Earth-Save

Now with new and improved labeling!  But in reality, there is no such thing as clean coal.  Learn more.

According to a new study published this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, part of Alaska’s coastline is falling into the sea at twice its past rate and reshaping the Arctic shoreline.  The trend could threaten the area’s caribou, other wildlife, and local landmarks.  Some stretches of the state’s northern shore along the Beaufort Sea receded by more than 80 feet in summer 2007 alone, when Arctic sea ice was at a record low.

In the past, erosion was mostly caused by storms that regularly pummel Alaska, but there were no major storms in 2007.  That indicates there has been “a shift in the forces driving erosion,” said study author Benjamin Jones, a research geographer at the U.S. Geological Survey. 

The most significant force causing erosion is global warming.  As the air and sea temperatures increase, the ice in the region’s permafrost melts, creating steams of meltwater that carry sediment into the sea.  From 2002 to 2007, melting ice caused the coast to disappear at a rate of about 45 feet a year, a 50% increase since 1979 and a 225% increase since 1955.

Story at National Geographic

U.S. scientist says the Earth’s atmospheric greenhouse gases are increasing more rapidly than originally predicted.  Chris Field, a member of the Nobel Prize-winning Panel on Climate Change, says the planet’s climate system will cross a critical threshold by the end of the century.  Studies indicate runaway greenhouse warming could create a vicious cycle in which carbon dioxide is released from thawing tundra, which warms the planet more and releases more carbon dioxide.

“The data now show that greenhouse gas emissions are accelerating much faster than we thought,” said Field.  “One thing that seems to be certain, however, is that as a society we are facing a climate crisis that is larger and harder to deal with than any of us thought.  The sooner we take decisive action, the better our chances are of leaving a sustainable world to future generations.”

Story at UPI

Valentine’s Day is coming soon, and love is in the air!  Or, is that global warming?

Either way, Sierra Club is hosting a “How Green is My Love Life?” quiz to help you find ways to spread your love and shrink your carbon footprint at the same time.

How Green is My Love Life?

If you don’t do well on the quiz, you can follow this advice to woo your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day with these green date ideas:

Be My Green Valentine

Last December, the Sierra Club and a coalition of environmental groups filed suit to stop 77 oil and gas leases for drilling on 103,000 acres of Utah wilderness, much of it surrounding iconic treasures like Arches National Park, Canyonlands, Dinosaur National Monument and Nine Mile Canyon.  Last week, the Interior Department announced that it would cancel the leases.

"The Obama administration clearly understands that instead of allowing the oil industry to destroy places like Arches National Park," said Sierra Club Deputy Director Bruce Hamilton, "we should be investing in the kind of clean-energy-solutions that curb global warming and leave our natural treasures intact."

As reported by RedGreenAndBlue:  The original lease auction was held on December 9th amid intense protest from environmental groups, conservationists, outdoors enthusiasts, the National Park Service, and members of Congress.  Perhaps the most effective protest came from Tim DeChristopher, a University of Utah student who made winning bids on 13 of the 77 leases with no intention of paying the $1.8 million in bids.  The ensuing chaos creating by DeChristopher’s bids threw the entire process into doubt, and delayed the auctions long enough for the Obama administration to invalidate them.

Actress Ashley Judd says an aerial wolf hunting program backed by Alaska Governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is “incredibly savage … it’s not right, it’s not appropriate, it makes no sense on any level.”

Aerial hunting is where hunters in planes and helicopters chase wolves until they are exhausted then shoot them in cold blood.  Hunting animals in a humane manner for food is acceptable; needlessly torturing them is not.

Judd recently appeared in a video for Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, which opposes the aerial hunting program.  Judd says that Palin is “championing the slaughter of wildlife…  When Sarah Palin came on the national scene last summer, few knew that she promotes the brutal aerial killing of wolves,” Judd says in the video.  “It is time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery.”

Read the rest of this entry »