Newsflash: This is your World Too

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Listen up: people are going to tell you everything is going to be OK, that climate change is based on unknown effects, with unknown timetables. Well what's this then? Greenhouse gases to hit record levels in 2007. Increasingly acidic oceans threatening marine life like never before. Glaciers disappearing in real time. No polar ice caps?? What??? It does sound incredible, and I don't know either - but I'm listening.

New Generation Methods Everywhere

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While there are many outright dire predictions being made about the staying effects of previous and current fossil fuels on Earth's climate, people are certainly not giving up. Whether it's new schemes of storing wind power, amazing new battery technologies, experiments with possibly abundant stocks of biofuel, capturing existing energy in unprecendented ways, or even finding brand new sources of energy, scientists and enthusiasts alike are busy looking for solutions!

Industry: Not Serious People

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How is the earth going to tackle climate change, when you have some of the most powerful people playing games? What wealth do they plan on hoarding once Earth changes irrevocably? Thanks to jokers like the people running Chrysler and Exxon, ordinary people are going to have work twice as hard and three times as smart, just to get anything done. On the other hand, Walmart might be showing some kind of thought these days...

Solar Panels Reach 40% Efficiency

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Heralding a sea-change in power generation, the highest yet recorded efficiency from a solar panel was set recently at more than double, and almost triple current industrial standards. It's only a matter of time before this method of clean energy production breaks into the broad mainstream.
Read about it here at the U.S Dept of Energy.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio To Co-Develop Green Reality Show

From MSNBC News:

Leonardo DiCaprio is helping to develop a reality TV series focusing on the environment.

“E-topia” will chronicle the eco-friendly reconstruction of an American town as it is transformed into a “‘green’ utopia of tomorrow.”

In addition, each episode is designed to have a “call to action,” directing viewers to a Web site where they can learn more about ecology and find out how to participate in environmental initiatives.

Wild Seafood To Collapse Within 50 Years

From the Stanford Report:

All species of wild seafood will collapse within 50 years, according to a new study by an international team of ecologists and economists. Writing in the Nov. 3 issue of the journal Science, the researchers conclude that the loss of marine biodiversity worldwide is profoundly reducing the ocean's ability to produce seafood, resist diseases, filter pollutants and rebound from stresses, such as climate change and overfishing.

"Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together as working ecosystems, then this century is the last century of wild seafood," said study co-author Stephen Palumbi, professor of biological sciences at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station.

"The data show us it's not too late," Worm said. "We can turn this around. But less than 1 percent of the global ocean is effectively protected right now. We won't see complete recovery in one year, but in many cases species come back more quickly than people anticipated—in three to five to 10 years. And where this has been done we see immediate economic benefits."

"This isn't predicted to happen, this is happening now," said co-author Nicola Beaumont, an ecological economist with the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. "If biodiversity continues to decline, the marine environment will not be able to sustain our way of life. Indeed, it may not be able to sustain our lives at all."

The Government Has To Be Behind It

From Popular Mechanics:

"Companies are not willing to invest if they don't think there's going to be a market," says Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis. "The government has to be behind it. There has to be leadership."

There's reason to hope the technology will advance even without much government involvement. Hydrogen fuel cells already replace batteries in niche equipment, such as TV cameras and forklifts, and provide power at remote locations, such as at cellphone towers. They even power the police station in New York's Central Park. As these applications continue to develop, they will force advances in technology that will make hydrogen vehicles more feasible. Even then, hydrogen might make the most sense for fleet vehicles that don't require widespread infrastructure for service and refueling.

Ultimately, hydrogen may be just one part of a whole suite of energy alternatives. Any one of them will involve investing heavily in new infrastructure. Though the price tag will be steep, we can't afford oil's environmental, economic and political drawbacks any longer.