A lot of thought-provoking stuff has come across my screen lately, but I have to start my roundup of Green Reads with this: another ray of hope that the Obama administration will turn the tide on mountaintop removal mining. There’s no new legislation involved; the EPA (and what does that stand for, again?) is flexing its muscle to stop a West Virginia mine on the grounds that it will bury seven miles of streams. Damn right. Let’s hope for more of this type of action.
Al Gore has weighed in on what recent scandals really mean to the larger issue of climate change. I like this sentence: "As the science has become clearer and clearer, some industries and companies whose business plans are depndent on unrestrained pollution of the atmospheric commons have become ever more entrenched." "Atmospheric commons"? You betcha.
Grist offers this thought-provoking take on how immigration and environmentalism come together. It’s a set of arguments I hadn’t seen before, including the idea that immigrants with uncertain futures will be less likely to adopt a mindset of stewardship.
A couple of articles that are like watching nature programs: 7 amazing trees and 10 endangered birds. Not all that’s natural is so exotic, but it’s good to be reminded of the wild diversity that is life on this planet.
And, from the home front, these three items: Slate on paper recycling dilemmas (who knew that pizza boxes should not be recycled? Ack!), Mother Nature Network on growing clover lawns (which need a lot less mowing than grass), and MNN again on saving water at home. The water tips sounded well-worn to me (who is still running the water while they brush their teeth? And why were they ever doing that in the first place?) until I got to the last one, about washing dishes. I think I could stand to improve my dishwashing from a water-usage point of view, so I’m going to tackle that project pronto. I’ll let you know how it goes.
