Monday, 05 Feb 2007

The Triple Threat

New plan would nearly triple Yellowstone daily snowmobile limit

Gentlemen, stroke your engines: The National Park Service has issued a draft plan that would nearly triple the number of snowmobiles allowed into Yellowstone National Park each day, from 250 to 720. While the limit is lower than the average number entering the park daily before the Clinton administration put the practice on ice -- a move reversed by the Bush administration -- it's still freakin' high. "The facts and science gave [NPS] a direction to take, then they softened, twisted, and contorted the science," says former park superintendent Michael Finley. "The plan deserves to be challenged. It deserves burial in deep snow." Other fans of peace, quiet, clean air, and critters agreed, but supporters of the new plan pointed out that it would allow only guided trips and would require noise-reduction gadgets on accompanying snow coaches. "We can achieve [natural-resource protection] goals with a managed program," said one park staffer. A final draft will be released for public comment in March.


Gary Lagerloef is senior research scientist at a nonprofit called Earth & Space Research -- but he is, in fact, an oceanographer. So tricky! Dedicated to amassing scientific knowledge about the impact of the briny deep on our climate, Lagerloef was recently picked to head an ocean-researching satellite mission for NASA. As InterActivist this week, he talks about the lure of saltwater, the joys of being on the cutting edge of science, and the great benefits of occasionally doing absolutely nothing. Send Lagerloef a question by noon PST on Wednesday; we'll publish his answers to selected questions on Friday.

Now Who's a Moonbeam?

On heels of climate report, governments and businesses get real

Heeding a call from French President Jacques Chirac, 46 nations are backing a plan to create a powerful new U.N. Environment Organization that could police climate offenders. Egregious emitters Russia, China, India, and the U.S. didn't leap up and down volunteering to join, but Chirac will keep pushing, since the "very survival of humankind hangs in the balance." Whatevs. In other news, 12 corporations including Nike, Polaroid, Sony, and IBM pledged to cut emissions totaling 10 million tons annually by 2010 as part of the World Wildlife Fund's "Climate Savers" program. WWF says only 1,300 more big companies need to sign on to meet the world's Kyoto Protocol goals! Facing an even bigger obstacle, newly minted California Attorney General Jerry Brown (D) (yup, that one) is seeking a deal with six leading automakers over an emissions suit filed by his predecessor. Brown hopes to avoid pressing the suit: "At the end of the day, we're looking to control global warming, not just employing lawyers."


Shivering in the cold now that winter's behaving properly? Let the words of advice maven Umbra Fisk warm you. Today, Umbra fields a question from a reader who's a fan of pellet stoves and wonders why they've been overlooked in previous columns. Umbra logs on with an answer, probing for the truth about pellets and stoking the fires of a hot topic.

If You Blog It, They Will Come

A 21st-century gold rush hits the Brazilian Amazon

Our fair city of Seattle was once a gold rush town, a way station for loading up on supplies and sex before heading to the Yukon. So we feel an affinity for the mud-caked prospectors combing a remote stretch of Brazilian rainforest in hopes of finding nuggets worth $530 an ounce. We feel pangs of recognition when we hear that the makeshift city of Eldorado do Juma is sprouting tree-branch-and-tarp businesses including bakeries and a 16-room brothel. But we feel just a bit ill when we remember that all that mining -- an "open door" apparently sparked by a math teacher's internet account of local miners' finds -- is leading to felled trees, diverted streams, and other nasty land abuses. Not to mention rampant malaria. Regulators hope to keep some 10,000 giddy miners from using heavy machinery and mercury to get their gold, but the purported landowner wants to cash in. "This place has a great future," he says. "There are other minerals here besides gold. We have to get organized to exploit it."