Pacific Standard March-April 2013 Cover

Native Environmentalism and the Alberta Oil Boom

October 27, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Syncrude Oil Sands Extraction Plant

In May, with a runaway well belching thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico, congressional leaders received a delegation from the opposite side of the country eager to exploit the contrast between the BP disaster and fossil fuels sourced from Canada. Crude extracted from Canada's oil sands, Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice assured U.S. consumers, is "a safe, stable, secure supply of energy." And, he noted, it was being developed "to the highest possible environmental standards." That's not how it looks to many Cree, Chipewyan and Metis people living downstream ... Read More

More like this: Environment, News and Options, November-December 2010, Politics
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Greenwashing Goes Through the Wringer

October 12, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment

The Federal Trade Commission this month proposed changes to the green advertising guidelines it provides companies — as the FTC's press release thoughtfully puts it — "to help them avoid making misleading environmental claims." The gesture sounds like an altruistic one. This eco-landscape is getting so confusing, what with all the recyclables, renewables, biodegradables and compostables. Why, here's a little advice to help marketers sort that out! But gleeful environmentalists have praised the announcement more accurately for what it really is: The government is about to make it ... Read More

More like this: Politics, The Idea Lobby
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Environmental Justice Comes Back to Life

September 29, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment

The Environmental Protection Agency last week resuscitated an interagency working group to tackle environmental justice, an issue that hasn't been discussed much in Washington in nearly a decade. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson called the group's first meeting — attended by Attorney General Eric Holder and the secretaries of Interior, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development — a historic event, as federal agencies recommit themselves to rooting out the "environmental discrimination" that occurs when landfills, coal plants and toxic waste dumps are located disproportionately in ... Read More

More like this: Politics, The Idea Lobby
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Ten Ways the Feds Are Leading the Green Charge

September 14, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment

President Obama issued an executive order last October requiring every government agency to spell out how it plans to "lead by example" in environmental sustainability. He wanted to hear about waste management and water use, smart meters in federal office buildings and alternative-fuel vehicles in public fleets. The Strategic Sustainability Performance Plans were finally due last week, and embedded in the dense documents — no one should print these things, even on recycled paper — are hundreds of small ideas. The relatively obscure Corporation for National and Community Service, for ... Read More

More like this: Environment, The Idea Lobby
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The Real Revenge of Montezuma: Voyage Conclusions

September 7, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Flooding

Location: In Mazunte, just north of Huatulco. Through scattered clouds, the morning sun shines on the bay, whose centerpiece is a pair of jagged boulders. The rocks are frothy with crashing waves and soft backlight. The bay is surrounded by swaying palm trees and a snaking wetland. Conditions: From inside my swinging cot, hanging freely from a roof covered by a mosquito net, I can tell the morning air is starting to warm up. It's 8 a.m., and the septic tank truck is already pumping sewage and someone is running a drill. Fishermen are pushing their pangas past the tiny waves. Discussion: ... Read More

More like this: Environment, Voyage of Kiri
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The Balance of Evil-Doing: Kiri’s Impacts

August 30, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment

Let an admission of hypocrisy herald the end of my three-month voyage from California to southern Mexico: I used a lot of petroleum. The V8 Ford van that I drove, also known as El Hippo (why the name? see side note), had a hunger that was hard to contain. It got a pathetic 12 miles per gallon. Here I am, exploring the effects of climate, advocating solutions to improve the resilience of coastal communities, yet I'm also part of the problem. Nevertheless, as economics teaches us, the true cost depends on the alternatives. So, as an aspiring do-gooder, I'd like to know, "What is the balance ... Read More

More like this: Environment, Voyage of Kiri
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Meetings and Ceviche in Ensenada

May 17, 2010 • By • 1 Comment
A meeting with Rotary members of Ensenada Centenaria at the Hotel San Nicholas (Kristian Beadle).

As Kristian Beadle continues his journey, he learns that the meaning of conserving of coastal resources differs in Mexico than it does in the United States. Location: The melon-colored Hotel Hacienda, in downtown Ensenada, the last commercial center in the northern part of the Baja peninsula. Conditions: A hazy fog bank is starting to evaporate on the sprawling port city. A sea breeze begins to flutter, 10 a.m. Discussion: A huge cargo freighter and an equally oversized cruise ship lay in the harbor, dwarfing the city except for its obscenely tall Mexican flag; this is Ensenada. The ... Read More

More like this: Environment, Science & Environment, Voyage of Kiri
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The Frontier and the Two Countries

May 3, 2010 • By • 1 Comment
The binational meeting to establish a network from both sides of the border to protect the watershed. (Kristian Beadle)

The Voyage of the Kiri is moving along and has reached the Tijuana River watershed before even leaving the U.S. city of San Diego. Location: at the reserve for the Tijuana River Estuary on the U.S. side of the border. Conditions: Windy and cool, 6 p.m. Representatives of different nonprofit organizations from both U.S. and Mexico are meeting to establish a binational network to protect the Tijuana River watershed and estuary. Discussion: I never thought about it, but Mexico actually starts in San Diego County. Not because a big Mexican flag can be seen flying on clear days in ... Read More

More like this: Environment, Science & Environment, Voyage of Kiri
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A Water Exhibit and Aztec Art

April 29, 2010 • By • 1 Comment
Voyage of Kiri

As the overland Voyage of the Kiri commences, I approach the Mexican border but on the way south learns about the Aztecs and water in separate Los Angeles exhibitions. Location: At a friend's cottage near Point Loma in San Diego. From the deck, they point out the fuzzy hills of Tijuana in the distance. Conditions: Clouds dissipating after a light rain this morning. Discussion: We climb a hill and BAM! We can see Mexico far away. We are in San Diego on the brink of the journey. "We" being El Hippo the silver Ford van, my sweetheart, Alyssum, who is joining us for a month, and ... Read More

More like this: Environment, Science & Environment, Voyage of Kiri
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Counting Wins and Losses on Earth Day

April 18, 2010 • By • 1 Comment

April 22 marks the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day, and with it, the symbolic beginning of the environmental movement. The event was the culmination of a number of trends that began in the 1950s when scientists began to note how industrialization was impacting the Earth's ecosystem. Then, in 1962, Rachel Carson's groundbreaking book Silent Spring, which documented the effects of pesticides on the environment, caused an international sensation and led eventually to the banning of the pesticide DDT in the United States. By 1970, concerns about population growth, mass starvation, and ... Read More

More like this: Environment, Science & Environment
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