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NAS hockey stick report

So the big climate news today is the release of a report by the National Academy of Sciences (coverage from: AP; NYT; WaPo; MSNBC; NPR; Boston Globe). It's being spun every which way, but at its root it's (yet another) confirmation of basic global warming science.

You've probably heard of the climate "hockey stick." It's a graph from a study led by Penn State's Michael Mann that shows global average temperatures sharply spiking in recent years. A couple of guys named Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick -- a statistician and an economist, respectively -- took issue with the study and claimed that Mann had cherry-picked his data and his statistical tools to produce the result he wanted.

In recent years, the hockey stick has become a cause célèbre among right-wing global warming denialists. It is mentioned with mind-numbing regularity by every crank given the keys to an op-ed page, and has become something of a white whale-style obsession for the Mayor of Cranktown, Sen. James Inhofe.

Nature needs people

I found this report by CNN more than a little disturbing. A new study by the Nature Conservancy found that Americans are visiting national parks less often. Researchers believe that 98 percent of the decline can be attributed to an increase in electronic entertainment: TV, video games, movie rentals, and the internet.

People need nature -- national parks specifically. But national parks need people too. Without visitors and a strong constituency, our natural heritage is likely to be eroded by funding cuts, back-door administrative changes, and commercialization. (If you don't think the crown jewels of U.S. natural places are in jeopardy, click on the links above. I dare you.)

The high water mark was 1987, when Americans averaged 1.2 visits to national parks a year. Nowadays, that figure is 0.9 -- less than one visit per person per year. I realize I'm a bit of an outdoor nut (and lucky enough to live in the national park treasure trove of the Pacific Northwest), but ... yikes, that's roughly my monthly average.

However mediated by electronic phenomena modern life becomes, I can't imagine replacing the rawness of a direct encounter with nature. That's why next week, you may find me here, but you won't find me here.

Climate change is still news to some

Today's "news" that the earth is warmer than it's been for a wicked long time (!) and that humans are a big cause of that warming (!!) makes me wonder: how long will it take until this is widely accepted as a fact of life and not a headline-worthy debate? How many scientific studies need to come out?

It's not entirely a rhetorical question. How long do you think it will take? I say 5-6 more years.

Expedition results in arrest of illegal driftnetters

If you think about the fact that the Earth is 71% water ... patrolling our oceans is a pretty daunting task. So over at Oceana, we thought we'd give local coast guards a hand.

Our catamaran -- Ranger -- is currently in the Mediterranean as part of our 2006 driftnets expedition. For those of you that don't know, driftnets are large nets that indiscriminately catch massive amounts of fish and other creatures (like dolphins and whales). They are so destructive that many countries -- including the U.S. and the European Union -- have banned their use.

Our crew has identified several illegal driftnet vessels during the voyage and we have notified the Italian authorities on each occasion. The collaboration has been incredibly successful and many ships have been exposed. Just two days ago, working off of our tips, the Coast Guard arrested eight fishing boats.

The fishermen are so furious about the driftnet laws that they took a page out of the progressive playbook and had themselves a sit in last month, blockading two train stations. The protest wasn't enough to persuade the EU to reverse the ban, so the law remains on the books and Ranger remains in the Mediterranean on the look out.

Everyday people making changes

A national news magazine that shall remain nameless is looking for people who are making green changes in their lives -- average middle-class folk, not hairshirt-hardcore types, just people offsetting their flights or buying hybrids or boosting their house's insulation or other such modest changes.

We said we'd help them find people. If you know of anyone that fits that description -- or if you fit that description -- write to grist [at] grist.org with the word "greening" in the subject line.

You could be famous!

Umbra asks: Where has Grist gone?

Dearest Gristmillers,

Umbra Fisk here, writing to inquire whether you've seen any of my Grist colleagues.

I spent the last few weeks in my usual spot in the basement, working on a series of columns about eco-friendly foodstuffs, pausing only for the occasional bite of locally grown fiddlehead fern. Finished at last, I rushed up the five flights of stairs to turn in the copy.

But the place was nearly empty. The people, the computers, the desk, the 2005 and 2006 Best Magazine Webby awards -- all gone. Unaccountably, all that was left was a brand new unicycle.

I know it's been tough up there lately: bad news about melting icecaps, Grizzly-Polar-Care Bear hybrids, etc. Also, it's very, very crowded (why do you think I fled to the basement?). Still, I'm not quite sure where they'd go.

Let me know if you see them. You'll recognize them by the kenaf notebooks, furrowed brows, and quick wordplay. Also, one of them is carrying a suitcase stuffed with cash -- though apparently not nearly enough. The fundraising guy, Michael, muttered something a few days ago about needing $60,000, having only half of it, and desperate times/measures. I was on deadline, and wasn't paying close attention. Now I wonder.

In addition to keeping your eyes open, maybe you could also open your wallet, and relieve some of Grist's financial strain. Send 50 bucks by 11:59 p.m. PDT tomorrow, June 23, and I tell you what: I'll put you in a drawing for this nifty Kris Holm Unicycle. I'm finding it too challenging to both pedal and fork fiddlehead at the same time, so this one-wheeler can be yours.

Unbalanced,
Umbra

P.S. The one nice thing about working in the basement is easy access to the storage closet. And do you know what's in there? A beautiful Calfee Design bike made of gleaming, sustainable bamboo. Send us $100 and I'll put you in a drawing for it. Or send $50, and I'll give you a chance at one of these 24 pairs of Miōn shoes. They're waterproof -- handy as sea levels surge!

P.P.S. There is more than one way to give, so pick your pleasure: check, PayPal or credit card.

Gore links

Via an endorsement of Al Gore for president by The New Republic's head honcho Martin Peretz, I found a piece that Gore wrote for TNR way back in 1989 (PDF). Give it a read. It's remarkable for its erudition and foresight. While you read, try to imagine President Bush saying the words. Then weep quietly.

An Inconvenient Truth won the Humanitas prize for helping to "liberate, enrich and unify society." It's the first Special Prize given by the organization in ten years.

Here's Gore on Keith Olberman's Countdown.

Here's Gore on Charlie Rose.

In a poll of Daily Kos readers, Al Gore gets the presidential endorsement by a wide margin.

Moms

Lou Bendrick -- who occasionally writes for us -- is funny. And she's got a funny piece up on Orion. It's about moms and environmentalism and how easy it is to screen it all out.

Let me cultivate my personal female mystique by disclosing that I am the environmental media and I also loathe the environmental media. Just say "photovoltaic" and my eyes start to get heavy; start in about polar bears drowning and I have to go the happy place in my head that involves ponies, chocolate, and George Clooney. Add to this the typical dose of future pessimism found in most environmental reportage (we'll soon be digging for grubs with a stone spear, you just wait and see!) and blame (that un-recycled peanut butter jar just killed a polar bear cub, damn you!), and you'll discover that I'm headed to the grocery store to see who made the worst-dressed list at the Oscars.

It's a sentiment that might annoy some hardcore Gristies, but it's obviously pretty widely shared.

(She goes on to say nice things about us, so naturally I find the article brilliant.)

File under: WTF

Did you know you can now get organic food on Amazon.com?

Investors see green in buildings

Contrary to popular belief, most developers don't bulldoze Bambi solely to satisfy their innate avarice. Instead, they pave the Earth at the bidding of their clients -- by which I mean lenders and investors, not homebuyers, office tenants, or other such "end users." Regardless of how exciting and cool a development proposal is, it just won't happen if some faceless banker doesn't advance a big pile of cash.

As rapacious national banks swallow smaller, local competitors by the dozen, these lending decisions have increasingly fallen to bankers blindly applying generic guidelines. The result: a paint-by-numbers landscape of interchangeable (but financially safe) subdivisions, strip malls, and office parks. Any developer who dared to innovate would have to do so on his own dime -- and sure enough, many pioneering examples of New Urbanism have been backed by "nontraditional" investors like old-money families, large corporations (like Microsoft, Disney, EDS, and Ebsco), and even charitable foundations. Despite growing interest in socially responsible investing, few investors have thought of how to clean up the picture in the building industry -- source of, say some, half of America's greenhouse gas emissions.