Tag Archives: also-in-grist

Traffic deaths are down, but pedestrian and cyclist deaths are up

by Myrna Posted on December 18, 2012

Traffic deaths are down, but pedestrian and cyclist deaths are up

By Susie Cagle

Fewer people are dying in car accidents in the U.S. (except in California, where it’s been raining lately and people have been very confused). Traffic deaths fell 1.9 percent in 2011, hitting their lowest level since 1949.

That’s great news for drivers, who haven’t been getting a lot of good news in their driver-lives lately. Here’s the bad news: Drivers are killing the rest of us. The Los Angeles Times reports on new federal transportation figures:

Federal officials highlighted the overall decrease in [traffic] deaths. But at least one traffic safety group said the figures were alarming, particularly a 3% increase in pedestrian deaths and an 8.7% increase in cyclist fatalities from 2010 to 2011.

“We are still concerned about the numbers of cyclists and pedestrians at risk on our roadways,” said Paul Oberhauser, co-chairman of the Chicago-based Traffic Safety Coalition, which is partly funded by the traffic safety camera industry. “This new report is a reminder we still need to be cautious and share the road.”

Rory Finneren

Speaking of sharing the road, today Bike Score, an offshoot of Walk Score, rolled out more city ratings for bikeability. It turns out even many of the towns we consider cycle-friendly — like New York and Portland, Ore. — are barely getting a passing grade.

So if you’re walking or biking around right now, and you haven’t died yet, congratulations! NOW STOP READING THIS.

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Senator famous for shooting cap-and-trade bill argues for gun control

by RubinkJoseph Posted on December 17, 2012

Senator famous for shooting cap-and-trade bill argues for gun control

By Philip Bump

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) pledged to always defend West Virginia. To that end, in an infamous 2010 campaign ad, the good senator (then governor) loaded up his rifle and shot a hole in the already-dead cap-and-trade bill.

In Manchin’s mind, that’s defending West Virginia — halting policies that would demand coal companies incur the costs of their pollution. And what better visual metaphor than the gun? Blam. Shot dead.

But Manchin’s had a change of heart. Now, it seems, he sees the error in that ad. No, not the part about how he was arguing against a policy that held coal to account. No, now Manchin thinks we need more limits on guns.

From Politico:

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — who has an “A” rating from the NRA and is a lifetime member of the pro-gun rights group — said Monday that it was time to “move beyond rhetoric” on gun control.

“I just came with my family from deer hunting,” Manchin said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I’ve never had more than three shells in a clip. Sometimes you don’t get more than one shot anyway at a deer. It’s common sense. It’s time to move beyond rhetoric. We need to sit down and have a common-sense discussion and move in a reasonable way.” …

“I don’t know anyone in the hunting or sporting arena that goes out with an assault rifle,” he said. “I don’t know anybody that needs 30 rounds in the clip to go hunting. I mean, these are things that need to be talked about.”

These are things that need to be talked about. With the memory of dead first-graders all too fresh in mind, we need to talk about how unchecked gun ownership, the unlimited ability to own weapons and ammunition, is a threat to public health.

Meanwhile, coal killed some 13,000 people in the U.S. in 2010 — and there will be uncountable future deaths resulting from the carbon dioxide that coal leaves in the atmosphere.

Manchin is right about revisiting gun laws, of course. But one can’t help but wonder what evidence he’ll need before he sees that casually shooting anti-pollution legislation was a misjudgment in more than one way.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Energy prices are the most volatile prices in the country

by Myrna Posted on December 14, 2012

Energy prices are the most volatile prices in the country

By Philip Bump

This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its updates to the Consumer Price Index. Or, if you prefer English, here’s how prices for various things have changed over the course of the year.

Prices for consumer products rose 1.8 percent over the last 12 months. This continues to be under the 2011 average inflation rate of 3.2 percent. So that’s good! Here’s how individual consumer products performed, year-over-year change, in percentage:

This is really the picture of the American economy. That bar that drops far below the midline? That’s “piped gas” — in other words, natural gas. To the far right, the highest increase was in medical services. Sounds about right.

Different categories performed differently over the past six months. Here’s a comparison of all items with categories: food, energy, and everything else.

Energy prices were far more volatile than other prices. That category is broken into various subcategories as noted above.

Gasoline is the most volatile of the volatile category — but this shouldn’t surprise you either. Here’s how gasoline has performed in price per gallon nationally over the last six months.

It’s also interesting to note how much less volatile food prices were, given the drought. Prices went up 10 percent in July — but that was globally. Within the United States, both for dining out and at home, prices were pretty flat. (Notice the scale on the left axis below; price changes were only about a quarter of a percent.)

Consider this the government’s year in review (though that will really come when December’s data is released in January). The story it tells is the one we’ve been telling all year: The biggest shifts in our economy are due to changes in our energy use.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Yoko Ono is here to convince you that fracking is bad

by biglermyrta910 Posted on December 12, 2012

Yoko Ono is here to convince you that fracking is bad

By Philip Bump

I have some familiarity with modern and contemporary art. I enjoy it. I know a Twombly from a Rauschenberg from an Ellsworth. A woman sits in a museum for weeks on end, silently, or a man creates artwork from explosions? I get it. Generally.

But this?

Not a fan of Yoko Ono. In 2002, I went to an Ono exhibit at the MoMA in San Francisco. It was one of the worst exhibits I’ve seen there: trite, pretentious, slathered with the artist’s name. I doubt my assessment of her work is unique — and, of course, others dislike Ono for other reasons.

Therefore, I highly, highly doubt this ad, which ran full-page in this week’s New York Times, is going to resolve the debate over fracking.

Click to embiggen.

Don’t get me wrong: The science of the ad is generally but-not-always on-point, if hewing to a worst-case scenario. And I imagine that people scanning the ad from top to bottom would find it interesting, perhaps informative. But my concern is what happens once they hit the bottom and see that big “YOKO.” (Which is a hip expression standing for “You Only Kill-the-Beatles Once.”) If a reader has been conditioned to start rolling his eyes when seeing that name, will he be able to read the #DONTFRACKNY hashtag? Will he even be able to tweet at all?

If your response to this ad was different than mine, the group Artists Against Fracking is also holding a video contest. Create a 30-second TV spot or a three-minute explainer on fracking and Yoko (and her son Sean) may pick you as the winner.

The good news: The bar for a quality video isn’t that high.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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2012 saw the fewest wildfires in a decade — but the second-most acres burned ever

by biglermyrta910 Posted on December 12, 2012

2012 saw the fewest wildfires in a decade — but the second-most acres burned ever

By Philip Bump

This is the most calm the Forest Service’s active fire map has looked all year.

USFS

After all, here was the year 2012 in fires, as compiled by NASA.

NASA/E360

From the description: “Areas of yellow and orange indicate larger and more intense fires, while many of the less intense fires, shown in red, represent prescribed burns started for brush clearing and agriculture and ecosystem management.” Click to embiggen.

Through August, the continental U.S. had seen the most acreage burned by wildfires in history. Happily, that trend didn’t continue. We only came in second.

Data from

National Interagency Fire Center

.

2012 was actually not a bad year for fires as discrete incidents. But notice how few fires did all of that damage. As we noted over the summer, the link between fire intensity and climate change isn’t direct. Clearly, though, the year’s epic drought meant drier conditions — and such drought is strongly correlated to climatic shifts. So it’s not surprising to see that this year’s fires were the most intense in a decade.

Data from

National Interagency Fire Center

.

It’s this acres-burned-per-fire number that we don’t want to see rising in the future. Let’s hope this year is an aberration — particularly those of us who live near wildlands.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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USDA backpedals on healthy school-lunch rules

by Myrna Posted on December 10, 2012

USDA backpedals on healthy school-lunch rules

By Susie Cagle

Whiny kids and Republicans have a lot in common. For example, they both complained enough to weaken still-relatively new USDA rules requiring school lunches to be more healthy. Some kids said they were still hungry after eating the new lunches, and Republican legislators (who often act like they’re cranky due to low blood sugar) said the government was meddling too much in local affairs, so now the USDA is lifting the cap on the amount of meats and grains permitted in school meals.

In a letter to Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), USDA head Tom Vilsack said the meat and grain limits had been “the top operational challenge” for states and schools in implementing the new standards, in part because they had a hard time locating the “right-sized” meats, and apparently cutting the meats into the right sizes is just too much work.

From the Associated Press:

Several lawmakers wrote the department after the new rules went into effect in September saying kids aren’t getting enough to eat.

School administrators also complained, saying set maximums on grains and meats are too limiting as they try to plan daily meals.

“This flexibility is being provided to allow more time for the development of products that fit within the new standards while granting schools additional weekly menu planning options to help ensure that children receive a wholesome, nutritious meal every day of the week,” Vilsack said in a letter to Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.

The development of products like spinach, right? Or maybe tomato paste infused with spinach for double vegetable points? Schools still only need to offer one fruit or vegetable per meal.

Vilsack wasn’t all about appeasement, though. His letter to Hoeven included this slightly snarky bit:

It is important to point out that the new school meals are designed to meet only a portion of a child’s nutritional needs over the course of the school day. This should come as no surprise — students never have and never will get all of their daily dietary needs from a single meal. School breakfasts and lunches are designed to meet roughly one-fourth and one-third, respectively, of the daily calorie needs of school children.

Despite the rule change, calorie caps for meals will remain the same. This should come as no surprise — the way math works means meals with more meat and grains will have to have less of something else. Let’s hope that something else is chocolate milk, not fruits and veggies.

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New York’s bike share gets a new new new new new launch date

by Myrna Posted on December 10, 2012

New York’s bike share gets a new new new new new launch date

By Philip Bump

New York City’s bike-share program — originally slated for late summer, then this fall, then some point next year, then who-knows-when-because-Sandy — will be launched in May of 2013. If you believe the city, which you shouldn’t, based on its prior track record.

D.C.’s version of the bike share, which made launching one look deceptively easy.

Here’s what the plan is this time, according to The New York Times:

In August, the city said the program would initially feature 7,000 bikes at 420 stations by March, then expand to 10,000 bikes and 600 stations by this summer.

Now, the plan is to have at least 5,500 bikes at 293 stations by May. There is no timeline for the program to expand to 10,000 bikes. …

[City transportation commissioner Janette] Sadik-Khan said “we still remain committed” to expanding the program to 10,000 bikes, but she said she was unsure when that might happen.

My guess: no time soon! My sympathies to Ms. Sadik-Khan, however, for constantly having to update her talking points on why the bike share isn’t yet in place.

Anyway, no need to rush. Who would ever need a bike in a city with public transit that always works flawlessly and in which there’s never any problem getting fuel?

Intrade, the online, bet-on-anything-you-want market, isn’t yet taking bets on when New York’s bike share will go live. If a market appears there, a bit of investment advice: go short.

Source

Newly Delayed Bike Share Program Is Now to Begin in May, New York Times

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Projections for future carbon emissions in U.S. keep dropping — but the emissions keep rising

by Myrna Posted on December 10, 2012

Projections for future carbon emissions in U.S. keep dropping — but the emissions keep rising

By Philip Bump

The U.S. Energy Information Agency has a graph showing how its projections for U.S. carbon dioxide output keep being revised downward. In case you didn’t get the point, it has a big blue arrow pointing down. They probably had a few meetings to discuss whether the arrow was big enough.

EIA

Year after year, the EIA has revised its projections. Its 2013 calculations suggest that 2040 emissions will still be 5 percent lower than what the U.S. produced in 2005. Which is good news!

But it is also higher than what we’re emitting today. Every projection from the agency shows an increase in emissions over 2010 levels by 2040. So the celebratory down arrow is maybe a bit much.

The agency explains why it thinks the U.S. will end up producing less carbon dioxide than it expected last year. (I am pleased to report that the reasons largely align with David Roberts’ description from this summer. Grist FTW.)

Downward revisions in the economic growth outlook, which dampens energy demand growth
Lower transportation sector consumption of conventional fuels based on updated fuel economy standards, increased penetration of alternative fuels, and more modest growth in light-duty vehicle miles traveled
Generally higher energy prices, with the notable exception of natural gas, where recent and projected prices reflect the development of shale gas resources
Slower growth in electricity demand and increased use of low-carbon fuels for generation
Increased use of natural gas

In particular, carbon dioxide emissions from power plants are expected to continue to decline, for two reasons: economics (read: cheap natural gas) and increased regulatory curbs on pollution.

All of this data is subject to change, as the agency’s year-over-year comparison suggests. We’re all on tenterhooks to see how big next year’s arrow will be. And, of course, which direction it will point.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Go skiing now, while you still can

by Myrna Posted on December 7, 2012

Go skiing now, while you still can

By Philip Bump

nonanet

Hopefully this lady also enjoys walking down mountains.

From the Denver Post:

A new study says a warming climate could cost the country’s winter tourism industry as much as $2 billion a season as snowpack dwindles.

The analysis — authored by a pair of doctoral students from the University of New Hampshire — concludes that rising winter temperatures since 1970 are threatening winter tourism in 38 states. The report said the difference between a good snow year and a bad snow year from 1999 to 2010 cost the industry between $810 million and $1.9 billion; 13,000 to 27,000 jobs; and 15 million skier visits.

Looking forward, the researchers estimate snow depth could decline to zero at lower elevations in the West and that the ski season in the East could shrink by as much as half in the coming decades.

Over the past 40 years, almost all of the nation’s winter resort areas have grown hotter. Heat and snow, you may remember from school, are a bad mix.

NRDC

Click to embiggen.

If you are looking for something on which to spend the $14,800 you had set aside for a new ski jacket, please allow us to suggest, instead, a mountain bike.

Hat tip: Bill McKibben.

Source

Report shows warming weather may cost winter tourism $2 billion a year, Denver Post

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Hundreds of new winter farmers markets open for the season

by Myrna Posted on December 7, 2012

Hundreds of new winter farmers markets open for the season

By Susie Cagle

There are 52 percent more winter farmers markets operating in the U.S. this year compared to last, the Department of Agriculture announced this week. Winter markets now make up a larger share of farmers market sales throughout the year, even if they’re not quite as well stocked with delicious goodies. (I miss you, summer tomatoes.)

But winter’s nice too! Roasty chestnuts and hot apple cider? Yes please! Oh, and I guess I’ll take that kale too.

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

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