It takes a lot of pluck (or loopiness) (or both) to plunge
into a political tug-of-war with a foe that has
heavy-hitting institutional anchors like NAFTA and the
U.S. Constitution on its side of the mudpit. Still ...
Michigan lawmakers and environmental activists
appear to be making incremental headway in their quest
to stop Ontario from exporting and disposing of trash in
Michigan landfills, according to this Reuters
story that appeared in
yesterdayīs New York Times and this
brief that appeared in
the same paper last Friday [scroll down to the subheadline
at the bottom that says "Report Questions Security Of
Canadian Trash"].
Astute readers may have noted my insertion of the
waffle-phrase "appear to be" in the last sentence. This,
as Iīve noted here a few times previously, is an
extraordinarily complex dispute, and one thatīs being
fought on a number of fronts. So Iīm braced for the
e-mails from some of you wondering just what lines I was
reading between that led me to conclude that the momentum
has swung Michiganīs way.
For starters, we have Michiganīs threat to hike its tip
free from 21 cents to $7.50 a ton. Thatīs a
thirty-five-fold jackup, Jack. Nothing to sneeze at.
Notwithstanding the Ontario waste officialīs comment that
such a scenario "wonīt stop one ton from going to
Michigan."
About a month ago in this space I included a link about
a study being undertaken by scientists from the U.S. and
Mexico to measure the effects of Mexico Cityīs air
pollution on areas downwind of the city. Hereīs an
update from the Los
Angeles Times. No big news here; the project is rolling,
basically.
I include the article here because it struck me as a
very well-researched and -written feature on an important
scientific venture, and itīs full of interesting
information about Mexico City and why it was chosen for
the project. Like, for example, how closely the cityīs
atmosphere today resembles L.A.īs 30 to 40 years ago. And
how the Mexico City metro area is surrounded by mountains
and covers about half as much square mileage as Los
Angeles County, but with about twice the population
crammed into that space.
The Arizona Republic
reports that a Phoenix
suburb, Avondale, has come up with a novel way to school
people on the importance of putting recyclables in the
blue recycling bin and nonrecyclables in the trash. By
sending them to school, literally. Itīs sort of the
recycling equivalent of remedial driving school. All the
details of the class havenīt been worked out yet, the
article says, but it will probably run for about an hour
and could include a video.
Egads: a video. That ought to scare the
evildoers straight. I wonder if it will include
out-of-style clothes and hairdos, weird background music,
gory crash scenes, and a title like "Wheels of Tragedy" or
"Hellīs Highway."
