Category Archives: Environment

Wood: Not the renewable energy some had in mind – Monday, Nov. 9, 2009 | 2 a.m. – Las Vegas Sun

Here in Nevada we aren’t quite onboard the renewable energy thing yet. I mean, today is the first cloudy day we’ve had in quite awhile. We get A LOT of sun here. We also get a fair amount of wind. Up north there are quite a bit of geothermal resources which, admittedly, are getting somewhat used.

So, we’ve got some mandates to get our grid on more renewables. Is there a new solar array in the hojillion square miles of unused government land out there? No. How about vast farms of wind turbines? Not so much.

No, our energy company’s solution to global warming is to…wait for it…mix wood chips with the coal.

Yeah! Problem solved. Oh wait, one thing: we live in a FREAKING DESERT! We don’t HAVE quick growing forests on the edge of town to exploit. We barely have any trees as it is.

Christ, they MUST be Republicans over there at NV Energy. Idiiots.

The Perils Of Overfishing: NPR

Now I don’t eat much fish, at all, but that doesn’t mean I want others to not have any. In a two part interview on Fresh Air this week, the problem of overfishing was discussed. More to the point, the problem of fishing for the wrong kinds of fish seem to be the issue. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here.

Awhile back I read a story about the types of fish that make up a McDonalds Filet-o-Fish, particularly the New Zealand hoki. Here is the story.

And at lunch today, one more related story on NPR. Looks like some more thought should be taken into the things we eat.

Five Farms: Stories from American Farm Families

This was a pretty intriguing series on the modern family farm.

Here and Now covered the series last week. Links to each day’s audio follow.

Monday – Craig and Lavon Griffieon, near Ankeny, Iowa

Tuesday – Eddie and Dorothy Wise, Nash County, North Carolina

Wednesday – Hager Family, Colrain, Massachusetts

Thursday – Pecusa Family, Hopi Reservation, Arizona

Friday – Jeff and Annie Main, Yolo County, California

The National Parks: America’s Best Idea | PBS

Seriously, I’ve been waiting awhile to watch this and just 15 minutes in it does not fail to disappoint. Catch Ken Burn’s National Park series.

Catch Mr. Burns on Rachel Maddow’s show last week:

Part 1:

Part 2:

I love that it takes a liberal to explain our nation best. From the Civil War to Baseball to the Settling of the West to World War II to this, Burns documents our nation like no one else. I sincerely hope this his vision of America is what prevails in the future.

Otherwise, our children and their children will see this nation as nothing more than a corporate sponsorship to force a white majority power over the population, stripping hard earned rights as they go. They’ll see our natural beauty as something to rape and sully in the interests of destroying the Earth to force some narrow-minded Armageddon that only crazy bastards like them would benefit from.

I know this nation is better than that. We advance and prosper by giving people the power. “A more perfect union”, remember? We are morally superior by being careful stewards of the land, not “drill, baby, drill” chanting psychopaths.

Either way, I’m going to enjoy the show and encourage you to catch it and do so yourself.