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Marine mammals face myriad dangers thanks to humans

Yo-ho-ho mateys! Today we celebrate the many ways man has pillaged marooned f**ked over plank-walked marine mammals everywhere.

Off Hawaii, boats have hit a record number of humpback whales (go team human! high score, baby!), including some of the 1,000-or-so calves born this year. Though some say the increase in "hits" is due to a growing population of the endangered whale [happy face here], I ask, what about the growing population of whale-watchers, which now totals some 300,000 every year in Hawaii alone? [Reality check here]

Then there's the story about the "dozens" of dolphins found dead on Bulgaria's Black Sea shore after being tangled in fishing nets. "Dozens" sounds like maybe 24 or 36 dead dolphins ... but we're actually talking 55 found within a span of 10 days near the town of Shabla (clearly the hometown of Bob Loblaw). And last month, the death of 11 dolphins on a nearby Romanian shore was blamed on poaching. Don't even get me started on the whaling happening off the coasts of Japan, Norway, and Iceland.

NYT/CBS poll results

Bush haters will find much to celebrate in the latest NYT/CBS poll (write-up here; full results in PDF form here). Bush's approval ranking is tanking, overall -- 31%, the third lowest of any president in 50 years, behind Nixon and Carter -- and on virtually every individual issue, including the war in Iraq and terrorism.

Enviros, however, have reason for glumness. Question three is: "What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?" 14% chose the cryptic "heating oil/gas crisis." The equally vague "environment" garnered an underwhelming 1%. And global warming? Wasn't even on the list. The big winner was "war," with 19%.

Even more glumly, a majority approves of plans to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, by 48-45%.

On the subject of global warming, how much do I hate this question?

Grist wins Webby People’s Voice Award for best magazine

In case you didn't read yesterday's Daily Grist, I wanted to tout the fact that Grist won the People's Voice Award in the magazine category for the second year in a row. Wo0t!

Thanks to everyone who voted. Power to the people!

We Came, We Saw, We Concord

New Hampshire latest state to reduce mercury emissions New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch is joining the ranks of state leaders taking mercury matters into their own hands. Yesterday, Lynch signed into law a bill that will cut mercury emissions from its power plant by at least 80 percent by 2013. One power plant! New Hampshire […]

What’s Mine Is Mine

Bolivia threatens to nationalize its mining industry Following up on last week’s nationalization of its natural-gas industry, Bolivia (that’s in South America, in case you don’t remember seventh grade) now intends to exert greater state control over its mineral resources as well. President Evo Morales is vowing to nationalize the mining industry, though Vice President […]

Fritjof Capra: Still around

When I was in college, Fritjof Capra's Tao of Physics blew my young gourd. It and a few related books -- for some reason I always think of Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus! Trilogy -- shaped my thinking in ways that persist today. I wouldn't have known then to call it ecological thinking. In those days it was more of a quasi-hippie, psychotropic, see-molecules kind of thing, but the basic principles -- interconnection, self-organizing systems -- are straightforwardly drawn from nature.

It turns out much to my delight that Capra is still around, lively as ever, teaching university, and doing a couple of interviews with Transition Culture on localization, biomimesis, and eco-literacy. It's like Christmas came early!

Here's a sample:

Make Salmon Happy, Make Just One Salmon Happy

Columbia River salmon finally running, but counts are low Three weeks later than normal, Columbia River salmon are finally running. Well, swimming. Whatever. The fish left the Pacific Ocean at their usual time to enter the Columbia, which runs on the border of Oregon and Washington. Then they mysteriously decided to hang out in the […]

Countries May Have Shifted During Flight

China builds new airports; still not as pollutey as U.S. China plans to build 48 new airports in the next five years, spending $17.5 billion on construction and continuing expansion of existing hubs. The country is already the premier buyer of Boeing and Airbus planes, and has vowed to buy 100 planes every year until […]

Wake Up and Smell the Carbon

Al Gore launches new climate campaign Launched with profits from Al Gore’s new movie and book, a new group called Alliance for Climate Protection plans to spend big bucks on advertising and grassroots organizing in an attempt to impart the dangers of climate chaos to the American public. Focusing particularly on conservatives and labor groups […]

The military-industrial complex wins again

Theoretically, the oil shale in the American West could provide enough oil to power the world, Saudi-free, for decades or more. The problem is that while oil shale is a hydrocarbon, it's not a terribly attractive one. Massive amounts of energy must be used to extract useful fuel, making it a loser in terms of economics and energy balance.

Fortunately, Raytheon (makers of the missiles and radars used by the USAF) is there to save the day, via The Energy Blog:

Radio frequency (RF) energy combined with critical fluid (CF) technology shows promise for efficiently extracting oil from shale. Historically, the lack of an economical and environmentally friendly way for extracting oil from shale has kept it from being a significant energy source.

"Raytheon is an expert in RF technology," said Lee Silvestre, director of Mission Innovation at Raytheon IDS. "What makes this effort a breakthrough is that similar RF technology that we have been applying in core defense products -- radars for tracking and guidance systems -- has demonstrated applications in the energy crisis."

So good to see a mom-and-pop operation like Raytheon helping the country -- nay, the planet! -- through its environmental crisis. After all, I'm sure oil-shale harvesting will be at least as efficient as, say, the tar sands.

The military industrial complex: Fueling the ... military industrial complex since 1945!