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May, 2009
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What's Happening: 300,000 Climate Change Deaths Yearly, Chinese Fuel Efficiency Standards, and more
TOP STORY
Global Warming Causes 300,000 Deaths a Year
"Climate change is already responsible for 300,000 deaths a year and is affecting 300m people, according to the first comprehensive study of the human impact of global warming. It projects that increasingly severe heatwaves, floods, storms and forest fires will be responsible for as many as 500,000 deaths a year by 2030, making it the greatest humanitarian challenge the world faces." [The Guardian]
AUDIO
A California Town Squeezes Water From A Drought
"California is in the third year of a drought, and many cities and towns are calling for various forms of water rations. But the northern California coastal community of Bolinas had to learn water conservation the really hard way...Mandatory rationing went into effect immediately. It required that every household (or water hook up) use 150 gallons a day or less, regardless of how many people it supported." [NPR]
RECOMMENDED READING
Refugees Join List of Climate-Change Issue
"There cou...
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What's Happening: Sotomayor's Green Cred, The Sixth Extinction, and more
TOP STORIES
Big Oil Warms to Ethanol and Biofuel Companies
"For decades, the big oil companies and the farm lobby have been fighting about ethanol, with the farmers pushing to produce more of it and the refiners arguing it was a boondoggle that would do little to solve the country’s energy problems...The erstwhile enemies, it turns out, are gradually learning to get along, as refiners increasingly see a need to get involved in ethanol production." [Greenwire - New York Times]
Enviro Groups Like What They See in Obama's Justice Pick
"Even though environmental issues have not been a major cog in Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's legal career, environmentalists have joined the chorus of left-leaning advocacy groups that have thrown their support behind President Obama's pick for the high court." [Greenwire - New York Times]
Sea’s Rise May Prove the Greater in Northeast
"If the melting of Greenland’s ice sheets continues to accelerate...sea levels will rise even more in th...
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Rent or Own? Making Solar Power Affordable
The San Francisco Bay area has historically been a leader on emerging technology, yet despite the unprecedented interest in solar power in California and beyond, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., has just 30,530 solar installations in its territory, which stretches from Eureka in the north to Bakersfield in the south. That's just 1 percent of the total number of residential rooftops that could install solar panels and reap their benefits. How could that be?
According to most in the residential solar business, the problem boils down to money. For most people, installing solar panels comes with a hefty upfront cost. According to PG&E, it costs about $36,000 to install a four-kilowatt photovoltaic system, which is enough to power the average home for a family of four with a monthly electrical bill of $100 to $200. It would reduce carbon emissions equal to driving 12,000 miles in an average passenger car.Rebates and tax incentives bring the cost of installing solar down by $10,000 or so....
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What's Happening: The Cost of Water, Arctic Methane, and more
RECOMMENDED READING
Cost of Water to Dramatically Rise
"The cost of water is likely to rise 50-100 percent in five years, as governments invest more than $30 billion for new supplies. Water Services Association executive director Ross Young said yesterday that higher water prices 'reflect that we have really had to rethink our whole water systems in the face of the impacts of climate change."'[The Australian]
In Ecuador, an Unusual Carbon-Credit Plan to Leave Oil Untapped
"Beneath the tropical jungles of northeastern Ecuador lies a vast pool of oil, representing one-fifth of the small Andean country's petroleum reserves and potentially billions of dollars in revenue. Directly above that pool, the Yasuni National Park is home to a diversity of wildlife that is among the richest on the planet, Ecuadoran and U.S. biologists say. Faced with these two treasures, Ecuador is pursuing an unusual plan to reap the oil profits without actually drilling for oil." [Washington Post]
Desert Solar P...
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No Cars, But Plenty of Life on Broadway
When you hear that Bloomberg has shut down Broadway, it sounds like the morality police have muscled in to stamp out illicit pleasures. But never fear, a previous administration already took care of that over a decade ago. If anything, the closure to vehicles of chunks of Broadway, which began two days ago, may help Times Square take tentative steps towards developing a new spirit. It may even (could it be?) turn Times Square into a place that will attract New Yorkers as much as tourists. Just not yet.
As The New York Times notes, New York’s transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn—the dynamo behind the city's new miles of bike lanes and pedestrian plazas—has drawn on Copenhagen’s years of experience turning its city center over to walkers. Sadik-Kahn's Broadway experiment is two days’ old and, for the moment, she has managed to close a series of five “plazas” between 47th and 42nd streets. Yet Times Square itself is still full of traffic along 7th Avenue, which c...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 39 - Paddle into New Orleans
I started out a little later than I had been on this trip to cross from Slidell, LA., to a beach on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, but it was only a twenty mile jaunt, and the wind was blowing from the NE with predictions that it would be turning out of the south by the afternoon. It was bouncy on the giant lake, and I took shelter from the wind on the lee side of the railroad trestles, figuring I'd slip out under them when I hit the New Orleans side. I began to notice, though, that with the trestles so low, and the swells fairly sizeable, that timing to squeeze under there safely would be critical. I paddled along, thinking that perhaps this wasn't such a hot plan after all. Maybe I should have gone under the trestles at the designated channel. Hmm. The big swells seemed to come in fairly predictable sets of three, and you could see them coming a bit off, so it didn't seem like it was going to be that difficult, but once a decision was made to go forward, there could be no s...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 38 - Now onto New Orleans!
These last few days I've been paddling through Hurricane Katrina and Rita area. There's been much rebuilding, and still much rebuilding to do. Hugging the coast below Bay St. Louis is not a good idea because there are still many hidden pylons from ripped out docks and other debris.
The wind was once again at my back, or broadside. It was rough going around one point that seemed to last forever, but then I was able to pretty much surf in to Polecat Beach. There's a railroad that runs right along the Gulf there. It's actually the Mississippi Bay, but the barrier islands are so far off, and virtually non-existent anymore that it's really open Gulf. The Gulf seemed to lay down as I approached the entrance to the Rigolets, a huge wide river that drains from Lake Pontchartrain. Lucky for me, I had both wind and tide pushing me up to Slidell. It had been a bit of a rough ride, so I enjoyed the break.
Within two or three miles of my destination at Barry Dennis' place, two guys in a lit...
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Turning a Cause into a Value at School
The modern day environmental movement began when rivers began to catch fire and our ecosystems began to fail. Brave citizens marched on Washington to demand that Congress enact laws; brilliant attorneys began to defend the rights of our people to live in healthy communities; and passionate advocates launched campaigns to protect the natural inheritance of future generations. And yet, environmentalism was still not a part of our national consciousness. In fact, being green was considered something that was only left to the elite or to “tree-huggers”. It wasn’t until our children got involved that it became part of our national values.
The general population began to see how all of us can – and should – go green when schools taught kids to recycle. Teachers inspired a new wave of environmentalism that wasn’t just about getting laws passed – this environmentalism required personal responsibility, encouraged ingenuity, and demonstrated economic viability.
Today, this y...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 37 - Truly a Group Effort
The wind pushed me along yesterday at a fairly good clip. The boat wasn't quite behaving in the swells coming from behind slightly from the ama (outrigger) side. I thought it was that I was getting tired and just not "on" from my late night before where my gin and tonic glass was not allowed to be empty. I crawled my way to the beach at the beautiful Bay-Waveland Yacht club where Bob David and his sister, Pat, were there to greet me. The problem with my poor Fuze was immediately obvious when I couldn't lift the stern to slide the bow on the sand. It was loaded with water. After unplugging the stern plug the water poured and poured out of it for a very long time.
With the help of Bob and Tate Davis, who also hosted me in their guest house/aka "Katrina trailer," and Rich Waldsmith and his wife Pat Davis (Bob's sister), as well as past commodore of the yacht club, Judy Reeves, we discovered where the leak was and Rich and Judy set about putting a fiberglass patch on it. Todd of "d...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 36 - Good Samaritans on the Water
It is never a good thing to snap a rudder cable three miles off shore in a heavy wind and chop. This happened after I crossed the bay from Dauphin Island. As I struggled to keep the bow pointed toward a far off clump of houses, a crabber and his crew came upon me. I flagged them down and Victor Zirlott of Zirlottseafood.com and his grandson, TJ Cornelius picked me up and hoisted my boat on board. In the chop and wind this was a challenge for sure. Apparently Victor had seen me struggling in the wind while he was setting traps and figured he'd check things out. Thank goodness he did! And thank goodness he was so willing to help!
He and TJ took me in to Steve Johnson's docks. Steve is a shrimper and he also, like most of the crabbers, shrimpers, and fishermen around here, does boat repair. He put down the work he was busy doing and set about doing what he could to help me. After going to a shop looking for a swagging tool and coming up empty, he and I drove to an auto parts store...
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What's Happening: Coming Up ACES
The story of the day is all about the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill passing out of committee. Reactions:
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, splitting largely along party lines, approved [on a 33-to-25 vote] on Thursday the most ambitious energy and global warming legislation ever debated in Congress...But the energy legislation passed on Thursday still faces a tortuous path through several more House committees before it can be brought up for a vote later this year. In the Senate, leaders say they lack the votes to pass the bill as it is now written."
A bill to create the first national limit on greenhouse-gas emissions was approved by a House committee yesterday after a week of late-night debates that cemented the shift of climate change from rhetorical jousting to a subject of serious, if messy, Washington policymaking. The legislation would create a cap-and-trade system: Over the next decades, power plants, oil refineries and manu...
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What's Happening: Guns in National Parks, Letters to Congress, and more
Pretty thin news day today. They're still sifting through the 450 or so amendments to Waxman-Markey, but word is that that Committee leadership struck a deal this morning, and they'll be voting on ACES early this evening. Elsewhere...
RECOMMENDED READING
Congress Votes to Allow Guns in National Parks
"In a stinging defeat for gun-control, the U.S. Congress has voted to allow people to carry loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. The House approved the measure, 279-147, on Wednesday, one day after the Senate acted. [Associated Press - MSNBC]
Global Warming, if Left Unchecked, Twice as Bad as Previously Expected
"Global warming will be twice as severe as previous estimates indicate, according to a new study published this month in the Journal of Climate, a publication of the American Meteorological Society. The research, conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), predicts a 90% probability that worldwide surface temperatures will rise more than 9 degre...
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What's Happening: Secret China-US Climate Talks, Alaskan Glaciers, and more
TOP STORY
China and US Held Secret Talks on Climate Change Deal
"A high-powered group of senior Republicans and Democrats led two missions to China in the final months of the Bush administration for secret backchannel negotiations aimed at securing a deal on joint US-Chinese action on climate change, the Guardian has learned. The initiative, involving John Holdren, now the White House science adviser, and others who went on to positions in Barack Obama's administration, produced a draft agreement in March, barely two months after the Democrat assumed the presidency. The memorandum of understanding was not signed, but those involved in opening up the channel of communications believe it could provide the foundation for a US-Chinese accord to battle climate change, which could be reached as early as this autumn." [The Guardian]
VIDEO
Chinese Farmers Become Eco-refugees as the Desert Spreads
"Dust storms hit his village in Gansu province more often than in the pa...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 35 - Daulphin Island Sea Lab (DISL)
Today's early paddle got me safely through the Mobile Inlet and into the cozy harbor at Billy Goat Hole here on Dauphin Island, where I'm staying in the student housing at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.
Lori Angelo, who is the outreach coordinator and editor of the DISL's publication, provided me with a wonderful tour of the "Estuarium" here. This is one incredibly busy place. Not only do they have graduate students here, but during the year they have about 11,000 k-12 graders come through here. The Estuarium further boosts their educational outreach. They are even working on "distance" learning so they can educate the kids that might not have an easy time accessing the resources here on the island.
The Estuarium was extremely interesting to me. Its entire focus is on wetlands and how their health directly impacts the health of our coastal waters and beyond. It brings home the land-sea connection, and our impact on this vital process, unlike any exhibit I've ever seen before. What i...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 34 - Trail Magic
Joe Murphy, the Florida coordinator for the New Orleans based Gulf Restoration Network, told me about one of his buddies who had hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. According to his friend, there's thing called "trail magic," which basically is described as a serendipitous event that helps one along the way.
This has happened to me on all of my paddle journeys, and it is always the result of the kindness of strangers. That folks have been willing to host, feed, and support me, or simply store my boat on their property, is definitely part of the "trail magic." Yesterday I paddled a 50 mile stretch from Perdido Key to about five and a half miles of my intended destination across the Mobile Bay Inlet. The currents were ripping.
My support team at Gulf Restoration Network was scouting out options for escort boats - from the Coast Guard and the State Police. They weren't available because all of their assets were already engaged in search and rescue operations. That was a gre...
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What's Happening: Waxman-Markey Mark Up, New Auto Efficiency Standards, and more
TOP STORIES
House Begins Mark Up of Waxman-Markey
"The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to pass legislation this week that would overhaul U.S. energy and global warming policy, assuming Democrats can stay united in the face of hundreds of GOP amendments...Democrats plan to make their case for the bill by arguing it would help tackle global warming, create jobs and strengthen national security. Those points will be juxtaposed during the markup against a nearly united Republican front focused on a vast expansion of domestic energy production. Besides offering their own alternative measure, Republicans also are preparing as many as 450 amendments designed to target individual Democratic members who they hope will be uncomfortable supporting such stringent new environmental requirements." [ClimateWire - New York Times]
Auto Emissions and Mileage Standards Tightened
"President Obama will announce tough new nationwide rules for automobile emissions and mileage standards on ...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 33 - Perdito Key, FL - Dinner Parties and Kingfishers
Yesterday's paddle was a bit tense due to the many thunder storms in the area. Today it seems as though the danger of storms is not as strong, but the wind will sure be.
Right now I'm preparing to leave the home of Susan, Clara, and Skipper Tonsmeire. They've got a wonderful spot here on Perdido Key, outside of Pensacola. Last night they hosted an amazing dinner, where we all gorged on Skipper's shrimp salad, tuna dip, asparagus and peas, and other goodies that I'm too stuffed to remember.
I finally met Fred Garth, one of my Facebook friends that I met through Joy (boy, does she have the network!), among many other fantastic friends of the Tonsmeire family. One lucky guest even went home with the Kingfisher that had been in Susan's freezer for the past two years. It was in pretty good shape- frost-free and perfectly preserved!!
So long Florida. Onto Alabama and Daulphin Island, across Mobile Bay.
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Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 32 - Navarre Beach, FL
With the wind at my back I made some pretty good time flying across the wide open Choctawhatchee Bay. I diddle dinked my way down the intracoastal, taking pictures of the Spectre Island memorial for our fallen heroes, and finally arrived at Linda Young's beach party where she had assembled a lively bunch of friends.
Linda Young, director of the Clean Water Network of Florida, had been fighting the "good fight" for decades. She speaks up in defense of those thy would like to keep Florida's water resources as plentiful and healthy as possible. It's an uphill battle, because greed on the part of those that would stick a condo on every block and a golf course every five miles beats common sense water resource management every time. And then there is the push to develop wetlands. How does Florida not get that wetlands play an important part in a healthy coastal eocosystem? If the wetlands disappear, the seafood disappears and inland protection is comporomised.
Other states, like North...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 30: Pretty Blue Water
Karl and Bridgett insist that I have to come back to see the water I've been missing by traveling on the inside. It's a beautiful blue and the sand is blindingly white. I think I will have to come back. Karl hosted an awesome cook out to which a good group of folks came out for. Lori, a reporter I had met, brought some kick-ass salsa dip. Another great recipe to collect.
I'm sitting here at the moment in Karl and Bridgette's guest room. A giagantic red "no swimming" flag that they slavaged from the water decorates one wall. In their collection of stuff by the bed they have the same funny little retro football bank that my Carl picked up at a garage sale.
Water quality issues seem to be hitting this part of the Gulf particularly hard. In Panama City, my host Roseanne drinks only bottled water because she doesn't own a TV and therefore has a hard time keeping up with the drinking water alerts. When I was in Port St. Joe, the lady at the hotel desk had me fill up at the water station, ra...
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What's Happening: Ocean Acidification Lawsuit, 21st Century Dust Bowl, and more
RECOMMENDED READING
EPA Sued Over Ocean Acidification
"An environmental group is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, seeking to have Washington coastal waters listed as impaired because carbon dioxide is making the ocean more acidic. The Center for Biological Diversity said the EPA has failed to consider how ocean acidification is adversely affecting water quality and marine animals." [AP -Seattle Post Intelligencer]
Desalination in California a Reality
"The biggest seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere, north of San Diego, can begin construction by year's end after a six-year effort to win regulators' approval...The $300 million facility will produce 50 million gallons of drinking water daily, enough for 110,000 households." [Reuters]
21st Century Dust Bowl in the West?
"Dust storms accelerated by a warming climate have covered the Rocky Mountains with dirt whose heat-trapping properties have caused snowpacks to melt weeks earlier than normal, worrying offic...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 27 - Time and Life
For the first time since hitting the Gulf, I paddled the entire day's stretch on the inside route. From Apalachicola to Faye Langley's backyard, it was a total inside run.
Gill from the Apalachicola Maritime Museum came out to see me off, and then he and his wife drove further upstream to wave and snap a few shots. Roxanne Weglinski, whom I met at the FSU marine lab, and who will be graciously hosting me tonight after a "meet and greet" at "the Canoe Shop" in Panama City, told me that this route was real pretty. The first section of it was, and I took a ton of pictures.
From Apalachicola to the Route 71 bridge, the native vegetation is lush and beautiful. Birds chatter non stop in the trees, and the place seems to just overflow with life. I could look at cypress trees and palmettos forever. It is non stop wonderment to paddle along that waterway, through the middle of Wimico Lake, and back into the waterway. Mullet hurl themselves out of the water all along that stretch. I snuck ...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle - Meeting Governor Crist, FSU and the Apalachicola Maritime Museum
It is funny that people will pick the huge chunks of skin I'm shedding from my sunburned scalp but they don't point out that I've got a huge peel of skin on the tip of my nose. Oh the hazards of the sun!
These past couple of days has been a whirlwind of activity. On Monday I did not paddle because Paul Johnson, president of Reef Relief and NRDC Florida person, had arranged for an impressive press conference at the steps of the Old Capitol and meeting with Governor Crist at his offices in the New Capitol. Both went well, except I provided Gov. Crist with a bit more about the outrigger philosophy than I'm sure he cared to know. Fortunately Paul adeptly jumped in and saved the governor from a lengthy desertation and told him exactly what he wanted to know- that the boat is 20 feet long and weighs less than 25 pounds unloaded, and that we were there to get his support (now as a potential senator) for our "Healthy Oceans" campaign in Washington.
Dr. Felicia Coleman, Director of the FSU ...
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What's Happening: Climate and Health, Formaldehyde, Gadgets, and more
RECOMMENDED READING
Climate Change is Biggest Health Threat of 21st Century
"Climate change poses the biggest threat to human health in the 21st century but its full impact is not being grasped by the healthcare community or policymakers, a medical report concludes...[It] warns that climate change risks huge death tolls caused by disease, food and water shortages and poor sanitation...Describing the threat as a "clear and present danger" that would affect billions of lives, he said that the world needed a 21st-century public health movement to deal with climate change. He added that failure to act will result in future generations feeling the same moral outrage as is felt today towards those "who brought in and did nothing to stop slavery."" [Times Online]
Soaring electricity use by new electronic devices imperils climate change efforts
"Efforts by countries worldwide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy security are in trouble if nothing is done to check t...
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Visualizing A World Without New Orleans, Bangladesh, the Bahamas
Adding to the new tools visualizing the impacts of climate change is this -- Sea Level Rise Explorer, an interactive map showing the land capture by potential long-term sea level rise around the world. The map, developed by Global Warming Art, and powered by Google Maps, uses a colored palette to show which areas will be affected by a rise between -10 and +70 meters.
It's long been a joke of those with an interest in real estate and a concern for climate change that now's the time to swap your beach house for a mountain cabin. For most areas, this is an exaggeration -- insurance premiums will rise faster than sea levels. For other areas, however, the threat is far more real.
Consider that the extent of the effected land is highly variable. In some areas, large swaths of land are at long-term risk of a rising sea. On the map, it's like the red watercolor pigment has organically bled out and into the surrounding canvas. Other coastal areas are hardly affected.
Take my home town of Falmo... -
What's Happening: Markey-Waxman Details Emerge, Climate Lobbying Surge, and more
TOP STORY
Markey-Waxman Compromise Details Emerge
The headlines express the range of attitudes on the "final" Markey-Waxman bill that will soon be voted on in the Energy and Commerce Committee:
- Democrats to Relax House Emissions Bill [Washington Post]
- Waxman, Markey Announce Breakthrough on Climate Change Bill [Roll Call]
- Energy And Commerce Dems Reach Partial Deal On Climate And Energy [Congress Daily]
- Democratic Climate Plan Would Trim CO2 Emissions 17% [Bloomberg]
- Waxman predicts committee passage as details emerge on climate, energy bill [New York Times]
Related:
Dirty energy interests have spent $79 million this year lobbying Congress
"According to the latest lobbying data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, the oil and gas industry spent nearly $44.6 million lobbying Congress in just the first three months of this year, and ranked second only to the health care and pharmaceutical industries in total spending. Electric utilities spent $34.4 million, and businesses in the en...
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What's Happening: Allergies & Asthma, Capping Fisheries, Kill Bill, and more
RECOMMENDED READING
Climate Change Could Sting Asthma, Allergy Sufferers
"Global warming is making pollen seasons last longer, creating more ozone in the air, and even expanding the areas where insects flourish, putting more people with bee allergies at greater risk, experts say." [USA Today]
Obama Admin Proposes Fishery Cap-and-Trade Plan
"The Obama administration is proposing significant new spending on a proposed cap-and-trade regulatory scheme for fisheries -- a major overhaul in fishery management and a bid to halt the decline of wild fish stocks." [Greenwire - New York Times]
EPA Chief Calls for Environmental Justice
"The federal Environmental Protection Agency needs to address the systemic environmental issues facing America's poor, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a speech yesterday at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. 'I see it as part of my essential mission to show all Americans that the Environmental Protection Agency works for them,' said Jackson, the fi...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle: A Warm Welcome at St. Marks
I am partnering with NRDC to paddle my outrigger canoe 1200 miles around Florida and west to New Orleans. My goal is to build support for a Healthy Oceans Act and steps to protect our oceans from global warming and ocean acidification. For those who do not know, I paddle to inform and for those who don't care, I paddle to inspire. I am documenting my journey on this blog during the month-long paddle.You can read more about the paddle, see photos, and take action here. You can also check out my personal website with information about this and other adventures here.
Now that I'm back in internet range, I wanted to share my incredible experiences on Friday, in and around St. Marks, Florida. I started my paddle at the St. Marks Lighthouse, a beautiful historic structure and landmark for the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge, one of the most visited in the national refuge system, is a tremendous natural resource for the nation and county where its located. The refuge protect...
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Closet Greenies - Tales of a Prom Dress Swap
While there may be signs we’re not hurtling toward a depression, job loss continues at a disturbing pace and the economy remains a mess. But lean times offer interesting opportunities, as we all get a bit more creative in finding ways to do things we like and get things we need with less…. including finding the perfect prom dress.
No, I’m not kidding. Prom is serious business, and yes, the dress has got to be fabulous. But these days of mass layoffs and company-wide pay freezes, the price for a party dress can be more than a family can afford. So does it have to be new? Or might “pre-owned” (like a car) and probably worn only once or twice as so many fancy party dresses are, be just as good or better, particularly if it’s free or very affordable? Vintage clothing stores are great sources for beautiful pre-owned but barely worn party dresses. But the latest craze is repurposing through clothing swaps. A friend I know in Washington gets together every few months, seasona... -
Greenland, Days 15 and 16: The End of an Adventure
Nearly two weeks of isolation have come to an end with the arrival of the Spanish team (9 people and 52 dogs strong). Now, our minds have started honing in on "home." But first, we'll set out with four Inuit hunters to track polar bears and hunt seals. During our time with them, I learn quite a bit about the Inuit hunting culture. One fascinating note is that they convert their sleds into tents so that they can venture out for weeks on end.
The transformer "tent-sled."
Above: The last generation of Inuit hunters? Below right: Polar bear tracks.
With some sad nostalgia they report that none of their children come out on these trips to learn the skills. There simply isn't much hope for productive hunting in the future. "Our roads are the seas," they tell us, and now that the sea ice is disappearing more and more every year, hunting as a way of Inuit life won't for long be a reality. "We are losing our roads and soon will have nowhere to go."
And so we've reache... -
Time to transform Utah's energy-producing future
Anyone who knows Utah knows the power of wind, water and sun. You can see that power in Utah's sculpted arches of stone, in our majestic mountains capped with snow, and in the cracked earth of our deserts.
Nature's power is so obvious that you have to wonder why we've mostly ignored it as a source of energy to run our homes and businesses, and to propel our cars and trucks.
After all, if we did a little more to harness that power, we could begin to solve some of our most pressing environmental and economic challenges. In fact, creating electricity from the energy that nature gives us is critical if we're going to reduce global-warming pollution, protect public health with clean air and water, create jobs in Utah and ultimately bring down energy prices.
We know that burning fossil fuels is destabilizing the atmosphere and acidifying the oceans. We know that our dependence on oil shackles us to dangerous foreign regimes and to the escalating prices they'll inevitably charge as demand o...
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What's Happening: Chinese Coal, Jesusita Fire, and more
TOP STORY
China Far Outpaces U.S. in Building Cleaner, Coal-Fired Plants
"China has emerged in the past two years as the world’s leading builder of more efficient, less polluting coal power plants, mastering the technology and driving down the cost...Without doubt, China’s coal-fired power sector still has many problems, and global warming gases from the country are expected to continue increasing. China’s aim is to use the newest technologies to limit the rate of increase." [New York Times]
FUNNIES
RECOMMENDED READING
Jesusita Fire Likely a Sign of Things to Come
"The wildfire crackling over dry chaparral and engulfing homes in Santa Barbara is an ominous sign for the Bay Area, which experts say is ready to burn after two years of drought...[The fire] is an example of how dry shrublands are throughout California, which is enduring a third straight year of drought conditions, [San Francisco Chronicle]
Species Act Won't Be Used to Force Lower Emission...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle, Day 22: Trouble in the Waters of the Fenholloway River
I am partnering with NRDC to paddle my outrigger canoe 1200 miles around Florida and west to New Orleans. My goal is to build support for a Healthy Oceans Act and steps to protect our oceans from global warming and ocean acidification. For those who do not know, I paddle to inform and for those who don't care, I paddle to inspire. I am documenting my journey on this blog during the month-long paddle.You can read more about the paddle, see photos, and take action here. You can also check out my personal website with information about this and other adventures here.
Yesterday I paddled from Dekle Beach to the St. Marks River, officially putting me on the westward heading I'll be keeping for the rest of the paddle. The wind, blowing hard out of the southwest, whistles in my ears, and along with the rows of grasses, made for a chewy paddle. Getting out early will be crucial for the rest of this paddle which I'm guessing will keep me heading directly into the wind.
Paddling north to the Au...
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Greenland: Questions Answered, Facts and Figures
Editor's note: We forwarded a reader's question along to Larry and Alain, and they were kind enough to fire up the laptop and respond.
Question:
Lisa Speer wrote on April 29, 2009, 09:51AM :
Larry and Alain,
An amazing trip, beautifully described. Your photos and descriptions bring
home the fragility of the ice landscape, and the vast changes underway up
there. Alain's surprise at the extent of the melt is another example of the
fact that our models and expectations, no matter how pessimistic, are not
keeping pace with the rate of Arctic change.
I am testifying next week before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on
the Arctic -- any message you'd like me to convey to the Senators?
Sending dreams of chocolate and nuts, and breakfast on the patio. Be safe.Response:
This is Alain speaking: I have been in the high arctic each year for the
last 10 years, the changes are quicker than any mathematical models used for
the last report of the IPCC in 2007 (UN). It is vital and urge... -
Environmentalism, religion, and barbeque: the perfect combination?
Late last May, a colleague and I were asked to present an amphibian conservation program at the Alabama 4-H Center just outside Birmingham. As a graduate student studying evolutionary biology at the University of Alabama, I often speak to school groups and others about amphibian ecology, biodiversity, and conservation in general. But on this Saturday morning, pulling up to a packed pavilion and a trio of smoking barbeque cookers, I quickly noticed that this program would be different - we were to be presenters at the Alabama Baptist Cooperative Fellowship's annual spring gathering.
An evolutionary biologist wandering into a crowd of 200 Southern Baptists in Alabama sounds like the start of some bad joke, or at least a recipe for disaster. After all, in my two short years as a graduate student in Tuscaloosa I've seen students nearly come to blows arguing over science and religion, and my colleagues have excitedly gone to debates between...
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Al Gore presents REEL Current Award to Garbage Dreams
After naming the feature-length documentary “Garbage Dreams” by director Mai Iskander the winner of the 2009 REEL Current Award at the Nashville Film Festival (NaFF), Al Gore, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Academy Award winner and former Vice-President of the United States, presented the award to Iskander on Friday of last week during a private meeting in Nashville."'Garbage Dreams' is a moving story of young men searching for a ways to eke out a living for their families and facing tough choices as they try to do the right thing for the planet,” said Al Gore of the film. “Mai Iskander guides us into a 'garbage village,' a place so different from our own, and yet the choices they face there are so hauntingly familiar. Ultimately, 'Garbage Dreams' makes a compelling case that modernization does not always equal progress."
The REEL Current Award is chosen and presented by Gore each year to a documentary at NaFF that provides extraordinary insight into a contemporary global issue.... -
Greenland, Day 14: Second Homes for Seals
Happy to be back at sea level, we ski along the river bed all the way down to the coastal fjord. Along the way we see many enormous erosion patterns, revealing just how much meltwater flows through every summer.
Once we reached the fjord, we skied onto the sea ice that still fills it this time of year. In the distance, we could see many little black dots scattered about the ice. As we got closer, the dots wiggled and vanished, as if sucked into the ocean below. Eventually we come across holes in the ice where the little dots had been.
A "little black dot" before disappearing in the distance.
The dots, it turns out, were seals sunbathing, and the holes are where they disappeared to. Seals apparently carve these proprietary holes through about four feet of ice, then treating them as we might treat a vacation home. They're also where polar bears wait patiently for dinner to surface.
A "vacation home" for seals.
Speaking of which, we cross several fresh be...
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What's Happening: Cancerous Coal Ash, Who Killed the Hydrogen Car?, and more
TOP STORY
Bush E.P.A. Hid Cancer Danger from Coal Ash
"The Bush administration kept secret for nearly five years data that showed increased cancer risks from drinking water polluted by coal-ash impoundments, according to a new report issued Thursday...Officials never made public an October 2002 study that outlined increased risks of as high as 1 in 50 additional cancer cases." [The Charleston Gazette]
Related:
- Secret EPA study: Big cancer risks from coal-ash ponds [Coal Tattoo]
- Watchdogs: Coal-ash danger kept secret by Bush administration [Knoxville News Sentinel]
RECOMMENDED READING
Obama Budget Cuts Funding for Hydrogen Cars
"President Obama’s proposed 2010 budget calls for cutting funding for a program at the Department of Energy that carries out research on hydrogen technology for vehicles by roughly 60%, or $100 million, as part of an effort to shift to technologies 'with more immediate promise.'" [Environmental Capital - Wall Street Journal]
Also...
U.S. Drop Research Into Fue...
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Greenland, Day 13: Wildlife
Today starts with Alain giving me a refresher course on how to use the Magnum 44 in the (hopefully) unlikely event of a polar bear attack. I remembered reading once that the best defense (if you don't have a gun) is to lie on the ground motionless, and that 95% of the time the bear would leave you alone. Ignoring how difficult it would be to lie motionless, I'm now wondering how they came up with that statistic.
We are now in a place, according to Alain and the people of Qanaaq, that nobody has ever been. Our location can't be reached by dogsled, and there's no interest for the Inuit to come this far inland. There's plenty of wildlife around--guinea fowls, rabbit, reindeer, and fox--as evidenced by the tracks in the fresh snow. At one point today, we crossed the tracks of a bear, who was, fortunately, going in the other direction. We do have a natural defense mechanism, of course, in that we haven't bathed or changed for nearly two weeks. Our odor will surely chase... -
What's Happening: Hogs in Eastern Europe, Irony on the High Seas, and more
TOP STORY
U.S. Hog Giant Transforms Eastern Europe
Smithfield Foods, the Virginia-based pork giant, is transforming farming in Eastern Europe, closing down small-scale hog farming in Romania and Poland, much as it did in the United States in the 1990s. "For centuries...peasant farmers here have eked a living from hogs, driving horses along ancient pocked roads and whispering ritual prayers on butchering day. Old customs and jobs are dying and the air itself is changing, however, transformed by an American newcomer, Smithfield Foods. Almost unnoticed by the rest of the Continent, the agribusiness giant has moved into Eastern Europe with the force of a factory engine, assembling networks of farms, breeding pigs on the fast track, and slaughtering them for every bit of meat and muscle that can be squeezed into a sausage." [New York Times]
RECOMMENDED READING
More Cyclists Means Fewer Accidents
"A study of the most and least safe places to cycle in Britain, released today, shows that ...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle, Day 21: Unexpected Wildness in Florida's Big Bend
I am partnering with NRDC to paddle my outrigger canoe 1200 miles around Florida and west to New Orleans. My goal is to build support for a Healthy Oceans Act and steps to protect our oceans from global warming and ocean acidification. For those who do not know, I paddle to inform and for those who don't care, I paddle to inspire. I am documenting my journey on this blog during the month-long paddle.You can read more about the paddle, see photos, and take action here. You can also check out my personal website with information about this and other adventures here.
I'm inching my way to the Big Bend of Florida, the "armpit" of Florida, as Joy Towles Ezell likes to call the Fenholloway River area. This area has been the most surprising part of the paddle. The wildness of the area, the diversity of wildlife, especially the birds, the sheer pristine nature of the coastline here, amaze and boggle the mind. This is Florida? I thought Florida's only wilderness was the Everglades! Wrong! I'd...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle, Day 20: Problems In The Suwannee River
I am partnering with NRDC to paddle my outrigger canoe 1200 miles around Florida and west to New Orleans. My goal is to build support for a Healthy Oceans Act and steps to protect our oceans from global warming and ocean acidification. For those who do not know, I paddle to inform and for those who don't care, I paddle to inspire. I am documenting my journey on this blog during the month-long paddle.You can read more about the paddle, see photos, and take action here. You can also check out my personal website with information about this and other adventures here.
The beauty and wildness of the Nature Coast totally blows my mind. It would be more than a pity, it would be a travesty, if this area saw the type of development that runs rampant through most of Florida. I have seen more birds here than even in the little section of Everglades that I did get to do. The wildness and beauty simply takes your breath away.
The role that big, corporate individuals can play in doing their part to...
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Talking Shop: More and more, consumers really care about locally-grown food
Produce Business magazine (March 2008) sent a team of 'mystery shoppers' into stores across the country to see whether retailers are complying with COOL (Country of Origin Legislation) and to see how shoppers feel about it (i.e. whether they care which country their produce comes from). The 'mystery shoppers' discovered that "what they really seem to care about is whether their produce is locally grown."What defines local? Some states have legislated local to mean grown-in-their-state-only. Some have defined local as X-number-miles or an X-hour-drive from your home. At Red Tomato, we spend our time figuring out and managing the logistics of distribution for locally-grown fruits and vegetables, not defining local. For us, local has always been a regional effort. Our region is the Northeastern United States. If I had to define it I'd say our region is New England and its neighbors. I include New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania at the southern and western fronts. We need their produc...
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Greenland, Day 12: Clearing the Ice
Today we reached the end of icecap. But before setting foot on solid ground, we trekked about 30 kilometers over the course of 11 hours, and were forced to cross several ice canyons. Finally, we were rewarded with a toboggan ride down the final slope off the glacier. We knew we were getting close when two guinea fowls flew over our heads, welcoming us back from the ice. What an incredible feeling to see another living being after so long.
The view of the glacier spilling over the rocky mountain peaks is spectacular. It's hard to picture the place three months from now, when the seasonal melt will form rivers and streams that bleed through the heart of the icecap, careening into broader channels and into well-formed riverbeds near the coast, before finally dumping into the ocean.Right: An "ice canyon" demands a very cautious crossing.
Below: Where the icecap ends and solid ground surfaces.
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What's Happening: Superfund Liability, Kansas Coal, Bird-Friendly Turbines, and more
TOP STORY
Supreme Court Limits Superfund Liability
In a decision that limits polluters' liability under the Superfund law, "the Supreme Court made it harder on Monday for the government to recover the often enormous costs of environmental cleanups from companies with only minor or limited responsibility for toxic spills." The decision limits "both the kinds of companies subject to liability and the situations in which partly culpable companies can be made to bear the entire cost of cleanups."
[New York Times]VISUALIZATION
"Today CBO released a paper presenting an overview of the current understanding of the impacts of climate change in the United States. CBO cannot independently evaluate the relevant scientific research, so our paper draws from numerous published sources to summarize the current state of climate science and provides a conceptual framework for addressing climate change as an economic concern." [Congressional Budget Office Director's Blog]
RECOMMENDED READING
House Rep...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle, Day 19: Crystal River
I am partnering with NRDC to paddle my outrigger canoe 1200 miles around Florida and west to New Orleans. My goal is to build support for a Healthy Oceans Act and steps to protect our oceans from global warming and ocean acidification. For those who do not know, I paddle to inform and for those who don't care, I paddle to inspire. I am documenting my journey on this blog during the month-long paddle.You can read more about the paddle, see photos, and take action here. You can also check out my personal website with information about this and other adventures here.
Wow! The Florida legislature is waking up. Coral reef protection legislation and an attempt at land conservation passed--amazing news, and thanks to the many groups fighting the good fight who refuse to give up in the endless battle against the huge moneyed interests that would put a condo on ever corner if they could. Really, it only makes sense.
Why come to Florida to enjoy the beaches and coastal areas if they are degrad...
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Foodsheds - A New Ruralism Bridging Smart Growth and Sustainable Agriculture
The urban-rural dichotomy doesn't work anymore. There's a connotation in the words ‘urban' and ‘rural' that suggests a neat line between the geographies of city and countryside. As a largely urban culture, we seem to need to imagine a timeless bucolic landscape as counterpoint to time-bound hard-scape city life. We also tend to imagine farmers as a stereotype - older guys more at home on tractors than with technology.But drive out of the Bay Area in almost any direction, and it's difficult to tell where ‘urban' ends and ‘rural' begins. Many areas - Santa Clara Valley, Livermore Valley, Suisun Valley, Santa Rosa plain - look like a jigsaw puzzle of development being filled in; the dynamic ‘figure' of urbanization on the inert ‘field' of passive farmland.
Urban growth boundaries and agricultural zoning are helping contain cities, but these tools don't necessarily reflect a permanent commitment to demark urban from rural. And in many cases, the urban-rural line is already ...
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Greenland, Day 11: Call from the Prince
This morning, while I was still tucked in my sleeping bag with the tent's ceiling dangling mere inches above my nose, I'm able to confirm that Alain is weird. After a raucous night of wind flapping the walls of our collapsed tent--sounding much like a bad drummer--Alain tells me that he slept like a baby. That it had been his best night yet!
While I'm still processing this absurd comment, he tells me that he has to turn on his phone--that he's expecting a call from Albert. Albert, I will soon find out, is the Prince of Monaco. He's also a friend of Alain's who happens to also be in Greenland at the moment. Alain and Prince Albert share the same passion for defending the polar environment. Prince Albert has visited the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, the world's first zero emission research station, which Alain and his colleagues at the International Polar Foundation have built. And the Prince is also heavily involved with the Aspen Institute's Dialogue and Commission ... -
Healthy Oceans Paddle, Day 18: Florida's Nature Coast
I am partnering with NRDC to paddle my outrigger canoe 1200 miles around Florida and west to New Orleans. My goal is to build support for a Healthy Oceans Act and steps to protect our oceans from global warming and ocean acidification. For those who do not know, I paddle to inform and for those who don't care, I paddle to inspire. I am documenting my journey on this blog during the month-long paddle.You can read more about the paddle, see photos, and take action here. You can also check out my personal website with information about this and other adventures here.
Oh my goodness the difference a chart makes to those that are navigationally challenged! Today I have vowed to pick up a decent chart, or as many as I can get, of the areas north of here. I am also determined to find the short cut to Crystal River. It'll make tomorrow's paddle longer, but what the heck, after yesterday's adventure where I tagged on an additional 10+ miles, I'll give anything for a relaxing day prowling arou...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle, Day 17: Hudson, FL
I am partnering with NRDC to paddle my outrigger canoe 1200 miles around Florida and west to New Orleans. My goal is to build support for a Healthy Oceans Act and steps to protect our oceans from global warming and ocean acidification. For those who do not know, I paddle to inform and for those who don't care, I paddle to inspire. I am documenting my journey on this blog during the month-long paddle.You can read more about the paddle, see photos, and take action here. You can also check out my personal website with information about this and other adventures here.
Wind at my back yesterday, stayed far enough out that I very nearly missed my cut off north of Honeymoon Island. Turning east to paddle the few miles into it I had perfect swells to ride in on. There were actaully some nice sized swells out there, on what was probably the last deep water I'll probably have for awhile. Paddling from Tarpon Springs to Hudson I was in mostly only three feet of water. Not ideal for an outrigger...
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What's Happening: Wolves Delisted, Inhofe and Gore Agree, Seal Hunts, and more
TOP STORY
Gray Wolf Withdrawn from Endangered Species List
"Thirty-five years being hunted to near extinction, the gray wolf on Monday was taken off the US list of endangered species, clearing the way for it to be hunted again in most states...The gray wolf (canis lupus) was placed on the endangered list in 1974 after the animals were almost eliminated in many US states. But thanks to conservation efforts its numbers now reach some 4,000 in the Great Lakes region, which includes Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and there are more than 1,300 in the Rocky Mountain states of Idaho and Montana. There are also between 8,000 and 11,000 grey wolves in Alaska. In all these states wolves can now be hunted again according to strict regulations...Environmentalists decried the change as "potentially disastrous" and vowed they would sue to prevent it." [AFP--TerraDaily]
Related:
- Live chat about this decision with Andrew Wetzler, Director of NRDC's Endangered Species Project. Wednesday, Ma...
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Hospitals Helping to Build a Healthy Food System and Global Health
Over the last century, we have radically altered the way we produce and distribute food through the creation of a highly consolidated and industrialized food system. This transformation is fundamentally affecting the health of our planet and its inhabitants. Rather than fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and other high fiber foods important for health we created a system which favors the production of animal products and highly-refined, calorie-dense foods. Poor nutrition is a risk factor for four of the six leading causes of death in the US: heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. Hidden behind these nutritional imbalances is a food system reliant on and supported by methods of production and distribution that hurt humans and our environment. In the United States, the typical food item now travels from 1,500 to 2,400 miles from farm to plate. This energy intensive system disconnects growers from the consumers, increases opportunities for food contamination and loss ...
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Food and Farming in Obama's First 100 Days
This article first appeared in a Salon feature reviewing President Obama's first 100 days in office.
That there is anything to report about food and farming in the first 100 days is striking in itself, considering how many pressing issues Obama has on his plate. But the president and, perhaps even more, the first lady have said and done some very encouraging things in this area, though there has been one notable misstep.
Tom Vilsack has sounded a welcome new note at the Department of Agriculture, where he has appointed a proven reformer -- Kathleen Merrigan -- as his deputy, and emphasized his commitment to sustainability, local food systems (including urban agriculture); putting nutrition at the heart of the department's nutrition programs (not as obvious as it might sound), and enlisting farmers in the fight against climate change. He has been meeting with the kinds of activists and farmers who in past administrations stood on the steps of the USDA holding protest signs.
The miss...
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Greenland, Day 10: The Winds Return
Today was supposed to be monotonous and uneventful. It didn't turn out that way. Shortly after we left camp, the clouds rolled in, and soon it started to snow. Then, once again, the infamous and dreaded katabatic winds picked up strength. After about six hours, they were blowing so hard that we were forced to stop. The snow was blowing in our faces at 70 kilometers per hour, and visibility was down to zero.
Deciding to take shelter, we set out to raise the tent.
But a strong gust (which Alain later estimated at about 120 kilometers per hour) caught the tent and snapped a pole, instantly flattening the tent like a pancake. While Alain secured the base of the tent to the ice, I crawled inside with my sled, standing it on its side to prop up the roof and create a little space inside. It's not ideal, but it's shelter. We crawled inside, swept out all the snow that had blown in, and clambered into our sleeping bags. With about a foot of height to work with, Alain ... -
Healthy Oceans Paddle, Day 16: the Florida Aquarium in Tampa
I am partnering with NRDC to paddle my outrigger canoe 1200 miles around Florida and west to New Orleans. My goal is to build support for a Healthy Oceans Act and steps to protect our oceans from global warming and ocean acidification. For those who do not know, I paddle to inform and for those who don't care, I paddle to inspire. I am documenting my journey on this blog during the month-long paddle.You can read more about the paddle, see photos, and take action here. You can also check out my personal website with information about this and other adventures here.
Tom Wagner and Debbi Stone at the Florida Aquarium hosted a rocking press event yesterday, followed by a lively round table discussion about educational outreach. Joining us at both events were the amazing defender of the Florida Gulf, Joe Murphy of the Gulf Restoration Network, who is now taking over as "chase person extraodinaire" from Melissa Waage, my third NRDC chase car wonder and the campaign manager of many enviro c...
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What's Happening: The Best Mayors, Rhetoric, Justice Souter's Green Track Record, and more
TOP STORY
Betting on the American Solar Market
Plenty of companies, including some experienced solar businesses from Europe, are acting to take advantage of new federal incentives--many part of the recent stimulus package--to boost renewable energy development here in the U.S. Despite the recession, corporate leaders trust that " the U.S. is going to be the big market" and that now is the time to "“get your butt over to the U.S. if you want to participate and get some of that stimulus package money.” [New York Times]
RECOMMENDED READING
Seeking to Save the Planet, With a Thesaurus
New research soon to be released by the organization EcoAmerica suggests that the vocabulary of global warming and climate change fails to resonate with the American public. "Another key finding: remember to speak in TALKING POINTS aspirational language about shared American ideals, like freedom, prosperity, independence and self-sufficiency while avoiding jargon and details about policy, science, e...
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Greenland, Day 9: Excited for Instant Soup
It is official: today was monotonous. We trekked in a straight line for 25 kilometers on flat terrain -- for nine hours. The vista never changed: an ocean of white ice, and a very cold and very blue sky.
So, let’s talk about something else: food. But wait, that’s as monotonous too. We eat the same thing every day. Clearly we didn’t come here for the food. Alain made all our food in his own home before we departed, and he followed recipes has used to prepare for expeditions much longer than this one.
So for those who have been curious (and I know some of you are), here’s a bit about what we eat out here.We take in 4,000 calories a day: about 40 percent are from fat, 12 percent from protein, and 48 percent from sugar. A normal diet has a ratio of 30:10:60.
Breakfast: Muesli + sugar + coffee = 900 calories
Lunch: Cookie + cheese + chocolate = 2,300 calories- Cookie (made with more muesli!) -1,500 calories
- Cheese - 300 calories
- Chocolate (Belgian of course) - 50...
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Healthy Oceans Paddle, Day 15: The Mote Marine Lab And A Night Paddle
I am partnering with NRDC to paddle my outrigger canoe 1200 miles around Florida and west to New Orleans. My goal is to build support for a Healthy Oceans Act and steps to protect our oceans from global warming and ocean acidification. For those who do not know, I paddle to inform and for those who don't care, I paddle to inspire. I am documenting my journey on this blog during the month-long paddle.You can read more about the paddle, see photos, and take action here. You can also check out my personal website with information about this and other adventures here.
I love paddling at night. I got another chance last night, and even had a brief foray out onto the Gulf.
Yesterday I had an absolutely fabulous tour at the Mote Aquarium, followed by the first TV camera session of the paddle--woohoo NRDC team, we're getting the word out there for the need for a more concerted effort at the national level for significant ocean protection legislation. Hey, individual action is great, bu...
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What's Happening: Fossil Fuel Limits, Swine Flu in Perspective, and more
TOP STORY
Coal and Oil Limits Assessed
To stay "within safer climate limits," the world can burn only one quarter of known oil, gas, and coal reserves. "People could burn no more oil, gas and coal in their homes, cars and factories after 2024, at current rates, to limit to one in five the chance of exceeding 2 degrees Celsius warming worldwide." [Reuters]
QUOTABLE
Swine Flu In Perspective
"But 150 deaths -- the swine flu grand total to date -- is just a bad day on the highways of the US and Canada. Day and in day out, North America racks up an average of about 1 traffic fatality every 12 minutes, to total about 42,000 in the US and approximately 3,000 in Canada annually." -Eric de Place [Worldchanging]
RECOMMENDED READING
Bringing Efficiency to the Infrastructure
Mimicking the early years of the internet, "a pattern is emerging today...for what is being called smart infrastructure — more efficient and environmentally friendlier systems for managing, among other things, commuter ...
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Mowing the Lawn