Follow Up to Earth Hour

Now that all the buildings have gone dark for their required one hour, I have had a revelation that I want to post regarding Earth Hour.

Earth Hour was an attempt to change human behavior. Unfortunately for environmentalists human behavior is almost impossible to change for moral reasons. I care about the planet and future generations such as my daughter as much as anybody, but can I give up my car, stop using the Internet (a major CO2 source), or give up buying bananas? Nope, and anybody who thinks that we can and will change our lifestyles in major ways is deluding themselves and doesn’t understand history because we’ve never done that before.

However, we do stand a chance at kicking climate change in the teeth with technology because technology can change human behavior almost overnight. The plow, the clock, the light bulb, the car, the plane, the computer, etc. Theses are all technologies that altered human behavior in major ways. Nobody alive in 1900 would have imagined flying across an ocean for a business meeting, but people were doing just that 50 years later.

The same opportunity is being offered to our generation. Clean/green technology is available and we can change the way our technology works to harm the planet less (or even help the planet). But, to do so we have to engage capitalism, the most creative and powerful system we have.

Making money is the best way to drive development of anything from a better mouse trap to a car that runs on air. We all need business to embrace the challenges of the environment if we hope to have a planet, or if we hope to make gobs and gobs of money.

Al Gore was right and wrong. The choice between the planet at money is a stupid one, but he got his argument reversed. Without money, we can’t have a planet.

So, all you greedy people, start saving my kid’s planet already.

Prankster Population in Steep Decline

U.S. scientific and cultural experts agree that pranksters should be added to the endangered species list, citing dramatic population drops in recent decades. Experts also warn that April Fools’ Day might go extinct.

April Fools’ Day is older than the United States with a rich tradition of social equality and merriment, but it could soon become another victim of social climate change.

To find out more about this potentially devastating loss of comic diversity check out my article on the history of April Fools’ Day on National Geographic News.

No joke.

Is Earth Hour Good for the Earth?

I see Earth Hour through two different lenses, and neither of them is all that rosy.

First, I see it as an amateur astronomer and stargazer. Ever since Edison invented the light bulb, leagues of stargazers have been forced on a celestial exodus from development and cities into rural areas with no light pollution.

So, you might think that Earth Hour would be great for amateur astronomy. Afterall during the gigantic blackout in the summer of 2003, astronomers were able to observe the Milky Way from downtown Toronto (most likely the first time in over a hundred years).

But, 8-9pm is basically dusk for astronomers. No serious observing can really be done until after Earth Hour is over.

Moreover the streetlights, porch lights, Wal-Mart signs, and a whole host of other lights that point upwards will still be on. I can’t imagine that there will be a substantial drop in light pollution.

While I think projects like the Ontario Science Centre’s “Starwatch + Earth Hour” where people are encouraged to see how many of the Little Dipper’s stars they can see is good PR for science and astronomy, I doubt it will really offer any basis for the change in light pollution.

For example, I can make out the Little Dipper in my light polluted Waterloo front yard with cars driving because I have young eyes, good eyesight, and know where and how to look for constellations. Will Starwatch take into account ages, eyesight, and stargazing ability when they try to collate their results?

The second lens I see it through is that of an environmentalist struggling to find solutions to the huge problem of climate change. In an hour, very few tonnes of carbon will be prevented from hitting the atmosphere.

However, it is good PR for climate change because it shows people the supposed change that we can accomplish. “Wow, the CN tower/Sydney Opera House/Time Square is dark, and look at how different things are.”

But, will they turn off the lights every night? Certainly, this exercise might help some businesses or individuals to see that they can turn off their lights every night with no harm and major energy and cost savings, but what would Paris be without its lights. The City of …what? French fries?

What would be significant is if instead of turning off all our lights, we turned on only the ones that are energy-saving compact fluorescent lights or LEDs. That way rather than trying to send ourselves back to the Dark Ages where smoke inhalation and house fires were far more common, we could drive green innovation.

So, if you see my house all lit up during Earth Hour, don’t worry they’re CFLs and they use less energy than that flashlight you are using to stumble around your darkened living room.

Probably Not Cow Farts

So, I just wrote a story for Cosmos Magazine in Australia about the first discovery of methane gas on a planet in another solar system. Turns out the discovery also confirmed water vapour in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the star is so close to its sun that it bakes at a blazing hot 1000K, making life as we know it impossible.

One of the things I find most fascinating about the discovery besides the “WHOA! COOL!” factor is that the technique being used by the Hubble Space Telescope to detect the methane wasn’t thought possible when the Hubble originally blasted off into space. That offers a lot of potential for future telescopes like the Spitzer, Kepler, or James Webb. As Sarah Seager, an exoplanet astronomer at MIT commented in the press teleconference, “Spitzer or Webb will definitely suprass expections, and they could absolutely suprirse us [with what they are capable of].”

There is one drawback to the new space telescopes being built though. “[The new space telescopes are] being built to see the faintest objects in universe,” said Seager. “If earths are everywhere, for instance if there were an earth orbiting Alpha Centauri B, that star is so incredibly bright we couldn’t observe it. It’s too bright for the James Webb space telescope.”

Maybe we need a telescope that doesn’t have such great optics to look for Earths in our own backyard.

Can a Media Coop Fight Corporate Media?

It’s not a great time to be a journalist. Mass firings of editorial departments, the ever growing conglomeration of media so that fewer and fewer companies own public discussion, and of course the frickin’ freelance gold standard is still $1/word!! But, I’m not bitter.

Actually, I am kind of excited. There was an interesting presentation by a couple left-leaning independent journalists from the Dominion Newspaper at the University of Waterloo tonight.

The two guys (beards, black sweaters, and worn jeans…yep, they were hippy/artsy/viva la revolution types) were very genuine about their hopes for the Dominion. And, I have to admit that there is a definite need for some real investigative journalism that runs counter to the mainstream media.

However, their business plan seems flawed. I mean, their five year plan actually states as one of their goals “pay journalists”. I’m not sure how long they will last without paying their writers.

They also have a very anti-corporate advertising policy. In essence, no money from any company that employees more than 20 people unless they put democracy and social justice ahead of profits. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, they plan to produce thousands of copies of their monthly newspaper and give them out for free or on a donation based system.

I’m just not sure how well it will work.

On the other hand, they were very honest that they don’t want to be just another small market for lefties to rant about how governments and corporations are destroying the world, the developing world, sea corals and sex.

Another thing I thought had some promise was that they have some great journalists working with them already, and their sustainer/subscriber system where you pay $20/month to get the paper could really catch on. And, the way that they are starting nationwide city-specific media coops could also take off.

One thing is for sure, if these guys can figure out some startup kinks they could really become something cool. I will definitely be watching them in the future, and if I get a better feeling in the future then I would love to write for them.

Just so long as I don’t have to grow facial hair….that could take forever with my baby faced good looks.

Naturally Interesting

When I got an email last summer asking if I would like to go on a birding trip to Manitoulin Island and write an article for ON Nature magazine, I jumped at the chance.

Now, many months later that article has finally hit newsstands, and you can read the entire “In An Alien Land” feature online.

As an interesting aside, my profile picture was taken while I was on that trip. I am in the act of taking some amazing picture of the foggy shores of Manitoulin Island. Of course, that picture probably didn’t make it into the magazine, but I did get a cool profile picture out of it.

Space Tourism at the University of Waterloo

The following article was created by three grade 11 students participating in the University of Waterloo’s Unlimited program, where students spend a week learning about interdisciplinary research areas such as science journalism (the session I taught), textile history, nanotechnology, and more.

“Space isn’t a program, it’s a place.”

Until now, space has been a government program, believes Michael Belfiore, author of the “The Rocketeers”. But, now we are in the midst of a revolution that could allow the everyday citizen into space.

Instead of just going to Hawaii or other exotic places, those willing to spend great amounts of money will soon find a new vacation destination in outer space. Within the next decade, private space flights will enable eager space enthusiasts to live their dream and experience the life of an astronaut.

Currently, the projected cost of the first privatized space flight will be $200,000, but it is expected to decrease rapidly in the near future. And, for a few million dollars you can spend weeks in an outer space hotel. You will enjoy many of the same comforts of an earth-based hotel, like food, water and air.

The preparation before departure is minimal, but important. It consists of two to three days of training to acclimatize you to space life. This would allow you to fully enjoy your stay in space without having to waste time getting used to zero gravity. You will also have to undergo a medical exam to make sure underlying issues do not arise on the trip.

Everyone’s childhood dream of living amongst the stars could become a reality. The final frontier is a little closer.

By Stacey, Peter, and Joel.

You can find another article created by four other students in the science journalism session at Michael Belfiore’s Blog “Dispatches from the Final Frontier.”

It Never Rains But It Pours

The last couple days in Waterloo, Ontario have been eerily similar to an article of mine that was just published by National Geographic News.

First it was bitterly cold, but that’s to be expected in Canada. All of a sudden it warmed up to eight degrees Celsius, and it rained. Now, it is has plummeted back below freezing, leaving us with lots of ice.

If this had happened in the Arctic, it would be called a Rain-On-Snow event, and it would be in my article on the mysterious phenomenon.

In the Arctic, the ice layer that has turned my sidewalk into a skating rink would be turning the permafrost into the frozen foods aisle for muskox. Only problem is that muskox can’t warm it up, so they starve. In fact, in 2003, a rain-on-snow event killed over 20,000 animals. Bad news for the native people who depend on those furry beasts.

However, new research which I describe in the article will give the indigenous people an early warning system, allowing them to sprinkle some salt on the tundra to help save the population from starvation.

Drowning Coastal Cities…All in a Morning’s Work

I think this qualifies as a dilemma.

I just made myself a cup of hot chocolate (I don’t drink coffee). I mixed some fair trade, organic hot chocolate with some steaming hot water in my Unemployed Philosophers Guild Climate Change Mug, then dropped in a few marshmellows.

What I am wondering is, just how many contradictions can I pile on top of each other? I mean, fair trade coffee compared with a mug that was probably made in China. Organic chocolate alongside chemically synthesized marshmellows. And, of course the decadence of hot chocolate at night mixed with my mug depicting the end of the world if all the polar ice caps melted.

I think this is the root of the problem facing environmentalism these days. We live in a world where contradictions are inherent in existence. No matter how small you think your carbon footprint is and how many carbon offsets you buy, you can’t live without being a consumer. Every breath you take is worsening climate change.

So, what are you going to do, kill yourself for the planet?

Unless you are part of a Gaian cult that believes that humans are a cancer upon Eden, I would suspect this is the thing that really gets people. How can I make a difference for good, when I make such a difference for bad out of my very existence?

And, I don’t have the answer. Neither does Al Gore or David Suzuki. Or the Pope.

I think the people mentioned above present life as black or white, good or bad, carbon neutral or gas-guzzling. But, if you think of theology, the message is the same. All sins are the same in God’s eyes, so how can we ever hope to be “saved.”

Here’s my shot at the answer (I guess I lied two paragraphs earlier): forgiveness and understanding.

We all live in the world, and the world demands us to make allowances and mistakes. We have to offer each other forgiveness and understanding for our environmental infractions. If we become to all or nothing, then we will lose everything.

Of course, this could all just be a way for me to justify my continued enjoyment of marshmellows.

Sucks to be an Urchin

Suppose you were a purple sea urchin. You are eaten by fish. You live in the bottom of the Antarctic. And, now as if things couldn’t get any worse, climate change is going to decimate your populations in the next 100 years.

The purple sea urchin is just one of the most basic species like algae and krill that is being negatively affected by climate change. I wrote about how purple sea urchin are finding it hard to produce their hard outer shell in more acidic oceans for National Geographic News.

The future does not look bright for escargot lovers.