Currents

Echoing public sentiment, President Bush has been talking a lot about energy in his latest round of speeches. In order to deflect criticism over steadily rising fuel prices, Bush wants to build new oil refineries on decommissioned military bases, expand eligibility for a proposed tax credit on fuel-cell and hybrid vehicles to cars and trucks that burn "clean diesel" fuel, increase federal authority over the siting of onshore liquefied natural gas terminals, and renew a push to expand nuclear power capabilities.

You’d need environmental blinders to believe the horsefeathers retailed in the "Index of Leading Environmental Indicators." Each year, the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and author Steven F. Hayward present these pseudo-scientific "indicators" that claim all is well with the earth. People swallow this hokum because they are, in fact, starved for good green information, and the environmental illiteracy rate in the U.S. is very high.

When Roman Catholic cardinals chose Germany’s Joseph Ratzinger to succeed Pope John Paul II last week, they probably gave little thought to the implications for the environment. That said, though, the Pope, given his influence over the world’s billion Catholics, can play a significant role in environmental issues simply by interpreting Bible passages in one way or another.

The San Francisco-based Goldman Environmental Foundation recently announced the six 2005 winners of its prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard preliminary arguments last week in a case in which a coalition of 12 states and a handful of environmental groups charge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with neglecting its responsibility to protect public health by regulating tailpipe emissions that contribute to global warming.

Climate experts warn us that the first sign of a shifting climate will be turbulent, unpredictable weather. So when Hurricane Jeanne crashed ashore in Florida in September of 2004, environmentalists couldn’t help but wonder if this was it: climate change in action. It seems as though the past few years have been characterized by all sorts of weather extremes. We know that the planet has warmed 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 100 years, but is there really a link between our weather and climate change?

Despite many a gloom-and-doom environmental scenario, Scripps-Howard News Service columnist Joan Lowy identifies five hot green trends underscoring Americans’ love for the environment as Earth Day approaches this Friday.

From mid-May to mid-August, there is almost continuous daylight in Iceland, which gives the tiny island (39,000 square miles) country a short but intense growing season. Iceland touches the Arctic Circle at its northern tip, and the cold limits the range of crops, through cabbage, cauliflower and potatoes thrive, and tomatoes and cucumbers manage well in greenhouses heated by Iceland’s huge reserve of geothermal energy.

The tree-lined streets have an eeries quietness. The neighborhood, with its orderly rows of World War II-era homes, looks as though there should be activity, but there is none. The grass is cut and the trees and bushes are trimmed, suggesting some civility to the shady streets, but these tasks are preformed by the state to ward off trespassers. Such efforts have plainly been in vain, as many homes are married by graffiti, vandalism and looting.