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Zombie hens survive euthanasia

In a truly bizarre story, laying hens who have survived euthanasia have walked out alive from compost piles. Neighbors in Sonoma County dubbed them "zombie chickens."

They don’t ignore it

In order to further elucidate the role of animal welfare issues in environmentalism, let us examine mission statements from some of the top environmental organizations in the world.

Let's start with the first line of the mission statement from the World Wildlife Fund:

"Protecting natural areas and wild populations of plants and animals, including endangered species."

Notice that WWF talks about protecting wild animals independently of whether they are endangered (only later do they go on to discuss the sustainability of resources).

Here's the first sentence from the mission statement for the Defenders of Wildlife:

Al Gore’s tragic humor

Al Gore, funny guy:

Do you know if President Bush has seen the movie yet?

Well, he claimed that would not see it. That's why I wrote the book. He's a reader.

And a personal anecdote:

Huh?

People who want to poo-poo the environmental movement are fond of making a particular argument. It goes like this:

You go on and on about how the earth is "in trouble" and "out of balance." But guess what, dude, the earth is billions of years old. Nothing we could do could hurt it.

Yes. Right. Obviously. Though we may take ourselves out, and a good chunk of the earth's current biodiversity with us, the planet itself will survive and eventually regenerate new species.

What I don't get is ... so what? Why does this pop up so often? What's the force of the argument supposed to be? It mystifies me.

Gore: Oscar winner

An Inconvenient Truth will win the 2007 Oscar for Best Documentary. You heard it here first.

On a related note: below the fold, you can watch video of Al Gore's surprisingly funny appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last week. (Thanks to Treehugger for uploading the video.)

Is hydropower really low-carbon? Time will tell

Back in early November, I noted information suggesting hydropower may not be as carbon neutral as we thought. The word "may" was deliberately chosen.

At the time, I received an angry email from a leading hydropower supporter, which included links to some studies suggesting the data for high emissions was cherry-picked, or didn't take net emissions into account adequately.

I soon found other studies dealing with these objections and suggesting significant net emissions from hydropower. At this point, I was reminded of the debate between warming deniers and climate scientists, except I was not sure which side was which.

The December 2006 issue of Nature contains a fascinating article on the subject: "The green image of hydropower may have been seriously overstated, warn Scientists." The key paragraphs:

And I claimed there were no eco-friendly chaps in the English Premier League

I stand corrected. Back in the day I claimed that there were no eco-friendly chaps in the English Premier League. But lo and behold -- I bring you Calamity James.

James, a goalkeeper for Portsmouth, was born David, not Calamity, but seeing as Wikipedia lists him under the heading "Notable footballers prone to errors," it's a deserved nickname. Still, judging from a recent op-ed, at least his heart's in the right place.

James berates English football (yes, soccer, whatever) for its eco-slackerness:

The agricultural subsidy train never stops

Now that produce farmers are feeling the heat from overseas competition, they want some of the federal subsidy pie.

Must be seen to be believed

What can you say?

(hat tip to reader CR)

Sen. inserts foot in mouth

Two weeks ago, Dave and I gleefully reported that Sen. John Warner, current-but-soon-to-be-former Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, was going to use his seniority to oust Sen. James Inhofe from the top Republican seat on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Apparently Warner is reconsidering and may instead seek the ranking member position on the Intelligence Committee. On Friday, The Wall Street Journal had this quote from Warner on the subject:

I've spent most of my life worried about defense. ... I don't know if I'll live long enough to figure out global warming.

Warner's office refused to further comment on the story, so tune in next week for the next episode of "As the Warner Turns."