I had the good fortune to speak at the Eco Metropolis conference in Manhattan in mid-November. Here was a useful focus on greening a city that is already pretty green. For instance, only 44 percent of city households include a car, the lowest rate among major cities in the U.S. (the most auto-dependent country in the world). Portland, Oregon and other big public transportation players can’t come close to that.

Much to the delight of environmentalists, the Bush administration has withdrawn a contentious proposal to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) from its omnibus energy bill, which it hopes to push through Congress this session. The White House hopes to leverage the increased Republican majority in Congress for passage of the $31 billion bill, originally introduced three years ago.

The results of a recent national tally by the Trust for Public Land (TPL) buoyed the spirits of environmentalists disheartened by the recent re-election of George W. Bush: voters in 111 communities across 25 states, it turns out, passed ballot measures funding $11 billion for conservation, including $2.4 billion for protecting land for parks and open space.

Just three days after the presidential election, Sierra Club National Media Director Kerri Glover told <I>E</I>, "There is virtually no news organization that hasn’t called us and asked, ‘Don’t you think the environment is screwed under another four years of Bush?’" Glover says she wishes reporters and news anchors had made a bigger deal about environmental issues <I>before</I> the election, instead of after.

Not surprisingly, President Bush has thus far failed to mention the environment in discussions about his second-term agenda. But even though the White House will be focusing primarily on foreign policy and domestic economic issues, some environmentalists are optimistic that the administration will work to leave an environmental legacy to be proud of during its second term.