Celsias Expert Articles

If Nothing Else, Save Farming

It’s probably too late to prepare for peak oil, but we can at least try to salvage food production.

I don’t know when global oil supplies will start to decline. I do know that another resource has already peaked and gone into free-fall: the credibility of the body that’s meant to assess them. Last week two whistle-blowers from the International Energy Agency alleged that it has deliberately upgraded its estimate of the world’s oil supplies in order not to frighten the markets(1).

Three days later, a paper published by researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden ...

Uber-Ironic 1962 ad Touts Oil's Ability to Melt Glaciers!

Courtesy of Climate Progress:

David Roberts at Grist has the winner of the irony-can-be-so-ironic award:

From a sharp-eyed reader comes this ad for Humble Oil (which later merged with Standard to become, yes, Exxon). It may win the All Time Millenial Award for Maximal Irony. It’s from a 1962 edition of Life Magazine, available on Google Books (click for larger version):

Hmm, in December 2008, I blogged on an AP story about data presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union:

More than 2 trillion tons of land ice in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska have melted since ...

Norway to Help Protect Guyana's Forests

For the past year, President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana has traveled the world offering to place his nation's forests under international supervision if other countries paid his citizens not to deforest the tropical landscapes.

The campaign received major support last week when Norway announced a $30 million commitment on Monday for the small South American nation to implement an "avoided deforestation" plan. If the program demonstrates success, Guyana will receive an additional $250 million through 2015.

"We are giving the world a workable model for climate change collaboration between North and South," said Erik Solheim, Norway's minister of ...

Wicked Cool World of Organics - Edition 36

This week's dose of organic headlines, updates, resources, goodies, and recipes courtesy of DSnodgrass...

New research shows that the use of genetically modified crops have put more pesticides on consumers dinner tables.

The rapid adoption by U.S. farmers of genetically engineered corn, soybeans and cotton has promoted increased use of pesticides, an epidemic of herbicide-resistant weeds and more chemical residues in foods, according to a report issued Tuesday by health and environmental protection groups.

The groups said research showed that herbicide use grew by 383 million pounds from 1996 to 2008, with 46 percent of the total increase ...

A Win-Win-Win-Win-Win-Win Opportunity?

With the United States of America's ever-mounting trade and budget deficits, unemployment above 10 percent (and, dependent on counting, un- and under-employment above 20 percent), looming peak oil and other resource (water, for example) limitations, environmental challenges, and ever-mounting climate chaos , America faces a very serious situation.

In fact, to one degree or another, these same intertwined challenges (with the exception of trade/budget deficits for some countries) are those face by societies and nations throughout the globe in our networked, systems-of-systems global community.

These serious challenges are a networked system-of-systems that interact and reinforce each other. As we ...

Looking Down the Environmental Legacy Barrel of Chinese Drywall

The defective Chinese drywall situation in the United States first came to light in November of 2008, when the Herald Tribune reported that homeowners in the Sarasota-Bradenton area of Florida were discovering that their homes’ sheetrock walls were eating away the wiring.

In fact, the problem may predate 2008, as witness the symptoms in a Manatee County home suffering the same mysterious meltdown in wiring, yet built in 2002.

Homeowners are suffering not only the loss of their electrical connectivity (and appliances), but also from a range of upper respiratory symptoms, nosebleeds and headaches, yet so far the U.S ...

'Food Security and Climate Change Deeply Interconnected' Says UN Secretary-General

Speakers at the opening session of the World Summit on Food Security, hosted by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, called for increased investment in agriculture and emphasized the role climate change is playing in agricultural production.

“There can be no food security without climate security,” said Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary-General to the delegates gathered in Rome. “That is why next month in Copenhagen we need a comprehensive agreement that will provide a firm foundation for a legally binding treaty on climate change.”

Global leaders are trying to accomplish a foundational agreement, instead of a full-fledged treaty ...

The Pig Farmer

We sped along the asphalt, cocooned in our little white hatchback, chasing the ever-retreating heat haze mirage. I don’t want to talk to a pig farmer, I thought, defensively. I felt dread rise up from my gut. My dad chattered happily.

I had been an animal lover since childhood. As I grew up on the farm I saw many situations where animals suffered and these disturbing childhood memories morphed into some sturdy grown up neuroses. As an adult, my mind bombarded me with images of animal tragedy. I dreaded the reality of the piggery we were catapulting toward. I ...

Dirty Stories

In order to generate excitement around humble dirt - the star of a new movie bearing its name - people are being encouraged to visit the official site and share their own soil stories.

Dirt! The Movie, due out in December, tells the amazing story of humans and our relationship with the earth beneath our feet. As described on the website:

"Dirt feeds us and gives us shelter. Dirt holds and cleans our water. Dirt heals us and makes us beautiful. Dirt regulates the earth's climate. Dirt is the ultimate natural resource for all life on earth."

Of course the issue ...

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: How Changemakers Leave Their Mark

Actions Speak Loudest: Keeping Our Promise for a Better World, a new book by Robert McKinnon inspires us to keep a generational promise to leave the world a better place than we inherited. This collection of photos, essays, and calls to action draw attention to thirty-one important issues facing this and future generations.

The topics covered range from childhood obesity to climate change, and the contributors McKinnon selected demonstrate “an action-oriented” approach. Notable voices include President Jimmy Carter, Mia Hamm, and Dave Eggers as well as everyday heroes who have overcome challenges to impact the youth in their community. Readers ...

The Hidden Dangers of Energy Efficiency

A recent event sponsored by the British High Commission on climate change and low-carbon business drew out into the open a serious issue. As many are aware, should the temperature rise as much as 4 degrees Celsius (or about 7 degrees Fahrenheit) due to climate change, some serious problems for countries around the world will emerge.

One of the keys to keeping carbon emissions, and therefore climate change, in check is getting reductions in place. One of the easiest and most palatable ways to sell this to business is through energy efficiency measures.

Energy efficiency in business is considered low-hanging ...

Good Timing, Great Car: 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid Review

I like to ride my bike and take public transportation when I can. But I still rely on the car to move me around a few days every week. That said, developments in cars and personal transportation are things I take both personal and professional interest in.

So after Ford loaned a new 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid to me and Gas 2.0 editor Nick Chambers for an extended test drive-- that we would take on a trip to and from a multi-day music festival in Southern California we were both covering--I decided to share my thoughts about why Ford ...

Our Choice: Al's Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis

Al Gore hasn’t been resting on his laurels since An Inconvenient Truth. His substantial new book Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis has grown out of the more than 30 lengthy and intensive “Solution Summits” he has organised to enable leading experts from round the world to share their knowledge and experience in subjects relevant to solving the crisis, as well as the one-on-one sessions he has had with others.

The expertise shows. The discussions of energy sources are focused and packed with useful information and judgments. Electricity from the sun is the first. Concentrated solar ...

Texas Utility Oncor Plans to Install Smart Meters by Years End

I recently wrote a story on the growing popularity of so-called smart appliances that link into utility's smart grid programs, allowing consumers to manage and cut down on their own power use.

By the end of this year, energy customers in much of Texas can expect the installation of close to 700,000 advanced smart electric meters and corresponding communications systems. Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC, the state's largest utility company, and Landis+Gyr, a developer of energy management systems, have already installed more than 350,000 smart meters in Texas.

Oncor provides transmission distribution of electricity to ...

Climate Change and Autism: New School Addresses Both

In Sayerville, NJ, the doors of the Center for Lifelong Learning recently opened. It's a school that can serve up to 175 students with autism and related disorders, providing education and training for many life skills which are taken for granted by neurotypicals.

Here's the kicker.

The facility, designed by USA Architects, is one of the first public school buildings in the state to be built according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, and could become the first to be certified LEED Platinum. This is due largely to its all-natural building materials and its use ...

Developing vs. Developed Nations... Why Not 'Evolved' Nations?

The upcoming climate negotiations in Copenhagen have highlighted an interesting dilemma. Nations worldwide are trying to shirk their responsibilities around emissions and their economies.

So called “developed” nations like the U.S., U.K., and Australia are having a difficult political time getting industries to swallow the fact that big changes need to happen. Industry needs to clean up its act. Of course, then the political dance begins:

“But what about xyz country? Are they going to do it too?” Yes, yes, always point the finger somewhere else. Someone else should be the leader, start things off, too risky for ...

World Leaders Say Copenhagen to be a Steppingstone to Final Climate Deal

Some very good news on the international front, as the UK Guardian reports today:

During a hastily convened breakfast meeting in Singapore, the US president supported a Danish plan to salvage something from the moribund negotiations by aiming for a broad political agreement and postponing contentious decisions on emissions targets, financing and technology transfer….

The deferral plan was outlined to 19 leaders, including Obama and Chinese president Hu Jintao, who were in Singapore for a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

“Given the time factor and the situation of individual countries we must, in the coming weeks, focus on ...

Report Calls for Global Climate Talks to Consider Boreal's Impact

When the world thinks of forests and their value to offset global warming, tropical forests come to mind. A report released last week shows that the global impact of Canada’s boreal forest, which stores nearly twice as much carbon per hectare as tropical forests, has been vastly underestimated.

The report titled “The Carbon the World Forgot” identifies the boreal forests of North America as not only the cornerstone habitat for key mammal species, but one of the most significant carbon stores in the world, the equivalent of 26 years of global emissions from burning fossil fuels, based on 2006 ...

Wicked Cool World of Organics - Edition 35

This week's dose of organic headlines, updates, resources, goodies, and recipes courtesy of Doug Snodgrass...

This is kind of like Super Friends gone organic.

The farmer cooperative behind the Organic Valley label put on some weight Monday when it announced a deal to manufacture and sell Stonyfield Farms milk, the Londonderry, N.H., company that sells about 13 million gallons annually.

[...]

CROPP, which calls itself the nation's largest organic farming cooperative, has supplied the milk for Stonyfield yogurt for 10 years. The two companies often act more like colleagues than competitors, said Stonyfield Farms CEO Gary Hirshberg.

"It ...

The REAL Cure for Climate Change (+Videos)

Don’t expect climate change to get fixed by the governments of the world. Don’t expect that, however noble in intention, the efforts of Gore, McKibben, Stern, and their many cohorts will succeed either. Not on any large scale. It won’t be clean tech or green products saving the day either.

Climate change, like energy scarcity, water pollution, and other serious global issues is merely one symptom of a larger global problem. Tackle the symptoms individually, and at best you might get lackluster results. Tackle the source of the problem, and everything attached to it will be positively ...