Treehugger Blog

How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Embrace Change: The Story Of A Trader-Turned-"Treehugger"

Until the early years of the 21st century, I was a climate change skeptic. Despite mounting scientific evidence, to accept the truth of climate change would have meant that one of the fundamental bases on which my comfortable life and lifestyle were founded - the burning of low cost and abundant fossil fuels - was unsound. Like many others of the time and many still today, faced with a choice between a convenient ignorance and a difficult reality, I chose ignorance.

By the time I was born in the mid-1970s the possibility of a human-induced climate change had already begun to concern scientists. Fourier had described the natural greenhouse effect some 150 years before, and in 1975 the concentration of atmospheric CO2 was around 330 parts per million - much lower than today but already an increase of almost five per cent since the beginning of the 1960s. — more

Do We Still Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident?

Flying to Switzerland on election night last November, I remember the cheers that erupted halfway across the Atlantic when the captain announced that Obama had won the presidency. People of all ages and nationalities clapped, whooped and hollered with joy. Everywhere people appeared to be breathing again, as if we had been liberated from a war. It was a happy moment.

During and after (even before!) Obama's inauguration speech, this sense of joy seemed to hit a new level. The lightness in people's steps suggested we could even enter a time of renewal that fosters life values based on quality and content of character, rather than exchange and the economics of quantity. There is a palpable sense of hope that all may not be lost in the world or in our country. After years of feeling dis-empowered, the recent change feels like a return to the fire within that drives our better selves. — more

The Big Deal With Citizen Science

In the “Wild Side” column this week in the New York Times, biologist and author Aaron Hirsch outlined the growing trend of what’s been called “Big Science”: the centralization of research on the most obviously exciting scientific questions of our time into the hands of fewer—and ever more massive—scientific organizations.

Hirsch, like many others, recognizes the broad efficiencies of such a model, particularly in fields such as astrophysics and genetics where large-scale and expensive equipment is often required, but is wisely hesitant about the potential pitfalls of centralization, as well. In the era of Big Science, Hirsch says, smaller-scale scientific endeavors may get squeezed out, outlier theorists may never get the funding to test their ideas, and the spirit of general scientific inquiry will become even less dispersed throughout the culture at large than it currently is. — more

What to Make of Bush's Oceanic Gestures

On his way out the door-with a reputation and a record as one of the worst modern American presidents on scientific and environmental issues - President George W. Bush nevertheless did something right: with the stroke of a pen, he created the largest marine conservation area in the world across nine sites in three regions in the central Pacific.

First, let's give credit where it's due. Setting aside nearly 200,000 square miles as both marine sanctuaries and scientific research areas via Teddy Roosevelt's 1906 Antiquities Act, Bush has not only rediscovered the moribund tradition of Republican environmentalism, but he also-and more importantly-has given a great gift to the planet. — more

My 3-inch Holiday Tree

My three-inch holiday tree is a Sequoiadendron giganteum seedling. This bristly green baby is a giant sequoia in its initial wee stages of becoming a totally hunking awesome millenia old whoaaaa dude!! tree. Members of the redwood family, giant sequoias and their botanical cousins (Coast Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, and Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides) are superlative trees: the largest, tallest, longest lived trees in the world.

Yet these giants, and the old growth forests they create, have been decimated: only 4% of original coastal redwood habitat remains. These are the trees that inspired the 90-year-old Save the Redwoods league, and the two-year tree sitting of Julia Butterfly Hill in the giant redwood tree she called “Luna”. — more

Native Cultures Endangered By Climate Change

In Tibet, sacred glaciers are melting and alpine medicinal plant populations are disappearing. In the Borneo rainforest, Dayak tribes report unusual alterations in wildlife seasonal patterns: native birds aren't showing up in their usual places, or at the usual times. In Central Africa, changing rainfall patterns have altered stream flows, making it harder for the Mbaka (pygmy) women to catch fish.

In Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia, milder winters are decreasing lichen populations, a key food source for both wild and semi-domesticated reindeer. For the first time in history, Sámi peoples have to search for fodder to feed their reindeer herds.

In the Arctic Circle, the permafrost isn't "permanent frost" anymore. It is melting. And as it melts, the tundra dries, reducing the vegetation available for caribou herds. With less food available, caribou are more prone to disease and food-borne illnesses. — more

Dear Obama: 'The Answer, My Friend, Is Blowing In The Wind'

Last week I proposed that instead of using his stimulus package (as much as an additional $700 billion) to bail out and reinvest in a faulty system, Obama use that money to stimulate a new green energy economy. I spoke in general terms, from the environmental perspective; this week I will be more specific and will speak from the business perspective.

What we know already: there is a critical clarion call from the Earth for a sea change in the way we humans live our daily lives—especially with respect to our use of fossil fuels. Despite what we frequently read in the popular media, practical solutions that could help us achieve this goal within 10 years do exist.

The simple truth is that going green would mean record internal development, economic growth and massive job creation. Compare that to a fossil fuel economy that sends billions overseas rather than — more

Obama’s Golden Opportunity

There is a lot of talk about how president-elect Obama is going to sign into law a new economic stimulus plan in the first days of his administration. Some predict it will be in the range of $700 billion (and NO, this is not the already-squared-away $700 billion the Bush administration earmarked for bank bailouts and the like, but a brand NEW $700 billion). The idea is that with a wildly tail-spinning economy something dramatic must be done to stop the spiral towards an economic depression.

No one knows exactly what the final sum will be or exactly how it will be spent, but there are some guesses crossing the airwaves. Potential areas for support include the usual suspects: infrastructure, aid to states, money for health care and transportation, and perhaps some middle class tax relief or tax-incentives for job creation. All well intended and politically safe, but certainly — more

Could You Please Pass (On) the Gratitude?

Letting people know more often what we’re jazzed about means giving them a clearer sense of what we’re actually fighting for, and leaves us less vulnerable to being mischaracterized as extremists out of touch with mainstream needs and interests.

Had we done a better job, for example, trumpeting the successful efforts to address the destruction of the ozone layer by CFCs in the 1980s and 1990s, we might have gotten more of the general public invested in the fight against global warming more quickly. Instead, to many people, it seemed as if we went from “The Sky is Falling!!” to “We’re Melting, We’re Melting!!” with nary a beat in between.

It’s important to celebrate success; doing so creates favorable conditions for more of the same. So, in the spirit of honoring what’s going right with the world so that we can make more good things happen, here are just a few developments, big and “small,” that some of us at Earthwatch are grateful for this year: — more

Not So Quietly Taking to Ship

I’m going to risk bad taste and begin this blog—about record-breaking yachtsmen Brian Thompson’s bid to win the Vendée Globe round-the-world solo ocean race and promote research at the same time—by invoking Melville’s Ishmael.

Ishmael (and, you can call him that, just don’t call him later for dinner…) explains in the opening paragraphs of Moby Dick that he goes to sea when thoughts of mortality become too-constant companions. He says, “Whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet…I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball… I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.”

Well, probably not most men these days, dude. (And, given the way your little Find-the-Essential-Meaning-of-Life-Cruise worked out, you’d have been better off building a log cabin near a pond in Concord and fishing for smaller critters.) Nevertheless, Thompson no doubt gets where Melville (and his narrator) were coming from. And, like them, he’s embarked on a massive project that may have a major impact — more

Can Virtual Hugs Save Real Trees?

Like many aspects of the modern US environmental movement, eating sustainably can mean an initial outlay of time and money that creates what economists call a "price point" that's a bit too high—at least at first glance—for many people in many places to consider.

And that type of barrier—where participation in, or even knowledge of, a healthy environment becomes a luxury item—runs through far too much of our culture.

As many of you know, wealthier communities have more public green space and denser forest canopies. Poorer communities get disproportionately burdened with industrial sites and waste facilities. Rich people vacation in large national parks and "pristine" tropical beaches; middle-class people drive to regional campsites and "scenic resorts"; poor people try to get to the neighborhood park as often as they can and hope the upkeep hasn't gotten too bad.

Let's face it: For many Americans, Nature remains someplace "far away" precisely because our culture has priced it to be that way. — more

Even My Dog Is Recycled

We all have choices. As we fill our lives with things or creatures or experiences, we have an astonishing array of options. Bling or plain? Doberman or Chihuahua? Whale watching or poolside tanning? Paper or plastic or bring your own gosh-darn bag?

We consumers are demi-gods of the Universal Supermarket of Life, setting off a cascade of repercussions with our choices, all the way up and back down the production-consumption-disposal chain. Do we recognize our extraordinary collective power?

Picture each dollar (or euro) you spend as a vote. Each time we hand over a piece of currency, we’re deciding — more