Crazy Gator

I took these pictures on a walk in the wetlands behind my house a few days ago. The light was failing on my way back, the bottom two pics are a few pretty neat images I managed to get. It was very cool, and a little disconcerting, as the images here are exactly what I was seeing through the viewfinder of my camera.

BUMP - I am bumping this up for my nephews in Alabama. Hi boys, we miss you! ;~)

Compare the Poles

Here is a nifty (... can I still use that word??) site I came across - Click: Polar Discovery. It is a great education site with everything from a side by side comparison of physical features of the two poles to the difference in seasons & weather and plants & wildlife.

Also within this site is - Click: Live from the Poles. This portion of the site is designed to give you an in-depth inside look at four major scientific expeditions to the south and north poles. They record their experiences - even what they eat for lunch, according to the site- through a tw0 person media team, a photographer and a science writer. The updates will consist of daily writings and photo essays documenting the expeditions experiences, from how they are keeping warm to the scientific findings and the tools used to obtain them. Two of the expeditions have passed, a third (to Antarctica) will start November 26th, 2007 and run through December 23rd, 2007. It looks to be an interesting experience for readers, I will definitely be checking in.

Update - The expedition has begun, to follow the journey click - To the ice at last

The New Black

TORONTO (Reuters Life!) - Global warming may not only affect climate and the environment, it will also have an impact on clothes and fashion, according to design and retail experts.

..."With Seventh Avenue proclaiming that 'green is the new black,' we can expect a surge in fashion innovations in response to climate change," said Jo Paoletti, a professor at the University of Maryland and an expert in design and fashion.

It will mean not only debates about the benefits of cotton versus polyester or other fabrics, but likely future innovations such as smart clothes that monitor and adjust to body temperature to reduce the need for air conditioning and heating, she added. Click: Green is the new black for savvy consumers, retailers

It is so encouraging to see environmentalism and climate change going mainstream. There is so much attention paid to the latest "in" thing, even if it is simply fad for most, it should leave an impression on all.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I have been busy with the holiday coming, and will be for the rest of the week. I will be back Monday, I hope eveyone has a safe and wonderful holiday :~)

Africa

OSLO (Reuters) - Africa is the "forgotten continent" in the fight against climate change and needs help to cope with projected water shortages and declining crop yields, the U.N.'s top climate change official said on Sunday.

... "Africa is not getting a lot out of climate change policy at the moment," he [Yvo de Boer, head of the Bonn-based U.N. Climate Change Secretariat] said. "But climate change will affect Africa very severely."

The U.N. climate panel's final 26-page summary report, released in Spain on Saturday, says that Africa, the Arctic, the deltas of major rivers in Asia and small island states are likely to be especially affected by climate change. Click: Africa "forgotten continent" in climate fight


TUNIS (Reuters) - African nations must forge a united front at climate negotiations next month to win help to protect millions from the harm warmer weather is expected to bring, experts say.

Tens of millions of Africans face increasing water scarcity by 2020, posing potential food shortages and a rise in disease, scientists say, and Africa must push hard for the finance and expertise to enable it to devise regional solutions, they say. Click: Africa needs united action on climate


JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Africa's coastal infrastructure faces increasing danger of erosion from rising sea levels caused by climate change, the head of the U.N. Environment Program said on Thursday.

Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP, told a news conference that port facilities, refineries and expensive private properties were already degrading as a result of global warming. Click: Rising seas threaten Africa's coastline

New "green-credit policy" in China

BEIJING (Reuters) - Twelve polluting enterprises have had crucial bank loans recalled, suspended or rejected as China's new "green-credit policy" kicks into action, Friday's China Youth Daily said.

Decades of heavy industrialization have made water from some of China's lakes and rivers so polluted it is no longer usable, with untreated waste from factories and other enterprises pumped directly into water sources. Click: China pulls bank loans to 12 major polluters.


I am happy to see this; where these polluting companies seemingly have no moral concerns about what they are doing, they most definitely have concern when it comes to their fat wallets. Hit 'em where it hurts 'em, it's well deserved.

LOL

Carma

What is CARMA? CARMA reveals the carbon emissions of more than 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies in every country on Earth.

Click: Carbon Monitoring for Action

This is a great site that just went live this week. Notice the map and legend on the home page, the large red dots indicate a plant that produces a lot of electricity and a lot of CO2 while the large green dots indicate a plant that produces a lot of electricity and almost no CO2. There are no large green dots... [EDIT- Upon reloading the Carma page I had a few orange dots show up that were not there before and it was incredibly slow to load, so maybe there are green dots and they are just having trouble at the moment]


Input your zip in the text box on the right ride of the page to see your local results.

90% of all living things remain unknown

BRONX, NEW YORK--Most people can tell the difference between some types of berries, or bugs or trees, but much of the planet's life remains unnamed and unseen.

..."We live, in short, on a little-known planet. When dealing with the living world, we are flying mostly blind," Wilson said. "When we try to diagnose the health of an ecosystem, such as a lake or a forest, in order to save and stabilize it we are in the position of a doctor trying to treat a patient, knowing only 10 percent of organs." Click: After 250 Years of Classifying Life, 90 Percent Remains Unknown

... interesting, in this "information age", to really comprehend how far we still have to go to be truly informed.

The techie geek in me

This is one of my all time favorite net videos. It has been around awhile now, but I wanted to share it with those of you that have not seen it. It is not environmental, it satisfies my techie side (although you definitely do not have to be a tech of any sort to find it appealing ;~)).

Where there is money, there is attention

LONDON (Reuters) - Banking group HSBC said on Tuesday it has launched a range of structured products offering exposure to two indexes and a fund that contain firms making their profits from fighting global warming. Click: HSBC launches climate-change structured products


The Wall Street Journal: Investors' Appetite Spurs Area's Growth; Relief From Volatility: A surge in investor appetite for environmentally friendly investment funds is leading investment banks to create special indexes and structured products related to the industry.

Along with derivatives linked to weather, banks are creating new stock indexes of companies that tackle or are affected by climate change, creating a new investment sector that isn't correlated to other asset classes. Click: Climate Funds Get Hotter

Russian Oil Spill

KAVKAZ PORT, Russia (Reuters) - Long stretches of Russia's Black Sea coast face an ecological catastrophe, local authorities said on Monday, after a fierce storm broke up a tanker, disgorging hundreds of tons of oil on to the shore.

..."The damage is so huge it can hardly be evaluated. It can be compared to an ecological catastrophe," Interfax news agency quoted Alexander Tkachyov, governor of Russia's Black Sea region of Krasnodar, as saying.

"Thirty thousand birds have died, and it's just impossible to count the loss of fish," he told regional officials. Click: Oil spill spells catastrophe for Russian coast


Click: FACTBOX: Key facts about oil spills

Click: Slideshow

California to sue EPA - Update

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, demanding a quick federal decision that would allow the nation's most populous state to limit greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.

"California is ready to implement the nation's cleanest standards for vehicle emissions, but we cannot do that until the federal government grants a waiver allowing us to enforce those standards," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.

...Sixteen other states have either adopted or are considering similar emissions rules, and many joined the lawsuit. Click: California, other states sue U.S. on car emissions

California was supposed to file the lawsuit a few weeks ago, but delayed due to the massive outbreak of fires. Click: California to sue EPA for the original post.