Archive for the 'Environmentalism' Category

Update: Roadless Rule

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on February 29, 2008
in Environmentalism, National Forests and Recreation Areas and Politics
. 2 Comments

Today, the L.A. Times reports the state of California filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service over the Bush Administration’s attempts to overturn the Roadless Rule. And they didn’t stop there.

The Golden State also slapped the Forest Service’s wrists on their current levels of designated Wilderness areas in California, saying the 500,000 acres already protected needs to at least double in order to protect endangered and threatened species.

Wow. Maybe a bit of payback for the fuel efficiency EPA waiver smackdown from a few months back?

Whatever the reason, it’s good to be a Californian today.

Weekend Watching - Fighting Over Forests

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on February 29, 2008
in Environmentalism, National Forests and Recreation Areas and Politics
. 0 Comments

If you live in the West, chances are you live near a National Forest. Even in Los Angeles, there are four National Forests within reasonable (at least for Southern California) driving distance. If you’re reading this site, chances are you’re a hiker or otherwise enjoy the outdoors, and have probably used these National Forests pretty frequently.

Then this matters to you.

A bit o’ history — near the end of President Clinton’s second term, the Forest Service adopted the “Roadless Rule,” which prevented new roads from being built in the approximately 30% of land that didn’t already have them. The plan preserved access for recreation, but not industry, which already had permission to develop 51% of Forest Service land (hence the slogan, “land of many uses,” I guess).

Then Bush got into office, and started working on overturning this rule, for “states’ rights.” You know, over Federal land. And not, he swears, for the industry cronies he’s appointed into every level of the Park Service and Forest Service. Honest.

This week, PBS’ “Now” has a 20 minute feature on the first major battleground in this attack on our National Forests - southeastern Idaho. The state was the first to propose its own “roadless” areas, which were significantly fewer than the zones protected under the Forest Service’s rule.

Watch it.

Then take the Feds up on their Comment Period if and when it comes to your state. If this isn’t fought, almost 4 and a half million acres of Forest could be opened in California alone.

For more fun reading, check out Now’s list of 9 landmark environmental decisions during the Bush administration. Remember them the next time Bush tries to trick people into thinking he’s an environmentalist.

But Can Guns Protect You From PCBs?

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on February 28, 2008
in Environmentalism, National Forests and Recreation Areas and Politics
. 0 Comments

There’s been quite a bit of National Parks news this week, and unfortunately none of it is very good.

GetOutdoors and the Goat both picked up on AP stories about an announcement by the Department of the Interior that said they were considering relaxing firearm restrictions in National Parks and Recreation Areas. According to an NRA spokesman, this is great because “law-abiding citizens should not be prohibited from protecting themselves and their families while enjoying America’s national parks and wildlife refuges.”

I could go into the myriad reasons why this is pretty f’in ridiculous, but climb_ca and Rocky both do a pretty great job of venting.

This news hits at the same time as the results from a six-year federal study of pollutants in the West’s National Parks. The findings? Not so hot.

Despite being banned in the States, dangerously high levels of contaminants like mercury, DDT and PCBs were found up and down the West Coast’s “pristine natural areas,” from Denali to Big Bend and - closer to home - Yosemite and Sequoia and Kings Canyon Parks.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon had contaminant levels in fish that exceeded both the levels for safe human consumption and fish-eating-wildlife consumption. Which is pretty frightening.

Read more on the study at the National Park Service web site.

Photo by DeShark.

Toll Road Defeated

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on February 7, 2008
in City Life, Environmentalism and Politics
. 4 Comments


Yesterday, a massive group of surfers, campers and environmentalists flooded a public hearing on a proposed toll road through San Onofre State Park.

The 3500+ person crowd rallied against the 6-lane toll road, which would have taken 320 acres of the park’s land, including sections of a protected marine estuary. In that rare instance of good news, the rabble managed to convince the county commissioners to vote down the toll road, 8 to 2.

The formerly semi-green Governor Schwarzenegger, who has also proposed cutting back the lifeguards at San Onofre, came out in favor of the trans-wilderness freeway last month.

Via LAist.

Americans Would Rather Stay Inside

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on February 5, 2008
in City Life, Environmentalism, Politics and The Great Outdoors
. 1 Comment


Lonely Bench in Forest, originally posted by Eszter

A new study finds Americans are getting into the Great Outdoors 25% less than they did in 1987, with the decline continuing at about 1% every year.

The study measured attendance to National Parks, hiking and camping permits, and getting a license to hunt or fish, and say a new national epidemic of “videophilia” - a focus on “sedentary activities involving electronic media,” may be to blame.

Although the folks at the GOBlog take this to humorous heart, I can’t imagine it’s the primary cause of this decline.

I’m a gamer, myself, and I got into the Outdoors on my own accord well after I’d already been indoctrinated into the joy of various-bit gaming systems. We gamers have had our pasttime blamed for everything from obesity to school shootings to the Downfall of Civilization, itself, so I’m not surprised that they’re also being blamed for keeping kids indoors.

There’s probably a laundry list of reasons why people don’t get outdoors as much anymore - but I’d say that the media’s sensationalizing of the Dangers of Nature does more damage than video games and Google ever will. You’ll catch a cold if you go outside. Or maybe even the plague. Or you’ll get a tick and catch Lyme disease. Or you’ll get mauled by a mountain lion. Or eaten by a bear. Or murdered. What parent wouldn’t want their kids staying in the living room with all that Evil out in the woods?

Maybe what we really need is to stop attacking straw men and start reintroducing the appreciation of the Great Outdoors into our educational curriculum. Teach more environmental science. Show kids how important it is to preserve wilderness in their own communities. Teach about the history of the National Park System - a revolutionary idea that grew up right here in the good ol’ US of A. Show students how survival skills serve both a practical and emotional utility.

Oh, and let’s show them adults value the outdoors by not dumping trash all over it, shooting soot into the air, or closing down a fifth of your state’s parks.

How Green Is Your Candidate?

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on January 8, 2008
in Environmentalism and Politics
. 0 Comments

I just got my California Permanent Absentee Ballot in the mail yesterday, spiking my previous Election Fascination to full-blown Election Fever.

Since the best kind of voter is an educated one, I’ve added a Grist Election widget to the sidebar to the right, which will let you browse their comprehensive coverage of each candidate’s positions on various environmental-type issues. Or, if you want something a little more at-a-glance, they’ve also got a condensed chart of all the info.

Obviously, there are a lot of issues to consider when you’re voting for a potential President, but the environment should definitely be on your list.

Oh, and if you’re in California, there’s still time to register to vote. You’ve got until January 21st to get your application postmarked. Get on it!

A Little Federal Greenwashing

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on December 13, 2007
in Environmentalism, National Parks and Monuments and Politics
. 2 Comments

When the President isn’t busy gutting the National Parks, cutting budgets, selling off public lands, or letting private companies commercialize parks, it’s good to know he spends his time making YouTube videos about how much he loves the National Park system.

If you just want to laugh, fast-forward to 7:02. Then cry. Then dream of January, 2009.

Live Earth

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on July 7, 2007
in Environmentalism, Politics and in the media
. 2 Comments

Today is 07-07-07. For some, a lucky day to pick up a lottery ticket. For others, a good day to stage a worldwide concert event on all of the 7 continents to raise awareness about the climate crisis.

On the Live Earth web site, you can stream live footage from all of the world’s concerts, as well as watch some educational shorts and read up on how minor changes over large groups of people can have an enormous effect. The traditional ‘get involved’ section of the site is all about promising to change a few bulbs to CFLs, shopping for energy efficient appliances, and making sure everything is turned off when you leave your apartment or house. Really, all stuff we should be doing anyway.

So if you’ve got some time today, check out one of the webcasts, learn up on some practical ways to green your life, and sign the Live Earth Pledge, which demands our government start taking this issue seriously, and asks us to look for ways to help as individuals, too.

At the very least, try to check out the band from Antarctica - Nunatak. If there’s something I can get behind more than a worldwide concert for climate change, it’s a band playing outside a sub-zero research station composed entirely of scientists.

Green Politicians

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on June 26, 2007
in Environmentalism and Politics
. 1 Comment

With the Democratic and Republican Presidential hopefuls gearing up their campaigns, politics are on a lot of peoples’ minds. Lucky for us, Grist has an excellent list of 15 of the globe’s best green politicians (with 4 additional runners-up), so should you happen to find yourself living in one of these areas, you have a better idea of who to vote for to clean your green conscience.

I’m happy to know two of the top 15 (and one runner up, to boot) represent me in various levels of government — but California’s already got a good rep as a pro-environment state. More surprising are inclusions like the mayor of red-state capital Salt Lake City and the leader of the British Conservative Party … and then there’s Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, who wants to make her country the first completely carbon neutral nation on the planet.

Talk about ambitious…

Google Car?

Published
by
Modern Hiker
on June 19, 2007
in Environmentalism, Geek Stuff, Technology and Web Sites and Apps
. 1 Comment

Sick of waiting for the government or the Invisible Hand of Commerce, Google’s decided to throw some of its considerable financial weight into developing plug-in hybrid cars.

Test models of Google’s modified Priuses currently get almost 74 miles per gallon, up from the standard model’s 41. And Google wants more.

They’ve offered up $1 million in grants - with another $10 million not far behind - to anyone whose research helps them get the cars up to 100 miles per gallon, or works toward a viable system of Vehicle-to-Grid infrastructure.

To me, better gas mileage is great, but Vehicle-to-Grid is really the revolutionary new energy technology of the future. Granted, it would require a lot of effort on our part to restructure the power grid and the concept of power companies as we know them, but the concept of a decentralized electric economy, where you could drive a clean car around town and sell excess power back to the government from home is pretty amazing.

And why would an internet search engine get involved with something like this? CNN sums it up:

Renewable energy, unlike coal or nuclear, will likely come from thousands or tens of thousands of different locations. Analysts have long said that one of the big challenges will be managing that flow into and out of the nation’s electric grid, and that companies that manage the flow of information are well placed to handle that task.

Keep up to date on Google’s RechargeIT project here.