Tag: ecology

Dec 18 2009

Dying Bats: More Bad, Frightening News

Photobucket

When I first moved to Columbia County, New York, about 25 miles southeast of Albany, in the foothills of the Berkshires, evening sunsets were spectacular.  And there were dozens of bats zooming through the dim light feasting on insects.  There were two primary kinds of bats: big brown bats ones and little brown bats.  I considered putting up a bat house, but never did.  The bats seemed to be thriving quite well without one, thank you.  But in the summer of 2007 I began to notice that there were fewer bats.  And in summer, 2008 even fewer.  And this past summer hardly any.  What I was witnessing was the bat population dying out.  It was being ravaged by disease.

Today, the Times Union brought the details of this bad news about the bats:

 

Dec 14 2009

Sunday Train: Hey, Joe, I still want a Sustainable High Speed Electric Train for Christmas

Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence

Last year, I told VP Joe Biden about the Sustainable Electric High(er) Speed Rail I wanted for Christmas (cf. links below). It involved electrifying the 30,000+ miles of STRACNET, and establishing 100mph Rapid Freight Rail paths, including support for running 110mph or 125mph long haul electric passenger services on the Rapid Freight paths.

In short, I wanted Joe Biden to take Alan Drake’s plan and just fracking DO it.

I didn’t get it for Christmas last year – but then, I guess he was only VP-elect last 25DEC08. The post today is to look at the progress toward the goal. The answer, surprisingly, is that we have made substantial progress. Certainly we are not halfway there, yet, but we are much further along than I expected to see.

Dec 09 2009

“Drying for Freedom” (clothes, that is)

The website asks:

Due to be released in 2010, Drying For Freedom is a film about communities and freedom; with 50 million clotheslines banned in the U.S alone, are we hanging our planet out to dry?

They also state:

Dryers use 10 to 15% of domestic energy in the United States!

Wow — now that’s saying something!

These guys are hilarious, here’s another quote:

We are in hot water… if we don’t use cold!

It is way past time to push people to wash with cold water. Washing with cold water saves almost as much energy as using a clothesline. Join the Cold War!

Their principles are sterling — an answer to questions asked here, I think (what do we do?):

Principles

It is not enough to define a problem and offer no solutions.

Our consumption patterns create the demand for electricity.

The generation of nuclear power is an inefficient energy source producing an abundance of hazardous waste of which we cannot safely dispose.

Raising awareness of existing alternatives to nuclear power and large hydroelectric projects will help people and corporations to make appropriate technological choices.

Nobody should have to live, work, or play near a nuclear facility.

No culture or community should be destroyed by a hydroelectric facility or any other monolithic corporate project.

The sun is the most powerful nuclear reactor and can serve many purposes-none of which should be ignored.

All citizens nation-wide should have the legal right to hang out their laundry.

North Americans, as all people, must lead by example.

Frugality, or thrift, needs to be a universally practiced virtue.

I especially like the last one. I think this use to be a revered principle — true?

Explore the site and find out more, here:

http://www.dryingforfreedom.com/

Nov 07 2009

Weekend Bike Blogging: Bike Boxes I Can Believe In

In the store, or at the airport, a “bike box” is a box that is supposed to have a bike inside of it.

However, at an intersection, a “bike box” is when you make a space at an intersection ahead of the “traffic stop here” line. They are often combined, as in the picture, with a “protected by paint and optimism” bike lane. In some cases for traffic lights that are tripped by stopped vehicle detectors, as in the YouTube clip below, they include a more sensitive stopped bike detectors in the bike box, so that the sensitivity of the regular vehicle detector does not have to be adjusted.

Looking at the overall concept, as John Allen does in A LOOK INTO THE “BIKE BOX”, this is yet another case of, probably subconscious “if only we could kill off these cyclists we wouldn’t have to worry about them” thinking by traffic planners.

One thing the bike box does is amplify the encouragement of the regular “protected by paint”, aka “kill the cyclist”, bike lane to pass stopped motor vehicles on their right side. This is a practice that you can get away with day after day, but sooner or later you are going to end up trying to go straight when a car is trying to turn. And given the fact that the car is risking its paint job and you are risking an extended stay in the hospital, that is a monumentally stupid habit to pick up. Its bad enough that “protected by paint” bike lanes encourage this habit – the “protected by paint with a prize at the end” is even worse.

Oct 17 2009

Friday Philosophy: Save the Trees

Disclaimer:  I am not a member of the Sierra Club.  I’m just a teacher at a small college and as part of the Women’s Studies Coordinating Committee attended a talk about a week and a half ago by Sally Malanga from that group.  After hearing her speak, I asked her to send me some information so that I could try to help her and her small group of committed volunteers fight City Hall.

People need help to save the ecology.  I figured this is what I could do best.  I’m hoping a few people out there are reading who can also lend a hand…in whatever way they can.

Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only  thing that ever has.

–Margaret Mead

Oct 14 2009

“Earth’s Life Support Systems Failing”

I was so happy Weds. morning. Going about my life. See, I’ve been on a big “clean out the house” binge — boy does that feel good! A “get organized” binge — trust me it was needed after years of not, and BOY does that feel GOOD. A “get rid of it if you don’t need it, watch out I’m dropping bags of stuff I think you need off on your front porch under cover of darkness” binge. OK, I”m actually calling people or emailing them to see if they really want the stuff.

Taken stuff to the Kid’s Consignment Shop. Goodwill. I mean, the computer monitor that was stuffed in the corner 5 YEARS ago to take… somewhere… Well, WA State changed laws, and now you can drop them off at any Goodwill, and there’s one about 12 blocks from my house! That happened 2 years ago, I’m all set, eh? Well the monitor is now in trunk of car, and all I have to do is remember it when I’m near the Goodwill!

OK OK, I got out the right tool and made a note to myself to remember. (Speedy forgetful, or “Quick Smart” people take note: that tool is a business card as small enuf to fit in pocket, make notes on the back throughout the day as to where you need to go, keep in pocket when you go out, consult and follow the directions. No charge.)

I mean, you know? I’m on a fantastic roll here. But from zipping around the house got a bit tired, so sat down, opened computer, to learn and rest at same time. “Hmmmmm, I’ll try CommonDreams, see what they have for news today.”

(Headline below the fold.)

Sep 20 2009

Sunday Train: Growing Green Transport

See Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence for crosspost links

On Thursday, djrekluse at the Daily Kos said:

Despite considerable tension and even aversion in green communities to the subject, we cannot talk about “going green” without making it a discussion about growth through various hierarchies of human development.  Really, the subject of growth should come as second nature to “green” thinkers and communities-after all, a blade of grass must grow to two inches before it can grow to six; a tree must grow from acorn to sapling before it can someday become a mighty oak.  In much the same way, our consciousness, our values, and our cultures must also move through several distinct stages of growth before we can even begin to even see the problem, let alone care enough to do anything about it.

In other words, “going green” really means “growing green,” and represents the crux of almost all the global issues we presently face: it’s not a problem of human imagination, technological innovation, or even political will-it’s a problem of human growth

Consciousness, Culture, and Climate: Growing Green

This provides a frame for thinking about growing an energy independent transport system, and about the multiple ways that local, regional, and inter-regional rail systems can help in that growth.

Aug 09 2009

Libertarians Against Choice: The Attack on Obama’s HSR Policy

Recently, I speculated on what was behind the recent surge in op-ed articles using slipshod reasoning to attack the policy of the Obama administration to support investment in High Speed Rail travel options for the American Public. And, I stress, it was speculative:

However, just as with our Freakonomist Eric Morris, its a lot easier to adopt the stance of declaring “skepticism” and use that declaration as a magic incantation to dispense with any need to actually find information. Simply paint a specific Sustainable Energy Independence project as receiving “uncritical support”, declare yourself a skeptic, and you are free to spout the a Libertarian anti-HSR talking point without dwelling on such messy things as facts and figures.

However, in searching for specific examples of the “libertarian talking points” that I referred to, I came across this excellent collection at the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, in their High Speed Rail: Fact versus Fiction, where they collect a series of talking points from the three main anti-public-transport think tanks – Cato, Heritage, and the Reason Foundation (just google if you need the links).

Aug 07 2009

Glaeser Hacks up the Numbers on HSR

Last things first … after reading and commenting here, go ahead and comment at Running the Numbers on HSR by Edward Glaeser.

This last weekend, I looked at a low-brow attack on HSR by John McCarron in the Chicago Tribune. This week, I look at a high brow attack by the economist Edward Glaeser at the NYTimes “Economix”.

However, the attack by Edward Glaeser is different. Even if some suspect a partisan motive, given Glaser’s support for McCain … this is not the kind of hackery we are seeing in the health care debate, where paid partisan hacks are just blatantly lying. Its the kind of hackery that is embedded in a frame, and which will bias the results of any honest analysis done within that frame.

Apr 09 2009

The Thin Green Line

Cross posted from DailyKos.

This is a very disturbing “canary in the coal mine” environmental diary. I’m sure the twenty-seven year old PBS series Nature needs no introduction but this week’s episode The Thin Green Line was by far the most devastating to watch. We are wiping out the frogs and amphibians.

The thirty second preview offers a quick look and some amazing photography;

But the entire program points out that we have created the perfect storm against our amphibians.  

Mar 25 2009

Foster’s “Failed System” and the question of what to do

This diary will attempt to address the current economic debate in light of the general analysis of the system presented by John Bellamy Foster in his piece in the March Monthly Review, titled “A Failed System: The World Crisis of Capitalist Globalization and its Impact on China.”  Foster is, I would argue, correct, without really being all that proactive.  I will conclude this diary with a couple of suggestions on how to read Foster and on what to do.

(crossposted at Big Orange)

Mar 07 2009

Barbara Ehrenreich: If We Are In The Death Spiral Of Capitalism…

This brief diary is meant to summarize and to call attention to Barbara Ehrenreich’s piece of yesterday in Alternet (well OK with Bill Fletcher Jr.): “If We Are in the Death Spiral of Capitalism, Can We Start Using the “S” Word?”.  And, yeah, there’s going to be some analysis here too.  As Han Solo said in Episode VI: “Hey… it’s me!”

(crossposted at Big Orange)

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