U.S. protection for polar bears not enough

After all, two-thirds of them live in Canada, and Canada needs to do its part, as DeSmog Blog notes.

That said, the ruling does do something. Despite Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne’s denial that the Endangered Species Act can be a tool to tackle global warming, despite his attempts to loophole around that, we now have something in writing.

And, while the “threatened” status of the ESA doesn’t have a lot of teeth, should this, as is likely, not have enough force and polar bears soon become “endangered,” there’s a lot more legal teeth there.

Follow the links at the top story webpage for all the details about Interior Department loopholes in polar bear protection, too.

‘Wired’ green roundup – ‘Onion’ parody as reality

Not all ‘top 10’ green cars are actually green

Starting your list of your top 10 “green cars” with an E85 Viper burning NON-green corn ethanol shoots your green cred in the foot right off the bat.

Car No. 3? Hydrogen powered. May or may not be eco-friendly, though fuel cells on any smaller scale than an office building probably aren’t. And, infrastructure issues are obviously being ignored.

Car No. 4? A diesel-powered Audi is NOT eco-friendly if a fuel-only engine is generating 650hp.

But, why stop there?

Atmospheric tinkering overlooks recent research

Wired then pulls the old “salvific technologism” out of its bunghole. On global warming, it says we can prevent it by, among other things, seeding the atmosphere with aerosols.

Not. Recent research has shown that if you use some aerosols, you could start new havoc on the ozone layer. Oops.

As for giant mirrors in orbit, I doubt that’s been fully priced out, just like oil prices for the U.S. don’t include our military in the Middle East.

Finally, set up the straw man

Another Wired article mentions all the technologies and partial solutions for global warming that greens allegedly oppose.

Nuclear power? I’m OK with it, actually, as are many other people, if we address the nuclear waste issue and don’t subsidize power plant construction out the ass.

Urban density? The schmuck who wrote this blog post (anonymously) has obviously never heard of New Urbanism and its environmental angles.

If you follow the link to the whole list of “green heresies,” it’s like Wired deliberately hired some ax-grinding libertarian to write this up. That includes suggesting buying a 1994 49hp car over a new Prius.

As for all the stories/blog posts in total, they sum up the worst of Wired on this issue.

With a self-alleged eco-friend like this, who needs enemies?

Microbe symbiosis – the latest findings in exobiology

Some microbes “pioneer” cold rocks, creating heat to attract other microbes.

Why is this important?

It’s another anecdotal example of the power of evolutionary biology, another anecdotal example to bring up against intelligent design claims.

The Phoenix is about to land

NASA has had a dicey history with Mars probes, but, if all goes according to plan, the Phoenix will land in the Martian Arctic tomorrow.

I’ll probably drop some initial “science awe” observations on here Monday.

Happy Memorial Day – enjoy the great outdoors

That’s what I’ll be doing, so blogging will be light, as I get out of Dodge a little bit.


First, I’m going to the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, pictured at right, with more pictures of my own, of this area plus Palo Duro Canyon, here. It’s a great place, with small lakes, creeks, low mountains (more than hills) bison, longhorns, elk, deer, prairie dog villages and a variety of hiking.

Also, spring wildflowers are in bloom this time of year, including Indian paintbrush, coreopsis and more.

Anyway, it's a nice, leisurely drive from Dallas. I'm heading up tonight, and will crash in my car somewhere.


Then, it’s on to Caprock Canyons (pictured) and/or Copper Breaks state parks in northwest Texas’ upper Red River valley.

Don’t know if I’ll get out to Palo Duro. Yes, trying to economize the gas a little bit.

Sistani may give Moqtada al-Sadr green light

The incomparable Juan Cole points out that Iraq’s Shi’ite Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is under pressure to issue a fatwa against the presence of American troops in Iraq.

Ironically, Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s claim that Iraq troops would be ready to “stand up” by the end of this year gives Sistani this leeway. The U.S. presidential election is a background factor, of course.

McCain will be hard put to rationally defend any sort of longer-term occupancy if Sistani pulls the trigger.