Norm Benson

Leaving on a jet plane

According to PR Newswire there is an “initiative to promote aviation biofuel development in the Pacific Northwest” that “will include an analysis of potential biomass sources that are indigenous to the Pacific Northwest, including algae, agriculturally based oilseeds such as camelina [wildflax], wood byproducts and others.” Because biomass sources absorb carbon dioxide while growing andContinue reading “Leaving on a jet plane”

Gaming Malthus with “Fate of the World”

I have submitted this to the Record-Bee for my December Green Chain column. “I have observed that not the man who hopes when others despair, but the man who despairs when others hope, is admired by a large class of persons as a sage.” – John Stuart Mill In 1901, while searching for giant clamsContinue reading “Gaming Malthus with “Fate of the World””

Sunday Funny

Weekend postcard: Yosemite

I love this picture perhaps because of the mist on the lens rather than despite the mist. I like the rock in the middle of the stream with water rushing past; it says “stop and smell the shooting stars.”

The Week’s Environmental News Roundup

State of California will purchase Tejon Ranch easements The Los Angeles Times reports, 62,000 acres of Tejon Ranch, in the Tehachapi range, will be placed into conservation easements. The move marks “the first step in implementing an agreement that would protect up to 240,000 acres of wildlands in one of the largest pieces of privateContinue reading “The Week’s Environmental News Roundup”

Just call him “Alan Greenspam”

From Grist.com come’s a sign of the times we live in: a virtual arguer. Nigel Leck got tired of arguing with people who were skeptical about global warming science. Noticing that most of them used the same debunked arguments over and over again, he decided to make a Twitter chatbot to answer them automatically. TheContinue reading “Just call him “Alan Greenspam””

Happy Birthday Climategate

My, oh my, how the time does fly. A year ago today, someone revealed more than 1,000 emails of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of the U.K.’s University of East Anglia. The emails spanned more than 13 years and reveal the researchers worries at how to make their fuzzy data appear to be smoking hotContinue reading “Happy Birthday Climategate”

Hello rainforest, it’s me, organic

I like local produce: local pears, local wines, and ripe local tomatoes. I like buying from the folks who produced them. Maybe it can even put me in touch with the seasons. Those are good things, but buying local food does not imbue such commerce with environmental greenness. And buying organic, may be less green.Continue reading “Hello rainforest, it’s me, organic”

Weekend postcard: Robert Louis Stevenson State Park

This is overlooking the Napa Valley at daybreak. Drinking hot coffee in the early morning with its chill air and watching the world wake up counts as one of life’s greatest treasures. I think it must be why coffee was invented.

The Week’s Environmental News Roundup

EPA sued over E15 ethanol waiver A number of trade associations have filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency for its decision to allow the amount of corn-based ethanol injected into gasoline to be raised from 10 per cent to 15 per cent. The groups say the EPA’s decision will adversely affect food prices forContinue reading “The Week’s Environmental News Roundup”