Tuesday, 29 Aug 2006

You might have noticed, what with the media onslaught and all, that it's been a year since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast. And what a difference a year makes ... oh wait, actually, the city's still screwed. Fixing the damage caused to homes, communities, families, and hearts has only just begun -- as a group of residents shows in a new exhibit of photos and stories.

The Big Seep

Global warming could lead to release of more methane from seafloor

A warming ocean could release more of the potent greenhouse gas methane in a vicious cycle that leads to more warming, says a new report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Petroleum and methane seep consistently from small cracks in the seafloor, but a study of ocean sediments near Santa Barbara, Calif., found that during the last two major warming periods, around 11,000 and 15,000 years ago, three times more oil and methane were released than average. The researchers hypothesize that undersea methane ice melt could disturb the seafloor and open new cracks for seepage. "This is a source of methane that we might have assumed in the past was stable," said lead author Tessa Hill. "As it turns out, it's very sensitive to climate change." Hill cautioned that the research should not be extrapolated worldwide, as methane stores in different parts of the ocean might not follow the same pattern. Small consolation, that.


Fear: it's as American as freedom fries these days, and the Right isn't afraid to manipulate you with it. Anger and fear are good motivators, like it or not, and violence is oft cited as effectively "sending a message." Should environmentalists be focusing more energies on scare tactics, or is there a more effective way to tackle long-term problems? In a five-part series on Grist's blog, David Roberts considers where fear intersects with environmentalism, and whether reason, compassion, forbearance, and selflessness can hold their own.

Lebanon Sequitur

Lebanese oil spill continues to spread

Six weeks after Israel bombed a Lebanese power plant, spilling 10,000 to 15,000 tons of heavy fuel oil into the Mediterranean Sea, the disaster continues to be disastrous. The slick has traveled an estimated 90 miles north, affecting every one of Lebanon's approximately 200 beaches, and may reach Syria and Turkey. Lebanon's coastline has traded in throngs of tourists for beach-cleanup volunteers; in Beirut, 18 miles from the original site of the spill, they gaze upon black sand and yellowish-green water, breathe in the scent of petroleum, and look in vain for any sign of live fish. Lebanese divers have found oil up to four inches thick on the seabed; sea turtle hatchlings at an island nature reserve will have to crawl through an oil slick to reach the water; and coastal towns with fishing- and tourism-dependent economies are struggling mightily. Ongoing conflict has delayed cleanup, which Lebanon's Environment Ministry estimates will cost $150 million over the next year. Worst of all, there's really nothing funny to say about any of it.


As summer winds down and fall looms on the horizon, it's time for some of you bright young things to go back to school. To inspire and motivate the aspiring environmental entrepreneurs in the bunch, John Elkington and Mark Lee surveyed sustainability experts, asking: What's the 21st-century version of the famous "plastics" advice from The Graduate? Find out today in the latest Full Disclosure column.

The Beak Shall Inherit the Earth

Sixteen bird species saved from extinction

Sixteen bird species that nearly went extinct in the mid-1990s were saved by international cooperation and concerted conservation efforts, according to a study published in the journal Oryx by researchers from BirdLife International. Scientists say the rebounds in populations of the Norfolk Island green parrot, the Mauritius parakeet, and 14 other species show there's hope of slowing the trend toward human-caused bird extinctions. "It is encouraging that bird conservation actions worldwide are making a noticeable dent in the bleak scenario of global biodiversity loss," wrote Cambridge zoologist Ana S. L. Rodrigues, who summarized the research in Science. However, if humans continue to tear down tropical forests and engage in other not-so-bird-conducive activities, the feathered-friend extinction rate could rise tenfold in the next decade. Said Stuart Butchart, author of the BirdLife study, "These successes show that preventing extinctions is possible, given political will and concerted action." Hmm, speaking of rare ...