Polar Bears Re-classified

Our appologies for our lapse in posting during the past week's holiday mayhem...

Back to business...

Bush Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne recently proposed listing polar bears as a "threatened species". Could this be the Bush Administration's first tangible acknowledement of global warming? Click here

Get That Wolf Away From My Cow....

The Feds are removing the Endangered Species status of the gray wolf in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, eastern Washington, and ultimately, Wyoming. Trophy hunters seeking elk, ranchers protecting livestock, and some special-interest-loving hookers from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service want to place the wolves firmly back in the crosshairs of their high-powered rifles. Is this the American way? I don't think so! The gray wolf represents all the flag-waving grandeur, resourcefulness, agression and predatory instincts that make America great.

Embarking, once again, on a misguided quest to make the great American frontier safe from alpha-predators -- weakens national security, promotes the proliferation of fat, flatulent, cattlemen and drags us all back into the 19th century. For more facts, click here.
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A roadmap for the future

Environment Northeast, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization addressing a broad range of environmental issues affecting New England and eastern Canada, has produced a roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the region by 75% by 2050. For more info checkout their website . (click here)
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Europe, Kyoto and trade...

Something a little heavier but nonetheless important...The European Union is rejecting a proposal by the French to place a green tax on goods and imports from countries that have not signed on to the Kyoto Treaty. (click here)
Though they are not endorsing this particular proposal, Europe is generally taking the moral and economic "high ground" on green trade issues. Ultimately, international trade, manufacturing and innovation in green industries will be become big business. The United States and other bigtime polluters, (see China), will eventually be forced to change due to greener economic realities and global political pressure. It's far better to get on-board now and take a leadership position (like Europe) than end up the victim of tariffs and restrictions on our products and services. The U.S. should not allow itself to be lumped in with China on the "polluting badboys" list.
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Asian Economic Boom Clouds Skies

Personal freedom and materialism are vibrant components of any modern economic expansion. Asia's booming economies are creating a culture that finds the environment and public transportation taking a backseat to the ultimate expressions of personal wealth and freedom, cars, motorcycles, scooters (story) and the ensuing air pollution problems.
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Private Land Conservation

Private land set aside for conservation grew to 37 million acres - an area larger than New England - between 2000 and 2005, according to a recent study by the Land Trust Alliance, a Washington-based umbrella group of local, state, and national land conservation groups. STORY

In an effort to save endangered shorelines, marshland and open terrain, private citizens are forming private trusts and conservation easements. Some do it for tax benefits, some for truly altruistic conservation principal. In either case, they're preserving valuable resources for future generations, obviously, a good thing.
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These guys are starting to scare me...

No summer ice at the North Pole by the year 2040. A NASA study has estimated that the combination of global warming and the resulting warming of ocean currents is accelerating the melting process, which will really kick into high gear around 2024, when the speed of melting ice will increase precipitously. STORY

Joshua Tree

OK, I admit it. I am not, most certainly, the most shining manifestation of personal activism, but I can surely appreciate it when I see it. Individuals can sometimes stand-up to 'the man', hold their own, and even prevail. Such is the case of Larry and Donna Charpied, who have fought a long, hard battle against the creation of a giant landfill adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park in California. The Charpieds' existence has been consumed by the conflict and the endless lawsuits -- to the extent that it is the focus of their existence. With development spreading across the globe like wildfire, there are many opportunities to get involved in local, environmental issues. The balance and evaluation of economic growth and environmental concerns is a constant, on-going process; sometimes you just have to pick up a mitt and get in the game.
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Climate Consensus

Last week, in his last days as chairman of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma held Senate hearings on the global warming issue that featured many of the scientific community's skeptics and doubters on the issue. The overwhelming weight of opinion in the scientific community points toward global warming as looming danger of catastrophic proportions. but there are still scientists who question the evidence and point to climate change as a long, recurring, natural cycle. Skepticism is a good thing and without scientific debate and exploration the earth wood still be flat and I'd be hacking this post out on piece of bark. The danger inherent in the "global warming is a media hoax" theory put forth by the tenacious Inhofe is that such thinking slows down the process of change and energizes the right-wing, talk-radio crowd to dig in with a self-righteous smirk as they throw darts at the DVD jacket of "An Inconvenient Truth".

I, myself, usually hate to part of the "consensus" because thinking with the crowd isn't as much fun as doing battle with "the man" (in this case "the man" may be General Motors so I'm getting mixed signals). In the case of global warming the debate is really over, the impending risks too high, and the benefits to change, though economically painful, will ultimately create a global culture that is richer, safer, and more eco-friendly. Now that's what I call evolution.
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Monkey Business

New Delhi has a monkey problem. This is the kind of thing that happens when critical habit is destroyed or altered. You find a monkey eating your lunch.
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South Carolina

It seems the ocean is rising everywhere. Scientists and regional planning groups in South Carolina fear that the ocean could move the beach 100 feet inland in the next century endangering shorefront construction and housing. The Southeast Regional Workshop on The Nation's Coasts wants to help communities deal with rising sea levels associated with global warming.

I've seen 2 million dollar homes lost to storm surge and beach erosion on Fire Island and other communities on eastern Long Island and it's not a pretty sight.
STORY

Is something going on here?

So, the Alps are experiencing there warmest temps in 1,300 years. Ski areas in Europe are postponing opening for the season. My local ski areas in the Catskills have been making snow only to watch it melt in unseasonably warm conditions. In the past in the Catskills we've had some mucho big snow storms by the first week of December, this year we've enjoyed nice, balmy 40's, 50's and even 60 degree temps well past TurkeyDay. Is something going on here?
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and another thing...

The city has 20 jackhammers working on the FDR nearby so I'm just going to dump some eco-news on the table and head for cover.

A Montana man, combining old-school frontier instincts with nouveau cuisine, plead guilty to attempting to irradicate the Rocky Mountain wolf population with poisoned meatballs...LINK

Finally some good rain forest news. Brazil has created a rain forest preserve the size of of Alabama, the Guayana Shield. LINK

...and finally my favorite story. The moose population of the Adirondacks is on a steep growth curve. My advice to the giant herbivores, resist eating those tasty little meatballs...LINK

New York's Getting Hotter

Looks like the global warming issue is heating up here in NY State. The incoming governor, Elliot Spitzer, has deemed global warming the number one environmental issue facing the state and is proposing state level action. This could get interesting. STORY

Concepts like, pay-as-you drive car insurance and registration pricing, should get an interesting reception.

Here in the Empire State, there are definite signs of climate change. I know from personal experience that the saltwater fishing season for migratory striped bass and blue fish keeps getting extended, (I have a buddy talking about going to Montauk for some surf fishing next week), ski season never starts, southern critters like the possum keep extending their range northward and acid rain has damaged much of the Adirondack's lakes, streams and vegetation.
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