Honey, Someone Shrunk the Sheep!

Sheep on Soay Island off the west coast of Scotland are getting smaller, defying the evolutionary advantage that typically accrues to larger animals when food becomes scarce during cold weather. Increasingly warmer winters have shortened the season of scarcity, enabling smaller sheep to survive — and give birth to more small sheep.

Large Blue Butterfly Makes a Comeback 30 Years After ‘Extinction’

After WWII, changing land use and agricultural practices in England robbed the large blue caterpillars of their favorite food: red ant grubs. No grubs? No caterpillars, no large blue butterflies. Now, thanks to restoration and reintroduction efforts,  they’re back, along with increases in rare birds, plants and other butterflies.

Food Inc., the Movie

Alternet interviews director, Robert Kenner, about the making of this disturbing look at the health, human rights and environmental issues surrounding what you ate for  dinner last evening. It seems there’s a lot the food industry doesn’t want you to know — and will go to lengths to keep you from finding out.

How Our Fast-Paced Lives are Making Us Sick

Linda Buzzell, co-editor of Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind, explains how living under biologically unnatural time pressures can lead to psychological, social and physical ailments, and offers a few suggestions for recalibrating ourselves to a more natural pace of living.

The U.S. Climate Bill: Key Elements

Having trouble making heads or tails of the climate bill passed by the US House of Representatives last week? PlanetArk highlights key elements.

Carbon Tax Proving Effective in Sweeden

In 1991, the Swedes established a carbon tax that bears on energy consumption. To the skeptics who assert that this tax kills growth, they answer with their record: since the introduction of the tax, Swedish greenhouse gas waste has been reduced by 9 percent, while, during the same period, economic growth was 48 percent.

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” — Miriam Beard

There are various shades of green travel. To find yours, start by taking your growing environmental consciousness along on your trip. Apply the same effort to preserve and protect the environment of your destination as you do at home. Take your good habits with you, and perhaps you’ll bring a few new environmental habits home.

Transportation is likely your vacation’s largest source of environmental impact. A single flight from Denver to New York produces as much carbon dioxide per passenger as an SUV produces in a month, according to USA Today.

An in depth new guide, Getting There Greener, by the Union of Concerned Scientists, compares and contrasts modes of travel to help you make environmentally sound transportation choices. For example, the guide suggests that for trips of more than 500 miles, if one or two people are traveling, it’s greener to fly direct in coach than to drive.

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On June 10, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved what may be the toughest recycling law in the nation, adding mandatory composting of food scraps and biodegradables to its already acclaimed recycling program.

Beginning this fall, residences and businesses will be required to sort their refuse into three, color-coded containers: blue for recycled items, green for compost, and black for trash. The proposal, introduced by Mayor Gavin Newsom, is part of the city’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, by 2020, send nothing to landfills or incinerators.

While many communities have mandatory recycling and some require separation of yard waste for composting, San Francisco is the first to add food waste to the composting stream.

Some critics raised concerns over potential trash scavenging, while others recoiled from what they saw as  the city’s big-brother approach. Although violators will eventually be subject to fines, the city recognizes that the new practices will take a while to become routine and indicated it won’t be overly aggressive regarding enforcement.  Officials noted that the city will not be hiring new trash inspectors and that collectors will not become “trash police.”

San Francisco currently diverts 72 percent of its waste collections away from landfills, the highest rate among all U.S. cities.

A comprehensive, 190-page report released this month by The U.S. Global Change Research Program concludes that evidence of global warming is unequivocal and confirms previous evidence that global temperature increases in recent decades have been primarily human-induced.

The report, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” compiles years of scientific research and takes into account new data not available during the preparation of previous large national and global assessments. It was produced by a consortium of experts from 13 U.S. government science agencies and from several major universities and research institutes. With its production and review spanning Republican and Democratic administrations, it offers a valuable, objective scientific consensus on how climate change is affecting—and may further affect—the United States.

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Last week, the US Supreme Court reversed the decision of a federal appeals court and gave Alaska’s Kensington gold mine the go ahead to dump up to 4.5 million tons of mining waste  into nearby Lower Slate Lake. The waste, known as tailings, is a slurry of crushed rock and water laced with copper, aluminum, lead and mercury.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, “Filling the lake with tailings would kill its resident fish — the Dolly Varden and threespine stickleback — but the lake could be restocked with fish after the mine closed, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, which approved the controversial waste disposal permit.” [Emphasis added]

The basis for the Court’s decision is  a controversial, 2004 Bush administration rule that opened the door for dumping by allowing industrial waste to be considered as “fill material,” and thus bypass clean water regulations.

Environmentalists are pressuring the Obama administration to reverse the policy, while 150 members of the House of Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors to legislation that would clarify discrepancies in federal law that made the Bush ruling possible.

From EarthJustice.org:

“If a mining company can turn Lower Slate Lake in Alaska into a lifeless waste dump, other polluters with solids in their wastewater can potentially do the same to any water body in America,” said Earthjustice president Trip Van Noppen. “The good news is that the problem is reversible. It was caused by a Bush administration rule reversing thirty years of successful regulation under the Clean Water Act. We call on President Obama to act immediately to repeal this rule and restore the original intent of the Clean Water Act.”

Sarychev Peak Volcanic Eruption as Seen from the ISS

This stunning photograph was taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station on June 12 as the Sarychev Volcano in the Kuril Islands northeast of Japan began spewing steam and ash into the atmosphere. Within three days, ash from the volcano was detected 2,407 kilometers ESE and 926 kilometers WNW of the volcano. For a description of what you’re looking at, click the image to visit NASA’s Earth Observatory page.

Health Effects of Pesticides on Children

The Daily Green reports:

It’s well known that children are more susceptible to the harmful effects of chemical exposure than adults. For one, their bodies are still developing rapidly, so chemicals can interfere with the normal growth of their brains and other organs, or disrupt their hormones at key developmental periods. For another, doses are likely to be disproportionately large, because their bodies are so much smaller than adults’ and because their breathing rates are so much more rapid. Finally, their habits — crawling on the floor, testing the world with their mouths and frequently putting their hands into their mouths dirty — mean they are exposed to more toxic chemicals on the ground.

A new study suggests yet more reason kids are more susceptible to the harmful effects of harsh chemicals: Their bodies have yet to produce significant quantities of a detoxifying enzyme that helps adults rid their bodies of organophosphate chemicals, a class of chemicals that includes many pesticides.

Microbes that Eat Plastic?

Could a 16-year old Canadian student’s science project solve a perplexing global waste problem? A lively discussion ensues in the comment section.

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On September 26, 1991, Jane Poynter and seven others embarked on a 2-year experiment in Biosphere 2, a three-acre, sealed environment in the Arizona desert designed to model the complex interactions involved in a self-sustaining ecosystem.

Like Earth — the original biosphere — Biosphere 2 was a materially closed system, dependent upon external systems only for energy. Everything else needed to support life — food, water, oxygen — were supplied by the environment in which the human inhabitants were integral players.

The two years that Poynter and her fellow “biospherians” lived in Biosphere 2 were not without problems. In the first year, hunger became an issue and inhabitants lost weight even as many health indicators (blood cholesterol, blood pressure, autoimmunity) showed improvement. In the second year, much of the weight loss was regained, as food production increased and their metabolisms adapted to their diets.

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Connect with nature in your own backyard! Get ready for a night of outdoor fun when you join in The National Wildlife Federation’s Great American Backyard Campout, Saturday, June 27.

The National Wildlife Federation encourages parents and kids alike to trade their website for a campsite and screen time for green time. Turn off computers, TVs, iPods, Wiis, MP3 players, cell phones and all things high tech, to experience a night with Mother Nature, listen for nocturnal wildlife (maybe even see some), star-gaze, cook outdoors, tell stories about Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, and explore a whole other world right in their own backyard.

Gather the kids, grandkids, neighbors, and friends to join in the fun. It’s a great way to pass along your love for the outdoors to future generations.

Last year thousands of people from around the country participated in the Great American Backyard Campout®. You don’t need to go to Yosemite National Park to experience the great outdoors and the wonders it has to offer. Just open up your backdoor!

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Updated 3/23: See below.

These days, there’s green, and then there’s green. In a time of both economic and environmental challenges, one would hope that the two might go hand-in-hand, but as we’ve seen in the past when push comes to shove, pocketbook green often carries the day.

So it seems with the Cash-for-Clunkers bill now circulating Washington, D.C. The idea behind the bill has always been simple: provide the public with a financial incentive to replace older, gas-guzzling and pollution-spewing vehicles with new, more fuel efficient models.

What’s for environmentalists not to like? Nothing but a few pesky details having to do with how much of a mileage increase the new vehicle has to produce to qualify for the program.

Under the House version of the bill proposed by Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH),  you can get $3,500-4,500 back for a vehicle that gets only a few miles per gallon more than the old vehicle you’re trading. Good for you, great for the manufacturers and dealers who have a backlog of inventory; for the environment, not so much.

Let’s say you’re driving a thirsty, old light-duty truck, mini-van or SUV that gets a combined 18 mpg or less. Trade it in on a new vehicle that gets only 2 mpg more, and you qualify for a $3,500 voucher.  If that’s not enough, choose a vehicle that gets only 6 mpg more than what you’re trading, and you’ll qualify for $4,500.

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Harnessing the Power of the Jet Stream

Researchers have compiled the first global survey of wind energy at high altitudes, where currents blow more steadily and 10 times faster than near-surface winds. If the energy of the jet stream energy could be harnessed using tethered, generator-kites, it could provide a major source of electricity for cities such as Tokyo, Seoul and New York.

For now, that’s a big “if.” The authors note that such a scheme would require “substantial infrastructure,” including vast amounts of storage capacity and modernization of the power grid. And transmission cables stretching to airline cruising altitudes of 20.000-50,000 feet.

Meanwhile, Down Here on the Ground…

The AP reports on new research that suggests near-surface winds are diminishing across the U.S. due to global warming — ironically, the same winds we hope to harness to reduce global warming. If preliminary results hold up, this would be the first study to show such a trend, but it would dovetail with similar observations in Australia and Europe. Something to keep an eye on, at least.

Can Lack of Sleep Drive You Mad?

New research and a classic case of ‘which came first’…

Disturbed nights and mental illness have always been linked. Now research shows insomnia is not just a symptom, but a cause.

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Between 1750 and 2000, the world’s human population increased more than sevenfold, from about 790 million to 6 billion. By 2040, that number is expected to reach 9 billion.

The impact of such growth on the face of the planet and the species with whom we share it has been profound. As we are now beginning to understand, our growth and increasing demand for resources threatens the ability of Earth to sustain us.

Imagine for a moment you had the means to do something about it. Johan Eliasch, banker, film producer and executive of Head sports equipment does — and has.

In 2006, Eliasch purchased 400,000 acres of Amazon rainforest in Brazil. The idea was simple. If he owned the land, he could put a stop to the logging and deforestation — at least on his “small” parcel of the endangered forest that provides 20 percent of the world’s oxygen and influences  Earth’s weather patterns.

But he didn’t stop there. He encouraged others to purchase land as well. The charity he co-founded, Cool Earth, provides an opportunity for anyone to sponsor as little as an acre.

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During the summertime more people take to the roads for vacations and other summer activities. This means more automobile emissions, making summer the perfect time to think about public transportation.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and transit systems across the country will celebrate the fourth annual National Dump the Pump day today, Thursday, June 18, 2009.

This day is designed to encourage people to take public transportation instead of their cars and to raise awareness of the environmental and financial benefits of public transit.  Using public transportation can save money, conserve gasoline, and reduce the amount of harmful greenhouse gases emitted into our environment.

The American Public Transportation Association goal is for people who have never used public transportation to give it a try instead of driving their car. Many public transportation systems across the nation are offering special promotions and free rides on June 18th to encourage the switch to public transportation.

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