Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.
Beneath the fold you will find announcements, today's eco-diary roundup, news, and our environmental pic of the day.
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Today's editor: ellinorianne
Today's Eco Series to keep an eye for:
(All times Eastern!)
Magnifico has a series on the Gulf Oil Disaster and RLMiller has SeaScum - on the reaction to the Oilpocalypse by some pretty horrible politicians. Crashing Vor has been writing about the impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on the Gulf Coast.
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Today's eKos diaries:
Author | Diary | Time | Tags |
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Turkana | Gore On Oil Spill: "A Consciousness-Shifting Event"; Poll confirms | Mon, 10 May 2010 17:13:32 Eastern Daylight Time | Recommended, Al Gore, Barack Obama, Climate Change, Deepwater Horizon, British Petroleum, Oil Spill Gulf Oil Spill, BP Oil Spill, offshore oil drilling, energy, environment, eKos |
eKos | eKos Earthship Monday (an eco-diary roundup and open thread) | Mon, 10 May 2010 11:16:46 Eastern Daylight Time | eKos, environment, climate change, coal, oil, pollution, global warming, science, eKos Earthship, biodiversity, palm oil, climate change, CO2, trophy hunting, lions, dolphins, oil spill |
Houston Radical | Parochial environmentalism | Mon, 10 May 2010 12:51:35 Eastern Daylight Time | oil spill, eKos |
possum | Science Tidbits | Mon, 10 May 2010 16:45:02 Eastern Daylight Time | Teaching, Learning, Science, eKos |
Ellinorianne | Taiji Japan, High Levels of Mercury and Dolphin Slaughter | Mon, 10 May 2010 00:40:44 Eastern Daylight Time | Dolphins, The Cove, Japan, Slaughter, ekos |
Steven D | Tar Balls and States Rights | Mon, 10 May 2010 09:57:25 Eastern Daylight Time | BP, Gulf Oil Disaster, Tar Balls, Governor Bob Riley, Republicans, Drill Baby Drill, Barack Obama, USGS. Alabama, States Rights, Snark, eKos |
thomasn528 | 27 federal waivers for Gulf drilling since Deepwater Horizon disaster | Mon, 10 May 2010 14:12:31 Eastern Daylight Time | deepwater horizon, gulf oil spill, mms, salazar, eKos |
Miep | What To Call The Event In The Gulf | Mon, 10 May 2010 00:23:51 Eastern Daylight Time | BP Gulf rupture event, rant, thoughts, language, rant, BP, oil, gas, outrage, very very angry, evolution, fail, eKos, Gaiayonnaise, Oilpocalypse, Lake Palin |
jamess | e360, 4-8x, 800000y, 389ppm, 1700ppb, 35C, 4-12C, and 50% | Mon, 10 May 2010 19:40:04 Eastern Daylight Time | Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Yale Environment 360, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, Matthew Huber, National Academy of Sciences, Climate Change, CO2, Methane, Antarctic, Ice Cores, Ice Caps, Larsen B, Science, Science News, Earth, Environment, eKos |
Haole in Hawaii | Sunset and Tiny Little Sea Slugs - A Hawai'ian Photo Diary | Mon, 10 May 2010 00:54:11 Eastern Daylight Time | Community, photography, marine life, pooties, Hawaii, eKos |
maggiejean | Overnight News Digest, Sunday edition | Mon, 10 May 2010 01:01:05 Eastern Daylight Time | Overnight News Digest, OND, Recommended, eKos |
DerAmi | Halliburton: We did what we were required to do. | Mon, 10 May 2010 17:16:43 Eastern Daylight Time | Halliburton, Gulf Oil Spill, deregulation, eKos |
Jed Lewison | Nelson: BP not waiving liability cap | Mon, 10 May 2010 14:16:03 Eastern Daylight Time | BP, Oil spill, Offshore drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Bill Nelson, eKos |
just another vortex | Oil gusher solution? Bell jar bucket brigade | Mon, 10 May 2010 14:38:25 Eastern Daylight Time | eKos, oilpocalypse, Deepwater Horizon, BP, Gulf of Mexico, oil spill |
Meteor Blades | Green Diary Rescue & Open Thread | Mon, 10 May 2010 01:13:34 Eastern Daylight Time | Open Thread for Night Owls, Green Diary Rescue, eKos |
Heather TaylorMiesle NRDC Action Fund | National Tragedy Demands Real Response | Mon, 10 May 2010 17:46:01 Eastern Daylight Time | clean energy, Climate Bill, gulf oil spill, NRDC Action Fund, offshore drilling, president obama, senate, eKos |
Meteor Blades | Lots of 'Incidents' at Transocean | Mon, 10 May 2010 03:23:09 Eastern Daylight Time | Transocean, U.S. Minerals Management Service, Oil, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Recommended, ekos |
Corpania | Oil Spill: Macro-Plan & One New Solution | Mon, 10 May 2010 13:10:15 Eastern Daylight Time | oil spill, idea, solution, innovation, invention, oil problem, BP, Haliburton, eKos |
slinkerwink | UPDATE: Oil Companies Get 27 New Federal Waivers Since Oil Spill! | Mon, 10 May 2010 13:12:26 Eastern Daylight Time | environmental disaster, BP, oil spill, 2010, eKos, DK Greenroots, Recommended |
lokiloki | Ken Salazar must resign #oilspill | Mon, 10 May 2010 20:05:27 Eastern Daylight Time | gulf oil spill, salazar, interior, eKos, DK Greenroots |
Yesterday's eKos diaries:
Author | Diary | Time | Tags |
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Stranded Wind | America's Oily Chernobyl (long term solution proposed) | Sun, 09 May 2010 12:09:18 Eastern Daylight Time | Recommended, environment, climate change, BP, gulf oil spill, eKos, environment, labor, organizing, peak oil, economy, greenroots, jobs |
mwmwm | New Northwest Passage: eco-lyrics on Stan Rogers | Sun, 09 May 2010 12:18:59 Eastern Daylight Time | ekos, environment, arctic, lyrics, dkgreenroots, transition, resilience, music |
Unenergy | Monckton, CO2 warming twice the rate we thought not 3 months ago | Sun, 09 May 2010 09:19:14 Eastern Daylight Time | Half snark, Lord Moncktongate, Climate change, ekos |
eKos | eKos Earthship Sunday (an eco-diary roundup and open thread) | Sun, 09 May 2010 10:54:22 Eastern Daylight Time | eKos, environment, climate change, coal, oil, pollution, global warming, science, eKos Earthship |
BruceMcF | Sunday Train: Working on the Railroad for Energy Independence | Sun, 09 May 2010 21:42:59 Eastern Daylight Time | eKos, learning, rail electrification, Brawny Recovery, HSR, Steel Interstate, urban rail, rural rail |
Edger | Leonardo da Vinci, Good Vibes, Unlimited Power, & Who Needs Big Oil? | Sun, 09 May 2010 23:19:58 Eastern Daylight Time | eKos, Aeolian Tones, Electrical Power Generation, Electricity, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michael M. Bernitsas, Ocean Currents, VIVACE, Vortex Hydro Energy, Vortex Induced Vibrations, Climate Change |
FishOutofWater | Big Oil Gets 27 Gulf Fed Waivers Since Spill, Oil Hits Marshes | Sun, 09 May 2010 22:51:00 Eastern Daylight Time | Recommended, oil, BP oil spill, environment, ekos, Minerals and Management Service, Ken Salazar, energy, gulf oil spill |
ericlewis0 | BP Oil Spill Solution: The Permeable Cone Stocking UPDATED | Sun, 09 May 2010 15:45:34 Eastern Daylight Time | Recommended, BP, oil spill, Gulf of Mexico, permeable, cone, stocking, eKos |
DarkSyde | Climate Scientists Fire Back | Sun, 09 May 2010 12:37:56 Eastern Daylight Time | science, eKos, Recommended |
lineatus | Dawn Chorus Birdblog: Untroubled Waters | Sun, 09 May 2010 10:07:07 Eastern Daylight Time | birds, birding, dawn chorus, pt. reyes, tomales bay, eKos, Recommended |
Eddie C | A Mother's Day View of Van Cortlandt Park | Sun, 09 May 2010 13:24:29 Eastern Daylight Time | NYC, New York City, Community, walking, nature, environment, Van Cortlandt Park, photography, photos, Rescued, eKos |
RLMiller | SeaScum MSM Focuses on How, not Whether, to Drill Offshore | Sun, 09 May 2010 22:27:57 Eastern Daylight Time | SeaScum, eKos, oilpocalypse, BP, Shell Oil, Chukchi Sea |
Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse | Paper Solar Cells, Bladeless Wind Farms & BP News | Sun, 09 May 2010 22:49:15 Eastern Daylight Time | Climate change news roundup, climate change, environment, teaching, ekos, gulf oil spill, Recommended |
Devilstower | Our Energy System is Broken... What Are You Going to Do About It? | Sun, 09 May 2010 10:00:03 Eastern Daylight Time | energy, environment, ecology, Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club, eKos |
yomamaforobama | Mother's Day Liberties | Sun, 09 May 2010 16:49:55 Eastern Daylight Time | cleaning up after Bush/Cheney, energy policy m, Mother's Day, racism, stemming terrorism, ust consider human error, Yo Mama and Obama, eKos |
wide eyed lib | Free Food: Foraging to Combat the Poisonous Plant Fable | Sun, 09 May 2010 18:16:52 Eastern Daylight Time | Foraging, Botany, Survival Skills, Teaching, Spring, Food, eKos |
rb137 | Your cellphone is killing people! | Sun, 09 May 2010 13:59:08 Eastern Daylight Time | Recommended, conflict, conflict minerals, Democratic Republic of Congo, ECSTASY, teaching, rape, consumerism, eKos, DKGreenRoots, GreenRoots, EcoJustice |
Note: listed diaries do not necessarily represent the views of eKos rangers or editors.
News, Tidbits and other things, I found of interest...
You’d Never Know He’s a Sun King is a piece in the New York Times about David Gelbaum, who has given millions to many good environmental causes on the down low is coming out of the venture capitalist closet so to speak and we should be grateful for the fact that he's taking the kind of risks that other investors are not.
“I think his impact on green technology is huge,” says Bill Gross, the serial technology entrepreneur and founder of eSolar, a solar power start-up in which Mr. Gelbaum has invested. “He is supporting bolder and riskier bets, and he’s doing it from a different filter than a traditional venture capitalist, and I think that makes a wider opportunity for success.”
In this economic downturn, many venture capitalists have grown cautious about putting money into what Vinod Khosla, the prominent Silicon Valley green tech investor, calls “science experiments.” But Quercus Trust is still taking chances on blue-sky start-ups pursuing technological breakthroughs.
Working outside the clubby venture capital network, Mr. Gelbaum has, until recently, maintained an obsessively low profile. In Silicon Valley, he remains something of an unknown. Associates say his near-invisibility is owed to a genuine modesty and concerns over the security of his family because of his wealth. Recipients of his philanthropy, for instance, signed confidentiality agreements that forbade mention of his name.
Troubling headline for those who keep saying there can't be too much CO2 for all our plants, Doubling Of Atmospheric CO2 Causes Plants To Significantly Reduce Evaporative Cooling
As reported in Importance of carbon dioxide physiological forcing to future climate change, there is an "emerging consensus that the physiological effects of increasing atmospheric CO2 on land plants will increase global warming beyond that caused by the radiative effects of CO2."
Excess CO2 in the air results in plant leaves closing the stomata or 'pores.' This results in reduced evapo-transpiration. What water does not go up (by evapo-transpiration) must either be discharged to ground water or run off the land. The authors conclude that the "physiological effect [of doubling atmospheric CO2] increases runoff by 8.4 ± 0.6%, primarily by diminishing evapo-transpiration from the continents. This is in addition to the runoff increases caused by radiative forcing increasing the atmospheric precipitation, reported as an increase of 5.2 ± 0.6%. Of course, increased runnoff associated with evapo-transpiration loss will be seen in landscapes with high plant cover - not in deserts.
With our big cats all over the world losing the battle against habitat loss, climate change impacts and other man made encroachments on their ability to thrive, you'd think we'd have the sense to give up the disgusting need to hunt them. Nope.
Zoo Sells Lions to African Trophy Hunting Park. Of course the headline I think is misleading because just one paragraph in, we're assured that these animals will just pose for photos. Right.
According to reports in the German news daily Tagesspiegel, the owner of the Serengeti Park, Fabrizio Sepe, was assured after the German Ministry for the Protection of Nature contacted their partners in South Africa: the animals would be used only for photo-safaris and breeding programs, it was promised. But that has not calmed animal protection groups, who are advocating for stronger protection against zoo animals being sold for breeding if successive generations will be deliberately used to attract people to the sport of killing big cats.
Brazil Announces Plan For Sustainable Palm Oil. Wonder if it's possible, Brazil says it is. Since it's such a huge part of the economy, they need it to be.
Palm oil production has long been a contentious issue and a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the oil's renewable source and application as biofuel make it an appealing alternative, but on the other, some of the most devastating deforestation has occurred to cultivate it. But in a policy move designed to both protect its remaining forests and replenish parts already lost, Brazil announced today a plan to expand its palm oil cultivation into previously deforested regions, promising a sustainable alternative to the destructive methods practiced in other parts of the world.
The Program for Sustainable Production of Palm Oil, announced today by Brazilian President Lula da Silva, is novel in its approach to protecting standing forests while allowing cultivation in areas that have been deforested in the past, namely for use as short-lived sugarcane plantations or lumber operations. The program would allow palm oil to be produced without the net negative impact from its cultivation seen in Indonesia and Malaysia, where rainforests are cleared for palm plantations.
Bonobo chimps filmed shaking their head to 'say no'. You think you just get that look and head shake from your human mother? Nope, other higher primates have been show similar body language.
"Ulindi, tried to stop her infant, Luiza, from playing with a piece of leek. Since Luiza took no notice despite repeated attempts to stop her, Ulindi finally shakes her head towards the infant," she says.
Ulindi eventually throws the leek away whilst the infant still tries to reach for it, the researchers report.
'No' bonobo
African great apes such as bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are known to use head gestures such as nodding, bowing and shaking to communicate with other group members.
Bonobos are already known to use head-shaking to initiate interactions with other members of the group, such as playing.
However, this is the first study to film and observe an ape shaking its head in a negative context to stop or prevent other bonobo behaviour.
Environmental Pic of the Day
A pod of Bottle Nose dolphins swim under the oily water Chandeleur Sound, La., Thursday, May 6, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil giant BP PLC's oil rig exploded April 20, in the Gulf of Mexico killing 11 workers. It sank two days later, and oil is still pouring into the gulf. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
About eKos
The Idea
This project was inspired by the Earth Day @ DKos Blogathon. In case you missed it, we had 31 participating environmental diaries, all of which were linked to in the Mothership. During the event we had several requests for an eco-mothership diary series in the mould of the Earth Day effort.
The Mission
eKos is all about promoting community eco-diaries. Daily Kos already showcases several series, but sometimes the work of dedicated green diarists pass off the recent diary list hardly noticed. Our goal is to make these diaries more accessible. In the process we hope to build community and bring in a broader audience to the exceptional environmental writing here at DK.
eKos Schedule
For now, look for us M-W-F-Su in the AM.
How eKos Works
If you want a diary included in the list, please let us know by leaving a comment. We'll do our best to search out green diaries, but are bound to miss a few. For eKos to live up to it's full potential, eco-diarists will need to post a link to the mothership at the end of their diary. This will provide readers with easy access to other recent environmental diaries.
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