tagged w/ Current Environmental News
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Good news everyone! The solar industry grew by 17% in 2008.
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Solar energy capacity in the United States grew by 17 percent in 2008, according to a preliminary report released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association.
But Rhone Resch, the president of the solar group, warned that the financial crisis has hit the industry hard, since financing for projects has largely dried up.
“We’re not immune to the recession at all,” he said at a briefing for journalists this morning in Washington. “This first quarter has been brutal.”
Of the four types of solar power surveyed, photovoltaic capacity grew especially quickly, at 44 percent over total installed capacity through 2007. Solar hot water installations also showed strong growth.
Solar pool heating, already the largest solar sector, added slightly less capacity last year than in 2007, and no new concentrating solar power projects – large, utility-scale projects that use mirrors to harness the sun’s energy – came online last year.
End of Excerpt
Source: The New York Times Online
Do you have solar panels, do you plan on getting them?Good news everyone! The solar industry grew by 17% in 2008.... more
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NJ State Police next month are planning to remove dozens of abandoned vehicles from the Hackensack River to clean up pollution from the waterway, according to a report in the Record of Bergen County.
The report said the State Police Marine Services located several cars and trucks this week using sonar technology as well as guidance from environmentalists.
Divers and underwater robots will lift the cars to the surface by using airbags, then a boat will tow them to shore to be placed on truck flatbeds, the report said. Those found dumping vehicles into the river also will be targeted for prosecution, the report said.NJ State Police next month are planning to remove dozens of abandoned vehicles from... more
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Global warming is hitting Australia very hard.
From the article:
Towering flames razed entire towns in southeastern Australia and burned fleeing residents in their cars as the death toll rose to 84 on Sunday, making it the country's deadliest fire disaster.
At least 700 homes were destroyed in Saturday's inferno when searing temperatures and wind blasts produced a firestorm that swept across a swath of the country's Victoria state, where all the deaths occurred.
"Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters as he toured the fire zone on Sunday. "It's an appalling tragedy for the nation."
Thousands of exhausted volunteer firefighters were still battling about 30 uncontrolled fires Sunday night in Victoria, officials said, though conditions had eased considerably. It would be days before they were brought under control, even if temperatures stayed down, they said.
Government officials said the army would be deployed to help out, and Rudd announced immediate emergency aid of 10 million Australian dollars ($7 million).
The tragedy echoed across Australia. Leaders in other states — most of which have been struck by their own fire disasters in the past — pledged to send money and volunteer firefighters. Funds for public donations opened Sunday quickly started swelling.
Witnesses described seeing trees exploding and skies raining ash on Saturday as temperatures of up 117 F (47 C) combined with blasting winds to create furnace-like conditions.Global warming is hitting Australia very hard.
From the article:
Towering flames... more
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So to those who keep posting about the huge amounts of snow Great Britain got, or the fact that it is colder in many places than usual this winter, know this: This is what is known as climate extremes. And if you know your geography, you know that Australia on the other side of the world is now experiencing one of the hottest summers it has ever experienced. Another climate extreme. Climate extremes are a part of global warming, which includes erratic weather patterns, which includes snow, rain, and extreme cold or heat. Do not be so myopic that you lose perspective here. It would appear that the pace at which global warming/climate change is excelerating is giving us a stark warning that so many are still ignoring to our collective peril: it isn't about weather but trends, and we better start paying attention to them now.So to those who keep posting about the huge amounts of snow Great Britain got, or the... more
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The next time you come across an ecological forum who can't wrap their little minds around the fact that noise pollution is destroying nature, refer them to works of Bernie Krause, a scientist who has proof that the noise of mankind is wiping out the bandwidths of mating calls of many species, and endangering them. The scientific community is beginning to take seriously this man about the dangers of man made noise on the ecology.
words of kindjalazureThe next time you come across an ecological forum who can't wrap their little... more
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As of today, Wild Sanctuary generates more than top-notch nature sounds! Our residence, offices, and audio production facility have all gone SOLAR. Now, with an official ‘solar generating facility’ designation, eight banks of roof-mounted solar panels (each generating 160 watts of electricity) will help power our efforts! Preserving Wild Nature is always our inspiration...and we're happy to further our corporate and personal commitments to help lower the collective carbon footprint. Have fun...go ALL SUN! Image from: designedtoat.comAs of today, Wild Sanctuary generates more than top-notch nature sounds! Our... more
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From California to China, "e-bikes" are taking off as an alternate means of transportation, after years of being overshadowed by their muscle- powered cousins.
Propelled by a perfect tailwind of technology, high oil prices and the vogue for all things green, global sales of bikes driven by battery-powered electric motors have climbed nearly 20 percent since 2005, a trend projected to accelerate especially in developing countries, where the middle class is rising.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/14/business/transcol15.php
By Carolyn Whelan
More info can be found here;
http://franciscoresearch.com/free-ebooks.phpFrom California to China, "e-bikes" are taking off as an alternate means of... more
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That's right, not oil, but water.
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Target: President Barack Obama
Sponsored by: Food and Water Watch
President Obama has just appointed New Hampshire Republican Senator Judd Gregg as Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary of Commerce position controls decision-making for U.S. ocean wildlife - for example, endangered marine species and commercial and recreational fishing.
Senator Gregg has been a strong supporter of offshore aquaculture - the mass production of fish in huge floating cages in ocean waters. He consistently expresses support for an experimental facility in New Hampshire and pushes for federal funding for ocean fish farming projects.
Urge President Obama to ensure Gregg does not push to allow ocean fish farming in U.S. waters in his new role at the Department of Commerce! Doing so could threaten fishing and recreational activities, the marine environment and coastal communities.Target: President Barack Obama
Sponsored by: Food and Water Watch
President Obama... more
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Changing How We Live and Eat, One Fig at a Time
by Emma Brown
"At 2 o'clock in the morning, most people in this college town are holed up studying, headed home from a bar or curled up in bed.
[Asiya Wadud collects fresh oranges from a tree. (Michael Macor / The Chronicle) ]Asiya Wadud collects fresh oranges from a tree. (Michael Macor / The Chronicle)
Asiya Wadud, however, is reaching for the weeping branches of a tree on the south side of the UC Berkeley campus, picking olives. A handful of her friends are helping. There is a little beer, a little wine; it's part merrymaking, part urban harvest.
"Don't worry about sorting them," she says, dropping a handful into a paper bag. An alarming fraction of the fruits are mottled and a little wormy-looking. "We'll do that tomorrow."
Wadud, a bartender at Alice Waters' Chez Panisse, has become obsessed with saving city-grown fruit from being wasted, which is why she heads out in the darkness, stripping smallish green orbs from the branches of this unassuming tree rooted in a patch of grass between the street and a concrete wall.
She's also part of a growing movement of super-local eaters and activists interested in food not from the nearest farm, but from down the block. When she moved to south Berkeley four years ago from Ohio, she was struck by California's ubiquitous fruit and by the way people let it rot, as if backyard apples and figs were something unremarkable.
She gathered the courage to knock on strangers' doors and ask whether she might try one of their ripe plums, or sample a pear. No one refused; in fact, she says, people seemed relieved to share, as if the prospect of wasted food were a constant weight she was helping to lift.
Forage Oakland blog
So last spring, she created Forage Oakland, a blog on which she details her foraging adventures and where people can barter their excess backyard bounty, trading apples for figs and lemons for lavender.
The response has been enthusiastic - more than 120 people have registered, and now she spends her free time bicycling through East Bay neighborhoods, harvesting at one home and delivering to another. Wadud doesn't pick anything without asking for permission - difficult at first for a born introvert. But now, the moments she spends with strangers and neighbors in their backyards, trying to thread a long-handled picker through tree branches to reach the highest-hanging fruit, are tiny revolutions against the anomie that is so common in urban life.
"People can live somewhere for years and never really know who's next door," she says. "But food binds us all, and it becomes this very simple way to connect."
As food prices rise and interest in locally grown food intensifies, foraging has also become an inexpensive way to eat healthfully.
Between May and October of last year, the 27-year-old didn't buy any fruit from the grocery store or farmers' market. By then, she had made a map of forageable food sources in her neighborhood in south Berkeley.
"Making dinner, I'd check the map to find rosemary for the roast chicken," she says. "Or if I wanted tea, I'd go over to Miles and Cavour (streets) and get lemon verbena. It's more exciting to eat when you have this immediate connection with your food."
Sustainable living has always been important to Wadud and was part of the reason she packed up and moved to Berkeley after graduating from the College of Wooster in Ohio with an urban sociology degree." Continued at link above.Changing How We Live and Eat, One Fig at a Time
by Emma Brown
"At 2... more
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In reference to the pic: Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher tainted an auction of oil and gas drilling leases by bidding up parcels of land by hundreds of thousands of dollars without any intention of paying for them.
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You may have never heard of the Monkey Wrench Gang—unless you read the 1975 novel by maverick writer and nature lover Edward Abbey, who introduced the world to a fictional collection of green misfits waging a guerrilla war against industrialization in the American West. They sabotage bulldozers and construction sites, burn billboards and destroy dams, all to keep their beloved Southwestern desert pristine. Think of it as muscular environmentalism, a world apart from the wonky work on climate change that now defines the mainstream green movement.
Still, the outlaw spirit lives on in the work of contemporary monkeywrenchers like Tim DeChristopher, a 27-year-old college student who singlehandedly disrupted a multi-million-dollar land auction that would have put hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in southern Utah in the hands of oil and gas companies. But DeChristopher didn't use sabotage or homemade bombs—just chutzpah. (See the top 10 green ideas of 2008.)
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which administers America's public lands, was running the auction on Dec. 19, in the waning days of the Bush Administration. Environmental groups including the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) had been fighting the move, arguing that the energy companies would damage nearby national parks and culturally sensitive areas. But the fight seemed lost, until DeChristopher, an economics student at the University of Utah, arrived at the sale. "I saw this as a very corrupt and fraudulent process, and a threat to my future," he says.
He decided to do something, but what? He thought about making a show or a speech, but as he watched the rapid-fire auction unfold around him he had an idea. He would bid himself—entirely without the cash to pay for any land he might win. "I thought I'd just drive up the prices," DeChristopher says.
If BLM officials thought it was odd that a 27-year-old dressed like he'd just gotten out of class—as DeChristopher had—was bidding for oil and gas leases, they didn't say anything. At first he simply bid near the beginning of an auction, to keep prices rolling, but as the sales continued, he started to win plots of land—12 parcels in all, more than 22,000 acres, at the cost of $1.79 million. By the end, DeChristopher was simply bidding nonstop, and BLM officials finally caught on to what he was doing and took him into custody. Though now in the hands of the feds, he remains cool. "I told them I was there to commit civil disobedience and that this was a fraudulent auction," he says.
*Complete article at link.In reference to the pic: Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher tainted an auction... more
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Organic farming is truly best suited to the environment, soil, and economy of Africa. It's farmers are also more in tune with natural farming and have expressed a distaste for GM and industrialized agriculture. Of course, it is not the small farmers in these countries who make up the majority of the hungry who are given any say in what they will grow and how they will grow it, and therein lies the problem of food security. Again, it is not expressly the amount of food you have, it is the access provided and how it is provided.
Monsanto has claimed they care about feeding the hungry, yet It remains to be seen what famine ridden country is being given free food to sustain itself. They must be keeping that a secret too as they raise their seed prices. All Monsanto does is continue to develop organisms to increase their profit by using feeding the hungry as a propaganda talking point.
This is why I hope that farmers around the world including those in the US stand up to this blatant strongarming of farmers and attempts to hijack agriculture as it has been known for centuries to the point of the extinction of biodiversity and environmental destruction. For surely if they and we do not stand up to this, we will see what could well be a worldwide famine when all we have to eat are bacteria laden monocrops whose risks far outweigh their benefits. That is definitely not something we should ever wish to force on a world we claim to want to feed.Organic farming is truly best suited to the environment, soil, and economy of Africa.... more
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In the inner-city of Johannesburg, The GreenHouse Project is turning one urban park into a seedbed for sustainable communities. The program takes a holistic approach to the city's challenges, integrating green building and design, efficient and renewable energy, recycling, organic farming and nutrition.In the inner-city of Johannesburg, The GreenHouse Project is turning one urban park... more
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leahl
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added this
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3 years ago
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I wholeheartedly agree with the assessment of those at MIT who believe that regardless of any stimulus plan this crisis will not be addressed with the vigor it needs to be unless the people are properly informed of exactly what conditions we are facing now. There has been much misinformation being spread around by many special interest groups regarding climate change and a concerted effort to dismiss the truth as inconvenient as it may be to some whose wallets and politics dictate otherwise. I think this is a clear concise way of explaining exactly what we are doing to this planet on a daily basis and the importance of countering it now. We cannot continue filling up the Earth's bathtub with more Co2/GHGs than what is being extracted by natural and other processes and not expect to drown ourselves.I wholeheartedly agree with the assessment of those at MIT who believe that regardless... more
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As predicted, droughts will become worse in this part of the US. How bad will it have to get before people understand that water waste, pollution, and climate change are all working hand in hand to bring this about? Farmers are abandoning their fields because they cannot plant on them due to lack of water. What is only imagined as being part of life in places like Africa and Australia is coming true right here in America. I am usually against desalination because it is costly, CO2 intensive (though there may be strides towards fixing that problem) and also because of the threat to marinelife and the affects of returning excess salt back to the sea. However, if this drought persists at this pace and it disrupts the ability to grow food to feed America, I think it would then be feasible to have desalination plants that are used to make water for growing crops along with stringent conservation measures and restrictions on use.
What do you think is the answer?As predicted, droughts will become worse in this part of the US. How bad will it have... more
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If you have the opportunity, go see them while you can.
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NOTE: A German magazine has had honey tested and found extensive GM contamination.
This is a summary in English of the most relevant parts of the article reporting their findings.
The original article in German is here
http://www.oekotest.de/cgi/ot/otgs.cgi?doc=92008
Thanks to the GMWatch translators for this http://web.archive.org/web/20071225180614rn_1/www.gmwatch...
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In 2008, media reports showcased the various impacts of environmental contamination on bees and beekeepers: in the Germany's Baden-Württemberg state, 500 million bees died in Spring due to the insecticidal seed treatment agent clothianidin. Another example is the case of a Swabian beekeeper, who destroyed his whole honey harvest because it contained pollen of the GM corn MON810, after the administrative court declared the honey as 'non marketable'. The judgement is not yet absolute.
In its January edition, the German eco- magazine Öko-Test published an article on the analysis of 24 honeys, including 6 canola honeys, for GM and pesticide contamination, as well as other quality criteria.
Only 3 products were rated "very good" while six either got an "inadequate" rating or "failed". A whopping eleven samples (almost half of the samples) - mainly from South America - were contaminated with GM pollen, predominantly of GM Roundup Ready soy. Although the oil plant supplies little nectar and therefore is not a honey plant, the bees apparently still take the pollen. Latin American countries - where aplenty GM soy is grown - are at the same time suppliers of a bigger part of the world honey production.
At least, honey from German beekeepers as well as those from Southeastern Europe and fair trade honey were unpolluted. For the latter, the reason might be that small-scale beekeepers often produce their honey in less contaminated regions than big apiaries. Among the canola honeys, the lab found GM in the Canadian Canola-Clover Honey - unsurprisingly, as Canada mostly grows GM canola.
Pesticides appeared virtually exclusively in German products, mostly the insecticide thiacloprid - found in honeys with a high proportion of canola. Unfortunately, even the supposedly organic canola honey by Allos contained increased residues.
Reacting to the test results, the company Breitsamer wrote that beekeepers are victims of genetic engineering; they themselves are not using GM, do not grow GM crops, and do not have any interest in herbicide resistant crops. Furthermore, the bees could not be controlled as they search for nectar within an area of 50 square kilometre. By way of contrast, the discounter Lidl commented that the entry of GM soy pollen is completely accidental, and could vary widely within one charge; moreover, the quantities are very small.
The article concludes that while nobody wants GM in their honey, the findings show that coexistence of conventional and GM agriculture is impossible. Therefore, the ratings reflect a political reality rather than being due to lack of due diligence by the honey producers. Furthermore, the legal position does not support the honey as the GM pollen are not GMOs as such - the legislation explicitly deals with GMOs. Thus, the GM content in honey neither has to be approved nor labelled. On the other hand, judgements such as the one from the administrative court regarding the GM maize MON810 show that there are other legal conceptions. The background: at present MON810 is not clearly approved for human consumption.
Sometimes the level of 0.9 percent is used - as honey only contains only around 0.1 to 0.5 percent pollen, labelling then would not be compulsory. In any case, transparency for the consumer falls by the wayside.NOTE: A German magazine has had honey tested and found extensive GM contamination.... more
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A corn crop to be used just for ethanol? Wasn't it already proven that ethanol does not reduce CO2 emissions effectively and is actually wasteful in its processing? Well, we now know that Tom Vilsack will have a smooth confirmation hearing to be Sec of Agriculture. I am sure he is for the deregulation of this industrial corn crop. Transgenic contamination of corn for human consumption however, will be at risk, and the proper EIS has not of yet been done on this particular GE crop. Once again, Monsanto, Syngenta, and the industrial agriculture lobby wins out over the consumer.
Attached to this link is a form you can fill out and a letter attached regarding the USDA's actions regarding this industrial GE crop. This is not only a threat to human health because it is not designed for human consumption, it is a waste of land that could be used to grow traditional corn to feed people. We now can pretty much access that the lies coming from chemical companies like Monsanto that their GE crops are to feed the hungry world are just that, lies. Profit and now taking advantage of the climate crisis instead of finding ways to mitigate it are what this is all about.
And it would appear that these companies with the help of the Obama administration will now continue to seek profits over fair access to traditional food and alternate methods of producing energy that do not take valuable land away that could be used to grow real food. That is why we must be heard.
You can express your opinion on this at the link and also send any comments you may have on this as well. Comments are being accepted at the USDA until January 20th.A corn crop to be used just for ethanol? Wasn't it already proven that ethanol... more
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"The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued the following news release:
Massachusetts and 10 other Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states have committed to developing a regional Low Carbon Fuel Standard in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fuels for vehicles and other uses, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles announced today. These 11 states - which include all the member states of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) plus Pennsylvania - will work together to create a common fuel standard that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a technology-neutral basis.
In June, Governor Deval Patrick sent a letter to the governors of all 10 RGGI states inviting them to work with Massachusetts on developing a Low Carbon Fuel Standard that would apply to the entire region, creating a larger market for cleaner fuels, reducing emissions associated with global climate change, and supporting the development of clean energy technologies. Last week, the heads of environmental protection agencies and, in some cases, energy agencies in the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont signed a Letter of Intent to tackle the challenge of reducing greenhouse gases from fuels in a joint effort.
As stated in the Letter of Intent, which was made public today, a Low Carbon Fuel Standard is a market-based, technologically neutral policy to address the carbon content of fuels by requiring reductions in the average lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions per unit of useful energy. Such a standard is potentially applicable not only in transportation, but also for fuel used for heating buildings, for industrial processes, and for electricity generation. The state of California was the first to commit to a LCFS for motor vehicles, which it is now in the process of developing. Fuels that may have potential to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation include electricity and advanced biofuels that have lower lifecycle carbon emissions and are less likely to cause indirect effects from crop diversion and land use changes than those on the market today."
(The rest of the article is available here: http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/39073)
It's about time! If only all the states would join, but a great start."The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued the following... more
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