April 24, 2008

oh, just some predictions from the first Earth Day in 1970

“By 1985…air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching the earth by one half” – Life magazine, January 1970

“By the year 2000…the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America and Australia, will be in famine,” Peter Gunter, North Texas State University, The Living Wilderness, Spring 1970.

Because of increased dust, cloud cover and water vapor “…the planet will cool, the water vapor will fall and freeze, and a new Ice Age will be born,” Newsweek magazine, January 26, 1970.

“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make,” Paul Ehrlich, interview in Mademoiselle magazine, April 1970. Ehrlich also predicted that in 1973, 200,000 Americans would die from air pollution, and that by 1980 the life expectancy of Americans would be 42 years.

more here.

sail away sail away sail away

Today I learned that cruise companies don’t pay income tax because they claim they earn their income “on the high sea.” Often, cruise lines are registered as businesses of small countries like Panama (Carnival), Liberia (Royal Caribbean), or the Bahamas, so they avoid a corporate tax as well.

Typically, income must be accounted for where it is earned, regardless of the company’s origin (ie - if a company from France earns income in the US, it would be subject to US income tax laws (with nuances, of course)). I’ve heard that cruise lines won’t serve any alcohol or earn any income until about 10 miles off the coast. Cruises aren’t my digs so perhaps someone else can attest to that.

April 22, 2008
MTA goes green in honor of Earth Day! That’s right, starting today, MTA will be releasing 5 million limited-edition green Metro Cards.  
Green as in made of recycled material? Green as in MTA is offsetting the subway’s carbon emissions?  
Nope - they’re just green! Green colored. The writing, don’t you see? It used to be blue.  
To be fair, they have announced a series of sustainability initiatives the MTA intends to pursue to further reduce its impact on the environment.
I thought they’d at least be fluorescent green..

MTA goes green in honor of Earth Day! That’s right, starting today, MTA will be releasing 5 million limited-edition green Metro Cards.

Green as in made of recycled material? Green as in MTA is offsetting the subway’s carbon emissions?

Nope - they’re just green! Green colored. The writing, don’t you see? It used to be blue.

To be fair, they have announced a series of sustainability initiatives the MTA intends to pursue to further reduce its impact on the environment.

I thought they’d at least be fluorescent green..

If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green products and alternative technologies will prosper and expand. (Just look at the market for hybrid cars.) Consciousness will be raised, perhaps even changed: new moral imperatives and new taboos might take root in the culture. Driving an S.U.V. or eating a 24-ounce steak or illuminating your McMansion like an airport runway at night might come to be regarded as outrages to human conscience. Not having things might become cooler than having them.
Michael Pollan in his NYTMagazine article entitled Why Bother?

Ten Easy Ways to be Kind to Earth Today

1. turn off the tap - while brushing, while lathering, while shaving.

2. walk, bike, or carpool instead of driving.

3. bring your own bag.

4. eat only local food.

5. don’t eat meat.

6. unplug your appliances when not in use - your tv, your lights, your microwave. get a power strip with an easy on/off switch.

7. stop unwanted junk mail.

8. adjust your thermostat. or just turn the heat/AC off.

9. buy a plant for your home.

10. offset emissions from your most recent flight.

Happy Earth Day! design for My Green New York, an initiative to encourage New Yorkers to switch from plastic to reusable canvas bags.
Happy Earth Day! design for My Green New York, an initiative to encourage New Yorkers to switch from plastic to reusable canvas bags.
April 21, 2008

Pollution inhibits Pollination?

Remember when people thought it was the end of the world because the bees were mysteriously dying off?

As of last year, the west coast is reported to have lost 60% of its commercial bee population and the east coast lost 70% through CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder. CCD is when a hive’s inhabitants disappear, leaving only the queen bees, eggs, and a few immature worker bees. The vanished bees were never found but are thought to die far from the abandoned hives.

The possible culprits behind CCD are: increasing pesticide use, a fungus, diseases spread by mites, a colony virus, genetically modified crops, and even microwave frequencies given off by mobile phones and other high tech gadgets which interferes with bees’ navigation systems. Researchers found internal organs swollen with debris and strangely blackened while examining dead bees, indicating potential amoebic infection, though nothing has been concluded.

Now, researchers at University of Virginia have found another culprit - air pollution, which is eliminating the “scent trail” that guides bees to pollinate flowers. Scents that could travel for more than half a mile in the 1800s now probably travel less than about 600 feet, they say. The scent trail deteriorates even close to the flower, discouraging bees to sample the flower to see if it has the nectar the bee needs. Thus, both the pollinator and the pollinated suffer.

Why no bees = bad? Well that’s debatable. Einstein has been attributed with saying “ If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left” however, the veracity of the quote has been disputed. Bees are the pollinators for hundreds of crops including fruits, vegetables, flowers and nuts. Bee decline could mean devastation to the agriculture industry. Last year the USDA called CCD the “biggest general threat to our food supply,” given than 1/3 of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants of which the honeybee is 80% responsible for that pollination. Hence, a food crisis. Oh, and also (spoiler alert) Revelation 6:6 in the Bible predicts that a famine sparing grapes and olives (which self-pollinate and pollinate by the wind, respectively, and thus will not be affected by the bee’s disappearance) will precede the apocalypse.

Anyway, just another way global warming is going to kill us all. Refer here to learn how to profit off it it in the markets.