Tuesday, 23 May 2006

The Aye Yi Yi of the Storm

NOAA predicts active hurricane season this year

This year's hurricane season, which starts June 1, will produce up to 10 hurricanes in the North Atlantic, up to six of which will be Category 3 (winds over 111 miles per hour) or above, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted yesterday. NOAA thinks it will be an above-average season, but less active than 2005, when there were 15 hurricanes. U.S. government agencies are stressing individual preparedness; acting Federal Emergency Management Agency Director David Paulison said the agency is better prepared this year (a low bar to clear), but noted that New Orleans evacuees currently living in government trailers on the coast would have to evacuate if winds reached even tropical-storm levels of 39 mph. Many scientists believe global warming is increasing hurricane intensity, and some are pondering whether to add a Category 6 (winds greater than 175 mph) to the current hurricane scale. Shiver our timbers.


Politicians who've been blasting the Endangered Species Act in recent years might be apoplectic if they knew about laws on the books that protect mythical creatures. We're talking skunk apes, sea monsters, Bigfoot, and more -- really. Reporter Dan Rafter goes into tracking mode to find out which imaginary critters are protected and who's watching out for them.

Gone to Speed

Globe will warm faster than predicted, new studies say

Global warming won't be as bad as we thought, says new research -- it'll be worse. Two separate climate-change studies factored in increased carbon dioxide released from warming soil, forests, and oceans, and came up with similar results: current climate models may underestimate warming by 15 to 78 percent. Yippee! The two groups, one from the U.S. and one from Europe, used different methods and focused on different time periods, yet produced concurrent data. Both groups admit that ecosystems in the current era of deforestation and rampant fertilizer use may act differently from the ecosystems from which their data is drawn, but say that if anything, their predictions are conservative. Said researcher Margaret Torn, "To predict the future you have to guess how much carbon dioxide levels will go up. That depends on the biggest uncertainty of all, what humans do." That's pretty much the opposite of comforting.


You've been trying to buy things locally to reduce the impacts of shipping. But are shipping companies doing anything to reduce the impacts of shipping? Some are, as it turns out, from developing new hybrid trucks to following tighter rules on cargo-vessel emissions. With activists turning a fresh eye on freight, progress is gaining speed, green-biz guru Joel Makower reports.

Yukon Count on Me

Group aims to create wildlife corridor from Yellowstone to Yukon

Recognizing that halting development is just not feasible (these are humans we're talking about), a group called Y2Y wants to create a wildlife corridor stretching from Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon in northwest Canada that would allow animals and people to coexist peaceably. A collaboration of conservationists, scientists, and government officials, Y2Y has worked on overpasses and underpasses that let wildlife safely cross highways, and negotiated to curb some use of golf courses and ski slopes to clear the way for animals to traverse them. The goal is to link numerous shrinking wildlife habitats into one long contiguous corridor, hopefully effecting an increase in population -- what zoologist Michael Proctor calls "sex across the highway." Saucy! Researchers have their work cut out for them, trying to determine what structures will be acceptable to a great diversity of megafauna; meanwhile, many existing structures meant for wildlife are being used by eager hikers and bikers. Damn humans.