THE DAILY BLADE: When Environmental Values Collide: Part IV
"Green technologies" sometimes cancel each other out, undermine economic development and have even been accused of causing “lasting cultural damage.” This newest battle that pits opposing environental goals against each other may shape up to be one of those "tastes great vs. less filling" battles, only with lives on the line. Specifically, the lives of the trees and animals that are dear to the hearts of environmentalists worldwide.
The Wallow Fire - which has destroyed nearly 400,000 acres and is now the second-largest wildfire in AZ history - is being blamed on “too many trees,” LiveScience reports:
"Decades of scientific research reveal that the West is suffocating under too many trees," Wally Covington, a professor of forest ecology at Northern Arizona University and executive director of NAU's Ecological Restoration Institute, said in a statement. "Where we once had 10 to 25 trees per acre, we now have hundreds."
For years, forest researchers have warned that millions of small-diameter trees pose a threat to the nation's forests. Too many trees on the forest floor set the perfect conditions for a catastrophic wildfire, with the smaller trees serving as a source of fuel to feed the fire, according to Covington.
The eastern Arizona forest, which mostly consists of ponderosa pine, used to have natural fires that burned along the forest floor every two to 10 years, killing excess tree seedlings, recycling nutrients and removing dead and dying trees in the process. Now, because of the dense overgrowth of small-diameter trees, the fires are climbing and spreading to the high treetops.
Meanwhile, Down Under, a surfeit of feral camels is being blamed for contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and some suggest that the best way to save the planet earn carbon credits under a proposed carbon farming initiative by the government’s Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency is to kill the wabbit camel, The Australian reports:
A proposal by Northwest Carbon to cull the estimated one million feral camels roaming the outback has made the list. The company's plan, first revealed in London's Financial Times newspaper, was based on an agreement with the West Australian Department of Agriculture and Food to develop a market solution to control feral camels.
Large areas of Western Australia are overrun with the camels, which do enormous damage to vegetation and have been known to terrorise townships in their search for water. …
One camel is estimated to emit about a tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, measured as 45kg of methane, and they each eat about a tonne of vegetation.
Each camel's death is estimated to yield an "emissions avoidance benefit" of about 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Northwest says it would hire “marksmen” to shoot the animals from helicopters - never mind that when Sarah Palin hunts wolves from a helicopter, treehugger types go batsh*t – and the carcasses will be turned into pet food. Here’s an ad slogan the Aussies could use: Made with all-natural camel meat to give your pet a toehold on good nutrition for life.
Same Thing, Only Different: Part X
Weiner Can't Afford To Quit The DC Day Job
- New York Post, June 10, 2011
Future Of Cpl. Klinger's Beloved Hot Dogs In Doubt
- The Associated Press, June 10, 2011
Editorial Note: Scottsdale-based online dating service SugarSugar.com, which hooks up “generous men [AKA Sugar Daddies] looking to spoil, and dynamic women looking for financial support with bills [AKA Sugar Babies]” has made an offer to pay Weiner – more accurately, his weiner - $50K/year to be its spokespenis (they are not just “looking for another figure head”). CEO Paul Madison’s pitch letter includes double-entendres that even The New York Post and The Stiletto have not thought of.
Life Imitates Star Trek (Yet Again)
Scientists say they’re close to producing new “super varieties” of wheat that will resist a virulent fungus while boosting yields up to 15 percent, potentially easing a deadly threat to the world’s food supply.
- Scientists: ‘Super’ Wheat To Boost Food Security, The Associated Press, June 10, 2011
Kirk and Spock beam over [to Space Station K-7] and meet with Nilz Baris, the Undersecretary in charge of agricultural matters in the sector. Baris demands that the Enterprise guard a shipment of quadrotriticale, the only wheat that will grow on Sherman’s planet.
- "The Trouble With Tribbles," December 29, 1967
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