Taking Its Rightful Place

The Des Moines Register and the San Diego North County Times
both note that the environment has finally moved onto the political stage.

Whether it's arrived in time is another question.
Here is John Edwards. I'll add others as I go along; this is just the first one that popped up.


Here's one breakdown on where they stand. And another.

Update: Green to the End

'Green funerals' feature biodegradable coffins

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Cynthia Beal wants to be an Oregon cherry tree after she dies. She has everything to make it happen -- a body, a burial site and a biodegradable coffin.

"It is composting at its best," said Beal, owner of The Natural Burial Company, which will sell a variety of eco-friendly burial products when it opens in January, including the Ecopod, a kayak-shaped coffin made out of recycled newspapers.

Biodegradable coffins are part of a larger trend toward "natural" burials, which require no formaldehyde embalming, cement vaults, chemical lawn treatments or laminated caskets. Advocates say such burials are less damaging to the environment.

Cremation was long considered more environmentally friendly than burials in graveyards, but its use of fossil fuels has raised concerns.

Eco-friendly burials have been popular in Britain for years, but industry experts say it's starting to catch on in the U.S., where "green" cemeteries hosting natural burials have sprouted up in California, Florida, New York, South Carolina and Texas.

The majority of eco-friendly burial products come from overseas -- including the Ecopod, which is made in the United Kingdom -- although there are a few domestic makers. Options range from natural-fiber shrouds to fair-trade bamboo caskets lined with unbleached cotton. There are also more traditional-looking handcrafted coffins made of wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

The market is potentially huge. U.S. funeral homes generate an estimated $11 billion in revenue annually and that figure is sure to grow as baby boomers age.

Update: Dearly departed encouraged to do their bit on global warming

It is widely accepted that the battle to reduce Britain’s carbon emissions will require bold decisions from government, and no little sacrifice by British citizens.

In the pursuit of this greater good, however, a local authority on the edge of Greater Manchester has noted that one group of Britons are failing to do their bit.

The dead in the jurisdiction of Tameside Council are simply not pulling their weight. The council has now arrived at a rather daring solution.

2 Alternative Approaches

It it happens in Vegas, it should spread from Vegas:

The city of blinding lights is starting to see 'green' :
The first thermal plant in 16 years opened this summer in southern Nevada. And America's most expensive private development – a new hotel and casino complex on the Strip – is getting LEED certified.

and, also from the Christian Science Monitor:

Air Force to fly on synthetic fuel?
The government's biggest energy user is considering a cheaper, cleaner fuel to fire its jet engines.
By Gordon Lubold

The US Air Force is experimenting with a synthetic fuel that could become a cheaper fuel-alternative for the entire US military and even commercial aviation, officials say.

As the cost of a barrel of oil approaches $100 and US reliance on foreign oil sources grows, the Air Force, the single biggest user of energy in the US government, wants to find a cheaper alternative. Air Force officials think they may have found it in a fuel that blends the normal JP-8 fuel, currently used for the military's jet engines, with a synthetic fuel made from natural gas and liquid coal.

Microloans and Good Deeds

LanguageHat, one of my favorite bloggers even though he's often writing about linguistics matters beyond my comprehension, mentioned Kiva.org today. I thought some readers of this site might want to know more about it. Here's Bill Clinton talking about it.

60-Second Lectures

Benjamin Horton, assistant professor, Earth and Environmental Science, at the University of Pennysylvania

and

Daniel H. Janzen
Thomas G. and Louise E. DiMaura Endowed Term Professor in Conservation Biology
on "How to Read Wild Biodiversity: Barcode It"

Breaking Down Barriers

It's a little mushy in its approach but this New York Times story about academics crossing departmental borders to tackle environmental issues is quite powerful for its conclusions.

“The academic tradition is to let one discipline dominate new programs,” said Nabil Nasr, the institute’s director. “But the problem of sustainability cuts across economics, social elements, engineering, everything. It simply cannot be solved by one discipline, or even by coupling two disciplines.”

Adaptation in Our Future

Newsweek is touting next week's issue featuring an article about adapting to global warming.

Learning to Love Climate ‘Adaptation’It's too late to stop global warming. Now we have to figure out how to survive it.

It's such a polite, unthreatening word: "adapt." The kind of thing you do as you roll with the punches or keep a stiff upper lip, modifying your behavior to a new situation. But as it will be used in 2008, adaptation is a euphemism for widespread, expensive changes that will be needed to cope with climate change. Although some adaptations will be modest and low tech, such as cities' establishing cooling centers to shelter residents during heat waves, others will require such herculean efforts and be so costly that we'll look back on the era beginning in 1988, when credible warnings of climate change reached critical mass, and wonder why we were so stupid as to blow the chance to keep global warming to nothing more extreme than a few more mild days in March.

The Greening of the Pope

This should make at least a few million more people pay attention.

Pope Makes Christmas Appeal to Protect the Environment
Published: December 25, 2007
ROME — Pope Benedict XVI reinforced the Vatican’s growing concern with protecting the environment in the traditional midnight Christmas Mass on Tuesday, bemoaning an “ill-treated world” in a homily given to thousands of pilgrims here in the seat of the world’s billion Roman Catholics.

Earlier:
Environmental policies must respect needs of the poor: pope
AFP - Dec 11, 2007
VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday called for environmental policies to take account of the needs of poorer countries, as the UN-sponsored ...


Pope urges prudence in environmental decisions
Reuters South Africa, South Africa - Dec 11, 2007
... the impact of environmental change should be made prudently, avoiding hasty conclusions, ideological pressures and unilateral stands, Pope Benedict said ...

And from some evangelicals:
Skeptics dwindle as popular movement builds
• U.S. signs on to global climate treaty as traditional conservatives say greater needs are today—not tomorrow
By Layton Ehmke
Homer Tribune
December 19, 2007
This is the second of a two-part series exploring the connection between humans and global warming from the perspective of those on the most divergent fronts: top global warming scientists and skeptical conservative Christians. Since meeting in Homer this summer, these groups and others are finding more common ground to unite in the effort to slow the consequences of a changing world climate. In this edition, local pastors continue to doubt the overlying message, while the popular movement says progress should come from the pulpit.

Ask the Right Question

Apparently, TV "reporters" don't like to ask questions about important things, like, oh, the environment.

Catching the Lies

Four newspapers note the problems with the administration's decision to prevent California and other states from setting their own auto pollution standards. The bigger one, it would seem, is that the administration apparently pretended to the rest of the world that the California standards were a good idea and then quickly blocked them. The other is that there is precedent, under a previous Republican president, to allow the state to go its own way but now, that's unacceptable. Whose agenda is being served?

In past, states were permitted to set own pollution rules

Bob Egelko,
Chronicle Staff Writer
During President Ronald Reagan's administration, when California was trying to enforce its own tough standards for pollution from diesel engines, the trucking industry argued that the state didn't qualify for a waiver under federal law because the problem wasn't unique to California.

William Ruckelshaus, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, sided with the state and let its law take effect. California didn't have to prove its diesel pollution was unique or worse than in any other state, he said in his 1984 decision, as long as it was an important problem because of conditions in the state.

The EPA's current administrator, Stephen Johnson, an appointee of President Bush, spoke in different terms Wednesday when he denied a waiver needed by California - and 16 other states - to allow enforcement of the nation's first limits on vehicles' emissions of greenhouse gases, which scientists consider a major cause of global warming.

The state doesn't meet the federal law's test for a more stringent pollution standard, Johnson said, because "California is not exclusive in facing this challenge." As a result, he said, California can't meet the test of the federal Clean Air Act, which allows the state to enforce its own air pollution standards if it demonstrates "compelling and extraordinary circumstances."

And from the NYT:
The Bush Administration’s Two Minds on the Environment

By The Editorial Board
Everyone knows by now that the Bush Administration on Wednesday night denied California and its Republican governor permission to proceed with an ambitious plan to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and SUV’s.

The administration argued, misleadingly, that California’s plan was unnecessary because the same reductions would be achieved in the new energy bill (they won’t). And it argued, disingenuously, that state mandates are inferior to a national mandate (which of course is the one thing the administration does not want).

But here’s something most people do not know: the Bush administration had actually (if furtively) touted the California plan as a shining example of American ingenuity and as evidence of the administration’s devotion to the global warming cause.

On Wednesday our colleague, Andy Revkin, noted on his New York Times blog, dot.earth, that in a speech in Milan in 2003, Harlan Watson, the chief United States climate change negotiator, described the states as “laboratories” for new and creative solutions and a good example of the “bottom up” approach to addressing the issue.

But the fight continues on other fronts:
L.A. port officials set truck cargo fee to cut air pollution

By ALEX VEIGA
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Harbor Commission voted on Thursday to charge a fee on cargo containers moving through the Port of Los Angeles, part of a plan to reduce air pollution by replacing thousands of older diesel trucks with cleaner-burning models.

The commission approved a plan last month to require thousands of trucks hauling cargo to the port be replaced or upgraded to meet 2007 diesel truck emission standards by 2012.

The panel voted to charge a $35 fee for every loaded container beginning June 1. The fee does not apply to containers that are loaded onto rail.

And of course, there's this detail:
EPA chief is said to have ignored staff
The head of the agency rejected written findings in ruling against a California emissions law, sources say.

By Janet Wilson
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ignored his staff's written findings in denying California's request for a waiver to implement its landmark law to slash greenhouse gases from vehicles, sources inside and outside the agency told The Times on Thursday.

"California met every criteria . . . on the merits. The same criteria we have used for the last 40 years on all the other waivers," said an EPA staffer. "We told him that. All the briefings we have given him laid out the facts."

EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson announced Wednesday that because President Bush had signed an energy bill raising average fuel economy that there was no need or justification for separate state regulation. He also said that California's request did not meet the legal standard set out in the Clean Air Act.

But his staff, which had worked for months on the waiver decision, concluded just the opposite, the sources said Thursday.

Walruses Fall Victim

Tough to keep denying global warming, you'd think.

Walruses crushed in routs
Global warming is linked to deaths on the Russian side of the Bering Strait.

By DAN JOLING
The Associated Press
In what some scientists see as another alarming consequence of global warming, thousands of Pacific walruses above the Arctic Circle were killed in stampedes earlier this year after the disappearance of sea ice caused them to crowd onto the shoreline in extraordinary numbers.
The deaths took place during the late summer and fall on the Russian side of the Bering Strait, which separates Alaska from Russia.
"It was a pretty sobering year -- tough on walruses," said Joel Garlach-Miller, a walrus expert for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Unlike seals, walruses cannot swim indefinitely. The giant, tusked mammals typically clamber onto the sea ice to rest, or haul themselves onto land for just a few weeks at a time.

Go Take a Look

Epinions has a number of new product reviews for the environmentally inclined, including:
Hell and High Water
The Creation
Global Warming: Signs and Science
Strange Days on Planet Earth
The Weather Makers
The P.I.G. Guide To Global Warming and Environmentalism
The Arctic Tale
Face to Face With Polar Bear
IMAX Bears
Loony Little
Heating advice

Right on Point

A teacher has made a very clear, understandable point about why we should act now on the environment.



Here's a little more info about Greg Craven, the guy who made this video.

Glaciers Growing

Yahoo's been doing some good stuff on climate issues. Here's one on Mt. Shasta and its glaciers.

Not Good for Crops

A worrisome forecast for the world's crops
Studies on rising ozone pollution, shorter winters, and an expanding tropical belt do not bode well for agriculture.

By Robert C. Cowen
If you are concerned mainly with temperature when you think about climate change, your perspective is too narrow.

Think also about other atmospheric changes such as rising ozone pollution. A recent study indicates that its increasing harmful effect on plants could cut the global economic value of crop production by 10 to 12 percent by this century's end. The research projects that regions such as the United States, China, and Europe would become net food importers.

Think, too, of how plants respond to a warmer environment. New research shows that a longer growing season is not always beneficial. Or consider new evidence that the tropical zone already is expanding faster than computer-based climate simulations have forecast.

These examples from the latest research make the point that ecologists trying to anticipate global change still have a lot to learn.

The new ozone projection was a shocker even for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers who conducted it. The study projects that growing worldwide fossil fuel burning will boost global average ozone concentrations 50 percent by 2100 unless emissions are seriously restricted.

Saving Fuel

"Stand With Al"

Dear friend,

In two days I'm going to Bali, Indonesia to address the UN Climate Change Conference. In front of representatives from the world's countries, I will speak about the need for a visionary treaty to be completed, ratified and brought into effect everywhere in the world by 2010. I need you, your friends and family to sign this petition calling for a new, positive leadership role by our elected leaders. I will bring your signatures on stage with me as a clear demonstration of our resolve.

This petition shows our commitment to solutions to the climate crisis. Please add your voice today and urge your friends to add theirs. The time for action is now. Only together can we make the change.

Sincerely,

Al Gore

Man Extinction Alert

I suppose this means we should be nicer to the men we have.

Male extinction: is this good news for the planet?

By Harry Fuller

Believers in Gaia might say this is the Earth’s revenge. I can’t quote what my wife said. And my ex-wife, well, fergeddaboutit. Scientists say it’s simply biochemistry.

Men are becoming rarer, perhaps slipping slowly into extinction. Cryogenic sperm banks could become a huge growth industry. So could the export of male babies.

First, this note…one Greenland village now produces only girl babies. The blame goes to PCBs and other man-made pollutants that get concentrated in the blubber of the arctic mammals the Inuit eat. That’s not an isolatred case. From Alaska eastward around the North Pole to Siberia the trend is the same. And recent studies have shown a drop in male to female birth ratios in Japan and U.S. as well.

It’s not just water-borne pollution lowering the number of male babies. Modern life is loaded in favor of girl babies as well. Another study in Europe found stress during pregnancy increases the chance the mother will have a girl baby.

Go, Gore

Al Gore is unbelievably good at the Nobel ceremony.

What a speech. Pay attention, people.

The jerks on CNN couldn't wait to mention his large house in Tennessee. Of course, the CNN fools miss the fact that he runs that the "large house" also functions as offices and that the Gores pay a premium to buy "green" sources of fuel. I've always wondered how people know how much power the Gores use, if this were just a private home? Obviously it's not. And how does the usage compare to buildings in terms of age and size? Will anyone ask a sensible question? Good grief, now those idiots are comparing him to Jerry Lewis. Assholes, we're fed crap by these jerks.

How the greenhouse effect works.

Here's some related information:

Ten Things to do
Want to do something to help stop global warming?
Here are 10 simple things you can do and how much carbon dioxide you’ll save doing them.

Change a light
Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Drive less
Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You’ll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don’t drive!

Recycle more
You can save 2.400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.

Check your tires
Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage by more than 3%.
Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere!

Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of CO2 saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year).

Avoid products with a lot of packaging
You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.

Adjust your thermostat
Moving your thermostat just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer you could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.

Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

Turn off electronic devices
Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you’re not using them will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Energy Tax Credit Ending

From thegoodhuman.com:

Federal Tax Credits For Energy Efficiency Upgrades End Dec. 31

Consumers who purchase and install specific products, such as energy-efficient windows, insulation, doors, roofs, and heating and cooling equipment in the home can receive a tax credit of up to $500 beginning in January 2006. The EPACT also provides a credit equal to 30% of qualifying expenditures for purchase for qualified photovoltaic property and for solar water heating property used exclusively for purposes other than heating swimming pools and hot tubs. The credit shall not exceed $2000. Improvements must be installed in or on the taxpayer’s principal residence in the United States. Home improvement tax credits apply for improvements made between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007.

Cut the Spending

A group of mothers who blog have formed a compact to stop or reduce all unnecessary purchases. Check it out.

The Rising Waters of Wales

Environment Agency warns of floods threat to infrastructure


Western Mail
Thousands of schools, hospitals, power stations and other vital infrastructure are under threat from flooding unless the Government takes steps to ensure they are properly protected, the Environment Agency warned yesterday.

Speaking at the launch of a report into the summer floods, the agency’s chief executive Barbara Young said “too many” pieces of infrastructure and facilities were at risk.

The floods in June and July across swathes of the country showed how vulnerable many roads, railways, power stations, water supplies and public services such as police stations and schools were, the report said.

As an inquest into the death of one of the victims of the flooding reopened yesterday, the Environment Agency called on the Government to include measures in the forthcoming Climate Change Bill to ensure public and private service providers take responsibility for “climate change-proofing” critical infrastructure and facilities.

The Environment Agency warns that there are 13 hospitals, 401 schools and 13 boarding schools, 227 care homes and 680 health centres and surgeries at “significant risk” of flooding in the future.

Check the Label

Green Mommy has a wonderful post explaining product codes so you'll know more about what you're buying. Read the whole post but here's the takeaway lines:

* If it starts with a nine, it’s just fine.
* If it starts with an eight, don’t put it on your plate.

Enough to Make You Sick.

Wow, this is going to be interesting.

Feds hedge on environmental link to Pennsylvania illnesses

ATLANTA (AP) — Officials abruptly backpedaled Friday on a federally funded health study that suggests an environmental link to a cluster of rare blood cancer cases in northeastern Pennsylvania, saying an abstract that made the claim was mistakenly released to the public.

The research is to be presented Monday at a medical conference in Atlanta. An abstract released in advance of the meeting said there is "significant evidence" that something in the environment caused an unusually large number of cases of polycythemia vera in Luzerne, Carbon and Schuylkill counties.

The Times' Take

2 views on the environment from The New York Times:

Real Action on Climate Change



By Anne-Marie Slaughter
Anne-Marie Slaughter, an international lawyer and the dean of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. She is the author “The Idea that is America,” and she is spending this academic year in Shanghai.

I caught a snippet of a speech at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Bali, long enough to hear the speaker say: “We need real action.” Real action. Not promises, not hopes for new technologies, not high-minded rhetoric, but action.

When I was in Japan last month, I saw real action in action. After a day of meetings at the Foreign Ministry, a young diplomat escorted me to the entrance just after 5:00. We walked through a darkened hallway; I assumed that we were in a part of the building under renovation. Not so – my guide explained to me that all non-essential lights were turned off “to save energy and the environment.” We came to the elevator bank, where 5-6 people were waiting in front of an elevator even though the elevator next to it was there and empty. I gestured toward it, and my guide again explained that after 5:00 only one elevator ran – the others were blocked.

Bush’s Alternative Energy Flip-Flop


The New York Times
The White House has raised several objections to the breakthrough energy bill recently negotiated by House leaders. But there’s an interesting and ironic backstory to one of these complaints.

In a dyspeptic letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Allan Hubbard, the director of the White House national economic council, states that Mr. Bush is particularly unhappy with the bill’s Renewable Electricity Standard — a provision that would require states to produce 15 percent of their energy from renewable sources like wind and solar by 2020. The provision, Mr. Hubbard says, is “overly prescriptive” and would hurt consumers.

What the letter does not say, and what the White House would rather we not remember, is that as governor of Texas, Mr. Bush enthusiastically signed into law a renewable electricity mandate that was part of a broader bill encouraging deregulation and greater competition in the utility industry.

This 1999 mandate was extraordinarily forward-looking for its time (22 states have such mandates now) and the results were immediate.

E-Events

Ecobuild Fall
Dec.10-13, Washington, D.C.
Ecobuild Fall and AEC-ST Fall is an annual event that goes beyond green to cover the breadth of green building, sustainable design, renewable energy, environmental planning processes and information collaboration strategies for commercial, industrial, institutional and residential construction.
Attendees include the federal government, design and construction decision-makers from the public sector and private practice, AEC professionals, owners, developers, and facility managers - the entire project team in one place, at one time.

The MIT Clean Energy Entrepreneurship Prize deadline Feb.15.
Competition Will Net $200K for Clean Energy Entrepreneursm

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 30, 2007 -- The winners of a new competition will take home $200,000 for developing a next-generation clean energy technology.

The MIT Clean Energy Entrepreneurship Prize (CEEP), a joint project between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the U.S. Department of Energy and utility company NSTAR Electric & Gas, aims to inspire and motivate entrepreneurs to work on meeting the world's energy needs in a sustainable way.

The prize money -- $200,000 for the best overall team, plus three $20,000 prizes to the best student and professional teams -- is provided by the DOE and NSTAR, a Massachusetts-based gas and electric utility company. The competition's organizers said the increased prize money would bring a larger pool of applicants to the challenge, and would help the winning entry reach the market more quickly.

The large purse offered by CEEP makes it the richest cleantech prize out there, far ahead of the $50,000 first prize for the winner of the second annual California Clean Tech Open, which was announced at the end of October.

The MIT prize announcement was made at a time when cleantech companies and their stocks are heating up rapidly. Earlier this month, First Solar made headlines when its stocks climbed from $20 to over $224 in a year, based on its remarkable 300 percent sales growth.

Entries for the MIT Clean Energy Entrepreneurship Prize are due on Feb. 15, 2008. More information, as well as applications and resources, are online.

Wall Street Green Trading Summit
April 2+3, 2008
New York Times Building, New York
The 7th Annual Wall Street Green Trading Summit is the seminal New York City environmental financial market event created by Peter C. Fusaro. Working with Hedge Connection for the third year, this event does it all in 2 days covering carbon emissions trading and finance, renewable energy markets, cleantech VC, green hedge funds and energy efficiency financial markets.

Globe 2008, Vancouver, British ColumbiaThousands of corporate executives, government decision makers and leaders of the environmental industry will converge at GLOBE 2008. Plan to join them for three days of exciting and ground-breaking discussions, March 12-14, 2008 in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Webinar Set

Join futurist Jamais Cascio for a stimulating exploration of how the sustainability revolution will transform our politics, our economics, and our lives.

The process of building a sustainable future follows diverse paths, and the choices we embrace today will shape the future we encounter over the next 20 years. Cascio will use a scenario planning approach to look at what kinds of results we might get, and what kinds of opportunities and surprises those results could have in store.

This webinar is part of the ongoing Carbon Neutral Learning™ program from Natural Logic, bring you engaging, practical, up-to-date guidance from leading practitioners. Series host: Gil Friend, Natural Logic CEO.

Register now

Date: December 20
Time: Session begins at 1:00pm ET (12:00pm CT, 11:00am MT, 10:00am PT)
Length: 60 minutes
Cost: $129 per session (per location, not per person - feel free to gather your colleagues around a computer and a speakerphone)

Here's what participants said about recent Natural Logic webinars:
- "Very effective"
- "One of the best presenters I've ever heard - succinct, clear, knowledgeable"
- "Clear, concise and effective"
- 90.3% would recommend this series to their colleagues

Register now!


About the presenters
Jamais Cascio is co-founder of WorldChanging.com and a founding fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Cascio writes about the intersection of emerging technologies and cultural transformation, focusing on the importance of long-term, systemic thinking. He speaks around the world on issues including the global environment, technological transformation, and political change. In 2003, Cascio co-founded http://www.WorldChanging.com, the award-winning website identifying models, tools, and ideas for building a "bright green" future. In March, 2006, he started http://www.OpenTheFuture.com as his online home. Cascio presently serves as a research affiliate at the Institute for the Future, as Director of Impacts Analysis for The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, and as a Senior Associate at Natural Logic.

Gil Friend is president and CEO of Natural Logic, Inc., a sustainability consulting firm helping clients build economic advantage through exceptional environmental performance. A systems ecologist and business strategist with 35 years experience in business, communications and environmental innovation, Friend combines broad business experience with unique content experience spanning strategy, systems ecology, economic development, management cybernetics, and public policy. Tomorrow Magazine called him "One of the country's leading environmental management consultants -- a real expert who combines theoretical sophistication with hands-on, in-the-trenches know-how." Friend blogs at http://blogs.natlogic.com/friend.

We May Rue the Day...

Cool Kangaroos Have Methane Message for Cows


When the solutions for global warming seem too terribly daunting, it's good to consider the latest rays of hope: today, for instance, we find that kangaroo farts may hold the key to a cooler future.

The Telegraph reports that a form of bacteria that lives in 'roo tummies helps the digestion process so much that 'roo flatus passes almost entirely without the powerful (and smelly) greenhouse gas, methane.

If this bacteria could be passed safely to cows and sheep, it would enrich the energy potential of their food while reducing a statistically significant contributor to global warming.

Blogroll, Please

There are many, many organizations doing great work tackling environmental problems either locally or on a global scale. But many of my favorites are people who started by just trying to curb their own fuel or power usage, or to clean up their property or their neighborhood. All are on the blogroll to the left.

Among them: Brooklyn's Flatbush Gardener, whose "Adventures in Neo-Victorian, Wild, Shade, Organic and Native Plant Gardening, Garden Design, and Garden Restoration" have shown us the struggles and the resultant beauty of urban life.

Richmond, Va.'sBurban Mom who, since June, has been doing a tip a day to teach us how to give up our wasteful ways and lessen our damage to the planet.

Seattle's Crunchy Chicken, who offers a variety of ideas of reducing waste and living smarter.

Washington's Sage Mommy Says, writing about organic family life and offering lots of menu advice.

Green Reviews

Jan Peregrine at Epinions.com has been working on a Global Warming writeoff (Epinions offers product reviews but a lot of participants consider themselves a community, frequently picking a theme and inviting others to write on the same topic.)

Take a look. There's some pretty good information available. Here's another in the same theme.

Air Pollution Is Bad. Surprise.

Not surprising, but still depressing:

The Real Dangers of Air Pollution
By Adam Voiland
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there are better things you could do for your health than take deep breaths on a smoggy day. A growing pile of research suggests that even relatively low levels of air pollution may be more harmful than previously realized, to both heart and lungs. The latest salvo from researchers, published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, focuses on how particulate matter from air pollution affects lung function.

U.S. Sticks to the Same Plan

US sticks to divisive climate change policy - official
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Thomson Financial) - The United States delegation at a UN climate change summit said Thursday they would not commit to deep greenhouse gas emissions cuts at the key meeting in Indonesia, despite growing pressure.

Harlan Watson, head of the US delegation, said neither a recent US Senate committee move to limit greenhouse gas emissions or the decision by Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol would influence their stance.

'We're not changing our position,' he said on the fourth day of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Bali.

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ratified the Kyoto Protocol on Monday after being sworn in as leader last month, leaving the US as the only rich nation that is not party to the 1997 climate

How Wars Start

This is not good at all. A Republican lawyer I know--and who, despite his politics, which are at odds with his good heart, is a decent fellow--was complaining about Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize. The answer is simple: Wars start over a lack of resources, utterly aside from the pure humanitarian concerns.

Toll of Climate Change on World Food Supply Could Be Worse Than Thought
Predictions, Already Daunting, Fail to Account for Extreme Weather, Disease and Other Complications, Say New Reports

Global agriculture, already predicted to be stressed by climate change in coming decades, could go into steep, unanticipated declines in some regions due to complications that scientists have so far inadequately considered, say three new scientific reports.
The authors say that progressive changes predicted to stem from 1- to 5-degree C temperature rises in coming decades fail to account for seasonal extremes of heat, drought or rain, multiplier effects of spreading diseases or weeds, and other ecological upsets. All are believed more likely in the future.
Coauthored by leading researchers from Europe, North America and Australia, they appear in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Iron for the Oceans

NPR: Crazy Plan for Carbon Pollution Just Might Work
If you dumped iron filings into the ocean, says Columbia University scientist Bob Anderson, phytoplankton would bloom and suck carbon dioxide out of the air. Sound mad? Maybe.

Anderson is among a growing number of scientists who say that global warming is becoming so urgent a problem that the time has come for fast-acting, radical ideas — even ones that sound wacky.

Terrestrial plants draw on iron in the soil, explains Anderson, who's part of Columbia's Earth Institute. Oceanic plants love iron, too — and if you pour bits of it into the water, they'd start growing like gangbusters.

Because plants use carbon dioxide as fuel, Anderson says, the rapidly expanding population of phytoplankton would first gobble the carbon dioxide in the water and then start pulling the chemical from the air.

"They will use more than is available and that will cause carbon dioxide to sort of diffuse into the ocean," he says.

Kudzu Pollution

So it's not just an eyesore
Kudzu Plant: Source Of Ozone Pollution?
Scientists Suspect Pesky Vine Of Causing Smog And Global Warming
(AP) Kudzu, the Southern vine that makes Chia Pets of trees and telephone poles, may have yet another unwelcome characteristic: air pollution.

Researchers believe kudzu is releasing ground-level ozone, contributing to smog, breathing difficulties and global climate change.

"If we're right, then it'll be one more big reason to dislike kudzu," University of Virginia researcher Manuel Lerdau said of his preliminary findings.

The fast-growing plant covers an estimated 11,580 square miles in the United States, primarily in the Southeast. Annually, the vine adds 200 square miles to its domain.

Lerdau and fellow researcher Jonathan Hickman of the State University of New York at Stony Brook said they do not have enough data to state with certainty that kudzu warrants a major effort to curtail its growth. They are hopeful of presenting more definitive findings next year.

Kudzu produces two key ingredients of ozone: Its leaves emit a volatile organic compound called isoprene into the air, and its roots convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonium, some of which can leak into the soil where it is converted by bacteria into nitric oxide.

In the presence of sunlight, isoprene and nitric oxide mix together to make ozone.

Language and Climate Change

The New York Times dot Earth blog today looks at the question of whether language alone can inspire action on long-term challenges. A correspondent of the reporter writes:

“In the absence of physical evidence that something bad is going to happen, people tend to ‘wait and see.’ Evidence for this can be seen in behavior surrounding natural hazards such as wildfires and volcanoes. In many cases people can receive a warning that something bad is headed their way. They may even be well-educated about the processes and dangers of the approaching hazard. However, without a physical manifestation of the hazard, or evidence seen with their own eyes, people may not necessarily do what you want them to do to mitigate the risk."

I'm not sure where the question leads us. Does this argue for small actions to force change? Or something stupendous, with potential for reaction we may not like? Anyway, take a look.

Ecospot Winner

Ha, this is pretty good.

Other contest entrants

Current TV and the Alliance for Climate Protection have picked the winner of their "60 Seconds to Save the Earth" Ecospot Contest. Borrowed from Green Long Island

Save Those Socks

Recycling your socks


Ah, this is terrific, especially since we just went through our clothes' drawers and found tons of unmatched socks. We sometimes try to fool ourselves into believing that if we keep them long enough, the missing sock will turn up but it never does. So try these ideas.


Make a dust rag. Slip the sock on your hand. Dampen it with water or a furniture polish and clean away! Socks are good for furniture, window sills, computer screens, floor spills, handles, and blinds.
Polish your shoes. Old socks make great shoe polishers. You can also use them to shine the shoe after polishing.
Make a homemade hacky sack. A hacky sack is a small cloth ball filled with small beads or beans. Cut off about half the top part of a long sock and about three quarters for a short sock. Fill the sock with dried rice, dried peas, or beads. Sew the opening together in a ball shape.
Make a drink cozy. This requires a long sock. Cut the whole top of the sock off. Slide it over a bottle to keep the bottle cool (insulated). A shorter sock can be used for cups and cans.
Make a coin purse. You'll need an anklet-sized sock for this project. Use the whole sock and decorate this sock bag with sequins, beads, glitter, or any other decorative items you have about the house. Sew a strip of fabric onto the top for a handle, or a zipper across the opening.
Make sock dolls. You can also make a sock monkey or a sock puppet. Fill the sock with beans or rice. Glue, sew, or draw on eyes, nose, and mouth. Cut up another old sock into strips and sew on for hair.
Keep a pet's paws warm. If you have an ailing animal that is suffering from the cold, old socks can be helpful in keeping their paws warm. If you are a wildlife rehabilitator, another great use for socks is as temporary pouches for baby animals in your temporary care, such as baby joeys, bats, or possums. Any creature that likes a springy and soft warm place to snuggle into will appreciate this and you will be able to hang the sock up if it is a strong old woolen type, to mimic mother animal's pouch.

More of Less

Poland Spring is trying to jump on the green bandwagon to address the water bottle issue Unrepentant wrote about. Here's what Poland Spring says about its new Eco-Shape™ bottle:

* Is made with 30% less plastic than the average half-liter bottle
* Features a new label that's 30% smaller
* Is 100% recyclable
* Is flexible so it's easier to crush for recycling
* Easy to Carry

We picked up one--it's a much lighter weight plastic. I don't know that it addresses the basic problem, though, of too much plastic polluting the earth. Less, yes. Sufficiently less? Not likely.

At the End of the Day?

When he was editor-in-chief of Discover magazine, Stephen Petranek tangled with questions as big as the universe. Here he confronts the biggest question on the planet: What are the 10 most likely ways that life on the Earth could end?

Flight and Ship Pollution

Pollution from ships got attention in Europe, Los Angeles and around the globe.


In-flight toxic fume cases rise

Toxic fumes are increasingly being pumped into aircraft cabins during flights, putting the health of passengers and pilots at risk and raising the chances of an airline disaster.

Figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT) show that 109 flights were polluted with contaminated air in 2006 - a rise on the previous year's total of 78. This year is on course for a record number of cases after 72 were recorded in the first six months.

But there are fears that the true figures may be higher, as crews are often reluctant to report incidents for fear of management reprisals.
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Scientists estimate that 200,000 passengers a year are exposed to air contaminated with fuel vapours. Campaigners fear that such vapours could cause pilots to make deadly mistakes.

The aircraft with the worst record is the Boeing 757, the transatlantic workhorse of the industry, which suffered 43 such cases. But the BAe 146, of which fewer exist, was involved in 17 incidents, the second highest number.

Flybe airline, which flies BAe 146s from Birmingham to Belfast, has announced it is phasing out the aircraft by early next year, after a boycott by some of its crews.

Lorely Burt, the Liberal Democrat MP for Solihull, said the Government and the airline industry had to take urgent action. "Pilots, cabin crews and passengers have been made ill by toxic air in cabins and that is potentially disastrous," she said.

Fresh DfT tests on cabin air quality are expected to begin around Christmas.

A spokesman for Flybe said it was withdrawing its BAe 146s for commercial, not safety, reasons.