Foreign Policy Blogs

Odds And Ends

Dingell v Waxman (and others) – Congressman John Dingell has been in the House of Representatives since 1956. He holds the seat held by his father from 1933 to 1955. If you want to follow the federal energy legislation wending its way through Congress, you have to know the players and John Dingell is near the top of the list. I’ve referenced Big John several times along the way here at the blog, but here’s another useful contribution from “The New Republic.” (Registration is required, but it’s free.) Henry Waxman, Dingell’s long-time nemesis, is another critical player, and a hero to old-time enviros like me. When he was chair of the Health & Environment subcommittee of Dingell’s Energy & Commerce committee back in the 80’s and 90’s, they had some pitched battles. The TNR article describes the present state of play , or conflict, as the case may be , between them.

The Oil Drum – Without endorsing anyone’s particular approach to effecting federal legislation, I would simply point out a very useful blog, The Oil Drum , Discussions About Energy and Our Future. They have a wealth of valuable information on the subject of energy, but particularly, though, they are following the federal legislation. See this for an update and overview with some excellent links.

“One Planet Leader” – WWF (the NGO formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund) had an eye-grabbing ad in “The Economist.” “Serious about sustainability? Ready for the next step?” Well here’s the punch line: “One Planet Leaders is an exciting new corporate responsibility programme for business managers and senior executives looking to explore, challenge and apply the latest thinking on sustainability issues.” If you don’t think business and financial industry leaders are taking this stuff seriously, then here is further tangible evidence. (You can also see my numerous blog posts referencing all this activity under Business and Economics.)

Media Notes – The Sundance Channel has a website, The Green, with some interesting content, including video. Also, Hearst Corporation, has a new website in beta: TheDailyGreen will be half information resource and half social network. Here’s some more from MediaWeek.

Of course, world media event of the week, if not the summer, should be LiveEarth. They announced today that ” more than 7,000 “Friends of Live Earth’ events are now registered in 129 countries, all 50 states” Saturday’s the day. Even if you can’t make one of the concerts, or Al Gore’s not your main man, you will find a ton of useful information at their website.

Speaking of Al Gore (which I haven’t done in a while), he had an op-ed, Moving Beyond Kyoto, at the “NY Times” yesterday that, predictably, got a lot of attention.

And speaking of the “NY Times” op-ed page, there is an offering today from the estimable Ken Livingstone, mayor of London, on congestion pricing: Clear Up the Congestion-Pricing Gridlock. (I’ve talked about Livingstone here before. He was the driving force behind the creation of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.)

Recycling – I noted two fascinating renewable energy stories the other day (June 25) from The Economist’s recent “Technology Quarterly.” The truth about recycling is a slightly scary title given this venerable publication’s often-cynical take on things. However, it is a nicely comprehensive, focused, and upbeat long piece about the enormous role that recycling is playing and can play further. (I had my own stab at this a few years ago. I offered the City of New York a master plan for solid waste management , Urban Gold , and it gathered more attention than I could have hoped for at the time. There are several key elements to the idea, among them: a materials recovery facility [or MRF], waterborne transportation, and the co-locating of the MRF with an “ecoplex” where the recovered materials could be manufactured into all sorts of useful items.)

 

Author

Bill Hewitt

Bill Hewitt has been an environmental activist and professional for nearly 25 years. He was deeply involved in the battle to curtail acid rain, and was also a Sierra Club leader in New York City. He spent 11 years in public affairs for the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, and worked on environmental issues for two NYC mayoral campaigns and a presidential campaign. He is a writer and editor and is the principal of Hewitt Communications. He has an M.S. in international affairs, has taught political science at Pace University, and has graduate and continuing education classes on climate change, sustainability, and energy and the environment at The Center for Global Affairs at NYU. His book, "A Newer World - Politics, Money, Technology, and What’s Really Being Done to Solve the Climate Crisis," will be out from the University Press of New England in December.



Areas of Focus:
the policy, politics, science and economics of environmental protection, sustainability, energy and climate change

Contact