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• Air in a Jar

  This group is a place to exchange air captured from significant moments in your life. To share, capture some air in a jar (at your first kiss, on a vacation, at your birthday party, or during any special moment). Then put a label inside the jar, take a picture, and describe the occasion and the air on this group. You can just share it, sell it, buy it, exchange it for free, or request air from a special date or location. Purpose of this project: Because air surrounds us and is invisible, many of us do not stop to think about it. I wanted to create a place where air from different places and moments in our lives can be shared and exchanged. The purpose is to make people think about how important air is and capture memories. I am very passionate about appreciating air and I think this website could make others reconsider air. -Air in the jar dot com Air in a jar
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  • Date: Apr 02 2008
  • Posted by tkusui

• Wilson on Costs of Saving Biodiversity

  James, The estimates Wilson cites are from a 2000 Conservation International conference entitled "Defying Nature's End." Estimates of the cost of saving global fisheries are in Andrew Bamford et al. "The Worldwide Costs of Marine Protected Areas," Proceedings of the National Academyof Sciences, USA 101 (2004): 9694-97, and discussed by Henry Nicholls in "Marine Conservation: Sink or Swim," Nature 432 (2004): 12-14 From pages 97-99 of Wilson's "The Creation" (long quote) "The costs of saving most of Earth's flora and fauna would be relatively trivial for the market economy and, of course, immensely profitable for the natural economy. In 2000 Conservation International sponsored a conference of biologists and economists, entitled "Defying Nature's End," to address this matter. They reviewed the many methods available at that time to secure wildland reserves while simultaneously improving local economies, then estimated the cost. They concluded that in order to put a protective umbrella over the twenty-five hottest spots on the land then recognized (nine more have since been added to total 34), plus core areas within the remaining tropical forest wilderness.... would require one payment of about $30 billion. The benefit, if the allotment is joined with wise investment strategy and foregn policy, would be susbstanntial for 70 percent of Earth's land-dwelling fauna and flora... This sinngle outlay (one payment only), or its equivalent spread over a few years, is approximately one part in a thousdand of the annual gross world product, that is, gross domestic product of all countries combined. By coincidence the latter amount, roughly $30 trillion, also happens to be the estimated rate of the ecosystem services given free by Earth's remaining natural environment. A parallel study, made in 2004 by a second team, estimated the cost of protecting marine areas, the threatened Second Edens of our planet. .. To regulate a reserve network covering 20-30 percent of the ocean surface would cost between $5 billion and $19 billion annually. That outlay could be met by eliminating the current perverse subsidies given to the fishing industry, which fall between $15 and #30 billion annually - and are responsible in the first place for the over-harvesting and falling yield of preferred species." Sorry for the long quote!
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  • Date: Apr 24 2008
  • Posted by RFCapalino

• Wilson

  I believe Wilson discussed this plan in his book: The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth If you google E. O. Wilson and $30 billion you'll find many references. He writes briefly about it in this editorial originally from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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  • Date: Apr 23 2008
  • Posted by acc

• E.O. Wilson the grandfatherly exterminator

  @RF Capalino: do you have a link to that project/plan? I haven't been able to find it. Wilson's website DOES HAVE a video about bug-spraying entire islands in the Florida Keys to simulate mass extinctions in a controlled environment. Weirdly, the video cuts off before they explain, um, exactly what the results were and presumably how it was justified?
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  • Date: Apr 23 2008
  • Posted by James Sumner

• Genius

  The gungggsta appeal for species conservation at least resonates strongly with this viewer. Your next project should be an equally thugged out advoacy of how, according to E.O. Wilson and others, we could preserve 95% of biodiversity through measures that would cost only a one-time payment of $30 billion! The species depicted in your video are quite flossy, but saving most of the world's species is absurdly cheap!
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  • Date: Apr 22 2008
  • Posted by RFCapalino

• Politics Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg

  The sad thing is that while we've kind of reluctantly accepted the utter environmental inefficiency of the Bush administration as a catalog of fluff-lined phrases and empty promises, we have to remember we live in a capitalist society. And, in capitalism, politics go hand in hand with The Money, which is largely driven by marketing. What are most major marketers doing? The exact same thing -- empty promises and "green" bandaids on environmental open sores, hoping to score some publicity points for their cosmetic green initiatives. With all the downsides of this debacle, it would make a great Al Jaffee fold-in.
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  • Date: Apr 18 2008
  • Posted by brainpicker

• Hmm, maybe it's just my cynicism...

  But I don't have much hope for focus on ANY product to replace oil so quickly, efficiently, and timely when the wars over oil are just getting heated up. We (as a concerned people and active citizens of this country) need to put some serious pressure on our government in order to see these changes manifest. Yes, we want it. Yes, the technology is there. But what kept the 100% electric-powered car off the streets? My point exactly.
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  • Date: Apr 13 2008
  • Posted by naviphifer

• Brown Green Movement

  This is a great story about a very inspirational man. At our Casa de la Raza Center we have a long history of standing up for the rights of Latino workers and environmentalism at the same time. We have a "Green Gardener" program, which teaches the techniques of green gardeing and makes the services of the gardeners who take the classes more marketable. Another program my friend started there is a self-sustaining bike repair center at for people who use it as their main source of transportation. That program is really thriving. Our center is in the industrial area of town and the environmental issues there have a big impact on the health of the people who live and work here, so I really appreciate the work of people like Jones, and groups like GOOD who promote what he and the Ella Baker Center are doing. Thanks guy!
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  • Date: Apr 09 2008
  • Posted by kugelgirl

• Global warming not cool

  I have a problem with the “coolness” factor of fighting Global Warming. But my problem is that Global Warming just isn't cool enough. And neither is the “weapons” and gadgets to help me in this fight. No badge or hip gadget I can wear. Makes it difficult to know what I should do. A Prius? Not cool. Not like the FJ Cruiser. Windfarms? Cool but I can't carry it around like an iPod to show off. Those pesky CO2's are just so tiny - smaller than the diamond my wife will accept and bigger than I can afford? http://angryafrican.net/2008/04/03/global-warming-is-just-not-cool/
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  • Date: Apr 03 2008
  • Posted by angryafrican

• Air in a Jar

  This group is a place to exchange air captured from significant moments in your life. To share, capture some air in a jar (at your first kiss, on a vacation, at your birthday party, or during any special moment). Then put a label inside the jar, take a picture, and describe the occasion and the air on this group. You can just share it, sell it, buy it, exchange it for free, or request air from a special date or location. Purpose of this project: Because air surrounds us and is invisible, many of us do not stop to think about it. I wanted to create a place where air from different places and moments in our lives can be shared and exchanged. The purpose is to make people think about how important air is and capture memories. I am very passionate about appreciating air and I think this website could make others reconsider air. -Air in the jar dot com http://airinthejar.com/
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  • Date: Apr 02 2008
  • Posted by tkusui