crisis discussed in The New York Times today will be causing the cost of chicken packaged here to skyrocket in the coming months because chickenfeed costs are going way up."
There was a big oops! bushsux pointed out "more bad news for Obama" in Obama supported gas tax holiday in Illinois,: "It turns out he voted three times for the exact same thing that he is now criticizing Hillary Clinton for --- a temporary reduction in the gas tax to save consumers money. Obama took a different view on the issue when he was an Illinois legislator, voting at least three times in favor of temporarily lifting the state's 5 percent sales tax on gasoline. The tax holiday was finally approved during a special session in June of 2000, when Illinois motorists were furious that gas prices had just topped $2 a gallon in Chicago. During one debate, he joked that he wanted signs on gas pumps in his district to say, ‘Senator Obama reduced your gasoline prices.’"
cscmm wrote No More Gimmicks - Offer Real Solutions for High Gas Prices: "Here's 'my' idea to help 'some' with the cost of gas: No more gimmicks, no more temporary measures, give us real solutions to the price of gasoline. Offer Americans Tax deductions for car pooling. I know. I know. Old idea, but it worked for some and I don't believe there was a tax incentive added. Americans were just asked to voluntarily car pool."
Jimmy Crackcorn put together a means for finding out how much money YOU would save with his Online ‘Gas Tax Holiday’ Calculator - Now Posted on Obama Website!!: "According to state highway officials and this article in The New York Times, this ‘Gas Tax Holiday’ will lower tax revenue by roughly $9 billion and potentially cost 300,000 highway construction jobs. The highway trust fund that the gas tax finances provides money to states and local governments to pay for road and bridge construction, repair and maintenance. This is pretty simple - enter in your Fuel Type, Miles per week, and Miles Per Gallon and it will tell you just how much you stand to save over the 15 week ‘Holiday’."