Kaid at NRDC wrote a very interesting, but mostly unnoticed diary today, Village Green: AIA misses half the point on 'green' awards. He took note of the American Institute of Architects top ten green projects for 2010:
Sponsored by AIA’s Committee on the Environment, the award winners are each worthy of citation for excellence in internal design, in most cases reducing their environmental impacts significantly below those of similarly located but conventional buildings while also serving as teaching exemplars. So far, so good.
But what they don’t do – or, if they do, it is generally accidental – is help shape the form of their communities in a way that further reduces impacts below those addressed by the buildings themselves.
...so few of these award winners are exemplars not only of great building and on-site design but also of urbanity, walkability, location efficiency and community enhancement.
An excellent critique. What's missing from these awards is a focus on the environmental credo of doing what makes sense holistically. That is, to remember that everything is interconnected. While the buildings chosen are green-designed, they are isolated. And that makes them not so green in reality. It's much like another lesson that needs constant repetition, the economy and the environment aren't two separate entities. They are inextricably entangled. A green building cannot be environmentally sound in isolation, it must be entangled with its environment.
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The continuing eco-issue of major interest in the past four days has been the worsening oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. So far, as many as 35,000 barrels of oil have leaked into the Gulf from the damaged well. Below are the two most recent diaries on the spill. Others, and the rest of the Green Diary Rescue, appear after the break.
FishOutofWater gave us the lowdown on the Oil Spill Threatening Endangered Birds: DK Greenroots: "Oil is blowing towards the Breton National Wildlife Refuge at peak migration and nesting season when 25 million birds a day are crossing the Gulf. The Breton refuge is home of the brown pelican, a highly endangered species. Thousands of shorebirds are nesting now in the Breton refuge. The Fish and Wildlife service is rapidly responding, setting up booms to keep the oil out of the refuge. However, strong winds and storm surf will challenge the responders."
DWG explained why We should keep our eye on BP: "The Deepwater Horizon well accident can and should be viewed in the larger context of BP's recent past and plans for the future. Looking at BP under the microscope has many unsettling implications."
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Green Diary Rescue will appear Thursdays and Sundays.
[Including a diary in the GDR does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it.]
Energy
[The Gulf Oil Spill]
Magnifico has been doing a bang-up job on the spill since last Wednesday, including yesterday's Oil spill only 20 miles from ecologically fragile coastline now: "The ever-expanding oil slick from the Deepwater Horizon still-open well site is 20 miles off the coast of Louisiana as of Tuesday night, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. In less than a week's time, the oil has spread to cover an expanse of the the Gulf of Mexico 100 miles wide by 45 miles long at its widest." You can see his earlier pieces here, here, here and here.
Unenergy broke the news that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill flow is 5 times worse than reported, a follow-up to his previous piece: "It wasn't even 12 months ago that a similar accident occurred in Australian Waters with the West Atlas Rig."
Devilstower wrote: Drill, Baby Drill. Spill, Baby, Spill. Grill, Baby, Grill!.
laflaur pointed out some of the disastrous consequences in BP Celebrates Earth Day with Bonfire, Oil Spill: "It has been estimated that stopping the leak could take two to three months. The spill poses a potential ecological catastrophe and could decimate coastal wildlife and cripple the Louisiana seafood industry if oil spreads to the wetlands’ delicate habitats for fish, shrimp, oysters, crawfish, and many species of waterfowl. Louisiana supplies the nation’s largest bounty of shrimp, oysters, and blue crab, and almost one-third of the fish harvested in the Lower 48, with annual retail sales of about $2.85 billion, employing about 40,000 in Louisiana."
Whales, Turtles, Tuna, Birds at Risk from Louisiana Oil Spill, lamented akmk: "We are all tied to this incident in one way or another--through our fuel consumption, through our inability as a species to put health of the planet on a level equal to or above the wealth of corporations."
Steven D explained that Halliburton [Was] Implicated in Gulf Oil Spill: "And at the center of this ecological and economic disaster created when the oil rig owned by British Petroleum a/k/a BP Petroleum drilling in 5000 feet of water exploded, and which has taken the lives of at least 11 oil rig workers (that we know about) is a company with whom we are all too familiar: Halliburton or as most of us like to refer to it, former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney's retirement fund."
There was considerable objection to the claims of The Cunctator in Obama Lied: Used Katrina Myth To Claim Offshore Drilling Safe: "The Obama administration has leapt into action to respond to the growing crisis of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, which killed 11 workers and left a West-Virginia-sized oil spill in the Gulf Coast. But in the weeks before the calamity, President Barack Obama promoted his initiative to expand offshore drilling as 'not risky' and repeated the conservative myth that Hurricane Katrina did not cause any oil rig spills. At a town hall meeting in South Carolina on April 2, the president was challenged that his 'decision to allow offshore drilling could have the effect of chilling investment into alternate sources of energy.' While recognizing that 'energy efficiency and renewable, clean energy' is his 'biggest priority,' Obama also defended offshore drilling."
HumeSkeptic warned of future problems from government policy in Drill Baby Spill And Climate Change: "Granted, this was most likely an accident, and accidents cannot always be prevented. However, opening up more areas for offshore drilling in a region that gets frequent and strong hurricanes is asking for trouble."
acliff wrote: A Slow motion Disaster in the Gulf.
Turkana had a teensy bit of potential good news in Obama Spokesman: BP to bear cost of cleaning up oil spill.: "The Associated Press says that the military may be called into action. Which is a good thing, from an environmental standpoint. But should we, the taxpayers, foot the bill for the cost of cleaning up a mess caused by an enormous corporation? Too often, we do. But in this case, we might not."
RLMiller documented a Oilpocalypse Now: A Power Lunch with Michael and James.
Detroit Mark was not happy with what he called Obama's April Fools Joke.
It almost sounded like a piece from The Onion, but Southern Mouth wrote about something that appeared two years ago in Orion Magazine: Hair MATS soak up OIL.
So Drilling is Perfectly Safe, snarked Southernlib.
SkubwaKatrina? Pffft...here comes a MUCH bigger CATASTROPHE.
[The Cape Wind Project]
mark louis was first out of the chute with OFFICIAL: Salazar approves Cape Wind Project.
HRCDemographic4Obama wrote: America's First Offshore Wind Farm, Gets the Green Light!!!
Meteor Blades wrote: Cape Wind Project Gains Interior's OK.
jovie131 wrote: Cape Wind APPROVED!
LunkHead got no kudos for his headline, Over Edward M. Kennedy's Dead body.
TrahmalG wrote: Ken Salazar Approves $900 Million Offshore Wind Farm
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jamess asked Who will build the World’s Largest Solar Power Plant?. And where? China? North Africa? The United States?
Bruce Nilles dissected how a Peabody Energy Exec Misleads During Coal Debate: "The debate was a great conversation about the dangers presented by coal and there was frank dialogue between Mr. Palmer and I about important issues. Unfortunately, when trying to make the case in favor of a dirty and dangerous source of power like coal, Mr. Palmer strayed from the truth. There were two factual errors in particular I wanted to mention here."
DWG explained how Clean coal myth meets reality: Study casts doubt on CO2 sequestration: "A paper published in the Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering casts doubt on the feasibility of carbon sequestration in underground reservoirs such as abandoned mines. The study by Christine Ehlig-Economides and Michael Economides can be found here. Their simulation studies indicate that a closed underground reservoir may only be able to hold less than 1% of its volume in injected carbon dioxide (CO2)."
"With help from our grassroots allies, we persuaded Bank of America to phase out its funding of companies like Massey Energy that do most of the mountiantop removal in the region," wrote rperks in Taking Out TECO: Restricting Investments in Mountaintop Removal:
Peak Oil Myth or Mayhem?, gerrilea's teased: "Here's why I no longer believe in the created theory of Peak Oil and why I believe it is a lie we've been fed for a good generation now."
hold tight discussed an action in A Tar Sands Transportation Tragedy: "Residents of Idaho and Montana are hastily gearing up for a battle against Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil. The Kearl Module Transport Project is their plan to move huge Korean-made equipment through Idaho and Montana on it's way to the tar sands of Alberta."
balirand pulled a Buried Department of Energy sponsored report off the shelf: "Let me state the following, so as not to overstate the DoD report - it talks about Peak Oil and definitely concludes that the world is all but certain to experience significant oil shortages imminently, but since the government is not yet brave enough to have a frank discussion with the public, the DoD report states that its conclusions do not reflect U.S. government views and instead of actually saying Peak Oil is here, it does a government-speak step around it like you would a turd."
Agriculture, Gardening and Food
Patric Juillet explained that First World Food Imports Threaten Global Water Supplies: "Since dietary habits are rapidly changing with higher consumption of meat and vegetables (particularly in both China & India) it looks as though we're in for a shock unless we find new ways of growing grains & vegetables which would use less water."
AtlantaJan poked a hornet's nest of comments with her Obama Okays Killing Whales diary: "The administration is arguing that if we see whales being slaughtered, we are more likely to support a total moratorium. But that is like saying if we see people killing puppies, fewer people will kill puppies. It's garbage."
beach babe in fl delivered another in her vegetarian series, Macca's Meatless Monday...Giving Greece A Ride.
gravlax asked What Is Your Water Footprint and Why Does It Matter?: "The federal government sends mixed signals on conservation: The estimated $263 million the farm bill annually spends to get farmers to save water is dwarfed by the roughly $5 billion it hands out for growing water-intensive crops like rice, soybeans, and cotton, often in parched regions like Arizona."
Muskegon Critic grumbled about how We Could Have Stopped It 100 Times, And We'll Fail Again: "Grr! How frustrating. Too many people dramatically underestimate the threat and impact of invasive species on the Great Lakes and fresh water waterways. That includes our President, unfortunately, and apparently the Supreme Court who refused yesterday to intervene in a dispute between states about closing the Chicago Locks to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes."
credstone warned Why You Should Pay Attention: "Monsanto Co. vs. Geertson could be the scariest case in Supreme Court history. The Court is hearing arguments this week. It seems obscure. Monolith seed patenteer Monsanto legally battling some little old organic seed company right? A ruling in Monsanto’s favor could tip the scales and remake farms as we know it. Already Monsanto is well known for bullying farmers by claiming their crops are contaminated with their patented seeds. Now they may be able to push out all private seed companies and have a monopoly on all seed stock sold."
Frankenoid offered another in her long-running series, Saturday Morning Garden Blogging After Hours: "Meanwhile, here in Denver the cool, clouds and drippiness continued through to this morning, although we did get a few breaks yesterday, during which I took advantage of the extremely soft ground to dislodge weeds from between paving stones."
Roundups and Digests
In her roundup of climate news Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse Pig poop paving highways, cow fat running trains: "Colorado Governor Bill Ritter on Monday signed into law the Colorado Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act--legislation that requires Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) to cut nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 80% from several Front Range coal plants by the end of 2017, most likely sooner."
LaughingPlanet included news about the Earth Day rally in This week in climate change.
In his Alternative Energy Round-Up, mark louis focused on some new Department of Energy grants, $32.7 billion in total funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, including $16.7 billion for saving money through energy efficiency, building the domestic renewables industry, and restructuring the transportation industry to increase global competitiveness.
DWG wrote The week in dirty coal: Earth week edition.
eKos made its debut, including the eKos Earthship Launch (a green diary roundup and more!):
"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."
Climate Change
CLIMATE CHANGE CANNOT WAIT, opined Heather TaylorMiesle NRDC Action Fund: "Every day Washington politics puts our clean energy future on hold our economy gets weaker, our enemies get stronger, and the planet gets more polluted. It has been almost a year since the House approved comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation to create jobs, cut our oil imports in half and reduce the carbon pollution that threatens us all, and we are still waiting for the Senate to act."
Dperl99 gave us the skinny on what If Graham really wants a climate bill. . . .: "We have been here before: Major legislation with one lone GOP Senator willing to support it. Even Maverick McCain has abandoned what was once a signature issue of his. So what would happen if Reid pressed ahead with climate legislation? I think we all know. Graham would "work in a bipartisan manner" to weaken the bill as much as possible to the point where it would be attacked from the enviromental side for being too weak."
beachmom reported that Enviro groups strike back: Pass Climate bill this year!: "There is a misconception among some liberals that because of the flaws in the climate bill, there is no backing from important environmental groups. In fact, the opposite is the case."
Wow, Military Makes Case for Climate Change Reform, although accidental, wrote TrahmalG : "If the U.S Military is worried about our oil falling short, then things really are starting turn for the worse. If the military were to get behind some kind of demand for any renewable energy, then I'm sure we'd have a up and working renewable energy source by the time the Military expects oil shortages. Or, maybe it's because we always manage to go to war with a country sitting on Oil, just maybe."
mfriedman22 wrote: Call it the Green Jobs Bill not the Climate Bill.
The prolific and deeply analytical A Siegel discussed aVery conservative study which concluded: aggressive climate action improves economy: "The study makes it clear that climate mitigation efforts, at any level, will have economic benefits ... but that the benefits of weaker action fall well below the economic benefits of more serious action. This is powerful information that merits serious attention as it is coming out on the eve of what will almost certainly be an underwhelming (if not counterproductive) legislation proposal from Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman (KGL) next week."
He also wrote: Back to basics ... principles matter.
And also Scientific Society Revises Climate Change Statement: science advances: "The overall position statement (1) summarizes the strengthened basis for the conclusion that humans are a major factor responsible for recent global warming; (2) describes the large effects on humans and ecosystems if greenhouse-gas concentrations and global climate reach projected levels; and (3) provides information for policy decisions guiding mitigation and adaptation strategies designed to address the future impacts of anthropogenic warming."
harveywasserman explained why he thinks Chernobyl Demands a REAL Climate Bill.
Animals, Forests and the Great Outdoors
Haole in Hawaii presented another original photo diary, A Trembling Nudi and Some Booby Poop - A Photo Diary
In another of her Hike On! series RLMiller wrote An escape from crAZy politics on a sky island: Sky islands, mountain ranges separated by flat seas of grass, comprise the archipelago Coronado National Forest in southeastern Arizona. In one ambitious day, a hiker can ascend from desert and scrub characteristic of central Mexico at 3,000 feet, up to spruce-fir forests characteristic of Canada at 10,000 feet."
jamesboyce discussed What's Up With the Rainforest: More Hope, Less Blame.
No Border Wall explained why s/he was upset over Walling off the Nature Conservancy: "Last Monday, Kiewit construction crews began clearing ground for yet another section of border wall on land that was, until last week, part of the Nature Conservancy’s Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve. The 18-foot tall steel wall will cut off 95% of the 1,034 acre preserve."
Water & Conservation
dolfin66 deplored Our Wasteful Ways: My Green Message for Today: "If something is imported from somewhere else, petroleum (oil) is used to get it you. Injection-molded bottles and screw-on caps use oil. The bottles are filled and sealed in a highly automated factory using electricity that comes from burning fossil fuels. Then, the bottles are sealed in cases and plastic wrapped on a pallet where a forklift, operating on LNG or propane, trundles them to a warehouse slot or directly onto a waiting truck. The diesel-burning truck hauls the cases of water to a shipping port, perhaps 200 miles away. From that dock area, another forklift will lift the pallet of cased water off the truck and position it loading on a diesel-burning freighter. After the ship sails to a port in the U.S., the un-loading to point of use process reverses the above all the while using fossil fuel burning vehicles to get to the store. For every 20 oz. bottle of water, it takes 1 oz. of oil to get it into your hands."
TheFatLadySings let us in on My Recycling Misadventure.
Bruce Bourgoine took on waste in Impact Packaging: "Let's drastically reduce filling existing landfills and eliminate litter that uses our roadsides as a free "landfill" by reducing all packaging waste. Creating an empowered National Council to Reduce Packaging would be an appropriate first step to accomplish the following mission."
Eco-Philosophy & Miscellany
Desmogblog clued us into the Webby Votes for Climate Change: "Three top climate change campaigns of last year are up for prestigious Webby Awards in 2010. The TckTckTck campaign is nominated for Best Activism website. Greenpeace International is nominated for Best Green Site for their "Love Letters to the Future" project. The 350 campaign is nominated for Best Video in the Public Service and Activism category."
cadetcap Need health savings? Try environmental justice.
dbratl sought to answer the question, What Do Antidepressants and Climate Change Have In Common?: "The point is there is no possible way we as a society are going to alter our economic system in time to combat global climate change. The official explanation for this is that we currently 'lack the political will'. This is a polite way of saying that those who benefit from our current system (the rich in the United States) and those who wish to challenge their supremacy (The Chinese Communist Party) have no interest in allowing change to occur and that the civic society in each nation is insufficiently organized and motivated to demand or create such change."
An original poem comprised much of greenotron's Full Moon (or belated Earth Day) S.F. Bit.
I said GOOD DAY sir announced some breaking news in Compromise Floated: Energy Now, Immigration in Nov.: "In a move that could potentially get the climate bill back on track, it looks like bill supporters have possibly found a way to get Lindsey Graham back into the fold."