Hitting the Highways --- What? Me Worry?

Memorial Day has consistently provided American families the time to hit the road and enjoy a three-day weekend in the wilderness, a national park, at the beach or visiting family on the Jersey shore. With gas prices where they are (arm or a leg a gallon) the question is, will Americans take to the road this holiday weekend in the midst of the highest nominal gas prices ever recorded during a national holiday? The CS Monitor says "Yes." A record 37 million will get behind the wheel and many will opt to rent a car rather than take to the air with Delta, USAir or Southwest. Even more impressive is the recent predicted rise in driving by 2.2% nationwide. Why are Americans still paying such inordinate costs for fuel? Cato Institute's Jerry Taylor says its because over the last few decades average salary in the US has risen right along with gas prices. Others say its because they are willing to skimp on other expenses like eating out, accomadations and in-between costs like taxis and airport limos. Whatever the reason, it seems Americans will never be able to let go of the car society. Lets hope we memorialize our fallen heroes with more than a drive to the beach in the future.

Norton Goes Solar

Finally, a star who is using his star power to create sustainable power (ooof..that was a mouthful). Edward Norton appears in an fantastic interview with Grist Magazine spelling out his solar project for low-income families in LA. His organization (that he actively runs on his own) Solar Neighbors is helping to outfit hundreds of families in the LA region with solar rooftops that will save families hundreds of dollars per year in electric bills. Norton has a strong environmental history. His father worked as the public policy head for the Wilderness Society and now is managing the Yunnan Great Rivers project in China for the Nature Conservancy. His brother is a river guide in Idaho and serves on the board of Idaho Rivers United working to save salmon habitat and help the species recover in Idaho. And his sister got her grad degree from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in environmental policy.

Norton also hosted a 4-part series on PBS called "Strange Days on Planet Earth" that I caught. Check it out if you can.

One of my fave quotes from the interview...

"It confounds me to see [the Bush administration] put forth completely bankrupt policies, even as Republican national-security analysts are stepping forward and saying energy conservation has got to be a part of our national security plan. Even as a fellow Republican, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is proposing the most aggressive solar development and incentive program in the history of the United States. Even as the United States is getting its ass kicked by the Japanese and the Germans, who are beginning to dominate clean-technology industries. Even as billions of dollars and many thousands of lives are being spent to fight oil regimes in the Middle East. It's truly a national tragedy."

Prius Envy

Toyota has remained at the head of the class when it comes to pushing the technology envelope in the "Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicles," as coined by our own EPA. Wired reports on the culture behind the Prius craze and why Toyota is keeping a strangle-hold on the market consistently driving for cleaner more fuel efficient vehicles.

"It may seem odd that the company poised to overtake General Motors in the next few years as the world's biggest automaker is out to render the traditional internal combustion engine obsolete. But the early success of the Prius is making believers out of Toyota suppliers. Toshiba, for example, recently committed $95 million to build a facility to manufacture hybrid control system microchips. Likewise, Sanyo announced that it will double output of its rechargeable hybrid batteries."

Wired takes a skeptical look at the future of hybrids but uncovers some real gems about Toyota and the market they have created and continue to control.

"In phase two, Toyota is doubling production to sell 100,000 new Priuses in the US this year. This spring, the company will introduce the Lexus RX 400h, billed as the world's first luxury hybrid, followed by the Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV. And it's considering opening a US manufacturing facility. Toyota has also begun advertising the Prius to the mass market."

Right now there are several campaigns targeting the worst fuel economist among automakers, Ford Motor Co., and pushing Detroit to get on board the hybrid train before they are bought out by the likes of Honda (also coming out with several hybrids) and Toyota. Checkout www.jumpstartford.com for more info on that campaign. Lets hope Detroit gets its head out off the sand on this before America loses the car market for good.

Well Known Alaska Alpha Wolf Shot

The leader of the famous Toklat family wolf pack has been shot and killed by a tour-guided hunter just outside of Denali National Park in Alaska. The wolf was 7 years old and was identified by the radio collar he wore attached by researchers who have been studying the famous pack for over 5 decades. According to one of those researchers the "Toklat lineage has suffered virtually a complete social breakdown," as a result of the recent deaths of the alpha male, two females and the alpha male's mate, all killed in wolf traps outside the park boundary. Meanwhile Fish and Game spokeswoman Cathie Harms says that the wolves in Denali will not be affected by this death. (Thats a tough last name for someone in the Fish and Game department).

Since the state government declared open season on Alaskan wolves, there has been a large uptick in trophy hunters headed to Alaska to get their mantle piece. What I find so pathetic is that the majority of these hunters are being led by guides who virtually put the hunter within 20 meters of the usually fleeing wolves, or even more ridiculous, guide the helicopter close enough for the hunter to shoot from the air. These "hunters" are shadows of the American hunters of the past who actually earned their kill with days of tracking and hours of stalking. Davie Crockett is rolling over his grave. Hey guys, go play a video game if you're so desparate to kill. Hell, we have a war on why not join the military.

NOW Runs with Earth Day Message

As many of you know (and I'm sure many of you forgot) tomorrow is Earth Day! What can you do? Well at the least, learn something. Find a new fact and pass it around for all to munch on. Or maybe give a small donation to a non-profit enviro group of your choosing (I know they've asked you because I work at one).
The best resource to learn something? How about PBS? No, its not a liberal hippie network. NOW, founded by Bill Moyers (a conservative Christian in some books) and now hosted by NPR veteran David Brancaccio, airs soon in your neighborhood featuring the now suddenly hot topic of global warming. Get the in depth on the NOW site and see when it airs in your neck of the woods.

Activist in Iraq

Marla Ruzicka, activist and head of the NGO CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict), was killed yesterday in Iraq when her vehicle was caught between a suicide bomber and an American convoy. Ruzicka worked with Global Exchange and Rainforest Action Network for several years here in San Francisco. Her loss hits home especially among so many of her peers and coworkers around the world.

She organized door-to-door survey teams fanning out across Iraq to get first-hand accounts of civilian casualities of dead, injured, homeless, displaced and abused. In 2002 she worked with USAID and the Senate Appropriations Committee to allocate money to rebuild homes for families that suffered losses as a result of U.S. military actions.

The Real Deal on Clear Skies

Clear Skies vs. Clean Air Act. This should be a no-brainer but for those of you who are skeptical, I digress.

First of all, get the comparison chart here in case things get confusing. They did for me and it helped to have a simple visual. The problem with this plan (besides allowing more pollution for industry) is that the Clear Skies initiative is a 2-step program that has an OPTIONAL second step. So its like asking a professional athlete if he wouldn't mind a $1.5 million dollar signing bonus. Do we think industry will take advantage of this? Of course!

The Clean Air Act(CAA) requires the nation to cut emissions, specifically with 3 incredibly toxic substances: sulfur-dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury. The Clear Skies (CS) program does as well, just not as much. CAA states that national mercury emissions must drop by 5 tons per year through 2008. Thus far, we've managed to that. This means that between 2004 and 2008 we will have cut mercury emissions by 20 tons (5 tons x 4 years). The CS program sets the high bar at 26 tons by 2012, which is only 6 tons more but in a span of 8 years, not 4. If we stuck with the current CAA we could cut mercury emissions by 40 tons by 2012, much more than the 26 GWB is gunning for.

Sulfur dioxide has a similar issue. The CAA sets the SO2 cap at 2 mil. tons of by 2012. The CS program requests the cap to be raised to 4 mil. tons of SO2 by 2010. So we're DOUBLING our SO2 caps in almost half the time.

Nitrogen oxides: CAA sets the cap at 1.25 mil tons by 2010. GWB's Clear Skies Initiative sets it at 2.7 mil tons by 2018. Ok, so now we're giving industry the ok to put MORE pollution in our air AND making sure they have another 12 years to do it in. Huh? This is ridiculous.

To actually sell this as a "Clear Skies Plan" is truly amazing. I really hope it doesn't take a global-warming-triggered tsunmai or earthquake that hits LA or DC to wake these idiots up.

Johnson Gets Grilled By Dems

Looks like Stephen L. Johnson, GWB's nominee for head of the EPA, ran into a few hagglers in his confirmation hearings yesterday. Actually, he ran into Barbara Boxer (D-California) and Jim Jeffords (I-Vermont) among others who questioned him on specific points around his 24-year tenure within the EPA. It wasn't so much the disturbing government pesticide program that Boxer uncovered, or Jeffords' warning "not to become a rubber stamp for the administration," but it was rather his response to a probing question from Thomas Carper (D-Deleware). After promising the Environment and Public Works Committee (currently chaired by my favorite flat-earth member James Inhofe) that he would only make decisions on the "best available scientific information," Carper asked him why the agency provided the committee with detailed analyses of the administration's pollution-reduction bill, known as Clear Skies, but not two competing bills. Whoops. Carper had no real comment.

What the public didn't know was that there were 3 bills competing for the eyes of congress and only 1, the one favored by EPA, was backed up with a full analysis. Regardless, Johnson is a weak candidate for EPA head, a man who will continually put business and the bottom line ahead of the environment and the health of our biosphere. It doesn't help that he has no background in biology, ecology, sustainability or any other of the vital pieces needed to run the EPA in this day and age.

Energy at 15,000 Feet

Worldchanging reports on a wild new engineering feat from Australian Bryan Roberts. High altitude tethered wind turbines, hanging at 15,000 feet, generate energy from "average" winds at atmospheric heights. Apparently, clusters of 600 units can produce more power than a nuclear power plant and take up a 10x20 mile rectangle of airspace.


Tethered at 15,000 

Genius, really and kudos to Bryan for not giving up and operating on a shoestring budget. "A number of years ago. on a very limited budget, together with his Australian colleagues, he built and tested the FLYING ELECTRIC GENERATOR shown in the picture at the upper right generating electricity at an altitude of sixty feet on an exceptionally windy day. He has now designed a Flying Electric Generator, classified as a rotorcraft, using a single tether, designed to operate at an altitude of 15,000 feet and higher where only average winds are sufficient to generate power."

One key question I have: If we have a bunch of these clusters hanging in the sky like mobiles above cribs, will air-traffic controllers go ballistic? I can't imagine guiding 747s and helos around these 200 mile blocks of airspace with 15,000 feet of rope dangling down. However, the sky is that big, so maybe there is a way to work it.

Good New from Down Under

The Christian Science Monitor reports on a significant alliance developing between the logging industry and conservation groups in Australia. In a region of the world where illegal logging fuels the demand for hardwoods and softwoods (most of it going to China), an agreement of this magnitude shows the potential of formerly opposing interests uniting to solve challenges both parties are facing.

"If replacing confrontation with cooperation on forestry issues works here, says Kevin Latrobe, "'it will be a model for how we move forward elsewhere. We are being watched.'"

This is clearly not an agreement that guarantees a commitment to overhaul the logging industry and its extraction practices. However, it does represent the best hope for reconciling competing values on a highly charged issue. Regardless, it is a step in the right direction and here's to hoping the industry and environmental communities begin to follow suit.

Navy Sonar: Wreaking Havoc or Protecting the World's Oceans?

For the past 10 years the U.S. Navy has evaded public scrutiny, ducked environmental laws and regulations and ignored the horrible effects of their low-frequency active sonar (LFA) on marine mammals throughout the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, where they currently use the sub-locating technology.

Truthout reports on the latest casualities of this sonar technology. Submarine technology has evolved so that they have become invisible to ships on the surface. This new technology will give American naval vessels the ability to "see" enemy subs. In a time of war, this is a good thing. However, the price the marine world is paying is drastic.

The Navy blasts the sonar so loudly that it breaks the eardrums, causes sinuses to explode, and causes massive hemorrhaging within the skull of whales, dolphins and other mammals that use their own sonar to locate food and navigate. In March of 2000, right after a Navy sonar test off the coast of the Bahamas, 14 whales washed ashore. Biologists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute examined them to find massive tissue damage throughout their skulls and ears. The Navy's test was only 195 decibels. The standard Navy sonar is blared at a staggering 240 db---20,000 times louder.

The debate here is whether the loss and destruction of marine mammals and their already fragile populations is worth this technology. What is extremely frustrating is that the majority of these are tests...like firing blanks with your .45, except they aren't blanks because you're causing fatalities and wreaking havoc on marine ecosystems. The Navy claims the environmental impacts are being controlled yet we still have mammals washing ashore with exploded eardrums and bleeding from their sinuses. I understand the need for such sonar, but the possible impact it will have on our marine life seems a bit high. Also, see NRDC's comments on this issue for more background

Around the Horn...

Over at Nature Noted Pat Burns talks about an interesting switch in forestry philosophy between, who else, Sierra Club members and Earth First! activists. Thats right...EF wants MORE logging. Huh?

Chris Mooney touches on a recent speech by John Marburger, a top physicist under President Bush, who was caught defending the administration's stance on global warming. See the article in the Princetonian.

Earth Justice tells us why new EPA Director Steven Johnson has raised some concerns in the environmental community. Why? Well, besides the fact that anyone appointed to be in charge of our environment by George W. Bush is disconcerting, he's failed to stand up for environmental policies that might challenge the administration. For instance the question of whether mercury should be kept out of our water systems...Johnson had no comment. Hmmmmm....Also, its never good when electric and power companies celebrate your nomination if you're a member of the EPA.

Over at Commons Pete Geddes touches on the radioactivity of coal power plants and why nuclear may be a safer option in the end, that is, if renewables are taken off the table.

Shirazi at Greensweep touches on the amazing Karez irrigation system she experienced while in the largest land mass of Pakistan, the Balochistan, a dry, arid and daunting landscape west of the Indus Plains. Maybe something we could learn from these genius irrigators...

Willie Does Diesel

Willie Nelson, founder of Farm Aid and one of the heartland's biggest advocates, has officially endorsed biodiesel as the key to America's energy needs. I obviously don't have to tell you the ripple effect this will have on industries from trucking to agriculture, but you can imagine what an all-American product (made in the USA) could do for the 2 most traditional industries in this country.


Willie fillin' up 

"Willie Nelson's Biodiesel," made from soybeans and vegetable oils, is available at a truck stop near you starting today. What this does is open up a whole new dialogue with the trucking community, a notoriously difficult group to break into. But for Willie, "its like Tiger Woods talking about golf clubs" at your local driving range. In other words, when Willie talks, these folks listen.

One hitch in all of this is the availability of biodiesel. The National Biodiesel Board shows that there aren't many places to fill up outside of the midwest. Yet, if you find yourself trucking through route 70, you should be all set. Let's hope this catches on and the government falls behind it.

Another Murder in the Brazilian Rainforest

This morning ENN is reporting that another human rights leader has been murdered in the federal reserve Tingua, about 19 miles from Rio de Janeiro. Dionisio Ribeiro Filho was a local advocate for sustainability and worked to keep rainforest tracts from being clearcut by logging companies, oil and gas companies, and land-grabbers. He was shot at close range with a shotgun.

Only 10 days ago, Sister Dorothy Stang was brutally assasinated at close range by the very people she was working to defeat: illegal logging companies and local corrupt politicians. So what were these hired (obviously) killers thinking? That they wouldn't get caught? After the most publicized murder in Brazil's history (other than Chico Mendes) these people contine to murder. The question is, how much of this is being sponsored by logging companies, land-grabbers, and local power players and how many of those companies are foreign? The worst thing that could happen here is the discovery of a link between American/European logging giants and the growing violence against environmentalists in the South American rainforests.

This tactic, of shutting up ecologists and environmentalists by murdering them, has got to stop. What's clear is that the Amazon is in utter chaos. Whatever President de Silva does it needs to be significant. Our biggest fear should be that de Silva creates pseudo-national parks that are really just tracts of land patrolled by none other than the very people that destroy them: ranchers, oil and gas companies and logging groups. What we may be seeing is the creation of a market similar to that of marijuana and cocoa, i.e. the market will always supply the need of the consumer. The majority of this Amazon wood is finding its way, either through the black market or through many middlemen, into American homes. The middleman is often China (the world's leading importer of hardwoods from all over the world). While the US and some US logging companies publicly boycott Amazonian wood, furniture companies and interior designers are able to pick the same sacred mahogany and palm pieces right out of China for cheaper. As long as there is a need for these rare resources, people will continue to use violence against those who wish to slow the market.

What's Inhofe Hiding in His Closet?

Chris Mooney makes a great point regarding a recent move by Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe. After 2 organizations criticized Bush's Clear Skies program, the senator requested their complete financial records "to determine whether the groups represented only regulators' views or whether they also were subsidized by outside interests," said the committee's staff majority director Andrew Wheeler. The 2 organizations, neither of which are funded by environmental activists or private interests, are state and local air pollution control agencies.

Those of you who know James Inhofe and his environmental record understand why this move might be frustrating. Those of you who don't know Inhofe, let me introduce you. This is a man who once characterized the EPA as "the Gestapo." (And just to make a point seems to think that 9/11 is God's punishment on the USA for not supporting Israel more vigorously).

And in case we ever want to know where Inhofe get's HIS funding from, look no further. Note, where the majority of his cash comes from. What's even more frightening? This guy is the Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Stumbling Towards Autocracy

Looks as though we're losing the democracy battle overall...everytime we set one up (Iraq)another one falls (Nepal). Recently King Gyanendra sacked the national government and declared a state of emergency. Telephone and internet wires were cut, flights diverted and major cities were forced into a "lockdown." The King dismissed several provisions of the constitution such as freedom of the press, peaceful assembly, speech and expression, and the right against preventive detention.

2 days ago Gyanendra justified his actions as necessary due to "terrorist activites" and "a growing disillusionment with democracy in general." Talk about feast or famine. I guess in his eyes if you can't do democracy well, you shouldn't do it at all. Whether or not Gyanendra can work his way out of this is TBD, but this does beg the question, is Nepal looking ripe for a political takeover? And where better on earth to be then between the 2 largest countries in the world? Would China cloak such a takeover in a "helping our neighbor" cover?

Smart Growth in the Volunteer State

Smart Growth is beginning to flourish (finally) in many cities across the U.S. Based on the principles of sustainable development (gasp! those tree-huggers!) people are finally realizing the benefits of sound urban design.

So, what does this left-wing fanatical communisitc engineering entail? How about not paying $150,000 a year to have your highway medians mowed and instead using the patch of land for trees which would later be harvested? Or, having 8X the open space in your neighborhood? And I bet you wouldn't mind not ever having to drive to work every morning only to sit in traffic? Sound too good to be true? Its not.

Chattanooga is on the right track with urban growth and design and Karen Hundt, a local urban planner, was recently put on the hot seat over at Grist.

Take-home messages:

--"The world is run by the people who show up," i.e. get involved in your urban planning commission.

--2 biggest challenges stopping Smart Growth: public policies in the form of development codes and all that money that goes to the Dept. of Transportation every year---just for upkeep of all that concrete.

Taking Care of Business

Office Depot is quickly climbing the list of the environmental community's favorite corporations. U.S. offices go through over 90 million tons of paper (700 pounds per person) every year. Not to mention that only 40% of U.S. buisnesses have policies favoring the purchase of sustainable or environmentally preferable products.

OD is releasing its "Green Book" for their B2B clients giving companies the chance to have office supplies that would make any tree-hugger proud. Distributed to Fortune 500 companies as well as non-profits, NGOs and universities and colleges nationwide, the "Green Book" is printed on chlorine-free, 100% post-consumer waste (PCW) recycled paper. I know my office is already on this bandwagon. The question is, how long will it be before your's is? Two points for OD for taking care of business in a very green way. Get the full press release here.

Getting Going

Greetings all,

Fresh off the heels from a fabulous western adventure I've finally settled in San Francisco (not for good obviously). The northern California coast is treating this easterner pretty well although I must say, no one said anything about all this fog. Feels like I'm back in Seattle.

Thus commences my blog about tech, science and the environment. Stay tuned and we'll see what happens.