[Guest post by DRJ]

A Yale graduate student discovers life in a box:

Think your apartment is small? Don’t try to tell that to Elizabeth Turnbull.

While studying for her master’s in urban ecology and environmental design, the 24-year-old graduate student at Yale University is living in a truly tiny house.

It measures just 8 1/2 feet wide by 18 1/2 feet long, for a cozy total of 144 square feet.

The goal? Limiting her impact on the environment.

Photos are here.

I don’t see this as an advance. She built her mini-apartment using available funds, bartered for supplies, and hosted burger parties to get donated labor. Her apartment is apparently located in the backyard of a friend’s house, which means she is relying on the kindness of friends. (She also uses their bathroom.) Finally, regardless of what she calls it, she’s living in the equivalent of a small mobile home.

Some of these ideas are good but all of them have been around for a while, especially barter which is more common in hard times that see more shadow economies. So while I’m glad these ideas work for her, they aren’t new and they aren’t advances. Instead, it’s a way to take us back in time.

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

A Harvard University physicist claims internet use, including something as simple as a Google search, has a “definite environmental impact:”

“Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea, according to new research.

While millions of people tap into Google without considering the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2 Boiling a kettle generates about 15g. “Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power,” said Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of computing is due out soon.”

Google searches go to competing servers to maximize a fast response, leaving Google with excess capacity that burns energy. And it’s not just Google searches that have carbon costs. The researcher claims all internet use has an adverse impact:

“Wissner-Gross has also calculated the CO2 emissions caused by individual use of the internet. His research indicates that viewing a simple web page generates about 0.02g of CO2 per second. This rises tenfold to about 0.2g of CO2 a second when viewing a website with complex images, animations or videos.”

The link sets forth similar concerns by other researchers.

I think we have the ability to find and use abundant energy while we also protect the environment through technology and conservation. So which will it be, my internet friends? If you’re still worried about the environment, maybe it’s time for you to log off.

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

It’s time to Sign the Big List.

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

I didn’t realize it but NBC Universal recently purchased The Weather Channel and last week it fired about 10% of TWC personnel in a cost-cutting reorganization. The cuts included most of the people who were the public face of TWC’s environmental series Forecast Earth:

“NBC Universal made the first of potentially several rounds of staffing cuts at The Weather Channel (TWC) on Wednesday, axing the entire staff of the “Forecast Earth” environmental program during the middle of NBC’s “Green Week,” as well as several on-camera meteorologists. The layoffs totaled about 10 percent of the workforce, and are among the first major changes made since NBC completed its purchase of the venerable weather network in September.”

The link states that Forecast Earth was TWC’s only show devoted to climate change and its primary contributor was climate expert Heidi Cullen, who apparently still works at TWC.

Dr. Cullen is famous - or infamous - for urging that “broadcast meteorologists be stripped of their scientific certification if they express skepticism about predictions of manmade catastrophic global warming.” Here’s Dr. Cullen’s December 2006 blog entry where she made her remarkable suggestion that climate change skeptics should be decertified by the AMS.

It’s sad to see people lose their jobs but I hope NBC Universal takes this opportunity to refocus TWC on bringing viewers timely weather information. Leave the partisan politics to MSNBC.

– DRJ

[Posted by Justin Levine]

Joanne Nova provides a PDF of one of the best primers of the global warming argument from the skeptic’s point of view.  Her dismissal of ‘argument by authority’ as opposed to argument by evidence is particularly important to absorb.

Must reading.  [H/T:  Climate Debate Daily]

– Justin Levine

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: Justin doesn’t like allowing comments on his posts. I enjoy his contributions enough that I tolerate this idiosyncracy (even if I don’t think I agree with him on this particular issue). But I’m not looking to squelch debate. If you have a well thought out rebuttal to anything Justin ever posts, feel free to blog it, or send me an e-mail. I’m not promising to publish link your response, but there’s a good chance I will.

[Guest post by DRJ]

Conservatives typically believe capitalism, the market, and individual self-interest work best to solve economic problems like global warming aka climate change. Liberals like Al Gore generally favor government solutions coupled with voluntary self-denial for the greater environmental good.

Which works best: Self-interest or self-denial?

Let’s ask rap star and hip hop record producer Sean Combs aka P. Diddy:

“The 38-year-old entrepreneur, a successful US rap star who owns his own record label, clothing and perfume line, has said he will only fly with commercial airlines until the price of oil has come down.

Combs claims that two round-trips between Los Angeles and New York on board his personal jet now costs him around $200,000 (£108,000).”

Combs is reported to be worth $346 million.

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Category 3 Hurricane Gustav is moving toward the Gulf Coast and expected to make landfall in Louisiana sometime Monday morning. The “good” news is it’s weakening and moving comparatively quickly but it’s still a dangerous storm.

It’s also encouraging to see how well the Louisiana and other border state authorities have responded to Hurricane Gustav. I was especially impressed with Louisiana Governor Jindal’s implementation of a State-wide effort, as well as his ability to articulate what’s been done so far and what needs to be done in the next hours.

– DRJ

[by Justin levine]

Did Al Gore really sign on to the prediction that the North Pole would completely melt away during the next four years??

That is certainly how I interpreted the comments from his speech at the Democratic National Convention yesterday -

Many scientists predict that the entire north polar ice cap may be completely gone during summer months in the first term of the next president. Sea levels are rising, fires are raging, storms are stronger. Military experts warn us our national security is threatened by massive waves of climate refugees destabilizing countries around the world, and scientists tell us the very web of life is endangered by unprecedented extinctions.

We are facing a planetary emergency which, if not solved, would exceed anything we’ve ever experienced in the history of humankind.

The best way to debunk Global Warming hysteria is to continue to let this man speak.

- Justin Levine

[Guest post by DRJ]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposes offshore drilling but today on Meet The Press, Pelosi strongly supported investment in “cheap, abundant and clean” natural gas. Natural gas is produced by drilling, including off-shore drilling.

Pelosi believes so much in natural gas that she’s put $50,000-$100,000 of her own money into a T. Boone Pickens’ investment that emphasizes natural gas:

“MR. BROKAW: You just mentioned natural gas, and you emphasized it as well in your last radio address…

REP. PELOSI: Yeah.

MR. BROKAW: …talking about the energy plan. And then we read in The Wall Street Journal that you and your husband have made a substantial investment in the plan that T. Boone Pickens has put forward, which has a heavy emphasis on natural gas as well.

REP. PELOSI: But let me see if you call substantial 03 three percent of our investments.

MR. BROKAW: Oh, it’s what, between 100 and $200,000.

REP. PELOSI: No, no, it was between 50 and $100,000, and it’s part of an, you know, entrepreneurial package. This is the package we sign up for, this is what they invest in. But that’s not the point. I’m, I’m, I’m investing in something I believe in. I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels.

MR. BROKAW: But you’re also in a position to influence where the emphasis will be in where we’re moving.

REP. PELOSI: Well, that’s not–that is, that is the marketplace. The fact is, the supply of natural gas is so big, and you do need a transition if you’re going to go from fossil fuels, as you say, you can’t do it overnight, but you must transition. These investments in wind, in solar and biofuels and focus on natural gas, these are the real alternatives.”

Speaker Pelosi is fortunate that $50-$100K is a de minimus investment in her family. Most of us think $100,000 is a lot of money and believe today’s high energy prices are budget-busters. Now that Pelosi is a believer in natural gas, I hope she will let the House vote on expanded drilling on federal and off-shore lands.

– DRJ

The Sacramento Bee managed to monitor the broadcast and reports on it here.

- Justin Levine

[Guest post by DRJ]

Wildlife researchers found 125,000 low-land gorillas currently listed as endangered living deep in the forests of the Republic of Congo. This increases the estimated number of low-land gorillas to around 200,000.

Nevertheless, Emma Stokes, a member of the research team from The Wildlife Conservation Society based at New York’s Bronx Zoo, worries that these gorillas are still endangered:

“While calling the new census important, Stokes said it does not mean gorilla numbers in the wild are now safe.

“Far from being safe, the gorillas are still under threat from Ebola and hunting for bush meat. We must not become complacent about this. Ebola can wipe out thousands in a short period of time,” she said.”

Conservationists also warn that we cannot let this good news distract us from protecting other animals who are increasingly endangered by biofuel-related deforestation:

“There is a danger that we concentrate on the more famous species,” Oates said. “What about the other species that we’ve identified as in danger? There are so many that are on the brink of extinction.”

Among them is the highland gibbon, which counts just 19 known individuals. The review warned it will be tough battle to save that Asian primate from extinction.

Simon Stuart, with Conservation International, which provided data for the review, said primate populations are shrinking in Asia due to hunting and habitat destruction - some linked to the booming biofuel industry.

“In Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo the big problem is destruction of forests to make way for palm oil and biofuels. Ironically, with biofuels, something that is nominally associated with helping the environment can have harmful unintentional consequences,” Stuart said.”

It sounds like the biggest threat to some species comes from environmentalists.

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

House Republican Leader John Boehner thinks he has the votes to pass legislation that will increase domestic oil exploration and production, but earlier this month Speaker Pelosi refused to allow the legislation to move forward to a vote before Congress takes its August recess:

“Just as some Democrats in both the House and the Senate are beginning to heed the American people’s calls for more American energy production, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has threatened to do something quite different. She’d rather “pack it up and go home.”

Two weeks later, Speaker Pelosi is still blocking the energy legislation but instead of sounding like a grade-schooler who threatens to take her ball and go home, her current rhetoric sounds more like Captain Queeg:

“I’m trying to save the planet; I’m trying to save the planet,” she says impatiently when questioned. “I will not have this debate trivialized by their excuse for their failed policy.”

“I respect the office that I hold,” she says. “And when you win the election, you win the majority, and what is the power of the speaker? To set the agenda, the power of recognition, and I am not giving the gavel away to anyone.”

When she became Speaker of the House, Pelosi published a Handbook entitled “A New Direction for America.” Page 29 of the online version of the Handbook states that, in the Pelosi House, “Bills should generally come to the floor under a procedure that allows open, full, and fair debate.” Speaker Pelosi has consistently emphasized her devotion to honesty, integrity and openness.

It’s fine with me if Speaker Pelosi wants to use partisan and Parliamentary tactics to promote the interests she supports but I’m tired of her false insistence that she’s devoted to openness. If she really wants to be the House equivalent of LBJ, the Master [manipulator] of the Senate, then she should go for it. But the truth is she’s not the least bit open when it comes to legislation she dislikes and it doesn’t matter to her how many citizens or Congressional representatives support it.

– DRJ