environment
revere | December 11, 2007One of the most effective environmental regulations that wasn't a command and control item was something called the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Program. Here's EPA's description:
The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is a publicly available EPA database that contains information on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities reported annually by certain covered industry groups as well as federal facilities. This inventory was established under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) and expanded by the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990.
That…
voltagegate | December 10, 2007
If you travel I-68 and any of the joining roads in the near future, you will almost certainly see creeping flat beds hauling gargantuan turbines, blades and other pieces of future wind towersup the mountain to join those already adorning the Western MD/PA ridgelines.
One or two car escorts follow close behind in the far right lanes. Some of the pieces are so large that you have to pull halfway in to the adjacent lane to avoid them. Despite your feelings about wind towers, you just can't avoid feeling awe at their sheer size.
I've watched wind towers sprout up rapidly in this area over the…
gregladen | December 10, 2007Sort of. The hurricane that the press ignored until it was impossible to ignore is now listed on Time's Top Ten Natural Disasters of 2007.
I don't like the sound of that at all: "Top Ten Natural Disasters." Maybe I'm used to "top ten" being good things. Maybe that's just me.
Packing winds of over 100 mph, the storm took out power lines and trees, and pulverized mud and thatch homes. The death toll was over 1,000, with more than half a million people forced to flee their homes. But by Bangladesh's sad standards, Sidr was nothing -- a cyclone in 1991 killed an astounding 140,000 people.…
clock | December 8, 2007Indy has the entire issue devoted to the topic of Global Warming, with some excellent articles:
10 years after Kyoto: You're getting warmer by Bill McKibben
10 years after Kyoto: Winners and losers by Sena Christian
James Hansen won't be quiet by Lisa Sorg
Ryan Boyles, state climatologist by Matt Saldana
Energy interests fund Duke University's research on climate change policy by Matt Saldana
State senator parades dubious 'global warming experts' before commission by Mosi Secret
clock | December 6, 2007Eco-friendly kangaroo farts could help global warming: scientists:
Australian scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, researchers say.
Thanks to special bacteria in their stomachs, kangaroo flatulence contains no methane and scientists want to transfer that bacteria to cattle and sheep who emit large quantities of the harmful gas.
And if we give cows jumping beans and jumping genes along kangaroo bacteria, perhaps they'll really start jumping over the moon....
gregladen | December 4, 2007This topic is being discussed elsewhere, so I thought I'd post something on it:
Back to the future: Prairie grasses emerge as rich energy source
Mixtures of grasses make best source of biofuel
By Deane Morrison
Dec. 8, 2006
With shrinking glaciers and other signs of global warming upon us, the search is on for alternative fuels to stem the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
This week a new contender burst on the scene: diverse mixtures of native prairie grasses. A University team led by David Tilman, Regents Professor of Ecology, found that these grasses…
revere | December 4, 2007
If you need the antibiotic ciprofloxacin ("cipro") (famous for its use as prophylactic agent for those potentially exposed to weaponized anthrax in 2001), I know where you can find a lot of it. In Patancheru, India, near Hyderabad, one of the world's centers for production of generic drugs. Most of the cipro made there is shipped out, but it turns out a lot of cipro stays behind, in the sewage of Patancheru. A paper by Larsson et al. (Journal of Hazardous Materials 148 (2007) 751-755; hat tip SusieF) found the highest levels in sewage effluent of pharmaceuticals of any yet reported. The…
voltagegate | December 3, 2007Well, two weeks of hell has receded for me. This past Friday we finished moving all of our stuff out of Frostburg, waving a not-so-tearful goodbye to the old apartment and its coal furnace (not just for heat either; our water was warmed by the furnace as well, which I didn't know until this past year... they used to use gas).
To be frank, Friday was one of the worst days of my life. We still had the essentials in the apartment - food, a few dishes, coffee, computers, mattress, etc. - so they needed to be packed in both cars to haul up to our new place. But before we could load her car, it…
clock | December 2, 2007Chris Clarke is writing a book on Joshua trees. This requires money and Chris does not have enough. I know I want to read the book when it comes out. This is what blog-friends are for: donate now.
revere | November 30, 2007If you are like most people you probably aren't alarmed about the dangers of nanotechnology. In fact if you are like most people you probably don't even know what nanotechnology is. I'll resist the temptation to say general knowledge of the emerging technology of the very small is even smaller. Despite the fact most of us have no clue, there is a surprising amount of nano products already in the marketplace, incorporated in products from food containers to golf clubs. But there remain doubts about safety. Nanoparticles are so small they don't act in ways we understand, either physically or…
sciencewoman | November 29, 2007I'm saying a sad goodbye to my trustworthy vehicle of 7 years that has been declared a total loss after a traffic accident last week.
But, I'm excited about the prospect of buying a new car this weekend. We've decided to get a hybrid. I spend too much of my commute stuck in traffic, and it vexes me to lecture my students about carbon emissions and global warming and then go idle in traffic for a half hour.
The question for you is: "Which hybrid should I get?" Do you drive a hybrid? What have your experiences been with it? Would you buy it again?
revere | November 28, 2007China's insatiable energy needs have made headlines. One of its worst consequences is an increase in the burning of dirty coal. (This is not to imply there is clean coal; there isn't. Clean coal is just a coal industry marketing term.). Coal is said to supply 70% of China's energy needs compared to 25% in the US. So if the Chinese don't choke themselves to death first, they may help drown the rest of us by their contribution to global CO2.
But China is also doing something the US isn't: putting substantial money into the search for and development of clean energy:
China is leaving the US in…
gregladen | November 26, 2007From Birdlife International:
Thousands of birds die in Black Sea oil spill
Thousands of birds and fish have been killed as oil spills from a stricken tanker in the northern Black Sea. At least 30,000 birds have died, and thousands more are covered in oil and face death in the coming days. The main species reported to be affected are Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo, Common Coot Fulica atra, Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus and Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis. So far, 50km of Russian coastline is affected by the oil spills.
Dr Clairie Papazoglou, Head of BirdLife's European…
mikethemadbiologist | November 24, 2007Tom Engelhardt asks the question I've wondered about Atlanta's drought: what happens if there literally is no more water? Unfortunately, there don't appear to be any answers.
The politics of a 'dry' Atlanta, or more accurately, a failed response to a 'dry' Atlanta, could really crack up the Republican coalition. One of the bulwarks of the Southern Republican base is conservative, white suburbs (and exurbs). What happens when they don't have water? FEMA rides to the rescue?
[the Mad Biologist laughs himself silly]
This essentially would be Katrina without the storm--and it would keep…
clock | November 23, 2007...the computers and the Web:
If you are not clear about the difference between the Net (aka Internet), the Web (aka World Wide Web) and the Graph (aka Social Graph), then this post is a must read (via Ed). He explains much more clearly what I had in mind before, e.g., here.
In order to use the Net, the Web and the Graph, you do need some kind of a machine, perhaps a computer, and Greg Laden puts together a dream (or nighthmare) setup for you!
Speaking of dream computers, I could not resist... as you may have seen before, Professor Steve Steve and I got to play with the XO laptop back at…
gregladen | November 23, 2007
Oh, wait, don't stop don't stop! Please tell us about the religion bit!
scientificactivist | November 22, 2007From today's (well, technically, tomorrow's) New Zealand Herald:
Creature from hell promises salvation
by Errol Kiong
Scientists have discovered a methane-eating bacterium at Hell's Gate in Rotorua which may offer hope for global warming.
Researchers at GNS Science hope their discovery of the bacterium could one day be used to cut down methane gas emissions from landfills and geothermal power stations.
The bug is part of a group of methane-eating micro-organisms known as methanotrophs, but this one is able to live in hotter and much more acidic conditions.
This article--sporting a wildly…
pharyngula | November 20, 2007Well, the Japanese whaling fleet has left port to go slaughter some whales. This is bad policy for several reasons.
Killing endangered animals is always a bad idea, and the Japanese don't even do it humanely. This is bloody slaughter for the sake of bloody slaughter, and it's going to harm large species that are easily tipped over the brink into extinction.
It's basically done as a subsidy for the whalers. This is not really a profitable business. I get irritated by the local farmers who are raising corn for ethanol, an exercise in inefficiency and waste that gets them government money……