The Agonist - Environment

Fly Me To The Moon

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:32:32 -0700

Crossposted at MLW

There has been a lot of talk recently about the “energy crisis”. I wonder if this is the same energy crisis we heard about in the 70’s? If it is then that means for over 30 years instead of solving our domestic energy needs, we have ignored them and allowed them to grow. In 1970 we were importing about 24% of the oil we used and the embargo back then threw our economy into a tail-spin, imagine what would happen today when we import about 70%. Rather than using the past 30 plus years to develop new or existing technologies to reduce or break our dependence on oil, we have elected to do something worse than nothing. Instead of our vehicles getting smaller and more fuel efficient during this time they have actually gotten larger.

Invasion of the jellyfish: Mediterranean on alert as hundreds suffer from stings

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:02:37 -0700

Matthew Kay/ Paris, Elizabeth Nash /Madrid and Peter Popham/ Rome | July 24

Independent - As thousands of tourists head to the Mediterranean, the spectre of jellyfish ruining holidays looms large after French emergency services received more than 500 calls for help in a single day along a 10-mile stretch of coast from Nice to Cannes.

Paddlers suffered painful stings and wanted something to treat the pain while swimmers reported that they had found themselves totally surrounded by a species commonly known as the mauve stinger.

It is a pattern being repeated along the shores of Mediterranean. As well as the Côte d'Azur, the coast of Liguria on the west coast of Italy, the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, parts of the Adriatic on Italy's east coast, and much of the southern – and even northern – coastlines of Spain have been hit.

Jellyfish have no autonomy of movement and are swept around the oceans by wind and tide. In the past they came billowing into the beaches once every 10 or 12 years. They stayed for three or four years then disappeared as mysteriously as they arrived. But not any more. This is the eighth year straight that they have stormed the smartest resorts in the Mediterranean.

Slim Pickens' Energy Plan: Separating the Beauty From the Beast

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:43:00 -0700

One of my favorite Disney movies as a child was Beauty and the Beast. From a child who was born with a thrill for taking ugly, mean things and making them beautiful (I was really into painting old furniture), you could see the appeal: a stubborn and self-serving beast was transformed into a sweet, giving prince through the healing power of love. Oh, if only real life was this idyllic.

Unfortunately, in the real world, wealth and power don't magically yield to justice and conscience, even if it's presented as such on the surface. Take oil tycoon and bill-footer of last election's Swift Boat crusade T. Boone Pickens. Pickens has been on a $58 million publicity tour to promote his plan to erect wind turbines in the Midwest.

Holy man, secular plan: clean up the River Ganges

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:11:06 -0700

Mian Ridge | Varanasi, India | July 23

CSM -
Veer Bhadra Mishra, a Hindu priest and former professor of hydraulics, has gained government approval for a pilot program.

Most mornings, as the sun steals over the Ganges, Veer Bhadra Mishra takes a dip in India's holiest river. As high priest of a Hindu temple, it is his solemn duty. But as a scientist, the ritual is profoundly discomforting.

The Ganges, revered as a symbol of spiritual purity for more than 2,000 years, is today a filthy soup. This is especially true in the ancient pilgrimage site of Varanasi, where 32 old pipes on the riverbank disgorge raw sewage into the flow.

"I have a rationally trained mind," says the retired professor of hydraulics, who says he has contracted potentially fatal diseases from Ganges water. "But I also have a passionately committed heart."

Mr. Mishra has used both in a 20-year river cleanup campaign now coming to fruition. With his spiritual clout in a country that's more than 80 percent Hindu and his scientific expertise, Mishra has won government approval for a pilot sewage-treatment program.

Solar power from Saharan sun could provide Europe's electricity, says EU

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:17:11 -0700

Alok Jha | July 23

The Guardian -

A concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in Spain that uses panels to reflect light on to a central tower to produce electricity. Similar plants are proposed for north Africa. Photograph: AP

A tiny rectangle superimposed on the vast expanse of the Sahara captures the seductive appeal of the audacious plan to cut Europe's carbon emissions by harnessing the fierce power of the desert sun.

Dwarfed by any of the north African nations, it represents an area slightly smaller than Wales but scientists claimed yesterday it could one day generate enough solar energy to supply all of Europe with clean electricity.

Speaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission's Institute for Energy, said it would require the capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and Middle East deserts to meet all of Europe's energy needs.

The scientists are calling for the creation of a series of huge solar farms - producing electricity either through photovoltaic cells, or by concentrating the sun's heat to boil water and drive turbines - as part of a plan to share Europe's renewable energy resources across the continent.

Cleveland volcano joins Okmok in Aleutian ash fest

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:30:39 -0700

Beth Bragg | July 22

Anchorage Daily News -

Mount Cleveland, a volcano in the Aleutian Islands about 90 miles west of still-simmering Okmok Caldera, erupted Monday, giving Alaska dueling volcanoes.

"Things are very hopping," research geophysicist Peter Cervelli of the Alaska Volcano Observatory said Monday afternoon. "We've been ramped up 24/7 for nine days because of Okmok, and to have Cleveland suddenly go off keeps us busy. I'm not sure I'd describe it as fun, but it's certainly exciting."

Cleveland's eruption was confirmed by mariners and pilots traveling near the volcano, observatory geologist Jennifer Adleman said.

click pic to enlarge

The Environment In Asia: A Response To Canuck

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:32:54 -0700

Canuck asked me some pretty pointed questions and I felt obligated to reply. Of course, I can't answer all of them as I haven't been to some of the places Canuck is referencing, but here goes.

First, on the Mongolian Steppe turning into desert. This is something that has been ongoing for centuries. I've been there and I've seen some of it. At one point the Tarim Basin was supposedly a great inland sea, verdant, fecund and much like the Black Sea before the Mediterranean intruded, except the opposite has occurred in the area. Marco Polo mentions this in his book and some Chinese histories (Han histories mostly) do as well.

The dessication of Central Asia is sadly unavoidable in many places and I fear the day, which we very may well see in our lifetimes, when the glaciers of the Tien Shan, Pamirs and portions of the Himalaya run dry. Down stream nations will suffer horribly. It's hard to deal with and the Chinese have certainly made it worse with their development policies. But they are attmepting to make changes, however haltingly. Urumuchi is a Disneyland in the desert much like Las Vegas, without the Sierra Nevada watershed to slake its thirst, however. So, many people don't realize how serious relations between China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are and the wrangling between them over water issues. It's almost as dire as that between the Israelis and Palestinians and Syrians.

Second, Malaysian rainforest issues. This is more than just a Malaysian issue, as Indonesia is busy cutting down much of the rainforest in Irian Jaya and elsewhere to feed the world's raging need for paper. The hope surrounding computers, the internet and wireless access was not realized in the first ten years of the internet but in my own business I am seeing real signs of change. We print less and less from our printers each day as more and more issues are dealt with paperlessly, via *.pdf files and the like. This will continue and accelerate, but more needs to be done. My work permit application was done 100% without paper. In China and elsewhere? Yeah, sure. The Chinese invented the paper bureaucracy (they also invented paper, too).

And yet, surprisingly, Asia seems to be more conscious of this as we use all our waste paper for note pads and recycle all paper products religiously.

As for air quality in Singapore? It's the best in Asia. It's actually some of the best air I have ever encountered. Emissions are taxed ruthlessly here, more so than petrol. From any point on the island that I've been thus far I've been able to see the CBD (Central Business District) at just about any time, except when it is raining. The VAT on cars is absolutely insane. A car that would sell for $15,000 in the US sells here for $30,000. The taxes go both to environmental spending and to the regular budget.

More after the jump

Vote for this article at Buzzflash and at Digg

Country, the City Version: Farms in the Sky Gain New Interest

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:55:25 -0700

Bina Venkataraman | July 16

NYT -

What if “eating local” in Shanghai or New York meant getting your fresh produce from five blocks away? And what if skyscrapers grew off the grid, as verdant, self-sustaining towers where city slickers cultivated their own food?

Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, hopes to make these zucchini-in-the-sky visions a reality. Dr. Despommier’s pet project is the “vertical farm,” a concept he created in 1999 with graduate students in his class on medical ecology, the study of how the environment and human health interact.

The idea, which has captured the imagination of several architects in the United States and Europe in the past several years, just caught the eye of another big city dreamer: Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president.

When Mr. Stringer heard about the concept in June, he said he immediately pictured a “food farm” addition to the New York City skyline. “Obviously we don’t have vast amounts of vacant land,” he said in a phone interview. “But the sky is the limit in Manhattan.” Mr. Stringer’s office is “sketching out what it would take to pilot a vertical farm,” and plans to pitch a feasibility study to the mayor’s office within the next couple of months, he said.

“I think we can really do this,” he added. “We could get the funding.”

Slideshow

Ready for another Katrina?

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:15:15 -0700

I wonder how many people along the US Gulf coast are paying attention to the weather? Are they aware for example that a record has already been broken, that we started the season with an odd occurance and that sea temperatures are already 2/3 degrees above normal? Do they know about the various 'blobs' out there in the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea creeping their way?

Bush to lift a ban on oil exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:53:48 -0700

Washington | July 14

Reuters - President George W. Bush planned to lift a ban on oil exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf on Monday as part of an effort to ease record high oil prices, the White House said.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush was acting because the Democratic-led Congress had failed to do so since he urged lawmakers last month to lift restrictions on offshore drilling, a move strongly opposed by environmentalists.

Bush was due to announce his decision and make a statement on energy needs at 1:30 p.m. EDT. High gasoline prices increasingly have irked American consumers in a presidential election year, when Bush's Republicans are trying to keep control of the White House.

Russian ice camp in rapid shrink

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:36:50 -0700

David Shukman | July 12

BBC - Twenty Russian scientists are to be evacuated from their camp on a drifting ice-floe in the Arctic after it started disintegrating sooner than expected.

The Russians had set up research station "North Pole 35" on the floe last September when it measured a safe five kilometres long and three kilometres wide, and their original plan was to stay on it until this September.

But after enduring the permanent night of the Arctic winter and surviving the threat of polar bears, the scientists now find that their temporary home has shrunk to just 600m by 300m and faces complete break-up as it drifts towards a current known to contain relatively warm waters.

Also see: Antarctic ice shelf breaking up in dead of winter

Another Bush Knife In The Back

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:01:58 -0700

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing

click to enlarge

EPA Won't Act on Emissions This Year

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:32:35 -0700

Juliet Eilperin & R. Jeffrey Smith | Washington | July 11

WaPo - Instead of New Rules, More Comment Sought

The Bush administration has decided not to take any new steps to regulate greenhouse gas emissions before the president leaves office, despite pressure from the Supreme Court and broad accord among senior federal officials that new regulation is appropriate now.

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to announce today that it will seek months of further public comment on the threat posed by global warming to human health and welfare -- a matter that federal climate experts and international scientists have repeatedly said should be urgently addressed.

Climate Change May Muddy Better-Than Bottled New York Tap Water

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:28:25 -0700

Jim Efstathiou Jr. | NY | July 7

Bloomberg - New York City's tap water, so pure residents swear it tastes better than bottled, may become a casualty of climate change as warmer temperatures threaten to spoil the mountain reservoirs supplying 9 million people.

Water from the largest unfiltered delivery system in the U.S. may become dirtier as weather patterns shift, bringing stronger storms to the region, the city's Department of Environmental Protection said in a May report. Heavy rains muddy reservoirs and wash in bacteria and parasites. That may force New York to spend $10 billion on filtration, the DEP said.

The most populous U.S. city receives 1.3 billion gallons (4.9 billion liters) a day of water through a network of gravity- fed aqueducts from 19 reservoirs as far away as 125 miles (200 kilometers). Rains that mix silt and mud into the system pose the biggest threat to water quality, said Walter Mugdan, water division director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

G8 Summit: The F-Words

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:19:53 -0700

Guardian (Editorial) -Three big problems loom over the world economy. In rich countries they cause grumbling and pressure on governments to act; in poor ones rioting and starvation. Some call them the three Fs: food, fuel and finance.

The three Fs are linked, of course. The financial crisis has hastened and sharpened the slowdown in the UK and elsewhere, and taken away the easy money that might have cushioned the blow of surging food and fuel prices. Expensive imported fuel has encouraged governments to use crops to feed cars; and that has forced up the price of food - by 75%, according to a World Bank study reported by this paper.

The three Fs will be top of the agenda at the meeting of G8 leaders that begins today in Japan.

(full editorial at link )