ApocaDocuments (7) for the "Recovery" scenario from this week
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Sun, May 31, 2009
from Cornell University via ScienceDaily:
Blue Whale Discovered Singing In New York Coastal Waters
For the very first time in New York coastal waters, the voices of singing blue whales have been positively identified. Acoustic experts at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bioacoustics Research Program (BRP) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) confirmed that the voice of a singing blue whale was tracked about 70 miles off of Long Island and New York City on Jan. 10-11, 2009, as the whale swam slowly from east to west. At the same time, a second blue whale was heard singing offshore in the far distance...."It's just amazing to hear one singing out there on New York's ocean stage only tens of miles from Carnegie Hall and Broadway!" said Christopher Clark, director of Cornell's BRP. "This opens a whole new universe of opportunities for all of us to learn more about and appreciate these species and the vitality of New York's marine environment." ...
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Sounds like it's auditioning to me!
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Sat, May 30, 2009
from Living on Earth:
Oil on Trial
...Three of the world's biggest oil companies are currently battling environmental human rights lawsuits. The Exxon Mobil case involves Indonesia. The Chevron/Texaco suit is in Ecuador. And the Shell case involves Nigeria. That case is about to go on trial in a New York federal court....Chevron is being sued for 27 billion dollars for polluting the jungle....in Indonesia Exxon Mobile is being sued by some villagers in Ache for human rights violations allegedly committed by soldiers guarding a natural gas plant. ...
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Aw jeez, prices at the pump are gonna go up.
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Wed, May 27, 2009
from Guardian (UK):
China puts its faith in solar power with huge renewable energy investment
China is the world's leading manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) panels, which turn sunlight into electricity. But 95 percent of these are exported.
While solar thermal power, in which sunlight heats water, is in widespread use, the central government and the five major utilities have deemed PV power too expensive, particularly compared with coal, which generates electricity for between an eighth and a tenth of the cost.
But the global economic crisis and increasing concerns about climate change and energy security have prompted a change in attitudes.
Since last year, a glut in supply of PV panels has pushed prices down by more than 30 percent, cutting profits of domestic manufacturers such as Suntech.
To support them and widen the country's energy base, the plan is expected to include the biggest ever boost for solar power, along with extra spending and policy support for nuclear, wind and biomass power.
By 2020, the government is committed to raising the share of renewable energy (excluding hydroelectric power) in the energy mix to 6 percent, from the current 1.5 percent. ...
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Can they make photovoltaics as cheap as their crappy microwaves?
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Wed, May 27, 2009
from University of Warwick, via EurekAlert:
Research suggests we are genetically programmed to care about climate change
Dr Peter Sozou suggests that individuals may have an innate tendency to care about the long-term future of their communities, over timescales much longer than an individual's lifespan. This in turn may help to explain people's wish to take action over long-term environmental problems.... Dr Sozou said: 'This analysis shows that the social discount rate is generally lower than the private discount rate. An individual's valuation of a future benefit to herself is governed by the probability that she will still be alive in future. But she may value future benefits to her community over a timescale considerably longer than her own lifespan.
'Evolution is driven by competition. Caring about the future of your community makes evolutionary sense to the extent that future members of your community are likely to be your relatives.' ...
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I wish our genetics would hurry up then.
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Tue, May 26, 2009
from Times Online (UK):
Steven Chu: paint the world white to fight global warming
The Nobel prize-winning physicist appointed by President Obama as US Energy Secretary wants to change the colour of roofs, roads and pavements so they reflect more of the Sun's light and heat to combat global warming, he said today.... By lightening all paved surfaces and roofs to the colour of cement, it would be possible to reduce carbon emissions by as much as taking all the world's cars off the roads for 11 years, he said.... Pale surfaces reflect up to 80 per cent of the sunlight that falls on them, compared to about 20 per cent for dark ones, which is why roofs and walls in hot countries are often whitewashed. An increase in the number of pale surfaces would help contain climate change both by reflecting more solar radiation into space and by reducing the amount of energy needed to keep buildings cool by air-conditioning.... Professor Chu said: "There's a friend of mine, a colleague of mine, Art Rosenfeld, who's pushing very hard for a geo-engineering we all believe will be completely benign, and that's when you have a flat-top roof building, make it white. ...
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That's so reasonable it just... might... work!
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Tue, May 26, 2009
from Washington Post:
In Ecuador, an Unusual Carbon-Credit Plan to Leave Oil Untapped
QUITO, Ecuador -- Beneath the tropical jungles of northeastern Ecuador lies a vast pool of oil, representing one-fifth of the small Andean country's petroleum reserves and potentially billions of dollars in revenue. Directly above that pool, the Yasuni National Park is home to a diversity of wildlife that is among the richest on the planet, Ecuadoran and U.S. biologists say.
Faced with these two treasures, Ecuador is pursuing an unusual plan to reap the oil profits without actually drilling for oil.
The idea envisions wealthy countries effectively paying Ecuador to leave its oil -- and the carbon dioxide that would result from using it -- in the ground. Environmentalists hail the proposal as a potentially precedent-setting approach to conservation in developing countries.
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Don't drill, baby, don't drill!
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Mon, May 25, 2009
from Associated Press:
Study says businesses can create clean energy jobs
COPENHAGEN -- Business leaders vowed Monday to help world governments set a price on carbon, establishing a market that governments can use to cut greenhouse gases.
"I think we can craft some pretty clear direction," said Tony Hayward, the chief executive officer of BP PLC.
That approach requires governments to join a new U.N.-administered treaty for regulating greenhouse gases that proponents hope to hammer out by December... The predictions came at a global business summit where corporate leaders are focusing on how to help politicians negotiate a new global climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto treaty that expires in 2012. ...
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Businesses and politicians working together? Now all we need is common po' folks to join in!
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