The World's Dump: Ocean Garbage from Hawaii to Japan

It can amaze what humans are doing to Earth.

A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said.

The vast expanse of debris -- in effect the world's largest rubbish dump -- is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting "soup" stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.

Ah, plastic. Another fine benefit from oil.

Via AlterNet.

Revolutionary new pollution-free car able to run on air

Tata Motors Mini-CAT or City Cat

Wow! That's about all I can say about this story. Except, I always have an except, talk about taking a huge bite out of oil dependency.

BBC News is reporting that a French company has developed a pollution-free car which runs on compressed air. India's Tata Motors has the car under production and it may be on sale in Europe and India by the end of the year.

The air car, also known as the Mini-CAT or City Cat, can be refueled in minutes from an air compressor at specially equipped gas stations and can go 200 km on a 1.5 euro fill-up -- roughly 125 miles for $3. The top speed will be almost 70 mph and the cost of the vehicle as low as $7000.

If you really look close, or click for larger image, it appears they get around the left-hand-drive/right-hand-drive problem by placing the driver in the middle.

Via BlackListedNews.

Paper or plastic? San Francisco decides

Update below

You don't need to decide, its paper or bio-degradable plastics. The fines are pathetic, but...

This environmentally friendly city put a green spin Tuesday on the checkout question "Paper or plastic?," becoming the first in the nation to outlaw non-recyclable plastic bags from use in supermarkets, drugstores and other large retailers.

By a 10-1 vote, the Board of Supervisors required the use of compostable or recyclable bags — a move officials predicted could soon be imitated by other cities nationwide. One supervisor voted against the ban, saying the issue needed more study.

Each year businesses here dispense an estimated 180 million plastic bags, killing marine life and clogging landfills, said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi.

The Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance, written by Mirkarimi and co-sponsored by six other supervisors, gives major supermarket chains with more than $2 million in annual sales six months to make the switch to biodegradable bags. Pharmacies and retailers with at least five locations have one year. Violators face fines of up to $500.

Come on other cities, join San Francisco.

What took so long? I can't remember how many years ago I started insisting on only paper. I found the paper bags to be environmentally superior and more useful. There's nothing like a nice paper bag for wrapping presents. Yeah, I'm that cheap.

Update: As expected, Faux News came down on the wrong side of this. Brit Hume said this will confuse recyclers. They won't know if the plastic bags are recyclable or not. What a tool.

(read more)

Inhofe and the Old/New Republicans

Everyone knows people who just can't handle reality. I gave up trying to convince my father people who weren't white Anglo-Saxons or didn't have a penis were just as intelligent and qualified as he.

After the Democrats won control of Congress last November, the conventional wisdom was that George W. Bush and other Republicans would look for ways to moderate far-right positions on key issues like the Iraq War and global warming, tacking closer to positions held by most American voters.

But that isn’t what happened. Instead, the Republican leadership has dug in its heels on Iraq, lambasted scientists who warn about climate change and – despite a few rhetorical concessions here and there – continued to support the same ol’ stuff.

In that sense, Sen. James Mountain Inhofe of Oklahoma may be the poster boy of modern Republicanism, the guy who puts the certainty of his instincts and ideology ahead of contrary facts.

As chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Inhofe has steadfastly maintained that global warming is a “hoax” – and won’t back down whatever the overwhelming scientific consensus might be.

Inhofe used his Senate position to block any environmental legislation that would put burdens on business, especially the petroleum industry which filled his campaign coffers with at least $900,000 in the last funding cycle. Like Bush, Inhofe wanted nothing to do with the Kyoto Treaty and its requirements for cutting carbon-dioxide emissions.

Nearly 500 American cities – from Missouri hamlets to major cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco – have challenged the Bush administration’s resistance to Kyoto by passing local legislation endorsing the accords.

But the nearer the issue of global warming has gotten to center stage the more vitriol Inhofe has poured on environmentalists, scientists and the media. Environmentalists became “Nazis,” the regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency were the “Gestapo,” the media’s references to global warming were a “hoax.”

Though this strategy of demeaning opponents didn’t work in Election 2006, Inhofe remained unbowed. The senator fired off a letter to various CEOs complaining that environmentalists were about to take over his committee and warning that Wall Street would not look kindly on executives who succumbed to the environmental agenda.

No sooner had Inhofe’s letter been delivered and his committee chairmanship been surrendered to Sen. Barbara Boxer of California than the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a report that ExxonMobil had engaged in a disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting findings about global warming.

ExxonMobil had pumped $16 million into at least 43 front groups, the scientific organization said. Within days, ExxonMobil announced it had ceased funding the groups and entered into talks with environmental organizations about what could be done to reduce greenhouse gases.

Well, it appears embarrassment may work or at least did with ExxonMobil.

BTW, this is the first time I'd heard about ExxonMobile's $16 million payout to 43 front groups. Its another indicator they're profits are just too damn large.

Updated: Changed "to damn large" to "too damn large". Jeez I hate it when i mix up to and too and they're and their and...

(read more)