Culture & Ethics
GOP Postmodernism Continues Apace
It’s bad enough that Republicans have declared war on science, and war on facts: now they are declaring war on math. Newt Gingrich says that the Congressional Budget Office should be abolished, mainly it will tell him things that he doesn’t like. As Brian Beutler of TPM notes, any attempt to repeal health care reform …
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CONTINUE READINGUC Berkeley / UCLA Law Conference on Local Government Climate Change Policies
The UC Berkeley and UCLA Schools of Law are holding a free public conference at UC Berkeley on Friday, December 2nd to discuss local government climate change policies. Conference speakers include some of the state’s top policy, business, and environmental leaders, who will report on promising ways that cities and counties can address climate change …
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CONTINUE READINGLawyerly Greenwashing from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative
A few weeks ago, I argued that only wood and paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council really should be called a sustainable product. Much to my surprise, the post got a robo-comment from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, the paper industry’s group, claiming that it, too, was a legitimate certification organization. Given SFI’s pretty shameful …
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CONTINUE READINGIs California’s Anti-Sprawl Law Worth the Investment?
This past Friday, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) approved the very first Sustainable Communities Strategy in the state as part of its regional transportation plan. The strategy document is the critical planning piece mandated by California’s anti-sprawl law, SB 375. As I discussed over the summer, SANDAG’s plan meets its greenhouse gas reduction …
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CONTINUE READINGUCLA Emmett Study Says Cool Roofs are Way Cool (and Bring Lots of Environmental Benefits)
UCLA Law’s Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment released a new report today called Bright Roofs, Big City: Keeping L.A. Cool Through an Aggressive Cool Roof Program. The report is the second Anthony Pritzker Environmental Law and Policy Brief issued by the Center. Cara Horowitz, the author of the report, used a dataset …
CONTINUE READINGPeet’s Coffee Thinks You’re Stupid
…or at least not very important. Following up on my posts concerning Peet’s membership on the California Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors (here and here; Eric follows up with a left hook here), another one of our intrepid readers e-mailed Peet’s to get an explanation. Here’s what the reader got back: Peet’s is one of …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Credibility of Climate Science
Climate denialists contend that climate science is either the result of a conspiracy of some kind or of groupthink plus institutional incentives to support alarmist predictions. The conspiracy theory makes even less sense than most conspiracy theories, because there would have to be hundreds, perhaps thousands of people involved, scattered across the world at numerous …
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CONTINUE READINGBirds and your coffee
Jonathan has been going after Peet’s for not actually selling very much coffee that is environmentally friendly or that supports social justice. Among all of Peet’s coffees, he reports that only one is fair trade certified and only one other is organic certified. (And apparently, you have to pick between helping people and avoiding pesticides!) …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Golden Anniversary of Death and Life
I’m happily addicted to audiobooks. Anyone from Los Angeles really should be, because getting the best ones means that a traffic jam isn’t a waste of time: it’s just an opportunity to read a few more chapters! And even those with short commutes could profitable make their way through lots of good books if they …
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CONTINUE READINGPeet’s Coffee’s Weak Attempts to Rebut Greenwashing Charges
An energetic reader noticed my post last week on Peet’s Coffee’s seeming alliance with the California Chamber of Commerce, the most reactionary anti-environmental force in state politics. He forwarded it to Peet’s PR department and demanded an explanation. Here’s what he got back: We’re disturbed by the blog posting you sent to us which “effectively” …
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