THIS MORNING FEELS LIKE FALL

WHAT A SURPRISE

Shell halts Arctic drilling until 2013 after safety failure

Headline this morning [from The Telegraph], a perfect turn in this now several-years-running saga of the oil company hellbent to drill in the Arctic where drilling has never been done. In this latest turn, almost comedic if not so dubious a foreshadowing, after finally getting long sought permits to begin  - based on a convincing plan for safety in the event of disaster - they have difficulties moving the safety equipment into place. 

Good luck with your revised safety plan, Shell.  

MELTING ARCTIC

A report based on satellite surveys this past weekend by the National Snow and Ice Data Center and NASA reveals dire but not surprising news. Excerpts below from the full story in the Times:

The amount of sea ice in the Arctic has fallen to the lowest level on record, a confirmation of the drastic warming in the region and a likely harbinger of larger changes to come.

The amount of sea ice in summer has declined more than 40 percent since satellite tracking began in the late 1970s, a trend that most scientists believe is primarily a consequence of human activity.

“It’s hard even for people like me to believe, to see that climate change is actually doing what our worst fears dictated,” said Jennifer A. Francis, a Rutgers University scientist who studies the effect of sea ice on weather patterns. “It’s starting to give me chills, to tell you the truth.”

Scientific forecasts based on computer modeling have long suggested that a time will come when the Arctic will be completely free of ice in the summer, perhaps by the middle of the century. This year’s prodigious melting is lending credibility to more pessimistic analyses that it may come much sooner, perhaps by the end of the decade.

Its getting to be time when I'd like to see that distinguished group of media who call climate change a hoax go stand on the thinnest part of the Arctic ice and broadcast their nightly news.

LES CONCORDS EST ARRIVÉ

August 25th, 84 degrees, and Concord Grapes have arrived at Greenmarket. Two foods mark the seasons for me like no others:     Basil in summer and Concords in fall. Even if it is not quite summer or hardly the fall. These Concords surprised me this morning, but their message is clear: summer is ending.

TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES

The Transportation Alternatives Summer Benefit last night.
We catered cocktails to dessert, then went to bed too late. 

WHILE THE TEMPERATURES RISES

... we are lights off and cool by candlelight on the mezzanine. 

THE FIGHT TO LABEL GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS

How much more reasonable could the idea of labeling genetically modified foods be? There's no credible case to be made on the other side, which of course doesn't stop the industrial food companies from trying. This issue, in play in California right now, feels like a growing movement to make labels the law. Mother Jones Magazine provides an overview:  

In November, California voters will decide on a ballot initiative that would require labeling of all foods containing ingredients from genetically modified crops. The initiative made it to the ballot after almost 1 million Californians signed a petition in favor of it—nearly double the 504,760 signatures needed under the state's proposition rules. The campaign that organized the push to get the measure on the ballot focused on possible health effects of GMO foods.

A more animated view of the matter is provided by a group in Britain [below]. I'm partial to the dramatic entrance of the baker at 3:05:

TRANSPORTATION POLICY FOR BREAKFAST

I had breakfast at the Waldorf-Astoria this morning, an unusual location to find myself at for breakfast.               The occasion was a meeting Transportation Alternatives hosted for Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer, a progressive legislator focused on transportation, infrastructure and environmental policy. I was invited in order to share details of ourBirdbath bicycle rickshaw delivery system with the congressman, an invitation too good to pass up. I explained why we began using rickshaws, how it works and the many benefits [operational efficiency, use of clean energy, staff morale and the chance to create goodwill in the streets]. The congressman seemed genuinely intrigued, and after the breakfast, he came up to me and said: "that system of yours is great, but also just sounds fun." 

He's right. 

MIGHTY TREES

From today's Times, an 
Op-Ed on the "near miracle" of trees: 


"We have underestimated the importance of trees. They are not merely pleasant sources of shade but a potentially major answer to some of our most pressing environmental problems. We take them for granted, but they are a near miracle. In a bit of natural alchemy called photosynthesis, for example, trees turn one of the seemingly most insubstantial things of all - sunlight - into food for insects, wildlife and people, and use it to create shade, beauty and wood for fuel, furniture and homes."

DEAR TREEHUGGER

I'm very sorry to say this Treehugger, but the time has come to break-up with you as my homepage.

I'm not doing this lightly or impulsively. It feels heavy, but I know its right.  

We've been together now - what is it - four years? Almost five? Everyone of those days, I've opened my computer and landed on you. I never told you before, but you're the longest homepage I ever had.

You always felt just right, until.... 

....well, until you showed up yesterday like this:

I don't want to know her name. Besides the point.

Can we just call this The Slinky Bikini Cheap Trick Landing Page and leave it at that?

Spare me details. I already know too much: you posted Slinky Bikini before people even went to work yesterday morning [excluding bakers, ahem], and it was still there when the sun went down almost 10 hours later.

Can you understand how much that's just too much of a Slinky Bikini on your landing page? The same landing page that once railed fury and contempt at the coal industry for blowing mountain tops apart in West Virginia? I cheered you on inside for that, so let me tell you now: it is a long way from a mountain top in West Virginia to Miss Slinky Bikini.

I should say: I am not opposed to bikinis. Trust me, I am totally fine with bikinis. They don't even need to be eco-friendly.

Can you see where I'm coming from? I know things change. People change. Landing pages change. But still.
One day, contemptible coal industry executives and exploding mountain tops. Fast forward a bit, and we've arrived at Slinky Bikini [btw, don't think for a second I missed Don Draper's visage oh so close to guess what? May I ask: exactly what was the thinking on that one? 10 hours of Slinky Bikini front and center might not do the job? You needed Dapper Don's sweet mug just in case? Was he not cheap trick #2, a visual cherry on top of your Slinky Bikini cake?].

Truth be told, I've had some doubts about this relationship for a while. I know, I know, I didn't say anything when it happened, but your total graphic overhaul a few months back jilted me. Things have never felt quite the same  since. Some days, I've looked at the new you and had no idea of where to begin.

Call me old-fashioned. I was a glutton for your one-picture/post-at-a-time, scroll-down way. A charmer. I could have ridden that landing page of yours into the sunset, I swear. You were such an easy read. I went post to post to post, it was too hard to stop, so I didn't try. I've missed those times, and I've been telling myself your change was okay, or maybe it was me, but I knew deep down. I should have seen Slinky Bikini coming.

I have to ask: has this felt right for you?

Just for the record, I've been faithful. This is not about another landing page. Even as I write this, I have no idea what type of landing page I'll be looking for next [actually, one idea: it won't have Slinky Bikinis].

I'll miss you, Treehugger. You showed me the ropes of so many thrilling forms of alternative energy. You taught me resolve on global warming - do you even know that? That was you. Comparative studies of prehistoric ice melt vs. the last five decades? I was riveted. You were even the one to get my juices going about progressive urban policy on bicycles, something I take seriously and will always cherish.

No question, I am sad, but this is the time to move on.

The way I see it now: We'll always have West Virginia and those exploding mountain tops. Those bastards. 

   

PERIL FOR THE BLOSSOMS

Tonight's weather advisory has small farmers all over the region deeply worried. If the temperature hits freezing, spring and summer fruits [cherries, peaches and too many others] could be lost for the entire season. From the weather service:

* temperatures...dropping into the mid to upper 20s. even
locations along the coastal strips of new jersey and delaware, and in the highly urbanized metro areas, may see temperatures drop to around 30 degrees.
* impacts...due to an unusually warm winter and early spring, the growing season has begun around the region. any vegetation susceptible to freezing temperatures over a period of three or more hours would be at risk.
* a freeze warning means sub-freezing temperatures are imminent or highly likely. these conditions will kill crops and other sensitive vegetation.

DEPT. OF DUBIOUS ADVERTISING

Call me skeptical, but what's the timetable? 

GOOD LUCK SHELL OIL

       ...and I really mean it, because the one thing I believe more than any other about drilling in the Arctic:  

there is not a reason in the world to believe the claims of an oil company that they are prepared for a disaster.  

                                       Shell Oil's Kulluk oil drilling rig, with downtown Seattle in the background. By July it's expected to be at work off
                                       the north coast of Alaska. (Elaine Thompson, Associated Press)

By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times

March 3, 2012, 7:55 p.m.

Reporting from Seattle— 

Amid the tangle of towering steel, heavy cranes and overcast skies of Seattle's busy commercial shipyards, Shell Oil's massive Kulluk drilling rig is preparing to push off for the Arctic Ocean.

When it does, America's balance between energy needs and environmental fears will enter a new era. Barring unexpected court or regulatory action, by July the Kulluk will begin drilling exploratory oil wells in the frigid waters off Alaska's northern coast.

After one of the biggest environmental fights in the U.S. in decades, there is a palpable sense of all-systems-go on the dock. Shell has invested $4 billion leading up to this moment, hoping the new wells will open the tap on an undersea field that could be one of the biggest ever discovered in the U.S. The Obama administration has given all but the final go-ahead, sensing the potential of 500,000 barrels  a day of new oil flowing into the trans-Alaska pipeline.

---

At a nearby slip, the 301-foot Nanuq is also preparing to steam north. Its job will be to contain and clean any oil spills created by the Kulluk or its companion rig, the Discoverer. The question is whether it and several companion vessels are up to the task.

Conservationists fear that a spill in these fragile and forbidding waters, marbled with ice during the spring and fall and shrouded in darkness by winter, could send a deadly pool of oil seeping below that ice — creating a catastrophe that would make BP's Deepwater Horizon spill seem like an easy cleanup by comparison.

The Beaufort and Chukchi seas, where the Kulluk is headed, may be so remote few humans will ever see them, but they are the nurseries of the earth.

Tens of thousands of familiar American birds make epic journeys each year to the Arctic to feed and nest. The austere waters nurture food-chain building blocks for whales, walruses, seals and polar bears. Struggling Eskimo communities depend almost completely on these animals for sustenance as winter temperatures plunge to 40 degrees below zero.

Even if it doesn't spill a drop of oil, Shell's fleet will release thousands of tons of industrial carbon, nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants into the air every year, adding to levels of toxic chemicals and acid in the northern waters.

"It is beyond the pale of stupidity that in the face of everything that's happening in the Arctic that we would launch a drilling program," said Jim Ayers, former director of the Exxon Valdez Trustees Council, who helped review the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico for theU.S. Coast Guard.

Both Shell and environmentalists are rushing to court for last-minute legal reviews.

DEEP SEA FLOATING WIND FARMS

As Shell Oil gets closer to risking the Arctic habitat to drill [for a projected measly supply of 4 years domestic energy], here's better news in energy development:

From The Guardian: 

Six miles off south-west Norway, the first full-scale demonstration of a floating wind turbine heaves and sways in the North Sea. The depth of water, at 200 metres, rules out driving piles into the seabed, or mounting the turbine on a submersible tower. Instead, it sits on a buoyant steel cylinder, kept upright with ballast, and tethered (not too tightly) to the seabed by a three-point mooring. With floating platforms, wind could be tapped over the deeper seas of the Mediterranean, and off Japan and off both coasts of the US, says Peter Jamieson, of energy consultants GL Garrad Hassan, the author of Innovation in Wind Turbine Design.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHMO

"The earth is not the objective. Man is the objective, and I think that a lot of radical environmentalists have it upside down," Mr. Santorum said. 
jk
Dear Mr. Santorum:
Any chance your definition of 'radical environmentalists' are regular people who speak up to protect clean air
and clean water?

A HOTTER HOT CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL

I

Lots of customers have commented to me about the unusually mild temperature for February and our Hot Chocolate Festival.
The chart above makes clear it's no one's imagination. Officially [last month at least], a record high January. More from NOAA. 

ENERGY & SUPERMARKETS

From the Rocky Mountain Institute [rmi.org] the list below comes after a project aimed at creating 
more energy efficient supermarkets with H.E. Butt, based in Texas, and one of the largest supermarket 
companies in the nation.   

These steps are how RMI design recommendations would reduce typical store electricity demand: High-efficiency refrigeration systems—saves up to 18 percent of the store’s total electricity use. Skylights, and high-efficiency interior and exterior lighting—saves 12 percent. HVAC efficiency: chilled water, efficient fans and ductwork, desiccant dehumidifier—saves 10 percent. Radiant heating and cooling—saves 6 percent. Superinsulated walls, tight construction—saves 3 percent. Greatly reduced infiltration at entrances (vestibules)—saves 3 percent. Potential water savings and waste recovery, though smaller in total expenditures, are even more dramatic on a percentage basis. Water efficiency could reduce consumption by 80 percent: Xeriscaping—saves 28 percent. Low-flow restroom fixtures and sink aerators—save 23 percent. Rooftop rainwater capture and use—saves 11 percent. Kitchen improvements such as portable pressure washers and pre-rinse spray valves—save 5 percent. Reclaiming HVAC condensate—saves 3 percent.