EcocentricWater
Over in USA Today, writer Laura Vanderkam has a shockingly un-American suggestion: kill your lawn. In the middle of what’s shaping up to be the hottest year on record, Americans are still spending time, money—and water—to keep their lawns green and trim. By Vanderkam’s numbers, 21 million acres in the U.S. are covered by grass that …
EcocentricEnergy
Residents living along the shores of Lake Kivu in central Africa have always appreciated – and feared – its power. In Swahili, the word mazuku, or “evil wind,” refers to pockets of deadly, odorless gas that seep from the lake, killing whatever happens to be in its path. Two hundred and fifty feet below the surface of Lake Kivu, …
EcocentricOil
Maybe Thad Allen just can’t let go. A few days after telling reporters that the final stages of the relief well was likely to go forward this week, it seems we might all have to wait a while longer. Further pressure tests on the well now indicate that some amount of concrete leaked into the annulus, or outer casing, during the earlier …
EcocentricOil
The White House announced today that all new deepwater drilling will require environmental reviews. What’s that you say? You assume an activity as transparently fraught with danger and risk as deepwater oil and natural gas drilling, one where human or mechanical errors can lead to major environmental damage, that an activity like that …
EcocentricLiving Green
I don’t eat bacon cheeseburgers. About three years ago I gave up red meat and pork. I am American, and brother do I love bacon cheeseburgers. But I decided that as part of the imperfect project of trying to live a decent, moral life, I could no longer chow down on bacon cheeseburgers. I could not put my preference for the taste of a …
EcocentricOil
ON BOARD THE ARCTIC SUNRISE: I’ve always wanted to write that. I’m currently off the Dry Tortugas south of the Florida Keys, on board a Greenpeace ship. I’m here with a pair of marine biologists from Nova University who have hitched aboard the Arctic Sunrise to do a quick research study on sea sponges in the Tortugas. It’s part of a …
EcocentricTechnology
A little light post for weekend reading. Science magazine has published a special news section on the alternative energy challenge, casting a sober eye on the difficulties—and oppourunities—of leaving behind the age of fossil fuels and scaling up green power. Usually Science studies are behind a paywall (hmm, sounds familiar), but …
EcocentricOil
How sealed does a well have to be before it’s considered sealed? That seems to be the question BP and its accompanying team of government scientists are grappling with as the active phase of the Gulf oil spill appears to enter its final days. Yesterday retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen announced that BP was holding off on finishing …
EcocentricForests
There’s no doubt that recent economic instability has sent gold prices soaring. But gold doesn’t grow on trees–would that it did!—and higher prices for the yellow metal has encouraged companies to go to greater lengths to retrieve the precious element, setting up battles with conservationists.
EcocentricInvasive Species
My magazine story on invasive species and the Asian carp is out today, but you’ll have to go to a magazine newsstand to read it—paywall? (You remember what newsstands look like right? Or perhaps not.) But you can check out a photo essay from Benjamin Lowy on last week’s Redneck Fishing Tournament. I think I convinced him not use the …
