.: LarsonsWorld :.
just another persons waste of time
.: Environment Archive :.

25 June 2008
.: watercooler :.
White House Refused to Open Pollutants E-Mail - NY Times
The White House in December refused to accept the Environmental
Protection Agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that
must be controlled, telling agency officials that an e-mail message
containing the document would not be opened, senior E.P.A. officials
said last week.
more ...
Five Myths About the New Wiretapping Law: Why it's a lot worse than you think. - Slate
Sometime today, the Senate is likely to approve the most comprehensive
overhaul of American surveillance law since the Watergate era. Unless
you're a government lawyer, a legal scholar, a masochist, or an
insomniac, chances are you haven't read the 114-page bill. Don't beat
yourself up: Neither have most of the 293 House members who voted for it
last week. Ditto the mainstream press, who seem to have relied chiefly
on summaries provided by the same lawmakers who hadn't read it.
more ...
Be quiet: the surveillance cameras might hear you - Ars Techinica
Although crime statistics point to the fact that law-and-order issues
are actually less of a problem now than in the past, the general
public's perception remains one convinced that muggery and buggery hides
behind every street corner. Politicans and the media stoke these fears,
and we get hastily made laws and policies enacted as a result. Over in
the UK, the trend over the past two decades has been to abrogate
day-to-day policing of the streets to an army of CCTV cameras. Soon, if
scientists have their way, the cameras will be able to train their focus
on suspicious sounds automatically with new AI technology.
more ....
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 1:29 AM MDT | Updated: 25 June 2008 8:20 PM MDT
Tags: Civil Liberties Environment News
| | Permalink

23 June 2008
.: watercooler :.
Nice Guys Finish Last: Why do we expect presidential candidates to be kind? - Slate
Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but in the past few days I feel I've
been overwhelmed by a tsunami of commentary, all of which purports to
prove the fundamental nastiness of Barack Obama or, alternatively, the
deep unlikability of John McCain. You thought our presidential
candidates were nice guys, regular guys, guys who you'd like to sit down
and have a beer with? Guess what, lots of people are now telling me:
They aren't!
more ...
Nation's Spies: Climate Change Could Spark War - Wired
Environmental groups have been warning for years that global climate
change could make already-tense parts of the world even worse, and even
spark whole new conflicts. Now, the nation's spies are saying pretty
much the same thing.
more ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 6:50 PM MDT | Updated: 23 June 2008 7:21 PM MDT
Tags: Environment The Written Word
| | Permalink

27 May 2008
.: watercooler :.
Six hours to hack the FBI (and other pen-testing adventures) - Computerworld
It takes a lot to shock Chris Goggans; he's been a pen (penetration)
tester since 1991, getting paid to break into a wide variety of
networks. But he says nothing was as egregious as security lapses in
both infrastructure design and patch management at a civilian government
agency -- holes that let him hack his way through to a major FBI crime
database within a mere six hours.
more ...
New Climate Report Foresees Big Changes - NYTimes
The rise in concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from
human activities is influencing climate patterns and vegetation across
the United States and will significantly disrupt water supplies,
agriculture, forestry and ecosystems for decades, a new federal report
says.
more ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 9:01 PM MDT | Updated: 27 May 2008 9:26 PM MDT
Tags: Computing Environment
| | Permalink
.: is it more efficient to leave your car idling? :.
Found an interesting article on Slate about whether to idle or shut off you car. It even goes into whether to warm up your car or just start driving.
Some excerpts:
Today's cars use electronic fuel injectors, which rigorously control the
amount of gas delivered to the engine when you hit the ignition. As a
result, virtually no fuel is wasted during startup, and only a
thimbleful is burned as the car roars to life. So forget about the
30-minute axiom you were raised on - the threshold at which it makes
more sense to shut off rather than to idle should be expressed in
seconds, not minutes.
The researchers concluded that restarting a six-cylinder engine - with
the air conditioner switched on - uses as much gas as idling the same
car for just six seconds.
Idling is similarly wasteful in frigid temperatures. Contrary to popular
belief, cold-weather drivers needn't warm up their cars for longer than
30 seconds. The best way to raise an engine's temperature to optimal
levels is to drive it almost immediately after startup; according to a
study by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, a car driven for 12
minutes in 14-degree-Fahrenheit weather will achieve the same
temperature as one that idles for 30 minutes. (However, it's best to
avoid rapid acceleration during that 12-minute warm-up drive.)
But if we were able to eliminate idling in stop-and-go traffic, the
effect could be more dramatic. Right now, it is imprudent (and often
illegal) to cut your engine while on public streets. There are automated
systems, such as in the vaunted Toyota Prius, that can rapidly turn
engines off and on when the car is, say, stopped at a red light or
involuntarily "parked" on a bumper-to-bumper freeway; just apply some
pressure to the accelerator, and the engine springs back to life.
According to the learned folks at Car Talk, the widespread adoption of
such technology could reduce our national fuel consumption by as much 10
percent.
more ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 4:33 PM MDT
Tags: Ect... Environment
| | Permalink

19 May 2008
.: watercooler :.
Warming and Storms, Uncertainty and Ethics - NY Times
Over the weekend, a pair of very different climate studies - one
physical, one social - illustrated two uncomfortable, and related,
realities confronting society as it grapples with possible responses to
human-driven global warming.
more ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 8:30 PM MDT
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

18 May 2008
.: watercooler :.
Perilous Landings by Soyuz Worry NASA - Washington Post
Two consecutive chaotic and dangerous landings by Soyuz space capsules,
including one with an American astronaut aboard, have NASA and space
experts concerned about the spacecraft's reliability in ferrying
astronauts to and from the international space station.
more ...
The Old Titans All Collapsed. Is the U.S. Next? - Washington Post
Back in August, during the panic over mortgages, Alan Greenspan offered
reassurance to an anxious public. The current turmoil, the former
Federal Reserve Board chairman said, strongly resembled brief financial
scares such as the Russian debt crisis of 1998 or the U.S. stock market
crash of 1987... But in the background, one could hear the groans and
feel the tremors as larger political and economic tectonic plates
collided. Nine months later, Greenspan's soothing analogies no longer
wash. The U.S. economy faces unprecedented debt levels, soaring
commodity prices and sliding home prices, to say nothing of a weak
dollar.
more ...
In Colorado, an unlikely alliance against drilling - CSMonitor
Plans to open up a swath of wilderness are bringing hunters and
environmentalists together – and reshaping state politics.
more ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 5:49 PM MDT | Updated: 18 May 2008 8:26 PM MDT
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

13 May 2008
.: all of a sudden, it's dusk on planet earth :.
Earth at 350
By
Bill McKibben
The Nation
Even for Americans, constitutionally convinced that there will always be
a second act, and a third, and a do-over after that, and, if necessary,
a little public repentance and forgiveness and a Brand New Start--even
for us, the world looks a little Terminal right now.
It's not just the economy. We've gone through swoons before. It's that
gas at $4 a gallon means we're running out, at least of the cheap stuff
that built our sprawling society. It's that when we try to turn corn
into gas, it sends the price of a loaf of bread shooting upwards and
starts food riots on three continents. It's that everything is so
inextricably tied together. It's that, all of a sudden, those grim Club
of Rome types who, way back in the 1970s, went on and on about the
"limits to growth" suddenly seem... how best to put it, right.
All of a sudden it isn't morning in America, it's dusk on planet Earth.
There's a number--a new number--that makes this point most powerfully.
It may now be the most important number on Earth: 350. As in parts per
million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
A few weeks ago, our foremost climatologist, NASA's Jim Hansen,
submitted a paper to Science magazine with several co-authors. The
abstract attached to it argued--and I have never read stronger language
in a scientific paper--"if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar
to that on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is
adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that
CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350
ppm." Hansen cites six irreversible tipping points--massive sea level
rise and huge changes in rainfall patterns, among them--that we'll pass
if we don't get back down to 350 soon; and the first of them, judging by
last summer's insane melt of Arctic ice, may already be behind us.
more ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 5:47 PM MDT | Updated: 13 May 2008 5:49 PM MDT
Tags: Environment
| | Permalink

07 May 2008
.: watercooler :.
The computer security paradox - Raiden's Realm
One of the most prized rights of any American is the right to privacy
and security. It's something people in some countries would kill for.
Yet now there appears to be a very frightening trend growing. Your
privacy and security are being thrown out the window wholesale in favor
of easier access by law enforcement. A recent example of this can be
seen with the announcement that Microsoft has been providing a tool to
investigators that can effectively rip your Windows security to shreds
in seconds, exposing all your private data to whoever wants to look at
it.
more ...
IBM, Microsoft Trounce Apple on Climate Friendliness Scorecard - Wired
Scorecard IBM earned top honors among electronics manufacturers on a
recently-updated climate friendliness scorecard (.pdf), earning 77 out
of a possible 100 points to beat runners-up Canon, Toshiba, Sony and HP
in a ranking of the companies' responsiveness to climate change. IBM,
which makes big, hulking servers and mainframe computers, even beat out
Microsoft (38 points) and Google (55), whose products are composed
entirely of electrons. Apple, which has taken heat from Greenpeace for
the allegedly toxic chemicals in its iPhone, scored a pathetic 11 out of
100.
more ...
Viacom, Google set for fight to bitter end over Safe Harbor - Ars Technica
It has been just over a year since Viacom launched its $1 billion
lawsuit against Google for "brazen disregard of intellectual property
laws" on YouTube. Although we haven't heard much news about the case as
of late, some fightin' words have come out of both sides recently to
indicate that the case is still going strong. There's no sign of an
impending settlement, either, as Viacom is still beating the piracy drum
and Google continues to stand its ground. Because of this, the eventual
outcome of the Viacom suit may set a legal precedent that could send
ripples throughout the entire Internet.
more ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 4:49 PM MDT | Updated: 07 May 2008 5:04 PM MDT
Tags: Civil Liberties Computing Environment News
| | Permalink

01 May 2008
.: the future of energy :.
Our New Energy Crisis - Mother Jones
Almost four years ago, when oil was trading at around $40 a barrel, Paul
Roberts wrote a story for Mother Jones on a bleak scenario gaining
currency among energy insiders, but not yet in the mainstream
consciousness: peak oil, basically the notion that the world's petroleum
resources are nearing exhaustion. If the theory held true, Roberts
warned, oil prices could soon leap to "perhaps as high as $100 per
barrel - a disaster if we don't have a cost-effective alternative fuel
or technology in place."
Welcome to the disaster: $100-a-barrel oil is in the rearview mirror,
and no cost-effective (or even cost-prohibitive) alternative has
emerged. The most dire consequences of this failing - hurricanes,
drought, extinction - are occurring far more rapidly than even Slideshow
Al could have predicted four years ago. And then there's the war.
It's easy enough to blame Dick Cheney, Big Oil, Detroit - all of whom
have done their part in obstructing progress. But their chicanery
distracts us from the far greater problem, one that, unfortunately,
comes down to Organic Chemistry 101. Every technological advance of the
last 150 years has been powered by a unique, extremely energy-dense, but
finite - and, as it turns out, planet-killing - source of fuel.
Switching away from fossil energy requires an economic and social
transformation at least as great as the Industrial Revolution. And we
have to build this new economy on the fumes of the old, hoping that we
don't run out of gas, or ice caps, before we get there. As Roberts
points out in this special issue on energy, if we sit on our hands or
let the process be hijacked by vested interests, "there may not be
enough crude left in the ground to fuel a second try."
Read on ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 6:39 AM MDT
Tags: Environment The Written Word
| | Permalink

02 April 2008
.: is the bush administration ingoring the supreme court? :.
Ignoring
the Supreme Court - Washington Post
The Bush administration punts
on greenhouse emissions
The Bush administration never had any intention of doing what the
Supreme Court commanded it to do a year ago today: regulate greenhouse
gas emissions. We infer this because, even though President Bush ordered
his agencies last May to work together to meet the court's directive,
and even though the Environmental Protection Agency delivered to the
White House last December its finding that those pollutants endanger
public welfare, a prerequisite for regulation, EPA Administrator Stephen
L. Johnson announced last week a plan to seek public input starting in
the spring on how best to limit the emissions. Translation: punt to the
next administration. This giant step backward is the starkest example
yet of the chasm between the words and deeds of Mr. Bush on climate
change.
Read on ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 8:28 PM MDT
Tags: Environment The Written Word
| | Permalink

09 March 2008
.: watercooler :.
Bad Phorm? UK ISPs to sell clickstream data to advertisers - Ars Technica
Deep packet inspection gear has long had the ability to peer inside
users' datastreams to pull out all sorts of interesting information, but
a UK company called Phorm is taking DPI to the next level by using it to
sell ads. The company's ambitious goal: segment users into small and
highly-accurate "channels" by reading the URLs they visit, the search
terms they use, and the content of the pages they visit. The resulting
channels are then sold to advertisers who are salivating at the thought
of better targeting. Actual users are predictably less thrilled,
however, and a row over the issue has erupted in Britain.
more ...
AP probe finds drugs in drinking water - Associated Press
A vast array of pharmaceuticals - including antibiotics,
anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones - have been found in
the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an
Associated Press investigation shows.
To be sure, the concentrations
of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per
billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also,
utilities insist their water is safe.
more ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 7:07 PM MDT | Updated: 09 March 2008 10:42 PM MDT
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

06 March 2008
.: the grand canyon in the news :.
How to Date the Grand Canyon: Go With the Flow - Wired
Geologists maintain that the Colorado River carved the Grand Canyon's
walls very gradually over a long period of time, and they have found new
evidence to nail down exactly how long.
... Its banded walls make up one of the most magnificent landscapes on
Earth. And yet it seems the only time reporters bother to mention its
geology is when they are writing about creationists and their bogus
claims that the Grand Canyon formed a few thousand years ago. It's a
shame, because the real story of the Grand Canyon is a riveting epic.
Even its scientific history is fascinating: Figuring out just how old
the Grand Canyon is has challenged geologists for 150 years. And just
this week, the mystery may be solved.
more ...
Torrent roars at Grand Canyon: Outcome of Glen Canyon release won't surface for several weeks - Rocky Mountain News
Martha Hahn is clutching the front of a motorized raft Wednesday
afternoon as it strains against surging currents on the Colorado River.
Hahn is chief of science at Grand Canyon National Park, and she's
onboard to observe how the river is responding to the mighty torrent of
water being turned loose from the Glen Canyon Dam.
The release is an attempt to re-create the roaring springtime flows that
shaped the river before the dam was built in the 1960s.
more ...
A slide show from the Denver Post
A NBC Nightly News report on the 60 hour flow.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 4:48 PM MST | Updated: 06 March 2008 5:37 PM MST
Tags: Environment
| | Permalink

28 February 2008
.: watercooler :.
New supercomputer is a rack of PlayStations - The Sydney Morning Herald
When the PlayStation3 was released in November 2006, Gaurav Khanna's
wife braved long queues so he could be one of the first people in the US
to get his hands on the gaming console. But the astrophysicist was not
itching to burn some rubber in Gran Turismo or shoot hoops in NBA 07.
Instead he wanted to build his own supercomputer.
Record-High Ratio of Americans in Prison - Washington Post
More than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison,
an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a
year, in addition to more than $5 billion spent by the federal
government, according to a report released today.
No impact from Energy Saving Day - BBC
The UK's first Energy Saving Day has ended with no noticeable reduction
in the country's electricity usage. E-Day asked people to switch off
electrical devices they did not need over a period of 24 hours, with the
National Grid monitoring consumption.
In Norway, Global Seed Vault guards genetic resources - IHT
With plant species disappearing at an alarming rate, scientists and
governments are creating a global network of plant banks to store seeds
and sprouts - precious genetic resources that may be needed for man to
adapt the world's food supply to climate change.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 6:34 PM MST | Updated: 28 February 2008 7:09 PM MST
Tags: Computing Environment News
| | Permalink

25 February 2008
.: watercooler :.
The Satellite Shootdown: Behind the Scenes - US News & World Report
Capt. R. M. Hendrickson stepped across the deck of the guided missile
cruiser USS Lake Erie last Saturday afternoon to a bank of ballistic
missile launch tubes, motioning to the particular 2-by-2-foot location
from which a missile flew from the ship positioned at the time some 420
miles northwest of Hawaii.
F.C.C. to Act on Delaying of Broadband Traffic - NY Times
The head of the Federal Communications Commission and other senior
officials said on Monday that they were considering taking steps to
discourage cable and telephone companies from discriminating against
content providers as the broadband companies go about managing heavy
Internet traffic that they say is clogging their networks.
Survey: Many Americans Switch Faith Identity - Washington Post
Forty-four percent of Americans have either switched their religious
affiliation since childhood or dropped out of any formal religious
group, according to the largest recent survey on American religious
identification.
US to set 'binding' climate goals - BBC
The US is ready to accept "binding international obligations" on
reducing greenhouse gas emissions, officials say, if other nations do
the same.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 4:20 PM MST | Updated: 25 February 2008 4:39 PM MST
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

23 February 2008
.: watercooler :.
Putin's Iron Grip on Russia Suffocates His Opponents - NY Times
Shortly before parliamentary elections in December, foremen fanned out
across the sprawling GAZ vehicle factory here, pulling aside
assembly-line workers and giving them an order: vote for President
Vladimir V. Putin's party or else. They were instructed to phone in
after they left their polling places. Names would be tallied, defiance
punished.
Move Over, Oil, There's Money in Texas Wind - NY Times
The wind turbines that recently went up on Louis Brooks's ranch are
twice as high as the Statue of Liberty, with blades that span as wide as
the wingspan of a jumbo jet. More important from his point of view, he
is paid $500 a month apiece to permit 78 of them on his land, with 76
more on the way.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 10:44 AM MST | Updated: 23 February 2008 11:04 PM MST
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

28 January 2008
.: watercooler :.
It's Time To Drink Toilet Water - Slate
Officials in Orange County, Calif., will attend opening ceremonies today
for the world's largest water-purification project, among the first
"toilet-to-tap" systems in America. The Groundwater Replenishment System
is designed to take sewage water straight from bathrooms in places like
Costa Mesa, Fullerton, and Newport Beach and—after an initial cleansing
treatment—send it through $490 million worth of pipes, filters, and
tanks for purification. The water then flows into lakes in nearby
Anaheim, where it seeps through clay, sand, and rock into aquifers in
the groundwater basin. Months later, it will travel back into the homes
of half a million Orange County residents, through their kitchen taps
and showerheads.
Crayons Down! - MotherJones
If there is a creature more fickle than your typical four-year-old, it's
hard to think of one offhand. One day they're buttoning their own shirts
and uttering words of ancient wisdom, and the next they're pooping on
the living room floor because monsters have invaded the bathroom. They
are immune to logic and can barely sit still long enough to nibble a
chicken nugget. In a nutshell, "standardized" and "preschooler" are not
words you'd normally use in the same sentence.
In Endorsing Obama, Kennedy Anoints a Prince and Tells Clintons To Cool It - MotherJones
Democrats don't come much more traditional than Teddy Kennedy, the grand
man of the Democratic Party. So his endorsement of Barack
Obama--implicitly an anti-endorsement of Hillary Clinton--has punch.
Endorsements routinely don't matter much in presidential campaigns--with
a few exceptions. A politician who controls a machine--say, a
governor--can come in quite handy on Election Day. In this case, Kennedy
brings two piping hot dishes to the Obama potluck.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 4:14 PM MST | Updated: 28 January 2008 5:42 PM MST
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

26 January 2008
.: watercooler :.
Administration Forest Plan Assailed - Washington Post
Proposal Would Allow Logging, Roads in Alaska's Tongass - Millions of
acres of the country's largest national forest would be open for logging
and other development under a Bush administration forest management plan
released yesterday, a move critics said will hurt wildlife and destroy
pristine lands.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 11:09 AM MST
Tags: Environment
| | Permalink

24 January 2008
.: watercooler :.
The Tao of ScreenIn search of the distraction-free desktop - Slate
If your computer desktop is anything like mine - and, brother, it is -
you've paved over every spare pixel in an iconistan of clutter. Desktop
design originated in a wistful visual metaphor, the clean, still work
surface, encouraging users to productive ends. Leaps forward in
computing horsepower and the rise of constant Internet use has
transformed the tabletop terra firma into a cockpit, an antic terminal
for the networked self. Our desktops are now a thick impasto of tabbed
windows, pull-down menus, dashboard widgets, and application alerts. No
possible distraction gets left behind, no link, feed, IM, twitter, or
poke unheeded.
Senate Delays Eavesdropping Vote - AP/US News
The Senate granted at least a temporary victory to the White House on
Thursday, turning back an attempt to increase court oversight of the
government's surveillance of phone calls and e-mails that involve people
inside the United States.
Rising Anti-Americanism in Russia - US News
Vladimir Dobrovinsky, 33, a teacher at a design school in Moscow, says
he's not interested in politics. But bring up America and the
well-traveled, university-educated Dobrovinsky holds forth. He
criticizes Washington's "crude interference" in world affairs. He
complains that Russia is not treated as an important partner by the Bush
administration. "A lot of Russians," he says, "are angry that America
deals with us like we're Thailand."
Big Brain Theory: Have Cosmologists Lost Theirs? - NY Times
It could be the weirdest and most embarrassing prediction in the history
of cosmology, if not science. If true, it would mean that you yourself
reading this article are more likely to be some momentary fluctuation in
a field of matter and energy out in space than a person with a real past
born through billions of years of evolution in an orderly star-spangled
cosmos. Your memories and the world you think you see around you are
illusions.
U.S. Given Poor Marks on the Environment - NY Times
A new international ranking of environmental performance puts the United
States at the bottom of the Group of 8 industrialized nations and 39th
among the 149 countries on the list.
Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShipTwo model - Reuters
Entrepreneur Richard Branson on Wednesday unveiled a model of the
spaceship he hopes will be the first to take paying passengers into
space on a regular basis as soon as next year.
Geophysicists Urge Steep Cuts in Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Scientific American
The scientists of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) warn that
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be slashed in half to keep
temperatures from rising 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius)—or
else. "Warming greater than 2 degrees Celsius above 19th-century levels
is projected to be disruptive, reducing global agricultural
productivity, causing widespread loss of biodiversity and - if sustained
over centuries - melting much of the Greenland ice sheet with ensuing
rise in sea levels of several meters," the AGU declares in its first
statement in four years on "Human Impacts on Climate."
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 5:43 PM MST | Updated: 24 January 2008 7:08 PM MST
Tags: Civil Liberties Computing Environment News
| | Permalink

02 January 2008
.: watercooler :.
A sled, a cow, the future - Mountain Gazette
Few people may believe that at age 57, I recently T-boned, so to speak,
a pregnant, 1,000-pound cow while riding my Flexible Flyer sled down the
steepest county road in western Montana. To rural sledders, this is
plausible, but perhaps not to adults of my generation. The mean age for
the 55,000 sledders injured badly enough last winter to need an ER visit
is 9.9, a dismal statistic that reveals a paucity of Baby Boomers still
willing to have fun hurtling down mountains with a minimum of control.
Sledding down icy back roads is a pure and noble calling that offers
countless opportunities for high-speed rides on metal-runners that are
only somewhat steerable. Obstacles to doing so abound, from so-called
common sense, to cows, like the one I collided with.
Foolproof Online Dating Tips for Desperate Guys - Wired
There are a lot of guys out there on the internet who desperately want
to find a woman to share their life with, and who don't want to have to
go outside to do it. If you're one of them, you may find yourself
wondering why the women you meet in chat rooms, discussion groups and
online games have so far failed to love you.
California Sues EPA; Says State Law Greener, Cleaner Than Feds - Wired
California today sued the federal Environmental Protection Agency today
for preventing the state from reducing greenhouse gas emissions in its
cars.
Big Brother gets bigger, says global privacy study - C|Net
According to a new international privacy report, governments around the
world are increasingly invading the privacy of citizens with
surveillance, identification systems, and archiving of private data.
US Near Bottom of Global Privacy Index - AP/Wired
Individual privacy is under threat around the world as governments
continue introducing surveillance and information-gathering measures,
according to an international rights group.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 3:12 PM MST | Updated: 02 January 2008 4:25 PM MST
Tags: Civil Liberties Environment News The Written Word
| | Permalink

19 December 2007
.: the energy bill :.
House Sends President An Energy Bill to Sign - Washington Post
A year of rhetoric, lobbying, veto threats and negotiations ended
yesterday as the House of Representatives voted 314 to 100 to pass an
energy bill that President Bush is to sign this morning. The bill will
raise fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles, order a massive
increase in the use of biofuels and phase out sales of the ubiquitous
incandescent light bulb popularized by Thomas Edison more than a century
ago ...
For farmers and agribusiness, it is a windfall, providing more support
than perhaps even the farm bill. It doubles the use of corn - based
ethanol - despite criticism that corn-based ethanol is driving up food
prices, draining aquifers and exacerbating fertilizer runoff that is
creating dead zones in many of the nation's rivers.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 7:28 AM MST
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

16 December 2007
.: water cooler :.
UK hands control of Basra to Iraq forces - Reuters
Britain handed over security in Basra province to Iraqi forces on
Sunday, effectively marking the end of nearly five years of British
control of southern Iraq.
Bali Forum Backs Climate 'Road Map' - Washington Post
U.S. Accedes on Aid Pledges, Wins Fight to Drop Specific Targets for
Emissions Cuts. Delegates from nearly 190 countries emerged from a final
24 hours of bruising negotiations Saturday with an agreement on a new
framework for tackling global warming, one that for the first time calls
on both the industrialized world and rapidly developing nations to
commit to measurable, verifiable steps.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 7:56 AM MST | Updated: 16 December 2007 8:05 AM MST
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

14 December 2007
.: envelop in a luminous fog :.
The world has continued, in the words of Italian astronomer Pierantonio
Cinzano, to "envelop itself in a luminous fog." Cinzano’s 2001 atlas of
artificial night sky brightness estimated that two-thirds of the U.S.
population, and one-fifth of the world population, can no longer see the
Milky Way with the naked eye.
from Michelle Nijhuis's story, "Quest for Darkness" in Hich Country News (subscription required)
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 5:26 PM MST
Tags: Environment
| | Permalink

10 December 2007
.: watercooler :.
U.N. climate talks under pressure to drop 2020 goals - Reuters
The United States has urged a tough 2020 target for rich nations to axe
greenhouse gas emissions to be dropped from a draft text at climate
change talks in Bali, delegates said on Monday.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 7:40 AM MST
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

09 December 2007
.: watercooler :.
Security concerns raised as China fills U.S. medicine chest - McClatchy Newspapers
The medicine cabinet in the average U.S. home is filling with drugs made
in China, and some experts say that could be a prescription for trouble.
Linux is about to take over the low end of PCs - Desktop Linux
Sometimes, several unrelated changes come to a head at the same time,
with a result no one could have predicted. The PC market is at such a
tipping point right now and the result will be millions of Linux-powered
PCs in users' hands.
Senate rejects far-reaching energy bill - CSM
There's still hope the nation may get a nice green-energy law for
Christmas – not the big fat one environmentalists wanted, but a
slimmed-down version that probably includes fuel economy and biofuel
provisions. ...the Senate failed to approve a more far-reaching House
energy bill that promised to cut US dependence on imported oil and
global warming emissions.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 8:02 AM MST | Updated: 09 December 2007 7:12 PM MST
Tags: Environment Linux News
| | Permalink

06 December 2007
.: watercooler :.
Six places in the world where climate change could cause political turmoil - CSM
From Nepal to Nigeria, Indonesia to the Arctic Circle, a warmer world
poses different problems.
Data-recovery firm reveals top client mishaps - C|Net
Ant infestations, oil saturation, and failed parachute jumps are some of
the unusual fates that have befallen innocent data-storage devices
recently, according to data-recovery company Kroll Ontrack's list of the
most unusual recovery jobs it has faced in the last
Iran's Nukes: Now They Tell Us? - Time
The President looked awful. He stood puffy-eyed, stoop-shouldered, in
front of the press corps discussing the stunning new National
Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that Iran halted its nuclear-weapons program
in 2003. He looked as if he'd spent the night throwing chairs around the
Situation Room. ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 10:51 AM MST | Updated: 06 December 2007 8:19 PM MST
Tags: Computing Environment News
| | Permalink

05 December 2007
.: watercooler :.
Google to dig up more personal records: Software to index more state files such as school test scores - AP
Googling something or someone? If the state of Florida has public
records about your subject, they might show up in your search results.
Spinning the NIE Iran Report - Time
The Rashomon-like battle to interpret the new National Intelligence
Estimate (NIE) on Iran is well under way. All sides of the Iran nuclear
dispute are working hard to make their own reading of the report the
accepted one, and to emphasize the findings that best suit their
agendas. Those agendas will remain unchanged by the NIE: Israel and
Washington hawks want military action against a grave and gathering
threat; the Bush Administration is pursuing coercive diplomacy; the
Europeans want to avoid war. And it is those agendas that will shape
each player's response to the NIE in what promises to be a furious
battle over Iran policy in the months to come. A guide to the players
and their likely plays ...
Scientists Beg for Climate Action - AP
For the first time, more than 200 of the world's leading climate
scientists, losing their patience, urged government leaders to take
radical action to slow global warming because "there is no time to lose."
Judge: Reconsider bird ruling: Agency decided to keep grouse off endangered list - Rocky Mountain News
A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to
reconsider a decision to keep the greater sage grouse off the endangered
species list, a ruling that could have significant implications for
Colorado's fast-growing oil and gas industry.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 11:10 AM MST | Updated: 05 December 2007 11:07 PM MST
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

03 December 2007
.: u.s. now only developed nation that has not signed the Kyoto Protocol :.
Australia steals show at Bali climate talks - Reuters
Australia won an ovation at the start of U.N.-led climate change talks
in Bali on Monday by agreeing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, isolating
the United States as the only developed nation outside the pact.
... A new treaty is meant to widen the Kyoto Protocol, which binds 36
industrial countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent below
1990 levels by 2008-12. The United States and developing nations have no
caps under Kyoto.
... The United States, as the world's top greenhouse gas emitter, has
been feeling the heat from developing nations demanding the rich make
stronger commitments to curb emissions.
Read on ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 1:22 PM MST | Updated: 03 December 2007 1:28 PM MST
Tags: Environment
| | Permalink
.: watercooler :.
Taser death in Canada sparks heated debate around the world - CSM
The death of a Polish man at Vancouver International Airport has sparked
an intense debate in Canada over the increasing use of Tasers by
law-enforcement officials. Concerns over the use of these electric shock
guns has mounted in several other countries after a UN Committee on
Human Rights recently labeled their impact "torture."
Heritage
Foundation on Hunger: Let Them Eat Broccoli - MotherJones
Poor
people aren't hungry; they're fat.
While most Americans were planning for the annual ritual of
overconsumption known as Thanksgiving, the good folks at the Heritage
Foundation, America’s leading architects of conservative thought for at
least three decades, were doing their part to add to the holiday cheer.
According to a November 13 Heritage article, well-off revelers could
stuff their faces unhampered by guilt about the less fortunate, because
there are no longer any hungry people in the United States.
Sen. Clinton proposes moratorium on foreclosures - Reuters
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton proposed on Monday a
90-day moratorium on home foreclosures to give financially troubled
borrowers time to work with lenders and avoid losing their homes.
U.S. report contradicts Bush on Iran nuclear program - Reuters
U.S. intelligence has determined that Iran halted its nuclear weapons
program in 2003 but believes it is continuing to develop technical
capabilities that could be used to build a bomb, a government report
said on Monday.
Bali climate summit: a test of the world's resolve - CSM
Next week is seen as crunch time in the fight against global warming.
Representatives from some 130 nations will gather in Bali, Indonesia,
beginning a two-year effort to agree on a new pact to cut greenhouse-gas
emissions - one that goes well beyond the goals of the current Kyoto
Protocol.
Microsoft FUDwatch II: Internet Explorer vs. Firefox security - C|Net
Microsoft is at it again. Or, rather, Jeff Jones is. Jones is
Microsoft's security strategy direction and is the one who periodically
remixes history and data to declare that Windows is more secure than
Linux. Now he's declaring that Internet Explorer is much safer than
Firefox.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 12:56 PM MST | Updated: 03 December 2007 2:33 PM MST
Tags: Computing Environment News
| | Permalink

01 December 2007
.: watercooler :.
Ad Targeting Improves on Web Sites - AP
Based on the weather reports and restaurant listings you check out
online, Yahoo Inc. has a good idea where you live. Based on searches
you've done, the Web portal might also know where you want to go. Don't
be surprised then to suddenly see an advertisement on flight deals
between those two places. It's what United Airlines did with an ad on
Yahoo earlier this year as people browsed for something completely
unrelated to travel.
Study Details How U.S. Could Cut 28% of Greenhouse Gases - NY Times
The United States could shave as much as 28 percent off the amount of
greenhouse gases it emits at fairly modest cost and with only small
technology innovations, according to a new report.
A large share of the reductions could come from steps that would more
than pay for themselves in lower energy bills for industries and
individual consumers, the report said, adding that people should take
those steps out of good sense regardless of how worried they might be
about climate change. But that is unlikely to happen under present
circumstances, said the authors, who are energy experts at McKinsey &
Company, the consulting firm.
Facebook's Beacon More Intrusive Than Previously Thought - PC World
A Computer Associates security researcher is sounding the alarm that
Facebook's controversial Beacon online ad system goes much further than
anyone has imagined in tracking people's Web activities outside the
popular social networking site. Beacon will report back to Facebook on
members' activities on third-party sites that participate in Beacon even
if the users are logged off from Facebook and have declined having their
activities broadcast to their Facebook friends.
Mothers Skimp as States Take Child Support - NY Times
The collection of child support from absent fathers is failing to help
many of the poorest families, in part because the government uses
fathers’ payments largely to recoup welfare costs rather than passing on
the money to mothers and children.
Lawmakers Set Deal on Raising Fuel Efficiency - NY Times
Congressional negotiators reached a deal late Friday on energy
legislation that would force American automakers to improve the fuel
efficiency of their cars and light trucks by 40 percent by 2020.
Deep concern over Three Gorges Dam - BBC
There are fears that China's Three Gorges Dam is causing serious
environmental problems, despite official claims to the contrary. Local
farmers, environmental campaigners and even officials themselves have
voiced concern about environmental damage.
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 8:05 AM MST | Updated: 01 December 2007 5:33 PM MST
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

22 November 2007
.: never has so little been asked of so many at such a critical moment :.
Going
Green? Easy Doesn't Do It
By Michael Maniates - Washington Post
Thanksgiving nicely focuses our attention on things of lasting
importance: family, friends, community, a rich harvest. None of these
blessings come without cost or sacrifice. Today, then, we might consider
what we must give of ourselves to preserve such abundance in the face of
increasing climatic instability.
One needn't ponder this question in a vacuum. Several best-sellers offer
advice about what we must ask of ourselves and one another. Their titles
suggest that we needn't break much of a sweat: "It's Easy Being Green,"
"The Lazy Environmentalist," or even "The Green Book: The Everyday Guide
to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time."
Although each offers familiar advice ("reuse scrap paper before
recycling" or "take shorter showers"), it's what's left unsaid by these
books that's intriguing. Three assertions permeate the pages: (1) We
should look for easy, cost-effective things to do in our private lives
as consumers, since that's where we have the most power and control;
these are the best things to do because (2) if we all do them the
cumulative effect of these individual choices will be a safe planet;
which is fortunate indeed because (3) we, by nature, aren't terribly
interested in doing anything that isn't private, individualistic,
cost-effective and, above all, easy.
This glorification of easy isn't limited to the newest environmental
self-help books. The Web sites of the big U.S. environmental groups, the
Environmental Protection Agency and even the American Association for
the Advancement of Science offer markedly similar lists of actions that
tell us we can change the world through our consumer choices, choices
that are economic, simple, even stylish. Al Gore himself isn't immune.
His recent Live Earth concert featured a who's-who lineup of celebrities
who said that if we all do our little bit to recycle and conserve -- the
simple things, mind you, because that's all we'll need (translation:
that's all they think we'll go for) -- we can together rescue the world
for our children and grandchildren.
Read on ...
Meanwhile, on the campaign trail ...
David Horsey - 21 November 2007
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 6:58 AM MST | Updated: 22 November 2007 7:04 AM MST
Tags: Editorial Cartoons - David Horsey Environment The Written Word
| | Permalink

18 November 2007
.: results of ignoring climate change are dire :.
The following are some key findings in a report issued Saturday by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
- Global warming is "unequivocal." Temperatures have risen 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 100 years. Eleven of the last 12 years are among the warmest since 1850. Sea levels have gone up by an average seven-hundredths of an inch per year since 1961.
- About 20 percent to 30 percent of all plant and animal species face the risk of extinction if temperatures increase by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. If the thermometer rises by 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit, between 40 to 70 percent of species could disappear.
- Human activity is largely responsible for warming. Global emissions of greenhouse gases grew 70 percent from 1970 to 2004. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is far higher than the natural range over the last 650,000 years.
- Climate change will affect poor countries most, but will be felt everywhere. By 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages, residents of Asia's large cities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding, Europeans can expect extensive species loss, and North Americans will experience longer and hotter heat waves and greater competition for water.
- Extreme weather conditions will be more common. Tropical storms will be more frequent and intense. Heat waves and heavy rains will affect some areas, raising the risk of wildfires and the spread of diseases. Elsewhere, drought will degrade cropland and spoil the quality of water sources. Rising sea levels will increase flooding and salination of fresh water and threaten coastal cities.
- Even if greenhouse gases are stabilized, the Earth will keep warming and sea levels rising. More pollution could bring "abrupt and irreversible" changes, such as the loss of ice sheets in the poles, and a corresponding rise in sea levels by several yards.
- A wide array of tools exist, or will soon be available, to adapt to climate change and reduce its potential effects. One is to put a price on carbon emissions.
- By 2050, stabilizing emissions would slow the average annual global economic growth by less than 0.12 percent. The longer action is delayed, the more it will cost.
The Associated Press
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 9:07 PM MST
Tags: Environment
| | Permalink

31 October 2007
.: nordic nations to all others - curb greenhouse gases :.
Nordic nations sound alarm over melting Arctic - Reuters
Nordic nations sounded the alarm on Wednesday about a quickening melt of
Arctic ice and said the thaw might soon prove irreversible because of
global warming.
Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland also urged all governments
to agree before the end of 2009 a broader U.N. plan to curb greenhouse
gases in succession to the Kyoto Protocol.
"The Arctic and the world cannot wait any longer," environment ministers
from the five nations said in a joint statement after talks in Oslo. The
five all have Arctic territories.
Read on ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 2:20 PM MDT
Tags: Environment
| | Permalink

11 October 2007
.: epa cuts record settlement, may help create more deals :.
EPA's record settlement with utility could lead to other deals - CSM
A utility's dramatic agreement this week to trim smokestack pollution
may do more than help clear the nation's skies. It may clear the legal
logjam that has kept other large utilities from cutting similar deals
that could trigger reductions in harmful power-plant emissions.
By one estimate, US power plants could cut their emissions of pollutants
linked to acid rain and smog by 20 percent.
The agreement, announced Tuesday by the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), sends a powerful, though not necessarily decisive, signal
to other utilities, legal analysts say.
In settling an EPA lawsuit, the nation's largest utility, American
Electric Power, agreed to spend $4.6 billion to reduce its emissions of
sulfur dioxide (SO2) by 79 percent and nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 69
percent.The EPA called the settlement its largest pollution-enforcement
victory ever.
Read on ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 8:39 AM MDT
Tags: Environment
| | Permalink

10 October 2007
.: 1 in 4 mammals, 1 in 8 birds, 1 in 3 amphibians, ... are at risk of extinction :.
Gone: Mass Extinction and the Hazards of Earth's Vanishing Biodiversity - Julia Whitty MotherJones
It is a fact widely accepted by biologists but little known by the
population at large. By the end of the century, half of all species on
Earth may be extinct due to global warming and other causes. Who will
survive the world's dwindling biodiversity, and why?
We awake in our tents in the moonlight to what sounds like a dance
troupe in wooden clogs practicing on rock under stunted juniper trees.
It's a half-dozen Carmen mountain white-tailed deer, scraping at the
ground with bootlike hooves, bending gracile necks to chew on wet soil
and lick it dry. They're harvesting the minerals and moisture from our
urine soaked into the parched earth of the high desert, the herd toiling
through the night and into the morning in a pursuit tenacious enough to
enlighten us to the wastefulness of our own bodies. Clearly, the three
of us have squandered most of what we drank hiking to 7,400 feet on the
south rim of Texas' Chisos Mountains. From the deer's point of view, our
arrival here is the next best thing to rain.
Come morning, we pack camp and loiter on the precipice, staring across
wracked ranges and sunburnt country to the Rio Grande thousands of feet
below, and to the even higher country of Mexico's Sierra Madre. Here, in
Big Bend National Park, one of America's truly wild places, there's
barely a sign of human impact, and not a sound of it—not planes, cars,
or human voices. The silence is so thick that our ears feel congested,
and we jump when the quiet is pierced by the whistle of a peregrine
falcon on its glide path through thin air.
We spend a couple of hours here with binoculars, map, and compass,
scanning 100-mile visibility, scrutinizing the area below the rim and
trying to find a trail we might travel another day. Although we don't
know it, we're peering down into the place where a lost hiker is
desperately trying to find the same trail and a freshwater spring midway
along it. At this point he has been without water for three days. We
don't see him stumbling through cholla and nopales cactus and writing
farewell notes to loved ones—though he is likely staring up at the
mirage of us silhouetted against the sky.
Ironically, this corner of the Chihuahuan Desert is lush at the moment,
watered by rains two months ago that are still working their way through
soils and roots and cells, so that many plants are blooming and an
explosion of butterflies jams the breezes. The cacti are swollen with
hoarded water. The Chisos oaks are dropping so many acorns that park
rangers have closed trails where black bears are fattening on them.
Countless millions of walking-stick insects are coupled in such dense
mating congregations in the canopies of mesquites that entire trees
appear to be walking through the sky. Everything is haloed in the golds,
yellows, and greens of desert grasses, some taller than us, all bowed
under heavy seed heads destined to feed and water kangaroo rats.
Read on ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 3:19 PM MDT
Tags: Environment The Written Word
| | Permalink

03 October 2007
.: plastics: how bad are they? :.
Practical Values: Hard to Break - MotherJones
As the scary studies about plastic's health effects pile up, should we
kick the habit?
My moment of plastic panic came a few months ago. As a science writer,
I've spent the past several years following the steady stream of
research into the disturbing effects of the chemicals that leach into
our bodies from everyday plastic objects. I'd managed to stay pretty
calm about these unsettling discoveries, but then I went to yet another
presentation where renowned scientists described new, peer-reviewed
findings on how plastic's ingredients may cause reproductive
abnormalities and obesity. Afterward, I huddled with the other
journalists present, brimming with uneasy questions: Does this mean we
should ditch our refillable plastic water bottles? Is it safe for our
kids to chew on plastic toys? Should we try to go completely plastic
free?
It's one thing to use cloth shopping bags in the name of ecofriendliness
or to forswear plastic cutlery in the pursuit of style; it's another to
eschew plastics because they might be a health risk. But are you about
to give up your computer or cell phone? What about your bike helmet or
your child's car seat? Your contact lenses? Your toothbrush? Probably
not.
Then what to do about the alarming fact that plastic's chemical
constituents are percolating throughout our bodies, apparently
interfering with our metabolism, our sex organs, and our children's
neurological and reproductive development? The Centers for Disease
Control has found two compounds—phthalates, used in polyvinyl chloride
(pvc) plastic, and bisphenol A, a building block of polycarbonate
plastics—in the urine of a majority of Americans tested. Both chemicals
are short-lived once they enter the environment, but they're being
scrutinized for their potential to mimic and disrupt our hormones—even
before we're born.
Read on ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 1:05 PM MDT
Tags: Environment The Written Word
| | Permalink

01 October 2007
.: todays finds :.
Photo Essay: Sea Change - MotherJones
As climate change melts the permafrost, Arctic villages slip into the
sea, taking a way of life with them.
View on ...
~
The Top Pundits In America - Forbes
What exactly is a pundit? According to the dictionary, it's "a person
who makes comments or judgments, especially in an authoritative manner;
critic or commentator."
There's certainly no shortage of that in the media these days.
Call the past decade the era of the talking head. Cable news networks
trying to one-up each other in the ratings roll out programs hosted by
people with pointed positions, most of them going one-on-one with guests
who also bring strong views and--sometimes--expertise to the table.
Read on ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 3:30 PM MDT | Updated: 01 October 2007 3:47 PM MDT
Tags: Environment
| | Permalink

25 September 2007
.: news bites :.
Fertilizers, deformities linked - Rocky Mountain News
Fertilizers from farms and lawns are responsible for frog deformities
cropping up in ponds and lakes across North America, a new study shows.
The finding not only has implications for worldwide amphibian declines,
but could shine light on such diseases as cholera, malaria, West Nile
virus and diseases affecting coral reefs, said assistant professor
Pieter Johnson of the University of Colorado's ecology and evolutionary
biology department.
Andrew Blaustein, zoologist from Oregon State University, hailed the CU
finding as one of the first to connect the "drastic" problem of
fertilizers with the proliferation of parasites and several diseases
that can deform amphibians and sicken humans.
Read on ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 1:58 PM MDT | Updated: 25 September 2007 2:02 PM MDT
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

21 September 2007
.: north pole melting :.
Ice withdrawal 'shatters record' - BBC
Arctic sea ice shrank to the smallest area on record this year, US
scientists have confirmed.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said the minimum extent of
4.13 million sq km (1.59 million sq miles) was reached on 16 September.
The figure shatters all previous satellite surveys, including the
previous record low of 5.32 million sq km measured in 2005.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the Northwest Passage was open.
The fabled Arctic shipping route from the Atlantic to the Pacific is
normally ice-bound at some location throughout the year; but this year,
ships have been able to complete an unimpeded navigation.
Read on ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 11:06 AM MDT
Tags: Environment
| | Permalink

12 September 2007
.: news bites :.
Gorillas head race to extinction - BBC
Gorillas, orangutans, and corals are among the plants and animals which
are sliding closer to extinction.
The Red List of Threatened Species for 2007 names habitat loss, hunting
and climate change among the causes.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has identified more than 16,000
species threatened with extinction, while prospects have brightened for
only one.
Read on ...
~
Is a Virus Behind the Bee Plague? - MIT Technology Review
Scientists have identified a likely culprit underlying the massive and
mysterious plague that has killed off tens of millions of bees in the
United States over the past year. By sequencing the DNA of every microbe
inhabiting the bees, researchers have pinpointed a novel virus strongly
linked to infected hives. The findings could help beekeepers protect
their colonies. The research also suggests an effective new method for
identifying infectious pathogens, be they from bees or humans.
"This is a very significant finding," says Dewey Caron, an entomologist
at the University of Delaware, in Maryland, who was not involved in the
study. "It's not yet a smoking gun, but it really helps narrow the
search."
Over the past year, tens of millions of bees have mysteriously vanished
from their hives, amounting to a loss of 50 to 90 percent of U.S.
colonies. While honeybee populations have sustained several major hits
to their numbers over the past century, this particular plague is unique
in that adult bees seem to disappear from their hives without a trace.
Because honeybees pollinate hundreds of species of fruits, vegetables,
and nuts--commercial beekeepers truck their hives across the country
during flowering season to pollinate crops--that loss is a major
agricultural concern.
Read on ...
~
Carmakers Defeated On Emissions Rules: States Can Set Standards, Judge Says - Washington Post
A federal judge in Vermont yesterday rejected an attempt by automakers
to block individual states from adopting their own standards for
limiting greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.
Judge William Sessions III of U.S. District Court in Burlington ruled
that state action to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles --
standards that originated in California in 2002 and have since been
adopted by Vermont and at least 10 other states -- was not preempted by
federal rules on vehicle fuel economy.
The decision follows a Supreme Court ruling in April that the
Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act by declining
to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. It also comes as
automakers are confronted with growing public demand and governmental
pressure to build more fuel-efficient vehicles. This fall, Congress is
to take up vehicle fuel-efficiency legislation that could bring about
the biggest change in fuel-economy laws since the 1970s.
Read on ...
~ ~ ~
Posted by: dimbulb - 3:44 PM MDT | Updated: 12 September 2007 9:49 PM MDT
Tags: Environment News
| | Permalink

29 August 2007
.: news bites :.
Katrina: A reality check for all towns - AP/Rocky Mountain News
Katrina is old news, right? New Orleans - who cares? It's just another
big city with big problems, bad luck and bad weather. Get over it.
Actually, please don't.
Don't ever get over the tragedy of New Orleans. It's your tragedy, too.
What happened to this historic city two years ago is more than the
obvious cautionary tale of what might befall your community after a
natural disaster or a terrorist strike. It's also a sad reflection of
what's happening now - today, in your hometown and across an anxious and
ailing nation.
Read on ...
~
Why the American West is out front on curbing greenhouse gases - Christian Science Monitor
The emissions cap under the Western Climate Initiative is equivalent to
taking 75.6 million cars off the road.
Even without Baghdad-like summer temperatures in Phoenix and other
desert environs, heat has always been a major issue across the American
West. For one thing, it relates directly to three of the classical
earthly elements: water, air, and, of course, fire. That is, air quality
and pollution, water-loaded snowpacks and glaciers, and wildfires made
worse by hot weather patterns.