Monday Links: May 12, 2008

Since I was so focused on philanthropy blogging last week, I have a backlog of environmental and web 2.0 news to share. This could be a long list of links, but it should keep you busy for a while.

Colin on techPresident offers thoughts on why Facebook is perhaps over-rated as a political tool:

Social networking? Despite all of the attention paid to it in (occasionally breathless) media coverage . . . Facebook, MySpace, et al have not proven to be terribly effective tools for campaigns. Does anyone really think that the fact that Obama has five times as many Facebook friends as Hillary Clinton has turned out to be significant? Demographically interesting and revealing, sure, but actually relevant to how the Democratic primary process has gone so far?

EcoGeek offers “6 Stupidly Simple Steps to Saving Billions of Gallons of Gas.” Unlike that “gas tax holiday” nonsense, these would actually reduce gas consumption.

Treehugger highlights a really simple, useful, accurate biofuels comparison chart from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I don’t mean to be a constant cheerleader for algae but…geewillikers, Batman, switch grass and algae look like the best possibilities in that graphic.

The Natural Resources Defense Council blog shares news that, starting in January 2009, all new cars in California will include a label (alongside the price sticker) that gives the vehicle a “Global Warming Score” and a “Smog Score.” The labels look like this (right):

David Roberts from Grist offers a strategy for Obama in West Virginia and Kentucky, the second and third largest producers of coal (respectively; Wyoming is the largest):

[Obama's] response to Clinton’s gas tax proposal was to reject it as a Washington gimmick that would . . . do nothing to address long-term energy issues. That rejection was coupled with a principled energy platform that would address those issues.

Why not try the same thing in WV and KY? Start by telling the truth: as president, he would stop the expansion of dirty coal. [...]

Of course, it’s crucial to couple this with a positive message . . . that means “green jobs,” but more than just that. It means stimulating the development of other industries and revenue sources by spending on infrastructure, education, public works programs, and a decent social safety net. An Obama administration will try to pay these areas back for the sacrifices they’ve made in the name of providing the country with cheap electricity.

It probably wouldn’t help him win WV or KY . . . [but] [m]aybe he could defy conventional wisdom by treating rural white voters like adults, helping them plan a real path to economic health and sustainability rather than telling them fairy tales about the continuing viability of earth’s dirtiest fuel.

Bad news for Apple fan-boys like me and Jarred: Apple is lagging behind other tech companies in reducing its carbon footprint.

Just for sh**s and giggles (I am a pun machine), Mental Floss takes us on a tour of “High Class (and high price) Toilets.”

The Library of Congress has a Flickr account. From what I can tell, there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the photos (relatively modest in number) that they post. Case in point, “Auto Polo.” Like polo only using early automobiles in place of horses…Jesus.