"Civilization's last chance"

From Bill McKibben in the LA Times: Civilization's last chance

Here is the money snippet:

There's a number -- a new number -- that makes this point most powerfully. It may now be the most important number on Earth: 350. As in parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

A few weeks ago, NASA's chief climatologist, James Hansen, submitted a paper to Science magazine with several coauthors. The abstract attached to it argued -- and I have never read stronger language in a scientific paper -- that "if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm."

Also, here is McKibben's 350.org

Great Meadow Wildlife

Snapped earlier this morning:

Wachusett last weekend

Brief hike. We'll add Wachusett Mountain State Reservation to the rotation.

The top:



Boston, in the distance, if you can see it:



Monandnock, in the distance, if you can see it:

ethanol

Is ethanol the answer? I think not, and not just because of the food vs fuel dynamic, as described here in the Washington Post: Siphoning Off Corn to Fuel Our Cars.

This column in the New York Sun by Harold Furchtgott-Roth offers useful links explaining why ethanol is not the answer.

So, probably corn-based ethanol is not the direction we should be taking for fuel diversity and supply.

We can talk about corn monoculture in another post...

from RWW: 15 of the Best Green Search Engines

The ever interesting ReadWriteWeb lists 15 Green Search engines.

There are a lot of ways one could imagine a green search engine would function, or add value, and many of them are represented here.

two years

Started this blog two years ago, plus a couple of weeks. Its been fun to experiment with different topics, and to record some local and family stuff. I plan to continue...

energy not growing on trees

A good perspective from a scientist on the biofuels conundrum.

Seems to me the biofuel debate will get muddied by the political issues associated with agribusiness.

I do enjoy Cosmic Variance, albeit as a layman.

interloper

This caused quite a stir among the feline inhabitants of the house - a territorial incursion by an interloper.

No Sun link to climate change

This BBC News post refers to scientific research that indicates global warming is not solely a result of changes in the the amount of radiation from the sun. See: 'No Sun link' to climate change

Lede:

Scientists have produced further compelling evidence showing that modern-day climate change is not caused by changes in the Sun's activity.

Climate change debunkers will start to try to debunk this research as well, I suppose. Sigh.

stunned

This hawk (Ruffed Grouse?) flew into our deck window. I hope he'll be ok.



UPDATE: He didn't make it. Very sad.

UPDATE 2: He was given a proper and respectful burial.

UPDATE 3: There is a suspicion he killed himself by diving into the window in a misguided attack on one of our cats.

UPDATE 4: Now there is a claim he may actually have been a Ruffed Grouse. The plot thickens...