Climate Climate & Energy

China

Here's a worthwhile David R. Francis editorial about China's growing demand for oil. It's another reminder that environmentalists who really care about the fate of the earth -- the entire earth, not just their favorite camping spot out West -- can do nothing more valuable than trying to make sure that China does not follow the same development path as the U.S. and Europe. This means lobbying the Chinese government not only to adopt aggressive conservation and renewable energy programs, but also to open up the free flow of information, in the press and particularly on the internet. A vigorous exchange of information inside the country can lead, through the distributed efforts of thousands of concerned citizens who experience those problems directly, to the development of innovative energy, resource, and conservation solutions. Despite the fond hopes of China's ruling elite, sustainable economic development is not feasible without the simultaneous development of an open democratic culture. Bottom-up, distributed, openly shared solutions are China's best hope of leapfrogging.

Global warming and natural disasters

What is the relationship between global warming and the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean (and natural disasters more generally)? Who is and is not drawing such a connection? Who is and is not trying to score political points around it? There's been a flurry of writing on the subject recently.

We begin with today's Muckraker ...

Free Winona! (From enviro prejudice!)

It's not like the woman hasn't paid her dues. Winona Ryder did 480 hours of community service to atone for that little shoplifting mishap (the $7,600 worth of Saks duds she lifted in 2001 -- oopsy!), and still the actress endures discrimination -- now from enviros, of all people.

Ryder says she wanted to sign a petition calling on Bush to get behind the Kyoto Protocol but was turned away because of her criminal record. No word on which green group did the spurning -- last we heard, enviros weren't rebuffing any would-be signers from their go-nowhere petitions, let alone celebs, even of the has-been variety.  

Come make your voice heard on the virtual pages of Gristmill, Winona. We won't turn you away!

Batting a Thousand

Bats dying in worrying numbers at Appalachian wind farms Unexpectedly high numbers of bat deaths at wind farms in West Virginia and Pennsylvania have caught scientists by surprise and made conservationists anxious. Whether the spinning turbines entice the bats or confuse their sonar navigation is unclear, but researchers say an estimated 1,500 to 4,000 bats […]

Umbra on wind farms

Dear Umbra, I have been reading lots in the media lately about wind farms. As a supporter of green energy, I would obviously like to see a lot more of them and have long believed that people who oppose them are just another example of the “not in my backyard” mentality: they want a constant […]

Top 100 science stories of 2004

Discover Magazine's January 2005 issue features a list of the 100 most important scientific discoveries and developments of 2004. The number one story? Global warming. Called "Turning Point," the magazine's three-page feature says that climate change evidence became overwhelming in 2004, and recalls many of the year's headlines, including Russia's signing of the Kyoto Protocol, the premiere of the blockbuster movie The Day After Tomorrow, and Schwarzenegger's vow to defend California's limits on CO2 emissions. It claims hopefully that "it's only a matter of time before the rising tide of evidence washes over the last islands of resistance in Washington." Well, I don't know about that, but greenies should feel heartened to know that a good number of environmental stories are represented in the top 100. Perhaps someone out there is listening.

Migrate Expectations

Climate change taking its toll on North American wildlife Never mind polar bears and penguins — turns out global warming is having its way with the feathered and furry throughout North America. A three-year study released yesterday by the Wildlife Society, a nonpartisan group of wildlife experts, suggests that climate change in North America is […]

Counter-Inuitive

Eskimos cast global warming as human-rights issue The Inuit people of the Arctic are trying to shift the debate on global warming, casting it as a human-rights issue rather than a purely environmental one. They plan to seek a ruling from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the U.S., by spewing greenhouse gases into […]

The Rise and Fall of the Bird Reich

Ten percent of all birds could go extinct by 2100 By the end of the century, 10 percent of all extant bird species may be extinct, with another 15 percent on the brink, according to a comprehensive new study. The analysis, reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, considered the fate of 9,787 […]

Downright Unalaskan

Shipwreck oil spill in Alaskan waters threatens wildlife refuge A cargo ship that ran aground Wednesday on the shore of Unalaska Island, 800 miles southwest of Anchorage, has begun to leak fuel into sensitive wildlife habitat. After an unsuccessful search for lost crew members, officials have begun to survey the damage from the wreck; the […]