Green Options

Results recently published in the journal Global Change Biology show a population drop of 60% in worldwide caribou and reindeer numbers over the last three decades.

The dramatic decline in population is likely due to climate change and increased industrial development in boreal forests around the world.

Over the past 2 weeks a number of organizations including National Geographic, Conservation International, and several famous rock bands helped facilitate the “Great Turtle Race”: a fun effort to scientifically track the migration of 11 endangered leatherback sea turtles on their journey from Canada to the Caribbean. In addition to building awareness of the need for turtle conservation, one of the turtles provided the world with the 1st complete set of migration data ever recorded for a sea turtle.

Seen above, the sea turtle known as Wawa Bear traveled 4471 miles and had her entire route tracked successfully. At 1315 pounds, it should not be hard to imagine where the name “bear” comes from. Wawa Bear is, in fact, the largest sea turtle ever captured in Nova Scotian waters.

New “secondary” forests are emerging in Latin America, Asia and other tropical regions rapidly as land that was once farmed is abandoned as people move into the cities.

In fact, it is estimated that for every acre of rainforest that is cut down, 50 acres of forest is revitalized areas that were once farmed, logged, or destroyed by natural disasters.

When the award-winning film The End of Suburbia was released in 2004, it was considered by some to be an amusing but exaggerated view of what Peak Oil will do to the suburban way of life. As gas prices approach $5/gallon, it doesn’t seem quite so shocking.

As a passionate enemy of suburban sprawl, I listened intently to an interview this morning on NPR with Brookings Institution demographer William Frey in which he notes that housing prices are falling faster in the areas outside cities. Is this a permanent correction that is making “exurbs” less desirable overall? And how are gas prices influencing this loss of home value? Mr. Frey was cautious in his answer, saying “the jury is still out” and that Americans have a history of moving outward from cities in order to buy more housing for less, seeing long commutes as an acceptable trade off.

However, it doesn’t take a genius to see that, when a commute costs more than one is saving on housing, while sucking up hours of one’s valuable time, (and as the saying goes, “They aren’t making more of that”) why would one buy a home in the far suburbs? Why, indeed?

Sperling’s Best Places did a survey two years ago when gas prices were at $2.90 a gallon. The following were the most expensive cities in which to commute and listed the average annual commuting cost:

City Annual Commuting Cost (2006)

1. Atlanta $5,772
2. Birmingham, Ala. $5,464
3. Orlando, Fla. $5,404
4. Jacksonville, Fla. $5,360
5. Pensacola, Fla. $5,173

So, if gas prices reach $6.00, Atlanta’s commuting cost would be over $10,000 per year. Yikes.

Climate change is altering Pacific gray whales’ migration patterns. According to Rob Davis, “The whales’ fall migration south past San Diego is peaking five days later than it once did. Once they get to Baja, they’re staying two weeks less than they did in the late 1970s.”

Image source: Voices of San Diego