Thursday, 23 Sep 2004

Idle Thoughts

Umbra on whether to leave the engine running

A pizza-delivering reader makes many stops during a day, picking up and handing off pies. Mmm ... pizza ... uh, where were we? Yes, pizza-delivery person wonders about that perennial question: Is it better to shut off the car engine during a short stop, or does starting the engine up again just burn more gas and create more emissions? According to Umbra, there is a clear, unambiguous answer -- and you can read all about it today in Ask Umbra, on the Grist Magazine website.

Water Racket!

Noise in the ocean is killing sea creatures

The world's oceans are getting noisier and it's killing the creatures that live there, scientists say. One major culprit is oil and gas drilling, which involves low-frequency seismic pulses used to survey geologic strata; military sonar and large shipping vessels also generate their share of racket. The U.K.'s Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, which recently launched an Oceans of Noise campaign, says there is evidence that all the noise is causing hearing loss, injury, and even death in cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises). In some cases, the animals can fail to hear predators approaching, or fail to hear each other, causing mommy whales to lose their baby whales (Disney, are you listening?). Also threatened is the mysterious giant squid, unusual numbers of which have been found beached in Spain recently, some with their organs damaged almost beyond recognition. Researchers speculate that noise pollution drove them to surface too quickly, causing air-pressure issues that we don't even want to think about.

When You Wish Upon a Car

Car-Free Day: A good idea, but not without its difficulties

Yesterday was Car-Free Day. Couldn't you tell? Some 1,500 municipalities, the vast majority in Europe, participated, but the idea hasn't really caught on in the U.S., outside of a few scattered cities. Reading the European news does not give one great hope that it ever will. Hundreds of cities blocked off streets or entire districts to non-essential traffic. However, the bicyclists and pedestrians that descended on said districts complained that too many commercial and residential vehicles were allowed in, while streets outside the car-free areas were, ironically, clogged with traffic jams. Still, car-free advocates say the day has merit and hope the idea will spread. As Gus Yates of CarFreeCity USA says, "Asthma, the obesity epidemic, oil wars in the Middle East, traffic congestion, global warming -- there's a whole litany of problems for which decreasing the use of automobiles is a major part of the solution."

My Pet Goat

Masai tribes eye white settler land in Kenya

The Masai tribespeople of Kenya are running out of land for their herds of goats, cows, and sheep, and they are starting to covet the vast swaths controlled by the country's white settlers -- land that contains copious wildlife, including endangered species like the black rhino. The conflict is touchy. Many of the whites are sympathetic to the Masai, whose land was stolen and transferred to whites by the British a century ago. "I know how it would feel if I were them, even 100 years later," says Laria Grant, who lives on her father's 14,000-acre ranch. However, she adds, "we feel as strongly about this land as they do." Many white settlers no longer use their land for grazing at all, but rather for wildlife preserves sustained by ecotourism, in some cases boasting more endangered species than the country's official preserves. Thus far the Kenyan government has protected the settlers, fearing the kind of economic catastrophe that befell Zimbabwe after it seized farms from white landowners, and hoping that a more measured program of limiting the length of white settlers' leases will balance the needs of wildlife and the country's native people.

Lost in the Wilderness Committee

Wild Sky wilderness bill dead in the water for this year

Despite overwhelming public and bipartisan support, an effort to create Washington state's first new wilderness area in 20 years died yesterday, thanks to both partisan quarreling and the intransigence of Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), chair of the House Resources Committee. The story is complicated and rife with political finger-pointing. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) was the original sponsor of a bill proposing the 106,000-acre Wild Sky wilderness area, to be located in his district northeast of Seattle. Pombo balked at the bill, saying that because some of the land had long ago been logged, it couldn't qualify as wilderness. Then Rep. George Nethercutt (R-Wash.) stepped in, claiming he had the cred and influence to craft a version that would satisfy Pombo and get the bill out of committee. Washington state Democrats said Nethercutt's version was too weak, and claimed Nethercutt was using the issue to bolster his campaign to unseat Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in this year's election. The bickering gave Pombo an excuse to yank the whole thing, calling it a "political football."