The Alaskan town of Newtok has voted to relocate nine miles upstream, uprooting several hundred Eskimos. The town is being displaced due to flooding brought on by climate change and is only the first of possibly dozens of Alaskan towns that could find themselves threatened in the coming years.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that an estimated 150 million people could find themselves displaced by the year 2050 and become ‘climate refugees’. To put that number into perspective, moving Newtok and its 340 residents has been estimated to cost $130 million US Dollars by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

I think it’s safe to say that a ‘wait and see’ approach to climate change could be a dangerous economic approach.

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I think everyone can agree that those are important topics, however, to get to Iowa the President used 9,000 gallons fuel. I have to seriously question whether the speech was worth such a large carbon footprint and whether it was necessary to put symbolism ahead of the environment?

It’s long been a tradition on Earth Day for presidents to jet off somewhere for a high profile speech, but I think it’s time for a change. Every year, on Earth Day, the president should deliver a webcast from the comforts of the Oval Office. Maybe then I could believe we had a leadership that genuinely understood the asperities of our environmental situation.

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Audrina Patridge from the television show, The Hills, appears in the latest PETA ad campaign in an effort to convince people to adopt their next animal. It’s a fact that when you buy from a pet store or a breeder, your purchase results in more animals being bred, all the while other animals die everyday waiting for a home in a shelter. It seems like a no brainer that adoption is the way to go. Sure you might not end up with that German Shepherd you had your eye on, but you’ll have a welcome addition to your home nonetheless.

Speaking of animal adoptions; President Obama had promised on the campaign trail that his family’s dog would be adopted. And it is, sort of; he adopted it from Ted Kennedy, who purchased it from a breeder. It’s a vast government conspiracy the likes of which we have never seen before. This blatant sidestepping of the issue didn’t stop the Humane Society from issuing a glowing commentary on the President’s saving of the puppy from near certain death in the nightmare that is Martha’s Vineyard.

Getting back to the topic at hand, a lot of people don’t like PETA. A common criticism I’ve heard is that the organization objectifies women in their ad campaigns. At least this time around those naysayers can rest assured that Audrina had been objectified long before PETA came calling.

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In recent years there has been growing support for solar power, this support has accelerated recently thanks in large part to the President’s stimulus package. Solar power is often hailed as a clean, environmentally friend energy source. While that is mainly true, it does have its own environmental impact.

Most power generation consumes large amounts of water, and while solar power uses less water than coal or nuclear, it still does use quite a bit of water. Making things more difficult is that solar power plants are almost always located in the desert, where of course, water is harder to come by. There are alternatives to water based cooling, but they are significantly more expensive.

More than 150 applications for solar power plants are currently awaiting approval in the western deserts of the United States. The water to run that many plants simply does not exist, and the National Park service warns that any water drawdowns in the region would adversely affect the endangered electric-blue pupfish.

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President Obama recently outlined his vision for the future of high-speed rail travel in the United States, saying that it could revolutionize American transportation in much the same way the Interstate system did in the 1950’s. Eight-billion Dollars has already been appropriated to the project via the stimulus package. Proposed routes include: St Louis and Chicago, Orlando and Miami, and Portland to Seattle.

Now while it seems like a nice idea, and supporters often point to Europe and Japan as proof it can be done. I’m going to rain on the parade and say that it cannot be done to those levels in the United States. And the reason is, cities in America are inherently different than cities in Europe. No one living in a urban center in Europe needs a car, they might have a car, but they don’t need one. In America the cities were built in a way that requires a vehicle. So you’re not going to see trains replace the automobile for quick jaunts, or even moderate length journeys.

Now could high-speed rail travel in the United States one day compete with domestic air routes? Possibly. But a lot of people’s distaste for air travel comes from invasive security procedures, and if Homeland Security gets their hands on train stations, train travel won’t be the most agreeable form of transport either.

Instead of talking about passenger rail, more needs to be done to take semi-trailer trucks off of the roads and transport their cargo via freight train. One freight train can move a ton of cargo over 400 miles on just one gallon of fuel. Good luck finding a truck to do that.

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I know a lot of you out there may have been worried about climate change, sometimes called global warming, and the large amount of greenhouse pollutants in the atmosphere. But worry no longer as the chief science adviser to the White House has a solution to the problem. As it turns out, all that needed to be done was to put more pollution in the atmosphere, but not greenhouse gases, opposite pollution.

It sounds like a joke but most unfortunately it is not. This idea has actually been suggested to the President and is being debated in scientific circles. It seems as if these people have not heard the phrase, ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’. And it appears to me that this would be a very short sighted solution to a real problem, and could lead to unknown ramifications.

I also have a problem with the current administration endorsing ‘cap and trade’ but then debating extreme solutions, here’s an extreme solution; enforce emission standards for real! Cap and trade is hogwash. I wrote a post about cap and trade a few weeks ago that I’ll link to here; Uncle Chan wants you to buy him a dam!

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2008 was the deadliest year on record for international aid workers with 122 killed while carrying out their work. More than 80% of the deaths reported have taken place in three countries; Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan. Being an aid worker is now officially more dangerous than being a guy in a blue hat.

I can’t say I’m too surprised by the news, as UN peacekeepers are infamous for not really doing anything. I’m sure everyone can recall the story of the brave Colonel Karremans in the Bosnian conflict.

So please remember to think about the aid workers the next time you’re pouring 40’s on the curb.

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Global real estate is in a state of decline, that is except for on the coasts of South Africa where there is a construction boom. The houses are currently only going for $40 USD but they will one-day pay much larger dividends.

What I’m talking about is the financing and construction of artificial penguins nests now taking place on the beaches of Cape Town and Dyer Island.

African penguins are facing an increasingly dire situation which has seen their numbers plummet in recent years. Some colonies have witnessed declines of up to 50% since 2005. Experts fear that the entire species could die out within ten years.

The main culprit has been the mismanagement of fishing resources which has caused the supply of the penguins’ diet to dwindle. Climate change threatens to add to the damage by way of scorching days and warming of the ocean leading to an alteration in fish migratory patterns. But one of the most immediate problems is that a history of guano scraping has left the penguins without the material required to burrow, and instead are left to make their nests on the surface.

This is where the artificial penguin nests come into play. They’re intended to provide the penguins with shelter from the heat, and protection for their eggs from predatory gulls. They’ve proven popular with the penguins, boasting an 80% occupancy rate where they’ve been installed.

It’s one of the last lines of defence for the species, so if you have any money to send for your penguin brethren, please do so. I’ve already contributed what I can.

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The time has come once again for Earth Hour which will take place tomorrow evening at 8PM local time. Earth Hour is the highly regarded and very fashionable brain child of the World Wildlife Fund and the Sydney Morning Herald. Its stated goal is to raise awareness of climate change by encouraging people to turn off all non-essential lights for one hour on the last Saturday of every March.

The event started a mere two years ago and has already gained significant traction around the globe, with over 36 million participants in the event last year. Tomorrow lights will dim all around the globe with some of the world’s most iconic landmarks getting involved in going dark.

All of this has led me to question, what is Earth Hour, what are its impacts, and why should I care? Now I’m all for protecting the environment, reduce and reuse, and all of that. What I can’t say is that I’m a big fan of grandiose symbolic gestures.

I can see why raising awareness can be good. But are candles really better for the environment than light-bulbs? I read an interesting blog post earlier today that said if you wanted to replace a 40-watt bulb with candles (500 Candles) you would end up emitting ten times the C02. Of course no one will be burning that many candles tomorrow night but even if you end up only using a few candles during Earth Hour you will be emitting more emissions than you would have from using one light-bulb for one hour.

(Now obviously there are ways to mitigate your candles’ environmental impact such as using natural candles, or you could just not use any candles. But if I wanted to get into the details I would have things like sources and facts.)

I think the lesson is that if you think reading by candlelight for one hour absolves you from any sort of responsibility, you would be wrong. And to remember to take Earth Hour for what it is. Something only beneficial if you remember to apply its core values of reducing your energy consumption more often than one hour a year.

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 Visit the 8th continent Madagascar
Often referred to as the “eighth continent” in reference to the island’s break from Africa sometime around 160 million years ago. It’s long absence from a continental body has allowed an entirely unique set of animal and plant life to develop. Madagascar is now home to one of the world’s more diverse eco-systems, housing 5% of the world’s animal species.

The primary attractions are the tropical rainforests that litter the island, and the unspoiled beaches lining the coast. The best way to experience the island is to stay at one of the many eco-lodges.

The easiest way to reach Madagascar by flight is from either South Africa or France. The island was once a French colony and as such there are regular flights from Paris to its capital of Antananarivo. Despite being an island nation, Madagascar does not maintain regular passenger sea links with neighbouring nations.

In modern times Madagascar has faced its largest threat, deforestation. More than eighty-percent of the nation’s original forests are gone, and every year another one-percent disappear. Madagascar is one of the most threatened eco-systems in the world, however there is hope. Currently more money pours into Madagascar for conservation efforts than any other African nation.

One non-profit organization working in Madagascar is Azafady. They work with disadvantaged communities to improve living standards and promote positive coexistence with the the local environment.

I’ve made my donation. Now it’s on you.

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