July 18, 2006 at 8:10 am
· Filed under Environment, Nature
Saber-toothed kangaroos, three meter tall ducks, tree-climbing crocodiles and marsupial lions, oh my! The fossils of at least 20 new and bizarre species have been unearthed in Austrailia. Is it just me, or does anyone else want to see these species battle it out in IMAX? I mean, it wouldn’t be cruelty to animals since they’re already extinct, right? Maybe that’s why all the fossils were found together: 20 million years ago the Austrailian land predators fought to the death until there was one predator overlord. Who won? I’m betting on the the “demon duck of doom“. No word on what happened to this one:
(Slightly more credible theories for the loss of Austrailia’s megafauna can be found here)
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July 18, 2006 at 7:39 am
· Filed under Energy, Environment, Nature, Policy, Politics
As we slash and burn the Amazon
rainforests , we’re working in
new ones in Antarctica. It was reported at a recent conference that invasive grasses have started growing in Antarctica and that trees will likely be next. Additional gloom and doom from the conference: Antarctic Peninsula air temperatures are rising more rapidly than anywhere else in the world, wind and water current speeds are rapidly increasing, and half of the
sea level rise is due to sea water expanding as it warms.
What are our fearless leaders doing to solve this global crisis? Bickering. The leaders at the G8 Summit have failed to reach a consensus on the issue. I wonder who the problem children are? It’s not a stretch to say that the US is likely difficult to work with on the issue. And the typical American is more worried about immigration and terrorism (although the energy crisis is becoming an issue and is at least tied to our climate crisis).
But think of this: If the administration had devoted the same amount of resources to responding to global warming after Katrina as it did “fighting terrorism” after September 11, 2001 then we would be far better off. Just compare fatalities vs. spending in response.
Fatalities:
Spending: (This is just a sampling of estimates, but look at the magnitude of difference!)
Terrorism:
Iraq:
$300B;
Afghanistan:
$83B ;
Homeland Security :
$30B (plus
2,650 and counting US casualties)
Climate Change:
Science:
$3B;
Energy Conservation:
$2B;
Rita/Katrina Disaster Aid:
$6B (plus
150M Americans living in potential danger zones within 75 km of the coasts!)
It might be easy to say that Katrina is not directly related to global warming, but I’ll counter that by saying that Iraq is not directly related to September 11!
It is indeed a sad state of affairs that we live in. What happens next? If the glass is half empty, we all die from heat or nuclear holocaust. If the glass is half full, we do something to save the planet now before it’s too late. I don’t know about you, but I’m a glass-half-full kind of gal.
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June 16, 2006 at 10:27 pm
· Filed under Environment, Nature, Politics
Last week I had the opportunity to see a lecture by Jean-Michel Cousteau (son of Jacques). Like his father, Cousteau has spent a lifetime exploring the oceans and communicating his discoveries to the public. On recent expeditions, his team traveled to all of the marine sanctuaries in the US. Last week there were 13. This week, thanks to Cousteau and the Bush administration, there are 14. Cousteau made a documentary called Voyage to Kure, which documents his voyage to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. These uninhabited islands are so remote that most visitors don’t even know that they’re there. What they found on this island was absolutely shocking. There were heaps of trash covering the beach. This trash has floated in from all over the world: toys from the US, fishing equipment from Asia, trash from Europe. It was so pervasive that the seabirds were choking on it.
You see, most beaches are cleaned when trash starts accumulating so that we never have to think about all of the trash that is floating around in the oceans. But this untouched beach contained mountains of refuse that had accumulated over the years.
They also found a beautiful wild ocean ecosystem that needed protection.
Fortunately, the Couseau's have influential friends, and the film caught the attention of President and First Lady Bush. The Bush’s were so touched that they even held a private screening of the film for their friends. The result was that President Bush established the Northwest Hawaiian Islands as a National Monument yesterday.
With so much crap going on in our nation, it’s nice to hear a success story like this. Let’s hope that this administration and future administrations maintain a legacy of stewardship in our national sanctuaries, parks and monuments.
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April 4, 2006 at 8:18 pm
· Filed under Environment, Nature
If anyone is interested in watching some Chesapeake Bay life in action, check out this webcam.
The ospreys are building a nest and should be laying eggs soon. I watched them for a few minutes - very meditative.
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