Climate change messes with the food chain
Ecoearth.info Blog — Climate change messes with the food chain Column: How a decline in tiny water-based plants is hurting penguin populations. By Robert C. Cowen | Columnist for The Christian Science Monitor/ March 18, 2009 edition Comments Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published. Tip: Do not write a ...

United States: Jack Bauer tackles global warming
Ecoearth.info Blog — Jack Bauer tackles global warming Fox’s action-packed series ‘24’ is the first TV show to reach carbon neutral. By Gloria Goodale | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ March 20, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published. Tip: Do ...

How enormous batteries could safeguard the power grid
Ecoearth.info Blog — How enormous batteries could safeguard the power grid Since sunlight and wind can be unreliable, renewable utilities install big backups. By Mark Clayton | Staff Writer for The Christian Science Monitor/ March 22, 2009 edition Comments Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published. Tip: ...

Compressed natural gas clears the air in Bangladesh
Ecoearth.info Blog — Compressed natural gas clears the air in Bangladesh Cleaner-burning fuel is reducing dangerous levels of pollution – and saving money, too. By Lisa Schroeder | Contributor of The Christian Science Monitor/ March 25, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will ...

Time to green this old (White) House — again
Environment — Washington President Barack Obama will find out two things as he studies how to make the White House more environmentally friendly: No. 1: It’s already been done. No. 2: It needs to be done again. It was Earth Day 1993 when President Bill Clinton launched his ambitious “greening the White House” project. That effort saved more than $1.4 million in its first six years, largely from improvements in lighting, heating, air conditioning, insulation, water sprinklers, and other measures. During George W. Bush’s two terms, workers installed three solar systems, including a thermal setup on the pool cabana that heats water for the pool and showers, and ...

House fast-tracks major changes on energy and climate
Ecoearth.info Blog — House fast-tracks major changes on energy and climate But how much will they cost Americans, particularly during a recession? By Gail Russell Chaddock and Mark Clayton | Staff writers/ March 31, 2009 edition Comments Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published. Tip: Do not write a novel. ...

World’s next big climate pact begins to take shape
Environment — A two-year march toward a new treaty to combat global warming is pausing briefly in Bonn to give negotiators from 182 countries their first crack at tackling a rough draft of an agreement. Despite differences over some difficult issues, there is cautious optimism that negotiators could make progress especially now that the US is playing what many see as a more constructive role than it did under the Bush administration. Over the next two weeks, country representatives will debate and overhaul as much of a 53-page “negotiating text” as they can to get a draft pact ready for government ministers to consider in December at the UN ...

The Jets, the Giants, and the EPA
Environment — The Jets, the Giants, and the EPA By Judy Lowe | 06.02.09 Yes, it sounds like a takeoff on one of those jokes that starts: “A priest, a rabbi, and a minister were in a rowboat…” But this is football – and the environment. And it’s not humor. Actually, it shows that everyone is hopping aboard the green bandwagon. The US Environmental Protection Agency sent out a press release ...

It’s a landfill – and an ecopark
Environment — Singapore A typical landfill isn’t the sort of place where residents have peaceful picnics and take nature walks or go to stargaze. But Singapore’s Semakau landfill is far from ordinary. Pulau Semakau – where Singapore’s only landfill is located – is a 20-minute ferry ride from the mainland. Its appearance can come as a surprise: turquoise waters, flowering shrubs, a carpet of grass, and nature-enhancing landscaping. Egrets skim the waters of artificial lagoons that are actually dormant refuse cells. Anglers also use them for sport fishing. It seems more like a recreation area than a dumping ground. Actually, it’s both. Singapore, located at the ...

Cash for (lawn) clunkers
Environment — Cash for (lawn) clunkers The Greener Gardens Act would give credits for replacing old lawn equipment with environmentally friendly models. By Gregory M. Lamb | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ June 9, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will ...

How green are trains, public transportation, and hybrid cars? It depends.
Environment — How green are trains, public transportation, and hybrid cars? It depends. By Judy Lowe | 06.09.09 Most of us assume that some things are givens when it comes to environment-friendly transportation choices. Among those assumptions: Taking the subway is better than driving an SUV, riding a train tops hopping on a plane, and a hybrid car is much preferred over a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle. But that’s not always true. Recent research ...

A wake-up call on water use
Environment — Santa Monica, Calif. Move over, carbon, the next shoe to drop in the popular awareness of eco-issues is the “water footprint.” That’s the word in environmental circles these days. Just as the image of a heavy carbon foot made it possible for the masses to grasp the power of carbon-dioxide emissions, water footprint is the phrase now drawing attention to the impact of human behavior regarding water. “H2O is the next CO2,” says Nicholas Eisenberger, managing principal of GreenOrder, a consulting firm that specializes in sustainable business. As a phrase, water footprint “will probably move more quickly through the public mind as it catches on,” he ...

Report: "Green" jobs outpacing traditional ones
Ecoearth.info Blog — New York “Green jobs” are growing nearly 2-1/2 times as fast as traditional jobs, finds a new study by Pew Charitable Trusts. The study, released Wednesday by Pew as the first ever count of such jobs in all 50 states, concludes that the clean energy economy, while still in its infancy, “is a vital component of America’s new economic landscape.” The Pew study looked at jobs created between 1998 and 2007. Since then the overall job market, especially in traditional manufacturing, has shrunk while the investment in wind farms, solar projects, and pollution mitigation has fared better. Moreover, the growth of green jobs is an important part of ...

A primer on the science of global warming
Environment — A primer on the science of global warming By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 06.10.09 Talks between the US and China last month broached the topic of how the world’s two greenhouse gas-producing behemoths might deal with the problem, but got nowhere concrete . The Heartland Institute , meanwhile, released what it calls “an 880-page, 1-1/2 inch-thick, six-pound rebuttal of global-warming alarmism”: “ Climate Change Reconsidered : the 2009 report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC).” Two years ago, Newsweek’s Sharon Begley said – somewhat controversially – that this sort of ...

Grilling with gas or charcoal: What’s better for the environment?
Environment — Grilling with gas or charcoal: What’s better for the environment? Green Stuff: Eco-news and discoveries By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ June 11, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published. Tip: Do ...

Will planes be fueled by flowers in the future?
Environment — Will planes be fueled by flowers in the future? By Judy Lowe | 06.11.09 Fuels made from plants hold much promise - they’re biodegradable, engines that use them may last longer, they cut carbon emissions , and, it’s hoped, they could lessen dependence on oil. So far, though, biofuels have at least an equal number of disadvantages to match the potential benefits. But research – especially into non-food biofuels – continues. Especially intriguing are experiments that replace traditional jet fuel with fuels made from algae, coconuts, and flowers. This isn’t science fiction, or even just the stuff of laboratories. It’s happening ...

West Virginia names coal as its official state rock
Environment — West Virginia names coal as its official state rock By Eoin O'Carroll | 06.12.09 The black bear, the Golden Delicious apple, and Monongahela silt loam now have a new member in their ranks. Last week, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin signed a House of Delegates resolution adding coal to the list of official state symbols. The resolution ...

Search for Air France wreckage spotlights problem of ocean debris
Environment — Search for Air France wreckage spotlights problem of ocean debris By Kristen Chick | 06.12.09 When the search teams combing the ocean for the lost Air France flight last week mistook floating garbage for plane wreckage ...

Adapting to climate change depends on site-specific knowledge
Environment — Adapting to climate change depends on site-specific knowledge Column: One size doesn't fit all when it comes to coping with the effects of climate change. By Robert C. Cowen | Columnist for The Christian Science Monitor/ June 15, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are ...

What will Earth be like in 2099?
Environment — What will Earth be like in 2099? By Judy Lowe | 06.15.09 It’s natural to think about what the world might be like decades from now: What inventions will have radically changed lives, much as personal computers and the Internet have impacted everyone today? What will cars (if we still have them) and houses look like? What sort of clothes and hairstyles will people be wearing? Will space travel finally be common? How will most of us make a living? And on the environmental front: Will there have been big effects from climate change? (And, if so, will scientists have been able to do anything about them?) As Dan Bloom, an environmental ...

Earth Talk: The most energy-efficient way to heat a cup of water
Environment — Q: How does the microwave compare in energy use, say, to using a gas or electric stove burner to heat water for a cup of tea? – Tempie, Dexter, Mich. A: The short answer is that it depends upon several variables, including the price of electricity versus gas and the relative efficiency of the appliances involved. Typically, though, a microwave would be slightly more efficient at heating water than the flame on a gas stove and should use up a little less energy. The reason: The microwave’s heat waves are focused on the liquid (or food), not on heating the air or container around it. Given ...

How will climate change affect where you live?
Environment — How will climate change affect where you live? By Judy Lowe | 06.16.09  One of the interesting aspects of the administration’s climate change report released today is  its emphasis on how global warming is affecting or is projected to touch every corner of the United States . A few location-specific details were mentioned in the press conference – how trout in the Northwest can’t thrive when air temperatures rise above 70 degrees F., for instance. But an online section offers more localized information: It divides the country into eight areas and lets you click on your region to see possible impacts. After all, as ...

When nature gets a second chance
Environment — When nature gets a second chance Degraded landscapes can be returned to natural beauty and usefulness. By Elisabeth Ginsburg | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor/ June 17, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published. Tip: Do not ...

Native grasses an explosive idea for cleaning contaminated soil
Environment — Native grasses an explosive idea for cleaning contaminated soil By Judy Lowe | 06.17.09 You hear a lot these days about the benefits of native plants, but here’s a new one: Certain native grasses can convert the toxic leftovers from atrazine – second most common herbicide in the US and a stubborn pollutant in the nation’s waterways – into harmless carbon dioxide, reports the Kansas City Star ...

Eco-news and discoveries – plastics made by microbes
Environment — Plastics made by microbes Plastics are ubiquitous in the modern world. They serve myriad purposes, keeping our food fresh and making our electronics work. But, like gasoline, plastics come from oil, a limited resource. Without oil, where will we get plastics? Three scientists presenting at the 109th general meeting of the American Society for Microbiology report on the possibility of plastics made (or broken down) by naturally occurring microbes. Mark van Loosdrecht of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands uses bacteria to transform organic waste into plastics. Agriculture, industry, and ...

The Pacific isn’t the only ocean collecting plastic trash
Environment — The Pacific isn’t the only ocean collecting plastic trash A swirling 'soup' of tiny pieces of plastic has been found in the Atlantic Ocean, and something similar may be present in other ocean areas as well. By Kristen Chick ...

Bulldoze the ‘burbs?
Environment — Bulldoze the ‘burbs? By Eoin O'Carroll | 06.19.09 A story last week in the Telegraph, a British paper, describes how the city of Flint, Mich., a former industrial powerhouse now facing depopulation and plummeting home values, is dealing with vacant housing. The solution? Bulldoze entire districts, returning the land to nature, and concentrate the population in the urban core. The Telegraph’s Tom Leonard reports that the idea is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint. He said: “The obsession with growth is sadly a very American thing. Across the US, there’s an assumption that all development is ...

Giant Madison Square climate counter helps make the invisible visible
Environment — Giant Madison Square climate counter helps make the invisible visible By Eoin O'Carroll | 06.22.09 You know the National Debt Clock? That’s the sign on New York’s Sixth Avenue that keeps track of the amount of money the US federal government owes. Let’s just say it’s a big number. Now someone has done the same thing with greenhouse gasses. At a drizzly ceremony in Madison Square Garden Thursday, the global investment firm Deutsche Bank flipped the switch on their Carbon Counter, 70-foot-high billboard that keeps a real-time count of how many metric tons of the greenhouse gases we’re spewing into our atmosphere. According to the counter ...

Earth Talk: Who’s building places to charge plug-in cars?
Environment — Q: With plug-in hybrid and electric cars due to hit the roads sometime soon, will there be places to plug them in besides at home? And if so, how much will it cost to recharge them? – Nicole Koslowsky, Pompano Beach, Fla. A: Gasoline-electric hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius, are popular due to their fuel-efficiency, and consumers have been clamoring for carmakers to up the ante and give these vehicles a plug so the batteries can be charged at home and not just by the gas engine and other onboard features. That greatly reduces the need for gas except for long trips. Although the ...

Study: China’s Olympic effort to curb smog had little effect
Environment — Study: China’s Olympic effort to curb smog had little effect By Peter N. Spotts | 06.23.09 Take a deep breath, click your heels three times, and repeat after me: “There’s no place for smog. There’s no place for smog. There’s no place….” Unfortunately, that’s apparently about as effective a pollution-control technique as the measures China implemented for the 2008 Summer Olympics, if a new study is any indication. The Chinese government made Herculean efforts to ensure that the air quality in Beijing during the 2008 summer Games would meet World Health Organization standards. Colleague Peter Ford wrote about those efforts ...

Better lives in Bangladesh -- through green power
Ecoearth.info Blog — Better lives in Bangladesh – through green power The environmental arm of a Nobel Prize-winning community development bank brings solar power, biogas, better stoves, and economic opportunity to rural residents. By Lisa Schroeder ...

Can large wind farms tweak weather downwind?
Environment — Can large wind farms tweak weather downwind? By Peter N. Spotts | 06.24.09 A battle over a wind farm in our backyard – off the island of Martha’s Vineyard – has shown that folks can raise a host of objections over unintended consequences, real or imagined. They’ve included hazards to boaters, hazards to endangered migratory birds, hazards to aircraft flying between the Vineyard and the mainland, and of course, hazards to the property value of big-buck homes with scenic views of Nantucket Sound. Oh yes, one can’t forget the installation of transmission lines to link the turbines to the utility grid. And that’s just for one relatively small ...

Green Stuff: Eco-news and discoveries
Environment — Green Stuff: Eco-news and discoveries Scientists reveal the effect of fishing on cod size and question turning crops into fuel. By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ June 25, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not ...

Scientists warn of emerging form of unregulated whaling in Asia
Environment — Scientists warn of emerging form of unregulated whaling in Asia By Pete Spotts | 06.25.09 It’s tough being a whale these days. The International Whaling Commission has just wrapped up its annual meeting in Portugal ...

What temperature is the Earth supposed to be?
Environment — What temperature is the Earth supposed to be? By Eoin O'Carroll | 06.26.09 If we don’t get our act together and slash greenhouse gas emissions, the UN climate change panel tells us, average global temperatures could rise by as much as 10 degrees F. by the end of the century. But would that really be so bad? Sure, much of the South would be unbearable during the summer months (as would many of those tropical countries), but think of all that beautiful real estate in Alaska that we’d open up! And many of us here in Boston would willingly trade a dozen or more 100-degree F. days each year to wear shorts and flip-flops through October. Less snow ...

Will much of New Orleans be underwater by 2100?
Environment — Unless enormous amounts of soil are dumped onto the Mississippi River Delta, the region could lose up to 5,212 square miles of land to ocean and tidal marsh by 2100 – a result of sea-level rise and the land sinking. Even if levees are intentionally breached to supply fresh sediment to the delta, the Mississippi River would fall billions of tons short of delivering enough silt to maintain a delta that looks anything like it does today. That’s the picture two scientists with Louisiana State University have painted after trying to get a better handle on the restoration challenges facing the state’s delta region. “This was an ...

Community-based fishery management and Somali pirates
Environment — Community-based fishery management and Somali pirates By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 07.01.09 A question: What do Somali pirates have to do with community-based fishery management? Before I answer that, the news: Last week ...

Change in atmosphere aids common reed's takeover of wetlands
Ecoearth.info Blog — Change in atmosphere aids common reed’s takeover of wetlands A new study looks at what has caused the aggressive spread of a 'superweed.' By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ July 1, 2009 edition Comments Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be ...

How will global warming affect plants?
Environment — How will global warming affect plants? By Judy Lowe | 07.02.09 In areas of the world where temperatures are documented to be growing warmer, plants are showing the effects. Some of these effects are good – increased microbial action in the soil making plants more productive. Some are bad – plants moving to cooler locations. And other effects tend to be neutral (or maybe it’s who’s doing the perceiving). Gardeners, for instance, often long for plants that grow only in climates that have typically had winter weather warmer than their own. But now they’re finding that many plants are making themselves at home where they wouldn’t grow before. ( ...

Tourism tangles a fishing lifeline
Environment — Punta Cana, Dominican Republic At the far eastern end of Hispaniola – an area famed for resorts and world-class golf courses that attract a globe-trotting international elite – a dirt road leads to a craggy, limestone shore. There, a few dinged and scratched yolas – brightly painted fishing boats – lie overturned on the rock or moored in the ocean. Humming, churning, and banging noises of a construction site fill the air, drowning out the sound of waves hitting the breakwater. The scene encapsulates the hopes and fears of local fishermen. Their hope is to make a decent living for themselves and their families. Their fears center on how that ...

Are climate-change deniers guilty of treason?
Environment — Are climate-change deniers guilty of treason? By Eoin O'Carroll | 07.03.09 It seems as though the so-called skeptics have really gotten under Paul Krugman’s skin this time. Writing in his New York Times column Sunday, the Nobel Prize-winning liberal economist expressed outrage ...

Will we empty the oceans?
Environment — Will we empty the oceans? By Eoin O'Carroll | 07.06.09 Last week, Greenpeace released its semiannual seafood sustainability scorecard , which ranks US supermarket chains based on the impacts their practices have on marine life and how well they communicate these practices to the shopper. The grades are dispiriting. While the environmental advocacy group noted progress among some stores, the top scorer, Wegmans, received only 6 out of 10. Even though the East Coast chain has worked with scientists and conservationists to develop seafood sourcing standards and has removed from its stores a number of species because of sustainability ...

The tropics are expanding, says a new study
Environment — The tropics are expanding, says a new study By Judy Lowe | 07.07.09 Traditionally, the tropics are defined as “the equatorial band circling the Earth between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.” But according to two climate researchers at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia, that definition will need to be revised: Over the past 25 or 30 years, the tropics have expanded between 186 and 311 miles (300 to 500 km) beyond that. That expansion has also pushed the subtropics into temperature areas, notes Prof. Steve Turton ...

Will G-8 countries move faster on climate change?
Environment — In the 18 months since work began in earnest on a new global climate treaty, the world has been waiting for industrial countries – especially the US – to signal that they know deep cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions must occur soon to avoid the worst effects of global warming. Hopes are running high that this week’s meeting of leaders from the Group of Eight – countries that represent the world’s eight richest economies – will provide that signal. Climate change is an issue that looms large on the agenda at the economic meeting that begins Wednesday in L’Aquila, Italy. The G-8 event is sandwiched between two United ...

Earth Talk: Can you recycle your old mattress?
Environment — Q: How can I recycle my old mattress if the place I buy a new one from doesn’t take it? What do mattress companies do with old mattresses when they do take them? Do they recycle any of the material? – J. Belli, Bridgeport, Conn. A: A typical mattress is a 23-cubic-foot assembly of steel, wood, cotton, and polyurethane foam. Given this wide range of materials, mattresses have typically been difficult to recycle – and most municipal recycling facilities won’t offer to do it for you. But along with increasing public concerns about the environment – and a greater desire to recycle everything ...

One way to decide how nations reduce their carbon footprint
Environment — One way to decide how nations reduce their carbon footprint By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 07.08.09 When it comes to reducing human-emitted greenhouse gases, it’s all about fairness. By how much should rich nations reduce their carbon footprint? By how much poorer nations, for whom a reduction may hurt much more? That’s been a constant foil in climate negotiations so far, including, it seems, the ongoing G8 meeting in Italy. Monitor colleague Pete Spotts gives a good rundown ...

A step forward in all-natural pesticides
Environment — A step forward in all-natural pesticides Scientists may have developed a method for using a plant's natural repellent to ward off pests. By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ July 9, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and ...

Overrun with snakes, Florida looks to bounty hunters
Environment — Unrolling the skin of a 17-foot Burmese python at a congressional hearing Wednesday, Sen. Bill Nelson (D) of Florida focused America’s attention on the biggest invader on the continent, saying it’s only a matter of time until one of the 150,000 suspected pythons in south Florida nabs a tourist. But of all the ideas floated to get a grip on pythons and other exotic imports creeping and crawling through America’s undergrowth, only one stands out to Florida snake experts as having a real impact: bounty hunters. “Right now, the alligators are losing battles with exotic pythons, but python skins and meat aren’t worth anything. You’ve ...

The must-see U.S. green landmarks
Environment — The must-see U.S. green landmarks By Judy Lowe | 07.09.09 Summer is vacation time, and these days, almost anywhere you might travel in the United States, you’ll probably find a “green landmark” nearby that’s worth a visit. What’s a green landmark? According to a Travel + Leisure article ...

Nations pledge to fight global warming - but without specifics
Environment — When former President Bill Clinton dropped in on the UN’s global-warming talks in Montreal in 2005, his message was simple: Whether you get a little or a lot accomplished here, when you get home, do something to reduce your country’s greenhouse-gas emissions. At this year’s summit of the world’s eight largest economies — and particularly at a parallel meeting involving the world’s 17 largest greenhouse-gas emitters — it appears that leaders aim to heed Mr. Clinton’s advice. On Thursday, at the end of the US-sponsored Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, participants from developed and developing countries ...

Could cap-and-trade create another economic bubble?
Environment — Could cap-and-trade create another economic bubble? By Eoin O'Carroll | 07.10.09 The American Clean Energy and Security Act, which squeaked through the House of Representatives by a vote of 219-212 last month and is set to be taken up by the Senate in September, proposes to create a huge new market for trading carbon emission permits and offsets. This system would create whole new classes of financial assets, which financial firms could securitize, derivatize, and speculate on. Sound familiar? Many critics are pointing out that this new market for carbon derivatives could, without effective oversight, usher in another Wall Street ...

Tiny particles with a huge environmental impact
Ecoearth.info Blog — Tiny particles with a huge environmental impact Human activity in deserts is causing more dust to settle on alpine meadows and mountains, speeding snow melt. By Robert C. Cowen | Columnist/ July 10, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published. ...

Ecosystems respond well to restoration
Environment — During the 20th century, the world’s population nearly quadrupled, from 1.6 billion people in 1900 to 6 billion by century’s end. In that same period, the world’s gross domestic product ballooned from $1.98 trillion to over $28 trillion (both in 1990 dollars), according to author John R. McNeill. Throughout this period of unprecedented economic expansion and population growth, humanity also transformed the earth. “This is the first time in human history that we have altered ecosystems with such intensity, on such scale, and with such speed,” writes Mr. McNeill in his book “Something New Under the Sun.” Vertebrate numbers are ...

Were they really predicting an ice age in the 1970s?
Environment — Were they really predicting an ice age in the 1970s? By Eoin O'Carroll | 07.28.09 One common trope among climate change deniers is to point out that, in the 1970s, everyone was a panic about global cooling, even to the point of predicting an imminent ice age. If they were so spectacularly wrong back then, the argument goes, why should we be listening to them today? The argument rests on an equivocation. In the 1970s, “they” refers to a handful of scientists making tentative predictions, and a handful of journalists who repeated those predictions. Today, “they” refers to every single major scientific body in the world. There’s just no valid ...

Guilt-free sushi
Environment — As consumers’ love affair with seafood continues to grow, so does the pressure on populations of popular fish. Many species such as red snapper, Atlantic halibut, West Coast salmon, and cod are considered overfished. And fishing methods, such as bottom trawling for monkfish and other species, can destroy important habitat. So conservation groups have come up with downloadable and printable guides to seafood that are aimed not only at those who enjoy eating fish, but also the growing legions of sushi fans. Sushi bars and restaurants are expected to continue to grow at 10 to 20 percent annually for the next five years, according to a ...

Earth Talk: Community-wide solar cuts costs
Environment — Q: I know of solar power systems that people can put on their roofs to generate electricity or heat water. Are there systems that serve whole neighborhoods? – Lee Helscel, via e-mail A: Collective bargaining is a good strategy when looking to get the best price on a given product or service. Solar power is no exception, and dozens of neighborhood-wide installations in the US and Canada have created a new model for going solar. One of the first neighborhood-wide solar installations in the world was at the master-planned community of Drake Landing in the town of Okotoks in ...

Is it a result of climate change or something else? Part 1.
Environment — Is it a result of climate change or something else? Part 1. By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 07.29.09 This week, the Web is abuzz with climate-related news: An astronaut commented that humankind’s impact on Earth was visible from space; the UN climate chief visited Mongolia, a semiarid country undergoing rapid desertification, to talk about climate change; and the New Scientist magazine reported that the Fertile Crescent “will disappear this century.” Maybe it’s worth stepping back for a second to ask: How many of the changes we see happening around us are really attributable to climate change? To preface: I’m not denying that human-released ...

How jellyfish may be stirring the ocean
Environment — Winds do it. Ocean currents do it. And now, it looks like tiny marine creatures can do it too – act collectively as a giant Mixmaster, bringing cold, nutrient-rich water from deep in the ocean to the surface, where other marine life can use the nutrients. A pair of aeronautic scientists say they have shown how marine organisms ranging in size from tiny copepods to shrimp-like krill to jellyfish – known collectively as zooplankton – could play a vital role in stirring up the ocean. If they’re right, marine organisms of all sorts may be responsible for as much deep-water mixing as winds and currents. And that could have ...

Why organisms reproduce the way they do
Environment — Why organisms reproduce the way they do New scientific discoveries about plants and snails. By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ July 30, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published. Tip: Do not write a ...

Is it a result of climate change or something else? Part 2.
Environment — Is it a result of climate change or something else? Part 2. By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 07.30.09 Editor’s note: This is a continuation of yesterday’s post . The writer looks at some of the week’s environmental news –  the UN climate chief visited Mongolia, a semiarid country undergoing rapid desertification, and the New Scientist reported that the Fertile Crescent “will disappear this century” – and asks the question: How many of the changes we see happening around us are really attributable to climate change? He’s not denying that human-released greenhouse gases are changing Earth’s climate. “At this point, the science points ...

‘Landmark’ study suggests fishing stocks can rebound
Environment — Three years ago, a team of marine scientists looked at the global problem of overfishing and came to the grim conclusion that by 2048, populations of all the fish that people around the world eat will have collapsed. Now, some of those same scientists have joined others to compile a new, more hopeful assessment: Overfishing remains a critical problem, but in some parts of the world, conservation efforts appear to be paying off. The results suggest that broader use of a small kit of management tools could put global fisheries back on a path to sustainability. “This is a watershed,” says marine ecologist Boris Worm, one of ...

Border wall successfully halting illegal immigration (of wildlife)
Environment — Border wall successfully halting illegal immigration (of wildlife) By Eoin O'Carroll | 07.31.09 Those who wish to secure America’s borders from ocelots, pronghorn antelopes, gray wolves, and bighorn sheep scored a victory earlier this month, as an amendment to a Homeland Security bill passed by the House mandates an additional 369 miles of fence ...

Beef producers, the next cutting edge for rain forest conservation?
Environment — Beef producers, the next cutting edge for rain forest conservation? By Judy Lowe | 08.03.09 It seems very counterintuitive. We’ve all been told the adverse effects of beef production on the environment. (”A kilogram of beef is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution than driving for 3 hours while leaving all the lights on back home,” noted New Scientist ...

From nets to kilowatts
Environment — At the Covanta Energy-from-Waste facility in Preston, Conn., a 30-foot wall of garbage towers above 10 tons of tangled fishing gear. Fishing nets, ropes, lobster traps, and buoys from the fishing port of Provincetown, Mass., lie on the floor where trash is dumped for disposal. These massive nets and other gear – some pulled from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean – may look like trash, but they’re about to become something more useful: electricity. A giant mechanical crane pulls apart clumps of the fishing gear along with plastic bags filled with municipal solid waste. Then it tosses them into one of two continuously burning incinerators ...

Where are the hurricanes?
Environment — Where are the hurricanes? By Husna Haq | 08.11.09 It’s going to be a bad year for hurricanes along the coasts of the United States. That’s what forecasters, including Colorado State University meteorologists William Gray and Phil Klotzbach, were saying last year ...

An electric chopper? What would Dennis Hopper think?
Environment — You know those powerful choppers – customized motorcycles, often with unusual designs – that can be heard in the next county when they zoom down the highway. Well, Orange County Choppers (OCC), the custom bike shop in Newburgh, N.Y., that has its own TV reality show, has a new take on the genre: no noise. No, it’s not a special muffler developed by NASA. It’s what OCC is calling the first custom electric motorcycle. Yes, it’s a chopper that can keep up with a Harley-Davidson “hog” at 100 miles per hour without even waking up a baby. And, because the machine is electric, it has zero emissions compared with most ...

Finding the right metaphor to treat climate despair
Environment — The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that if nothing is done to curb human-emitted carbon dioxide, average temperatures on Earth could increase by up to 6.4 degrees C. (11.5 F.) by century’s end. Until relatively recently, the goal was to stabilize atmospheric co2 concentrations at 450 parts per million. (We’re currently at 385 ppm.) But then NASA’s Jim Hansen, who, as The New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert pointed out in her recent profile of him, has rather unnervingly made many predictions on climate that came true, began arguing that we had to backtrack to 350 ppm. ...

India’s vanishing groundwater
Environment — India’s vanishing groundwater By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 08.13.09 Two new studies suggest that India’s aquifers are undergoing rapid depletion due, almost entirely, to water withdrawals for agricultural use. Satellite measurements indicate that the water table is sinking faster than anyone had previously estimated, with potentially dire implications for the 600 million people living regionally — nearly one-tenth of humanity — who rely on it. One study appears in the journal Nature, the other in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. From the Nature study press release: Using satellite data, UC Irvine and NASA hydrologists have found ...

Taking fresh fruits and veggies to ‘food deserts’
Environment — Taking fresh fruits and veggies to ‘food deserts’ By Judy Lowe | 08.17.09 The environmental community often speaks of “food security,” but a couple of recent news items drive home the point that this isn’t just a problem in developing countries ...

Sunrise for solar heat power
Environment — Sunrise for solar heat power Four technologies aim to use heat from the sun to make electricity. But which one has the edge? By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ August 18, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not ...

Energy and climate rallies – real or astroturf?
Environment — Energy and climate rallies – real or astroturf? By Mark Clayton | 08.19.09 Thousands rallied at a Houston theater yesterday to protest a new energy-climate bill pending in Congress. But was that “energy citizens” rally for real — or just a bought-and-paid-for “astroturf” public relations event in the city that made the faux grass famous?“Astroturf”campaigns that aim to mimic spontaneous grassroots public reactions — rallies and public gatherings — to public policy are on the rise in the late August muggy heat, many say. Astroturf questions lurk behind news coverage of a spate of rallies often portrayed as spontaneous citizen outpourings ...

Endangered butterfly spreads its wings in England
Environment — LONDON A butterfly that is endangered in Britain has made some unexpected gains this summer, conservationists said Wednesday. The wet and cold British weather means the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly normally reproduces once a year and is confined to the country’s southern coast. But conservationists have found evidence that the brown-and-orange butterfly has reproduced twice this year. Matthew Oates, a conservation adviser with the National Trust, said a second brood of the declining species has only been recorded three times since 1893.“I have been waiting for this for a very long time,” said Mr. Oates, who has been studying butterflies for ...

A summer hailstorm prompts inevitable questions on global warming
Environment — A summer hailstorm prompts inevitable questions on global warming By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 08.20.09 Earlier this week — Tuesday, Aug. 18, to be exact — New York City experienced an unlikely late-summer weather event. The high that day ...

Study says global warming shrinks birds
Environment — CANBERRA, Australia Some species of Australian birds are shrinking, and the trend will likely continue because of global warming, a scientist said Sunday. Janet Gardner, an Australian National University biologist, led a team of scientists who measured museum specimens to plot the decline in size of eight species of Australian birds over the past century. The research, published last week in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, found that the birds in Australia’s southeast had become between 2 percent to 4 percent smaller. Over the same century, Australia’s average daily temperature rose 1.3 degrees F. ...

United States: US closes parts of Arctic to commercial fishing
Ecoearth.info Blog — Vast areas of the Arctic Ocean are now officially no-go areas for commercial fishermen. In an unprecedented move, the US Commerce Department has backed a plan to close large portions of the Arctic Ocean ...

Of farming, methane bubbles, and Antarctic glaciers
Environment — Of farming, methane bubbles, and Antarctic glaciers By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 08.21.09 Climate-related studies continued arriving apace this week. Writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, scientists warn ...

Traffic noise could be drowning out the croaks of male frogs
Environment — CANBERRA, Australia Traffic noise could be ruining the sex lives of urban frogs by drowning out the seductive croaks of amorous males, an Australian researcher said Friday. A well-projected and energetic croak is the male frog’s most important asset in the quest to attract mates to his pond, Melbourne University ecologist Kirsten Parris said. But competition from traffic noise in Melbourne could be a reason why frog numbers have declined in Australia’s second-largest city since her survey of more than 100 ponds began in 2000, she said.“If there are a number of different males calling, the one that sounds the best often gets the girl,” Parris ...

Are aging ships still a toxic export?
Environment — Are aging ships still a toxic export? Environmental groups worry that the practice of reflagging US commercial ships that may have PCBs so they can be scrapped abroad is beginning again. By Mark Clayton ...

Old photos show that Teton glaciers are shrinking
Environment — CHEYENNE, Wyo. Glaciers on the iconic Teton Range are shrinking, researchers say, joining a growing list of glaciers in North America and beyond that are losing their surface area and potentially reducing the water supply for nearby regions. Two of the Tetons’ biggest glaciers have lost more than 20 percent of their surface area since the late 1960s, three University of Wyoming researchers concluded after comparing old and new aerial photographs of the glaciers. The glaciers are a fairly substantial source of irrigation water, meaning the findings have wider implications than simply what the mountains look like to tourists by late summer. People ...

Can bikes and cars share the road?
Environment — Can bikes and cars share the road? By Eoin O'Carroll | 08.25.09 An increase in the number of people commuting by bicycle instead of car would be an unqualified boon for the environment and for public health, but there don’t seem to be too many takers: According to 2005 US Census data, fewer than one half of one percent of Americans bike to work ...

Water-use saga: The return of Glen Canyon
Environment — Flagstaff, Ariz. “I don’t know that there’s very many people in the world who want to kiss, love, hug, lick, touch, and talk to sandstone,” says 89-year-old Katie Lee, as she sums up the loss she felt when the 170-mile Glen Canyon in Arizona was dammed in 1965. The Colorado River backed up, creating one of the largest reservoirs in the United States, Lake Powell, etching about 2,000 miles of shoreline as it flooded the main canyon and nearly 200 side canyons. The purpose of the dam was to help meet the water supply of growing Western cities from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. But Ms. Lee, a former Hollywood actress who moved to Arizona and later ...

Earth Talk: Sizing up oil shale as a possible resource
Environment — Q: Are the United States’ vast oil shale resources a potential source of energy? – Larry LeDoux, Honolulu A: Oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock that contains significant amounts of kerogen, a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds that can be converted into synthetic liquid fuel similar to oil, or into shale gas similar to petroleum-derived natural gas. Geologists believe there is more oil shale in the world – 3 trillion barrels worth of fuel – than there is oil in existing reserves globally. Oil shale has been mined extensively in Brazil, China, Estonia, Germany, ...

One sunspot mystery solved, researchers say
Environment — One sunspot mystery solved, researchers say By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 08.27.09 For some time, scientists have observed that sunspots seem to have an inordinate impact on earth’s weather. Sunspots are areas of intensified magnetic activity on the sun’s surface. They occur roughly on an 11-year cycle. Right now, we’re at the minimum of the cycle, and poised, most likely, to enter a phase of increased activity ...

The next major threat to the ozone layer: nitrous oxide
Environment — A colorless, sweet-smelling gas with a long history as a medical and dental anesthetic is the next big threat to Earth’s protective ozone layer, according to new research. The culprit: nitrous oxide. Its role in destroying ozone has long been recognized, as well as its role as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas. But the new study puts nitrous oxide’s ability to deplete ozone into numbers comparable to those used for other ozone-depleting gases covered by the 1987 Montreal Protocol. Nitrous oxide’s ozone-depleting clout per pound of gas is comparable to that of a group of chlorine-based gases, HCFCs, that ...

Are climate change deniers like creationists?
Environment — Looks like it’s time to bring back Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan: The US Chamber of Commerce wants to subject the science of climate change to a “Scopes monkey trial.” The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that the world’s largest business lobby is pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to hold a public hearing to defend its endangerment finding, which determined that greenhouse gases are pollutants that pose a threat to public health and welfare and can therefore be regulated by the EPA under the Clean Air Act. The Times describes what the Chamber has in mind: ...

Our best guess about global warming may be wrong
Environment — Fifty-five million years ago, the world was a much warmer place. The poles were ice-free year-round. Palm trees grew in Alaska. Forests stretched right into the Arctic Circle. There, swamps like those in today’s southeastern United States hosted alligators, snakes, and giant tortoises. Scientists call this time in Earth’s history the Eocene, the dawn of the age of mammals. And climatologists have naturally taken a keen interest in how it began. They know that a dramatic spike in carbon dioxide associated with rapid climate change kicked off the epoch – called the “Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum” (PETM). But what ...

Research finds higher acidity in Alaska waters
Environment — ANCHORAGE, Alaska Erosion threatens to topple coastal Alaska villages. Melting ice threatens polar bears. Now, a marine scientist says the state’s marine waters are turning acidic from absorbing greenhouse gases faster than tropical waters, potentially endangering Alaska’s $4.6 billion fishing industry. The same things that make Alaska’s marine waters among the most productive in the world — cold, shallow depths and abundant marine life — make them the most vulnerable to acidification, says Jeremy Mathis, a chemical oceanographer at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.“Ecosystems in Alaska are going to take a hit from ocean acidification,” he ...

Could Hurricane Jimena put out California’s wildfires?
Environment — Could Hurricane Jimena put out California’s wildfires? By Eoin O'Carroll | 09.01.09 Hurricane Jimena, with its 135 mile-per-hour winds, is barreling toward the Mexican peninsula of Baja California ...

Wildfires – the causes and solutions
Environment — Wildfires – the causes and solutions By Judy Lowe | 09.02.09 Whenever we read about or see photos of the latest big wildfire , most of us wonder if something couldn’t have been done to prevent it. And if we live in the other 49 states, another question often arises: Why do wildfires occur so often in California? What causes wildfires? Most often, people . Lightning is the No. 2 cause.  But certain conditions have to be in place for those to have an effect. Here’s how Time magazine explained it very simply some years back: Wildfires result from a confluence of fuel, dryness and some kind of trigger. Each factor ...

Invasive plants — from pest to pesto
Environment — Invasive plants — from pest to pesto Foodies learn to sink their teeth into plants that are better known as weeds. By Sushma Subramanian | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor/ September 3, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published. ...

To save power, Bangladesh bans suits and ties
Environment — To save power, Bangladesh bans suits and ties By Eoin O'Carroll | 09.05.09 In an inspiring display of sensibility, the prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has ordered male government employees to stop wearing suits, jackets, and neckties. In addition to eliminating pointless and uncomfortable decorative elements from men’s clothing, the move will help minimize the need for air conditioning. Accompanying the government’s laudable decision was an order not to turn air conditioners in government buildings below 75 degrees F. According to the BBC, Bangladesh has been suffering from a major energy shortage ...

Animal advocates howl over wolf killing
Environment — If there’s one thing that human critters and Canis lupus have in common, it’s an appetite for elk and deer, cattle and sheep. We prefer them grilled or roasted; wolves eat them raw and bloody — no fancy sauces, please. That’s always been a problem … we’re competitors for groceries. Not to mention those big teeth and what almost happened to Little Red Riding Hood. (In fact, what did happen to her in early versions of the fairy tale.) Today, what is both economic competition and morality tale is being played out in the Northern Rockies, where it’s become legal once again to shoot wolves for ...

Earth Talk: Compare costs of alternative energy
Environment — Q:    I’d like to know the relative electricity cost of utility-scale solar and wind plants versus rooftop residential solar. In other words, how can I know whether to subsidize my utility’s alternative energy plant or renovate my own home? – Randy Wilson, Flagstaff, Ariz. A:    Making such a determination is complex, but you could start with “In My Backyard,” a new online tool by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. You need to know your electricity usage and what size solar photovoltaic (PV) system or wind turbine you could install. Then, using Google Earth maps and data on ...

Why are they calling it ‘climate change’ now?
Environment — Why are they calling it ‘climate change’ now? By Eoin O'Caroll | 09.08.09 A common argument from those who don’t believe in man-made climate change goes like this: A few years ago, everyone was calling it “global warming.” Now they’re calling it “climate change.” What gives? Some doubters smell conspiracy lurking in this semantic shift. Asserting that global temperatures peaked in 1998 and are now falling – an assertion that is completely bogus ...

Spicing up crops may keep pests at bay
Environment — Long ago, many plants evolved their own natural pesticides – chemical compounds that repel or kill would-be herbivores. Not quite as long ago, humankind learned to use some of these plants for aromatic, medicinal, and flavor-enhancing purposes. We call them spices. Now, scientists are looking into using spices and herbs for their evolved purpose – to protect against interlopers on human-cultivated crops. Presenting at the American Chemical Society’s 238th national meeting in Washington, Murray Isman, a professor of agroecology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, describes his research into clove, thyme, and mint, among ...

Wolf update: Judge rules that hunts can continue
Environment — Wolf update: Judge rules that hunts can continue By Judy Lowe | 09.09.09 There’s news today about the on again-off again placement of the gray wolf of the northern Rockies on the Endangered Species List and about wolf hunts planned in two states this fall. A federal judge in Livingston, Mont., ruled ...

Endangered Florida panthers feel the squeeze
Environment — Naples, Fla. As southwest Florida struggles through the recession, the highly endangered Florida panther, which has lost much of its habitat to strip malls and gated communities, might have been expected to benefit from tough times. But efforts to save the official state animal – only about 100 remain in the wild – have raised questions over whether the cats’ survival is compatible with more development. Even with thousands of foreclosed and unsold homes glutting the market, new communities are in planning stages. The big problem for the panthers is that their habitat overlaps populated areas and they need quite a bit of space to survive, say ...

A warmer world could make current airport runways too short
Environment — A warmer world could make current airport runways too short By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 09.10.09 Next time you’re in an airplane racing down the runway for takeoff, make a mental note of that moment when the plane leaves the ground. In a warmer world, that moment of liftoff will come later. Here’s why: Airplanes take off when the air passing over their wings creates enough lift — lift greater than the aircraft’s weight. That moment is determined by, among other things, the air’s density. Air is denser at sea level where there’s greater atmospheric pressure. It’s also denser in colder conditions; a cold molecule takes up less space than a ...

Beetles and citrus share a common defense
Environment — Beetles and citrus share a common defense Scientists find that certain beetles produce a substance called limonene, which gives lemons and oranges its citrusy odor, to defend against predators. By Moises Velasquez-Manoff ...

A Nepalese solar panel made from human hair? We’re not convinced.
Environment — A Nepalese solar panel made from human hair? We’re not convinced. By Eoin O'Carroll | 09.12.09 When a story seems too good to be true, it probably is. Take this one in The Daily Mail about an 18-year-old science student from a rural village in Nepal who, according to the British newspaper, invented a cheap solar panel made from human hair ...

Schwarzenegger veto of renewable-energy bill could be risky
Ecoearth.info Blog — Schwarzenegger veto of renewable-energy bill could be risky The California governor wants to use his own plan to push the state toward using 33 percent renewable energy by 2010. But it might not be legal. By Daniel B. Wood ...

A major price drop for solar panels
Ecoearth.info Blog — A major price drop for solar panels Solar power has suddenly become more affordable. By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ September 14, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published. Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it ...

Will environmental threats result in new world cooperation?
Environment — Will environmental threats result in new world cooperation? By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 09.14.09 A study reported last week in the journal Science detailed dramatic ecosystem changes in the rapidly warming Arctic. The Arctic has warmed by 1 degree C over the past 150 years, more than double the global mean temperature increase of 0.4 degrees C. In the past three decades, summer sea ice has decreased by 45,000 square kilometers per year (17,400 square miles). And various species that need ice are showing the strain. The authors note a decline in Pacific walruses, hooded seals, and narwhals, among others. Spring rains arrive ...

Homeless nuclear waste
Environment — WISCASSET, Maine Standing on the end of Bailey Point, looking out on a cold, blue inlet of the Atlantic, you’d never know a nuclear power plant once stood here. The massive concrete containment dome, the spent fuel storage pool, and the six-story-high turbine hall were all torn down earlier this decade, leaving a rain-soaked meadow of grass. The engineers and technicians who tended the 900-megawatt reactor packed up and left town a decade ago, when the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Station stopped producing power. All that’s left is radioactive waste: the remains of the plant’s reactor vessel lining and the 1,435 spent fuel assemblies that passed ...

United States: Schwarzenegger bypasses legislature on clean energy bill
Ecoearth.info Blog — Los Angeles As promised, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday signed an executive order, requiring California to get 33 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The state legislature had already passed two bills on Sept. 11, calling for the same standard and giving California the largest “renewable portfolio standard” in the country. But Governor Schwarzenegger declared that he will veto those bills when they reach his desk because they are “poorly drafted” and “overly complex.” So now, the serious debate is on as to what the governor is up to, whether his executive order will be legal or not, and why the order is any better – or ...

Researchers find rare bird in Fiji
Environment — SYDNEY A group of researchers in Fiji has captured images of an endangered and elusive seabird, the first confirmed sighting of the chocolate-colored creature at sea. Scientists photographed the Fiji petrel soaring above the ocean about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Fiji’s remote island of Gau in May, according to the Britain.-based conservation group BirdLife International, which helped fund the expedition. The researchers’ findings were described in a paper published in this week’s Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club.“Finding this bird and capturing such images was a fantastic and exhilarating experience,” the paper’s lead author, ...

Obama’s ocean task force releases report
Environment — Obama’s ocean task force releases report Sweeping changes could affect the United States' management of oceans, including offshore energy development. By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ September 17, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are ...

Where does your trash go?
Environment — Where does your trash go? By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 09.18.09 Thursday night, an exhibit on trash opened at the Architectural League of New York. The so-called “ Trash Track ” project asks a deceptively simple question: Where do all those cans, disposable coffee cups, and old computers go when you throw them out? With the aid of modern technology, it seeks to supply an answer — in real time. Researchers from MIT’s SENSEable City Lab will attach some 3,000 custom-designed tags to bits of trash in Seattle, New York, and London. The smart tags transmit information on location and movement over cellphone networks to a central ...

What do slums teach us about greener living?
Environment — What do slums teach us about greener living? By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 09.21.09 Stewart Brand, creator of the Whole Earth Catalog, has a new book coming in October called Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto ...

UN summit: Can Obama meet expectations on climate change?
Environment — All eyes, and as important, all ears will be on President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao Tuesday as heads of state from some 100 countries gather at the United Nations (UN) for a one-day summit on climate change. The goal of the meeting is to inject new energy into the negotiating process as the clock counts down to UN-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen December. And many are waiting for the US to take a leadership role. “The world was and is really excited about what President Obama has demonstrated in terms of his commitment to engage on this topic, to take it seriously, and to show leadership in coming to a ...

Shark-fishing contests raise controversy
Environment — In the weeks before the Oak Bluffs (Mass.) Monster Shark Tournament kicks off each summer, the home of tournament organizer Steven James becomes crowded with T-shirts, other clothing, and promotional items emblazoned with the crest of the Boston Big Game Fishing Club and a rendering of a shark. The imagery illustrates a promise: For two days, the fishermen can brave the seas off Martha’s Vineyard (where the movie “Jaws” was filmed) and chase sharks. It’s a notion that appeals to hundreds of recreational fishermen – who spend heavily on entry fees, gear, and boat fuel for a chance to catch the biggest shark in weekend contests – and ...

Warmer Alaska winters let geese skip trip south
Environment — A small Pacific sea goose is finding Alaska winters more to its liking, and a federal study suggests it’s due to climate change. Until recently, 90 percent of the Pacific brant population wintered in Mexico. A US Geological Survey (USGS) study found that up to 30 percent of the geese now forgo warmer regions of the Pacific coast to spend winters in snowy, icy Alaska, trading a long migration for an abundance of food formerly unavailable because it was covered with coastal sea ice. “It’s a general trend that’s occurring in the northern hemisphere anyway, that birds are moving north, shifting their ...

An extinction that leaves sameness in its wake
Environment — An extinction that leaves sameness in its wake By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 09.23.09 Amphibians around the world are in trouble. Nearly one-third worldwide are threatened with extinction, according to the Global Amphibian Assessment ...

Greenland’s Helheim glacier: a melting mystery
Environment — Suddenly and without warning, the gigantic river of ice sped up, causing it to spit icebergs ever faster into the ocean off southeastern Greenland. The Helheim Glacier nearly doubled its speed in just a few years, flowing through a rift in the barren coastal mountains at a stunning 100 feet per day. Alarm bells rang as the pattern was repeated by glaciers across Greenland: Was the island’s vast ice sheet, a frozen water reservoir that could raise the sea level 20 feet if disgorged, in danger of collapse? Half a decade later, there’s a little bit of good news — and a lot of uncertainty. “It does ...

World’s first shark sanctuary set to open in Palau
Environment — The tiny Pacific nation of Palau is creating the world’s first shark sanctuary, a biological hotspot to protect great hammerheads, leopard sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks, and more than 130 other species fighting extinction in the Pacific Ocean. But with only one boat to patrol 240,000 square miles of Palau’s newly protected waters — including its exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, that extends 200 miles from its coastline — enforcement of the new measure could be almost like swimming against the tide. Palau’s president, who is set to announce the news to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, acknowledges the ...

Ire over proposed ‘eco-barriers’ in Rio de Janeiro
Environment — Ire over proposed ‘eco-barriers’ in Rio de Janeiro By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 09.25.09 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, is taking a highly contentious approach to protecting its endangered Atlantic coast forest. The city is building so-called “eco-barriers” around some of its sprawling favelas, ostensibly to keep them from expanding into — and eating up — the disappearing habitat. But many think that these eco-concerns are serving as cover for another, less benevolent purpose: walling in, and containing, the city’s slums. In recent decades, as people have flocked to Rio in search of a better life, its favelas have grown dramatically. Between 1991 ...

Time for El Niño’s half brother to take a bow?
Environment — Time for El Niño’s half brother to take a bow? By Pete Spotts | 09.25.09 For those of us living on the US East and Gulf Coasts, the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season has been pretty quiet — thanks in no small part to El Niño ...

Fall foliage - Maine’s fall colors look spectacular
Environment — Fall foliage - Maine’s fall colors look spectacular By Jimmy Orr | 09.25.09 OK, leafpeepers, this is it. This is the season we’ve all been waiting for. Maine’s fall foliage is back. You ready to see some color this weekend? Although there are reports of flash throughout the state, your best shot is the hinterlands. Be adventurous. Go north. Northern Maine is where most of the action is happening. Now, this isn’t us talking. We’ve talked to many Mainers. They say it’s all about Zone 6 and Zone 7. Unfamiliar with the zones? Just check out this map ...

Companies desert the climate deniosphere
Ecoearth.info Blog — Companies desert the climate deniosphere By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 09.28.09 Increasingly, companies are leaving trade associations that have taken positions at odds with what science is telling us about human-induced global warming — that it’s real and that we’d better address it sooner rather than later. Last week, Pacific Gas & Electric (possibly best known nationally as the villain in the movie Erin Brockovich”) left the US Chamber of Commerce ...

America’s national parks face challenges
Environment — Acadia National Park, Maine Park ranger Matt Holly stands atop the bald, rounded top of Cadillac Mountain as a small knot of tourists huddles around him. At just over 1,500 feet, Cadillac is the highest point along the US Atlantic coastline. On this late summer day, the vista is spectacular: Lush green forests and azure ocean spread from the Porcupine Islands in Frenchman Bay to the east to the Cranberry Islands in the south and Seal Cove to the west on the Gulf of Maine. Most of the panorama is part of Acadia National Park, the oldest national park east of the Mississippi, which is made up entirely of lands donated by private citizens. But the ...

How will climate change affect agriculture?
Ecoearth.info Blog — How will climate change affect agriculture? By Judy Lowe | 09.30.09“Agriculture is extremely vulnerable to climate changes,” notes a new study from the International Food Policy Research Institute ...

US national parks endangered by climate change
Ecoearth.info Blog — US national parks endangered by climate change By Gregory M. Lamb | 10.02.09 On Thursday, two environmental groups pointed to 25 jewels of the National Park System as examples of how climate change poses an immediate threat to America’s recreational, historical, and scenic gems. In a report titled “ National Parks in Peril ...

Tuna’s plight is a problem the world must solve
Environment — Tuna’s plight is a problem the world must solve Too many boats and technology that is too good mean that nations must cooperate to preserve tuna and other fish stocks. By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ October 6, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other ...

Stop burning fossil fuels now to warm Earth later?
Environment — Stop burning fossil fuels now to warm Earth later? By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 10.06.09 One facet of the earth’s climate doesn’t often make it into discussions over human-induced climate change. And that is: Before people ever began burning fossil fuels, climate changed, so there’s no reason to think that it won’t change again. Unless, of course, Homo sapiens — or something else — somehow prevents that change from occurring. (Quick note: Obviously, a vociferous contingent does cite the fact that climate has changed in the past, usually as evidence that humans can’t be changing climate now, that it’s out of our control. Absent a plausible ...

Solar-hydrogen house in Florida combines new, old
Environment — TALLAHASSEE, Fla. The elevated floor, tall ceilings, steeply pitched roof and broad overhangs are borrowed from the traditional “cracker house” that relied on shade and air movement for relief from Florida’s sultry subtropical climate. A pair of magnolia trees, dark red siding, ceiling fans, bamboo flooring, and rustic wooden beams salvaged from a Georgia barn add to the inviting atmosphere of the little house in the middle of Florida State University’s brick-and-mortar campus. It may look like an out-of-place throwback, but the $575,000 Off-Grid, Zero Emissions Building — OGZEB — has a futuristic purpose. Its mission is to test potential ...

World Monuments 2010 list ranges from dockyards to cave art
Environment — World Monuments 2010 list ranges from dockyards to cave art By Judy Lowe | 10.07.09 The World Monuments Fund’s latest list of 93 endangered cultural heritage sites in 47 countries includes the unexpected: a dockyard ...

Video: Squeezing water from the Himalayas
Environment — Video: Squeezing water from the Himalayas By Mary Knox Merrill | 10.08.09 Melting glaciers in the Indian Himalayas are threatening the existence of the Ladakh community.  Feeling the early effects of global warming, Ladakhis are experimenting with artificial glaciers. This audio slide show by Mary Knox Merrill showcases these efforts to counteract diminished crop yields and explores the future of irrigation in the region. ...

Why aren’t we harnessing waste heat?
Environment — Why aren’t we harnessing waste heat? By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 10.08.09 For decades, Tom Casten of Recycled Energy Development   has preached the gospel of saving money, resources and the planet by simply not wasting heat. The typical power plant uses only one-third of the energy produced by burning fuel (usually coal) to generate electricity. The remaining two-thirds of that energy escapes as waste heat. Mr. Casten says that we easily could — and should — harness this heat to warm water or even cool buildings. (You can cool with a heat source by using an absorption chiller.) By harnessing waste heat, the same fuel would ...

Mighty caribou herds dwindle, warming blamed
Environment — ON THE PORCUPINE RIVER TUNDRA, Yukon Territory Here on the endlessly rolling and tussocky terrain of northwest Canada, where man has hunted caribou since the Stone Age, the vast antlered herds are fast growing thin. And it’s not just here. Across the tundra 1,000 miles to the east, Canada’s Beverly herd, numbering more than 200,000 a decade ago, can barely be found today. Halfway around the world in Siberia, the biggest aggregation of these migratory animals, of the dun-colored herds whose sweep across the Arctic’s white canvas is one of nature’s matchless wonders, has shrunk by hundreds of thousands in a few short years. From wildlife spectacle ...

Floating house could ride New Orleans’ floods
Environment — NEW ORLEANS A house capable of floating atop rising floodwaters made its debut Tuesday in New Orleans alongside more than a dozen other homes built through actor Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation. Called the FLOAT House, the unique home aims to answer the challenge posed by the Big Easy’s flood risk, starkly illustrated by the rising waters of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.“I wanted to float it down the Mississippi River to New Orleans,” architect Thom Mayne says with a chuckle while in New Orleans for Tuesday’s event. Instead, the home was shipped in pieces from Los Angeles, where it had been constructed on UCLA’s campus. The dwelling was ...

Marijuana growers worsening California drought
Environment — Marijuana growers worsening California drought By Eoin O'Carroll | 10.10.09 Large marijuana plots hidden deep in California’s public lands have illegally diverted hundreds of millions of gallons of water, compounding shortages caused by the state’s ongoing drought. Public officials in Mendocino County, a region on California’s north coast known for its lush redwood forests and potent cannabis, have witnessed rivers and creeks drained by the large-scale drug operations.“They’re using a whole lot of water.” said Lt. Rusty Noe of the Mendocino County sheriff’s office in a telephone interview with the Bright Green Blog. Lt. Noe noted that police ...

Efficiency can reduce water shortages
Environment — Efficiency can reduce water shortages By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 10.13.09 In the winter of 2005-06, a drought began in the Southeastern US. Over the following two years, the region experienced severe water shortages. Lawns went brown, streambeds ran dry, and lakes and reservoirs fell to record lows. By fall of 2007, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue had declared a state of emergency ...

Earth Talk – hybrid engines for boats
Environment — Q: I’ve heard that hybrid engine technology is now being used to power boats. What’s happening with that? – D. Smith, Portland, Maine A: With concerns about climate change and the world’s imperiled oceans and waterways at an all-time high, it makes sense that the boating industry would be looking into greener ways to try to do its part and to attract some of those increasing numbers of environmentally conscious customers. Americans spend 500 million hours zipping around in recreational boats each year. But, until recently, the engines on these boats were held to much lower ...

Leasing the sun
Environment — Leasing the sun Discount deals and tax incentives help homeowners go solar, By Yvonne Zipp | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor/ October 15, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published. Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We ...

Arctic Ocean meltdown: Say goodbye to the Arctic ice cap
Environment — Arctic Ocean meltdown: Say goodbye to the Arctic ice cap By Pete Spotts | 10.15.09 It’s been another lean summer for the Arctic Ocean’s sheath of summer sea ice. Much of the ice in one region is too thin to survive next summer’s melt season, according to an expedition that trekked across the ice in the Beaufort Sea off the coasts of Canada and Alaska. An expedition by the World Wildlife Fund and the Catlin Arctic Survey found that the average thickness of the ice it measured was roughly 1.8 meters (6 feet). It released the results today. After reviewing the data the expedition collected, a team at the University of Cambridge’s Polar ...

Environmental problems need a holistic approach
Environment — Environmental problems need a holistic approach By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 10.16.09 What if the major problems now facing humanity — poverty, emerging diseases, and global warming, to name a few — were so intertwined that we couldn’t hope to address one without addressing the others? And what if we really couldn’t expect to address many at once without changing our approach entirely? A new article ...

German businessman smuggled coral into US from Philippines
Environment — Anti-smuggling operations by US law enforcement agents aren’t always targeted at intercepting terrorists, drugs, or illicit money. Sometimes the effort is aimed at protecting the earth itself. This week, federal prosecutors wrapped up an investigation into a scheme to smuggle 40 tons of coral into the US from the Philippines in violation of laws protecting the world’s coral reefs. A German businessman from Essen pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Portland, Ore., to arranging two shipments in 2008 from the Philippines to Miami and Portland. Gunther Wenzek runs a company called CoraPet, which sells sand, pebbles, ...

Has global cooling begun?
Environment — Has global cooling begun? By Pete Spotts | 10.20.09 Yikes! On Sunday, Oct. 18, the New England Patriots were playing at home, in Foxboro, Mass., in a snowstorm that made it look more like a January game! Global warming must be over! So many people wish that global warming would just go away. But sorry. It ain’t happenin’. The atmosphere, if it could talk, is refusing to say: Uncle! At least to those wishing the issue would disappear. The latest deuce in the global-cooling house of cards came recently via the BBC. One of The Monitor’s reporters recapped it here ...

Maldives: An underwater meeting considers climate change
Ecoearth.info Blog — An underwater meeting considers climate change By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 10.20.09 Earlier this week, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned that Earth faces a climate “catastrophe” if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t curbed soon. His remarks, made at the Major Economies Forum in London, came in anticipation of the UN meeting on climate in Copenhagen this December. Nations must cut emissions substantially by 2020 in order to avoid economic meltdowns of the sort outlined in the Stern Report, Brown said. He also urged world leaders, many of whom don’t plan to attend the UN  meeting, to show up. The Associated Press ...

‘No impact man’ after a year doing without — what now?
Environment — NEW YORK Colin Beavan sat under the light of a single bulb, freaking out. Along with his wife and young daughter, he had just spent a year trying to reduce their net environmental impact to almost zero. With a flip of a switch, they had cut their Manhattan apartment off from the electrical grid. They had stopped using anything disposable or buying anything new. In a city of skyscrapers, they had given up elevators. They went everywhere by bicycle, bought food directly from local farmers, had even sworn off toilet paper. It had been a year of rules, a year in which nearly every aspect of their lives had been shaped by what they were not allowed ...

Mexico cuts down trees to save monarch butterflies
Environment — MEXICO CITY Authorities who have struggled to stop illegal logging in Mexico’s famed monarch butterfly reserve now are cutting down thousands of trees themselves to fight an unprecedented infestation of deadly bark beetles. Biologists and park workers are racing to fell as many as 9,000 infected fir trees and bury or extract infested wood before the orange-and-black monarchs start arriving in late October to spend the winter bunched together on branches, carpeting the trees. Environmentalists say the forest canopy of tall firs is essential to shelter the butterflies on their annual migration through Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The ...

A late green bloomer – Sheep Dog Hollow renovation
Environment — A late green bloomer – Sheep Dog Hollow renovation By Alexandra Marks | 10.22.09 OK, so you’ve decided to take the plunge with me and “go green” – or at least as green as possible. From my last post ...

Pressure builds over bottled water
Environment — SALIDA, Colo. In many ways Salida, Colo., typifies the 21st-century Rocky Mountain town. Originally founded along a railroad line in the late 1800s, it’s now geared primarily toward tourism. Among the red brick buildings of the historic center where ranchers, miners, and railroad workers once held sway, tourists now move between coffee shops, galleries, and outfitters. During warmer months, kayakers “surf” a man-made wave in the fast-flowing Arkansas River, which marks the edge of the downtown area. For the better part of this year, Salida – population 5,400 – has also been the setting for a 21st century kind of battle – over water. Here and ...

Earth Talk – free water from your roof
Environment — Q: How can I make good use of the rainwater that runs down my roof and into my gutters? – Brian Smith, Nashua, N.H. A:  For most of us, the rain that falls on our roof runs off into the ground or the sewer system. But if you’re motivated to save a little water and redistribute it on your lawns or plants – or even use it for laundry, dishes, or other interior needs – collecting rainwater from your gutters’ downspouts is a no-brainer. Two areas don’t allow it, though. Utah and parts of Washington State have antiquated but nonetheless tough laws banning anyone but owners of water ...

The world demonstrates against climate change, but US public concern wanes
Ecoearth.info Blog — The world demonstrates against climate change, but US public concern wanes Activities around the world Saturday focused on the need to reduce carbon emissions. But a new Pew survey shows that fewer and fewer Americans believe there is solid evidence the earth is warming. By Brad Knickerbocker ...

More heat, humidity coming to southern California, scientists predict
Environment — More heat, humidity coming to southern California, scientists predict Since 1990, heat waves with high humidity have increased in both frequency and intensity in southern California. By Moises Velasquez-Manoff ...

How to keep track of climate change
Ecoearth.info Blog — How to keep track of climate change Complex data, distilled and delivered in real time, could shed light on a global issue. By Mark Clayton | Staff Writer for The Christian Science Monitor/ October 26, 2009 edition Comments Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published. Tip: Do not write ...

Could water scarcity cause international conflict?
Environment — Could water scarcity cause international conflict? By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 10.26.09 In reporting a recent story on a fight over water between residents of a small Colorado town and Nestlé Waters North America, a bottled water company, I learned much about water scarcity around the world, and the sense — also growing — that shortages of water could spark much future conflict. In recent years, there’s been a proliferation of books on the world’s present and future water woes, from Maude Barlow’s Blue Covenant to Robert Glennon’s Unquenchable . Many, including the authors mentioned above, argue that water must be ...

Surprise! The world has more trees than you probably think
Environment — Surprise! The world has more trees than you probably think New study finds that trees cover a significant portion of the world’s farmlands. By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor/ October 27, 2009 edition Comments Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be ...

Green renovation – go it alone or hire an expert?
Environment — Green renovation – go it alone or hire an expert? By Alexandra Marks | 10.27.09 I begin this post with a confession. I have not yet hired a “green expert” to guide us as we undertake the massive renovation of Sheep Dog Hollow ...

Want to go green? There’s an iPhone app for that.
Environment — Want to go green? There’s an iPhone app for that. By Judy Lowe | 10.28.09 Along with all the other interesting things that an iPhone can do  – allow you to read free books,  listen to Elvis radio, and never be out of tweeting range, for instance – a few of its more than 50,000 apps can make an environmental impact on your life. Which ones will be most useful depends on your interests. Do you really need to clutter up your iPhone’s screen with the free Greenpeace Tissue Guide ...

A green home that saves the green
Environment — EAST HADDAM, Conn. A picture can sometimes stir your imagination. One of a house caught mine on a Sunday morning this summer. And within a day, it had transformed my life. The house is called Sheep Dog Hollow, and the picture was in the window of a real estate office in an elegantly restored Colonial home in Essex, Conn. Let me be clear here. I was not in the market for a house. I had recently built an addition onto my current home and a greenhouse to keep the deer from munching on my summer tomatoes. But I enjoy window-shopping for real estate, if only to indulge my fantasies. I have since learned that this can be extremely dangerous. Sheep Dog ...

Global warming takes a toll on Arctic ecosystem
Environment — Global warming takes a toll on Arctic ecosystem By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 10.29.09 Sediment cores taken from a remote Arctic lake indicate that the ecosystem has changed dramatically in recent decades, according to a new study. These shifts, which are unprecedented for the past 200,000 years, most likely result ...

Reasons to hire a green renovation expert
Environment — Reasons to hire a green renovation expert By Alexandra Marks | 10.30.09 I ended my last post with the conclusion that hiring a “green expert” would be too expensive and so I would not hire one, but would do the research about various green building techniques myself (which I will then share with you). In that way, I concluded, Martin and I could make informed decisions about which technologies to use based on our limited budget and save the money we’d use on an expert. Even as I was writing that last sentence, I knew that I had not done due diligence. I’ve been blessed in my life to know some remarkable people. One is Rick Schwolsky, the ...

Americans are getting better at water conservation
Environment — FRESNO, Calif. Americans are using less water per person now than they have since the mid-1950s, thanks to water-saving technologies and a nationwide push to safeguard dwindling supplies. A report released Thursday, Oct. 29, by the US Geological Survey ...

How to have a green Halloween
Environment — How to have a green Halloween By Judy Lowe | 10.30.09 If you’d like Halloween’s dominant color to be green instead of orange, here are some tips for how you and your family can celebrate the holiday with the environment in mind: Costumes Reuse materials from thrift stores or yard sale to make costumes, instead of buying them, suggests Larry West, who covers environmental issues at About.com ...

Sizing up palm oil
Environment — It’s lurking, unlabeled, in hundreds of household products from lip gloss to baby formula to potato chips. While it doesn’t sound (and need not be) nefarious, activist groups worldwide argue that the production of palm oil is currently harming rain forests in Southeast Asia, orangutans, and the environment. But the American Palm Oil Council calls it “nature’s gift to the world.” So, which is it? Made from the flesh of fruit from oil palm trees, palm oil stepped into the void when towering oil prices put pressure on companies worldwide to find alternative sources for products from biofuel to shampoo. Demand for the oil ...

ARPA-E – are its energy projects crazy or revolutionary?
Environment — ARPA-E – are its energy projects crazy or revolutionary? By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 11.02.09 Last week, the US Department of Energy announced a series of new energy-efficiency projects that could, according to the press release, “fundamentally change the way we use and produce energy.” The projects are, in the words of one observer, so crazy they may actually work. If just one is successful, it could transform society, says another. They’re talking about the recently formed Advanced Research Projects Agency — ARPA-E for short – which awarded $151 million in grants to 37 projects in 17 states. Of the major recipients, small ...

Is global warming melting the ice on Mt. Kilimanjaro?
Environment — Is global warming melting the ice on Mt. Kilimanjaro? By Pete Spotts | 11.03.09 Global warming appears to be melting the ice on Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro. The summit’s glaciers are likely to be gone within a few decades That’s the word from a study appearing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But global warming may not be the whole story behind Mt. Kilimanjaro and its environs. And therein lies a tale of how human activities may affect local and regional climate in ways that can mask or reinforce a long-term warming trend. Understanding those effects is critical to devising strategies for adapting to global ...

Oyster ‘gardening’ restores reefs after hurricane
Environment — SAN LEON, Texas Below the choppy gray waters of a small peninsula jutting into Galveston Bay, 200 mesh bags dangle, filled with shucked oyster shells and a whole lot of hope. Six families, who each have bay-front homes with long wooden-plank piers, stuffed the bags with oyster shells. They then tied the bags to the newly rebuilt fishing piers and dropped them into the water. These families are experimenting with “oyster gardening” — using old shells to provide the hard surface upon which oyster larvae can attach and grow. This is one of several creative projects, paid for by federal and state grants, under way to restore a small portion of the ...

Why African countries are boycotting climate change talks
Ecoearth.info Blog — Why African countries are boycotting climate change talks UN climate change talks in Barcelona have stalled as African countries say the world's rich nations must do more to cut emissions. By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer 11.03.09 Talks over how to cut back global carbon emissions to ease the effects of climate change have broken down, with African nations arguing that rich nations are not doing their fair share. The latest round of talks, scheduled for Nov. 2-6 in Barcelona, are aimed at looking into a number of natural remedies that might help manage the rise in global emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the main by products from the ...

Republican Senators boycott debate of climate change bill
Ecoearth.info Blog — Republican Senators boycott debate of climate change bill Republican boycott of climate change discussion leaves Senate Democrats going it alone for now. GOP lawmakers want more details on the bill’s economic impact. By Gail Russell Chaddock ...

Why choose a geothermal heating system?
Environment — Why choose a geothermal heating system? By Alexandra Marks | 11.03.09 As an indication of how completely antediluvian I was in terms of my Green IQ ( a term I thought I’d just made up, but is actually all over the place, I had not even known that geothermal heating and cooling was a viable option in the Northeast until after we’d already bought Sheep Dog Hollow . Martin and I were standing outside the house with Dale King, the previous owner who is also our lead builder and who lives down the road. (More on Dale later.) I was talking about how we’d like to renovate as “greenly” as possible but also maintain the historic ...

Four good green reads, from edible fashion to your pet’s eco-pawprint
Environment — Four good green reads, from edible fashion to your pet’s eco-pawprint By Judy Lowe | 11.04.09 Who says that environmental news always has to be about cap and trade or disappearing glaciers? Some of our green reading today tends toward the offbeat: edible clothing (think pasta blouses and a cabbage-leaf  bikini) and calculating the eco-pawprint of your dog or cat. Then take a peek at Southwest’s new green airplane and consider an environmental side effect of the world’s yearly 1.2 billion lightning flashes. Edible fashion You get the feeling that Joe Lauer had fun compiling From the Fig Leaf to Fig Newton’s….Edible Clothing can grow on ...

New Orleans in the forefront of a green building revolution
Environment — New Orleans in the forefront of a green building revolution Hurricane Katrina provided New Orleans with the opportunity to be part of an environmental revolution and rebuild its houses, schools, and neighborhoods in a green, sustainable way. By Husna Haq ...

Oil spills poison the Red Sea
Environment — CAIRO Egyptian tourism commercials present the Red Sea as an untouched paradise where “the sun shines 365 days a year” and the water is full of exuberant marine life. But the reality is that the beaches and marine life are being destroyed as a result of offshore oil drilling and spills. On May 20, oil spilled onto the shores just north of the popular resort town of Hurghada, some five hours southeast of Cairo. Although small in comparison with spills elsewhere, more than two-thirds of a mile of sandy beach was covered with crude oil. According to the country’s environment ministry, workers “moved immediately to the northern coastal region of ...

Drawbacks of geothermal heating systems
Environment — Drawbacks of geothermal heating systems By Alexandra Marks | 11.05.09 I’m sold on geothermal heating. Just check out my previous blog post . But being trained as a journalist, I can’t help but strive for at least some kind of balance. And so, I’ve felt it necessary to outline some of the various problems associated with geothermal residential heating. First, let’s start with the very basics – the word geothermal itself. Several helpful readers have noted that there’s a bit of confusion about just what it means. So let’s get that cleared up. Geothermal, as the word is traditionally used, refers to harnessing “energy from ‘hot spots’ ...

Earth Talk - the future of rain forests
Environment — Q:     Do you have current facts and figures about how much rain forest is being destroyed each day around the world, and for what purpose(s)? – Teri, via e-mail A:    Pinning down exact numbers is nearly impossible, but most experts agree that we are losing more than 80,000 acres of tropical rain forest daily, and significantly degrading another 80,000 acres every day. In addition, we are losing some 135 plant, animal, and insect species every day – or some 50,000 species a year – as the forests fall. Tropical rain forests are incredibly rich ecosystems that play a key role ...

Will talking change anyone's mind about climate change?
Ecoearth.info Blog — 2. Woody Porter | 11.06.09 The problem, it seems to me, is that “denialism” is a political and ideological stance, not en empirical or scientific one. “Deniers” simply want to DENY it’s happening — to them, it’s “just not happening,” that’s that and that’s flat. Being an ideology, reasons “why” or “how” it’s not happening are all over the map. To some, there’s no warming trend at all — measurements can’t be trusted, thousands of scientists are lying, etc. To others, it’s been a cool summer where they live, so there’s no problem. Others admit there’s a warming trend, but deny that mankind has anything to do with it — it’s sunspots, or some ...

Efforts to stem global warming moving at a glacial pace
Ecoearth.info Blog — Efforts to stem global warming moving at a glacial pace US lawmakers working on legislation and diplomats everywhere doubt there’ll be any major breakthrough at next month’s meeting in Copenhagen. By Brad Knickerbocker ...

Water supply of millions threatened by melting of Kashmir’s glaciers
Environment — Water supply of millions threatened by melting of Kashmir’s glaciers New study by scientists in India finds that the biggest glacier in the Indian portion of Kashmir has shrunk, imperiling the water supply of millions of people in the region.. By Aijaz Hussain ...

Why is Earth’s upper atmosphere cooling?
Environment — Why is Earth’s upper atmosphere cooling? By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 11.10.09 Temperatures at the earth’s surface have increased by between 0.2 and 0.4 degrees C in the past 30 years. The vast majority of scientists attribute this warming trend to higher concentrations of greenhouse gases – CO2, methane, CFCs, and others – which warm both the earth’s surface and lower atmosphere by holding heat in. But one of the seeming paradoxes of more greenhouse gases is that while they seem to warm the earth’s surface, they also seem to be cooling the higher layers of the atmosphere: Surface temperatures have gone up in recent decades, but they’ve ...

The secret life of ancient trees
Environment — Da Lat, Vietnam A thousand years ago, the steep slopes of Vietnam’s southern highlands were cloaked by forests of towering pines and other trees. Tribesmen roamed the forests, hunting wild boar and deer under a lush canopy of laurels and oaks. In their quest for sustenance, they moved slowly through an understory of tangled bamboo and palms. Thick layers of moss and decaying leaves muffled their footsteps as they stalked their prey. On the forest floor, the seed of a Fokienia hodginsii tree sprouted in the moist detritus. As it grew, a chronicle of each year of its life was locked into narrow bands inside its trunk – light for the beginning of ...

Benefits of energy-efficient windows
Environment — Benefits of energy-efficient windows By Alexandra Marks | 11.10.09 I knew we wanted to put in high quality, energy-efficient windows for our renovation of Sheepdog Hollow simply because that appeared to be the right thing to do – especially since we opted to install geothermal heating . For geothermal heating to work as efficiently as possible, your house has to be buttoned up tight, as insulated as possible. And so, obviously, we need to have energy-efficient windows that work to keep heat in and cold temperatures out. As I began to do some research, what really impressed me about some energy-efficient windows has nothing ...

China confronts global warming dilemma
Environment — Beijing China awoke to climate change with a storm. It was late January 2008, a time when people across the country were busily gathering recipes, stocking fireworks, and preparing to welcome relatives to celebrate the Lunar New Year. But suddenly, severe ice storms brought much of the nation to a standstill. For two weeks, fierce winds, sleet, and snow downed power lines, shuttered businesses, and razed more than 200,000 homes across southern and central China. Hundreds of thousands of travelers who had been headed home to see families were stranded on icy rail platforms. Cities struggled to provide power and water to residents, and snow ...

How to choose energy-efficient windows
Environment — How to choose energy-efficient windows By Alexandra Marks | 11.12.09 The decision to install energy efficient windows for our green renovation of  Sheepdog Hollow was a no-brainer: The better a house is insulated, the more efficiently its heating and cooling systems will work. And since we love natural light and want to take advantage of the bucolic views of the rolling fields, graceful old elms, and a pond on the property, we knew we were going to put in a lot of windows. The key question was: how to choose the best window, with the best thermal efficiency, for the job. On the Web, I found quite a few resources. The Efficient ...

Earth Talk - Little is known of hard-to-track orcas
Environment — Q:   How are populations of the world’s orca whales faring these days? – J. Witham, Bangor, Maine A:    The largest member of the dolphin family and a major draw at marine parks, orcas (also known as “killer whales”) are highly intelligent and social marine mammals. Many of their habits are still a mystery to science, as the great black-and-white creatures, which can grow to 26 feet and weigh six tons, are fast-moving and difficult to track. Given this uncertainty, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a nonprofit group that maintains a frequently updated ...

Three good green reads – futuristic cars, solar power from space, and wind power from on high
Environment — Three good green reads – futuristic cars, solar power from space, and wind power from on high By Judy Lowe | 11.16.09 Futurists have been promising Jetson-style cars for America’s near future since some of us were kids back in the Dark Ages. They’re still doing it — and Americans are still buying into it, although possibly with less and less hope that these awesome vehicles might actually become reality. Of the “ 6 Amazing Cars From the Future ” to be introduced at this year’s LA Auto Show, most are for drooling over by game players. But two have taken the environment into consideration — which is probably going to be ...

The economics of ecosystems
Environment — The economics of ecosystems By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 11.16.09 On Friday, the United Nations Environment Program released The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity report for Policymakers. TEEB, as it’s known, stresses the importance of putting a dollar amount on ecosystem services. As such, it belongs to a broader, ongoing effort to correct what ecological economists say is a failure in most cost-benefit analyses to adequately account for the very real value of living systems. As a result of this oversight, living systems are all too often liquidated when, in reality, preserving them would bring more economic benefit. A ...

Ways to help wildlife adapt to a warmer world
Environment — At least 18 strategies for adaptive wildlife management were put forward in a 2008 study by the Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment. Among them: –  Add more protected areas. –  Conserve multiple examples of each ecosystem type. –  Manage and restore existing protected areas for maximum resilience. –  Design new natural areas and restoration sites to maximize resilience. For example, restore marsh communities behind gently sloped and undeveloped ocean shorelines (those most likely to be affected by sea-level rise) rather than fortify existing beaches. Preparing for the change in this way ...

Saving wildlife in a warmer world
Environment — Saving wildlife in a warmer world A warmer world will have adverse effects on wildlife. We can help save animals, but it will take savvier approaches, scientists say. By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of the Christian Science Monitor/ November 17, 2009 edition Comments Trackbacks/Pingbacks Leave a Comment Name (required) Website By clicking "Submit Comment", you agree to our Terms of Service . We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other ...

Geothermal heating and cooling – why we chose a closed-loop system
Environment — Geothermal heating and cooling – why we chose a closed-loop system By Alexandra Marks | 11.17.09 The wonder of a geothermal heating and cooling system is that it uses use the energy naturally stored in the ground to heat and cool your house. Some extra juice is needed, of course, to run a heat pump to keep the system operating, but it amounts to a fraction – as little as 30 percent – of what a traditional gas or oil burner would use. Your main source of comfort in your home is just what’s under the good green earth. That was in perfect harmony with my vision of our green renovation of Sheep Dog Hollow ...

Earth Talk – Little cigarette butts make big litter impact
Environment — Q: Has anyone ever studied the environmental impact of discarded cigarettes? I’m constantly appalled at the number of drivers I see pitching their butts out their car windows. – Ned Jordan, via e-mail A:   It’s true that littered cigarette butts are a public nuisance, and not just for aesthetic reasons. The filters on cigarettes – four-fifths of all cigarettes have them – are made of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic that is very slow to degrade in the environment. A typical cigarette butt can take anywhere from 18 months to 10 years to decompose, depending on conditions. But ...

Did 2008 Wenchuan quake strike because China filled a reservoir?
Environment — Did 2008 Wenchuan quake strike because China filled a reservoir? By Pete Spotts | 11.18.09 Scientists have seen this one before: Fill a reservoir behind a new dam, and, oops, you trigger an earthquake nearby not long after the lake is topped off. Now, a team of researchers led by the University of Colorado’s Shemin Ge suggest that this could well be what happened with the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in China’s Sichuan Province in May 2008. According to the Chinese government, the magnitude 8.0 quake left nearly 68,000 people killed, some 374,000 injured, and 18,500 people listed at the time as missing. Some estimates put the disaster’s ...

The hidden costs of fossil fuels - and biofuels, too
Environment — The hidden costs of fossil fuels - and biofuels, too The 'hidden' costs of burning fossil fuels and biofuels aren't factored into their market prices, but someone has to pay them. By Moises Velasquez-Manoff ...

‘Going Rogue’: Is Sarah Palin a creationist?
Environment — ‘Going Rogue’: Is Sarah Palin a creationist? By Eoin O'Carroll | 11.19.09 In her memoir, “Going Rogue,” Sarah Palin reveals that she has creationist leanings, explicitly rejecting the belief that humans and other species evolved from a common lineage. There’s no precise definition of “creationism,” but the term generally encompasses those who oppose all or part of the theory – held almost universally by biologists and supported by overwhelming amounts of empirical evidence – that all known species are descended from a common ancestor or gene pool and that complex life arises as a result of random mutation and natural selection. On the ...

Two big advantages of closed-loop geothermal systems
Environment — Two big advantages of closed-loop geothermal systems By Alexandra Marks | 11.19.09 When our heating contractor Tony Silverio  told us we had a choice between a closed loop and an open loop geothermal system, our first inclination was simply to go with the least expensive. That’s in part because we already knew we’d be spending significantly more upfront for a geothermal system than we would have for traditional heating in exchange for the long-term savings geothermal produces. And one of our goals in renovating Sheep Dog Hollow ...

The hidden costs of fossil fuels - and biofuels, too
Environment — The hidden costs of fossil fuels - and biofuels, too The 'hidden' costs of burning fossil fuels and biofuels aren't factored into their market prices, but someone has to pay them. By Moises Velasquez-Manoff ...

Economists put a price tag on the benefits of coral reefs
Environment — In recent decades, coral reef ecosystems around the world have declined dramatically. One-fifth have died, according to a 2004 World Wildlife Fund assessment, and human activity directly threatens another 24 percent. As atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide increase, scientists say that higher temperatures and ocean acidification could kill 70 percent of the world’s coral reefs by 2050. By century’s end, they could be gone entirely. If this loss could be assigned a dollar amount, how much would it be? A group of economists presented an assessment of coral reefs’ value at the recent DIVERSITAS biodiversity conference in ...

How will California’s new TV energy standards affect you?
Environment — How will California’s new TV energy standards affect you? By Judy Lowe | 11.20.09 On Wednesday, the California Energy Commission approved new energy-efficiency standards to regulate how much electricity television sets sold in the state can consume. When do the standards take effect? Jan. 1, 2011, with more stringent rules kicking in two years later. Do they apply to the TV sets I currently own?   No. They also don’t apply to any television set you buy next year. And you can keep using your TVs as long as they last. What television sets will be regulated?  All that measure 58 inches (1,400 square inches) or smaller. How will future TVs be ...

Hacked climate emails: conspiracy or tempest in a teapot?
Environment — For all its gee-whiz discoveries and its influence on public policy, science can be a messy, sometimes ugly enterprise. When the science is paleontology, astronomy, or geophysics, internal politics, thinly or not-so-thinly veiled personal attacks, and water-cooler discussions among influential scientists about whose research is junk and not worth publishing draw a collective yawn from anyone outside the relatively small circle of researchers involved. When the topic is global warming, however, look out. This week, more than 169 megabytes worth of global-warming emails and related files were either hacked and/or leaked ...

Plant scientists build a ‘Sears catalog’ for corn genome
Environment — Plant scientists announced last week they have built the foundation for a complete catalog for corn genes, with far-reaching implications for humanity’s food supply. Researchers have been working on the genome-sequencing project for four years. The draft sequence, now 95 percent complete, has given scientists a point of comparison they can use to begin measuring the range of genetic diversity among different varieties of corn, or maize. The diversity is represented in what researchers call a haplotype map, or hapmap. Such maps are expected to help scientists zero in on specific genes or groups of genes that give the plants ...

Hacked global warming e-mails – what’s new?
Environment — Hacked global warming e-mails – what’s new? By Judy Lowe | 11.23.09 (Note: We’re keeping this story updated as new developments unfold.) When the news broke that “more than 169 megabytes worth of global-warming emails and related files were either hacked and/or leaked from computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Center in Britain and released to the world via the Internet,” as the Monitor’s Pete Spotts wrote ...

E-waste recycling – are solutions near?
Environment — E-waste recycling – are solutions near? By Moises Velasquez-Manoff | 11.23.09 Last week, US Rep. Mike Thompson (D) of California introduced a resolution calling on Congress to better manage disposal of old electronics, or e-waste. The resolution, now in the Committee on House Administration, proposes that the legislative branch recycle its obsolete computers, monitors, cellphones, and other electronic equipment exclusively with recyclers certified by the new e-Stewards Standard . E-waste poses a large and growing problem around the world. Americans generated 3.01 million tons of the stuff in 2007, according to the ...

Joel Salatin advocates a better way to raise food
Environment — Meet the best, loudest (and only) Christian-libertarian-capitalist-environmentalist-lunatic farmer on the face of planet Earth. Joel Salatin, self-professed owner of that lengthy honorific, has a personality bigger than the Grain Belt and a genius for farming that has made him a glib, brilliant prophet to a growing movement of back-to-nature farmers from California to Swoope, Va. (pop. 1,326), where his 550-acre Polyface Farm rests at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Mr. Salatin’s agricultural preaching has influenced food author and journalist Michael Pollan (“Omnivore’s Dilemma”) and earned him a prominent spot in the ...

Understanding home insulation, from fiberglass to foam
Environment — Understanding home insulation, from fiberglass to foam By Alexandra Marks | 11.24.09 During the next two days I’ll be getting estimates from three different insulation contractors as well as a crash course on air infiltration ...

Global warming: 72 percent of Americans say it’s real, poll finds
Environment — Global warming: 72 percent of Americans say it’s real, poll finds By Judy Lowe | 11.25.09 Amid all the controversy about the hacked e-mails of climate scientists comes an ABC-Washington Post poll that says a majority of Americans believe that global warming is happening and that a cap on greenhouse gases should be imposed nationally. That’s a drop of 8 percentage points (thanks, Don!) compared with those believed in global warming a year ago (and a drop of 12 percentage points over the past three years). Juliet Eilperin of The Post explains the change in numbers this way: The increase in climate skepticism is driven largely ...

As Copenhagen summit nears, 'Climategate' dogs global warming debate
Ecoearth.info Blog — Atlanta As major Western powers rush to break a deadlock over a new global emissions treaty ahead of the Copenhagen climate summit in 10 days, world leaders face another problem: Waning public concern over man-made global warming. The leak of embarrassing, and in some cases troubling, emails from a major global climate center, East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU), has given fuel to skeptics of human-caused global warming, putting even more pressure on leaders to get a deal (or at least the beginnings of one) in Copenhagen. Among the ideas floated to break a deadlock: A satellite system by which nations could be monitored for their carbon ...