Driving Change

A great article in the Why Files looks at how plug-in hybrid cars -- that is, hybrid gas-electric cars that run primarily on electric power (as opposed to conventional hybrids, which run primarily on gas) and which are routinely plugged into the power grid to recharge -- could radically transform the energy mix in coming decades. How so? Well, you should read the whole story, but in a nutshell, all those cars, each one equipped with hefty battery capacity, would represent a massive amount of cheap energy storage -- currently a limiting factor for the wider adoption of intermittent energy sources like wind and solar.

So, not only do plug-ins represent a greater cut in fuel consumption and carbon output than their cousins, but, in what is called the vehicle-to-grid scenario, they could eventually send power back to the grid, potentially eliminating the need for back-up generators. Better still, says Andrew Frank, director of the Hybrid Electric Vehicle Center at the University of California at Davis, you could install solar panels on your home and run the car off those. The gas station and the power grid would then merely serve as backups. Says Frank: "If you buy a plug-in hybrid and a solar panel, with today's cost of gasoline, you could pay off the solar panel in three to four years, and that means for the next 25 years, you get to drive your car for free."

A final note: You can't currently purchase a plug-in hybrid off the lot, but if you're handy you can hack your Prius and make it into a plug-in. Two caveats there: 1) The conversion ain't cheap, and 2) it voids your warranty. So, for now, we'll have to sit tight and dream of the day (hopefully not far off) when our cars come with power cords and a gas tank.

Japanese Take-Out

I doubt you'll find one at Victoria's Secret, but a new bra unveiled by Japanese designers gives ladies a nifty place to stash their collapsible, reusable chopsticks. That's right. No need to use the throw-aways. With the new undergarment on, you simply reach down your blouse and whip out your very own pair of eating utensils. Sounds silly, I know, but the problem that prompted it is serious. The Japanese alone go through 25 billion -- billion! -- pairs of disposable wooden chopsticks every year, most of them imported from China, which cuts down roughly 25 million trees annually to produce more than 45 billion pairs of chopsticks. To help slow the rate of consumption China has slapped a 5 percent tax on chopstick exports.

Mainly on the Plains

The map above charts rainfall patterns for the first 8 months of the year. As most of you are no doubt aware, the Southeast is drought-stricken, as is much of the rest of the country. Less appreciated perhaps is the fact that it was a wetter-than-usual year in the Great Plains. As this NASA Earth Observatory item so aptly puts it:

"It is as if the United States were folded in half, and all of the rain ran towards the crease in the center, leaving the edges dry."

Thrifty Gluttons

Energy efficiency is often said to be the key to curbing our carbon output, but there's a problem with that assumption: it ignores what economists call the "efficiency paradox," according to which the more we save on energy, the more energy we tend to consume. As a quick and dirty illustration: Airplanes get more fuel-efficient, ticket prices go down. What happens? You fly more.

This holds true on a macro-scale, too. President Bush likes to tout the fact that the country's energy intensity (expressed as unit of energy per unit of GDP), and by extension, its carbon intensity, has fallen significantly over the last decades. And that sure sounds like a good thing until you consider that our energy consumption -- and therefore our real emissions -- have steadily increased over the same time period.

Economist Jeff Rubin, who has studied the paradox, says efficiency is still important, just not as an end in itself. "In order for efficiency to actually curb energy usage, as opposed to energy intensity, consumers must be kept from reaping the benefits of those initiatives in ever-greater energy consumption." But that introduces another paradox, doesn't it? Where's the incentive to buy that compact fluorescent light bulb if it won't ultimately save you any money?

Anyone have any insight?

Change in Climate

I was at the California release of the U.N.'s Human Development Report, subtitled "Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world." To mark the event, the Commonwealth Club organized a panel to discuss the issues including Ad Melkert(Undersecretary of the United Nations, Associate Administrator, United Nations Development Programme), Larry Brilliant (Executive Director, Google.org), Andrea Gardner (Sustainable Solutions Manager, CH2M Hill), and Nancy Pfund (Managing Director, JPMorgan).

What they collectively underscored was that, while we here in the West think of climate change as something coming and something to worry about for our legacy, in places like Bangladesh climate change is about the here and now. The poorest are paying the highest price for our standard of living.

They were largely hopeful in their message, pointing to Australia's Kevin Rudd defeating John Howard in what is being described as the first climate-change election, states and cities making policies to fight climate change (with the event being held in California and San Francisco, lots of props were given to the state and the mayor), many corporations looking to do things differently (Google.org, for instance, just announced a big climate change initiative), and conditions looking right for the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali. There was of course, much shaking of heads over American federal politics.

Unexpectedly none of the panelists were in favor of nuclear power, with Google's Larry Brilliant being the most outspoken. They were in favor of shifting subsidies to renewables in a large way, but with an emphasis on incentives, basic r&d and funding of programs to turn out engineers. They thought that the costs of the solutions were going to be much cheaper than the costs of protecting ourselves.

"But one percent of our GDP to save the planet?" asked the moderator (Greg Dalton, who did a fine job). "One percent!" said Larry Brilliant. "It's a bargain! Who wouldn't want that?!"

Oil's Well That Ends Well

When I checked my Freecycle listserv today, I was reminded of a relatively new holiday cause-and-effect phenomenon: Deep-frying turkeys has become a hip new way to cook a Thanksgiving bird, and biofuel users are eager to get their hands on the spoils of the hunt, as it were. Here's the posting I saw:

Did you deep fry a turkey last week? Don't give your used oil to the garbage man or the recycler…let ME recycle it! My commuter car runs on vegetable oil. Just send me your address and put it on the porch and I'll be by to pick it up.
• It's better for you (you get rid of it all at once instead of one gallon at a time curbside)
• It's better for me (commuting 140 miles/day I've got a 100 gallon/month habit)
• It's better for the environment (the oil isn't processed, stored or landfilled…it' s just GONE)

This guy's in the San Francisco Bay Area, but this grubbing for grease is going on all over the place. Craigslist users in Boston, Portland, and Atlanta are looking for it, a television station in South Carolina is letting viewers know about it, and companies in Denver and North Carolina are putting the word out as well.

Me, I'm a briner, so I'm always trying to figure out what to do with five gallons of salty, herbed water that's been home to a raw turkey overnight. Ideas appreciated...

Plotting Your Exit Strategy

Death may be eternal, but how we take our leave has changed considerably over the years. Embalming became the norm only after the Civil War. Thirty years ago, cremation came into vogue. Alas, cremation isn't exactly planet-friendly when you consider that you're basically getting converted directly into greenhouse gases (not to mention the considerable energy required to do the deed).

I guess I first heard of "green" burials on the TV show Six Feet Under, where the fictional morticians were already resentful of cremation. But with the average funeral costing $6,500 (and that's without a headstone or plot), a lot of people find themselves wondering if there isn't a better way to spend that money -- like helping to preserve a forest instead of trying (always futilely) to preserve one's own body.

The Chicago Tribune ran a good overview of the emerging green funeral industry with pros and cons from both sides. My favorite quote, from a man who paid $4,000 for woodland plots at Ramsey Creek Preserve for himself and his wife:

"Listen, I love the woods. It's you ... environmentalists that I can't stand."

Berry or Canary?

I like cranberries. But I admit they're topmost on my mind only once a year. And this year, thanks to a story in the Christian Science Monitor, as I slide a deep red serving next to my potatoes and stuffing, I'll know that even the berries have a message for us:

When Rod Serres thinks about cranberries, he doesn't see them beside a Thanksgiving turkey. Another bird comes to mind: a canary in a coal mine. That's because, like all berries, cranberries are very sensitive to climate, making them the agricultural harbinger of global warming in America's Northeast.

What will Massachusetts be like without cranberries? A lot less colorful, as this narrated slideshow demonstrates.

For the Birds

The fuel-oil spill in San Francisco Bay is still being cleaned up, and the number of birds affected is supposedly around 2,000, of which 1,400 are already dead. A high tide just after Thanksgiving may push the spill even further into the wetlands. Hundreds of people who wanted to help the birds were turned away because there was no one to train them.

But there's some good news for both the people and the birds because, as of tomorrow, large grocery stores in San Francisco will no longer be allowed to use plastic bags. Plastic bags aren't as scary as 58,000 gallons of fuel oil, but they are equally destructive in their own way:

The 180 million plastic bags city officials estimate are handed out in the city each year end up as litter on city streets, clog storm drains, harm wildlife, and contaminate and jam machines used in recycling, Macy said.

And then there is the giant patch of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean that scientists are monitoring, estimated to weigh 3 million tons and cover an area twice the size of Texas. The patch is about 1,000 miles west of San Francisco, but plastic dumped in the ocean here can end up there.

Kudos, then, to City Hall for forcing us to do something for the birds every day rather than just when a terrible accident demands our attention. Don't want to wait for your own local government to act? Here's a link to 9 Ways to Use One Less Plastic Bag.

Instant CARMA

Three new sources for keeping tabs on coal power have been made available on the Web, one of which is our very own New Coal Plant Tracker, which lists all of the 138 new American coal plants currently on the drawing boards, including info on what type of plant each one is, who owns the project and who's providing the funding, as well as the projected CO2 output for each. You can view the data on Google Maps or download a file to plot the it all in Google Earth. It's part of our campaign to Stop the Coal Rush.

Meanwhile, the Center for Global Development has launched CARMA (Carbon Monitoring for Action), which takes the global view, charting some 50,000 power plants owned by more than 4,000 companies.

And finally, Appalachian Voices offers visitors a chance to see their personal connection to the rapacious practice of mountaintop removal mining. Type in your zip code and see where your power comes from.

If the picture that emerges from all this seems rather bleak, just remember: Knowledge is power too, people.

Insult to Injury

Researchers have determined that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged or killed some 320 million large trees across 5 million acres of Gulf Coast forests. Those trees, when healthy, would normally act as a carbon sink, storing carbon in their tissue and in the soil, but dead and decomposing vegetation releases carbon to the atmosphere. Scientists estimate that total carbon losses from the storms are equal to 60 to 100 percent of the total carbon stored by all US forests in a year.

Sustainable Dream or Pyramid Scheme?

Poverty is the majority condition in our world -- an estimated 4 billion people make less than the local equivalent of about $3,000 per year. That population makes up what is lately being called the "base of the economic pyramid," or BOP. Economists point out that, taken together, the BOP represents a potential market worth $5 trillion. Seizing on that potential, some sustainable development advocates are now arguing that selling potentially "disruptive technologies" -- like, say, photovoltaic panels and light emitting diodes -- to the poorest of the world's poor could become a model for both fostering sustainable development and commercializing green technology. Then again, it could become just another wrinkle in the age-old game of exploiting the poor to enrich corporations. Skeptical, the Why Files investigates.

Got Milk? Got Money?

If you've been wondering about the high price of dairy lately, well, it seems there's a worldwide milk shortage. The International Herald Tribune reports that, "Driven by a combination of climate change [drought in Australia has hurt their dairy industry badly], trade policies [to limit exports] and competition for cattle feed from biofuel producers, global milk prices have doubled over the past two years." That price increase doesn't even reflect the full economic impact of the shortage, the report suggests, since most milk is bought on long-term contracts. Experts say supply can be ramped up over the coming years, but it may have a hard time matching the increase in demand. In China alone, per capita milk consumption has soared to more than 25 liters (or 6 gallons) per year. In 2000, it was a mere 9 liters per person per year.

Prayin' for Rain

Georgia Governor and stalwart global warming skeptic, Sonny Perdue, is looking to the Lord to free his state from the extreme drought currently afflicting it and much of the Southeast. "We have come together, very simply, for one reason and one reason only: To very reverently and respectfully pray up a storm," he said at a recent rally in which the faithful beseeched the Almighty to, for God's sake, let it rain.

This report in The Independent ("The big thirst: The great American water crisis") looks at the environmental record of the region's leadership, highlighting its monetary ties to the coal-fired behemoth, Southern Company (according to a report in today's Washington Post, "a single Southern Co. plant in Juliette, Ga., emits more [carbon dioxide] annually than Brazil's entire power sector,") its lack of initiative when it comes to conservation measures, and its recalcitrance on the issue of global warming. As the report notes, "Georgia's state assembly recently organised a climate change summit in which three of the four experts invited were global-warming sceptics." The Georgia Sierra Club's Patty Durand tells the paper:

It's very backward here. ...It also has to do with money as almost all the politicians here are funded by big polluting industry. There is little awareness of the environmental impact of industry. In spite of the drought, Georgia now wants to build a new coal-powered plant that will suck away another 25 million extra gallons of water and pour ever more carbon into the atmosphere. They just don't get it.

The situation is especially dire in the mountain village of Orme near Chattanooga, where the water is shut off for 21 hours a day. Says one resident of the normally lush locale: "This drought has turned us into hillbillies."

Them Belly Full but We Mindful

'Locavore,' a word describing those who eat only (or more realistically, mostly) local foods -- that is, foods grown and harvested in the local 'foodshed,' another neologism of note -- is the Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year. Another environmental term in the running was 'upcycling,' defined as "the transformation of waste materials into something more useful or valuable."

Locavorism (if it really has attained the status of -ism) is an extension of the Slow Food movement, which strives to make us all more mindful of the foods that sustain us by taking the time to cook and savor it. Mindfulness is a laudatory goal, to be sure. In that spirit, however, it seems important to acknowledge something which locavorism's champions often seem reluctant to admit; namely, that the very idea makes one at least as mindful of the limitations on eating locally as it does the possibilities therein.

Even in a place like the San Francisco Bay Area, after all, where the term locavore was coined and which is blessed with a long growing season and a climate amenable to a wide variety of crops, some things are just out the window. Coffee, for example. And bananas. And maple syrup. Other things only exist in very limited quantities -- things like, say, olive oil and even wheat. And there went breakfast. Still, I salute the intentions behind it. I do. It's great food for thought. It's just that, well, ... excuse me while I go refill my coffee.

A School for Skeptics

Just a few days ago, several of us were talking about an endangered species: the climate-change skeptic. By now, most Americans accept that global warming is a problem, and that humans are the cause of it. But what about the minority? Many of them are sincere in their doubts and, in a way, it's hard to blame them. Perhaps some of the people who remain the most skeptical are the same ones who would feel the gravity of the situation most keenly if they had to accept it.

But those of us who do think that global warming is a serious problem that needs to be addressed before it's too late could use the help of those skeptics. And if we can't convert them (and, let's face it, a certain percentage will never budge), it would be nice to at least counter them with the facts. What we need, we figured, is a list of answers to climate-skeptic canards like "The Medieval Warm Period." Before we could get around to putting one together, though, the BBC did it for us.

Sample:

"As the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) puts it: 'The idea of a global or hemispheric Mediaeval Warm Period that was warmer than today has turned out to be incorrect.'"

Television Versus Reality

Most of the time, I wish television were a more accurate representation of reality. Whether that is the news or "reality" TV, it often leaves much to want.

The past few weeks, though, my wife and I have been watching the Amazing Mrs. Pritchard. It's Mr Smith Goes to Washington meets The West Wing in 10 Downing Street, with some great writing and a fabulous cast of mainly female characters.

What might be of interest to the readers of this blog in particular is her impulsive decision (after a "mealy mouthed" G8 summit; the show is not friendly to Tony Blair or George Bush) to ban private cars one day a week.

This is where I wish reality were imitating television.

Voter Anger May Free Up Energy Bills

From Heather Moyer, over at the Clean Energy Watch blog:

An article in today's New York Times highlights the increasing pressure on Congress to pass an effective energy bill sooner rather than later. Oil prices continue to rise, making home heating oil and gasoline prices more of a strain on consumers' wallets.

Americans are growing tired of foot-dragging from politicians when it comes to better energy policy. From the article:

"There's a general perception outside of Washington that we haven't done near what we could to move the country to a more acceptable energy mix," said Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico and chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "Congress has been slow to act, and the administration has been slow to act, and the public is way ahead of us on these issues."

The pressure will continue, especially as Congress debates CAFE and renewable electricity standards. You can help urge Congress to Flip the Switch on a clean energy future.

Must-See TV

For those of you who haven't yet killed the television, see the 30Rock episode Greenzo. I'm told it, um, rocks. If I'm not mistaken, Al Gore, the Oscar- and Emmy-winning Nobel Laureate, makes a cameo.

The Fuel on the Hill

It seems that many of the most influential magazines in America, (foremost among them, Sierra) are passing judgement on, or at least trying to assess, the potential of biofuels. Opinions vary. Here's a quick roundup for those interested:

• In Rolling Stone, Jeff Goodell called ethanol a scam and "dangerous, delusional bullshit."
• National Geographic did a spread in its October issue that was, as one might expect, more tempered, more middle-of-the-road.
• Over at tech-happy, forward-thinking Wired, Evan Ratliff, concentrating on cellulosic fuels, is more optimistic, as is Tom Yulsman, in Audubon.
• And, now, in the latest Smithsonian, Richard Conniff weighs in.

Having followed the various arguments as best I can, it seems to me that we can probably find broad agreement on a few general statements about biofuels:

• One, corn ethanol is a bum deal and the boom in it is likely to go bust.
• But -- but! -- corn ethanol might well set the stage for the next phase, which is likely to be a different, more sensible feedstock like switchgrass and perhaps ultimately even algae.
• That said, given the fact that biofuels will never be as energy-dense as fossil fuels, it's unlikely they will displace the latter, no matter what form they take. At best, they can reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and our reliance on fossil fuels by some fraction...
• ...which is still a very good thing.

Which brings me back to Richard Conniff, who, after detailing his many misgivings, concludes that:

None of this means we should give up on biofuels. But we need to stop being dazzled by the word and start looking closely at the realities before blind enthusiasm leads us into economic and environmental catastrophes. We also should not let biofuels distract us from other remedies. Conservation and efficiency improvements may not sound as sexy as biofuels. But they are typically cheaper, faster and better at dealing with the combined problems of global warming and uncertain energy supply. They also call on what used to be the defining American traits of thrift and ingenuity.

I would only add this: Conservation alone won't get us there either. This is one challenge where we are going to need to pull out all the stops.

A House Afire

The indispensible Why Files looks at the California fires and finds lots of factors at work, including drought, a warming climate, and the siting of houses in the so-called wildland-urban interface, or WUI. Not to put too fine a point on it, but housing in fire zones, sooner or later, equals house fires.

In California, more than 5 million people live in the WUI, according to forest ecologist, Volker Radeloff. Not that many, percentage-wise: only about 13 percent of the population. By comparison, 38 percent of houses nationwide are in the WUI. Granted, much of that land isn't susceptible to wildfire, but that could change, especially in places like the Southeast, which is now locked in drought.

Climate Change Update

If you missed it, you can catch last week's Science Friday here.

White Man

The new Sierra is on newsstands and it's too cool for school. The November/December issue focuses on education, green colleges and environmental careers. It's an all-around great issue, but the best line in it has to go to the fifth-grader from Seattle's John Muir Elementary who, asked what he knows about the school's namesake, replies: "He's Caucasian, and he's dead."

Read the rest of the story ("City Kids Unplugged," by Dashka Slater) here. Award-winning Sierra is free to members.

Easy Pickens?

This Bloomberg News item is a little hard to parse, but it seems Boone Pickens is advancing his plans to ship and sell water from the Texas Panhandle (that is, water under the Panhandle, in the Ogallala Aquifer) to the increasingly thirsty 'burbs of Dallas and San Antonio. The latest: the former corporate raider and oil billionaire has somehow finagled the eminent domain rights for, as well as the authority to issue tax-exempt bonds to finance construction of, a 328-mile pipeline to transport the water. According to the report, Pickens will also piggyback a massive wind project on the pipeline, erecting turbines on adjacent ranchland and running transmission lines along the length of the pipeline. But, while wind power is generally viewed favorably by environmentalists, the privatization of water is another thing entirely. As Ken Kramer of the Texas Sierra Club is quoted as saying: "It's as essential to human life as air. That puts water in a different class."

Commodore Kangaroo

Have you had a chance to read the New Yorker profile of Sea Shepherd Society's Paul Watson yet? If not, be sure to. It's "Neptune's Navy" by Raffi Khatchadourian, and, though it's very long, it's well worth the read. But I confess it's the James Nachtwey photo that runs with the piece that inspired the title of this post. I just couldn't help it. Mustachioed and slightly pudgy in his pompadour and p-coat, the loathed and revered eco-vigilante and former Sierra Club Board member (he resigned in protest last year) looks like a cross between Commodore Perry and Captain Kangaroo. And in some way, that seems to capture Watson's essence: He is a strange mix of the righteous and the ridiculous. I found it fascinating.

Also catch the video and audio features that accompany the piece online.

And, finally, from the same issue of the magazine, see Elizabeth Kolbert's "Running On Fumes," on why the "car of the future" may never become the car of the present.

Alpinisme

"Keen alpinists, hurry up and climb the Aiguille du Tour!" That's the counsel of Jean-Louis Laroche and Florence LeLong, authors of a new climbing guide to the Mont Blanc Range, which, the cover advertises, reflects "recent topographic change." Wait too long to tackle the Auguille du Tour, say the duo, and the descent will likely end in a gaping bergschrund. (For non-climbers, a 'schrund is a crevasse that forms where the glacier pulls away from the rock face, often posing a formidable obstacle to mountaineers.)

In the Foreword, Laroche and LeLong write:

...this selection has an urgent modern emphasis as the mountain environment itself is changing due to global warming, which is affecting routes considerably. Peaks of medium altitude (up to 3500m) are particularly afflicted. Some of the granite faces have been collapsing spontaneously, because the ice that bounds them has disappeared. Some slopes have turned into ice before melting and revealing a base of unstable scree; glaciers have receded and some bergschrunds have widened.

I wish the book had provided more specifics and documentation, as well as information about how warming was affecting safety margins, but it's a thin volume aimed at peak-baggers and that's all you get. Time will tell, but I expect we'll hear of more tragic accidents in the Alps as objective dangers -- rockfall, icefall, avalanches -- increase. Bon courage.

Fanning the Flames

Peter Spotts has a very informative and intriguing article in the Christian Science Monitor on the country's growing wildfire risk. While researchers say it's premature to blame the recent So Cal fires on global warming, there is evidence to suggest that climate change has increased the number and longevity of fires (and also the longevity of the fire season) in the West, especially "in forests in the northern Rockies at middle elevations." Far more surprising, however, is this paragraph:

Global warming is expected to increase fire hazards in the western United States under a range of global-warming scenarios. But the greatest increase in risk, some researchers say, is likely to come in the East and Southeast. There, snowmelt and rainfall are unlikely to slake the increasing thirst of trees and shrubs as CO2 spurs their growth during longer, warmer growing seasons. This could leave more of the eastern woodlands drier and more vulnerable to wildfires by summer's end. Meanwhile, some of the most dense mingling of homes and woods – what experts call the wildland-urban interface – can be found in the eastern US.

Not surprisingly, forest fires are a big source of carbon dioxide -- nothing compared to the burning of fossil fuels, mind you, but significant nonetheless. Here's the lead from an article by AP environmental reporter Seth Borenstein:

In one week, Southern California's wildfires spewed the same amount of carbon dioxide - the primary global warming gas - as the state's power plants and vehicles did, scientists figure.

A new study by two Colorado researchers shows that U.S. wildfires pump a significant amount of the greenhouse gas into the air each year, more than the state of Pennsylvania does.

Even more disturbing are indications that, as fires increase, the vast boreal forests, which span northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia, China and Scandinavia, have gone from being a carbon sink to becoming a carbon source. That is to say, the forest, which was expected to sop up excess CO2, may now be contributing to global warming, which in turn is expected to exacerbate wildfires, in what threatens to become a feedback loop. Very troubling.

Waking Up in Wake Forest

Cool, kids. Majorly!