Rush figures out what’s driving McCain’s stance on global warming. The culprit? Green-minded social conservatives Evangelicals:

Do you know who the “green-minded social conservatives” are?  Evangelicals. Apparently, there is a significant number of evangelicals that are going green, and McCain’s reaching out to them. They’re going green along the same side of the aisle as Algore and the rest of these hoaxers are. Now, when these evangelicals decide to side with liberals, the Drive-By Media loves ‘em; the Drive-By Media thinks they’re wonderful. They call them green-minded social conservatives, not evangelicals, because they hate evangelicals. They think evangelicals pose a great threat. So, “McCain, reaching out to both independents and green-minded social conservatives, argues that global warming is undeniable and the country must take steps to bring it under control while adhering to free-market principles.” (sigh) Making it so hard on me.

UPDATE: Rush’s brother David at Townhall today:

In a preview of the speech, CNN reports that McCain will say: “We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great. The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge.” No, Sen. McCain, the most relevant question is whether political leaders will have the diligence to study this issue and the integrity and courage to stand up to the propaganda of the enviro-bullies. The question is whether you can be a maverick where it counts.

So we’re bullies now?

Astute analysis by Bernd Bergmann at Acton:

It is not difficult to see that at bottom the [EU genetically modified food] controversy is not so much about health and science but about politics and whose ox is being gored. In the European Council of Ministers, more agrarian-based countries like Greece (Dimas’s home country), Italy, Austria and Poland tend to vote against GM foods while states where traditional farming is not as dominant like the UK and the Netherlands are more open to biotech.

Meanwhile, he notes, environmental NGOs aren’t helping things.

Hi! Welcome to this week’s Carnival. Bean Sprouts hosted last week, and TechnoVerde is in the hopper for next week. Learn about the Carnival of the Green and get advice for submitting posts at Kara’s TreeHugger blog.

~

Yesterday was a blast. A bit cool but very sunny. We had a great time taking the Eco-Wife* out for Mother’s Day. Fried dough and corn dogs, enough roundy-round rides to make Linda Blair heave, and we even figured out which midway game was the one to beat (hint: ballon darts).

Was riding my bike in to work this morning (heh!) and passed Newport’s “first beach” where the carnival had been running all weekend. Nothing but a vacant parking lot now.

So in that same spirit of great fun that lasts about as long as a bag of cotton candy once a busy Monday starts, here’s a quick rundown of your posts from this week.

Enjoy them, visit some links, have a few high-fives, and then get back to work!…

Green Mom Lynn from OrganicMania reflects on what Mom’s really want for Mother’s Day…but often feel too guilty to ask for. Yes, yes, I know it was yesterday. But as we say around our house, “Every day is Mother’s Day.” I know my kids’ mom will appreciate these year-round.

GM Tries to Become “Green Motors”  by Ryan Mickle at Triplepundit:

I was actually looking forward to writing a positive review about GM and its efforts to become a leader in environmentally conscious auto manufacturing. Cynicism gets pretty boring. Yet, in Wagoner’s carefully scripted speech, there was little to genuinely get excited about.

MamaBird of SurelyYouNest posts about her efforts to throw an eco friendly birthday party for her five year old, complete with real flower petal confetti.

A new blogger inquires:

Hello, I maintain a blog at pennywise-poundfoolish.typepad.com. I am looking for a good way to grow my readership and get some fresh ideas for articles, possibly some guest posts. What would I have to do to get involved in your carnival?

Well, you’re here now my friend. Feel free to drop PW-PF a note when you get a second.

Melanie Rimmer has this short parable explaining what “sustainability” means.

A foolish builder wanted to build himself a house that would be grander and taller than all the other houses in his neighbourhood. He built it as tall as he could until he ran out of bricks. But still the house was not tall enough to satisfy the builder. So he took a chisel and carefully chipped away the cement around one of the bricks at the bottom of his house…

A three’fer from Beth at Fake Plastic Fish this week: Let Me Be Your Guinea Pig, Please!, some Earth Day pics, and a concern about toxic chemicals in her pets. Refering to the first of these three, she writes:

I love it when green craftspeople send me their wares to test out.  Here’s a report on two items from a couple of eco seamstress divas that will actually help to reduce waste! 

Some submissions from Adam at Life Goggles: Joel reviews the Stubby Pencil Studio and LetsGoGreen products. He also takes a look at a clothing company run by, er, you.

Sadie has begun the summer season of selling produce & seedlings at her local farmers’ market. In this week’s blog post, she reflects on a moment of gardening inspiration.

All of a sudden I was awash in this wave of… like… pure joy. A wave of… I don’t know how to describe it. Realness. Like, at that moment I was my authentic, unadulterated self.

Wow!  Now I need to figure out what brings me such joy. 

Read Sadie’s post this week on Veggie Revolution blog. Btw, Sally and Sadie Kneidel’s new book Going Green: A Wise Consumer’s Guide to a Shrinking Planet comes out this week, May 15! See it on Amazon.com. 

Smart Home: Green + Wired Debuts at MSI Chicago by Bryan Kelly, Guest Author at JetsonGreen:

Architect Michelle Kaufmann has made a big splash in Chicago this week during the opening of her Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. The PrairieMod crew and myself were fortunate enough to be able to spend the past two days previewing the home and are excited to share some details with you. If you’re interested, feel free to check out our podcast interview with Michelle where she explains how the project came to be and the 5 eco-principles utilized by her firm.

Lill Hawkins at Lillslist.com:

Climate Count’s new report was an eye opener in some areas, especially for the food service sector. They can do better than this, don’t you think?

Lisa Spinelli looks at her personal carbon footrpint at Greener Pastures. Can’t resist posting her kind thoughts too:

I realize I may be too late for this week’s carnival, but when I saw who was hosting, I thought this would be a good post…Thanks for your consideration! Love your site.

Finally, Tash at VintagePretty writes about why sometimes products aren’t as green as they may make out, and how to shop ethically in a “green”, conscientious manner. Good call, though I wish the stuff was cheaper.

That’s all the posts I’ve received so far. Happy to take more throughout the day, and as always goes with Green Carnival duties, drop me a note if I broke a link or missed your entry.

Grace and peace,

Don

________

*Pretty cool that the Lovely Eco-Wife was in a green striped shirt for the Carnival - yeh, I planned that…

If you’re a mom or have ever had one, you’ll appreciate this.

Hekhsher Tzedek:

As Jews worldwide prepared for this evening’s Passover Seder, they were careful to buy kosher meat and other foodstuffs, prepared according to ancient law and custom.

For a number of Jews, however, the rituals of kashrut do not go far enough. The working conditions at the kosher slaughterhouses and other food-processing plants are also important, they say.

Concerned about labor issues, corporate responsibility and environmentalism, Hekhsher Tzedek, a project born in Conservative Judaism, plans to certify companies that fulfill ethical standards. The name translates as “justice certification.”

Fascinating. Scan the rabbi’s blog when you get a sec.

all rolled up in one big bundle down under:

A similar situation exists in NSW today with urban planning, which also makes it hard for many people to get something they want. With Prohibition it was liquor; with urban consolidation it’s affordable housing. Environmental activists have played the role of the Baptists by arguing for a growth boundary for Sydney, almost as a moral imperative. The bootleggers are those developers who have been able to benefit from this, by achieving favourable government decisions in a situation where opportunities have become severely rationed. For its part, government has been able to use the arguments of the environmentalists to support a situation that has produced millions in developer donations.

The next big bootlegger-Baptist alliance will be with infrastructure. According to the The Australian Financial Review $400 billion will be spent in the next decade. So the bootleggers are interested. The same editorial in the newspaper called for government funding for projects of social or environmental significance. That’s where the Baptists will come in.

The type of infrastructure where bootleggers and Baptists will thrive is commuter railways. They’re on the public mind right now, with Perth building an ambitious project, the City of Sydney wanting to build one, and the State Government having promised one for north-western Sydney.

’cause God created those too.

Breitbart reports on new technology in mortuaries:

Since they first walked the planet, humans have either buried or burned their dead. Now a new option is generating interest—dissolving bodies in lye and flushing the brownish, syrupy residue down the drain.

The process is called alkaline hydrolysis and was developed in this country 16 years ago to get rid of animal carcasses. It uses lye, 300- degree heat and 60 pounds of pressure per square inch to destroy bodies in big stainless-steel cylinders that are similar to pressure cookers.

I don’t know that Mark would consider this “natural” but they say it is friendlier to the environment.

So much for environmental “ethics.”

With demand for biodiesel on the rise, the market value of fry grease that can be used to make it has tripled in recent years. “Grease bandits” are stealing used fry grease from restaurants and rendering plants, reports Ben Arnoldy of the The Christian Science Monitor.

Lends a whole new meaning to the term drum thief.

Fellow PowerBlogger Jordan Ballor earned a respectable second for his essay Toward a Theological Ethic for Internet Discourse.

So what can we say positively about how discourse in the digital age ought to proceed, particularly in media like blogs and postings on social networks? Our dialogue needs to consist in at least three inter-related elements: charity, civility, and humility. We need to proceed in our conversations with fellow Christians and non-believers in a way that is oriented toward loving them as image-bearers of God. “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Gal. 6:10).

I retooled the mobile page so it uses our Feedburner feed. Much faster. The link is more intuitive too.

Click the “Mobile Edition” link at right, or point your web enabled phone or PDA to www.evaneco.com/mobile.

Solar-powered Christian ecology for your crackberry. Sweeeeeet… 

UPDATE: Not sure if it works for devices that don’t have a mobile version of java. If you find any bugs drop me a note please.

UPDATE: Get your daily dose of Evaneco.com via email now! Our Feedburner will now mail you the day’s links right to your inbox. Sign up by clicking the link at right, or go here.

England’s churches.

European Union/Commission leaders call on ”religious VIPS” in Brussels to “help spread the gospel of an environmentally friendly society and increase awareness of climate change in their parishes…”

Twenty high-level representatives – 19 men and one woman - from European Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations met in Brussels on Monday (5 may) to discuss the sensitive issues of climate change and reconciliation between peoples. The meeting was co-chaired by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Slovenian Prime Minister and current president of the European Council, Janez Jansa, and the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering. Mr Barroso told a press conference that churches, mosques and temples could all play an important role in identifying and implementing solutions to the challenge of climate change. “Thanks to their moral authority, their outreach and their structure, they are well placed to make a valuable contribution, mobilising our societies for a sustainable future,” the president said. Prime Minister Jansa, referring to both the Bible and the Koran, said: “Earth was created and given to man, and man has to be respectful of what he has been given,” and called for what the late Pope John Paul II described as an “ecological conversion”.

Should there be a wall between Environment and State? Could the lack of one mean climate change will become the impetus for one world religion?

Salt Lake City Weekly:

“I have never come across anything in LDS Church doctrine that says, ‘Be wary, people, of this [environmental] movement,’” says George Handley, professor of humanities at Brigham Young University.

Unfortunately, most in this movement currently are self-confessed progressives. Until mainline conservative leaders pick this up it isn’t going to get much traction. Mormons have a reputation for being thrifty. Maybe all they need to do is take credit for that.

Page 6:

Fifth, we believe that being disciples of Jesus means serving him as Lord in every sphere of our lives, secular as well as spiritual, public as well as private, in deeds as well as words, and in every moment of our days on earth, always reaching out as he did to those who are lost as well as to the poor, the sick, the hungry, the oppressed, the socially despised, and being faithful stewards of creation and our fellow-creatures…

Metro News on the Church of Wildlife:

The sweet smell of bees wax warming under the lights guide visitors to the show on the second floor of the gallery. The encaustic works — they are made of wax — feature bears, wolves and foxes with holy halos and other religious overtones.

Each work has been carved, painted using melted wax, and gold leafed — adding a richness to the pieces. They combine Marsh’s concern for the environment with her upbringing as a Seventh Day Adventist.

“I am trying to come up with a language of my own that reference religious symbolizing,” Marsh said.

The 24-year-old had been playing around with a number of ideas for this show, but it was only in late-February that this theme began to develop. It started when she created a piece featuring two hippos — called Holy Virgin And Son. “I began thinking of the difference between caring for something and actually doing something,” said Marsh. She decided to turn animals into saints, who we could pray to so they could help their fellow creatures.

Well, she’s certainly doing something. Father Gerald, call your office…

In his Sunday interview on Meet the Press, Tim Russert asked Sen. Barack Obama about his position on new-clee-ur energy, which Drew Thornley recaps here.

Obama’s response - more questions than answers - is close to what I heard a few weeks ago during a lecture given here at Salve Regina’s Pell Center by Admiral (retired) Skip Bowman. He once headed all Navy nuclear propulsion programs and is now chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nation’s largest nuclear industry consultant.

Since I’m not a nuke community guy (you Navy folks will get that) Admiral Bowman first attracted my attention when I saw his signature among a lot of other heavy hitters on CNA’s watershed brief titled National Security and the Threat of Climate Change. It’s one thing to see politicians, greens and clergy haggling over global warming. I get interested when I see oceanographers and weatherologists go at it. I admire Christian relief agencies for dealing with it. But to see a dozen of the nation’s most respected military leaders dig in to the national security consequences of climate change puts the whole discussion on another level for me.

I’ve been tinkering with pursuing a PhD on how the commanders of Navy ships, airplanes and submarines would incorporate climate change and other energy/environmental issues into their joint training and war plans. When Bowman’s visit to the Pell Center lined up with some free time with Salve’s graduate faculty I found myself flying home from the family vacation a day short, and crossing the campus in a jacket and tie on the way to the lecture.

Here are a couple highlights from his talk that answered the sorts of questions politicians like Obama and maybe folks like you are raising:

Demand for Electricity - There is a close correlation between public health and access to electricity, as noted by the UN Human Development Index slide he presented.  [click to enlarge] The ideal amount of electricity (say some) is where the curve levels out, or somewhere around 4000 kWh per person per year. The US and other major industrialized nations are well to the right of this as you can imagine. Rather than castigating us for “excessive” energy use (which is mostly tied to the West’s enormous production) his point was to note all the nations on the left who will be moving up and to the right as they modernize. Electricity demand is increasing exponentially around the globe.

Climate Change- Referring back to the CNA study he said, “Regardless of the cause [of climate change] the effects are measurable.” The most important issue from an energy perspective is to make nations “resilient” by improving their access to electricity in a variety of forms. It’s apparent (my perspective here) that the inability to respond to the humanitarian impacts of climate change can lead to unrest in various parts of the world that directly impact US energy and national security interests and those of our friends. Military agencies (he said) are already tasked by law to fold climate change and other environmental data into their assessments of threats around the world.

Speaking of Defense, he noted that the military has two critical problems. The first is a voracious appetite for fuel for ships, trucks and airplanes, and power for facilities. The sooner it can switch to alternatives the better. Second, current fuel stocks are at risk of being cut off by unfriendly regimes. In short: National security = Energy security.

Diversify to Succeed - While he represented the nuclear power industry, he offered these steps to approach the problem:

#1 is effective conservation and improvements in efficiency.
#2 is looking into all renewable resources and developing them as far as economically possible.
#3 is diversify energy sources and tailor them regionally as needed.
#4 is nuclear energy, especially since it is one of the few historically that generate no CO2.

He provided this graph from the Energy Information Administration (did you know there was one?) [click to enlarge], and highlighted a couple things. He noted that nuclear is relatively cheap at 1.68 cents/KwH. He said the problem with wind energy is not creating wind power technology, but that we’re lagging in cheap methods of mass electricity storage. Thought that was interesting. Also obvious from the graph is that we have a long (if not impossible) way to go to see non-carbon fuels replaced by other energy sources, including nuclear.

Nuclear Power- Yeh, he mentioned China Syndrome. “There are those who are graduates of the Jane Fonda School of Nuclear Engineering who will resist nuke power to their dying day.” There are also those, he said, who see nuclear energy as “the power to save the world.” He calls himself a “proponent” in a modest, 4-star nuclear admiral sort of way.

Referring back to the EIA graph he noted some clear limitations on nuke power’s ability to make us “energy independent.” It will remain in the 10-20% range of total electric supply despite being much higher in places like France and Japan. It’s a long process bringing plants on line, and the grid is growing just as fast (”The denominator keeps growing”). They’re expensive ($4-6 billion a copy), though he hopes that standardizing construction will bring the speed of construction and costs down. “There is only so much human capital” (Translation: People who know how to build/operate nuke plants) out there. There are currently 4 plants coming on line in the next 10 years, and more planned, but NIMBY is still a factor. He admits Three Mile Island still resonates with people. Melting a core was a failure caused by human operators but it was also a disaster averted by extremely safe and redundant construction. Communities that live around nuke plants are generally (>65%) highly satisfied with plant safety.

Q&A Notes - Can energy solutions lead to a more peaceful world? Hope so. The alternative is failure by not finding a solution. How do we pay for this? New construction should be standardized to reduce costs. Right now plants are very expensive but standardization and modular construction will help. Zero-emission coal plants are expensive too. The Energy Act of 2005 provided for government-guaranteed loans to utilities for new nuke construction. Isn’t heat a by-product of the electricity produced by nuke power, so it’s still a climate change problem? Yes, heat is generated by all electric production and use. Why are we accepting the word’s nuclear waste?We’re not, but glad you raised the issue. One person who lives 70 years will create about two pounds of spent nuclear fuel. Only 5% of the potential power in nuclear fuel is currently used. All our waste, which would fill a football field, is stored at the places where it was created. A better way is to consolidate all this fuel in one place (Yucca Mountain) and create a fuel recycling effort to recapture that 95% and sustain the nation’s nuclear power plants. Senator Dimenici has a bill in to create such a waste recycling program.

Fascinating evening.

Nothing much more to add except that Mr. Obama, now the presumptive Democrat nominee for president, ought to be more abreast of the subject.

Fluoride: Miracle drug or toxic-waste killer? Excerpt:

In 2006, the National Academy of Sciences found the Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum standard for fluoride of 4 milligrams per liter could cause health problems such as dental fluorosis and weakened bones over a lifetime of consumption.

The EPA’s Headquarters Professionals Union, made up of scientists, lawyers and other professionals, also now opposes community fluoridation.

In January, the New York State Dental Journal reported fluoride overexposure is resulting in children developing tooth disorders including white spots, brownish discoloration and pitting. It also warned children 6 months to 3 years should consume no more than ¼ of a gram of fluoride per day – the equivalent of one 8 ounce glass of water in a fluoridated community.

And, despite the CDC’s conclusion that fluoridation is one of the greatest medical achievements of the 20th century, it recommends infant formulas should never be mixed with fluoridated water.

“Fluoride is toxic waste. It is more toxic than lead and marginally less so than arsenic.”

is up over at Bean Sprouts. Very hip and low key this week - nice work.

Love DigiBlog’s post on golf and the environment. Also appreciated the nice shout out from Joyce at tallgrassworship (who, by the way, can have all the dandelions she wants from my back lawn).

Wesley J. Smith in the Weekly Standard:

You just knew it was coming: At the request of the Swiss government, an ethics panel has weighed in on the “dignity” of plants and opined that the arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong. This is no hoax. The concept of what could be called “plant rights” is being seriously debated.

So much for veggie burgers and ethanol.

You can read the whole report (pdf document) here. Smith poo-poo’s it, but I thought it was interesting reading. Here’s their rationale on why plant ethics are important:

The ECNH’s discussion differentiated three concepts of value:

– Instrumental value: Plants should not be protected for their own sake, but because and as long as they are of benefit to humans (or other organisms), e.g. as crops or as part of biodiversity.
– Relational value: Plants should not be protected for their own sake, but because someone considers them to be worthy of protection. Their protection-worthiness is in relation to a value ascribed to them because of particular properties. For example, a tree may have a particular particular value for an observer, because it was planted in memory of a person who has died. An aesthetic value is also a relational value.
– Inherent worth: Plants possess inherent worth. This inherent worth means they should be protected for their own sake.

They completely ignore the concept of intrinsic worth by virtue of the Creator of Life of course…

UPDATE: Heh.

Sure, you vegans thought yourselves so morally pure. But according to the Swiss government, your hands are stained with the chlorophyll of innocent beings.