Thanks to Tom at Fluid Flow for referencing this story on his blog…
Lake Mead May Go Dry by 2021:
The disappearance of the manmade lake would create a tidal wave of ill effects for the southwestern U.S. The lake provides water for large cities like Los Angeles and Las Vegas, as well as for several agricultural [...]
An article in SF Gate (”State says many drivers change oil too often”) reports what many of us have thought for quite awhile: there is no real advantage in changing our engine oil more often than recommended by the manufacturer (note: not the dealer) and there are considerable environmental costs in doing so.
An excerpt:
Like many [...]
According to SFGate, a “ranch the size of San Francisco [is] to be protected from development near Mt. Hamilton.
A huge stretch of land near Mt. Hamilton that is roughly the size of San Francisco has been donated as a conservation easement by the Hewlett and Packard families to protect the property from development, the [...]
The New York Times Dot Earth blog reports on The White House and the Whales - definitely worth reading. The good news is that we now have less than a year of this embarrassing travesty of an administration left to endure.
Cole Camplese points to an interesting example of student work on an environmental theme.
Although I was in the Pacific Northwest and therefor managed to miss most of it - except for flying through an astonishing snow squall while on approach to SJC - the recent California storm was one for the record books… or maybe not quite. The following article includes some amazing information about Sierra snowfall totals [...]
From the New York Times:
In the San Juan National Forest here, an iron rod gate is the last barrier to the Weminuche Wilderness, a mountain redoubt above 10,000 feet where wheels are not allowed.
But the gate has been knocked down repeatedly, shot at and generally disregarded. Miles beyond it, a two-track trail has been punched [...]
Perhaps it should be. From Dr. Jeff Masters’ WunderBlog:
Next century’s most important place in the world–Greenland?. If one had to pick the region of the world most likely to influence the course of human history this century, the Middle East would be the obvious choice, due to its political volatility and rich oil resources. [...]
Seen in an article in SF Gate:
“The United States in particular is behaving like passengers in first class in a jumbo jet, thinking a catastrophe in economy class won’t affect them,” said Tony Juniper, a spokesman for the environmentalist coalition [at the Bali climate talks]. “If we go down, we go down together, and the [...]
Another EPA ‘Decision’ Affected by Timidity or Meddling?
The same process that derailed the California greenhouse gas automotive regulations seems to be at work here.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a modest tightening of the smog standard on Wednesday evening, overruling the unanimous advice of its scientific advisory council for a more protective standard.
The standard, stated in terms of average concentrations of ozone at [...]