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What else could we have done with that money?

Brad Plumer wonders what else could have been done with that $300 billion (yep, that's the current price tag for the Iraq war).

Isidro Baldenegro López leads a struggle against logging in the Sierra Madre

Isidro Baldenegro López. Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize. When Isidro Baldenegro López was growing up in the mountains of central Mexico, his father opposed widespread logging in the forests of the Sierra Madre. He spoke out about the effects of the destruction on the indigenous Tarahumara people, drawing the attention of local crime bosses, who ordered […]

The many consequences of human interference with ecosystems

We all know them: English ivy, European starlings, Himalayan blackberry, Scotch broom. No, they're not foreign exchange students or international meals. They're part of the legion of exotic invasive species that threaten the ecological integrity of the Northwest. Of course, the Northwest is hardly alone. The American south is overrun with kudzu, for instance.

The poster children of over-abundance are deer, as anyone in the Upper Midwest or the Northeast can tell you. Deer, of course, are native species, but because their predators have largely been eliminated, and because they thrive in semi-developed fragmented landscapes, they are legion. But deer are not alone: Canada geese, grackles, raccoons, opossums, and other species can wreak havoc on ecosystems that are already out of balance.

A good article today, picked up by the Seattle Times, examines the consequences of our alteration of ecosystems. Not only do some foreign invaders out-compete native species, but the populations of a few native species metastasize at the expense of more sensitive species. Here is the crux of the article:

...what's happening isn't natural. It's all man's fault. As the land is changed, often to accommodate development, ecosystems turn much more vanilla, scientists say.

The world does better when it has a buffet of diverse species -- some of those plants and animals can benefit people with food and medicine -- instead of one flavor fits all, said Oregon State University zoology professor Jane Lubchenco, president of the International Council for Science.

Grist on the radio

Oh, lest I forget, another stop on your Earth Day media tour should be Seattle's own public radio show Weekday, which today interviewed our own Amanda Griscom Little, writer Adrienne Maree Brown (who's also written for us), and Futurewise's Aaron Ostrom. They discuss Earth Day, environmentalism, Death Stuff, and more.

You can hear the whole thing here.

Weather prevents Bush from celebrating Earth Day

Am I the only one wondering whether the weather has a sense of humor?

President Bush canceled an Earth Day visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Friday because of bad weather.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the threat of hail and thunder storms was keeping the president from visiting the park, but Air Force One still was making a brief stop at an airport outside Knoxville, Tenn., so Bush could make remarks near the park on Earth Day.

Bush then planned to fly on to Texas, where he was spending the weekend at his ranch and then hosting Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Monday.

I have a vague hunch that Bush won't be telling the Saudi dictator about his approach to energy conservation.

A bunch of stuff to read on this increasingly anodyne holiday

I must admit to having mixed feelings about Earth Day. The original was a fantastic, historic event that focused and lent momentum to a growing wave of concern. It erased our reasons not to act.

I fear it has become the opposite these days, a nicely segregated and boxed nod to "Earth stuff" that fades from memory as soon as it's over. It's a time for Joe Citizen to check in -- "yep, everything's still going to hell, maybe I'll plant a tree" -- and then check back out. It separates the "Earth" from our cultural, social, and political lives, casts it as a distinct thing that we must tend like a potted plant.

But whatever, it's here, so let's celebrate it. Yay for Earth Day. Here's a roundup of some stuff you might enjoy:

Kelpie Wilson says the green dream is alive, and gives you 10 things to do. Yahoo ... sorry, Yahoo! also has ten things. Treehugger tells you how to cook an Earth-friendly dinner. Moving Ideas has a whole passel of ways to take action. About.com, trying to be unique, has a 12-item list of things you can do. You can make a difference from the comfort of your couch by joining the Earth Day Virtual March. And of course the Earth Day Network is chockablock with helpful info.

The Boston Globe is glum, but Joan Lowy is hopeful. Brian C. Howard reflects, the Detroit Free Press reflects, and Miguel Llanos reflects. Lotta reflecting.

And finally, in an appropriately ironic turn, President Bush's planned Earth Day visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was cancelled due to bad weather.

Ice Hassles

Antarctic glaciers rapidly melting Wanna travel to Antarctica, but worried about all that ice? Worry no more. On the Antarctic Peninsula, a 1,200-mile-long mountain chain 600 miles south of Argentina, about 212 of the 244 glaciers are retreating, fast. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey studied photos and satellite data […]

Oh, Right, I Knew We Were Forgetting Something!

Bush climate-change research won’t research climate-change effects According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, the “more research” President Bush is always touting as his response to climate change is overlooking an area some might consider important — namely, what effects global warming might have on people and the environment (oh, that!). In fact, the GAO […]

Souuuueeeee!

House passes pork-laden energy bill The House of Representatives approved broad energy legislation yesterday by a vote of 249 to 183. The 1,000-plus-page bill contains some $12 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for energy companies, less than 5 percent of which go to clean energy or energy conservation. It contains a provision that would […]

Stats on how far we’ve come (or haven’t) since the first Earth Day

3.7 billion — world population in 19701 6.4 billion — world population in 20051 1,535 billion — kilowatt-hours of electricity used in the U.S. in 19702 3,837 billion — kilowatt-hours of electricity expected to be used in the U.S. in 20053 6.0 — percentage of electricity in U.S. consumed in 1970 produced from renewable sources4 […]