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A truly underground movement

Suzi Blakley — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:40:27 PDT

Today, we salute a little-known holiday celebrating an unusual underground cause.

While you may have heard of underground music and the Underground Railroad, this is something altogether different: May 14 is Underground America Day, a day to recognize the subset of North Americans who make their homes in the Earth, not just on it.

Even if you are not a Hobbit, there are huge benefits to dwelling beneath the Earth's surface. Since there's little or no need for insulation, underground houses are naturally energy-efficient, with heating and cooling systems utilizing the Earth's geothermal energy.

Subsurface homes also provide shelter from the elements and forces of nature -- an abode and a storm shelter all in one.

As more people strive to live in tune with their environment, this movement encourages sustainable architecture and green building practices, and the aesthetics of nature are of the utmost importance.

What can you do to celebrate this occasion?

It may not be practical to bury your home, but why not start with small steps? Take an underground tour, or use public transportation -- specifically a subway.

Or begin a green roof project. It technically counts as living beneath ground (or at least beneath soil and plants), while at the same time cleaning the air. And the types of rooftops that can go green are limitless.

Suggested sites:

About Malcolm Wells - biography of the creator of Underground America Day.

Unusual Hotels of the World - a listing of worldwide underground hotels.

Sustainable Architecture - Wikipedia - describes environmentally conscious design techniques in architecture.

Greenroofs.com - the green roof industry resource portal.

Directory categories: Geothermal Energy, Energy-Efficient Construction, Sustainable Architecture, Geodesic Domes, Green Roofs

Originally posted on The Spark, a daily blog where Yahoo! Directory editors highlight new and interesting content on the Web.

Carectomy week in review

Joshua Liberles — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:51:49 PDT

HGTV âgreen homeâ: Complete with gas-guzzling SUV!

Has green-washing hit a new low? HGTV has completely missed the point of what it means to be sustainable with its new Green Home Giveaway sweepstakes.

The winner gets a fancy âgreenâ home in Hilton Head, SC, complete with energy-efficient appliances, eco-floors, amenities, doo-dads, etc.; a membership to the local water-sucking, pesticide-spewing golf course; and a hybrid SUV. Of course all of these prizes are carefully branded and marketed through the HGTV programming.

Bicycle City: Perfection, sans picket fences?

Bicycle City sounds like a place Iâd like to live. By plannersâ description, its highlights include a âwalkable, urban design; vibrant local economy; eco-friendly, sustainable design; organic farming; human-powered transportation; strong and diverse community; active healthy lifestyle.â

By contrast to most urban areas, Bicycle City doesnât have âpollution, traffic jams, parking lots, national franchises, strip malls, stress, chemicals, or 'cookie cutter' â designs.

Glastonbury Festival celebrates green transport

The annual Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is encouraging concertgoers to leave their cars at home. A full third of people attending the three-day celebration (akin to Woodstock, but in the English countryside) will commute by public transport (including via coach and rail) and festival organizers are encouraging all who attend to car-share, if they must commute by vehicle. âThe aim is to reduce the number of cars which come to the festival,â organizers say.

Cars cause a scentless spring

Cars have made us fat, diseased, cash-strapped, and disconnected from one another and ourselves. Now, thanks to air pollution caused by cars and power plants, we don't even have the scent of flowers to appreciate. As National Geographic reports, the potency of the smell of flowers has been reduced by as much as 90%.

Sustainable, affordable alternatives to salmon

Trystan L. Bass — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:35:30 PDT

Last week, the salmon fishing season was cancelled before it even began. Due to surprisingly tiny numbers of Chinook salmon (aka king salmon), the Pacific Fishery Management Council banned commercial and recreational fishing for 2008 of this popular fish.

The only wild-caught salmon left are smaller varieties from Washington state and Alaska, so prices are expected to soar. Estimates are about $30 to $40 a pound.

Atlantic salmon is still available, but that farmed fish has a host of health and environmental problems. Environmental Defense warns about high levels of PCBs and dioxins in farmed salmon. The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch notes that salmon farmers use a lot of pesticides and antibiotics, which get into the fish and the nearby ecosystem.

So what's a fan of fish dinners to do? Where do you go for those all-important omega-3s? What do you look for at the market or on a restaurant menu?

U.S. Tilapia - this fish is becoming more common in stores and is very affordable. U.S.-farmed Tilapia are more eco-friendly than the Latin American type, so make sure to ask.

Rainbow trout - A good choice for grilling and sometimes available smoked. Reminds me of childhood camping trips!

U.S. catfish - A Southern favorite that I find easy to cook, catfish is farmed responsibly. And it tastes great with hush puppies on the side.

Arctic char - Farmed in an environmentally sound manner, this fish comes from the U.S., Canada, Norway, and Iceland. It's also called Alpine char.

White seabass - Not really a seabass, this is also known as king croaker, weakfish, or seatrout.

Want more ideas about sustainable seafood? Read through our safe fish guide for expert resources about the best from the ocean.

The greenest way to die

Magnus Hølvold — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:21:38 PDT

We don't deal all that much with death on EcoGeek, but sometimes something comes along that captures our attention, interest and -- of course -- our morbid fascination. A way of processing corpses called resomation is one of those things. Veterinarians have been using a similar process for years now, but us humans are now finally getting in on the action.

Within a tank called a resomator, the body is immersed in a 1:21 solution of potash lye and water. Gas-powered steam generators build up pressure within the tank as the temperature rises up to around 170 degrees Celsius. Thanks to the pressure (and despite what the general news media would have you think) there is no boiling, only a chemical reaction that completely liquefies everything but the bone ash in our bodies. When the tank is opened, only the bone ash and any implants or prosthetics the person had remain.

Sounds pretty gruesome, eh? Why even do it, you may ask? Well, this is where our interest in this technology comes in.

Through talks with Sandy Sullivan,Â the founder of Resomation Ltd., I learned that an average cycle in this tank of three hours will consume around 90 kWh, while a cremation will consume 250 kWh. According to Mr. Sullivan, the total carbon footprint of a resomation is 18 times less than that of a cremation. Additionally, resomation is a 100% mercury-free process, something neither regular burial nor cremation can boast.

When the body has been fully liquefied, it has been separated into two main parts. The first is a bio-fluid that is basically a collection of all our building blocks: Salts, sugars, peptides, and amino acids. The nutrients in this liquid are still entirely intact and can be returned to the soil to help our plants grow.

The second is basically a "shadow" of your bones called bone ash, pure calcium phosphate. This can be used in horticulture, ceramics, and even as a raising agent! In other words, getting resomated allows you to fully return your body to the Earth without worrying about adding a bunch of unwanted stuff to the soil at the same time.

Like I said, any implants or prosthetics the person may have had are also left behind, and are in fact in pristine condition. With further sterilisation and repackaging, expensive prosthetics can be put back into use.

While what to do with these "leftovers" is still an open question, the folk at Resomation Ltd have considered donating them to third-world countries where such prosthetics would otherwise be completely unattainable.

So far, the process is only available in the United States, where more than 2,000 resomations have been performed so far, but the Glasgow-based company is only a year old, and Sullivan tells me that they are close to having the process specified as legal in the United Kingdom (bureaucracy at work!).

Many local authorities in the UK are having trouble taking care of their dead, what with the FBCA's regulations on mercury emissions. Additionally, several green groups are championing this tech all around the world.

Don't worry, you can still have a dignified ceremony that doesn't differ much from cremation. The body is placed in a quite ordinary coffin that is lined with a silk bag that seals to become an enclosed silk coffin within the resomator.

After the cycle, the soft bone ash can easily be powdered and put in an urn like you would after a cremation, with the added bonus that every single bit of ash is the body of the departed, not a mixture of whatever was in the furnace with the body.

I can even think of a few additions to the lowering of the ashes that would make the ceremony all the more meaningful, like fertilising the earth that surrounds our dearly departed's ashes with a vial containing their own bodily remains. One life gone, new life welcomed.

If you want to read more about the technology and the process, I suggest you check Resomation Ltd'.s official website or this very easy-to-read and accurate description of the process of resomation at Cremate Me.net.

Natural weed whacking

Trystan L. Bass — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:28:15 PDT

Spring showers may be making lawns green right now, but they can also help weeds sprout too.Â Plenty magazine reports that weeds are getting "more robust and aggressive, thanks, in part, to global warming."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service has found that rising carbon dioxide levels and overall warmer temperatures are helping weeds in urban areas grow like, well, weeds. The USDA has measured city weeds four times as tall as usual.

So how can we deal with these annoying plants -- without dumping nasty chemicals into the ground and contaminating nearby water systems?

The Green Guide has some handy tips. For spot killing, pour boiling water on a weed. Vinegar is also a good herbicide.

You can buy organic herbicides too. These rely on strong acetic acid (the active ingredient in vinegar), plus essential plant oils.

Another method for ridding your garden of weeds is soil solarization. Basically, you cover the area with plastic tarp for a few weeks and bake out the weeds. This also kills fungal pests.

Of course, the best way to stop weeds is to prevent them. About.com has useful info about mulching, landscape fabrics, and even using corn gluten to keep weeds from rooting in the first place.

Something to think about for the next growing season!

Algae, algae, everywhere

Hank Green — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:41:43 PDT

I've been a little inundated by algae lately. First, I finished a chapter in Earth: The Sequel all about algae biodiesel, and then I ran across a profile of algae start-up Solena at the NYTimes.

And then I got an email from Sam at GreenFuelsForecast about its summary of the history and future of algae biofules. And just moments ago, Katie from Earth2Tech emailed me a story on the top 15 aglae start-ups!

Wow! Seems to me like March 2008 is algae's official tipping point!

The news, my friends, is good. Algae is the best plant out there for converting sunlight to energy. It's 100 times better at creating usable energy per acre than corn is.

And tons of new and old companies are trying different strains of algae and different ways of growing them and using them to clean the flue gas coming out of power plants.

Algae, it turns out, eat NOx emissions without trouble, and, of course, grow much faster in higher concentrations of CO₂. The only problems are sulfur dioxide, which can acidify the water (just like it does to rain) and kill the algae, and mercury, which can accumulate in the algae and make them dangerously toxic.

Welcome to the future, where single-celled plants eat our pollution and power our cars. Who'd a thunk ...

Watch a tree grow on Google Earth

Hank Green — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:43:11 PDT

You can't say there's anything wrong with paying someone to plant a tree in some corner of the Earth. But it's not exactly the most rewarding thing.

The buyer assumes the tree is out there, but it's quickly forgotten and impossible to actually imagine. But the World Wildlife Fund is hoping to chance that with a little help from Google Earth.

Your $5.50 donation will buy a tree, its lifelong care and feeding, scientific study of the forest that it becomes a part of, and the exact coordinates of where that tree is on our big beautiful planet. Linking that data with Google Earth shows the precise location of the tree on the island of Borneo, as well as the tree's hundreds of neighbors.

Unfortunately, the map resolution needs to be increased significantly before you can see your very own tree, but even now the context is nice.

You can buy trees that will be planted in Indonesia today at MyBabyTree.org. PayPal integration makes the whole thing a breeze.

I planted two of them myself and received the following message in my inbox:

Your baby tree will be planted in the next few days. Once that is done, we will mail you the exact location, and you will be able to see your tree on Google Earth.

Via Google Earth Blog and the WWF

18 months until oil-pooping bacteria

Hank Green — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:05:05 PDT

Craig Venter has his own scientific institute. He led the private effort to sequence the human genome and was one of Time Magazine's 2007 most important people.

And he's building new life, producing DNA that, once inserted in bacteria, can force the little bugs into becoming solar-powered crude oil factories.

The new organisms, which Venter says should be multiplying in the lab in the next 18 months, would need high concentrations of CO₂ (say, from the smokestack of a coal plant) to convert to oil at maximum efficiencies. He can alter the octane of the fuel by altering the genes of the organism and, by selecting the best of thousands of molecules, he can "unnaturally select" the most efficient oil producers.

They're calling it 4th generation biofuel, and you can expect that it will be only the first application of this fascinating and somewhat alarming new technology.

You can hear Venter himself explain the possibilities of this new technology with Chris Anderson at the recent TED conference in this video.

Via TED

Another look at ginormous windmills

Don Willmott , Forecast Earth Correspondent — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:34:01 PST

Last week I wrote a blog entry about new designs for gigantic windmills that can generate astonishing amounts of energy. One of the advantages of such designs, I pointed out, was that the huge blades rotate more slowly than those of smaller windmills and therefore make them safer for birds that might otherwise get killed as they fly by.

Some commenters suggested that even at the slower RPMs (about 12 in the case of the windmill I described), the end of the blade is still moving at a lethal 180 mph, and that can't be good for a bird that flies into it. In fact, MSNBC has run a story out of Kansas that describes how a series of new 260-foot-tall windmills may be endangering migrating whooping cranes.

The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service is worried that, "As many as 40,000 turbines will be erected in the U.S. section of the whooping cranes' 200-mile wide migration corridor." It's a growth industry. The story says that wind energy grew 45 percent in the U.S. last year and now provides about one percent of the nation's energy.

For more on this, check out the February 23rd New York Times story about the big business of wind farms in Texas. There are some great photos that give you a good idea of just how big today's windmills can be.

Don Willmott's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company

Whale fin-shaped fan blades 20% more efficient

Hank Green — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:42:31 PST

It turns out that the little bumps on the trailing edge of a humpback whale's fins are actually useful. Now, this shouldn't really surprise us, because whales have been working to make themselves more efficient for millions of years. But still, we've finally figured it out for ourselves.

Using these little "tubercles," a new firm in Toronto has created fan blades that have 32% less drag and are, overall, 20% more efficient at moving air.

The new design could lead to similar gains in wind turbines, though the testing and certification process for turbine efficiency takes some time.

Co-founder Stephen Dewar says, "When it comes down to it, we've got the best blades ever made."

They're already in discussion with the biggest fan maker in India about introducing their power-saving blades and they've talked with ten separate wind turbine manufacturers about doing field tests.

Sometimes we just have to open our eyes and ask nature to give us a hand. It's nice to see people listening.

TreeHugger via The Star

9 dangerous "tipping elements"

Lisa Moore — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:25:35 PST

This post is by Lisa Moore, Ph.D., a scientist in the Climate and Air program at Environmental Defense.

The term "tipping point" refers to a critical threshold at which a small change can qualitatively alter the state of a system. For example, when temperature reaches 32&Â°F, ice changes into water.

There also are "tipping points" in global warming. The best known is the Greenland Ice Sheet, which could begin a slow, irreversible meltdown if global temperature passes a certain threshold.

Last week, climate researchers published a paper that examines Earth systems in danger of passing tipping points due to human activity.

They call these "tipping elements" and highlight nine such systems from around the world. They say the greatest threat is to the Arctic, followed by the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Hereâs the list.

Arctic Summer Sea Ice
Critical Point: 0.5-2Â°C above present
Expert Assessment: High sensitivity/Small uncertainty

Sea ice extent is already decreasing, but total loss would devastate Arctic ecosystems. For example, polar bears, which use summer sea ice to hunt, would starve. Sea ice loss also can accelerate warming because ice is more reflective than open water. The authors warn that "a summer ice-loss threshold, if not already passed, may be very close and a transition could occur well within this century."
Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS)
Critical Point: 1-2Â°C above present
Expert Assessment: High sensitivity/Small uncertainty

A total meltdown of the GIS would eventually raise sea level about 20 feet. This studyâs range for the critical point is both lower and smaller than whatâs given in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, which estimated 1.3-4Â°C above present. The new estimate takes into account more recent research, including observations that both sea ice and ice sheets are melting faster than models predict.
West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS)
Critical Point: 3-5Â°C above present
Expert Assessment: Medium sensitivity/Large uncertainty

A collapse of the WAIS would eventually raise sea level about 15 feet. Although the estimated critical point for the WAIS is higher than for the GIS, the authors note that the range is "clearly accessible within this century" and that the WAIS is more likely to cause rapid sea level rise than the GIS.
Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation (THC)
Critical Point: 3-5Â°C above present
Expert Assessment: Low sensitivity/Medium uncertainty

THC refers to ocean circulation driven by density differences due to temperature and salinity (see this fact sheet for more). Significant slowing or a complete shutoff of circulation patterns in the Atlantic Ocean would affect regional climate patterns since THC transports heat from the tropics to Northern Europe. That doesnât mean Europeâs temperatures would plunge - the IPCC estimates it would simply warm less quickly - but itâs still a concern.
El NiÃ±o - Southern Oscillation
Critical Point: 3-6Â°C above present
Expert Assessment: Medium sensitivity/Large uncertainty

El NiÃ±o causes warm water to move eastward so the Pacific Ocean releases more heat (see our previous post). Stronger El NiÃ±o events due to global warming would, for example, bring drought to Southeast Asia. This tipping element is interesting because the IPCC said there wasnât enough information to predict any particular change in El NiÃ±o patterns. The experts in this new study disagree, though they note that "the existence and location of any threshold is particularly uncertain."
Indian Summer Monsoon
Critical Point: Albedo above 0.5
Expert Assessment: Large uncertainty

The control parameter here is not temperature, but reflectivity (also called "albedo") which increases as a surface gets brighter. Land use change and aerosol pollution (for example, the sulfate particles Bill discussed in his post on geoengineering) can increase regional albedo, which weakens the monsoon. A decrease in monsoon precipitation could spell disaster for India, which depends on the rainfall for irrigation. The authors argue that the IPCC, which predicted an increase in monsoon precipitation, underestimated the effects of land use change and aerosols.
West African Monsoon
Critical Point: 3-5Â°C above present
Expert Assessment: Medium sensitivity/Large uncertainty

Rainfall in Africaâs Sahara and Sahel regions could increase, leading to greening. This might harm plants and animals adapted to current conditions, but the societal impact could be very positive - a rare potential benefit of climate change.
Amazon Rainforest
Critical Point: 3-4Â°C above present
Expert Assessment: Medium sensitivity/Large uncertainty

Warming could decrease precipitation and lengthen the Amazonian dry season, leading to forest dieback. Deforestation can accelerate warming, exacerbating the problem. The authors warn that land use change alone could bring the forest to a critical threshold.
Boreal Forest
Critical Point: 3-5Â°C above present
Expert Assessment: Medium sensitivity/Large uncertainty

Earthâs vast boreal forests cover the northern latitudes of Canada, Alaska, Europe and Russia. They store carbon, filter water, and support many rare and beautiful species. Boreal regions may become drier as temperatures rise, leaving these forests vulnerable to fire and disease.

This new study warns that weâre getting ever-closer to massive changes in key Earth systems, and that other tipping elements could surprise us. It gives us nine compelling reasons to cut emissions as much, and as soon, as possible.

Give a wild animal or a native tree

Kastle Waserman — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:52:15 PST

Put a snow leopard under the Christmas tree this year-- figuratively speaking, of course. Through symbolic adoption programs, two wildlife protection organizations let you give some of the world's endangered species as a holiday gift.

The National Wildlife Federation offers symbolic adoptions for $30 to $75. Each gift includes a stuffed animal and extras such as a blanket or backpack.

The World Wildlife Fund has symbolic adoptions for $25 to $250 with packages that range from a certificate to a stuffed animal with a map and a gift box. Donations over $75 also receive an ornament featuring the WWF panda logo.

Both will deliver in time for Christmas if you order by December 17. Your donations go to support the organizations' conservation efforts for imperiled animals. These are sweet gifts for animal lovers who will know their plush toys have made a tiny, furry step to help protect polar bears, gray wolves, humpback whales, and more.

For a real tree-hugger, why not give a tree as a gift? TreePeople offers tree dedications for $25 to $100. A dedication includes a personalized card or certificate indicating a tree will be planted in a person's honor. Orders ship within 4 to 5 business days. The money goes to the Gift of Life program for tree planting in the Los Angeles area.

While dedicated trees are not marked with a name plaque, the public is invited to participate in tree planting events. The next Tree Dedication Ceremony takes place on December 30 in Malibu, California, so if you're local, you can watch how your gift makes the world a little greener!

Help developing countries cut carbon, not trees

Sheryl Canter — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:03:50 PST

This post is by Sheryl Canter, and Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.

In last Friday's post on the Bali climate talks, Kyle mentioned giving countries incentives to leave their forests standing. This was also the topic of an excellent piece on NPR this morning, "Climate Experts Mull Payment to Stop Deforestation." Our own Annie Petsonk was interviewed for the story:

The U.S. government has been cool to the idea of reduced deforestation. But Indonesia, with some of the biggest tropical forests on the planet, appears to like it, said climate analyst Annie Petsonk of Environmental Defense.

"They may steal a march on the United States by taking a lead and saying, 'We're willing to go forward with programs to cap and cut our greenhouse emissions from deforestation if you in the industrialized world open your carbon markets,'" she said.

Cutting down trees accounts for one-fifth of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, and it will be next to impossible to avoid catastrophic global warming if we ignore it.

Our paper on Compensated Reduction [PDF] goes into more detail about why we must include deforestation in the new carbon market. The NPR report said that it may get a boost simply because other topics of discussion in Bali are so much more controversial.

The global warming in the pipeline

Lisa Moore — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:00:04 PST

This post is by Lisa Moore, Ph.D., a scientist in the Climate and Air program at Environmental Defense.

A common refrain here on Climate411 is that we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible.

One of the reasons we've cited numerous times is that, even if we could stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations at today's levels, some global temperature increase is already locked into the system. This is sometimes called the "warming commitment" or the "warming in the pipeline."

Whatâs behind this phenomenon? The short answer is: water, water everywhere.

Earthâs vast oceans buffer the atmosphere from large temperature changes because it takes a lot of energy to change waterâs temperature. You know this from everyday life: If you put a pot of cold water on a stove and turn on the burner, you can hold your finger in the water for quite a while before the water starts to warm up.

The same principle applies at the global scale. Oceans cover 71 percent of Earthâs surface. It takes an enormous amount of energy to heat that much water, especially since ocean circulation causes warm surface water to sink and cold deep water to return to the surface.

As a result, there is a lag time between when greenhouse gases are emitted to the atmosphere and when temperatures start to rise.

How much warming is in the pipeline? It depends on the level at which greenhouse gases are stabilized.

For example, the latest IPCC report calculates that if we held greenhouse gas concentrations steady at 2000 levels, average global temperature would go up another degree Fahrenheit. Concentrations have gone up since then, so the warming commitment for todayâs greenhouse gas level is slightly higher than one degree.

The implication of this ocean-induced lag time is that we have less time to act than it first appears. The tipping point for losing the Greenland ice sheet may be just 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit above today. If you factor in the warming in the pipeline, about half of that amount is already gone.

In addition to the oceans' role, thereâs another factor that makes it so important to act today: the long lifetimes of greenhouse gases. How much of an effect does this have?

Well, if we cut global emissions deeply enough, the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would begin to decline. (A couple decades later, temperatures would decline, too.) Unfortunately, it could take centuries for greenhouse gas concentrations to fall all the way back to todayâs levels.

The bottom line is that, thanks to the ocean-induced time lag, for the next few decades weâre committed to additional warming.

In addition, because greenhouse gases stay in the atmosphere for so long, every ton of global warming pollution we emit today will affect the climate for decades to come, even if we donât see the effects immediately.

That's why itâs so important that we start decreasing emissions as soon as possible.

Extinctions increase with global warming

Lisa Moore — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:43:35 PST

This post is by Lisa Moore, Ph.D., a scientist in the Climate and Air program at Environmental Defense.

Earth is home to millions of species. This rich biodiversity isn't just beautiful, it's also tremendously valuable. As just one example, consider coral reefs. They support fisheries that are the main source of protein for a billion people, and bring billions of tourist dollars into local economies.

Scientists have warned that climate change puts a large fraction of Earth's species at risk for extinction. Most of these predictions are based on comparisons between species' apparent climate requirements to projections of future conditions.

A new study [PDF] in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B looks at the relationship between climate and biodiversity from a different perspective: the Earth's deep past. The study found a long-term correlation between global temperature and extinction.

Biodiversity has increased in the billions of years of Earth's history, but there have been ups and downs along the way. To find out if climate has anything to do with this variation the scientists compiled records of global temperature and biodiversity over the past 520 million years.

They looked at biodiversity at the family level -- for example, looking at the sunflower family rather than its 24,000 species. Then they looked at correlations between temperature and three aspects of biodiversity: "standing diversity" (the number of families present at any one time), the rate at which families appeared over time, and the rate at which families went extinct.

There were many interesting patterns, but the result that has received the most attention was that extinction rates tend to be higher during warm periods than cool periods. What does that mean for today's global warming?

You can't translate these results into short-term predictions because this study used time steps of 10 million years. That's hugely different from the decadal time scales that apply to today's rapid global warming!

The authors make that (and other caveats) very clear in the paper. And, like all scientific studies, this one raised a lot of fascinating questions that need further investigation.

But even with all the caveats and questions, this study provides little reassurance for the species and ecosystems we love and depend on.

As one of the authors said, "If our results hold for current warming -- the magnitude of which is comparable with the long-term fluctuations in the Earth's climate -- they suggest that extinctions will increase."

The Canary Project

Molly McCall — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:36:10 PDT

You don't have to see "An Inconvenient Truth" to know that there's a new kind of canary in the coal mine,in the form of Austria's desiccated glaciers or Costa Rica's enervated cloud forests.

At numerous places around the globe, the Earth is melting, drowning, drying up, or increasingly battered.

Since 2005, The Canary Project has dedicated itself to capturing large-scale photographic evidence of locations in the grip of such dramatic climate change.

In some cases, the landscape's physical grandeur belies its desperation. In other cases, such as Belize's coral reefs, the underwater world seems so clearly, and unnervingly, diminished, it looks almost dry.

The project doesn't restrict itself to nature's far fringes or deeply submerged realms, either. New Orleans and Venice, perhaps the most canary-like of all the world's great cities, figure prominently here.

Find the original review for this siteâand other reviews of the Web's coolest offeringsâon Yahoo! Picks.

Cicadas and moths boost solar efficiency

Jozef Winter — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:33:26 PDT

Squeamish around moths and cicadas? Well, you'd better be nice to them because their various body parts are helping to improve solar power! Researchers at the University of Florida have been investigating the structures of moth eyes and the wings of cicadas and have put them to good use.

Moths eyes are made up of tiny hexagonal shapes, each made up of thousands of orderly bumps. When light hits these bumps, it affects its transmission and reflection, effectively letting all the light pass through to the other side.

What does this mean for solar? Well, think of having an anti-reflective surface covering the solar cells -- this means that almost all the light reaches their surface and can be converted into energy, rather than being reflected back by a glass or plastic cover. Currently, about 10% of light at certain wavelengths is reflected, where in this case, only 2% is sent back.

Why squirrels think we're nuts

Trystan L. Bass — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:17:16 PDT

Ever wonder what our wild animal friends think about us? Well, they probably don't appreciate how we treat the planet we all share.

The Green Options blog puts a slightly silly spin on our environmental impact by looking at things from a tree-dwelling rodent's point of view.

Their post Top 15 Reasons Why Squirrels (And Other Animals) Must Think We're Nuts shows how far we've strayed from Mother Nature.

Some nuggets:Â

Squirrels spend their days unpacking their food from shells, but we package up our food in plastic and boxes.

Squirrels play with other squirrels, but humans sit alone in front of our computer and TV screens.

Squirrels only hoard nuts, but we hoard plastic junk.

While this article is poking fun at people, the author does have some good points. A little back-to -nature action might make us feel a bit less nutty, and we could make the planet, ourselves, and the squirrels happier.

Climate change: A guide for the perplexed

Molly McCall — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:51:20 PDT

In the past years, untold numbers of scientists, politicians, talking heads, and family members have gone mano-a-mano over the contentious issue of global warming. Is it real? How fast is it happening? And are the polar bears truly on the brink of extinction?

In May 2007, New Scientist stepped into the ring with Climate Change: A Guide for the Perplexed, a "round-up of the 26 most common climate myths and misconceptions." With brief answers and links to supplementary information, this manual on Earth's temperatures debunks such statements as "we can't do anything about climate change," "the oceans are actually cooling," "Hurricane Katrina was caused by global warming," and "it's all a conspiracy."

We even found a few we'd never heard of before, like "Mars and Pluto are warming too."

Finally, the guides addresses the fate of the "poster children of global warming"âno, not Al Gore and Sheryl Crow, but the wild and wooly polar bears. Consider us a little less perplexed.

Find the original review for this siteâand other reviews of the Web's coolest offeringsâon Yahoo! Picks.

Growing coral with electricity

A. Siegel — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 01:12:26 PDT

Canary in a coal mine is an oft-used metaphor when it comes to global warming and it seems that there are unfortunately a lot of canaries out there. Dying reefs are a prominent canary -- not just because of global warming, but also because of CO₂ pollution causing increasing acidification of the oceans.

We've tried many remediation techniques around the globe, from dumping concrete blocks and construction waste, old tires, and sinking retired Navy ships. Some with success, some less triumphantly.

BiorockÂ® offers a different path, one that looks to have real possibilities. It applies an electric charge, "causing dissolved minerals to crystallize on structures, growing into a white limestone similar to that which naturally makes up coral reefs and tropical white sand beaches." As per BiorockÂ®'s own graphics, renewable (solar or wave buoy) power could provide all the required electricity without the need for creating some form of infrastructure to bring power from shore.

BiorockÂ® is not some form of laboratory concept, but has had numerous demonstration projects around the world that have shown enhanced coral growth rates, higher survival rates for corals than nearby 'natural' systems facing similar environmental stresses. Perhaps this is why the Global Coral Reef Alliance (GCRA) has licensed BiorockÂ®.

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