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Journalist Jacques Leslie on dams

Hydropower is one those issues that can make a good green go pale with contradictory impulses. Abundant clean energy, sure, plus all that Woody Guthrie populist goodness. But also the potential for massive destruction to land and landscape, anywhere from hundreds to thousands of people displaced, and all sorts of downstream ecological and economic disruptions. About 140 countries have major dams, which generate about a fifth of the globe's electricity and enable a sixth of its agricultural output. So while the idea of just tearing them down can have a lot of emotional appeal for some, it just ain't that simple anymore.

Five years ago, jounalist Jacques Leslie wrote 12,000 words on the politics of water for Harper's: "Running Dry: What Happens When the World No Longer Has Enough Freshwater?" He was intrigued enough to keep investigating once that assignment was done -- and the result is a new book, Deep Water: The Epic Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People, and the Environment. Just one of his insanely alarming findings: "The world's dams have shifted so much weight that geophysicists believe they have slightly altered the speed of the earth's rotation, the tilt of its axis, and the shape of its gravitational field."

(And here I've been freaking out about a little thing like global warming!)

An ongoing interview with Leslie is the current feature over at The WELL's open-to-the-public inkwell conference, where readers from the wide world can send in questions for Leslie to tackle. His hopeful view is that big dams will someday be relics. Asked about the alternatives, he says:

... there's a substantial list that includes both traditional and new technologies, including rainwater harvesting, water recycling, drip irrigation, desalination (for water supply) and solar, wind, fuel cells, and pump and turbine redesign (for energy). In the Indian state of Rajasthan, a fellow named Rajendra (my spelling may be off) won the Magsaysay Prize (a kind of Nobel Prize for the developing world) by developing a system of ponds and rainwater harvesting that recharged groundwater, revived streams, and rejuvenated villages in an arid area. I hope to write about this work some day.

This is a conversation worth checking out.

(Full disclosure: I've been a volunteer community host on The WELL for about a decade. This plug for inkwell may net me a warm "thanks!" in e-mail.)

Pombo proposes selling off nat’l parks

Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), chairman of the House Resources Committee, has officially established beyond any doubt that he is no Teddy Roosevelt Republican. Today, draft legislation from his committee proposed selling off a number of national park holdings, including Theodore Roosevelt Island, home of the TR memorial in Washington, D.C.

As reported by Greenwire, the other sites include:

• Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument, Texas
• Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, Alaska
• Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Alaska
• Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Alaska
• Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site, California
• Fort Bowie National Historic Site, Arizona
• Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, Massachusetts
• Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska
• Lake Clark National Park, Alaska
• Mary McLeod Bethune Council House, Washington, D.C.
• Minute Man Missile National Historic Site, South Dakota
• Noatak National Preserve, Alaska
• Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Monument, Pennsylvania
• Thomas Stone National Historic Site, Maryland
• Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska

Pombo also proposes selling advertising space just about anywhere in National Parks to help generate revenue.

Whatever that is

I'm not kidding: Some company is marketing a laptop computer that's "cobranded" with GM's Hummer. From the promotional material:

Just as tough, reliable, and go anywhere as a HUMMER, this laptop is the perfect addition to your HUMMER lifestyle! Featuring the latest in mobile technology, it's ergonomically styled, and passes the military standard 810F test for operating temperature and vibration.

And just so you know -- you can even take your Hummer laptop rock climbing with you. Just look at the pretty picture! Now that's rugged sophistication.

But my big question is this: What on earth is the "Hummer lifestyle"? Perhaps it has something to do with spending absurd amounts of money on things that are ugly, unsafe, unnecessary, and ultimately unsatisfying. You know, just because you can.

Vestal Sturgeons

Sturgeon stocks on extreme worldwide decline People have been consuming black caviar since about 500 B.C., but it may be time to curb the habit: Global stocks of sturgeon, the fish that supplies the salty treat, are in trouble. In a new study published this week in the journal Fish and Fisheries, marine researchers report […]

National Geographic describes future tech, and we are frightened

A feature aimed at kids in the online edition of National Geographic called What will life be like in 2035? has a few interesting insights. The magazine first details the technological marvel that'll be all the rage in 2035, the self-driving car:

Relax, play a video game, watch a DVD, or catch up on your reading while you're driving downtown. What? While you're driving? Yep, because you're in your self-driving car. This car makes smart, safe driving decisions by communicating with other vehicles, joining car caravans, and navigating around construction and road debris. All you have to do is tell your smart car where you want to go and it gets you there.

No way! Really? It's just like public transport ... but not. I so can't wait for the future.

And as if that wasn't cool enough, National Geographic also profiles a real kick-ass technology sure to foil the alibis of many a future criminal with science: "brain fingerprinting."

The world is safer for law-abiding citizens, thanks to Brain Fingerprinting (BF), a way to peek into a suspect's mind to verify if he was at the scene of a crime. How? Sort of like a lie detector test, but BF reads a person's involuntary response to a memory. It measures and records specific brain waves that are only active when a person has memories of an event or place. If those brain waves don't register, the person doesn't know about the crime. If memories of the crime do show up, the criminal is busted, and the streets are safer."

I especially like how in the future criminal justice is far simpler. If your brain says you were there, you obviously committed the crime. Busted!

Wastes Great, Less Filing

EPA proposes fewer toxics reporting requirements for industrial facilities Industrial plants would report their chemical releases every other year instead of annually under a policy change proposed by the U.S. EPA. The agency also indicated it wants to raise the threshold for reporting the release of certain chemicals from 500 to 5,000 pounds. Both are […]

Chip’s Ahoy

Grist head honcho moderates panel on the state of environmentalism If you’re in or around Seattle this weekend, head down to the Paramount Theater for a lively roundtable discussion on the state of the environmental movement: “Whose Planet Is It, Anyway?” Part of Foolproof’s American Voices series, the conversation will include respected leaders from inside […]

Nominate one for a prize

Want to help a small conservation organization? Know an exceptional individual making a difference on the ground? Nominate them for one of the annual Whitley Awards, a UK-based award given by the Whitley Fund for Nature that goes to six conservationists making a difference, most often in the developing world. The prizes range from $40,000-$80,000.

You can read short profiles of past winners here and get the application here.

Some of Washington’s government-owned forest areas aren’t friendly to hikers

Yes, those are bullet holes from an automatic weapon, and no, this picture was not taken in a war zone. I took it just a few days ago along the shore of an undeveloped lake located near Washington State's Tahuya forest. This now bullet-riddled outhouse had been placed beside the lake as a public service and is designed like a concrete bomb shelter specifically to take the abuse the public was going to dish out. Instead of providing inexpensive and easily replaced facilities, someone had decided to build an outhouse version of the Maginot line. I cannot imagine what it must have cost to put there.

Animal hows

OK, possibly the best part of this story about a proposed House bill requiring that pets be considered as part of storm evacuation plans is the response from Sara Spaulding of the American Humane Association. She said the legislation, put forth by reps from California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, doesn't "have any real meat in it."

Seriously, that's sick.