6 Jun 08 |
Photo courtesy of jen d. cox at Flickr.com.
Are you fascinated by bats? Have you ever wanted your own Batmobile, Batphone, or Batarang? If you’re counting down the days until the new Batman movie premiers (July 18th, 2008), now is a good time to learn more about the fascinating creatures that inspired the franchise.
There are several major cities with bat colonies. The largest urban colony in North America is in Austin, Texas, under the Congress Avenue Bridge. It has approximately 1.5 million Mexican Free-Tailed Bats and during the summer they eat 10,000-20,000 pounds of insects every night. Another bat colony with large numbers year-round can be found in Houston, Texas. Many other bat nesting sites are scattered throughout Texas and other US states bordering Mexico, including New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
Here’s what it looks like when the bats take flight at sunset:
Bats do a wonderful job of controlling insect populations. Recent studies have shown they eat as many insects as birds do - without their insect control efforts, farmers would lose millions of dollars of crops. Bats are a natural alternative to pesticides. Instead of spraying thousands of gallons of chemicals, many cities have started building bat friendly bridges and protecting bat habitat from development.
Is your yard infested with bugs? One brown bat can eat up to 3000 mosquitoes each night. Bats also control other insects that target humans as well as bugs that like to eat landscaping plants. Even better, bats turn these pests into a highly effective fertilizer.
If you’d like to reduce your use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, why not invite some bats to roost in your yard? With a bat house, you can encourage these insect eaters to start their own small colony. If you have a serious insect problem or if you have Wayne Mansion sized yard, this Deluxe Bat House can provide a home for three times as many bats.
Don’t forget to pick up a Bat Gizmo to complete you Batman experience. This Bat Detector is an amazing gadget that makes ultrasonic bat calls audible to the human ear. With it, you can listen in on your new pet bats and hear how grateful they are for your hospitality!
Photo courtesy of mikemilton at Flickr.com.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Photo courtesy of floridapfe at Flickr.com.
An increasing number of scientists and activists are raising concerns about the impact of biofuel production. The ethanol boom has its roots in a corn surplus that depressed prices - now, shortages of corn are causing food prices to skyrocket and there’s a fear that high commodity prices are pushing farmers to expand cropland. The resulting deforestation is releasing more carbon than the biofuels are saving:
There was just one flaw in the calculation: the studies all credited fuel crops for sequestering carbon, but no one checked whether the crops would ultimately replace vegetation and soils that sucked up even more carbon. It was as if the science world assumed biofuels would be grown in parking lots. The deforestation of Indonesia has shown that’s not the case. It turns out that the carbon lost when wilderness is razed overwhelms the gains from cleaner-burning fuels.
This situation illustrates the Law of Unintended Consequences. This law, which is more like Murphy’s Law than a scientific maxim, states that “for any action one can conceive, there will always be results that were not predicted.” For example, when city planners first came up with suburbs, they expected these housing developments would reduce traffic and overcrowding in downtown areas. Instead, many of these suburbs made traffic worse because they increased the size of the workforce commuting into downtown.
As with anything ethanol related, there’s some controversy about whether ethanol use is what’s driving up the price of corn, or whether the cost rise is driven by population growth and global wealth. As consumers in Asia and India develop disposable income, we’re seeing a sharp rise in the consumption of animal protein. The residents of third-world countries are developing an appetite for more meat, which means that the cost of grains will continue to rise (because raising chickens, pigs, cows, and other farm animals consumes a lot of feed).
There’s some symmetry to the Law of Unintended Consequences - the ethanol boom itself may have been created by accident. According to FoodAndWaterWatch.org, corn prices were historically about $2.50 a bushel after adjusting for inflation. It was only after changes in US law drove down the price of corn that it became an affordable feedstock for ethanol plants:
Nominal corn prices have been low and declining since the 1996 Farm Bill shifted U.S. commodity policy to promoting over-production.
The oversupply of corn created a decline in value, which, in turn, led farmers to seek new markets (such as ethanol) and pressure their representatives in Congress to subsidize these markets. So, by this line of reasoning, the 1996 Farm Bill led to a sharp increase in the price of per bushel. There’s some tasty irony for you.
Photo courtesy of sasakei at Flickr.com.
Popularity: 5% [?]
16 Mar 08 |
Photo courtesy of fastfoodforthought at Flickr.com.
Rooftop gardens, which are also sometimes called “Green Roofs”, have been encouraged in the developed world as a way of moderating urban temperature and rain water flood surges. In India, a new program is developing rooftop gardens with different goals in mind.
Rooftop gardens offer urban farmers a chance to turn squalor into nutrition. Equally important, they offer diversity to the household income. In a country where many women and low-caste men are often shut out from job opportunities, green roofs can do more than minimize the impact of weather.
Photo courtesy of /\ltus at Flickr.com.
Popularity: 7% [?]
13 Mar 08 |
Photo courtesy of expom2uk at Flickr.com.
A new study by the University of Colorado at Boulder has found a direct link between human activity in the American West and dust storms. This is the first time that the effects of human development (such as the introduction of wild horses, cattle grazing, and intensive farming) have been directly linked to dust. Researchers studied the sediment found in the bottoms of alpine lakes and concluded that dust levels have been 500-700% higher in the American West since the 1860’s.
On the plus side, dust levels have been declining since the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act, which was introduced during the Dust Bowl to prevent further erosion in American farmlands. So, while the study proves that humans can cause dust events, it also suggests that we can take steps to reduce our impacts.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Photo courtesy of M.Roemer at Flickr.com.
As the housing bubble continues to burst, it turns out that there’s an unexpected silver lining in the economic downturn. The sharp decline in property values may lead to reduced development in environmentally sensitive areas, and fire sale prices are making it easier for conservation groups to buy tracts of land on the cheap.
There’s not a whole lot of good news coming from the housing sector right now, but this is at least one small ray of sunshine to hang onto.
Photo courtesy of ACPinho at Flickr.com.
Popularity: 4% [?]
2 Mar 08 |
Ebird.org is the Audubon’s Society’s online birding checklist that you can use to record your observations and compare them with other people across the continent and in other parts of the world. Why would you want to do this? Here’s some info from their website:
“eBird’s goal is to maximize the utility and accessibility of the vast numbers of bird observations made each year by recreational and professional bird watchers. It is amassing one of the largest and fastest growing biodiversity data resources in existence.”
And furthermore:
“The observations of each participant join those of others in an international network of eBird users. eBird then shares these observations with a global community of educators, land managers, ornithologists, and conservation biologists. In time these data will become the foundation for a better understanding of bird distribution across the western hemisphere and beyond.”
I learned about the program at a recent organic gardening coference. Farms and backyard habitat are some of the best remaining habitat for a variety of birds. Knowing what kinds of birds live in and visit your area is a great way to help us understand their behavior and protect them.
Plus, eBird is pretty cool to play around with! It’s got interactive maps, charts, and more. And it takes about 2 minutes to sign up and start using.
Popularity: 4% [?]
19 Feb 08 |
Photo courtesy of Guided by the light at Flickr.com.
Robert Frost famously wrote about how “Good fences make good neighbors,” but the type of fence that pioneers built in the American West can be a drain on the environment. Picket fences block animal migration routes and are often painted with toxic chemicals. Building a wooden fence kills trees and fossil fuels are burned transporting lumber. These fences can also cause erosion by transferring the force of the wind into the soil, and they take constant maintenance.
Centuries old techniques offer a green alternative. Just as the Normans used hedgerows and Native Americans used Osage-Orange, botanists are exploring new ways to use living plants to regulate property lines. For example, Phung Tuu Boi is building a green fence to keep people from areas contaminated with Agent Orange. As the director of the Center for Assistance in Nature Conservation and Community Development in Hanoi, he’s developed a fence that keeps animals from foraging in contaminated sites while also restoring the soil and growing a cash crop:
Mr. Boi has developed a low-tech solution to overcome these problems: a fence made of trees covered with cactus-sharp needles to deter humans and animals alike. Mr. Boi hopes this so-called green fence will not only discourage trespassers, but also provide them with an economic incentive to leave the barrier intact. Once mature, the trees he has chosen to make up the fence, Gleditschia australis, produce a fruit that residents can sell to make soaps and medicinals. Gleditschia, a type of honey locust, is disease and insect resistant, and its thorns and soft wood should deter residents from cutting it down for firewood.
Photo courtesy of imbala at Flickr.com.
Another advantage of living fences is that they offer habitat for wildlife. These slices of greenery often act as highways for wild animals on the move and dense tree lines are just as effective at controlling domestic animals.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Photo courtesy of ibeginz at Flickr.com.
Did you know that there are hundreds (and maybe even thousands) of underground coal fires burning out of control? These fires can occur naturally, but most of them are caused by mining activity or industrial accidents near coal seams. These coal fires can cause dangerous subsidence, air pollution, and poisoning of the water table, all while consuming a valuable natural resource.
Concern and action is needed… because of the environmental impact — especially of mega-fires burning in India, China and elsewhere in Asia. One coal fire in northern China, for instance, is burning over an area more than 3,000 miles wide and almost 450 miles long.
Photo courtesy of njbruder at Flickr.com.
Underground coal fires are extremely difficult to put out once they start burning. They burn so hot that even pouring water on them will feed the flames (at extreme temperatures, water breaks down into hydrogen and oxygen gas). Coal is inherently unstable and will self ignite - that means that old abandoned mines are time bombs waiting to go off and all the tunnels act as a ventilation system!
Photo courtesy of radialmonster at Flickr.com.
Uncontrolled coal fires are a worldwide problem and they produce significant amounts of greenhouse gas:
Estimates vary, but some scientists believe that anywhere from 20 million to 200 million tons burn [in China] each year, producing as much carbon dioxide as about 1 percent of the total carbon dioxide from fossil fuels burned on earth… India, where large scale mining began more than a century ago, accounts for the world’s greatest concentration of them.
Underground coal fires happen in the US too - check out this video about Pennsylvania coal mining. In Centralia, PA, underground fires have been burning since the 60’s! If you can come up with a way to put these fires out, I suspect that the MacArthur Foundation will come and knock down your door!
Popularity: 8% [?]
We’ve all heard it. Whenever the topic turns to bio-fuels someone pipes in with “you know that ethanol takes more energy to produce that it yields…” Well, not according to the latest science. The University of Minnesota has released an extensive study on the overall energy used to grow, harvest, and process as well as the environmental impact of the fertilizers and pesticides used in the entire lifecycle of bio-fuels. The results show that both soybean based biodiesel and corn based ethanol produce more energy than is required to make them. Soybean took the lead, producing 93 percent more energy than it took in while the ethanol eeked out only a 25 percent gain over the energy used to produce it. Energy that we use to produce it that is. Energy is not truly created but merely changes form. Both the corn and the soy crops are constantly absorbing energy from the sun and in effect we are using them as a means to harness that energy. Solar panels are a more efficient way, but until we get the cost down on solar energy…well, we’ll save that for another day. We’re talking bio-fuels today.
So what about the environmental impact? Growing any crop in a large quantity requires fertilizers, and insecticides. You cannot ignore the impact of the runoff of these chemicals in to streams and rivers. Still, soy based biodiesel produces 41 percent less greenhouse gas emissions (and better by some studies), and ethanol produces around 12 percent less. Soy based Biodiesel requires less fertilizers than corn, so if only more vehicles in the world were diesel based soy would be the clear winner.
Dedicating all US soy and corn production would create only a small percentage of the currently needed gasoline and diesel supply. Farms that were struggling to sell all they were producing are now having to gear up to plant and produce more. Many consumers are noticing a sharp increase in the cost of everyday food items as demand exceeds supply. This may or may not be a temporary condition as a lot of farm land has gone unused in recent history.
The truth is that benefits to both ethanol and biodiesel are probably worth the downsides. Even in small quantities, as an additive, they both oxygenate fossil fuels which cause them to burn more completely resulting in reduced emissions. And while at present they cannot come close to the production levels that would be required to replace fossil fuels; the facilities and techniques being used and developed now for ethanol and biodiesel will be put to use for the next generations of bio-fuels.
Studies done just a few years ago pretty universally slammed bio-fuels as all requiring more fossil fuels to produce than they deliver; it goes to show that technology does not stand still. Throughout history this has always been the case. The first cars, televisions, home computers, and airplanes all started out as less than practical in real world applications.
An environmentally conscious consumer may not be making a huge impact by driving a biodiesel car, subscribing to a wind power electric company or installing solar panels on the roof. But demand is what drives the market for these things and as more and more people start showing that they are willing to make these choices you can bet there will be someone on the supply side that is listening. You have to crawl before you can run.
Popularity: 6% [?]
24 Oct 07 |
An interesting educational opportunity is coming up for those interested in land conservation. Holistic Management International is hosting a conference in a couple weeks about healing damaged land with special land management techniques.
What’s this Holistic Management stuff all about?
HMI works with people around the world to heal damaged land and increase the productivity of working lands.
By healing the earth’s desertified lands, and by managing healthy land in concert with natural processes, we can repair our malfunctioning ecosystem while achieving a “triple bottom line” of economic, environmental and social sustainability.
Holistic Management® has been proven to work, even in drought, for over 23 years.
More info on the conference:
HMI is proud to host International Gathering 2007 “From the Ground Up: Practical Solutions
to Complex Problems”Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town
Albuquerque, New Mexico
November 1-4 2007Sessions and Workshops Cover:
Soil health
Animal behavior
Multi-species grazing
Partnering with Nature
Taking sustainability to the next level
International community development
Global climate change
Fire
Drought
Sustainable genetics
Working effectively with groups
Marketing
Solar dollars
Diversifying income
Carbon sequestration
Here’s the conference website so you can check it out with more detail.
Popularity: 4% [?]