Remember those controversial Resource Management Plans in Utah that the BLM rammed through during Bush’s final months? I covered the story here. The federal land plans must be on increasingly shaky ground because the Utah State Legislature has drafted a resolution expressing its strong support for the way BLM handled them. My favorite line in…Continue Reading…
That’s the headline on this dispatch describing a “mortuary crisis” in Zimbabwe. It’s the latest humanitarian tragedy to hit a country in agonizing free fall.
For panarchy? It’s a complex theory about how complex we’ve made the world, after several long cycles of change and adaptation –and why human civilization may now be on the cusp of social and ecological collapse. Here’s the money quote, from ecologist Buzz Holling–which he said before the worldwide economic meltdown: This is a moment…Continue Reading…
In case anyone missed, it, Andrew Revkin’s post on the possible unintended effects of a renewable energy breakthrough is must reading. Revkin’s provocative thought experiment has inspired a lively conversation on his essential blog, dotearth, with over 100 comments. Reader reactions have run the gamut, but the one that caught my eye was this one,…Continue Reading…
Being in the Republican minority has it’s perks, especially if you’re Marc Morano, the communications director for Republican Senator and climate skeptic dead-ender James Inhofe. You get to spend oodles of time debating the merits of climate science with journalists on blogs, as Morano did most of yesterday over here. What impresses me most is…Continue Reading…
Not long after I posted this about a Utah state legislative resolution to keep hydraulic fracturing unregulated, I got wind of a similar effort underway in Wyoming. What a coincidence: the separate bills are moving through their respective chambers today. Could this be the stirrings of another sagebrush rebellion? Last week, Mike Noel, a Utah…Continue Reading…
I heard back from Odyssey this morning about this charge, which they said is “untrue.” Then they politely directed me to their long list of publications here and here.
The Utah state legislature is getting odder by the day. Recently, it passed a bill that prohibited wildlife from being injected with birth control substances–except in special circumstances and then only by authorized personnel. I explained the reason here. Today, a senate committee of the state legislature is taking up consideration of a bill that…Continue Reading…
Is Odyssey Marine Exploration, the Florida-based company that discovered a 18th century British warship, talk a good archaeological game? I argued here that the gains to science trump the company’s treasure-seeking motive. But do they do any archaeology? A reader emails me: The complaint archaeologists have against Odyssey’s plundering the oceans is that they refuse…Continue Reading…
It makes total sense. We like to throw moldy bread at squawking pigeons and ducks, and place birdfeeders in our backyards. So maybe it’s not so asinine that some people have taken to feeding wild coyotes. This story in the Rocky Mountain News explains why that’s not a good idea. Neither is decorating your yard…Continue Reading…