environment
Global Warming roundup
Living in California, I'm always seeing bumper stickers that say, "Keep Tahoe Blue" and well....... looks like they're losing.
RENO, Nev. - A new study predicts water circulation in Lake Tahoe is being dramatically altered by global warming, threatening the lake's delicate ecosystem and famed clear waters.
The University of California, Davis study said one likely consequence is warmer lake temperatures that will mean fewer cold-water native fish and more invasive species — like carp, largemouth bass and bluegill.
"What we expect is that deep mixing of Lake Tahoe's water layers will become less frequent, even nonexistent, depleting the bottom waters of oxygen," said Geoffrey Schladow, director of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center at U.S. Davis.
snip
The changes, the study concluded, could turn Tahoe's famed cobalt-blue waters to a murky green in about a decade.
A decade. Sad. I hope they're wrong, but we'll find out soon enough. I've never really liked going in the water because it's always crowded (herds of tourists...bleh), but the views from the mountains up above are absolutely beautiful.
In other global warming news, another hugeass chunk of ice has fallen off the Antarctic shelf. More below...
Consumption Factor
A new article in the New York times by Jared Diamond. An interesting article that reminds us of the real conflict behind the political screens- the consumption of resources of the first world compared to that of the third- the last part of the article is perhaps most relevent
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/opinion/02diamond.html?ref=todayspaper
Weekend Open Thread
- Mitt Romney is an asshole.
- Andy Pettite admits he used HGH.
- The United States gives an inch at Bali. Something of a breakthrough, yeah? Much better than our previous stance of, "Huhh? What's a global warming?"
- Nigerian oil delta rebels pull out of peace talks.
- The American Bar Association clarifies what they meant by the "Lawyer of the Year" award they gave to Alberto Gonzales.
Lastly, DON'T vote for Jefferson... what a shill!
Thursday Open Thread
From the Soapbox, Chrissy writes about the energy bill's failure to get through the Senate. Includes some links to happs on the environment/energy front, including Gore's comments on how the Bush administration is blocking action at international talks on climate change at Bali.
In other news, the Mitchell Report on steroid usage in Major League Baseball came out today. For a full list of names mentioned in the report, click below the fold...
Oceans are taking up less carbon....
Another positive feedback loop seems to be appearing...
As the earth warms, the oceans (the largest sink of carbon) are decreasing in their ability to store carbon
this is a biiiiiig red flag
Now if only we could get him to run...
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/
"for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about
man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures
that are needed to counteract such change"
That makes my day.
The Lawn Outside
I'm always looking for little ways to save the world, and I think that I may have found one. Right now, as I type this, I hear a sprinkler going outside my window. Whenever I walk around at night, I see the lawns being watered on campus. Day in and day out, somewhere on campus, a sprinkler is going. Now, I don't mind the idea of keeping the campus pretty, but I've walked through after the watering and the lawn is drowned. In fact, my school seems to spend a ridiculous amount of time landscaping, planting trees and bushes, mowing, watering, there's always some kind of work being done on our grounds. I think that in the immediate future I'm going to post a letter to facilities management, asking them to cut back on all the watering. There is so much water wasted, and more than even that the energy wasted pumping it and purifying and so on is ridiculous. I just saw an e-mail recently in which the administration explained the importance of the environment to Catholic social teaching. It's time to put that into practice, one step at a time.
Peace and love,
Joe!
Weekend Open Thread
Petition to permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling.