How wolves change rivers

I've heard several stories around how ecosystems work and how interconnected they are.  I never had a clear understanding until I saw how wolves impacted their world.  A short version and a longer (video) one.

Interesting climate change items

• Great explanation of why we're reacting so poorly: we're not built for this 
• The Pope's views
• The burden of proof problem in the global warming argument

Extreme weather and false ignorance

One of the best looks at the topic I've seen in quite a while from Seth Meyers.

Overview of compost

I've been trying to get some time to write up a lengthy article on some of the composting work I've been doing on the side, but in the meantime here's a great article on the topic (thanks Silver).

This goes into a lot of outdoor tools for composting but there are tons of great indoor ones.

Antibiotic use in meat still increasing

Haven't heard anything good about factory farming in the last few years so this wasn't a surprise. The concern is that creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria hurts everyone.

Endorsement based on Climate Change

Really surprised by Bloomberg's endorsement.  I don't know that the recent hurricane was caused or worsened by global warming, but this could potentially be the biggest instance of a climate-based endorsement pushing a major election.  That could make it the most important news item all year.

Vatican: climate change is cheaper to fix now

Not often accused to be the most forward-thinking organization, the Catholic church stands up against CO2 emissions.

Composting cat waste

Been doing the composting thing lately and really enjoying the results in the garden so I started looking into ways to expand this.

There are two links from Washington State and UMN that say this is a bad idea, as the potential health risks outweigh the possible benefits.  Another link says that its pretty much its like human waste: you gotta leave it alone for a year.  If you aerate it properly and have a thriving compost bacteria/worm combo, you can speed that up as much as 6 months.  Without testing facilities, I'd still wait an absolute minimum of 9 months.

Regardless, the biggest find here looks to be sawdust: you can actually make it very cheaply and cats apparently love it.  If its not quite covering up the odors, you can just add the stuff all the commercial litter uses: baking soda.

The state of LED bulbs

An interesting and mostly positive overview of a growing trend. (thanks Silver)

Opt-out of getting the phone book

Probably the dumbest (wasteful, useless, outdated, etc.) product still somehow sold, there's a way to avoid getting it.  Unfortunately, you can't just type in your address and get removed -- you may also need call a phone number.

Too much soap, too much oil

Clothes and dishwasher soap and changing your car's oil.  You should probably be using less.

Koch brothers and the Tea Party

Another company to add to the list of the viciously self-interested Exxon, Phillip Morris, and Monsanto: Koch.  The article highlights the much more eye-catching anti-Obama move, but much more insightful is later in the article describing millions spent against environmental legislation and funding global warming deniers.  Presumably if global warming never comes about, the Kochs will make a lot of money and be lauded as great small government philanthropists and captains of industry.  Of course, if they're wrong and the dire predictions about Global Warming are true, the Koch brothers will go down in history as one of the greatest of the selfish, myopic corporate scumbags.

It also unfortunately paints the Tea Party, who they fund, as fundamentally anti-environmental, which doesn't respect the thousands of hunters and fishermen who make up their ranks.

Update: A follow-up Op-Ed

Home Depot recycles CFLs

Very happy to find a place to recycle compact fluorescent bulbs.  The mercury contained in them is poisonous, but until this point, its been a tradeoff between much more expensive LED bulbs or more emissions and more trash caused by inefficient incandescent bulbs.

Related:

An LED bulb I've been very happy with.

Car tricks

How you drive is as important as what you drive when trying to save gas.

Can you boycott corn?

Genetically modified corn may be extremely unhealthy for you but because its not clearly labeled, you may be buying things that are not just bad for you but from an astoundingly sketchy (child labor, superfund sites, toxic waste, and more) company: Monsanto.

For the time being, start looking closer for labels with "non-GMO" labeled foods.

Getting environmentally friendly items in bulk

One of the problems with organic and earth-friendly items is that they rarely come in bulk. Since these items usually have a premium associated with them because they tend to be more expensive to manufacture, buying large amounts at once can help offset the price. The internet fortunately provides:

• My favorite shampoo comes in a 32 oz version, which is good.
• I found an all-purpose cleaner that does many jobs in one: Simple Green . You don't have to buy this one off the internet either: you can pick up at Home Depot, Lowes, and Sams Club for about 10 bucks. This can be diluted and used to clean almost anything (even laundry) so it will see a lot of use.
• Regular liquid soap (organic) can be bought in bulk too.

As it turns out there are many bulk organic items. I also found out that you can make your own cleaners from baking soda, vinegar, and other items, which is pretty cool.

Among us, one of the greats

Whether or not he was the greatest, he's certainly important. It staggers the imagination to think that one man's work might have saved a billion lives.

More info (and image) from Wikipedia.

Related: Pen and Teller pay tribute.

Japan hates dolphins

Japan's dolphin "research" is a pretty big industry.  Mercury poisoning, killing intelligent creatures, and totally inhumane methods?  What's not to love?

Intel better understands the problem by adding to the problem

Your computer rarely runs at 100% capacity, so why not use a program that will put those processes to use? Sounds like a good idea? Well, although there are projects that help humanity, I fail to see how this will positively affect climate change.

It seems like a bad idea to use more electricity, which means more coal burned and more CO2 in the atmosphere that's causing global warming. Sort of a cancer-for-the-cure moment there.

Problems with recent "Cash for Clunkers" program

While I applaud the Obama administration trying to do things that are simultaneously good for the economy and good for the environment, this program has two major issues:

1. Not really good for the environment.  Seems to be purely a boost to the car industry.
   
2. I found out they destroy the engines, which I find disturbingly wasteful.  Although a device may not work well, that doesn't make it useless or otherwise salvageable.
   

If someone can speak to this, I'd like to know.