I'm delighted to be able to lead off this week's Eco-Diary Rescue with a piece from Plutonium Page, a Daily Kos Contributing Editor who blogs at Greenpeace's Defending Whales site:
Here on the Defending Whales blog, you've read about our display of dead cetaceans in Berlin and Stockholm, to emphasize the terrible threats these animals face, beyond being hunted. The mammals were collected from beaches around Europe; many were the victims of bycatch, which means they drowned in fishing nets. Others were mortally wounded by ships' propellers. All in all, they died terrible deaths... and what's even worse, is that these animals are protected by the EU Habitats Directive. They shouldn't have died.
On Tuesday this week, we displayed the animals on "het plein" in The Hague, here in the Netherlands, in front of Dutch parliament. Seeing the wounds was absolutely heartbreaking; I am haunted by the memory of the face of a harbor porpoise, barely recognizable because of the damage it sustained. I won't ever forget the dolphins with their tails cut off by fishermen, so they would sink (more photos here, and here).
We handed out fliers, and talked to lots of people. Almost without exception, everyone I talked to was curious about how the animals died, and were shocked to find out that the Dutch government isn't making much of an effort to enforce the EU Habitats Directive. We had "death certificates" displayed next to each animal, so people saw that some of them had drowned in nets used by Dutch fishing companies.
We didn't display them across the street from the entrance to Dutch parliament by coincidence; we chose that spot because we wanted to emphasize to the public that their lawmakers are not doing enough to make sure the Habitats Directive is followed.
The ultimate goal is to establish a network of marine reserves where cetaceans (and so much other ocean life) will be safe from harm. And, of course, fishing practices must be modified so that bycatch is kept to a minimum, if not eliminated.
300,000 of these creatures die each year as bycatch, from collisions with ships, the effects of military sonar, and increasingly, from the effects of global warming. With our display, we hope that these animals' silence in death has been a shout to the politicians not just in EU member states, but in governments around the world.
Here's hoping that shout is both heard and listened to.
jillian provided us not one but three of her wonderful eco-news summaries this past week. BREAKING!...the Earth (XIX): "Plantation workers look for justice in the North. For the first time, a U.S. jury will have the chance to weigh the accusation that Dole Food Co. knowingly used a pesticide manufactured by Dow Chemical Co. that sterilized workers in Latin America three decades ago."Los Angeles Times.
And BREAKING!...the Earth (XVIII) Animal (in the) Print: "5000 Wild Animals adrift on Chinese boat. More than 5000 wild animals have been found abandoned and close to death on a broken-down fishing boat off the coast of southern China, state media reported today. Authorities this week discovered more than 300 crates containing lizards, tortoises, turtles and pangolins on the 25-metre wooden boat, the Beijing Morning Post said." ninemsn.com.
And BREAKING!...the Earth (XX) H2O Woes: A world of thirst. By 2025, the United Nations predicts 3 billion people will be scrambling for clean water. Industrial contaminants flooding waterways, wasteful irrigation, an exploding population, corruption, and a changing climate, are just a few of the problems. US News & World Report.
LIFE ON PLANET EARTH
The Marine Life Series of Mark H just keeps getting better and better. This week’s was all about the Life Cycle of the Moon Jelly
"The moon jellyfish is found throughout the world, although it is limited to coastal bays and estuaries. They can be found in polar, temperate and tropical regions and the length of time they spend in either of the two forms varies with temperature, so I’ll limit the discussion here to those that live in temperate areas such as New England, Japan and the Pacific Northwest. The general life stages, however, [are] the same everywhere."
Who Belongs at the Zoo? was on undercovercalico’s mind: "The Memphis Zoo and I have an uneasy relationship simply because while I love any kind of nature/zoological exhibits, it is not going to be making any top ten lists in the near future. I think it has too much concrete and not enough space for the big beasts. Despite these shortcomings, they do a good job within their limits. They are engaged in Panda research.They do educational programs with children and have the standard zoo programs such as Keeper Chats. Recently, the Memphis Zoo discovered that Ya Ya is pregnant which will be a coup for them if a healthy baby actually arrives."
She also took us out for a local walk with her dog in Arno Does Shelby Farms:
"Shelby Farms is a lovely urban park located within the city limits of Memphis with a vast array of green space and muti-use trails. Memphians with two legs and four legs enjoy it. Shelby Farms is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. It has an off leash area but since this was my first time I stayed on the leash. We explored and I walked more than three miles. When it is cool I can walk forever but when it warms up I prefer shorter jaunts. We saw geese with their babies and I did not even try to chase them."
elfling brought us News from California Ag: Bees, Immigration, Farm Bill: "Now that the growing season is back in swing, Ag Alert, the publication of the California Farm Bureau, is back in stride with some interesting articles. Ag Alert is sent to most farmers in the state has a definite political bent, and has stories that you won't find in the mainstream press. ... Bees are essential to agriculture throughout the United States - without them, many important crops will fail completely. Because of Colony Collapse Disorder, the city yokels among us have gotten a crash education in the economics of bees and how valuable each colony is. This article, about Queen Bees, tells the story of a Shasta County family that raises bees for beekeepers.
Arachnaphobes probably gave a wide berth to hekebolos’s Diary Spider Friday: Trapdoor Spiders!: "Today's entry will feature some of my absolute favorite mygalomorph spiders: the trapdoor spiders! And if you want to see previous editions of spider friday and catch up on your arachnid reading, just go to the Spider Friday tag and satisfy your curiosity!"
ENERGY
A Siegel gave props in If all counties were Arlington ... we'd be Energy Smart ...: "There are good examples out there, of places and areas which are moving on a path toward a better tomorrow, who are taking the steps to Energize America. Arlington County, Virginia, in sight of the US Capitol and home of Arlington Cemetary and The Pentagon, is one of those communities."
He warned us in to be on the lookout for BS in ALERT: Astroturfing to fight mileage standards: "The automobile industry is investing "way north" of one million dollars to gin up grass roots opposition to the Senate proposals for moving automobile fuel standards to 35 miles by 2020."
And he initiated a conversation that needs a lot more discussion in Energize America: Core Principles: "At YearlyKos, in 2006, Jerome a Paris, Jerome a Paris, DevilsTower, George Karayannis, and A Siegel presented Energize America 2020 on a panel with Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) (former Secretary of Energy) participating as a commentator. In the year since, the situation has grown more dire (with ever more serious news on the Global Warming front) and improved (with a Congress seeking to act and a nation ever more aware of the serious challenges ahead). This diary returns to one part of the YK2006 presentation, Core Principles, with more extensive discussion than what was diaried along with reflections a year after YK2006."
Brother Dave looked some technology that hasn’t been getting so much attention after critics gave it a going-over a few years ago in his Hydrogen Bio Generation w/ POLL: "I was heartened by the recently revealed research from Virginia Tech for bio-derived hydrogen. It seems that our future energy could come from Log Cabin Maple Syrup or a close chemical cousin to my favorite pancake additive. Please follow me to the syrup line just below to hear more of this new technology..."
A top tier presidential candidate got some heat from dotcommodity in Obama On Coal To Gas Synfuel - WRONG!: "Republicans care about their kids safety, just like we do, yet they drive SUVs. They want their kids to be safe from other SUVs so they buy bigger heavier SUVs, ensuring that other drivers will have to do the same. They don't accept climate science so they just don't believe that their kids will have to deal with this dangerous climate as a result of their driving choice. So I don't blame them as much for wanting Synfuels. They have been propogandised into ignorance. But Obama is a member of our evidence-based community. He should know better."
pat208 let people know some rightwingers are claiming to be more eco-conscious than Kossacks and urged us not to let this challenge pass in UPDATED: Walking the Walk...by Changing the Bulbs: "And now we're seeing it on the energy and environment front: Conservatives have rediscovered conservation... and some are claiming the high ground. In this morning's Open Science Thread, Darksyde pointed out that Instapundit Glenn Reynolds had been touting how ‘his’ community of conservative readers was doing more to save energy than the Kossak community."
Jerome a Paris wrote another in his long-running series, Countdown to $100 oil (41) - oil more expensive than it appears:
"Oil prices, when you look at the most commonly used index in America, the WTI, quoted on the NYMEX and shown above (via wtrg.com), do not appear to have moved much in the last 6 months: after coming down from last summer's peaks, it has mostly traded sideways between $60 and $65 per barrel, with a short excursion to the low 50s in January. So why have gasoline prices been going up so much lately? Price gouging by the oil companies is a temptng answer, but there is actually a simpler answer: the price of oil is wrong."
retrograde took issue with Jerome’s conclusions in Disputing oil and gasoline claims on the rec list: "I was surprised to see a diary with what I believe to be an incorrect and easily refuted claim about rising gas prices briefly make the Recommended list yesterday. Site outages hampered discussion then, so here's my take on the diary and where it fell short."
retrograde also weighed with a couple of other energy Diaries, including Coal and jobs: enough with the lies already: "Coal is the mainstay of American electricity generation. Half the nation's electrical supply comes from burning coal. A common argument that shows up in energy discussions, both on Daily Kos and elsewhere, is that coal mining employs many people. Some claim this as a defense for using coal. Others claim it as a reason why the coal industry has political support. Like so many things people believe about coal, often with the best of intentions, this is simply another lie the industry has spun. Political support for coal comes from profits and the illusion of jobs."
And he told us about a Coal burner (who) wants court to ignore climate change.
Norm Coleman backs coal industry's global warming bill, The Big E told us: "This will come as a surprise to only a few, but Norm Coleman has signed on as a co-sponsor to the coal industry's global warming bill written by John McCain and Joe Lieberman. Saint Angry McWaffleCain and Party of Joe are not known for their environmentalism and this bill is really disturbing. It encourages coal gasification as the main method for reducing global warming."
markymarx spotlighted Congressional Pork vs. Global Warming: "It's official. Big business owns 'Energy Independence.' First, it's ethanol - a slap in the face to anyone who takes global warming seriously. Ethanol is a gift to Archer Daniels Midland - the Exxon of corn. Now the coal industry wants to feed at the 'energy independence' trough..."
EATING GLOBALLY
bebimbob asked rhetorically, Poison Anyone?: "Today's Chicago Tribune (with the AP and LAT contributing) reports (on page 16) that thousands of pounds of a fish labelled Monkfish imported from China has been recalled, because it contains a neurotoxin (tetrodotoxin) found in pufferfish. According to the article, the poison in one pufferfish can kill as many as two dozen people."
ChristieKeith gave us the skinny on the latest from the FDA in Breaking: Another country found adding melamine to exports: "The FDA announced today that a second country has been found adding melamine to an ingredient it exports. That country? The United States."
And londonbear gave us the rundown on Chinese Pork: "Pigs are a highly efficient way of converting human food waste into protein. That's why they play a part in a traditional subsistence farming setup, usually providing a source for a family to celebrate special occasions or simply to store over the winter. The tradition of smallholdings providing much of the family food, with surpluses sold off, has resulted in the number of pork dishes in Chinese cookery. With increased wealth from commerce and industrialization, the society's diet tends to move ‘upmarket’ with meat changing from being a possibly rare treat to being an everyday food. Demand rises above what can be met from a family raising its own food to mean that specialist farms raising larger numbers have to be set up. Much of rural China remains poor however so with the main wage earner often living away in the industrial ‘towns,’ raising the odd pig remains a way of making money from the family smallholding."
In two Diaries, RIRedinPA explained the environmental, psychological and nutritional value of "victory gardens," first in Saving The Earth...One Jersey Tomato At A Time: "Okay, so the headline is a bit of hyperbole. But the intent is there. Planting a Victory Garden, and I'll get to who the victory is over in a bit, is something I've been thinking of doing for a couple of years. We have the land to put in a good garden, about an acre and a half, if not the exactly the time (we have four kids).
And then in Victory Garden: What Is It Good For?: "It's hard to make any kind of negative argument against a Victory Garden. The garden saves you money, gets you out in the fresh air and sunshine, provides healthy foods, reconnects you to the Earth, the life cycle and our ancestors. It also, to some extent, helps reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the air, which is a significant contributor to global warming. But where does the reduction in CO2 from a Victory Garden come from? A lot of focus is on foodmiles saved, the reduction of pounds of produce shipped in exchange for what you grow on your own."
mariesamuels gave us more to worry aboutToxic Globalization: The chickens have come home to roost. Global warming, pshaw! We are being poisoned daily not so slowly. The FDA inspects only a fraction of imported foods, and most of what they inspect is toxic. According to a number of stories in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, Chinese entrepreneurs used melamine, an industrial byproduct that mimics their test for nitrogen, as an ingredient in wheat gluten which somehow found its way into pet food. Hundreds of dogs and cats died of kidney failure and estimates say the number affected is far higher. The FDA is silent on how many ingredients like these are inside so-called ‘human’ food."
SUSTAINABILITY
Greening the Pentagon? was eco-techie gmoke ’s Diary of note this week: "A green Pentagon not only means hydrogen powered buses on military bases, tents with built-in solar electric panels, and more fuel efficient planes and tanks. Ecological technology can be a tool in winning "hearts and minds" and solar is civil defense in some very real and immediate ways. In Afghanistan, NATO forces are distributing solar/dynamo AM/FM/SW radios a friend who served there told me. Solar is being used as a tactic in rebuilding that country today. I've been trying to track down more information about this program but have had little success as of yet, despite numerous calls to NATO headquarters in Kabul and Brussels. Perhaps US forces could expand the solar/dynamo idea to Iraq as well."
mdhawk wrote a green housing conference pregame, VENT - MCYD sponsors Go Green! Green Building Forum: "Whether you rent or own, moving into your first home or renovating after twenty-five years, having an eco-friendly lifestyle is easy and can save you money. Meet green building experts and practitioners to learn how you can have a healthy, environmentally friendly, stylish, energy smart and sustainable home affordably."
Stop Buying Things was pacified ’s admonition to us all: "You don't need an iPhone. You don't need a new outfit. You don't need an XBox. You don't need a bigger house. You don't need any Starbucks. You don't need a manicure. You don't need anything from Target. You don't need a fancy new cell phone. If you really want to help this country get back on track, what do you need to do? You need to STOP BUYING THINGS and SAVE YOUR MONEY.
In query form, Alegre made a somewhat less overwhelming suggestion, Would You Give Up Steak to Help the Environment?: "I recently found a site that helps us measure our ecological footprint. After you get your results you can click on a "take action" link and it helps you set goals for reducing your footprint even further. With a few small changes I was able to cut mine in half – down to what they say is a sustainable level. One of the changes was to reduce the amount of meat I eat. I haven’t eaten red meat since I was 16 (nearly 30 years now) for a lot of reasons. Started out a total vegetarian because of the cruelty involved, but as I began to understand the issues of poverty and how our own consumption here impacts the impoverished and starving people in the developing world, I realized there were bigger issues at play here. I went on to study third world development in college and these issues were real then - they’re even more relevant today."
Pragmatic Left lets us in on a discussion Wherein I Debate an Environmental Ostrich: "Oh my, every now and then, when I peruse my old college newspaper, I am reminded that an Ivy League degree is no guarantee of intelligence. Today's issue of the Daily Pennsylvanian features on such shining example, for which I have forsaken a good chunk of my day to engage. It featured a story on the veritably ignored on Iraq James Baker's commencement address, for which the early days of summer with an apparent internship have driven some recalcitrant wingnuts to engage in a little posturing."
TRANSPORTATION
Chevy Volt Set to Revolutionize Auto Industry, according to nishka:
"General Motors has announced their intention to get the Chevy Volt hybrid concept car into production and onto showroom floors by 2010. This car has the potential to revitalize the domestic auto industry and could be the first real step to weaning us off of fossil fuels. The Volt will come with a bank of lithium-ion batteries that will power the car for approximately 40 miles on electricity alone. It gets that power initially from a six to seven hour charge courtesy of a standard 110 wall socket you most likely already have in your garage."
Hybrids might be passé, however, if the technology featured in Time Bandit ’s Air-powered car in India, no gas, no oil, no emissions catches on: "This country use to invent, manufactor then release the most cutting edge products to the world. The label ‘Made in the America’ use to mean ‘works out of the box.’ The world use to wait with glee for the next great thing out of Detriot or Chicago or New York. While they still wait for the latest entertainment product out of Los Angeles, the rest of the country really doesn't make anything the rest of the world says, ‘Whoa, I gotta get me some of that!’ While we stay addicted to oil the world is moving on. India has an air-powered car now."
GLOBAL WARMING
a gnostic informed us that NASA study says climate "tipping point" near: "That means that, from the South to the mid-Atlantic, we could see subtropical conditions, diseases included. The northern climates see the most radical shifts thus far so who knows how far north the tropical conditions will go..."
Video: "spinning" - tobacco vs. global warming was Desmogblog’s second in a series: "Here's part two in the series we are doing, comparing archived tobacco industry PR spin film footage with the current PR spin on global warming. This one's based on a 1979 Tobacco Institute video describing the efforts PR "spokesmans" program. This one is very telling, not so much as the last one we did, but you still feel like taking a shower afterwards."
Contributing Editor Devilstower gave us Stupid In Space: "Showing that there is no place safe from idiocy, here's an absolutely astronomically stupid comment from NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. A statement so stupid, it makes the invasion of Iraq and the management of Katrina look like genius."
Michael Griffin NASA Administrator has told America's National Public Radio that while he has no doubt a trend of global warming exists "I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with."
Griffin’s comment also irke Bob Guyer, who wrote New twist on Climate Crisis Denial from NASA Administrator: "The best climate for any living creature is the one to which they are adapted to survive in. The main issue with our acceleration of climate change is that we are forcing change farther and faster than would normally be the case which will stress the ability of all the living stuff to adapt. He frames the issue by shifting the focus to an absurd question ‘what’s the best climate’ and says it is arrogant of us to make a judgment about that as if that is what people advocating intervention are saying ‘hey folks lets make the best climate we can, we could make this thing a lot nicer.’"
Jason Miller added to a growing collection of smackdowns in Annals of Stupidity: The Demise of Alexander Cockburn: "Cockburn’s writing is so confusing, so polemical, and his "science" so inaccurate that it’s difficult to know where to begin a critique. Nevertheless, let me try, although I believe that going toe-to-toe with him on points of fact is of no value. I’ll leave it to the legitimate climate scientists to deal with this if they wish."
While many of us lamented the stupidity of the Bush Adminstration rejecting international action on global warming, Jerome a Paris had some problems with the reaction is in own backyard, as he noted in You're not alone: Europe also capitulates to Bush (on Climate Change): "I'm not going to write here, again, how fundamental that issue is, probably just as much as Iraq, if not more, and how urgent it is becoming that we (i.e. everybody on the planet) actually do something about it (just go see this self-explanatory report by the WWF: Climate change: five years left to save the world). Waiting for another 2 years, at least, to do anything because trhis WH won't budge, should not be tolerated. And yet it will be."
JPete looked at the subject from the point of view o Global Warming: Could the G8 be irrelevant?: "It was very hard to see today that Europe is capitulating to Bush on global warming. To say this is not at all the blame the messenger; Jerome has important news. But if despair can just hit you suddenly, then I expect I wasn't alone in feeling hit by despair. Is the whole world lost to the corrupt views and disastrous policies of BWB?"
retrograde gave us the latest from the ongoing Australian eco-crisis in Climate change news down under: Drought and spies edition: "With a flurry of new articles in the media over the past few days, it's about time for another one of those diaries wherein I round up news from down under relating to climate change. In this edition: Drought threatens Australian electricity supply; Howard govt spending ; millions on climate change ad campaign; Australia finds a nuclear waste dump site; Coal mining company infiltrating protest groups with spies."
Congressional hearing watcher The Cunctator provided another calendar and some news about our Representatives’ visit to Europe in Hill Global Warming Week: Congress in Greenland, Gore in DC: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Global Warming Committee Chairman Ed Markey are leading a CODEL to Europe to talk global warming. The Congressional Delegation met with Dr. Konrad Steffen on the melting ice sheets of Greenland and today with Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany because, in Pelosi's words, ‘we are trying to preserve the planet.’"
Idle Speculation: Global Warming, 2035 was VoteHarder ’s look to what could be a grim future: "For some reason, we're still engaged in a debate about global warming. Despite heavy grassroots pressure and a vague understanding of how bad it's going to be, we've yet to make any serious changes as a species to help mitigate an almost certain disaster. As a millennial, I often blame the current crop of political leaders for not caring enough because, after all, they'll all be dead by the time we see the full consequences of their inaction. What'll it be like for those of us cursed with post-1980 birthdays? What will our world look like? Scientists talk about ecosystems and climate belts, but what about the social and political effects?"