Category Archives: environment

Halloween 2011: Coastline Retreat Is Scary, Kids!

Posted on by
2

Swear to God if you say I look like an Oompa Loompa, I will whip you with this towel.

It started with me walking across the family room in a nude bathing suit and D looking up from his laptop with a “What the …”

“I’ll be right back,” I said, putting on flip flops before walking into the frigid-by-Texas-drought-standards garage. “There’s some makeup in the car that I need.” And D got that look on his face he always gets as he figures out if he has the time and strength to pull me out of this next inevitable crisis. (A few days ago, I washed a new black dress with the gigantic cardboard tag still attached. The look D gave me with plumber’s auger in hand made me cover my behind and vow that no tags will enter this house ever again.)

In truth, it all started with this Texas Observer article: Truly Scary Texas-Themed Halloween Ideas. Rick Perry, forced sonograms, feral hogs – all scary but no mention of the most frightening, politically hot, geo-nerdiest, Texas-tastic (work with me here) costume idea of them all. Coastline retreat at Western Galveston Island.

… a new study from the Rice University Shell Center for Sustainability suggests that the entire west end of Galveston Island should be abandoned in favor of the protection provided by the seawall on the East End.

The study suggests that the coastline is eroding at the fastest rate that it has in 6,000 years, losing between three and six feet every single year. It suggests that the West End would serve better as a location for eco-tourism.

Just so you know, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality censored all mention of climate change and sea-level rise in this Rice University study called the “Atlas of Sustainable Strategies for Galveston Island” that the state itself authorized. It’s the following reactions to the study that completely tickle me, however.

1) Galveston city official on the KHOU evening news a couple of evenings ago: “[Scientific] study is an opinion and should not be used as the basis for planning and development.”

2) “To suggest to somebody that where they chose to live and build their home, and have their family is not sustainable, well, I just don’t agree with that at all man,” [a visitor from Shreveport, La] said.

Yeah, well, that’s just like your opinion, man.

A New Orleanian never forgets. I remember what these folks were saying about our having to face scientific reality about rebuilding six years ago. Bites when it’s your home, doesn’t it? Seriously, let me hear one person from Galveston say that New Orleans should not be rebuilt and there will be a major asskicking. Also note the current trend to commission independent and all-encompassing studies on topics such as sustainability and global warming only to turn around and censor or ignore them as opinion when they do not suit political talking points of the day.

So, I was all het up and already thinking about a costume idea less tired than Dead Wine Fairy (explain later, I promise) and impulsively tweeted The Texas Observer back, “Planning to go as Sinking Western Galveston Island.” Their one-word response came: “Brilliant!” Which my brain immediately translated into “Challenge!”

Great. Now how to render in costume form a retreating effing coastline.

Among other questions roiling in your head such as “What about a nice zombie costume?” and “Why am I reading this crazy woman?” I am sure you’re wondering what a retreating coastline is. Think of it as a receding hairline. Hair lessens and the hairline moves back as the sea of baldness encroaches. In the night. With a toupee. A retreating coastline is land receding or being reclaimed by an encroaching sea. Here in the southern coastal United States, we have a combination of factors that contribute to coastline retreat, including land subsidence, over-development along the coast, decreasing sand supply and a rising sea level, which results in property loss and an increased vulnerability to tropical storms and hurricanes. What I needed to depict here is land-water contact, much like a moving oil-water contact in a hydrocarbon reservoir, which put me in mind of my friend TW’s awesome aquifer pressure support costume from a few years ago. I needed blue and brown. And some green.

I knew a green wig, sea-blue opera gloves and a nude bathing suit would come in handy some day. D will never understand that this is why I rarely throw away or donate old clothes; they can always be saved “as costume material.” Here is the costume you saw above annotated with signs of coastline retreat. It needs work like some boxes cut out to represent buildings and you can’t really see the butterfly in my hair and fine green lines painted on my face. What else would you add to it? Besides *cough* sand berms *cough*

“These data do not yield a pretty picture for the future of the island,” says the Rice study’s introduction. My costume and I beg to differ.

What really pleases me is my latest acquisition from Fifi Mahony’s, one of the best fairy wonderlands of wigs and costume accessories on earth. Finally, I got out of the red rut. ‘Twas about time. I can’t wait for Mardi Gras.

And D didn’t have to do anything for me this time other than take the pictures. So there. (Don’t tell him about the green hair all over the bathroom floor.)

Get Your Energy Soundbites In Order, Folks

Posted on by
Reply

Before you read on, consider this: Much like with patients and doctors in the case of the healthcare debate, neither folks who have to live in the filth nor those who actually work in the energy industry get a say in the policymaking. In other words, this conversation is held at all the wrong levels.

Shikha Dalmia at Reason:

… the part that has liberals really foaming at the mouth is [Rick Perry's] suggestion to severely check the power of the EPA and give states more leeway to set their own environmental regulations. The standard criticism of such rollbacks is that states, released from Uncle Sam’s iron fist, will engage in a race to the bottom and gut environmental standards to attract business. But states have a far greater incentive than distant bureaucrats to look for ways to protect their natural resources with minimal sacrifice of economic and other priorities.

A state government is no less reckless and capricious than its federal counterpart. Are we sure states truly have the wellbeing of all of their people as well as the required long-range thinking to hold themselves up to such high standards? Ask and the Louisiana news will answer.

The Gambit | Landry, Vitter Meet With Oil Regulators On Drilling

“The purpose of this meeting is to make sure the information given to us in Washington is the same going on here as well,” Landry said. “And how we as legislators can help to address the lack of permitting going on in the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon incident. We hope it’s a step in the right direction to getting the Gulf back up and running and people back to work.”

… “These are great American jobs we need to preserve and build here,” Vitter said. “As these two charts illustrate, it’s major revenue for the federal government to help with lessening deficit and debt. (It’s the) second biggest source of revenue (for) the federal government after only federal income tax.”

What about the tourism and fisheries jobs and protecting the natural environment for our descendants along with responsibly drilling for oil? But wait, let’s look at how many of those great American jobs we will preserve here. Dalmia again, from the same article as above:

[Job] projections are notoriously difficult to make accurately, and there is every reason to believe that Perry’s claims, largely lifted from oil industry studies, are way off. Michael Levi, senior fellow for energy and environment at the Council on Foreign Relations, estimates that Perry’s plan will create 620,000 jobs at best [vs. 1.2 million as predicted]. If Levi is right, Perry has needlessly opened himself up to attack by using inflated numbers. And for what? The main point of energy liberalization is not to create jobs. It’s to make cheap and reliable energy available to individuals and businesses. That’s the message that Perry should be hammering.

Cheap, reliable, fast. You pick two. Anyway, I’ll leave you with that.

“Even More Hilarious Than The Day After Tomorrow”

Posted on by
2

On the road this week. I leave you with the latest from a geo-blog which must go in my feedreader once I get back. It seems that Hollywood is putting out another sciencepocalypse (or is that scienceageddon?) film, this one entitled 2012: Ice Age.

There’s a volcano. It unleashes a glacier. Don’t ask me how. But it’s a fast glacier. A really, really, really, really fast glacier [that's] like a brazillion thousand miles across and can get from the Arctic to the US in a day or two, because it is seriously pissed off and has installed a turbo. And then it destroys New York City, because that’s what you do when you’re the world’s fastest glacier that’s been set free by a volcano.

… One of my guildies suggested that this movie should actually be Speed 3, with Keanu driving the glacier. I am not ashamed to admit that I would pay perfectly good money to see that.

Oh, and one more thing. I’ve completely lost my mind seeing as how I just signed up for the 2011 Susan Komen Houston Race for the Cure. For the next fifteen weeks, I am back on the Couch Spinning To 5K wagon. If I’m not blinded by all the pink around me on race day, I may just make it to the end. (But first, once I hit “Update,” I am going to find a corner and cry like a little girl.)

Dumb As A Box Of Rocks

Posted on by
Reply

“A is for Arsenic someone thought fun
To include on the icing on top of a bun.”
– “ABC” by The Tiger Lilies & Kronos Quartet

When an undergraduate and folks asked me why I went into geology, I’d reply, “Because you can talk to rocks and they don’t talk back.” Unlike with humans, entities that are another variety of dumb.

1) You’ve lost me, Mr. Obama.

What’s even more puzzling is the apparent indifference of the Obama team to the effect of such gestures on their supporters. One would have expected a candidate who rode the enthusiasm of activists to an upset victory in the Democratic primary to realize that this enthusiasm was an important asset. Instead, however, Mr. Obama almost seems as if he’s trying, systematically, to disappoint his once-fervent supporters, to convince the people who put him where he is that they made an embarrassing mistake.

Whatever is going on inside the White House, from the outside it looks like moral collapse — a complete failure of purpose and loss of direction.

2) “Who cares, it’s done, end of story, we’ll probably be fine.”

BP initially ordered the extra centralisers. But when the devices arrived at the rig, engineers mistakenly thought they were the wrong type. BP decided at this point to continue with the project without the additional centralisers, taking other safety steps.  It also decided not to rerun the cement modelling software, and questioned the accuracy of the technology.

3) Aliens! Bears! Alien Bears! Shut up.

Regardless, the runaway speculation in the blogosphere imperils the work of trusted science reporters who respect the embargo system and may have wanted to cover the paper. Most professional science journalists have access to Science’s embargoed papers through the EurekAlert! service run by AAAS (which publishes Science) and would have been able to easily figure out that the research behind NASA’s cryptic press release did not support the hype about aliens.

CJR should have said “runaway speculation in the blogosphere AND the following unvetted copycat reporting by the lamestream media.”

I don’t really blame Kottke for connecting the dots wrong because a) nowhere does he call himself a scientist and b) he said he was guessing. But, for everyone else online to get their undies in a wad because Kottke Said Something and for so-called Real Journalists to ignore the whole vetting thing before publishing just so they can be Fr1st!!!1!! is irresponsible.

To top it all off, it’s not even an arsenic-based lifeform.

Science Friday

Posted on by
Reply

It’s still Earth Science Week, folks!

In my attempts to raise $money$ for science classrooms, I completely neglected to inform you that the public radio show Science Friday may go off the air for lack of funding.

We at SciFri are facing severe financial difficulties, i.e. raising money. NSF [National Science Foundation] has turned us down for continuing funding, saying they love what we do, we are sorely needed, but it’s not their job to fund us. At the same time, NPR has said the same thing, telling us that if we want to stay on the air, etc, we now have to raise all our own money. Despite what listeners may think, NPR only gives us about 10 percent of our funding.

If it isn’t the National Science Foundation’s job to fund a radio show that promotes science, then what is? The scientists of tomorrow will simply spring forth from the ether and flat earth with no nurturing along the way. Between this and hearing that the local, nationally-acclaimed high school now allegedly employs a biology teacher who believes in intelligent design, I can only hope that the FSM‘s noodly appendage strikes me unconscious.

Only you can prevent mass brain implosion. You know what to do here and here. Following is some food for along the way:

* Why Science Matters: A Scientist’s Apology. I agreed with some parts of this article and disagreed with others. What’s fascinating to me as a technologist is the language and discussion surrounding science as pure discovery versus invention/engineering and the ethical consequences of this distinction.

* Carbon sequestration could help to neutralize Hungary’s red bauxite sludge. Is there anything industrial waste cannot do?

* Xavier University of New Orleans celebrates the opening of the College of Pharmacy’s new Qatar Pavilion. “This provides a good antidote to a couple of pernicious myths. The first myth is that the USA doesn’t receive foreign aid. Yes, we do. I recall after Katrina even poor nations like Jamaica and Bangladesh were helping us out. The second myth is, of course, the idea that Islam is at war with Christianity. I’d just like to point out that Qatar is a Muslim country and our school is Catholic. ‘Nuff said.”

Day 150 Unvanished, Unfinished

Posted on by
Reply

Untoward. But not unfathomable. We, in these here parts, are accustomed to years-long aftermaths and revelations, after all.

WDSU.com | Government Accused Of Bungling Spill Evidence: Companies Say Failed Blowout Preventer Not Adequately Preserved

al.com | Oil spill claims czar: “I over-promised and under-delivered” Meanwhile, back in the real world where people live and die paycheck to paycheck, Gulf Coast Residents in Financial Dire Straits, Waiting for BP Claims. Feinberg could have delivered at least 20 checks in the time it took to feel sorry for himself.

nola.com | New wave of oil comes ashore west of Mississippi River The Zombie points out that this article was well-hidden in the Times-Pic’s Outdoors section (gotta have our information priorities), while Swampwoman asks “Didya REALLY think it was over?”

CBS News | Oil 2-Inches Thick Found On Gulf Sea Floor As far as 80 miles from the BP well.

***

The EPA yesterday concluded a two-day hearing in Binghamton, NY on the topic of hydro-fracking. This is what an attendee said at this hearing (as tweeted by @edrcommonground): “No one wants H2O contamination but NY economy is bleeding blue collar jobs, need fracking now.”

Sound familiar, Louisiana?

The Philosophy Of Environing

Posted on by
Reply
Dichotomy

Dichotomy, artist unknown

Ed Darrell points out at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub an interesting 2008 exchange between Speaking of Faith’s Krista Tippett and Cal DeWitt, professor at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies of the University of Wisconsin at Madison on the history of environmentalism. According to DeWitt, it would seem that human beings stopped viewing themselves as part of their environment, in order first to conquer it and then to protect it. I’d love to learn more about this philosophical fork in the road given that it involves more than us seeing ourselves as separate from the creator; this is divorcing the human self from the rest of creation.

Cal DeWitt tells an interesting story about the origins of the word environment. It emerged, he says, from a term coined by Geoffrey Chaucer: environing. This became a linguistic way of distinguishing our human selves from the world around us. Previously, DeWitt avers, human beings had thought of themselves as part and parcel of the same creation. At best, this implied a certain responsibility and relationship that has been absent in the modern Western approach to the world.

Western Christianity itself has, ironically, been a potent historical driver of enmity between humanity and nature. But after careful study, Cal DeWitt found the Bible to be an “ecological handbook.” And he has long put it into practice in this way, beginning with the marsh beneath his feet.

… DeWitt also points out that the stereotype of environmental activism as liberal and secular has never been accurate. Devout evangelicals have long been in positions of environmental leadership. And on this program last year, the chief representative in Washington D.C. of the National Association of Evangelicals, Richard Cizik, stunned many of our listeners with his passionate declaration that he is a “convert” to the science of climate change. As it turns out, Cal DeWitt was one of the organizers of the global gathering that exposed Cizik and others to the science of climate change. DeWitt describes an intriguing theory of his this hour, that evangelical and charismatic Christianity may be better equipped than other Christian traditions to change and galvanize and lead on an issue like this.

Day 106 The Oil Hasn’t Vanished

Posted on by
Reply

The oil has not vanished.

I repeat: The oil has not vanished. The Gulf of Mexico’s summertime dead zone is twice as big as last year’s.

Think about it: How can 206 million gallons of crude vanish in 19 days? 205.8 million gallons of oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico = 2.37 million gallons per day over 87 days. Reported average use of Corexit is 3,365 gallons per day over approximately 92 days (sometimes more, illegally, and scientists question its effectiveness beyond the surface). You do the math.

Update: Businessweek reports that 800,000 barrels (33.6 million gallons) of oil have been skimmed or burned by BP to date. That’s 16% of the total oil released into the Gulf. Keep going with the math.

Because someone keeps asking, here’s why static kill and bottom kill are both required.

Kenneth Feinberg is an insult. And so is every politician “working” for the Gulf Coast: Oil Disaster Boon to Gulf Politicians. Every last one: Menendez negotiating behind the scenes to come to a compromise on oil spill liability language.

But, let’s please continue fighting amongst ourselves.

Groundhog (Choking On Oil) Day

Posted on by
Reply

Oil-related catastrophes simply refuse to leave me alone. I mean, WHAT.

840,000 gallons of oil from a corroded Enbridge Energy pipeline have leaked into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River near Battle Creek this past week. More specifically, “The oil is moving from Talmadge Creek into the Kalamazoo River, which flows from near the city of Battle Creek into Lake Michigan.” Swell.

Edward Vielmetti, friend of New Orleans and lead blogger at AnnArbor.com has been doing yeoman’s work staying on top of the story and associated political foibles as it unfolds. Follow Ed on Twitter for up to the minute information. For more, I suggest you follow Canadian news on this story because a) Enbridge Energy is a Canadian company and b) there’s a certain sheen, shall we say, to the quality of FoxMSNBCNN reporting: CBC News says 3.7 million litres while CNN says 19,500 barrels. Been there, done that, right?

Some other things that ought to sound terribly familiar to Gulf Coast residents. Here’s #2: Michigan oil spill: U.S. warned Canadian company about pipeline monitoring

3) Expect the same old disheartening song and dance from the Yankee right. The Michigan Messenger reports:

State Sen. Glenn Anderson (D-Westland) has introduced legislation in the State Senate to lift a cap on costs oil companies have to pay for clean ups associated with their pipelines.

Anderson told Jack Ebling on WILS 1320 AM radio Wednesday that right now, state law caps the damages a company is liable for at $15 million.

But the Senate, which is dominated by Republicans, adjourned for a mid-summer break without acting on Anderson’s legislation.

“They chose to do nothing with it,” Anderson said. “They passed a resolution that called on officials from the federal government to the locals to do all they can. That’s nothing but talk.”

3a) Chicago’s Mayor Daley: Michigan oil spill worse than Asian carp so “Michigan better do something about the investigation, the criminal and civil investigation. Who’s paying for it, and who had the oil spill in the Kalamazoo River, because it’s flowing into Lake Michigan.” Blarghblarblar.

And 4) @Enbridge_PR “Lake Michigan is not as big as the Gulf of Mexico, but we’re gonna try to beat those filthy Brits at their own game! @bpglobalpr” Right down to the fake Twitter account.

Wake me up when it’s all over, ferchrissakes.

Day 101

Posted on by
1

LiveScience | What Will Happen During the Next 100 Days of the Oil Spill?

… scientists say it could take decades to comprehend the toll the last 100 days took on wildlife — from sea turtles to bacteria.

Currently, oil covers approximately 638 miles (1,026 kilometers) of Gulf shoreline, according to the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center

… can only hope that about 35 years from now, when these hatchlings reach maturity, they will still have the same instinct to return to the beaches where their mothers nested to lay eggs.

The size of the “dead zones,” where low oxygen levels cause marine life to languish and die, may grow in the coming days … [But] “the Gulf, with the warm temperature and the sunshine, can break down the oil really fast,” [University of Texas Marine Science Institute marine researcher Zhanfei] Liu said. “It spreads out, the bacteria attacks the oil really fast. This is not like the oil spill in Alaska.”

Undoubtedly, hurricanes will visit the Gulf within the next 100 days — hurricane season won’t end until the beginning of December … But scientists cannot predict how a hurricane might disperse the oil.

Put differently, our fate is similar to that of Joel, Crow and Tom Servo, trapped on a spaceship and forced to watch this low-budget horror movie play out until god knows when.

Image from Photoshop of Horrors: Wired Readers Show BP How It’s Done