Ethics and the Greenhouse - Dot Earth Blog - NYTimes.com

[Donald A. Brown, an associate professor of environmental ethics, science, and law at Pennsylvania State University] There is a small but rapidly growing academic interest in climate change ethics. For instance, there have been about four or five very good books this year and a growing number of conferences. Both I.P.C.C. this year and Unesco have now recognized the importance of thinking about climate change from an ethical perspective. The I.P.C.C. will have a new chapter on ethics in the 5th assessment. Unesco has created a new global program on climate change ethics. There are, however, only a few ethicists who can do this work well because it is an inherently nondisciplinary challenge and the ethicists must be willing to dig into the scientific and economic controversies entailed by climate change as they unfold.

We like to say if we get the science and economics wrong, we will likely get the ethics wrong.

California Yanks Prius Perks: No More Hybrid HOV-Lane Access - Green Car Reports

You may remember that in California, 85,000 lucky owners of three hybrid vehicles were granted special stickers giving them access to High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes, even with only a single occupant in the car.

Well, their luck runs out on December 31, the last day those stickers are valid. While Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill yesterday that extends certain HOV-Lane Access stickers for four more years, the ones for hybrids aren't included.

Ardent About the Tap, but Still on the Bottle - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

...That same year, Mr. Bloomberg was a sponsor of a resolution passed by the United States Conference of Mayors urging cities to stop buying bottled water and the city’s Department of Environmental Protection began a $700,000 marketing campaign urging New Yorkers to drink tap water.

So why in the fiscal year that ended June 30 did the city spend more than $1,198,000 buying bottled water?