Latest Articles
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The state of play on the animal welfare question
I think it's about time to put the issue of environmentalism and animal welfare aside for the time being. It is definitely worth returning to in the future. Thank you all for your excellent comments, especially the people who disagree with me; preaching to the choir is always a waste of time. So here are what I see as the key points that came out of this weeks-long discussion:
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Enormous, sprawling ‘green homes’ are not worth our admiration
In my eyes, the house pictured in this article is the embodiment of what's wrong with the green-building movement. It should be made into a "what is wrong with this picture?" poster. The bottom line: that is a huge house with plenty of windows and cathedral ceilings built in the middle of nowhere, and it consumed a whole hell of a lot of resources. Just look at the framing that went into it. There are enough concrete blocks in that thermal mass wall to build a couple of small houses with. You can bet the two-car garage will be empty much of the time. I see no way to walk or ride a bike to anything.
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Religious leaders unite around climate change
On Monday, in the wake of remarks that caused anger and intense debate around the world, Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim diplomats that "our future" depends on good relations between followers of the Catholic and Muslim faiths. His Holiness quoted John Paul II calling for "reciprocity in all fields" and urging religious freedom and tolerance.
This past week, I had the incredible honor of presenting on a panel with religious leaders from around the world as part of the Climate Institute's Summit on Climate Destabilization. The panel, chaired by famed Earth Day founder Denis Hayes, featured revolutionary leaders from the Jewish, Presbyterian, Catholic, Christian, Muslim, and Mormon faiths, all united in efforts to urge their religious communities to take action to stop global warming. As each leader spoke, I watched the rest of the panel nodding, taking notes, and cheering each other on.
"Good relations" and "reciprocity in all fields" indeed!
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Tender Loving Caribou
Judge sides with caribou, bans snowmobiles from some Idaho national forests Mountain caribou celebrated last week as a judge banned snowmobiles from a nearly 470-square-mile caribou recovery zone in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests. The ban will hold unless the U.S. Forest Service can develop a winter recreation strategy that would enable noisy, polluting vehicles […]
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Sustainability visionaries see room for hope in our worry-filled world
Who’s afraid of the big, bad future? Al Gore, clearly — and pretty much anyone who has seen An Inconvenient Truth. While Gore’s dissenters may argue that he cries wolf too often, no one who knows and understands the statistics used in the film can doubt that the Big Bad Wolf of climate change is […]
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Umbra on owning multiple cars
Dear Umbra, Your recent column suggested that the questioners sell one of their two cars, but I can’t help wondering how much good that does for the environment, especially weighed against the annoyance cost of not having a second car when two people have to be going in opposite directions at the same time. I […]
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The Quality of Commerce Is Strain’d
Nature charges that Commerce Department blocked climate-change report The Commerce Department blocked a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report indicating that climate change contributes to stronger hurricanes, the journal Nature reported yesterday. In February, a seven-member NOAA panel was directed to prepare a report on agency views regarding climate change and hurricanes, and a draft […]
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So That’s Why We Can Never Find a Parking Space
U.S. population to hit 300 million in October As the U.S. population ticks ever closer to the 300 million mark — 299,800,000-plus and counting! — many enviros worry that the rising numbers will amplify existing environmental problems. “The U.S. is the only industrialized nation in the world experiencing significant population growth,” says Vicky Markham of […]
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Tailless dolphin considered for prosthetic
Four months ago, a fisherman found a baby bottlenose dolphin tangled in the buoy line of a crab trap near Cape Canaveral. "Winter" is just one of hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, marine mammals, and seabirds caught accidentally by fishermen each year. The good news is, unlike most bycatch victims, instead of losing her life, Winter only lost her tail.
After being nursed back to health by more than 150 marine biologists and volunteers working around the clock, Winter has shown great improvement. She swims and plays at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. But Winter isn't out of the woods just yet; experts think she needs ... a prosthetic tail.
