The Norwegian Nobel Committee’s announcement last Friday seemed to unleash a deluge of Gorephoria. At a get-together of about 75 people that my wife and I attended on the weekend, talk about Al Gore verged on the ecstatic, and not just from party-goers who normally can’t stop discussing politics. Everybody seemed ...well...joyful. And that was before more than a couple of wine bottles had been emptied. The talk itself ranged fairly widely, but what seemed clear in everyone’s comments was a sense of vindication.
Don’t forget to join DailyKos Environmentalists.
In her long-running "Breaking ... the Earth series, jillian took note this past week of a boatload of traditional media stories about the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in BREAKING!...the Earth (Nobel version): Colorado scientists thrilled with Nobel win. Co-winners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore are dozens of researchers from Colorado's powerhouse atmospheric-science institutions. Denver Rocky Mountain News." Her other installment in the series was BREAKING!...the Earth (I've got a cold version): "Climate change making Mont Blanc even higher. "Western Europe's highest mountain, Mont Blanc, is taller than ever due to snow piled atop its summit, in what experts meeting in France have described as a climate change-related phenomenon. Agence France-Presse."
POLITICIANS
The League of Conservation Voters announcement of two "winners" of its 2008 Dirty Dozen list came from David Sandretti LCV Names First Two 2008 Dirty Dozen Members: "I am David Sandretti, Communications Director with the League of Conservation Voters -- the independent political voice for the environment. You can find out more about LCV at www.lcv.org. Well, we are back for the 2008 elections. Today we announced the first two members of the Dirty Dozen for 2008... They are... (drum roll)... Senator James "the Hoax" Inhofe and Rep. ‘Say It Ain't Joe’ Knollenberg. The choice of Inhofe was really a no-brainer. He has been the last of the great deniers of global warming (he calls it ‘a hoax’). And he's cast as many anti-environment votes as anyone in his time in the Senate."
Other Diarists took note. Andrew for Oklahoma wrote in OK-Sen: LCV Names Inhofe #1 on 'Dirty Dozen': "But naming Inhofe to the top of the "Dirty Dozen" list means the LCV is doing more than calling it as they see it on his record. It means that the non-partisan LCV believes Jim Inhofe can be defeated in 2008. Andrew Rice provides a real choice for U.S. Senate. Oklahoma has tremendous potential for becoming a leader in developing alternative energies, but Jim Inhofe remains focused on blocking action and fixated on disproving global warming. In the U.S. Senate, Andrew Rice will be a leader on energy independence and developing clean-burning resources."
DocHoc piled on in OK-Sen: Inhofe Leads Dirty Dozen List: "It is time to send U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) into retirement. Check out his opponent in the 2008 election, State Sen. Andrew Rice (D-Oklahoma City), a true progressive who supports a full and open discussion on climate change and all environmental issues.) U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe has brought more embarrassment to Oklahoma. The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) has designated Inhofe as the leader of its "Dirty Dozen" list for possessing one of the worst anti-environmental records in Congress."
Jordan LFW lambasted the lesser known of the pair in MI-09: Joe Knollenberg First House Target on Dirty Dozen List: "We all know where Inhofe stands on the environment. If you can justify ignoring the threat of global warming by claiming it is a scam to raise the Weather Channel's ratings, then you can justify voting against any environmental protections. However, I was very glad to see the LCV recognize that Joe Knollenberg is in the same class as Inhofe. You may not have heard of Joe Knollenberg. He is the Republican Ranking Member of an Appropriations Sub Committee, and brags about all the money he has "secured" for local interests, taking advantage of earmarks, on his website. But his record on issues important to 9th district voters is atrocious. The LCV gives him a lifetime score of just 7%."
On the opposite side of the green scale was the endorsement of one of the presidential candidates. mbair pointed it out in [Update] Video: "Friends of the Earth" endorses John Edwards in NH: "Friends of the Earth Action: Fighting for laws and lawmakers that protect the environment announced their endorsement today of John Edwards at a Town Hall meeting in Dover, NH. As Brent Blackwelder, FoE-A President, and John Edwards stood on the grass just outside a lovely home in a stunning waterfront setting they both talked about why the issue of global warming is so vital to the future of our country and planet. Mr. Blackwelder enumerated the reasons for the group's endorsement, but his remarks were not just about the endorsement and the mortal peril our planet faces as the living breathing organism that it is."
Edwards’s leading Kossack advocate, TomP, also weighed in at John Edwards Endorsed by Friends of the Earth Action
The FOE-A endorsement spurred KaritaHummer to explain Why Gore and every other environmentalist should endorse John Edwards: "Al Gore, it is time you came forward and endorse the candidate with the best program for saving our environment, and that is John Edwards. The Move-on Survey got it right a couple months back and now Friends of the Earth Action gets it right again. Friends of the Earth Action Endorsement of Edwards is loud and clear. Of the top tier candidates, John Edwards is the most aggressive advocate for reversing global warming."
LaEscapee expanded on the theme in Enviro Edwards / Truth to Power: "John Edwards was the first presidential candidate to call for a reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions of 80% by the year 2050, propose a ‘cap and trade program,’ that would reduce emissions by 15% by 2020, as the first step in this goal. This has been called a bold stand, an aggressive approach by environmentalist everywhere. Face it, he has made the environment a key issue, he has championed the cause of many Americans and made the environment a central issue in the campaign. John knows this affects not only this generation, but also generations to come. As in many of his policies he clearly states, this is about the future of America as well as the world, and that America must be the light that guides the world."
Urging readers not to "get me wrong," dansac was seen Giving Credit to A Republican Candidate on Global Warming: "I know this is a controversial thing to do around these parts, but I'm actually going to go on the record and say something positive about a GOP candidate for president. Mike Huckabee spoke publicly about the need to fight global warming yesterday, becoming only the 2nd GOP candidate to even acknowledge the damn thing is a crisis (the first, John McCain, disingenuous asshole that he is, acknowledged global warming and still found a way to smear Al Gore). Among other things, Huckabee expressed support for a cap-and-trade system on carbon. Quotes are below. ... I am in no way supporting Huckabee or any other GOP'er. And I would vote for any Democrat over any Republican any day of the week."
Dan Quixotesent out a public Invitation to propone your candidate's energy policy: "A couple of ground rules here though. (Well really more ground suggestions). First, don't just point me to the diary you already wrote about the speech your candidate gave. Pointing me to your diary is great, but what I am really looking for here are comparisons. Who has the firmer commitment to making sure our alternative energy sources are actually sustainable, Clinton or Edwards? Who has done the most to stick it to Big Oil, Obama or Richardson?"
TomP addressed the same subject, along with some answers, in Update I. Nuclear Power: Clinton, Edwards, and Obama - Where they stand: "Many people decry building new nuclear power plants. Others see it as a good thing. Regardless of where you stand, it is important to know where the candidates stand."
And although the former Vice President is not a candidate, salo added to the discussion with his Gore and Nuclear Power: "Gore as far back as 2000 thought that Nuclear power should/will play little part in Energy policy and attempts to reduce Green House Gases."
A Siegel offered a detailed critique of Barack's "Energy Intensity": "Barack Obama is getting some legitimate praise about his new energy plans, such as the enthusiastic reception David Roberts has given it at Grist and psericks at DKos. There are some great things in it, most notably that is is a CAP AND AUCTION plan when it comes to carbon emissions, not a Cap and Trade. And, there are other strengths to Obama's approach (fact sheet). However, however, however .... there are things that aren't so tremendous. For example, is a 35% reduction in oil use by 2030 meaningful (enough?) in the face of Peak Oil? And, well others ... But, this is a discussion of one particularly grating item ... ‘energy intensity.’"
Tackle noted GLOBAL WARMING IS A HOAX!!: "They STILL can't hide their contempt for Al Gore despite SEVEN ruinous years of Bush-Cheney. Gore's Nobel Prize just ratifies their feelings. After all, the Nobel Prizes are given out by those commies in Scandinavia, and hey, isn't Scandinavia part of France? However, let's try this strategy on for size:An oil-based energy infrastructure makes us hostage to Anti-American and/or "terrorist" regimes across the globe. Even our so-called oil rich allies in the Middle East have sectors in their society who are funding Al Qaeda. The easiest way to defund Al Qaeda and the Iranian theocracy (which, by the way, is probably less repressive although no less odious than the Saudi theocracy), is to wean us and the rest of the industrialized nations of the world OFF of oil/carbon-based energy."
ANIMALS
Dan Quixote also discussed the new state law banning the use of lead bullets from areas inhabited by the California Condor in Why Sc(h)warzenegger bucked the NRA, what it teaches us: "A friend of mine with the Audubon Society of California forwarded me a press release. The governator, quietly, very quietly, defied the NRA and signed into law a bill that the NRA fought hard against, but now claim they had no position on. This is a move that should have happened thirty years ago, when it was already clear that the California Condor was one step from extinct and that lead poisoning from ammunition laden carrion was one of their biggest problems. The interesting question is, if the gun lobby kept regulation at bay so long, why did they fall apart now? Is there some lesson for other efforts?"
Naturegal asked Kossacks to take part in the public discussion over the environmental impact of the U.S.-Mexico Border Fence Thru Wildlife Refuge - Comments Needed: "As many here know, the Bush administration is storming ahead with the building of a border fence that will run through valuable wildlife habitat on the border between Mexico and the US. The Bushies have decided to begin building on federal land first - meaning National Wildlife Refuge System land - because the government thinks those lands will present the least amount of public hassle; especially since Homeland Security has been given the authority to waive all environmental laws in the building of the wall. But just recently an opportunity has presented itself where the public can finally speak out against the wall's impact on the environment, and your comments are needed by October 15."
Another strange and wonderful creature appeared in the week’s installment of Mark H’s series Marine Life Series: Mole Crabs:
The claw-less Mole crabs dig and swim backwards, using the flattened legs that are tucked into the concave carapace equally well as either oars or shovels. The carapace, that top shield-like part of the exoskeleton found on all crabs, is smooth and comes to a point on both ends. Nearly everything about its anatomy has evolved to facilitate getting under the sand as quickly as possible.
FOOD and AGRICULTURE
gmoke highlighted Bread from the Community Oven: "I was watching Chronicle, a half-hour news magazine on a local Boston station, when they did a story on Norwich, Vermont's community oven. Two days a week, bakers make bread and other baked goods in a common oven and one day a week it can be used by anybody who wants to bake. There's a potluck, stone soup pizza dinner on Tuesdays, too. Norwich is a bread-crazy town, not least of all because it is the home of to King Arthur Flour. This is the first time I've heard of a modern community oven but I remember back in the day there were a couple of community canneries. In fact, I took a trip to the Billerica, Mass., state prison (it was once usual for prisons and mental hospitals to produce much of their own food) to look at their old, unused equipment for one such prospective project. Never happened but we gave it a serious try."
More food recalls - update: Salmonella and Listeria!ticked off shpilk: "It's like a parade of tainted food, and it's not something we can blame on China, this time. It's Conagra, again. Remember the peanut butter, earlier this year?"
NNadir gave us Another Happy Story About Agricultural Resource Depletion: Phosphate, Nauru, and Your Toilet: "How'd all that phosphate get on Nauru before it was strip mined? If you must know, it represents eons of collected bird shit. Phosphate flows from the land into the sea, where it is taken up by plants that are eaten by animals including fish. Birds eat the fish and they shit the digested fish. The shit is concentrated in phosphorus, an essential nutrient that is central to the structure of DNA, RNA, and is an important enzyme mediator for a class of proteins known as kinases. Phosphate is also the key energy source (as ATP) in all living cells. ... people have been mining phosphate from places like Nauru for decades now, to fuel the green revolution. Phosphate is also a constituent of soda pop, many buffer systems, and of course, pesiticides for important crops like roses and lawns, as well as for things like nerve gas. Yes Virginia, that stuff you put on your lawn to kill the grubs that might make your lawn less green than your neighbor's is chemically related to nerve gas. So is your can of household bug spray. Phosphate was contained in many laundry detergents, although in modern times they've been displaced by alkyl sulfonates. Phosphorus, along with nitrogen, collects in bodies of water, where it stimulates the growth of choking algae that wipe out ecosystems like that in the famous Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone,’ an area the size of New Jersey that is completely dead except for algae."
ENERGY
Space Based Solar Power, a dream of many scientists when I worked at the Solar Energy Research Institute nearly 30 years ago, was apsmith’s topic of the week: "Of course I'm interested in all the options, but I am slightly partial to one of them that I've written on elsewhere – Space Solar Power. I recently became involved in an internet-based study group on the subject led by people at the National Space Security Office, and the first "final" "interim" report was released today. Read on for some more thoughts on the actual content of the report."
Biofuel Happy Talk From the National Academy of Sciences was NNadir’s acerbic – and much challenged – take: "The NRC, not to be confused with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or the shit for brains NRDC run by the environmental embarrassment Robert F. Kennedy Jr, but the National Research Council, has just released on the problems of biofuels and water. It predicts that by the year 2030, when climate change will be a worse disaster than it is in 2007 - and it already is a disaster - the US will be producing about 60 billion gallons of biofuels."
Michigan Senate Democratic Leader Mark Schauer Michigan Senate Dems: Protecting Natural Resources, Fighting for Renewable Energy gave us a glimpse of what’s going on legislatively in his state: "Last week my caucus joined business leaders from Michigan's growing new energy economy in calling for action on legislation that will create jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Four industry representatives stressed the untapped potential for high-paying jobs in clean energy industries, pending passage of aggressive energy efficiency programs and renewable energy standards. ... Earlier this year Sen. Jim Barcia (D-Bay City) introduced renewable energy legislation that would require that 20% of electricity used here in Michigan come from renewable resources – like wind, biomass from agriculture, hydro, or solar power – by the year 2020.
Contributing Editor Devilstower wrote two action essays on mountaintop coal removal: 30 Days to Save the Mountains and 30 Days to Save the Mountains: Day 1: "The Appalachian Mountains are a gift out of time, the work of half a billion years. But our time to save them is very limited. The Bush administration has already placed changes to the Stream Buffer Zone Rule up for public comment. They're using the excuse of the mining deaths that have happened underground -- deaths that came in no small part from relaxing regulations -- to throw open the doors to more mountaintop removal. The answer is the Clean Water Protection Act (H. R. 2169). It's a small piece of legislation that could do tremendous good."
cumberland sibyl argued that Nuclear Is Not the Answer: "Nuclear power is not the answer to global climate change. Other than the safety issues connected to nuclear waste, which are pretty well-publicized, there is a major problem with thermal load, which is not so well known. Nuclear plants need cool water for cooling. Hotter water temperatures in the Tennessee River this summer caused TVA to suspend operations at their Browns Ferry Plant. Browns Ferry is downstream from 3 other TVA nukes which had already heated up the river to a point to prohibit further heating. France and Germany have had the same problem - in the 2003 heat wave. The rivers on which their nuclear plants were built were heating up beyond their environmental agencies' standards for aquatic life. A choice had to be made between nuclear power and the health of their rivers and aquatic life."
In another in his Energy COOL series, A Siegel wrote Energy COOL: Humming renewable power?: "Having been to Haiti (and other pleasurable tourist destinations), the idea of figuring out affordable renewable power for the developing world is greatly appealing. To alleviate poverty and, well, to help leapfrog the Developing World onto a better development path."
SUSTAINABILITY and RECYCLING/REUSE
While sustainability, indeed, most environmental issues are seen as the province of corporations, government, advocacy groups and other institutions, too often individual contributions are ignored as inadequate, useless symbols of "personal virtue," as Richard Bruce Cheney would put it. Collectively, however, these contributions add up. gmoke points us down the right path regading one such matter in Paper, Plastic, None: "I carry a handful of plastic mesh bags, recycled from their original use to package oranges, onions, and other sundries (remember to cut off the UPC codes on the tags at the bottom of the bags), inside my solar backpack. I put my fruits and vegetables in the bags and all the groceries in the backpack. These plastic mesh bags have lasted for over a decade and reduced my use of other plastic bags by over 90%. I use this system to shop at the food coop, various supermarkets, and the farmers' markets. It works and has stood the test of time."
pattyp told us Sixty-six percent: a water story (Blog Action Day): "It's been said that future wars will be fought not over oil, or land, or religion, or race, but over water. And in fact, military uses and abuses of water supplies are hardly new phenomenons; they go back millennia. The human body can survive about a month – possibly more – without food, but only about a week without water, so it makes sense from a military perspective to cut off or poison an enemy's water supply to encourage a quicker surrender. But what can civilization expect to face when we're fighting not so much for control of an abundant, safe supply of water, but rather over the last few drops of drinkable water that remain at all?"
In one of Daily Kos’s longest running series, Frankenoid was with us again for her Saturday Morning (Home And) Garden Blogging Vol. 3.34:
"The trees are a mix of those still green, those in full color, and those that already have dropped their leaves. We're still getting tomatoes (and the cherry tomato plant toppled over onto the potato bin) — but the pole bean vines are shedding their leaves. I'd like to get some clean up work done this weekend, but the forecast is for cool, drizzly and cloudy."
Frugal Fridays: I Haven't a THING to Wear! is certainly a lament in my house – though not by me. This week's topic was inspired by a request sarahnity got in email for a diary on how to save money on clothing. "I'm afraid that this will be heavily slanted towards women's clothing, since that's what I mainly shop for, but I hope that some of the commenters will have some good suggestions for men and children as well. The one thing that I want stress is the most frugal option is not always the cheapest option."
CLIMATE
Bill McKibben (yes, that Bill McKibben (use i.d. 140676), joined us to offer a Weird New Tool That Lets You Bug Politicians (about climate change): "To get the politicians out to these gatherings, we've invented (well, not me--I'm not really the software-engineering type) an new little widget that allows you to easily send invitations to both your Senators, your Congressperson, and all 17 presidential candidates, inviting them to the nearest rally. It won't take more than a few minutes. And it works. We debuted this tool last week, and now people are inviting their politicians by the hundreds every hour. And we're starting to get RSVPs. Over the last few days Edwards, Kucinich, and McCain have all agreed to come on. The word is spreading fast--here's an op-ed in the LA Times this morning, and a post from Grist. But we can make this a juggernaut if everyone will take a few minutes and do some heavy duty clicking."
chillindame scored it Global Warming 1, Kazaks 0: "In delving into the types of roles that people played in nomadic societies, one of the most important clues that researchers have are the organic clues. Organic clues can be found in either desert conditions such as the southern steppes, or in the permafrost conditions of the northern steppes. Organic clues can range from wooden artifacts to remnants of food left as burial offerings to bone, fur and leather objects. Oh and fabrics, did I mention fabrics? Felted wool from six or seven hundred years before the birth of Christ? Can you imagine the feeling that an archaeologist must feel when uncovering something like that? How much it can teach us to see how a nomad from the Iron Age may have chosen to decorate a wall hanging, a headdress or a baby's blanket? Unfortunately imagining is all we may have left due to global warming. As the permafrost melts in both Eurasia and also Alaska, important clues left by early peoples will be lost forever. We know that the permafrost is already being affected as homes and other buildings in Siberia and Alaska shift and sometimes collapse. Felted objects and other organic objects could be decaying underground as I write this, truly taking their secrects to the grave. I know that this is of little consequence to our daily lives in the same way that other consequences of Global Warming are but I feel it is one that should be acknowledged outside of university circles."
Look who's in denial about global warming now was Michael Shellenberger’s provocative look at the influence of propaganda: "For the last several years, environmental leaders and writers have blamed stealthy misinformation efforts by a handful of global warming deniers for the lack of national political action on global warming. Two years ago, Mother Jones pointed to the $8 million Exxon-Mobil had pumped into 40 conservative groups between 2000 and 2003, concluding, ‘They've delayed action for 15 years.’ Greenpeace protested the company's activities and launched ExxonSecrets.com. And in a cover story in August, Newsweek declared that, ‘The reason for inaction was clear ... well-funded naysayers.’ The truth is that global warming deniers have had little impact on public attitudes."
With what could be the scariest graphic ever published about global warming, chapter1 pointed out that the Global Warming: Scientific Consensus Proved Wrong, but not in the way the deniers have claimed: "The consensus of climate experts (was) wrong. Absolutely, verifiably wrong. The computer models were wrong. They simply do not match reality. ... The reality is much, MUCH worse than the scientific consensus predicted. The arctic ice cap is melting decades faster than expected. DECADES."
It’s happening now was the message in jbalazs IPCC preview: threshold emission level was reached in 2005: "In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.top Australian conservation scientist Tim Flannery says the global level of greenhouse gases is now far worse than predicted.
JohnnyRook asked a very pertinent question, Who's a Leader? National Day of Climate Action: "On November 3, 2007, Step It Up, a grassroots movement for leadership on global warming, is holding Step it Up 2, its second National Day of Climate Action. The first was held on April 14, 2007, and drew tens of thousands of participants at 1400 different locations around the country. Step t Up 2 is calling for members of Congress and presidential candidates to commit to a 3 point plan: 1) Green Jobs Now – 5 million green jobs conserving 20% of our energy by 2015; 2) Cut Carbon 80% by 2050 – freeze climate pollution levels now and cut at least 80% by 2050 and 30% by 2020; 3) No New Coal – a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants. Events have already been scheduled in 48 states and invitations to attend have been extended to nearly every member of Congress and to 17 presidential candidates. But so far only 6 members of Congress have accepted the invitation to attend and not a single presidential candidate has agreed to attend, although Barack Obama did say today that he will ‘probably make it to one of the November 3rd events.’"
A Possible Solution to Global Climate Change is the kind of headline that’s bound to draw attention these days when solutions seem so distant. Xaxnar wrote: "The increasingly likely future collapse of energy systems and the economies tied to them is a direct threat to the medical-scientific infrastructure that is our defense against emerging diseases. We already have an entrenched political culture that is rabidly anti-science. They are not alone either. Indeed we have a virulent infection in the body politic of people who are pathologically incapable of giving up their political agenda when it conflicts with honest attempts to deal with problems in the real world. It's not just the total idiocy of abstinence only sexual education, faith-based initiatives, or covert advocacy of intelligent design. It's basic things like competent policy execution not getting done."
Speaking of headlines, A Siegel stuck with a theme that helped boost readership of a few Diaries a week ago with Brain-Eating Amoebas and other Global Warming Threats: "We simply don't know what full systems-of-systems implications will be. Will there be new diseases? How will increasing CO2 levels affect sea life? Will the thermocline lead to a rapid shut-down of the Gulf Stream, leading to a regional ice age in Europe? Will ... Well, we simply don't know what will be happening. Those who know the most about the science in their arenas are being surprised, almost entirely negatively, about developments."
mickleib was a bit stunned to learn of Energy Company Call for End to Carbon Emissions...?: "In a fascinating op-ed in the Washington Post today, David Crane of NRG Energy (is that a pun?) calls for a solution to the carbon emissions from coal power. Crane, whose company is the 10th-largest power generation company in the US - and as such dumps 64 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year - readily admits that this is, shall we say, may be not helping the environment."
The British litigation about An Inconvenient Truth was the subject of my own Diary : "Some of the traditional media, several right-wing blogs and presumably the Foxagandists have already failed to accurately reflect Justice Burton’s decision, and I suspect we’ll see a great deal more of this as the trashing of Al Gore (and the Norwegian Nobel Committee) gets really revved up. Infuriating, but completely in keeping with their long-standing efforts to keep their audiences as ill-informed as possible."
Linda in SFNM found an interesting connection in the story – REVEALED; Fuel & Mining Man Behind Gore Film Attack In UK: "A Judge heard the case claiming the movie was politically biased, but it still could be shown in schools with guidlenes. And no surprise that the Republicants, FOX, Newsbusters and everyone else were trying to make so much out of-ITSELF being politically motivated. The story was reportedin mostly British papers, but the right wing papers, PACS and blogs did their best to distort the already political charge. This outraged many, particularly in Britain, where it affects them. Teachers were asking why this was even being ruled by a Judge."
You can find out whether you’ll need gills in Dry Observer’s Global Warming Maps -- Going Deep: "Maps are now available which show how much of the coastline near you will be inundated if water levels change between one and fourteen meters. Simply go to the maps, expand the image to take in the entire planet, center the map on your area of interest, and zoom in. And, of course, change the sea level elevations to whichever height you find most illuminating."
Too much water for some, not enough for others. mcrowther drew attention toCritical Drought Situation in the Southeast: "One of the consequences expected due to global warming is drought, but most scenarios have focused on the western part of the U.S. However, right now there is a looming crisis in a part of the country that most people would not think of as vulnerable to this type of problem. Well no more. This story has been a big deal locally here in Atlanta and the Southeast over the past several months- first there was the heat wave of historic proportions- in August Atlanta had its warmest month in history, along with other cities in the Southeast. But there was also a severe lack of rainfall during the summer and now we are close to paying the piper."
deepsouthdoug also reported that Atlanta has a 3-month water supply!: "Now this is what Global Warming is all about. Let’s GO to the Atlanta Journal and Constitution headline: Metro Atlanta's Need for Water: Three Months from a Mudhole. Three million + people out of water in three months!"
1BQ issued a Call To Action: Global Warming: "We all need to clearly understand that the scientific debate on this subject is at an end. We are faced with disaster that threatens our civilization, and may threaten our lives and our childrens'. Here's what each of us must do. 1) Read and understand what the scientists say is going to happen, and what they say we might be able to avoid. 2) Act in our homes, workplaces, and recreation to reduce our carbon usage as soon and as much as we can. 3) Educate all we work and play with what is at stake and that ignoring or avoiding this problem is unacceptable. 4) Act politically to elect or be leaders who will help solve this problem instead of ignoring it or making it worse."
RiverCityMadman suggested another way to contribute with scarcely any effort at allWhat you can do to help research climate change.: "Climateprediction.net is the largest experiment to try and produce a forecast of the climate in the 21st century. Managed by Oxford University in the UK. You can download a climate model from their website. It will run automatically as a background process on your computer whenever you switch your computer on. It should not affect any other tasks you use your computer for. As the model runs, you can watch the weather patterns on your, unique, version of the world evolve. The results are sent back to them via the internet, and you will be able to see a summary of your results on their web site."
kos42 argued that Global warming: there IS a silver bullet solution: "Enact a phased-in federal tax shift from income to non-renewable energy. This tax shift should be phased-in over 10 years. How much of a tax shift? (According to those scientists that just won the Nobel Peace Price with Al – the IPCC). Higher non-renewable energy prices will reduce our energy use and stimulate the U.S. alternative energy industry which will become a mighty international economic engine. For example, what do China and India really need more of: huge centralized nuclear and/or fossil fuel power systems OR decentralized renewable power systems?"
GREEN PHILOSOPHY and MISCELLANY
The Health Of The Planet: The Road Not Taken was Mentarch’s lament for eight lost years: "Al Gore spoke these words with optimism and rightly so – because back in 2000, some eight years ago to this day, things did look optimistic with regards to the environment and the potential technological and economic solutions that would not only slow down global warming (at the very least), but furthermore ensure continued employment and economic growth. That was the road which lied ahead of us some eight years ago. Instead, we ended up with the Bush administration, the death of Kyoto, an increased reliance on fossil fuels, wars in the Middle East, and a worsening of global warming overall."
BoogieMama wrote an essay about The Geography of Freedom: Public Lands: "For the past decade and a half, I have been promoting this idea while working for Public Lands Interpretive Association, whose mission is to educate and inspire Americans about our tremendous heritage of the Public Domain. With PLIA, I have worked on several outreach projects, including a border-to-border trek, entirely on public lands, and more recently, a slideshow on the history of American public lands, funded in part by the New Mexico Humanities Council. But it's not really working the way we hoped. Somehow, the notion of public lands as a unified concept hasn't caught on like wildfire. So I need your help."
proudlattedrinker explainedThe Biggest Cons: The Arctic Fallacy: "The Northwest Passage was not conquered by sea until 1906, by a Norwegian, Roald Amundsen. The extraordinary amounts of money, unbridled enthusiasm, and a considerable weight of human suffering thrown at this project had not succeeded for the British. Reading accounts of these failed expeditions with a more knowing eye reveals a simply astounding amount of cluelessness. Assured of success simply by virtue of their being Britons at the height of their Empire, they set out for the most pitiless sections of the globe by taking their Victorian accouterments with them and ignoring the advice of people who, after all, only lived there. ...Thus it is with the Bush administration. The con they sell themselves to keep going? The Arctic Fallacy of Government Without Government. Just as the British Arctic Explorers told themselves they knew more than the people who lived there, the modern Republicans tell themselves they know better than people who actually Govern."
gmoke assessed Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties: "Robert Stone was close to ground zero all throughout the Sixties. Kesey and the Merry Pranksters parked their bus, Further, outside his apartment when they finally made it to NYC. Stone was there and, since he is a trained novelist, he remembers it well. If you want to know where the Sixties came from and some of where they went, you can't do much better than reading Stone. If you want to know how a writer keeps on writing throughout it all, you also can't do much better than Stone."
mem from somerville challenged some eco-talk making the rounds in Hot World? Blame Cities: "Here's an Earth-to-greens message: Instead of demonizing the suburbs, why not build better, greener ones and green the ones we already have? They are speaking for the earth, and calling out the greens. And yet--everyone who cares about the environment that I know is calling for exactly that--better, greener, smart development. For everyone. In cities. Outside the cities. All of us have to use our resources more wisely. Their defense of suburbia completely ignores data that shows cities – even New York City – can be remarkably smaller impact than you would expect."
A Siegel penned Blogging for a better world ...: "We live in a troubled world. From wars, to disease, to economic inequalities, to ... There are many areas where, if we act right, tomorrow could be better than today. Yet, humanity's very future, the ability to make that choice is at risk, our very own actions and pursuit of economic strength are imperiling the ability to make those choices."
RULES, REGULATIONS, POLICY and POLLUTION
krammejd gave us the skinny on how the EPA rebukes Indiana steel mill permit: "The Environmental Protection Agency has moved to block Indiana's plans to issue a new pollution permit for the U.S. Steel mill in Gary. The federal agency formally objected to the way Indiana environmental officials determined the amount of waste the mill could discharge, as well as how much time the mill would have to meet the permit limits. The objections are laid out in a letter dated Oct. 1 that was released late Friday. Under federal law, the permit can not be issued without the EPA's approval. The aforementioned makes it difficult to refute such a claim. Not only is it possible to protect jobs while protecting the environment, it is possible to create jobs while cracking down on pollution controls. Indiana needn't sit back and play an unassuming environmental role, aka Texas. We should be heeding the call of scientists and environmentalists across the globe."
NNadir offered A Note On Mercury Contamination of the Amazon Basin by Gold Miners: "Modern gold mining depends on mining less accessible fruit that the stuff you could get in Joshua's time with a little genocide thrown in. Today, gold is extracted from rocks in which its concentration is low and – if the price rises enough – gold can even be extracted from seawater, where there are actually tremendous reserves. The extraction of gold from ores that are more concentrated than seawater still dominates the industry today however, but the extraction processes involve one of two very toxic substances. The first involves the cyanide ion and huge cyanide pollution problems exist at abandoned gold mines. The other involves mercury."