Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Daily Grist: New Orleans residents tell their post-Katrina stories, and more

Daily Grist
Grist Magazine
Tuesday, 29 Aug 2006
The Few, the Proud, the Marine Conservation Alliance
Send a question to David Benton, expert on Alaskan fisheries, head of the Marine Conservation Alliance, and this week's InterActivist.



G NEW IN GRIST
Life After Katrina
A new exhibit lets New Orleans residents tell their own stories

Photo: Teri Stubbs You might have noticed, what with the media onslaught and all, that it's been a year since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast. And what a difference a year makes ... oh wait, actually, the city's still screwed. Fixing the damage caused to homes, communities, families, and hearts has only just begun -- as a group of residents shows in a new exhibit of photos and stories.

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new in Main Dish: Life After Katrina


The Big Seep
Global warming could lead to release of more methane from seafloor

A warming ocean could release more of the potent greenhouse gas methane in a vicious cycle that leads to more warming, says a new report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Petroleum and methane seep consistently from small cracks in the seafloor, but a study of ocean sediments near Santa Barbara, Calif., found that during the last two major warming periods, around 11,000 and 15,000 years ago, three times more oil and methane were released than average. The researchers hypothesize that undersea methane ice melt could disturb the seafloor and open new cracks for seepage. "This is a source of methane that we might have assumed in the past was stable," said lead author Tessa Hill. "As it turns out, it's very sensitive to climate change." Hill cautioned that the research should not be extrapolated worldwide, as methane stores in different parts of the ocean might not follow the same pattern. Small consolation, that.

straight to the source: ScienceNOW, Julie Rehmeyer, 28 Aug 2006

straight to the source: The Sacramento Bee, Matt Weiser, 29 Aug 2006


G NEW IN GRIST
Left and Fright
Is there a place for fear in environmentalism?

Fear: it's as American as freedom fries these days, and the Right isn't afraid to manipulate you with it. Anger and fear are good motivators, like it or not, and violence is oft cited as effectively "sending a message." Should environmentalists be focusing more energies on scare tactics, or is there a more effective way to tackle long-term problems? In a five-part series on Grist's blog, David Roberts considers where fear intersects with environmentalism, and whether reason, compassion, forbearance, and selflessness can hold their own.

discuss in Gristmill: Fear and environmentalism

discuss in Gristmill: Fear and environmentalism: more


Lebanon Sequitur
Lebanese oil spill continues to spread

Six weeks after Israel bombed a Lebanese power plant, spilling 10,000 to 15,000 tons of heavy fuel oil into the Mediterranean Sea, the disaster continues to be disastrous. The slick has traveled an estimated 90 miles north, affecting every one of Lebanon's approximately 200 beaches, and may reach Syria and Turkey. Lebanon's coastline has traded in throngs of tourists for beach-cleanup volunteers; in Beirut, 18 miles from the original site of the spill, they gaze upon black sand and yellowish-green water, breathe in the scent of petroleum, and look in vain for any sign of live fish. Lebanese divers have found oil up to four inches thick on the seabed; sea turtle hatchlings at an island nature reserve will have to crawl through an oil slick to reach the water; and coastal towns with fishing- and tourism-dependent economies are struggling mightily. Ongoing conflict has delayed cleanup, which Lebanon's Environment Ministry estimates will cost $150 million over the next year. Worst of all, there's really nothing funny to say about any of it.

straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Christopher Allbritton, 28 Aug 2006

straight to the source: Gulf News, Frank Kennedy, 28 Aug 2006

straight to the source: The Washington Times, David Enders, 29 Aug 2006


G NEW IN GRIST
Plastics, Take Two
Advice from sustainability leaders for today's aspiring entrepreneurs

Photo: iStockphoto As summer winds down and fall looms on the horizon, it's time for some of you bright young things to go back to school. To inspire and motivate the aspiring environmental entrepreneurs in the bunch, John Elkington and Mark Lee surveyed sustainability experts, asking: What's the 21st-century version of the famous "plastics" advice from The Graduate? Find out today in the latest Full Disclosure column.

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new in Full Disclosure: Plastics, Take Two


The Beak Shall Inherit the Earth
Sixteen bird species saved from extinction

Sixteen bird species that nearly went extinct in the mid-1990s were saved by international cooperation and concerted conservation efforts, according to a study published in the journal Oryx by researchers from BirdLife International. Scientists say the rebounds in populations of the Norfolk Island green parrot, the Mauritius parakeet, and 14 other species show there's hope of slowing the trend toward human-caused bird extinctions. "It is encouraging that bird conservation actions worldwide are making a noticeable dent in the bleak scenario of global biodiversity loss," wrote Cambridge zoologist Ana S. L. Rodrigues, who summarized the research in Science. However, if humans continue to tear down tropical forests and engage in other not-so-bird-conducive activities, the feathered-friend extinction rate could rise tenfold in the next decade. Said Stuart Butchart, author of the BirdLife study, "These successes show that preventing extinctions is possible, given political will and concerted action." Hmm, speaking of rare ...

straight to the source: The Independent, Maxine Frith, 28 Aug 2006

straight to the source: The New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, 29 Aug 2006

NOW IN GRIST

Fight Fire With Mire. Umbra advises on fire-fighting chemicals.

The Trouble With Normal, by Christine Gardner. Can a mom in middle America survive a month without a car?

From Hurley to Hetchy. A new Grist List by Sarah van Schagen and David Roberts.

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GRISTMILL BLOG

Growing a stabilization wedge: lessons from green buildings. Can we compare growth in the green building and green transportation sectors?

Vonnegut doesn't mince words. America's black-humorist tells it like it is in his Rolling Stone interview.

TerraPass partners with Expedia. Carbon-offsetting becomes a normal part of booking travel.
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