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Moth dearth, cat-on-cat violence, poached oxen, and other oddities

I photographed this moth in Costa Rica. It was about four inches across and looked like a pair of flying lips. A study has found that the number of moths in Britain has declined by about 30% in the last thirty years. That's a 10% decline per decade. Sixty-two species have already gone extinct on the island in the 20th century. Extrapolating into the future, you could expect the last moth to drop dead in about seventy years, assuming the decline remains linear.

A Florida Panther (radio collared of course) was recently tranquilized for eating, among other things, a house cat. The biologists seemed to know everything about this cougar -- how many cubs he has sired, his age. He even has a name and a number. I have to wonder how many times in its eleven-year life it has been shot with tranquilizer darts and radio collared. He must feel like a pin cushion. Rapid housing development continues to destroy habitat. There are only 80 Florida panthers left on the planet.

Media Shower: Listen up! And see the big picture.

This morning I received the Summer Rayne Oakes newsletter, which mentions that the eco-fashionista will be heading to Singapore to film "a new, entertaining environmentally-charged show." I've contacted SRO's PR firm for details.

Also highlighted in the newsletter is a video by New Century Thinking featuring Summer Rayne, who speaks on "fashion's hidden impact." So, who is New Century Thinking?

New Century Thinking is a media project in the early stages of development, dedicated to getting the varied stories of the movement into the mainstream. The project's principle focus is on the American college campus, which is rapidly expanding as a meeting ground for those who wish to realize the economic, social, and environmental opportunities upon which a brighter future depends.

Other videos feature Peter Senge, Sara Schley, Paul Freundlich and Billy Parish.

In the heartland of industrial agriculture, a county goes local and organic

Nestled in the heartland of globally oriented commodity-food production, Woodbury County in Iowa has made a bold move away from industrial agriculture.

Last summer, the Kellogg Foundation's Food and Society (FAS) website reports, "the County passed an 'Organics Conversion Policy,' offering up to $50,000 annually in property tax rebates for those who convert from conventional to organic farming practices."

And then in January 2006, FAS continues, the county ...

... became the first in the United States to mandate the purchase of locally grown, organic food. The "Local Food Purchase Policy" requires Woodbury County departments to purchase locally grown, organic food from within a 100 mile radius for regular city use. The policy has the potential to shift $281,000 in annual food purchases to a local farmer-operated cooperative, increasing local demand and spurring increased production and processing.

Why would a county in Iowa, of all places, implement what amounts to a rejection of industrial agriculture?

Ethanol is suddenly all the rage in D.C. and Detroit

It’s as befuddling to see the “Live Green, Go Yellow” slogan splashed across the General Motors ads running throughout the Olympics as it was to hear the term “switchgrass” uttered by President Bush in his State of the Union speech last month. Here we have GM and Dubya, two of the world’s most entrenched and […]

From Willie to Waste

Can you hot box in that thing? Willie Nelson’s on the road again … in a limited-edition “Willie’s Willys” pickup, which will run on pure BioWillie, natch. Just 500 of the re-created 1941 Willys hot rods were made — and one can be yours for the low, low price of $97,000. Willie’s BioWillie-run Willie’s Willys […]

Save the Life of My Child

Organic diet causes pesticide levels to plummet in children, study finds If you needed that extra nudge to start feeding your kids organic grub, here it is: In a recent U.S. EPA-funded study, 23 Seattle-area youngsters were switched to an all-organic diet, and the levels of pesticides in their bodies declined to essentially zero after […]

APRIL, Come Around She Will

Loggers and environmentalists strike deal in Indonesia Maybe we can all just get along. A landmark deal between a logging company and an environmental group could double the size of a designated national park in the Tesso Nilo rainforest on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the site of years of conflict between conservationists and timber […]

Utahward Bound

NRC approves nuke-waste dump on Utah Indian reservation This week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensed the nation’s largest — and only private — radioactive-waste storage facility, to be located on the (prophetically named?) Skull Valley Goshute Reservation in Utah. It’s a major win for the nuclear industry, which desperately needs a dump site for spent […]

Mama Don’t Take My Chromium Away

Chromium industry hid troubling health data, say researchers Scientists working for the chromium industry withheld information about the carcinogenic metal’s health risks even as the industry campaigned to block a strict new regulation, according to a new report. In the journal Environmental Health, researchers describe an industry-sponsored study that suggested lung cancer deaths were five […]

Never mind climate science — what about climate economics?

The word "uncertainty" has become a bit of a bugaboo in green circles, since it's typically used by skeptics to muddy the waters on climate science. But uncertainty around climate science is not the only relevant kind when it comes to global warming.

There's also uncertainty with regard to how much it will cost to do something about it.

It seems to me this is woefully under-discussed. Virtually all public discussion of climate change has to do with the science -- whether global warming is real, how fast it's happening, the effects on sea levels, weather patterns, species, etc. The assumption seems to be that if we can nail down the science, policy will automatically follow.

Not so.