Friday, 18 May 2007

Get Your Vacuum Cleaner Ready

Southern Ocean losing ability to soak up carbon dioxide, researchers say

If you're counting on the seas to soak up excess emissions and get us out of this climate mess, you might need a new plan. Scientists say Antarctica's Southern Ocean, a whopper of a "carbon sink," is losing its ability to absorb more carbon dioxide. The findings, published in the journal Science, suggest that warming temperatures have intensified winds, those winds help bring carbon up from the depths of the ocean, and that stirred-up carbon keeps surface waters from absorbing more carbon. It's a climate-change catch-22 -- or, as the kids call it, a "positive feedback" -- that was expected, but not for another 40 years. "This is the first unequivocal detection of a carbon sink weakening because of recent climate change," said lead author Corinne Le Quéré. "This is serious. Whenever the world has greatly warmed in the past, the weakening of CO2 sinks has contributed to it." She seems darn sure, but others say the results aren't conclusive. And somewhere in the future, people are laughing at us.

Why Does Bill Richardson Hate America?

Democratic presidential candidate unveils ambitious energy plan

Today we bring you part 16 of "Promising Energy Policies Put Forth By U.S. Presidential Candidates Who Don't Have a Chance in Hell of Getting Elected." This week, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) has been touting his plan for battling global warming. Yesterday, saying the country needs something as bold as JFK's "man-on-the-moon" program, Richardson said he is "calling for a new American revolution -- an energy and climate revolution." The one person listening got really excited as Richardson outlined his plan, which includes increasing fuel economy to 50 miles per gallon by 2020, slashing greenhouse-gas emissions by about 80 percent, significantly cutting foreign-oil imports, and "a massive public and private investment -- yes, tax dollars -- in promoting renewable technologies." The press rushed to point out that the former U.S. Energy secretary has six-figure stock holdings in a Texas-based oil refining company, holdings Richardson would rid himself of if elected. Which: see first sentence.


All right, you got him: Eric Henry's T-shirt company, T.S. Designs, isn't 100 percent sustainable. Because, uh, that's impossible, says Henry -- and besides, it's the thought that counts. But T.S. Designs is taking plenty of steps to go light on the earth, from low-impact dyes to VOC-less inks to green community involvement. As this week's InterActivist, Henry responds to readers about legalizing hemp, keeping the company's patented green process under wraps, and why he won't work with Wal-Mart.

The Beak In Review

West Nile virus hitting bird populations hard, says new study

The West Nile virus soldiers on, declares a report published yesterday in Nature. Eight years after the virus left the West Nile and made its way to the U.S. Northeast, chickadee populations in the region have dropped 53 percent, while Eastern bluebird populations have been diminished by 44 percent. American crows have been hit the hardest, being wiped out entirely in some small regions. According to ecologist Carsten Rahbek, the trend "suggests that West Nile virus could potentially change the composition of bird communities across the entire continent" -- which, of course, could affect not just birds, but the whole food chain. The virus has sickened more than 23,000 Americans and killed nearly 1,000 since 1999. And speaking of that, a different study published recently in Nature suggests that depletion of ecosystems increases the likelihood that diseases like West Nile and Ebola could jump from animals to humans. Guess we'll just have to stop depleting ecosystems. How hard could it be?

And I Am a Recycled-Material Girl

Madonna releases single to support Live Earth climate efforts

What is it about climate change that makes music ... suck? First we had Melissa Etheridge's "I Need to Wake Up," the earnest, Oscar-winning Inconvenient Truth anthem. Now we have Madonna's "Hey You," a somnolent single released this week in conjunction with Live Earth, the continents-spanning climate-awareness concerts planned for 7/7/07. While we can't complain about our favorite virgin's intentions -- the single is downloadable for free for a week, and Microsoft is donating 25 cents for each of the first million downloads to the Alliance for Climate Protection -- we can complain about her music. Because its vapid lyrics and "stripped-down, folksy" style suuuuck. Still, Live Earth's Kevin Wall called the release of the ballad, which Madge will perform at the London concert, "an incredible boost to our efforts to get people engaged in the environmental cause." And you should go download it! To support climate relief! Plus you might love it! In which case, ignore everything else we just said.