From floods and droughts to heat waves and ice melt, NASA says the impact of a warming world is being manifested in many ways that have been clearly documented by its satellite cameras. These images, some of which date back almost a decade, are published with the permission of NASA. You can see a larger image on the NASA site by clicking each picture:

Image taken on April 12, 2009 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite. (Photo: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team)

The Wilkins Ice Shelf is a thick slab of ice on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. Since 2008, it has experienced several breakups. NASA says the ice began to rapidly retreat in February and in May another breakup occurred. Fresh cracks appeared on the shelf in late November 2008 and by the beginning of 2009, a narrow ice bridge was all that remained to connect the ice shelf to ice fragments fringing nearby Charcot Island. NASA reports that bridge gave way in early April 2009. This image was taken just days after the ice bridge rupture. “Since ice reflects light from the sun, as polar ice caps melt, less sunlight gets reflected into space,” NASA says. “It is instead absorbed by the ocean and land, increasing surface heat budgets and fueling further melting.”

This month the Kodiak Electric Association proved that there’s more to the Alaskan energy landscape than oil wells and pipelines.

The U.S. Department of Energy and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association named the co-op the 2009 Wind Cooperative of the Year.

The award, announced the TechAdvantage Conference in Atlanta last week, recognizes the Alaskan cooperative’s Pillar Mountain Wind Project, which is the first utility-scale wind facility. The operation is expected to be a valuable pilot effort at integrating a large wind generation facility into an isolated grid system.

The NRECA and the DOE’s project Wind Powering America program created the award to encourage cooperatives showing leadership in advancing domestic wind power. The judges considered corporate leadership, marketing, customer benefit and creativity of the project in deciding upon winners.

For more information on how the federal government is encouraging the development of renewal wind energy see DOE’s Wind Powering America Web site.

Here’s a cool graphic that shows how wind power has grown in the U.S. in the past decade, from 2,000 MegaWatts to 28,635 MW by April 30, 2009.  See the animated version at the Wind Powering site.

Installed wind power 2009

Last week’s news really illustrated the push and pull between green ideals and the realities of life here on Planet X.

The Obama Administration put logging jobs ahead of forest preservation with its decision to allow a road into an undisturbed forest in the Tongass National Forest outside of Ketchikan, Alaska. The forest, a watershed and recreation area, had been left alone under a Clinton-era rule that protects “roadless” forests.

Now, the U.S. Forestry Service will allow two miles of road to be built so a local logging company can access timber. It will help local loggers weather tough times. But conservationists say its a bad call. There’s talk this might be a one-time exception. But then, the road to hell is paved with exceptions. Or is it intentions? In any case, this exception-al road will be bordered with clear-cut timberland. (See more in the Juneau Empire.)

Speaking of blowing up pristine lands, the debate over shearing off mountaintops to obtain coal continues unabated. You’ll recall a few weeks ago climate scientist James  Hansen and Darryl Hannah made headlines while protesting a coal operation in West Virginia.

Another mess, another bank, a different issue

This week, the Rainforest Action Network announced a new tactic in their guerrilla operation to save Appalachia: Go for the money. A newsletter to supporters asks them to call Chase Bank in New York City because the bank is a key financier of these coal operations. They’re not wasting time with some aggravating 800-number either, they’ve got names and numbers of employees and a script to follow. Cute.

So while people chip away at forests and mountains, eco-groups chip back. But what’s missing from these dialogues is, well, you. Consumers are end users of wood products. We don’t know exactly if you’ll be wiping your bottom with the trees from Ketchikan, or settling your lovely tushie on a new chair from Ketchikan. Maybe they have some high-level use in mind for these trees. Hope so.

In the meantime, there are a few small things that you can do to offset the destructive practices in any number of forests where the chain saws roar right now. Buy 100 percent recycled paper with the highest post-consumer content possible. Do this whether you are shopping for printer paper or TP.

Look for these brands, for example:

• Seventh Generation – (their TP is 100 percent recycled, minimum of 80 percent post-consumer fiber)

• Marcal – Their new “small steps” brand is 100 percent recycled “premium paper” (translation: Your tush will be safe)

As for that Appalachian coal. That’s problematic. You can’t ask people to turn off the electricity. But everyone who’s paying an electric bill should check out their power options. In many states you can choose your provider, and often you can choose a clean energy or cleaner energy plan. When you opt for wind or solar you’re keeping the pressure up on the fossil fuel industry.

(Want to know more about coal? Visit the Reality campaign, where they will share tidbits like this one from the US government: “CO₂ emissions from U.S. coal-based electricity are greater than emissions from all the cars and trucks in America.”)

March, take aim and… get great prices on organic yogurt?

Finally, on the green frontlines, was the Wal-Mart story. Bless their ginormous eco-heart, they have done a lot to bring sustainable practices to the mainstream. They’re selling Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt, organic teas, cage-free eggs, and they carried Kleenex Naturals (until that experiment folded).

But they’re still treading heavily on the land with big box stores that make a big thud when they plop down. Check out the controversy over their plans to set up shop next to a historic woodlands and Civil War battlefield in Orange County, Va. Wal-Mart claims it’s not taking a strong offensive; but defenders of history and nature are united in their pique. They want the store moved farther down the road.

The timing of this firefight exposed Wal-Mart’s weak flank: It broke out a day after the world’s largest retailer announced plans to promote green transparency with a worldwide sustainable products index. Ummm.

The moral of the story: It is NOT easy being green. Whoever said that?

(Photo credit: US Forestry Service, Kip Tyler)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Republican presidential candidate Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has historically opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), has been uncharacteristically taciturn on the energy issue since he chose pro-drilling Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Green-energy proponents find that ominous.

“With the pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for his running mate, John McCain’s race towards the Bush administration’s failed energy policy is now complete,” Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope said recently. “… No one is closer to the the oil industry than Governor Palin. Along with her support for drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge and off our coasts, she also opposes a windfall profit tax on the richest oil companies. …She has been dismissive of alternative energy, saying ‘alternative-energy solutions are far from imminent and would require more than 10 years to develop’, when in reality it is the oil she would like to drill that would take a decade to bring to market.”

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) in Washington, D.C., showed a similar concern over Palin.

“Obviously, it’s a very disappointing pick for a (presidential) candidate who at one time made a priority of getting us away from the old fossil fuels of the past – Sen. McCain,” said David Sandretti, the League’s communications director. “And this is someone (McCain) who at one time pointed out that the single biggest difference between himself and George Bush was his position on climate change. For him to pick someone who doesn’t even agree that human activity is contributing to it (global warming), is disturbing, to say the least,” Sandretti said.

Palin says she has a record of “standing up” to big oil, and she did increase taxes on the oil companies as governor, but her record also shows she’s far from pro-environment.

By contrast her VP opponent, Democrat Sen. Joe Biden, has a record of voting that has earned him a lifetime rating of 83 percent for supporting environmental causes, according to the LCV, which keeps Environmental Scorecards on U.S. legislators’ voting records.

Of Sen. Biden, Sandretti observes, “He has made a priority of the environment and has been scored very well on our scorecard online. This is someone with a lifetime rating of 83 percent of voting in the Senate. … Our scorecards look at a variety of issues on the environment, whether it be funding for enforcement of the EPA or whether it’s supporting positions that protect clean air, clean water and energy issues. Joe Biden has shown real leadership in putting forward an energy plan that moves us away form the dirty fossil fusel of the past and investing in clean, green energy. He was a co-sponsor of the global warming bill in the Senate. It’s very encouraging to us that both he and Sen. Obama embrace these policies. ”

League spokesman Josh McNeil adds that Sen. McCain has a 24 percent lifetime rating (a 0 in 2007 for not voting on any key environmental issues drags down his score). Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has an average score of 86 percent, with a 67 for 2007, the latter also reflecting his absence on several occasions.

All of this is telling enough for the green voting bloc, but since America’s past two vice presidents have enjoyed unprecedented influence and power, here’s a closer look at the contrasting energy-related stances of the 2008 VP nominees – Democrat Sen. Biden and Republican Palin.

Palin: Taking the opposite stance as her running mate, who until recently opposed drilling for oil in ANWR (perhaps he still does; so far not a word, not a whisper) the Alaskan governor wants to “drill, baby drill” if she and McCain get into office.

In an interview with the Financial Post last month, Palin explained her view: “About ANWR, about offshore drilling, finally it seems there’s been an awakening across the country to recognize what Alaska has to offer,” adding that there’s been “some deception” about ANWR and her plans to free up protected land there. “Of the 20 million acres up there, we’re looking at 2,000 acres as a footprint. Smaller than LAX (Los Angeles International Airport). With new technology, with directional drilling, maybe that footprint [will] shrink even more.”

Biden: Opposes drilling in ANWR. In 1986, he introduced the first bill designed to deal with climate change – the Global Climate Protection Act – and is a co-sponsor of the most recent, the Boxer-Sanders Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007. Regarding ANWR, Biden recently told Popular Mechanics magazine that he “does not believe the uncertain oil recovery justifies the risk of potentially great harm to this rich environment.”

Palin: Is suing the Bush Administration for designating the polar bear as threatened earlier this year because it could limit energy development offshore. The governor told the “Anchorage Daily News” last fall that the polar bear is “a metaphor in the highly charged climate change debate.” She added that such designations could “open the flood gate” for other endangered animals, thereby limiting oil and other industries.

Satellite pictures of the Arctic suggest that this year’s summer melt likely will be worse than last year’s, providing a dramatic demonstration of how global warming can snowball — no pun intended.

As the ice melts back farther and farther each summer, it loses its ability to reflect heat from the earth, becoming a contributor to, as well as a victim of, global warming. In addition, as the permafrost of the Arctic regions warms, it releases stored carbon, adding to greenhouse gases, and furthering the escalation of warming temperatures, scientists say. All this bad news, unfortunately doesn’t have any quick fixes, but will continue escalating until and unless global warming is stalled or reduced.

According to ongoing monitoring by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), August satellite images show that shrinking polar ice has receded to the second lowest level since satellite recording began, and September will tell if it surpasses the lowest level ever reached, in 2007.

“We will know in the next several weeks, when the melt season comes to a close. The bottom line, however, is that the strong negative trend in summertime ice extent characterizing the past decade continues,” according to the report this past week by the NSIDC.

The main areas of the melt are in the Chukchi Sea off the Alaskan coast and the East Siberian Seas off the coast of eastern Russia.

For more info about sea ice see the FAQ page of the NSIDC, which is based at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media