This is pretty interesting - remember all those disappearing Bees!
Jose D. Fuentes, Quinn S. McFrederick and James C. Kathilankal at the University of Virginia have come up with a potential explanation.
Links to Virginia press release - from there you can find some audio of Jose Fuentes talking about his group's findings.
Air Pollution Impedes Bees' Ability to Find Flowers
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 5, 2008; Page A03
When the spread of flowers' scents are impeded, bees may be less likely to find and pollinate the flowers. A drop in pollination is reducing crops worldwide.
When the spread of flowers' scents are impeded, bees may be less likely to find and pollinate the flowers. A drop in pollination is reducing crops worldwide.
Air pollution interferes with the ability of bees and other insects to follow the scent of flowers to their source, undermining the essential process of pollination, a study by three University of Virginia researchers suggests.
Their findings may help unlock part of the mystery surrounding the current pollination crisis that is affecting a wide variety of crops. Scientists are seeking to determine why honeybees and bumblebees are dying off in the United States and in other countries, and the new study indicates that emissions from power plants and automobiles may play a part in the insects' demise.
Scientists already knew that scent-bearing hydrocarbon molecules released by flowers can be destroyed when they come into contact with ozone and other pollutants. Environmental sciences professor Jose D. Fuentes at the University of Virginia -- working with graduate students Quinn S. McFrederick and James C. Kathilankal -- used a mathematical model to determine how flowers' scents travel with the wind and how quickly they come into contact with pollutants that can destroy them. They described their results in the March issue of the journal Atmospheric Environment.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
EPA Ozone regulations
From the Washington Post....
It's Not a Backroom Deal If the Call Is Made in the Oval Office
By Cindy Skrzycki
Tuesday, April 8, 2008; Page D02
"The conflict between Stephen L. Johnson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Susan E. Dudley, head of regulatory review at the Office of Management and Budget, over how strong to make a standard on ozone, a component of smog, was unusual because President Bush was asked to break the impasse. He decided on a requirement weaker than what the EPA wanted."
The EPA standard for Ozone was announced a few weeks ago. After consultation with it's scientific advisers, the EPA suggested a secondary standard (for the natural environment not human health) which was calculated with an emphasis on plants and ecosystems. At the very last moment the White House after pressure from the Office of Management and Budget changed the EPA's initial recommendation. This decision was based not on science but on budgetary concerns... all the memos are on the web!
Mad!
It's Not a Backroom Deal If the Call Is Made in the Oval Office
By Cindy Skrzycki
Tuesday, April 8, 2008; Page D02
"The conflict between Stephen L. Johnson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Susan E. Dudley, head of regulatory review at the Office of Management and Budget, over how strong to make a standard on ozone, a component of smog, was unusual because President Bush was asked to break the impasse. He decided on a requirement weaker than what the EPA wanted."
The EPA standard for Ozone was announced a few weeks ago. After consultation with it's scientific advisers, the EPA suggested a secondary standard (for the natural environment not human health) which was calculated with an emphasis on plants and ecosystems. At the very last moment the White House after pressure from the Office of Management and Budget changed the EPA's initial recommendation. This decision was based not on science but on budgetary concerns... all the memos are on the web!
Mad!
The personal generator
This is another very cool device... it allows you to generate your own power as you wander about - whether you walk, bike or just stand in the wind.... check out Hymini to charge your cell phone (sorry Brits ...Mobile) or MP3 Player...
Excellent thing
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Carbon Forum America - attempts to contol carbon offset claims
A couple of weeks ago Carbon Forum America (Feb 26-27, San Fran)held a conference designed to bring businesses together to discuss issues surrounding trading greenhouse gas emission credits.
"Chicago/Geneva/Cologne/Washington/ Ottawa – February, 2008
After two days of conference sessions, exhibitor presentations via “Side Events“ and interaction on the trade show floor, Carbon Forum America came to a close at the Moscone Center in San Francisco where the event took place on February 26-27, 2008. The event was jointly organized between the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the Chicago-based show organizer Koelnmesse, Inc...."
It seems that lots of companies got together to talk about CO2 trading. The conference was supported by Sen. Feinstein and some heavy hitters involved in UN climate change policy, CA utility companies and the World Bank. The press release is available here but it doesn't say much.
The forum hasn't had a huge impact on the media - the Indian based, Economic Times seems to be one of the very few newspapers that have picked up on a few outcomes from the conference. The article gave a quick list of Non-profit groups who are trying to make market based solutions to greenhouse gas emissions more transparent.
"Four non-profit entities used their presence at Carbon Forum America to present and interactively discuss their contributions to ensuring offset integrity..." ET. Carbon markets for improved offset quality standards 3 Mar, 2008, 1932 hrs IST, TIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES
Market based solutions like carbon trading rely to some extent on a stable and universally agreed price for carbon. The large number of companies offering carbon offsets might seem encouragingly green to some but the lack of any real regulation means that companies can mis-represent how much carbon they can sequester, which reduces peoples confidence in the overall idea.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the The Climate Group are putting forward a Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) which will verify the claims of carbon offset companies and projects. Similarly the Offset Quality Initiative is a group set up by several NGOs to help smooth the way for market based solutions to curbing climate change. 'Green-e Climate', focused on electricity produced from renewable energy, has been launched by the Center for Resource Solutions.
There are several of these initiatives popping up here and there - but they are in their infancy... they, like carbon offsets themselves, are yet to be proven
Dave
"Chicago/Geneva/Cologne/Washington/ Ottawa – February, 2008
After two days of conference sessions, exhibitor presentations via “Side Events“ and interaction on the trade show floor, Carbon Forum America came to a close at the Moscone Center in San Francisco where the event took place on February 26-27, 2008. The event was jointly organized between the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the Chicago-based show organizer Koelnmesse, Inc...."
It seems that lots of companies got together to talk about CO2 trading. The conference was supported by Sen. Feinstein and some heavy hitters involved in UN climate change policy, CA utility companies and the World Bank. The press release is available here but it doesn't say much.
The forum hasn't had a huge impact on the media - the Indian based, Economic Times seems to be one of the very few newspapers that have picked up on a few outcomes from the conference. The article gave a quick list of Non-profit groups who are trying to make market based solutions to greenhouse gas emissions more transparent.
"Four non-profit entities used their presence at Carbon Forum America to present and interactively discuss their contributions to ensuring offset integrity..." ET. Carbon markets for improved offset quality standards 3 Mar, 2008, 1932 hrs IST, TIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES
Market based solutions like carbon trading rely to some extent on a stable and universally agreed price for carbon. The large number of companies offering carbon offsets might seem encouragingly green to some but the lack of any real regulation means that companies can mis-represent how much carbon they can sequester, which reduces peoples confidence in the overall idea.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the The Climate Group are putting forward a Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) which will verify the claims of carbon offset companies and projects. Similarly the Offset Quality Initiative is a group set up by several NGOs to help smooth the way for market based solutions to curbing climate change. 'Green-e Climate', focused on electricity produced from renewable energy, has been launched by the Center for Resource Solutions.
There are several of these initiatives popping up here and there - but they are in their infancy... they, like carbon offsets themselves, are yet to be proven
Dave
Friday, March 7, 2008
McGayan process: a "modern day miracle"
Sometimes you need some good news on the climate change front. Some times you feel lucky to view a historical moment. Biodiesel has been touted as an alternative to fossil fuels. Problem: expensive, difficult to make, and not energy effective (see an earlier post). That potentially (and definitely will) change with the Mcgayan process. Brian Krohn, a undergraduate student at Augsburg College was the "catalyst" to discover a new method to produce biodiesel that doesn't require dangerous chemicals or water in the production. Simply put: it is amazing to imagine how simple the technology is. Even more important: it is cleaner, cheaper, 100 times faster than traditional methods, and opens up the door to making "carbon capture systems" more feasible. Even more amazing is that it was the curiosity of a undergraduate student that started the whole thing. Links to media coverage are here and here. Keep your eye on the news for this discovery.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Carbon offsets
Jeff commented on a previous post ... "My favorite quote is..""Carbon offsetting? I wouldn't dream of it. It's just a joke. To pay money to plant trees, to think you're offsetting the carbon? You're probably making matters worse. You're far better off giving to the charity Cool Earth, which gives the money to the native peoples to not take down their forests.".. I must say I agree.. Carbon offsets just make people feel better and someone else takes makes money.. We need to stop burning stuff.. we're not very good at that.. I don't want to conceded that we lost all hope though either.. I just think we're wasting alot of time with "feel-good" easy fixes that make corporations money. When we need serious people to sit down and plan out serious solutions.. Those serious solutions need to be implemented..."
These are quotes from the interview with Dr Lovelock ... and I guess I kind of agree - we've got to think very carefully about how this carbon offsetting thing works... it's hard enough to measure the amount of C taken up by an intensively measured forest - I'm afraid I don't believe that Carbon Offset companies have any clue how much CO2 is being taken up by any of their projects and what's more ... there is nothing to stop them from inflating their claims or even lying outright about the amount of C offset. I've always thought of them as ecological indulgences .... I'm not an economist but carbon offset ventures strikes me as a way to exploit people who care about the environment but don't think too critically about it. So why does Al Gore do it?
These are quotes from the interview with Dr Lovelock ... and I guess I kind of agree - we've got to think very carefully about how this carbon offsetting thing works... it's hard enough to measure the amount of C taken up by an intensively measured forest - I'm afraid I don't believe that Carbon Offset companies have any clue how much CO2 is being taken up by any of their projects and what's more ... there is nothing to stop them from inflating their claims or even lying outright about the amount of C offset. I've always thought of them as ecological indulgences .... I'm not an economist but carbon offset ventures strikes me as a way to exploit people who care about the environment but don't think too critically about it. So why does Al Gore do it?
Monday, March 3, 2008
Great gadget - low energy mouse
Your laptop (TGW) – DORmino has developed an efficient laptop mouse that gets its energy from laptop heat waste.....continued over at Thoughts on Global Warming
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