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Aargh! My brain!

Wow.

Every year, the Edge Foundation asks an enormous array of smart people (scientists, philosophers, mathematicians, intellectuals of every stripe) a single question and publishes the results. This year's question:

WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA?

The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?

What you get in the answers are the good bits: The most intriguing ideas of the world's top thinkers boiled down to their essence.

It's some of the most fascinating stuff I've ever read, and after two hours I've only scratched the surface. I really can't recommend it highly enough.

What would your answer be?

(via BoingBoing)

Happy New Year

Happy 2006, all you Gristmill readers!

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I've been taking a "vacation" (look it up), hanging out with family and not thinking at all about the environment. Coupled with that, I've had a mild case of blog depression lately -- which I will shake off completely, starting tomorrow!

I may have one of those year-end roundups so de rigeur in the blogosphere tomorrow, but in the meantime, don't miss Joel Makower's trying-to-put-on-a-happy-face-but-really-quite-melancholy state of green business post.

Alternative fuel update

I noticed that part of the funding from the latest defense spending bill (the same one that failed to drill in the Arctic Refuge) will be used to study the use of alternative fuels in the military.

This got me to wondering if the military is already using biodiesel, which led me to this older article on Wired, which suggests that the U.S. military may be the biggest consumer of biodiesel in the U.S. What a brilliant backdoor means of subsidizing American farmers. Order the military to use biodiesel (apparently regardless of cost) whenever it is available -- sweet. Now, if they can just convince us to flush it down our toilets.

Thailand jumps on the bandwagon, joining Malaysia, Indonesia, Africa, and South America in the frenzy to feed our rainforests and food crops to our cars:

Notices that Bush admin does not take climate change serious; lies repeatedly

The Washington Post editorial board is shocked, shocked to discover that when it comes to policies on global warming, the Bush adminstration can't be trusted to tell the truth on methodology or effectiveness. In sum, emissions are going up and the voluntary measures put in place not only don't work, but in many cases don't exist.

If it can't get its numbers right, why should we take seriously the White House's declared intention to forge a "constructive and effective approach" to climate change at all?

Indeed.

RealClimate, one year in

The folks at RealClimate reflect on their first year of blogging.

I would call what they've done a fairly hearty success. My one complaint is that, if your stated goal is to communicate accurate science to outsiders, you would do well to minimize technical jargon and focus on clear, accessible prose. Some of the posts are so dense that I hesitate to recommend them.

But regardless, it's an invaluable resource. If you don't have the RSS feed in your reader, get it.

Paving the road

Oh crap. From an excellent article in the Boston Globe:

Along hundreds of miles of the north-south highway that bisects the Brazilian Amazon, the canopy of rain forests has been wiped out. Where the road is paved, loggers, ranchers, and commercial farmers have razed the landscape, removing valuable hardwoods and clearing fields for cattle and soybeans as far as the eye can see.

My father made a living as an excavator. I grew up watching him "raze landscapes" with his bulldozers. I recall the time he brought home a baby owl found in a tree he had knocked down. The first piece of equipment I learned to operate was the International TD20. It was the only dozer that had an automatic transmission and, therefore, the easiest thing for a fourteen-year-old to drive. But anyway ...

Russian hot air

Irony of ironies: The early 1990s collapse of Russian industry positions it well to collect on the Kyoto-inspired carbon trading market. Speculation is the boon could be as big as $1 billion. The Europeans are looking eastward to upgrade Russian facilities and count carbon credits towards meeting their Kyoto goals. This NY Times business piece shows there is at least one environmental topic Putin and company actually like.

The trend otherwise has been to criminalize environmental activism and accuse whistle blowers of treason. Read about Alexandr Nikitin's time locked up by the FSB as a case in point. The former Russian submarine captain was working at the time for the Norwegian NGO the Bellona Foundation, an outstanding source for information on Russian environmental conditions and politics.

Biophilia this

The word biophilia means the love (philia) of nature (bio), and was popularized by E.O. Wilson in a book back in 1984. I requested a Wikipedia article on the topic several months ago. Looks like someone jumped on it and did a pretty good job.

A friend of mine is an avid birder and maintains an impressive backyard wildlife habitat. However, her bird feeders also attract squirrels and rats. The squirrels were becoming a nuisance so she had traps set for them a week ago. She figured there were three or four problem animals. The fourteenth squirrel has been eliminated and they are still coming. As for the rats, well, that's what rat poison is for.

Bears in Napa Valley are being shot to protect grapes and wolves in Idaho are being shot and poisoned for lots of reasons. You can go here to learn how to poison a wolf.

I think Wilson really missed the mark on that one. People are to biodiversity on Earth what a drop of penicillin is to bacteria in a petri dish.

Let them breathe cake

I would say "unbelievable," but this is Texas we're talking about.

The majority of Houston-area lawmakers in the Texas House voted against legislation intended to protect the public from toxic air pollution, a Houston Chronicle analysis of 2005 voting records has found.

The five rejected amendments would have made the state's health screening levels for pollution more strict, required companies to continuously monitor emissions and set fines for the periodic releases known as "upsets" that plague fence-line neighborhoods.

Yet 20 of 34 representatives in the eight-county region, where toxic pollution problems have been well-documented, particularly along the Houston Ship Channel, voted to table these actions.

All 20 of the dissenters are Republicans, some of them representing industrial districts such as Pasadena, Baytown and Seabrook, where people and industry exist side by side.

No doubt a matter of conservative principle, right?

(via TPMCafe)

New American dream towns

Outside magazine has a list of 10 "New American Dream Towns."

When we combed the country for the sweetest innovations and the freshest ideas for making neighborhoods better places to live, work, and play -- with tons of green space, easy access to the outdoors, and big-think visions for smarter, more sustainable everyday living -- we hit the jackpot. ...

To spotlight the new American dream towns, we started with a wish list of criteria: commitment to open space, smart solutions to sprawl and gridlock, can-do community spirit, and an active embrace of the adventurous life. We looked for green design and green-thinking mayors, thriving farmers' markets and healthy job markets. We found it all -- and then some: ten towns that might tempt you to box up your belongings, plus nine more whose bright ideas are well worth stealing. Check out these shining prototypes for what a 21st-century town -- what your hometown, perhaps -- can be: cleaner, greener, smarter. Better.

Some of the choices are expected (Chicago, Portland, Ore.), but some may surprise you. (They surprised me anyway, particularly given my lifelong hostility toward Salt Lake City.) And don't miss the short pieces at the end of the package: Smart Urban Ideas parts one, two, and three.

(via Treehugger)