…the Utne Reader of environmental blogs, though the phrase the folks there use is “traveling blog carnival”. This month’s “issue” is posted at Perceiving Wholes.
Go train, go!
“Draw a 100-mile circle around almost any major world city — Rome, Paris, Tokyo — and there’s an extensive commuter rail network linking vibrant communities. We have antiquated commuter rail networks around Boston and New York. We’ve starved the infrastructure.” … Yet New England, a century ago, had a robust rail network, covering a huge […]
Posted by Ben on September 7, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/go-train-go/
A Travelogue of Addiction
A Chicago Tribune correspondent embarks on a mission to trace the oil from a service station back to its sources; the results are quite remarkable–enlightening and frightening and such–and are conveyed through a written article and an online video documentary (which, before you go, “aw, shucks,” has pretty remarkable production values). (Also, the documentary uses […]
Posted by Ben on August 8, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/a-travelogue-of-addiction/
Who doesn’t love a long-beaked echidna?
I sure do, I know that much. The IHT has an interesting article (and accompanying slide-show, which you can catch in the upper right-hand corner of the article page) on a scientific expedition in Indonesia which uncovered newly discovered species in an isolated chunk of jungle. The phrase “lost world” gets tossed around, but, you […]
Posted by Ben on August 7, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/who-doesnt-love-a-long-beaked-echidna/
Hawk, frog back from extinction
Hopefully they’ll get along okay. (Don’t worry–they will; they live in different countries.) In Colombia, a frog (the somewhat lackadaisically-named ‘painted frog’, Atelopus ebenoides marinkellei) is rediscovered, having last been seen in 1995. And in England, a hawk, troubled in the past, is doing better: the marsh harrier.
Posted by Ben on July 25, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/hawk-frog-back-from-extinction/
Electrific
See how much juice various appliances pull, via this handy gizmo. (via Cool Tools)
Posted by Ben on June 13, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/electrific/
Adding entirely new meanings to the word “parking”
In what seems to have been some sort of combination of performance art and environmental protest (maybe?), a group took a parking space in San Francisco, fed the parking meter, and transformed the space into a park of sorts. Tranforming a private space (parking space) into a public one (park… space). Witness: One of the […]
Posted by Ben on February 18, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/adding-entirely-new-meanings-to-the-word-parking/
No One Ever Listens To The Glaciologists
…but they should, perhaps. Despite a whole host of Acronymic predictions via the UN (specifically, the UN’s IPPC) that sea level would not be affected by Antarctic ice, glaciologists are now singing a pretty different song. (NewScientist: “Antarctic glaciers calving faster into the ocean,” by Fred Pearce [October 18, 2005])
Posted by Ben on December 12, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/no-one-ever-listens-to-the-glaciologists/
Meet the Skeptics
“Hi, my name is Dr. Johnny Valdez, and I think global warming is bunk!” “Oh, and did I mention the six-figure donation my organization got from a prominent, ahem, petroleum utilization corporation?” Not too far from the truth, aside from the total lack of details. Here are some actual details, courtesy of Environmental Defense.
Posted by Ben on November 19, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/meet-the-skeptics/
Lion and Tigers and Bears. Oh my.
The internet has revolutionised shopping for books, DVDs and airline tickets, but it has also opened up great opportunities to deal in illegal wildlife which, according to the UN, is worth billions of pounds a year and now rivals the arms and drug trades in scale. … “Within one week we found over 9,000 wild […]
Posted by Ben on October 21, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/lion-and-tigers-and-bears-oh-my/