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June 27, 2007
Rewarding Polluters Fuels Gulf Of Mexico Dead Zone
A new study determines that U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing the Gulf of Mexico dead zone. This is an area of coastal waters -- visited in MoJo's The Fate Of The Ocean -- where dissolved-oxygen concentrations fall to less than 2 parts per million every summer. According to a paper published at Environmental Science & Technology Online, these findings bode poorly for the Gulf, as more and more acres of land are planted with corn to meet the growing U.S. demand for alternative fuels.
Scientists studying nutrient inputs that feed the Gulf's hypoxic zone have known that certain intensively farmed areas in the upper Midwest leak more nitrogen derived from fertilizers than others. Now, there's a new twist. Farmers in areas with the highest rates of fertilizer runoff tend to receive the biggest payouts in federal crop subsidies, says Mary Booth, lead author of the paper. What's more, they have fewer acres enrolled in conservation programs compared with other parts of the Mississippi River basin. Booth maintains that agricultural nitrate loading could be reduced substantially if farmers took just 3% of the most intensively farmed land out of production. Accomplishing this target, she adds, wouldn't require a large increase in overall federal funding, but monies would have to be shifted from commodity to conservation programs under the Farm Bill set to expire in September.
Hey, a little citizen outrage via email here and here might make a difference on this one. . . --JULIA WHITTY
World Wildlife Fund Opposes Iron Dumping In Ocean
The World Wildlife Fund announced its opposition to a plan by the for-profit Planktos, Inc. to dump up to 100 tons of iron dust in the open ocean west of the Galapagos Islands. The experiment is designed to produce phytoplankton blooms that may absorb carbon dioxide. The American company is speculating on lucrative ways to combat climate change. But WWF spokespersons say there are safer and more proven ways of preventing or lowering carbon dioxide levels, and that the real risks in this experiment could cause a domino effect throughout the food web.
Potential negative impacts of the Planktos experiment include: shifts in the natural species composition of plankton; gases released by the large amount of phytoplankton blooms; bacterial decay following the induced blooms and the resulting anoxia, leading to a potential dead zone in the area; the introduction of large amounts of impure (but cost-effective) iron to the ecosystem, tainted by other trace metals toxic to marine life.
The waters around the Galapagos are rich with 400 species of fish, as well as sea turtles, penguins, marine iguanas, sperm whales, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, crabs, anemones, sponges and corals. Many of these animals are found nowhere else on earth. Planktos, Inc. plans to dump the iron in international waters using vessels neither flagged under the United States nor leaving from the U.S., so federal regulations such as the U.S. Ocean Dumping Act don't apply and details don't need to be disclosed to U.S. entities.
Take note: a new form of piracy is born. Science piracy on the high seas. Isn't Sea Shepherd in the area right about now? Calling the good Pirate, I mean, Captain Paul Watson . . .
BTW, here’s a good example of the media getting it all wrong:
June 26, 2007
Bush Finally Gets Serious About Climate Change
OK, this is a little old, but since I've been chuckling about it for a week now, I figured it was worth a post. In one of those special nailing-it moments, The Onion offered this headline:
Addressing Climate Crisis, Bush Calls For Development Of National Air Conditioner
with this handy explanatory graphic:
Weird Weather Watch: Tahoe Is Burning
A fire in South Lake Tahoe, which began Sunday, has destroyed 2,700 acres of woods and 275 homes. Lake Tahoe's gorgeous blue waters are sprinkled with ashes. The blaze is just 40 percent contained at present, but firefighters expect to have it fully contained by Sunday. The Los Angeles Times called the fire "one of the most destructive in memory." And California isn't in the clear yet: Low rainfall combined with the hotter temperatures brought by climate change have intensified the state's already menacing susceptibility to wildfire.
Indian Crocodiles Guard Dwindling Forests
Dozens of crocodiles bred in captivity in eastern India are protecting their endangered counterparts. Newly released into the wild, these giants are scaring away poachers bent on illegal fishing and timber harvesting in mangrove forests in the states of Orissa and West Bengal, reports Reuters. The disappearing mangroves have led to a steep decline in wild croc numbers, from several thousand a century ago to less than 100 in the early 1970s. But the same species has bred well in captivity and is now being used to solve its own problem. "The swelling number of released crocodiles in the wild is working as a deterrent and keeping people away from the mangrove as villagers are more cautious before venturing into the forests," said Rathin Banerjee, a senior wildlife official. "Unlike guard dogs, crocodiles cannot be tamed and are ferocious and can attack anyone in the swamps." . . . Wow. That's innovation. Can we use them against our own bad-boy loggers? --JULIA WHITTY
Giant Microwave Turns Plastic Back To Oil
A US company has developed a machine using 1200 different frequencies in the microwave range to turn waste plastics back into the oil they came from, plus gas. Global Resource Corporation's Hawk-10 machine, looking like a giant concrete mixer, zaps the hydrocarbons in plastic and rubber until they're broken down into diesel oil and combustible gas, reports New Scientist. Whatever doesn't have a hydrocarbon base is left behind, minus any water it contained, which evaporates. For example, a piece of insulated copper is stripped of its insulation, which becomes diesel and gas, leaving the copper to be recycled. . . This seems to be great news on the plastics recycling front, and desperately needed for the health of the world ocean, at the very least. But dubious on the greenhouse front, where the last thing we need is more oil. --JULIA WHITTY
One Fourth Of Deaths From Environment Are Avoidable
Living in an unhealthy environment kills many times more people than die in car accidents, violent conflicts and natural disasters combined. Though these risks rarely make headlines, reports the World Health Organization via Nature. Furthermore, one-fourth of these deaths could be avoided. Polluted water, poor sanitation, and smoke inhalation resulting from indoor wood-burning stoves are the primary risks in low-income countries. Noise, work stress, and outdoor pollution kill in wealthy nations. The research centers on 'disability adjusted life years' (DALY) that are preventable through healthier environments. The DALY is a commonly used unit that includes years lost when someone dies prematurely, and also takes account of years blighted by chronic disease or disability, writes Quirin Schiermeier. . . Hmm. Think there's any connection between noise, work stress, and outdoor pollution and the depression discussed in the previous post? --JULIA WHITTY
Common Antidepressants Associated With Lower Bone Density
Some antidepressants appear to be associated with an increased rate of bone loss in older men and women. These SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil, treat depression by inhibiting the protein that transports serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in sleep and depression, reports the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) via Science Daily. But serotonin may also be associated with an increased rate of bone loss in older men and women, according to two new JAMA articles. And some data suggest that SSRIs may interfere with the function of osteoclasts and osteoblasts, the cells responsible for the regular breaking down and rebuilding of bone in the body. . . So, there's a choice for you. Depression or broken bones or both. How about looking for the root cause of the depression, not just the (dubious) chemistry? --JULIA WHITTY
June 25, 2007
Taking Animals Out Of Laboratory Research
Pioneering work to reduce the use of animals in scientific research has received a major boost in the UK. The goal is to remove animals from laboratories altogether, reports the University of Nottingham. The FRAME (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments) laboratory, designed to find effective alternatives to animal testing, has received $480,000 to expand and remodel. Researchers hope to develop cell and tissue cultures, computer modelling, cell and molecular biology, epidemiology and other methods, to supplant animals from medical research, while still maintaining crucial work to defeat diseases that affect millions of people. . . Good scientists. --JULIA WHITTY
Dubai Energy Tower Fuses Sustainability With Sex Appeal
Sustainability, that buzz-word being used by everyone from fashion designers to auto makers, doesn't yet have the cache in Dubai that it does in other locales, according to a recent article in WorldChanging. A new zero-energy building may change that; the Burj al-Taqa (translation: Energy Tower) by German architect Eckhard Gerber, seamlessly fuses a sexy exterior with a fully sustainable interior.
The tower, which at 68 stories would be the tallest zero-emissions skyscraper in the world, will sport a bevy of energy efficiency features ranging from cooling roof-top wind towers and light-reflecting mirrors to its own island of solar panels in the sea nearby.
As an article in Der Spiegel noted, the engineers have used computer simulations to test the towers, although the true effectiveness of the high-rise can't be proven until it has been built. The project still lacks investors, but in a city where flashiness trumps energy efficiency, the building's spectacular, state-of-the-art technology is sure to win points.
—Rose Miller
June 19, 2007
Bush to Veto Stem Cell Research Bill, Again
President Bush announced today that tomorrow he will veto stem-cell legislation allowing federal funding for stem-cell research using excess embryos created by fertility treatments. The bill was passed by the House on June 7, but lacks the 2/3 majority necessary to override the predicted veto.
Bush's statement today included the quote that "Each of these human embryos is a unique human life, with inherent dignity and matchless value...These boys and girls are not spare parts." Bush previously used the "spare parts" metaphor in 2006 when he rejected a bill (passed by a Republican Congress) that would have allowed couples to donate their extra embryos to research rather than store them or have them destroyed. The Senate failed an attempted veto.
Only ten percent of frozen embryos are implanted; 500,000 remain frozen in a limbo-like legal status, waiting to be adopted, destroyed, or (in three percent of cases) slated for research. Bush has promoted—fiscally and publicly—embryo banks and adoptions as alternatives to disposal. As of 2003, Snowflakes, a Christian "embryo adoption program" that openly discriminates against single women, gay couples, and non-Christians, had received $1 million in federal funding.
In 2001, Bush issued an executive order restricting research to the 21 existing stem cell lines still usable in the United States.
Drinking The Ocean Not A Solution For A Thirsty World
Making drinking water out of sea water is a growing trend but a potentially insidious threat to the environment that could exacerbate climate change. The World Wildlife Fund reports that desalination is not only expensive but also an energy-intensive and highly environmentally unfriendly way to get water. Yet more and more of a drying world is looking to it: the Arabian Gulf gets 60% of its fresh water through desalination; Perth, Australia, hopes to source a third of its needs the same way; Spain uses 22% of its desalinated water for agriculture and holiday resorts in arid areas. Meanwhile, the impacts of desalination include brine build-up, increased greenhouse gas emissions, destruction of prized coastal areas, and reduced emphasis on conservation of rivers and wetlands. . . Howzabout we stop engineering and start conserving. First on the chopping block: golf courses.
This from the Aussies, drought masters.
Toxic Fumes Poisoning Us, Pilots Say
Toxic fumes on planes are poisoning pilots and rendering them unable to fly safely. NewScientist reports that British pilots are campaigning for "aerotoxic syndrome" to be recognized as a disease, while two official investigations examine whether highly toxic fuel contaminants are leaking into cabin air supply on commercial airliners in flight, exposing passengers, pilots and cabin crew. The UK government will fit air-monitoring equipment aboard aircraft, and 1500 pilots will take part in the first major health study designed to establish the extent of the problem.--JULIA WHITTY
Sounds Of A Dying Glacier
Scottish artist Katie Paterson set up a phone line to an Icelandic glacier and invited people to call up and listen as it melted away. Catherine Brahic blogging at NewScientist reports how Paterson dropped a waterproof microphone into the water near Glacier Vatnajokull and hooked the microphone up to a mobile phone. Check out Paterson's diary and photographs or listen to the sounds of the dying glacier. . . Eerily beautiful in an emo kind of way. --JULIA WHITTY
Arctic Spring Comes Weeks Earlier Than A Decade Ago
Winter in the Arctic is yielding to spring as much as a month earlier than ten years ago. On average, spring is arriving two weeks earlier, as reported in Current Biology. Using the most comprehensive data set available for the region, the researchers documented extremely rapid climate-induced advancement of flowering in plants, and emergence and egg-laying in a wide array of High Arctic animal species. The finding in the Arctic offers an "early warning" of things to come on the rest of the planet.--JULIA WHITTY
June 15, 2007
Pale Blue Dot
Go forth into the weekend with this video in your sights. . .
For my part, I’m going to hoist a shotglass of anything but tequila (damn) to CS, The Man. . . --JULIA WHITTY
Intensive Tequila Farming Harms Biodiversity
New Scientist reports that a huge and growing appetite for tequila made from Agave tequilana is harming the genetic diversity of other agave species. Furthermore, the area available for traditional food crops is also falling, and the intensive agave farming is leading to soil erosion, creating an overall decline in biodiversity. Local farmers says that traditional agave varieties can be grown with staples such as maize, beans and squash without recourse to herbicides, but Agave tequilana is grown in monocultures that require the use of herbicides. . . Que lastima. --JULIA WHITTY
CITES Meeting Decides Fate Of Endangered Species For Better & Worse
The annual Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) closed today in the Hague. This international regulatory body--convened to slow or reverse the accelerating rate of extinction--adopted more than 100 formal regulations governing the worldwide wildlife trade. A bitterly-fought consensus allowed a one-time-only sale of African elephant ivory from four southern African nations (East African countries argued that any sales would continue to fuel the black market and hence poaching). The European eel—a favorite in Japan--was added to the CITES list for the first time, along with a new timber species, Brazilwood. Trade was forbidden for the slow loris, a small nocturnal primate native to South and Southeast Asia; the Guatemalan beaded lizard; the slender-horned gazelle and Cuvier's gazelle of northern Africa; and sawfishes, whose rostral saws and other body parts are valued as curios and in traditional medicine.
As Nature reports, CITES also accepted the US proposal to limit the trade of all corals of the genus Corallium, the red and pink corals used to make jewelry. Sadly, CITES also allowed Ugandan exports of leopard skins, despite weak science on the issue. The convention also rejected European Union proposals to regulate trade of the Spiny dogfish (Squalus acandthias), the fish used in much of Britain's fish & chips. Wildlife protection groups protested the decision as pandering to commercial fishing interests. . . Another short-sighted triumph of Homo sapiens avaricious. --JULIA WHITTY
"Green" Planes to Debut in 2015
As we've written before, air travel is pretty bad for the environment. But thankfully, some airline moguls (ahem, Richard Branson) are aware and are donating money and researching better fuel sources. Now Andy Harrison, of British budget airline easyJet, has announced his contribution: the ecoJet.
The ecoJet, seen left with Harrison, boasts a cutting edge design that would emit half the carbon dioxide of current airplanes, and would be 25 percent quieter to boot. The key to the plane's efficiency is its high-propulsion "open rotor" engines, which--to reduce noise--would be mounted in the very back of the plane instead of under the wings. The "green" jet would also have a lower cruise velocity (to reduce drag) and would be mostly used for short-haul flights. The ecoJet could be completed as early as 2015 and Harrison said he'd replace his whole fleet with ecoJets if they were available now. Until then, there's always carbon offsets.
U.S. CO2 Emissions Even Higher Due To Trade With China
Rising U.S. trade with countries like China has major consequences on greenhouse emissions. Carnegie Mellon University engineering researchers describe how the U.S. has reduced its increasing carbon emissions by importing more carbon-intensive goods from other countries. For example, the amount of CO2 emissions generated from making a computer in China could be up to three times higher than when the same computer is made in the U.S. The researchers estimate that CO2 emissions associated with imports rose from 12 percent of total U.S. emissions in 1997 to 22 percent in 2004--a substantial increase given that the U.S. already emits around 25 percent of the world's total global carbon dioxide.
Many researchers question how emissions associated with traded goods should be accounted for. "These emissions are only going to increase as the United States continues to consume more and more essential goods from outside its borders," says researcher H. Scott Matthews. Since the U.S. continues to import more goods from carbon-intensive trading partners, this trend is likely to continue in the short term. . . There we go again: buying our way to the end of the world, one DVD player at a time. --JULIA WHITTY
June 14, 2007
Theo Jansen's Kinetic Sculpture
Once-Common Birds In Dramatic Decline
The National Audubon Society reports that populations of many of America's most familiar and beloved birds are in dangerous decline. Some have fallen more than 80 percent in the past 40 years—a direct result of the loss of habitat, including grasslands, healthy forests, and wetlands, from multiple environmental threats such as sprawl, energy development, and the spread of industrialized agriculture. The threats are now compounded and amplified by the escalating effects of global warming—as detailed in MoJo's current cover story.
"These are not rare or exotic birds we're talking about—these are the birds that visit our feeders and congregate at nearby lakes and seashores and yet they are disappearing day by day," said Audubon chair and former EPA administrator Carol Browner. "Their decline tells us we have serious work to do, from protecting local habitats to addressing the huge threats from global warming."
Audubon's assessment comes from 40 years of its citizen-led Christmas Bird Count's data and the Breeding Bird Survey. The following once-common species are among those hardest hit: Northern Bobwhites down 82 percent; Evening Grosbeaks down 78 percent; Northern Pintails down 78 percent; Greater Scaups down 75 percent; Eastern Meadowlarks down 71 percent; Common Terns down 70 percent; Snow Buntings down 64 percent; Rufous Hummingbirds down 58 percent; Whip-poor-wills down 57 percent; Little Blue Herons down 54 percent in the U.S.
Check out Audubon’s suggestions on what individuals can do to help. --JULIA WHITTY
June 13, 2007
Moot Science
A few headlines on studies that, somehow, don't seem to need study:
Daddies' girls choose men who look like their fathers
Patient Care Improves when Medical Residents Work Fewer Hours
Catastrophic Events Can Affect A Person's Sleep
The American Academy of Sleep Disorders is a treasure trove of research into the obvious, including "Sleep Disorders Highly Prevalent Among Police Officers," "Sleep Restriction Affects Children's Speech," "Children With Sleep Disorder Symptoms Are More Likely To Have Trouble Academically," "Sleep Deprivation Affects Airport Baggage Screeners' Ability To Detect Rare Targets" ... Yawn. --JULIA WHITTY
June 11, 2007
Global Warming Risks Made Simple
Logging Increased Wildfire Severity
The Biscuit Fire of 2002 burned more far more severely in areas that had been salvage logged and replanted compared to similar areas that were also burned in a wildfire that was left to regenerate naturally. The new study from Oregon State University and the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the USDA Forest Service found that fire severity was 16 to 61 percent higher in logged and planted areas, compared to those that had burned severely and were left alone in a fire 15 years earlier. The study seems to debunk the working but untested hypothesis that salvage logging and replanting make fewer future wildfires. Hmm. Seems that trees, forests, and their atmosphere-scrubbing services might be happier without our [mis]management… --JULIA WHITTY