Coal Ash Blues

I live in Manhattan so I don't have the same uncomfortably intimate relationship with coal ash that say Roane County or Widows Creeks residents do.  But what I know about the environment is that we all share in it, both its bounty and its ruination.  We are connected - and not in an ephemeral or mythical Avatarian way but in an actual physics-chemisty-biology way - mostly by air and climate, but also by soil, water and contiguous ecosystems.  We need to regulate coal ash and New York representatives share no less responsibility in this fight than do those representatives near coal ash disasters.  We must find a path to living sustainably in harmony with nature or we are not going to survive.  One world, one way.

Send a message to your representative about coal ash regulation today.

It's a Little Fishy

Just say no to fish oil supplements.  According to A Fish Oil Story in the New York Times today, fish oil is made from menhaden which are crucial to Atlantic coastal ecosystems - they keep water clean by filtering out tons of algae and are the base of the food chain for hundreds of other species.  Support the Atlantic coast - get your Omega-3's from food sources or flax seed oil!

Windy City

Humans are going to keep demanding more and more energy - that is a fact of modern life that is not going to change.  How we get that energy is changing and right now one of our best options for clean, renewable energy is wind.  Especially in a place like the Cape, which experiences powerful winter storms and gusts for much of the year, wind turbines like those from the proposed Cape Wind project can supply a large amount of energy with no emissions and minimal environmental impact.

I was initially concerned about the impact on wildlife that the turbines and cabling of this project would have.  After reviewing the commentary by Save Our Sound and some local groups who are all supported by wealthy beach property owners (NIMBY types), I feel that the benefits to wildlife overall outweigh the harm that will come to some, even with mitigation.  The opponents to the wind farm appear to be self-interested (and in some cases, hypocritical) while the proponents of Cape Wind, like the UCS, Greenpeace, and Sierra Club, have serious environmental advocacy credentials and care deeply for wildlife and ecosystem preservation.

Our needs for energy are not diminishing.  We have to seize on solutions that are clean and renewable.  Right now and for the foreseeable future, the answer is blowin' in the wind (and the sun and the sea).

Oh Wilderness

What I wrote to Obama and Vilsajk about Colorado's plan to develop their wilderness: "Wild places and the animals that inhabit those spaces are crucial to all Americans, regardless of the states or states in which they lay. Wilderness plays an important role in our environment, history and national identity, science and technology, and almost every other facet of American life. Colorado has long had both large tracts of undeveloped land and a tendency to want to exponentially increase development across their state. These ecosystems are fragile, beautiful, and vital to all Americans, not just a few businesses, vacationers, and retirees who want to harness that land for their own short-term and self-serving purposes.
I strongly urge you to reject Colorado's plan to allow further development of wild areas. We have to come together and protect what little wilderness and wildlife we have left. Our children are counting on us to bequeath them purple mountains majesties above the fruited plain--not a stretch of Walmarts, condos, and parking lots--from sea to shining sea."

The quiz everyone (I know) will fail

Not as much fun as a cosmo quiz perhaps (unless you're Sheryl Crow or
Al Gore, then it's nirvana), but it will make you feel the same way
after you take it (namely guilty: for lying on something nobody knows
about but you and scoring badly anyway). If anyone gets only one
earth, let me know. You won't win a prize, but you may be able to
write an eco-stunt book/blog.

http://www.myfootprint.org/en/