Today in Pretty Pictures

I have fallen in love with this house, designed by Marcel Breuer. The perfect mix of books and nature, non? You can see more if you pick up this month's Dwell magazine.

For Your Consideration: Let the Auto Companies Fail?

I've been well aware of the snarky, manipulative history perpetrated by the auto industry against public transportation back in the day before nearly every American owned at least one car, but No Impact Man posts a great run down from Commondreams.org.

From a post by Harvey Wasserman on CommonDreams.org:

In a 1922 memo that will live in infamy, GM President Alfred P. Sloan established a unit aimed at dumping electrified mass transit in favor of gas-burning cars, trucks and buses.

Just one American family in 10 then owned an automobile. Instead, we loved our 44,000 miles of passenger rail routes managed by 1,200 companies employing 300,000 Americans who ran 15 billion annual trips generating an income of $1 billion. According to Snell, "virtually every city and town in America of more than 2,500 people had its own electric rail system."

But GM lost $65 million in 1921. So Sloan enlisted Standard Oil (now Exxon), Philips Petroleum, glass and rubber companies and an army of financiers and politicians to kill mass transit.

The campaigns varied, as did the economic and technical health of many of the systems themselves. Some now argue that buses would have transcended many of the rail lines anyway. More likely, they would have hybridized and complemented each other.

But with a varied arsenal of political and financial subterfuges, GM helped gut the core of America's train and trolley systems. It was the murder of our rail systems that made our "love affair" with the car a tragedy of necessity.

In 1949 a complex federal prosecution for related crimes resulted in an anti-trust fine against GM of a whopping $5000. For years thereafter GM continued to bury electric rail systems by "bustituting" gas-fired vehicles.

Then came the interstates. After driving his Allied forces into Berlin on Hitler's Autobahn, Dwight Eisenhower brought home a passion for America's biggest public works project. Some 40,000 miles of vital eco-systems were eventually paved under.

In habitat destruction, oil addiction, global warming, outright traffic deaths (some 40,000/year and more), ancillary ailments and wars for oil, the automobile embodies the worst ecological catastrophe in human history...

...So let's convert the company's infrastructure to churn out trolley cars, monorails, passenger trains, truly green buses.

FDR forced Detroit to manufacture the tanks, planes and guns that won World War 2 (try buying a 1944 Chevrolet!). Now let a reinvented GM make the "weapons" to win the climate war and energy independence.

It demands re-tooling and re-training. But GM's special role in history must now evolve into using its infrastructure to restore the mass transit system---and ecological balance---it has helped destroy.

2009 May Surpass 2008 as Best Movie Year

I think this speaks for itself:

The Problem with Busmans' Holidays

Do you work more than 40 hours a week (I'm including school here)? I have been working two jobs, sometimes three, with some school thrown in since I was 16 years old. It's been the norm for so long, nearly ten years, that I was beginning to forget what it was like to have some time off. It seems I am not alone. Americans, according to several new studies, are the most overworked, under-vacationed, and miserable people out there, one of the few industrialized countries that still does not have mandatory vacation days (I can see those de-regulators and my boss out there already getting their panties in a bunch). But wouldn't that be nice, if you could take those days, nay, had to take those days off work and still get paid?

I am now beginning to cut my work hours down and already notice a difference, a lightening of my mental load, and man, it sure feels nice. How much nicer would it be to not feel guilty about it? We've got a lot of restructuring to do for ourselves here in the states. I wonder how long it will be before we make it ok for us to take care of ourselves (if we ever get there).

Blog Love: Ecology of Absence

If you're not reading Ecology of Absence, initially started with regards to the North St. Louis revitalization project, then you should. Michael Allen's catalog of the St. Louis built environment is an interesting read for both St. Louisians and those of you far away alike. Each post pacts a motivating history lesson about architecture, St. Louis, and how cities work. This site will be a great asset in the years to come, not only collecting a vast amount of St. Louis history, but may also be responsible for saving some of our best buildings! His pictures alone are worth a visit. The photo is from a recent post of his.

I Love You Too Debbie Lieberstein

Things have been getting a bit plasticy and depressing around here, so for your enjoyment and mine, a belated, postmodern Halloween romp. :

"We call ourselves the living dead."

Government departments like the EPA are meant to protect us right? Not necessarily. What other purpose could they possibly have? A new article on Salon.com reports the awful truth. If you find it difficult to focus on a very long, yet good article, there are some highlights below. Should we push for more regulation, now that it may be too late for nearly all sections of our decrepit government? I think we already know my answer.

Beneath the Alvarados' house and those of their neighbors are shallow pools of groundwater that are polluted with tetrachloroethylene, or PCE, a chemical associated with cancer, liver and kidney disease... On cool or rainy days, when the Alvarados close the windows and shut off the air conditioning, a sweet chemical smell floods the house. When they eat dinner during these times, says Robert, 66, it's like tasting something acrid. "We drink bottled water but there's nothing we can do about the air except go outside and wait," says Lupe, 64.

"We call ourselves the living dead."

A survey by the University of Texas found that 91 percent of adults in the area experienced multiple illnesses.

Although it has conducted limited testing, the EPA acknowledges that it's possible for PCE vapor to rise from groundwater into people's living rooms and kitchens. Yet it says the Alvarados and their neighbors have nothing to fear.

"It feels like Stalin-era Russia, like the administration [Bush] set themselves up to decide what's allowable science and what isn't," says a high-ranking staff scientist at the EPA.

Public health officials say this attempt to derail the scientific evaluation of toxins is one of the most damning legacies of the Bush administration.

Although not widely known, the Integrated Risk Information System [IRIS] is a database that houses the scientific analyses of toxic chemicals. It's the foundation for most environmental regulations in the U.S. and beyond.

...because the human population is so diverse, there's always an inherent uncertainty of how one person may react to low levels of exposure versus his neighbor.

Not incidentally, under Gray's tenure at the EPA, the agency has lowered the economic value of human life by nearly $1 million, or 11 percent. A human life is now worth just under $7 million. Such calculations are critical when government determines whether a proposed regulation is financially cost-effective to enforce.

Concurrently, a preliminary EPA review of trichloroethylene (TCE), used by the military to degrease jets and metal parts, found that the chemical was up to 40 times more likely to cause cancer than was previously believed.

The plan that emerged calls for expanding the role of other federal agencies in determining which chemicals are assessed each year. It allows agencies like the Pentagon, Department of Energy and NASA to identify "mission critical" chemicals to the agency's operations.

Already, say critics, it's possible to determine how the influence of the Pentagon and other agencies will play out. In the past two years, since Gray has been at the agency, the EPA has produced more than 40 chemical assessments. Yet only four evaluations met OMB approval and were finalized. The EPA, which should be completing 50 per year to stay current, faces a backlog of 70 chemical assessments in need of updating.

Yet because IRIS is so obscure, it's doubtful there will be a national clamor demanding restoration of EPA control. And that makes it easy for politicians to maintain the status quo, says David Michaels, a professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health.

Update: Obama Beats Bush in Plan to Slip in Under the Wire

As I noted before, President Bush is going to be doing some sneaky work behind the scenes for the next few months in order to pass some bad legislation for both stem cell research and the environment. But have no fear...MSNBC is already reporting that Obama is aware of the changes and has already taken steps to fix them.

"He Never Spoke Down to Children..."

If you were ever a giant Roald Dahl fan like me, you might want to read this interview with his wife and pick up the upcoming British Vogue to see Tim Burton and wife Helena Bonham-Carter acting out scenes from his books.

The Bad News on Plastics, the Good from Gore

One of my favorite blogs, Fake Plastic Fish, written by no-plastic enthusiast Beth Terry had a great post today regarding the safety of plastic.

1.) Polypropylene (#5) plastic is now proven to also leach into food and water. Previously, it was considered a food safe plastic, but as Beth points out, just because something hasn't been studied, does not mean it's safe. I'm going to use this post as a reason to buy my second Pyrex food set.

2.) A PVC plant caught on fire in Texas yesterday. The plant says that the smoke is "non-toxic." Eeep! Look at the picture and see if you agree.

3.) Why recycling isn't always the answer--the horror stories of electronic recycling in China.

And for some happy news....Al Gore reminds us that luckily:

"the bold steps that are needed to solve the climate crisis are exactly the same steps that ought to be taken in order to solve the economic crisis and the energy security crisis."

George Bush To Do More Damage in His Remaining Days

There's not much I can say about the incredible election of Barack Obama other than, YES! THANK YOU!

But now that the fear of a deep dystopian end to America has disappeared for me in wake of his victory, we still have to be vigilant, especially since Georgie Boy is still in office. Both the New York Times and the Washington Post have written articles following the various measures that Bush is seeking to get inacted, none of them promising, many of them horrifying, that we need to be aware of as we wait for Obama to enter the White House.
Both articles acknowledge that these measure will take years to reverse.

YES WE CAN!