Thursday, 04 May 2006

Six years ago -- long before increasing references to "eco-terrorism" in the news wore out our scare-quote key -- Jeff Luers torched three trucks at an Oregon dealership. For that, he was sentenced to more than 22 years in jail. But a few years in prison have done nothing to soften Luers' stances on radical activism and civil disobedience. If anything, the experience has only helped him rally more people to the cause. Luers explains his philosophy and hopes to Gregory Dicum.

Who Can Plame Them?

U.S. leaks IPCC report confirming climate change is happening

A confidential draft of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been posted on the internet by U.S. officials, months before its scheduled publish date. The posting of the draft, which expresses increased confidence that global warming is human-caused and likely to have devastating consequences, is rumored to have been an attempt to water down the impact of the final report. But we'll still put on our surprised face when the IPCC officially releases it. Meanwhile, evidence of climate change abounds: The vast system of air currents that fuels trade winds and weather patterns across the Pacific Ocean has weakened by 3.5 percent over the last 140 years, according to a new study in Nature. The slowdown is likely to make hurricanes stronger and fuel more rain in some places and droughts in others, and could impact marine life (and fishing) in the Pacific. Global warming computer models predict this very thing.

It's Like We Peed in the Entire World's Snow

Pesticide traces found in snow on high mountains in national parks

Snowfall in high-elevation parks in the Western U.S. is not, um, pure as the driven snow. A recent study found traces of agricultural pesticides in the snowfall at six national parks studied: Sequoia (California), Mount Rainier (Washington), Rocky Mountain (Colorado), Glacier (Montana), Denali (Alaska), and Gates of the Arctic (Alaska). Concentrations of the pesticides, including some that have been banned in the U.S. but (obviously) persist in the environment, generally correlate to regional farm practices, except for the contamination found in the Alaskan parks, which the researchers concluded likely originated elsewhere. "We thought these areas were pristine, and they're not," said a biologist from Mount Rainier National Park. Scientists intend to study the effects on wildlife and plants; they say there's no immediate risk to humans. After all, urban dwellers likely are exposed to much stronger toxic concentrations in their daily tailpipe-sucking routine. Comforting.

Andes Are Dandy

Grist continues to hype Great Peru Giveaway

So you've been reading about Brangelina's impending Namibian nativity, and you're thinking you wouldn't mind heading south of the equator yourself -- but without all the labor pains and paparazzi? Boy, are you in luck! Grist is giving away an eco-trip for two to Peru, and you could be the winner. All you've gotta do is get a friend to sign up for our emails (or sign yourself up for a Grist email newsletter you don't currently get), and you'll be entered to win. But act now; the giveaway ends tomorrow. Just think: the Andes, the Amazon, the alpacas. Who needs the Angelina?

Another Flail in the Coffin

House flails about wildly and ineffectually over higher gas prices

House Republicans, who face a bruising battle to retain their majority status this November, are growing increasingly desperate over high gas prices. Since there's nothing they can actually do to reduce them, this translates into furious political maneuvering. With two fast-tracked bills this week, they sought advantage over Democrats. The first bill directs the Federal Trade Commission to establish a definition of, and penalties for, price gouging. This dumb idea, more or less stolen from Democrats, passed easily. The second bill would have eased (i.e., reduced environmental restrictions on) the permitting process for new refineries. This bad idea -- even oil company execs don't think refinery permits are the problem -- was designed as a "poison pill" Democrats would have to reject, thus allowing Republicans to paint them as "obstructionists." How this flurry of political PR will affect the November elections remains to be seen. How it will affect gas prices, or the longer term energy problem: not a whit.

A Patch Made in Heaven

Ozone layer is recovering, a little

Remember the ozone layer? It's doing better, thanks for asking. A report in Nature indicates that our layer of protection from the sun's ultraviolet rays has stabilized or increased slightly in the past decade. Thanks to human use of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in aerosols and refrigerants, scientists found in the 1980s that seasonal ozone levels were plunging. The new research finds that the ozone layer is recovering, but is unlikely to stabilize at pre-1980 levels, and won't even get close until the end of the century. The ban on CFCs in the 1987 Montreal Protocol is credited with the recovery, but "[i]n another 50 years, chlorofluorocarbons won't be the dominant factor controlling ozone," says aptly named study co-author Betsy Weatherhead. "Instead, we think it will be factors like greenhouse gases, nitrous oxide, and methane." Now where have we heard that before?

Can You Fear Me Now?

Scientists plot to warn future generations about dangers of nuclear site

A thousand or so years from now, a huge underground salt mine in Carlsbad, N.M., will collapse and bury the tons of radioactive, plutonium-covered detritus from nuclear-weapons production that are stored within. But the plutonium will be exceedingly toxic for another 249,000 years. How to make sure nobody digs it up 500 generations down the road? Scientists, futurists, and historians have tried to predict what the future will hold -- feminist corporations? robots? preindustrial tribes? -- and how to communicate danger. "No culture has ever tried, self-consciously and scientifically, to design a symbol that would last 10,000 years and still be intelligible," says one anthropologist. The current plan, which will take a century to complete, consists in part of a two-mile-long berm surrounded by concrete markers with warnings in a variety of languages and pictures of horrified human faces. A quarter-million years later, still apologizing for our mess ...