A US court reinstated the Clean Air Interstate Rule CAIR yesterday which basically says if your polluting the air and the state or states down wind from you are suffering higher pollution levels because of it you have to clean up your act. So the court did the right thing and reversed the lower court decision. However CAIR is still flawed and like all emissions or clean air rulings the option to simply do nothing and buy credits is often the result. So it continues. On news of the ruling pollution credits, which basically allow companies to continue to pollute by buying credits mostly from poor underdeveloped nations at bargain prices, rose sharply in preporation of having to accomidate the rule. One step forward, two steps back seems to be the cliché surrounding much of the environmental concerns as companies continue to give out the smallest amount they can get away with in order to protect profits at the expense of our future as a species and a viable planet for the support of life it’s self.

California has a long history of being progressive on the political front, especially on environmental policy. Recently California adopted a new greenhouse gas regulation that orders a cut of 15%, reducing the state’s output to the levels it “enjoyed” in 1990. Proponents say this could be a real model for the incoming President.

So why is it always California that is pushing the envelope? I can understand some states are in the grips of corporate interests but states like NY or PA what’s holding them back? There needs to be a push by the people to spur our politicos to more progressive action. It’s quite clear that the planet is pretty important, why then does only one state push hard to save it? It’s time to spread the progressivism around and compete with California in the “doing the right thing for our continued existence” race.

After all that has befallen the Big Easy when it comes to weather now this?! I would think after this New Orleans would be a hot bed for environmental movements and the efforts to curb climate change. Their mayor should come out and speak on it. Hold a massive press conference and say something along the lines of “If you still don’t believe climate change is the greatest threat to the human race we face today, come spend a year in our city. It will make a believer out of you.”

I nominate New Orleans as the poster city for the move for responsible climate control. Hold a summit on environmental interests there, lord knows they’ve earned it.

With all the political scandals, bailouts, economic teams and summits and the poll of polls real news often gets lost. America is often very susceptible to this. And while we are still something of a world power we also have a deep run of isolationism despite our marauding armed forces. What am I talking about? Zimbabwe.

What is occurring there is teetering on the edge of genocide. Over here it’s a dirty word that tends to be avoided. Now while there isn’t an active party killing these people it’s rather the inaction that is causing the damage. The government there is non-existent and that in part is causing and leading to what could be the next tragedy in a long list of African tragedies.

So why is so little of this real news, this awful circumstance of the human condition given so little time on our major news outlets? It’s appalling to me that we can spend hundreds of billions on things so intangible as AIG and other “financial” institutions and yet do nothing for people who are suffering.

Haiti is another example much closer to home. A fraction of the huge sums we have given wantonly to banks and corporations with few strings and little accountability largely to no beneficial effect could do great things for the people of these poor, troubled nations. We need to move forward towards a state of humanity rather then a state of corporate welfare. And our media needs to begin playing a larger role in taking us there.

If you haven’t heard about the tool bag seen round the world let me fill you in.  On the recent NASA mission, during an EVA astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper lost her tool bag.  Footage of the liberated tool bag was provided and soon became a media buzz.  This is just the latest in a long line of various space debris.  From rocket boosters, failed satellites to tool bags the space around our planet is slowly filling up with junk.  The tool bag however will fall to earth and burn up in the atmosphere as will most of the space junk.

However there is still some junk that will take decades or even centuries to come back down.  It’s all that junk that I’m worried about.  If you’ve ever seen the hard science anime Planetes you are aware exactly of my concern. In an era of potential forward thinking in energy policy, politics and many other subjects the safety of space is left out. Space is, as cliche as one can get, the final frontier. We are going, it’s not a matter of if, but when. I’d like to see a little more responsibility about the future safety of near earth orbit and some hard data on what it is and could potentially be like up there. The worst threat to our expansion throughout the solar system could be our selves.

The Environmental News Network reported today that Europe’s Bee population is in trouble! So beyond the heavy hitters from loss of the polar icecap and Greenland falling into the ocean we have the possibility of a honey shortage on our hands!  How will we sweeten our tea when the next European ice age begins after Greenland’s glaciers fall into the north Atlantic shutting off it’s current.  Oh wait… the bees won’t survive that either.  For the ENN they sure are looking at the small picture.  But I guess any news organization can only hammer away at big issues and what’s being done to address and solve them for so long before running pieces on politicians’ doodles or bee flower rehabilitation zones.