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10 reasons national parks need help

The National Parks Conservation Association has launched a new campaign called "Faded Glory: Top Ten Reasons to Reinvest in America's National Park Heritage." Reading the top ten list is eye-opening, if somewhat depressing: Funding shortfalls are hurting education efforts, historical preservation, the war on invasive species and poaching, routine maintenance, the list goes on. Give it a look and then follow their directions to take action.

Reefer madness

A U.S. research ship made its way out of Mexico yesterday after banging up a coral reef and potentially screwing with marine life. The vessel -- operated by Columbia University but carrying scientists from several countries -- had spent five weeks using sonic pulses to examine a crater for clues to dinosaur extinction. While whalehuggers asserted that the technology could damage undersea creatures, the crew encountered a bigger problem: it ran aground in mid-February, damaging 20 square yards of reef north of the Yucatan Peninsula. Upon departing, Columbia coughed up $200,000 and blamed the whole thing on faulty charts.

Hasta luego!

And You Thought Clinton Liked Hummers

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Sex and the Single Frog

High rate of frog hermaphroditism linked to pesticides An examination of the sex organs of cricket frogs collected in Illinois between 1852 and 2001 is presumably its own reward. However, […]

A Great Leap Forward, Without All the Famine

China passes its first renewable-energy law The Chinese legislature on Monday passed a bill aimed at increasing the country’s use of renewable energy by mandating that power-grid operators get a […]

Communing with nature

As The Gates exhibit in Central Park closes, another enviro-themed art piece will take its place. The equally ambitious project will feature some 200 large-scale photographs, a theater running an hour-long film on continuous loop, and a "floating library" featuring pages of the artist's writings projected onto screens.

The multimedia exhibition is the work of Canadian photographer Gregory Colbert, whose collection includes images of humans communing, or rather "collaborating" with animals ranging from elephants to cheetahs to whales. "When you collaborate across species and break down those barriers, extraordinary things happen," Colbert says of his work.

Trading fossils for fossil fuels

It may not be as expansive or awe-inspiring as, say, an Alaskan refuge, but a 12-million-year-old snail-fossil bed in Thailand is at risk of being destroyed in the name of insatiable energy consumption. While a state-sponsored firm digs away for coal on 10 of the area's 17 acres, snailhuggers protest that it's a loss to science and history. "But if we conserve the entire site," a representative from the power authority sputtered, "we would lose 265 million tons of coal worth 130 billion baht [about $3 billion]." Still, the company recently suspended operations for two weeks, giving geologists a chance to make their case. Go, rockhound gang.

Might as well jump

To a single individual, a problem like global warming can seem vast and hopeless. One thing we constantly hear from readers is, "What can I do?"

Well, now you have an answer: Jump. The folks at World Jump Day are trying to sign up 600,000,000 people in the Western hemisphere to jump simultaneously on July 20, 2006, at 7:39:13 PM (Pacific time -- you can find your local time on their website).

Why? Well, according to German researcher Hans Niesward and his colleagues at the Department of Gravitationsphysik at ISA/München, if 600 million people jump all at once, the earth could be bumped into a slightly new orbit. The result: Longer daytime hours, a more habitable average global temperature (particularly helpful to developing countries around the equator), and no more global warming!

There's something so hopeful and slightly melancholy about this. If nothing else, I appreciate it aesthetically.

So, for my part, I'm jumping!

African life spans

Not too long ago in Daily Grist we covered the recent population figures released by the U.N. Among the disturbing figures therein was the fact that the lifespan of the average African has declined by some 15 years in the last decade. It boggles the mind. And since it boggles, visual aids help. So go check out this chart on Marginal Revolution, which makes the point visually.

Pollute, two, three four

I'm just going to hazard a guess, here, but it seems like if the Israeli military is a major source of environmental damage, other similar outfits in nations around the world probably are too. Note to all the big guys: war is good for, as they say, absolutely nothing. Good god, y'all.