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Solar Tower

I'm sure I'm the last kid on the ecoblogospheric block to point to this, but in case anyone hasn't seen it yet: The massive Solar Tower project has found a home, in the Australian outback. If it really gets built -- and it's starting to look like it might just happen -- this thing will truly be one of the wonders of the world. For one thing, at 3,280 feet, it will be nearly double as tall as the world's current tallest structure, Canada's CN Tower. At the base of the hollow cylidrical tower will be 25,000 acres of solar "skirt." The air under the skirt is heated by the sun and rises naturally through the tower, powering 32 wind turbines inside it. It will generate as much power as a small nuclear reactor -- only it will be completely safe. The scale of the thing boggles the imagination. Check out this video artist's rendering (wmv file). Wow.

Deathy death death

There's a little story in the Berkeleyan on a panel discussion of the "Death of Environmentalism." Shellenberger was there to defend it -- sounds like he got a pretty hard time:

Harte, who conducts research into the ecological impacts of climate change, objected primarily to the first half of the essay, "Environmentalism as a Special Interest." That section, in Harte's assessment, was "deficient in its logic" and "laden with what I would call postmodern gibberish" and "overly broad generalizations" about environmentalists. The authors, he added, provided "no analysis" of why Europe is moving aggressively to address global warming, while the United States is dragging its heels.

Norgaard took a dimmer view. "I didn't like Part 1 or Part 2," he said, adding that he found the entire critique "quite shallow." Norgaard, an "ecological economist," faulted the paper's authors for, among other things, bemoaning the movement's alleged failure to frame the issue in moral terms while relying heavily on polling data and focus groups in support of their arguments.

Gelobter was a bit more charitable, observing that "as a movement-building piece," at least, "the report has a lot going for it." Nonetheless, he was sharply critical of the authors' "denial" of activists who have gone before, and their refusal to build on earlier movement successes. "They are obsessed in their piece with ancestors," he said, "the better to kill them, I think."

Gelobter also took issue with the authors' methodology, which focused on interviews with some two dozen environmentalists from large, mainstream organizations. But those leaders, he said, do not reflect the full spectrum of environmental activists.

Update [2005-2-28 15:19:13 by Dave Roberts]: By the way, I take great umbrage to Grist being referred to as "the backwoods of the online." At five years and counting, I think we qualify as the old growth of the online!

The Congo Line

Congo Basin loggers work toward responsible forest management Several logging companies in southeastern Cameroon have joined an initiative conservationists say could help save the rainforests of the Congo Basin, the second largest area of tropical rainforests in the world. The African logging firms are working toward independent certification as responsible foresters, restricting their work to […]

A Stall for Volunteers

U.S. blocks binding mercury treaty U.N.-brokered international talks on mercury-reduction plans wrapped up last week. Instead of the legally binding global treaty favored by the European Union, the result was a plan to curb mercury emissions through “voluntary partnerships” among member countries, international organizations, and industries. “Voluntary” being the buzzword closest to the Bush administration’s, […]

Sue It, Don’t Spray It

Landmark Agent Orange case goes to federal court Did U.S. chemical companies commit war crimes by producing toxic dioxin-laced herbicide — known as Agent Orange — that the U.S. military used to douse more than 2 million Vietnamese and that still lingers on in their environment and food chain? That’s the question at the heart […]

Where there’s smoke, there’s inaction

In a boost for clean air and public health, an international tobacco treaty went into effect yesterday. Signed by 168 nations and ratified by 57, the agreement addresses advertising, packaging, smuggling, and taxes. More than two-thirds of the ratifiers are developing nations -- which are expected to account for 70 percent of smoking-related deaths by 2020.

One country that has signed, but not not yet ratified, the pact is -- wait for it! -- the U.S. "This treaty will save millions of lives ... the U.S. is missing the boat," says Kathryn Mulvey, executive director of Corporate Accountability International. "As both the global tobacco treaty and the Kyoto Protocol take effect with the U.S. on the sidelines, we are calling on our government to join with the global community in prioritizing people's lives over the profits of giant corporations."

Best of luck with that.

Confirmation bias

Via Dave Pollard, I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes from author/cognitive scientist/philosopher/my hero Daniel Dennett, which every blogger, activist, or hell, reader of words should have tattooed on back of their typing hands:

Law of Needy Readers: On any important topic, we tend to have a rough idea of what we believe to be true, and when an author writes the words we want to read, we tend to fall for it, no matter how shoddy the arguments.

Oxymora, Actually

WC stuff

Another week, another Sustainability Sunday on Worldchanging. Joel Makower brings intriguing news of the Solar High-Impact National Energy (SHINE) Project, "an ambitious and aggressive, three-pronged initiative to make solar both cost-competitive and a significant part of America's energy mix within 10 years." SHINE will be officially released tomorrow, and I'll blog more on it then, but Makower offers a nice preview. Green Car Congress' Mike Millikin brings word that the auto companies realize that the enormous growth of the global automobile market is unsustainable with current technology, and provides a nice, concise roundup of the alternatives on offer (hydrogen, hybrids, etc.).

Speaking of WC, sounds like they got some new funding, new partners, and new plans. Congrats!

100 Least Wanted

What do invasive plants and animals have to do with homeland security? The March 2005 issue of National Geographic reports that "terrorists could use invasives as weapons to 'disrupt and demoralize the U.S. government and its citizens over time.'" This according to Parameters, the U.S. Army College quarterly.

Dubious about the connections between national security and some turtles and weeds? How about economic concerns? "Attack of the Alien Invaders" also reports that "invasives cost the U.S. alone more than 140 billion dollars yearly." For example, the Caribbean tree frog, called a coqui, has "dampened [Hawaii's] 80-million-dollar nursery export business." Lost revenue aside, these little buggers can sound like "a thousand car alarms shrilling in your garden all night." Bummer.

And then there are possible health implications, such as the 2003 case of monkey pox, which jumped from infected African rats to pet prairie dogs to more than 70 people in six states. Luckily, no one died, but this illustrates how alien species can introduce alien viruses and the need for someone to stay on top of this issue. [See Grist's article on conservation medicine in Main Dish.]

But the most obvious concern around invasive species is their impact on local ecosystems. Non-indigenous animals can eat and compete with natives species -- sometimes wiping them out. Invasive plants can choke out natives, which can also impact the animals dependent on those plants as food sources. Check out the Global Invasive Species Database for "100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species," which has been reproduced in the current issue of National Geographic.

Not a National Geographic subscriber? Check out the various Grist stories on the topic. And if you do get NG, browse our archives anyway! Where else are you going to learn that goats are the hip new thing in eco-friendly weed management?

Have your own invasive species horror story? Do tell.