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Summit aims to ask experts your questions about the environment, other issues

Next week, 112 great minds will convene at the world's first international thought summit. The monumental undertaking [PDF] by nonprofit dropping knowledge is "dedicated to moving people from apathy to activity through the simple act of asking questions." The summit, Table of Free Voices, will take place in Berlin's historic Bebelplatz square Sept. 9 and will bring together experts from a wide range of fields to answer questions submitted in video form by the public.

Questions already culled by dropping knowledge range from the practical, "How can we discuss global problems when we do not know how to solve local ones?," to the environmental, "Will children grow up in an environmental wasteland?," to the emotional, "Are you scared?"

The questions chosen for the experts span eight global themes, including "The Human Footprint" -- which focuses on energy, ecology, and sustainable ways of life. Though it could be argued that all eight themes involve issues that affect the environment in some way.

The authors of Limits to Growth were right, 30 years ago and today

Write about peak oil, environmentalism, or any kind of resource constraints to enough people, and you'll eventually meet someone who stopped reading books after 1973. That is, this person -- male or female -- will remember one thing, and one thing only: The Club of Rome published The Limits to Growth in 1973, and the results were mocked, dismissed, and eventually disproved by the glut and economic expansion of the 1980s and 1990s.

Students could win 25K, Earth Day concert for ideas on greening campus

mtvU, MTV's 24-hour college network, and GE this week announced they are partnering to present college students with an eco-challenge. Their mtvU GE ecomagination Challenge asks students to get their creativity on to propose projects that will "green" their campuses. The winner of the challenge (which is open to teams and individuals) will receive $25,000 toward making those ideas happen. And the winner's school will host an mtvU Earth Day Concert and Festival in Spring 2007. If that won't boost your popularity around campus, I don't know what will.

Complete rules and regulations will be available starting tomorrow, but I do know that they will be accepting submissions until Dec. 1 and will then pick the top 10 entries. Those projects will be profiled on the Challenge website and some will be featured on various other mtvU outlets. Students will be able to play a part in the voting process, and the winner will be announced in March 2007.

Here's a tip from the press release: "mtvU and GE are especially looking for ambitious and innovative projects that considerably better the overall environmental health of campus, are cost conscious and practical, and push the creative boundaries of "green" thinking."

So get to thinking about how you can green your campus. And while you're at it, look around that dorm room of yours. A recent Philly Inquirer story notes that green decorating ideas seem to be taking hold at schools across the country. And this New American Dream site offers an interactive guide for shopping green when you head back to school this fall.

Florida manatee found in waters off Cape Cod

Ahoy me hearties! 'Tis I, back again from the briny deep. Me spyglass has been focused lately on Florida's favorite aquatic mammal: Shamu the manatee.

Seems at least one of the slow-moving "sea cows," which usually make their home off the Florida coast, has traveled all the way up to Cape Cod. Another manatee (or perhaps the same one) was spotted in the Hudson River two weeks ago.

Says one wildlife biologist, "It's, to our knowledge, the northernmost sighting of a manatee ever documented." Researchers aren't sure why the animal went so far north, but suspect it's because waters in that area have been unusually warm. Could this be global warming related? Will manatees soon be dodging boat motors off Nova Scotia?

Elephant massacre related to ivory trade

... you ignorant ass.

National Geographic has an interesting story about a recently discovered elephant massacre. The elephants had wandered out of a preserve during the rainy season where bands of poachers with high-powered rifles were waiting. Go here to see some pictures. Watch the fifth photo for a few seconds while it automatically zooms in on what appears to be a very happy poacher.

As you may recall, it is illegal to trade in ivory. The fact that elephants are still being slaughtered is all the evidence you need to know that someone is paying for it. Did you know that there are 10,000 businesses in Japan that legally sell and manufacture goods made from "legally obtained" ivory? Now isn't that interesting?

Off-Off-Road

New National Park Service guidelines will emphasize conservation Today, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne will announce new National Park Service management guidelines that emphasize … wait for it … conservation. Wha-huh? The new regulations more or less disregard revisions proposed a year ago under previous Interior Secretary Gale Norton that would have expanded motorized recreation; instead, […]

California Dreamy

California will shrink greenhouse-gas emissions under groundbreaking plan In arguably the biggest step ever taken in the U.S. to fight global warming, California’s political leaders reached a deal yesterday to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the state 25 percent by 2020. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) pledged to sign Assembly Bill 32, under which the California Air […]

California passes cap-and-trade bill

And let it begin with California.

California will become the first state in the country to require industries to lower greenhouse gas emissions under a deal struck Wednesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrats that could dramatically reshape the state's economy ...

By 2020, when industries would have to lower carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 25 percent, solar panels, alternative fuels, and electric cars could be commonplace, according to advocates of the legislation ...

The legislation will require all businesses, from automakers to cement manufacturers, to reduce emissions beginning as early as 2012 to meet the 2020 cap. The state's 11-member Air Resources Board, which is appointed by the governor, will be charged with developing targets for each industry and for seeing that those targets are met. The board now will embark on a years-long process to fully develop regulations. The board could impose fees on some industries to pay for new programs that could do everything from requiring truckers to use biodiesel fuels to forcing farmers to handle animal waste differently.

The board is likely to set up a trading system that will allow companies to buy and sell emission credits, which would allow a company that made more emission reductions than required to sell credits to another business that hasn't reached its emission goal.

Progress. Once again, state leadership is stepping into the vacuum left by the feds' suicidally blasé approach to global warming.

New bill should spark lots of discussion

The New York Times (and everyone else) reports that California has reached a deal for a cap and trade program on carbon emissions.

California passes Global Warming Solutions Act

After weeks of wrangling over the details, Fabian Núñez and the Democratic Legislature on Wednesday presented Governor Schwarzenegger with a bill he could not refuse (that is, if he wanted to give himself any chance at reelection.)

The new bill -- which I discussed in detail here and here -- will be settled Thursday when the Congressional session ends.

It is indeed a breakthrough piece of legislation, calling for a 25 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 and controls on the largest industrial sectors, including utilities, oil refineries, and cement plants. And soon, California's passage of this bill will cause a domino effect prompting other states, other countries, and -- who knows? -- maybe even the United States government to jump on board.

And a shout out to my own assembly rep., Fran Pavley, who co-sponsored this bill. Proud to be your constituent.