Consilience Productions - Earth

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3

Carbon sequestering.
2008-06-11 00:00:00
As the country inches towards a renewable energy model which will hopefully wean us from our addiction to oil, the most pressing need will be for more electricity for our plug-in hybrids. But where is that electricity going to come from? Coal - which unfortunately leads to more carbon spewed into the atmosphere unless we find a way to capture it: Capturing carbon from these plants may become a lot more important soon. Emissions from coal-fired power plants already account for about 27 percent of American greenhouse emissions, but as prices for other fuels rise, along with power demand, utilities will burn more coal. And if cars someday run on batteries, a trend that $4-a-gallon gasoline will accelerate, then the utilities will burn even more fuel to generate the electricity to recharge those batteries. It's much easier to control the carbon emitted by a few hundred power plants than from the millions of cars and chimneys cranking out the stuff now. The only problem is that we have...
More About: Carbon

Arctic Ice Shelf is cracking up...
2008-05-26 00:00:00
It's happening faster than anyone has expected: Dramatic evidence of the break-up of the Arctic ice-cap has emerged from research during an expedition by the Canadian military. Scientists travelling with the troops found major new fractures during an assessment of the state of giant ice shelves in Canada's far north. According to another scientist on the expedition, Dr Luke Copland of the University of Ottawa, "We're seeing very dramatic changes; from the retreat of the glaciers, to the melting of the sea ice. "We had 23% less (sea ice) last year than we've ever had, and what's happening to the ice shelves is part of that picture." And yet another researcher, Derek Mueller of Trent University, Ontario, remarked: "I was astonished to see these new cracks. It means the ice shelf is disintegrating, the pieces are pinned together like a jigsaw but could float away." It seems like every new discovery up there just reinforces the idea that the Arctic is just melting away...
More About: Cracking , Shelf

Sports subsidies: A New York Yankees Case Study
2008-05-26 00:00:00
David Kay Johnston, in his new book, "Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)," talks about the extent that tax-payer subsidies support Major League sports in this country, with particular attention to the new Yankees stadium being built in The Bronx. In a recent interview with Amy Goodman at Democracy Now!, he pointed out, Now, in this country right now, we are spending $2 billion a year subsidizing the big four sports: baseball, basketball, football and hockey. It accounts for all of the profits of that industry and more. Now, there may be individual teams that make money, but the industry as a whole is not profitable. And that's astonishing because the big four leagues are exempt from the laws of competition. By the way, irony is not dead, because here are people who are in the business of competition on the field who are exempted by law from the rules of economic competition. George Steinbrenner is getting...
More About: Sports , New York , Study , New York Yankees , York

Earth Day - Why Bother?
2008-05-01 00:00:00
In case you missed it, on Earth Day last week Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and ''In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto," wrote an extraordinary essay that dares to refute the current malaise by some towards Global Warming. It starts out: Why bother? That really is the big question facing us as individuals hoping to do something about climate change, and it's not an easy one to answer. I don't know about you, but for me the most upsetting moment in "An Inconvenient Truth" came long after Al Gore scared the hell out of me, constructing an utterly convincing case that the very survival of life on earth as we know it is threatened by climate change. No, the really dark moment came during the closing credits, when we are asked to . . . change our light bulbs. That's when it got really depressing. The immense disproportion between the magnitude of the problem Gore had described and the puniness of what he was asking us to do about it was enough to sink you...
More About: Earth Day

Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler
2008-04-16 00:00:00
Back in January, there was a very comprehensive article in the NY Times detailing the environmental costs that meat-eaters generate whenever they order that steak or hamburger. Little known to most people, the meat industry contributes mightily to global warming: Gidon Eshel, a geophysicist at the Bard Center, and Pamela A. Martin, an assistant professor of geophysics at the University of Chicago, calculated in a published paper that if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan -- a Camry, say -- to the ultra-efficient Prius. Similarly, a study last year by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Japan estimated that 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 155 miles, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days. How much meat do we Americans consume? Americans are downing close to 20...
More About: Meat

NY State Assembly kills congestion pricing.
2008-04-09 00:00:00
Well, that victory was short-lived...dang it! Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's ambitious dream to remake New York City streets with an elaborate plan for congestion pricing appeared to die Monday in a private conference room on the third floor of the State Capitol. It was there that Democratic members of the State Assembly , who control the chamber, held one final meeting to debate the merits of Mr. Bloomberg's plan, ultimately conferring -- in secret -- before Sheldon Silver, the speaker, emerged to announce the outcome. The opposition was so overwhelming, he said, that he would not hold an open vote of the full Assembly, though many Republicans were supportive of Mr. Bloomberg. It's pretty outrageous that the speaker, Sheldon Silver, wouldn't even hold an open vote on one of the biggest environmental issues this city has faced in the new century. Our representatives are supposed to be employed by us, but how can we decide if we want to keep someone in their job if they vote in s...
More About: Congestion

New York City Council approves congestion pricing plan
2008-04-02 00:00:00
Big news out of City Hall: Shortly before 7:30 p.m., the New York City Council approved a measure urging state lawmakers to vote in favor of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's congestion pricing proposal. The congestion pricing plan, as approved by a 17-member state commission that voted at the end of January, would charge drivers with an E-ZPass $8 a day to enter Manhattan below 60th Street on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Those drivers would also receive a credit for bridge or tunnel tolls they paid on the same day. Drivers without an E-ZPass would pay $9 and would not receive credit for tolls. The plan is similar to one proposed by Mayor Bloomberg last April -- but that plan would have established a northern boundary at 86th Street and included a $4 charge for car trips within the congestion zone. The mayor has noted that the city will qualify for $354 million in federal grants for mass transit improvements if congestion pricing is approved. This is great news, said Michael O'L...
More About: Congestion , New York City

Antarctic ice shelf melting faster than expected
2008-03-31 00:00:00
What was expected to take 15 years - a certain part of the Antarctic ice shelf dropping off into the sea - is happening right now: Satellite imagery from the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder reveals that a 13,680 square kilometer (5,282 square mile) ice shelf has begun to collapse because of rapid climate change in a fast-warming region of Antarctica. The Western Antarctica has experienced the fastest warming on the planet over the past 50 years, increasing by almost a degree Fahrenheit each decade! This portion of the ice shelf - called The Wilkens - has been there for about 1500 years, but is now, today as we speak, is dropping off into the ocean, sheared in a straight line: Cheng-Chien Liu, of Taiwan's National Cheng-Kung University, said, "It looks as if something is slicing the ice shelf piece by piece on an incredible scale, kilometers long but only a few hundred meters in width." And British Antarctic Survey glaciologist, David Vau...
More About: Shelf

Global Warming Fast Facts
2008-03-24 00:00:00
In case you need statistics at the ready (like when you're having a wonderful discussion with a Global Warming Denier), our friends over at The National Geographic website provide the following: ? Average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880, much of this in recent decades, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. ? The rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century's last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies. And the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that 11 of the past 12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850. ? Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier. Polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from the sea-ice loss. ? Glaciers and mountain snows are rapidly melting -- f...
More About: Facts , Fast

Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood
2008-03-20 00:00:00
The folks over at The Blue Ocean Institute are in the midst of a huge push to hand out 5 million Seafood Guide s this year. Their Seafood Guide is basically a wallet-sized list of which fish should be consumed -...
More About: Friendly

Green Dry Cleaning
2008-03-13 00:00:00
This awesome article from Co-Op America details how "un-green" the traditional dry cleaning industry really is. The keyword is "Perc": According to the Occidental College's Pollution Prevention Center, 85 percent of the more than 35,000 dry cleaners in the United...
More About: Cleaning , Green

Let There Be (Fluorescent) Light
2008-03-05 00:00:00
From a recent "Greentips," published by a wonderful organization called The Union of Concerned Scientists: Today's compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) already use 50 to 80 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs. If every U.S. household replaced just one incandescent...
More About: Light , Fluorescent

Buried Seed Vault
2008-03-05 00:00:00
This past week, Norway opened its "doomsday" seed vault to safeguard seeds from around the world against climate change, wars or natural disasters: After several years of planning and digging, the world has its first secure, deep-frozen repository for backup...
More About: Vault , Seed

Are you an Eco-Mom?
2008-02-21 00:00:00
Listen up, Tupperware ladies, the 21st century presents...Eco-Moms! Move over, Tupperware. The EcoMom party has arrived, with its ever-expanding "to do" list that includes preparing waste-free school lunches; lobbying for green building codes; transforming oneself into a "locovore," eating locally...

A safer and greener car
2008-02-06 00:00:00
Is bigger better and safer? In the automotive industry, it certainly isn't true, not to mention the ramifications to climate change that these huge SUVs bring: Many consumers believe that the goals of a "safer car" and a "more fuel-efficient...

New York City bans plastic bags
2008-01-19 00:00:00
Large stores and retail chains in New York City must now collect and recycle bags they give to customers: New York is by far the largest American city to enact so broad a measure to limit the environmental impact of...
More About: Bags , New York City

Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize Speech
2007-12-16 00:00:00
This past Monday, Al Gore gave his acceptance speech to the Nobel Committee for the prize he received this year. It was an utterly astounding speech, one of the most inspiring he's ever given. Send this link on, or print...
More About: Peace , Nobel Peace Prize , Speech

How to spot an "Eco-Fraud" when shopping 'green.'
2007-12-09 00:00:00
Not sure if some company that's touting the latest "green" goodie is really being nice rather than naughty? Well, Eileen Gunn over at TheStreet.com wrote a terrific article helping consumers spot "eco-fraud" when shopping: Our job as consumers, environmental groups...
More About: Shopping , Fraud , Green , Spot

Engineers Without Borders
2007-11-25 00:00:00
You've heard of Doctors without Borders , the organization that donates health professionals from rich Western nations to help those less fortunate countries around the world? Well, now there's, Engineers without Borders: Engineers Without Borders - USA (EWB-USA) is a non-profit...

Low Guilt Potato Chips
2007-11-19 00:00:00
Here's an interesting story that easily could have appeared on our "Money" blog: At Frito-Lay's factory here, more than 500,000 pounds of potatoes arrive every day from New Mexico to be washed, sliced, fried, seasoned and portioned into bags of...
More About: Potato , Guilt , Chips

Vampire Electronics
2007-10-31 00:00:00
Be scared...be very scared: A force as insidious as Bram Stoker's leading man is quietly sucking a nickel of every dollar's worth of the electricity that seeps from your home's outlets. Insert the little fangs of your cell phone charger...
More About: Electronics , Vampire

By removing lead in gasoline, did we also reduce the crime rate?
2007-10-29 00:00:00
A fascinating story in the NY Times recently details a new theory put forward by Amherst College economist, Jessica Wolpaw Reyes, which basically traces how the elimination of lead has led to a decline in the crime rate. It starts...
More About: Crime , Gasoline , Reduce , Rate , Lead

Save Money on Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs)!
2007-10-16 00:00:00
CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs) can save you a lot of money on your electricity bill: Compared to incandescent lamps of the same luminous flux, CFLs use less energy and have a longer rated life. In the United States, a CFL...
More About: Money , Save Money , Save

Break the bottled water habit.
2007-10-16 00:00:00
The bottled water industry has exploded in just the first few years of this nascent century. And that is horrible news for the planet. From NewDream.org: The Beverage Marketing Corporation reports that Americans consumed 31.2 billion liters of water in...
More About: Break , Water , Bottled Water , Brea , Abit

Walruses in Alaska and New York City humans in the sea in October.
2007-10-09 00:00:00
After swimming in the Atlantic Ocean near New York City yesterday for the first time ever in October, this story caught my eye: Thousands of walrus have appeared on Alaska 's northwest coast in what conservationists are calling a dramatic consequence...
More About: New York City

Organic flowers and virgin forests
2007-10-01 00:00:00
Every day we vote with our wallets. Whether it's buying a new car or sending flowers, our purchases can either support the status quo or help a fledgling market get off the ground. All consumption comes with a cost to...
More About: Flowers , Virgin , Organic , Forests , Organ

Carbon Tax: an economist's answer to Global Warming
2007-09-21 00:00:00
Gregory Mankiw, professor of economics at Harvard, spells out the only real way to bring down the consumption of carbon, which is the only way we're going to avert the loom climate crisis: In the debate over global climate change,...
More About: Global Warming , Answer , Carbon , Global , Carbon tax

It takes deep pockets to fight global warming.
2007-09-14 00:00:00
As it becomes more and more ingrained in humanity's psyche that we need to do something fast - and big - to offset all of the damage we are inflicting on Mother Earth, it's only going to become more obvious...
More About: Global Warming , Fight , Global , Deep , Ming

Researchers link antibiotic use on hog farms to antibiotic-resistant genes
2007-09-08 00:00:00
From a new study at Science Daily: A recent study by researchers at the University of Illinois found that bacteria in groundwater harbored antibiotic-resistant genes that could be linked directly to area hog farms and to underground seepage of excess...
More About: Link , Farms , Genes

Bottled Water = Guilty by Design
2007-08-26 00:00:00
We might have just passed a turning point, where more of us realize the evils of plain old bottled water: On a recent family vacation in Cape Cod, Jenny Pollack, 40, a novelist and public relations associate from Brooklyn, did...
More About: Design , Water , Bottled Water , Guilty