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Baseball All Year Round!

Northeast U.S. may feel like South if climate continues changing, says study The days of mild summers in the Northeastern U.S. may be numbered, says a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists. If global greenhouse-gas emissions were reduced by 3 percent each year, the average temperature in the nine Northeast states would still likely […]

White House supports bottom trawling ban

I seem to be developing a habit of writing pro-Bush posts here (see this one and this one), but doggonnit, Bush is developing a habit of making pro-conservation ocean policies.

On Tuesday, the White House issued a statement calling for a halt to destructive bottom trawling on the high seas and promised that the U.S. "would work with other nations and international groups to change fishing practices and create international fishery regulatory groups if needed." See -- who said the White House doesn't play nice with other countries? Oh right, lots of people.

Really

I'm in the last throes of getting camera and dive gear ready for a longish trip and a million other things, but I had to make the effort to let Gristmates know about this bit of news. This has been a contested issue -- up to now, at least. Perhaps now we can move on towards finding ways to protect wild salmon from the dangers posed by farming instead of arguing about whether those risks are real. They are.

Umbra on kayak materials

Dear Umbra, I’m planning on kayaking the Inside Passage next summer and am having a hard time deciding what kind of boat to get. Are there any environmental reasons to choose a kayak material? Mostly I’m torn between plastic, which is cheaper and more durable, vs. fiberglass, which is lighter and faster, or Kevlar, which […]

Rethinking ‘overpopulation’

"Overpopulation" is one of them. "Gay" is another. You can insist on calling yourself gay out of a stubborn refusal to let language evolve, but unless you are gay, you will be giving a lot of people the wrong impression.

The word "overpopulation" (which remains vague and poorly defined) has fallen out of favor and is rarely used in polite company. We can thank, at least in part, those who called for an increase in death rates and draconian restrictions on childbirth for that. They provided the fuel needed by hatemongers like Ann Coulter to make comments like, "We believe in populating the earth until there's standing room only, and then colonizing Mars."

It has also been interesting to watch, over the last 30 years, organizations like ZPG change their names (Population Connection) and evolve into, basically, women's reproductive-rights organizations, joining ranks with NARAL, NOW, and Planned Parenthood. Having won the struggle for lower fertility rates, these organizations now fight a running battle to protect past gains. Read this article from the Associated Press to see how well that battle is going:

Abortion access in many states is being curtailed, activists are uncertain about the stance of the U.S. Supreme Court, and South Dakotans vote Nov. 7 on a measure that would ban virtually all abortions in their state, even in cases of rape and incest.

Correction: The original post said that NPG [not ZPG] had changed their name.

Middlebury’s nordic ski team goes climate neutral

The Middlebury College Nordic Ski Team is starting off the athletic season with a clear conscience. Well aware of how global warming could eliminate their sport altogether, the team is going green to protect the white stuff. After calculating their environmental footprint -- from the eco-costs of travel to the energy used to power coach Andrew Gardner's office -- the skiers decided to go climate neutral.

They've partnered with NativeEnergy, a Native-owned renewable energy company that will use the money from the skiers' offsets to support wind-driven local energy creation.

"NativeEnergy is proud to work with these athletes to help build new renewable energy projects that will help preserve the skiing experience we all enjoy," said NativeEnergy's Thomas Hand, who also happens to be a Middlebury alum and one of my favorite eco-dreamboats.

Update [2006-10-6 14:3:2 by Sarah van Schagen]: I just received an email from Thomas Hand (swoon!) letting me know that the Middlebury Alpine Ski Team has also gone carbon neutral. Here's to a great (eco-conscious) season!

Can industrial agriculture withstand climate change?

If the fossil fuels don’t getcha, the genetics will. Photo: iStockphoto In the United States, the clearest signs of climate change so far have been stern words from Al Gore and a few hotter-than-normal summers. In Greenland, by contrast, global warming has sparked a revolution — at least, when it comes to agriculture. A recent […]

That’s All Wells and Good

Wells Fargo becomes biggest corporate buyer of clean energy Banking giant Wells Fargo announced yesterday that it has bought renewable-energy certificates to offset 40 percent of its current electricity usage over the next three years. Amounting to 550 million kilowatt hours of wind power a year, it is the largest-ever corporate purchase of renewable energy […]

Nothing to Sea Here, Folks

Arctic sea ice melts to second-lowest monthly minimum on record Last month, sea ice in the Arctic melted to the second-lowest monthly minimum it has reached in 29 years of satellite measurements. The ice reached its record monthly minimum in September 2005; scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center say the monthly record […]

An Embarrassment of Richard

Richard Pombo in danger of losing House seat to Jerry McNerney Rep. Richard Pombo (R), chair of the House Resources Committee and bugbear of the environmental community, is in a knock-down, drag-out fight to win an eighth term representing California’s 11th congressional district. Pombo has far more moolah than his Democratic challenger, Jerry McNerney, but […]