Friday, 30 Mar 2007

And the Miliband Played On

Despite talk of cuts, U.K. carbon emissions on the rise

It's too bad surging emissions aren't cause for joy. Because then the Brits would be dancing right now instead of tearing each other new ones. But alas: data show that U.K. carbon emissions rose 1.25 percent last year, to the highest level since the Labor Party took charge in 1997. Environment Secretary David Miliband said the U.K. is still on track to meet or beat its Kyoto goals, but conceded that the figures -- fueled largely by a switch from gas to coal power -- are "worrying." Activists were less restrained: "The government dreams up estimates of what its policies can deliver without any external scrutiny; and as soon as there is any external scrutiny, they turn out to be dreams," said Friends of the Earth's Mike Childs. Keith Allott of the U.K. World Wildlife Fund -- which put out its own study showing that U.K. power-plant emissions are up 30 percent since 1999 -- called the revelations "a disgrace for Britain." Here's a tip from the U.S. of A.: Lower your expectations! Works every time.

Alternative School

U.S. college students are, like, totally into clean energy

In answer to the loathed question "What are you going to do after you graduate?" gaggles of U.S. college students are looking into careers in alternative energy. (A group of college students is called a gaggle, right?) Green technology is having a heyday in schools from Illinois State to Harvard to Dartmouth; energy professor Dan Kammen says enrollment in energy classes at UC-Berkeley "is off the charts." At Stanford, which recently renamed its Petroleum Engineering Department the Energy Resources Engineering Department, attendance at a recent student-organized renewable-energy symposium was nearly triple the 500 expected. "There is a fad dynamic to this, but I think that this is going to be a long-term thing," says Christine Rosen of UC's Haas School of Business. "Technological innovation, the rising cost of oil, conflict in the Middle East, and the public's growing awareness of global climate change are having an impact." You might even say we're finally learning our lesson.


Mary Anne Hitt has lost her faith in the promises of coal companies. "Clean coal" is right around the bend? Unlikely. Mountains razed by mining will provide jobs through further commercial use? Only 1 percent actually do. But this week's InterActivist, who fights mountaintop-removal mining as the director of Appalachian Voices, stays optimistic -- through the support of friends, her fabulous dog, and the beauty of the mountains themselves. Check out her responses to reader questions -- and hear her belt out a tune.

A Fine Discovery

Some coral may be resistant to acidification, reefs still doomed

The world's oceans are on track to be more acidic by 2100 than they've been for 20 million years, thanks to our fiendish friend carbon dioxide. But research by Israeli scientists shows that the coral polyps living in underwater reefs may be able to survive, even as the reefs themselves are destroyed. Marine zoologist Maoz Fine put two Mediterranean species to the test and found that, while the reef skeletons started to dissolve when acid levels rose, the polyps reproduced and grew to an unrecognizable size. "Our students -- everyone we showed -- thought we were joking" about which species were in the tanks, Fine says. He also reports that the polyps became self-reliant instead of being part of a system that is normally "like a kibbutz. All members are equal and share everything; if one polyp hunts plankton, it shares it among the community." When normal conditions were restored, the polyps shrank back down and rebuilt their skeletons. Which is maybe the coolest thing we've heard all week.

The Hill's Not Alive With the Sound of Music

Gore climate concert kicked off of Capitol grounds

In a decision that sent discordant music wafting toward Al Gore's ears, a group of Republican senators has put the kibosh on using the Capitol grounds for a gigantic climate-change-awareness concert this summer. The group -- led, not surprisingly, by climate skeptic James Inhofe (R-Okla.) -- blocked a resolution authorizing Gore to use the area as the North American venue of his 7/7/07 Live Earth shows. The move was justified, Inhofe declared through a spokesperson, because the event would be "highly partisan." Because as everyone knows, global warming affects only Democrats. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) spoke for all of the groovy people: "It's dangerous enough to deny science; it's sheer lunacy to deny song." In less loony news, the Goracle will receive the 2007 International Emmy Founders Award in November for his role in launching young-adult-focused Current TV and for spreading awareness about global warming. Really, he's been doing that? Who knew?