Gas Prices: The Problem with Ethanol | Newsweek Voices - Daniel Gross

PROJECT GREEN
Battle of the Bags
3/13/2008 12:00:00 AM
When San Francisco became the first U.S. city to prohibit large grocery stores and pharmacies from distributing disposable plastic bags in March 2007, it appeared to have sparked a trend. At least a dozen other cities, counties and states were soon considering proposals to ban or severely restrict distribution of what many environmentalists consider a wasteful and harmful product.
PROJECT GREEN
Liquid Gold
Jim Moscou 2/21/2008 12:00:00 AM
Mike Adamson remembers when water wasn't such a problem. As a kid growing up on his family's cattle feedlot along the Colorado-Kansas border, "you could dig a post hole and see water runnin' in the bottom," he recalls. Today, Adamson is 48 and in charge of the family business, Adamson Brothers and Sons Feedlot, a holding ranch for cattle as they go to market. And the water, he says, is disappearing. "The lakes are gone. The wetlands are gone." In fact, Adamson adds, entire stretches of the nearby Republican River are gone.
SPECIAL REPORT
In The Slow Lane
George Wehrfritz
For Linda and Michael Pearce, the barrier to totally green driving was, literally, a hill. The Seattle couple had long eyed an electric car for ecofriendly jaunts around town, but required one that could comfortably reach their home, set on top of a moderate 3.2km slope. Until a few months ago, none of the pint-size vehicles could manage that at speeds faster than a crawl. Then, several manufacturers came to market with more powerful drive systems to replace the slower, weaker motors that have powered non-automotive vehicles from golf carts to forklifts for decades. Now the Pearces are weighing their options. He favors the Miles, a four-door import from China; she, a diminutive Canadian two-seater called the ZENN (for "zero emissions, no noise"). "I like the one that can haul stuff," says Michael. "She thinks the ZENN is cute."
The Biofuel Follies
George F. Will
Iowa's caucuses, a source of so much turbulence, might even have helped cause the recent demonstration by 10,000 Indonesians in Jakarta. Savor the multiplying irrationalities of the government-driven mania for ethanol and other biofuels, and energy policy generally.
PROJECT GREEN
The Chemicals Within
Anne Underwood
As an Alaskan fisherman, Timothy June, 54, used to think that he was safe from industrial pollutants at his home in Haines—a town with a population of 2,400 people and 4,000 eagles, with 20 million acres of protected wilderness nearby. But in early 2007, June agreed to take part in a survey of 35 Americans from seven states. It was a biomonitoring project, in which people's blood and urine were tested for traces of chemicals—in this case, three potentially hazardous classes of compounds found in common household products like shampoo, tin cans, shower curtains and upholstery. The results—released in November in a report called "Is It in Us?" by a coalition of environmental groups—were not reassuring. Every one of the participants, ranging from an Illinois state legislator to a Massachusetts minister, tested positive for all three classes of contaminants. And while the simple presence of these chemicals doesn't necessarily indicate a health risk, the fact that typical Americans carry these chemicals at all shocked June and his fellow participants. As Stephanie Felten, 28, of Aurora, Ill., put it, "Why should chemical companies be allowed to roll the dice on my health?"
LETTERS
Mail Call: Will Google Falter?

Readers hailed the new rivals to Google discussed in our Nov. 5 cover story. "This is just a part of globalization," one noted. Another added, "Business and technological innovation in accessibility, flexibility and ease of operation or service for users will determine whether Google remains the leader."