Filphoto

Test Shot with M Jumping

2010-12-17T14:46:00.001-08:00

Test Shot with M Jumping
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Starfish at Tutka Bay, Alaska

2010-12-06T21:07:00.001-08:00

Starfish at Tutka Bay, Alaska
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Tutka Bay, Alaska Outhouse with crescent moon opening

2010-12-06T09:32:00.001-08:00

Tutka Bay, Alaska Outhouse with crescent moon opening
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Economist 2010 Books of the Year

2010-12-04T14:39:00.001-08:00

Economist 2010 Books of the Year

Seward, Alaska

2010-12-04T02:25:00.003-08:00

Seward, Alaska
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Seward, Alaska

2010-12-04T02:25:00.001-08:00

Seward, Alaska
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Homer Spit, Alaska

2010-12-03T22:39:00.001-08:00

Homer Spit, Alaska
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Sunset Transparency at the new Goldman Sachs World Headquarters, New York City

2010-12-03T22:38:00.001-08:00

Sunset Transparency at the new Goldman Sachs World Headquarters, New York City
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

André Balazs' 1 Kenmare Square or 210 Lafayette Street

2010-06-11T06:37:00.001-07:00

André Balazs' 1 Kenmare Square or 210 Lafayette Street
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

The Bowery Hotel, 335 Bowery, NYC

2009-06-07T18:34:00.001-07:00

The Bowery Hotel, 335 Bowery, NYC
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Building Collapse in Chinatown, NY (Pike St. and East Broadway)

2009-05-15T13:36:00.001-07:00

Building Collapse in Chinatown, NY (Pike St. and East Broadway)
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Ian Schrager's 40 Bond Street , New York City - Herzog & de Meuron

2009-05-01T10:29:00.001-07:00

Ian Schrager's 40 Bond Street , New York City - Herzog & de Meuron
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Sunset in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

2009-04-28T20:21:00.001-07:00

Sunset in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

The Odeon, West Broadway, Tribeca

2009-04-28T05:16:00.001-07:00

The Odeon, West Broadway, Tribeca
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Beach and Boat in Cancun, Mexico

2009-04-25T04:43:00.001-07:00

Beach and Boat in Cancun, Mexico
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Boat on the Beach, Costa Rica

2009-04-20T15:33:00.001-07:00

Boat on the Beach, Costa Rica
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

St Croix Virgin Islands Hotels and Resorts - The Buccaneer Hotel Pool

2009-04-19T15:45:00.001-07:00

St Croix Virgin Islands Hotels and Resorts - The Buccaneer Hotel Pool
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

26 Federal Plaza, NYC

2009-04-19T09:42:00.001-07:00

26 Federal Plaza, NYC
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Snow covered Mini Cooper, Vespa and the new Goldman Sachs HQ in Battery Park City

2009-04-12T12:13:00.001-07:00

Snow covered Mini Cooper, Vespa and the new Goldman Sachs HQ in Battery Park City
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Favela Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2009-04-12T08:21:00.001-07:00

Favela Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

São Paulo Skyline from Terraço Itália

2009-04-11T14:49:00.001-07:00

São Paulo Skyline from Terraço Itália
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Osaka Castle (大坂城・大阪城 ,Ōsaka-jō) a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

2009-04-11T11:39:00.001-07:00

Osaka Castle (大坂城・大阪城 ,Ōsaka-jō) a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Sunrise over the ocean at Hotel New Akao, Atami, Japan

2009-04-10T05:10:00.001-07:00

Sunrise over the ocean at Hotel New Akao, Atami, Japan
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

NOLITA: Cleveland Place and Kenmare, looking at NYC's original Police Headquarters (now apartments)

2009-04-08T19:20:00.001-07:00

NOLITA: Cleveland Place and Kenmare, looking at NYC's original Police Headquarters (now apartments)
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

staple st.jpg

2009-04-08T03:58:00.001-07:00

staple st.jpg
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Sunrise over the ocean at Hotel New Akao, Atami, Japan

2009-04-05T06:42:00.001-07:00

Sunrise over the ocean at Hotel New Akao, Atami, Japan
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Snow covered Mini Cooper, Vespa and the new Goldman Sachs HQ in Battery Park City

2009-04-03T10:57:00.005-07:00

Snow covered Mini Cooper, Vespa and the new Goldman Sachs HQ in Battery Park City
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

The Bowery Hotel, 335 Bowery, NYC

2009-04-03T10:57:00.003-07:00

The Bowery Hotel, 335 Bowery, NYC
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Car jumps curb, pins man in front of New York State Supreme Court building in lower manhattan

2009-04-03T10:57:00.001-07:00

Car jumps curb, pins man in front of New York State Supreme Court building in lower manhattan
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

The Riverhouse in Battery Park City

2009-04-03T10:56:00.011-07:00

The Riverhouse in Battery Park City
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Piano's bar in the Lower East Side 158 Ludlow St., New York, NY

2009-04-03T10:56:00.009-07:00

Piano's bar in the Lower East Side 158 Ludlow St., New York, NY
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Frank O. Gehry & Partners Walt Disney Concert Hall

2009-04-03T10:56:00.007-07:00

Frank O. Gehry & Partners Walt Disney Concert Hall
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Frank O. Gehry & Partners Walt Disney Concert Hall

2009-04-03T10:56:00.005-07:00

Frank O. Gehry & Partners Walt Disney Concert Hall
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Sunset Transparency at the new Goldman Sachs World Headquarters, New York City

2009-04-03T10:56:00.003-07:00

Sunset Transparency at the new Goldman Sachs World Headquarters, New York City
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Ian Schrager's 40 Bond Street , New York City - Herzog & de Meuron

2009-04-03T10:56:00.001-07:00

Ian Schrager's 40 Bond Street , New York City - Herzog & de Meuron
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Frank O. Gehry & Partners Walt Disney Concert Hall

2009-04-03T10:55:00.007-07:00

Frank O. Gehry & Partners Walt Disney Concert Hall
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Jet Ditched in Hudson - Submerged off Rockafeller Park in Battery Park City

2009-04-03T10:55:00.005-07:00

Jet Ditched in Hudson - Submerged off Rockafeller Park in Battery Park City
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Tony Rosenthal's Alamo "The Cube", Astor Place, NYC

2009-04-03T10:55:00.003-07:00

Tony Rosenthal's Alamo "The Cube", Astor Place, NYC
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC

2009-04-03T10:55:00.001-07:00

National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Ian Schrager's 40 Bond Street , New York City - Herzog & de Meuron

2009-04-03T10:54:00.003-07:00

Ian Schrager's 40 Bond Street , New York City - Herzog & de Meuron
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

NYFD Hook and Ladder #8 (Ghostbusters Firehouse)

2009-04-03T10:54:00.001-07:00

NYFD Hook and Ladder #8 (Ghostbusters Firehouse)
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

Panorama from Osaka Castle (大坂城・大阪城 ,Ōsaka-jō), a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.

2009-04-03T10:53:00.001-07:00

Panorama from Osaka Castle (大坂城・大阪城 ,Ōsaka-jō), a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.
Originally uploaded by Phillip Ritz

iPhone on Ebay

2008-12-27T09:04:00.001-08:00

iPhone on Ebay

2008-12-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

Jersey City, NJ from Battery Park City

2008-07-30T07:03:00.000-07:00

Snow covered Mini Cooper, Vespa and the new Goldman Sachs HQ in Battery Park City

2008-04-30T07:02:00.002-07:00

National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC

2008-04-30T07:02:00.001-07:00

Ghostbusters Firehouse

2008-04-30T07:01:00.001-07:00

Frank O. Gehry and Partners Walt Disney Concert Hall

2008-04-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

The Cube

2008-04-30T06:57:00.000-07:00

11 Spring Street

2008-02-09T11:43:00.000-08:00

Obey in West Soho, NYC

2007-12-22T11:32:00.000-08:00

Guitar Hero III for Wii - problems with the orange fret

2007-12-22T11:25:00.000-08:00

My girlfriend picked up guitar hero III, now that we've moved to the hard stage we've noticed a design problem. The orange fret button on the detachable guitar neck (for Nintendo Wii) does not work. If you work on the guitar neck a lot the orange button works, but cuts out 90% of the time. There might be a bad connection between the body and detachable neck, http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifor where the controller plugs into the wii-remote.

Hopefully Activision covers this in their warranty. Besides the orange fret button, the mono sound, and the lack of online songs, its a great game.

Here's a fix that might work: http://www.grownupgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=120141#post120141

My coke points

2007-06-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

So, how much is a my Coke reward point worth? Assuming you can purchase a $50.00 gift card (for adidas) with 1250 coke points, each point is worth 50/1250= 0.04.

4 cents for each point. pretty lousy, right? It's almost 3x the deposit, for you new yorkers, since each 20 ounce bottle comes with 3 points. Your case of coke cans has 10 points - or 40 cents in value.

It's hardly worth the time spent typing in the code. Unless your day job is in plastic or cardboard recycling.

Carbon-neutral is hip, but is it green?

2007-04-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

International Herald Tribune
Carbon-neutral is hip, but is it green?
By Andrew Revkin
Saturday, April 28, 2007

The rush to go on a carbon diet, even if by proxy, is in overdrive.

In addition to the celebrities — Leo, Brad, George — politicians like John Edwards and Hillary Clinton are now running, at least part of the time, carbon-neutral campaigns. A lengthening list of big businesses — international banks, London's taxi fleet, luxury airlines — also claim "carbon neutrality." Silverjet, a plush new trans-Atlantic carrier, bills itself as the first fully carbon-neutral airline. It puts about $28 of each round-trip ticket into a fund for global projects that, in theory, squelch as much carbon dioxide as the airline generates — about 1.2 tons per passenger, the airline says.
.......

Charles Komanoff, an energy economist in New York, said the commercial market in climate neutrality could have even more harmful effects.

It could, by suggesting there's an easy way out, blunt public support for what will really be needed in the long run, he said: a binding limit on emissions or a tax on the fuels that generate greenhouse gases.

"There isn't a single American household above the poverty line that couldn't cut their CO2 at least 25 percent in six months through a straightforward series of fairly simple and terrifically cost-effective measures," he said.

First Successful Demonstration of Carbon Dioxide Air Capture Technology Achieved by Columbia University Scientist and Private Company

2007-04-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

An artist's rendering of an "air extraction" prototype being developed by Global Research Technologies and Klaus Lackner from Columbia University.

Global Research Technologies, LLC (GRT), a technology research and development company, and Klaus Lackner from Columbia University have achieved the successful demonstration of a bold new technology to capture carbon from the air. The "air extraction" prototype has successfully demonstrated that indeed carbon dioxide (CO2) can be captured from the atmosphere. This is GRT’s first step toward a commercially viable air capture device.

IMG_4348

2007-02-09T20:55:00.000-08:00

IMG_4348
Originally uploaded by Donny Russ

What Should a Billionaire Give – and What Should You? By PETER SINGER

2006-12-18T06:32:00.000-08:00

December 17, 2006

What is a human life worth? You may not want to put a price tag on a
it. But if we really had to, most of us would agree that the value of
a human life would be in the millions. Consistent with the foundations
of our democracy and our frequently professed belief in the inherent
dignity of human beings, we would also agree that all humans are
created equal, at least to the extent of denying that differences of
sex, ethnicity, nationality and place of residence change the value of
a human life.

.....

Obviously, the rich in other nations should share the burden of
relieving global poverty. The U.S. is responsible for 36 percent of
the gross domestic product of all Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development nations. Arguably, because the U.S. is
richer than all other major nations, and its wealth is more unevenly
distributed than wealth in almost any other industrialized country,
the rich in the U.S. should contribute more than 36 percent of total
global donations. So somewhat more than 36 percent of all aid to
relieve global poverty should come from the U.S. For simplicity, let's
take half as a fair share for the U.S. On that basis, extending the
scheme I have suggested worldwide would provide $808 billion annually
for development aid. That's more than six times what the task force
chaired by Sachs estimated would be required for 2006 in order to be
on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals, and more than 16
times the shortfall between that sum and existing official development
aid commitments.

If we are obliged to do no more than our fair share of eliminating
global poverty, the burden will not be great. But is that really all
we ought to do? Since we all agree that fairness is a good thing, and
none of us like doing more because others don't pull their weight, the
fair-share view is attractive. In the end, however, I think we should
reject it. Let's return to the drowning child in the shallow pond.
Imagine it is not 1 small child who has fallen in, but 50 children. We
are among 50 adults, unrelated to the children, picnicking on the lawn
around the pond. We can easily wade into the pond and rescue the
children, and the fact that we would find it cold and unpleasant
sloshing around in the knee-deep muddy water is no justification for
failing to do so. The "fair share" theorists would say that if we each
rescue one child, all the children will be saved, and so none of us
have an obligation to save more than one. But what if half the
picnickers prefer staying clean and dry to rescuing any children at
all? Is it acceptable if the rest of us stop after we have rescued
just one child, knowing that we have done our fair share, but that
half the children will drown? We might justifiably be furious with
those who are not doing their fair share, but our anger with them is
not a reason for letting the children die. In terms of praise and
blame, we are clearly right to condemn, in the strongest terms, those
who do nothing. In contrast, we may withhold such condemnation from
those who stop when they have done their fair share. Even so, they
have let children drown when they could easily have saved them, and
that is wrong.

Similarly, in the real world, it should be seen as a serious moral
failure when those with ample income do not do their fair share toward
relieving global poverty. It isn't so easy, however, to decide on the
proper approach to take to those who limit their contribution to their
fair share when they could easily do more and when, because others are
not playing their part, a further donation would assist many in
desperate need. In the privacy of our own judgment, we should believe
that it is wrong not to do more. But whether we should actually
criticize people who are doing their fair share, but no more than
that, depends on the psychological impact that such criticism will
have on them, and on others. This in turn may depend on social
practices. If the majority are doing little or nothing, setting a
standard higher than the fair-share level may seem so demanding that
it discourages people who are willing to make an equitable
contribution from doing even that. So it may be best to refrain from
criticizing those who achieve the fair-share level. In moving our
society's standards forward, we may have to progress one step at a
time.

For more than 30 years, I've been reading, writing and teaching about
the ethical issue posed by the juxtaposition, on our planet, of great
abundance and life-threatening poverty. Yet it was not until, in
preparing this article, I calculated how much America's Top 10 percent
of income earners actually make that I fully understood how easy it
would be for the world's rich to eliminate, or virtually eliminate,
global poverty. (It has actually become much easier over the last 30
years, as the rich have grown significantly richer.) I found the
result astonishing. I double-checked the figures and asked a research
assistant to check them as well. But they were right. Measured against
our capacity, the Millennium Development Goals are indecently,
shockingly modest. If we fail to achieve them — as on present
indications we well might — we have no excuses. The target we should
be setting for ourselves is not halving the proportion of people
living in extreme poverty, and without enough to eat, but ensuring
that no one, or virtually no one, needs to live in such degrading
conditions. That is a worthy goal, and it is well within our reach.

Peter Singer is the Ira W. DeCamp professor of bioethics at the Center
for Human Values at Princeton University. He is the author of many
books, including most recently "The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices
Matter."

ATM fees at Bank of America savings accounts

2006-11-29T15:41:00.000-08:00

This isn't about fees from using another banks ATM's. This is the unsound and unfair practice that Bank of America (BOA) has with their savings account customers. My account was opened with Fleet Bank in the late 1990's, and lasted until Fleet was bought by BOA in 2004.

BOA is great in New York City, since their ATM's are ubiquitous. What BOA did in the past year is very deceptive. If you use another banks ATM, you are charged a fee (usually by the other bank, and by BOA). Savings account users at BOA can now use their ATM only three times (or make three counter transactions) eah month. Use an ATM four times, and BOA starts charging you. Pretty soon, you are spending $9 a month to use your ATM six times. Take a look at the fees for yourself.

Your interest rate for a savings account is 0.2%. A $3,000 account will earn $6 a year (correct me if I'm wrong). In the meantime, you've spent $108 in ATM/counter fees (assuming you visit the bank 6 times a month).

Your best bet is to open a checking account, which gives you another lousy interest rate, but at least BOA doesn't penalize you for using an ATM.

Kiva.org Celebrates First Year of Online Microfinance

2006-11-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

First Web Site to Let Anyone With a PayPal Account Be a "Banker to the Poor" Marks First Year With Unprecedented Success

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- October 17, 2006 -- Kiva.org, the first person-to-person micro-lending Web site that enables an individual to finance a micro-entrepreneur in the developing world, marked its first year anniversary. Since its launch, Kiva.org has become known as "the merger between Microfinance and Web 2.0" due to its ability to create a transparent, connective and affordable option for anyone on the Internet to lend directly to the working poor. Inspired by Mohammad Yunus and Grameen Bank, Kiva's aspiration was to take microfinance online; in just one year, the organization has been widely recognized as the leader in online microfinance, has attracted a significant base of lenders, borrowers and partners, has built a staff and board of directors, and has received accolades from the press and industry leaders.

Kiva - microcredit from your computer to Africa

2006-11-01T19:31:00.000-08:00

Microcredit is not new. It's been around in one form or another for hundreds of years. But in the Information Age, a San Francisco company has taken the idea of microfinance and upgraded it for the Web. Radio reporter Clark Boyd first reported about Kiva.org for Public Radio International's news program The World. He now travels to Uganda for FRONTLINE/World, where the first recipients of money collected through Kiva's Web site are building and expanding businesses.

Kiva, which means "agreement" or "unity" in Swahili, would allow people with a little bit of extra cash to use their credit card or the online money transfer company, PayPal, to lend directly to African entrepreneurs. Kiva got its start a little more than a year ago in Uganda, where it forged partnerships with local microfinance institutes so that each business would be vetted and approved before being posted on the site.

High dynamic range imaging

2006-09-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

The view from WTC7

2006-09-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

This is the view from the new New York Academy of Sciences HQ's at WTC7.

Amazing views of Tribeca and Lower manhattan

High dynamic range imaging is the new black

2006-09-12T05:32:00.000-07:00

WTC, Deutche Bank, WTC Post office

West Broadway

The tip of Tribeca

Tribeca

7 World Trade Center, West Broadway and Warren

West Broadway

Jersey City Sunset

West Broadway, Chambers

West Broadway, Chambers

Jeff Koons Balloon Sculpture in front of 7 WTC

The entrance to 7 WTC

Koon's ballon scuplture in front (behind) the post office

Looking up at 7 WTC

The end of Greenwich St.

The west side and the Holland Tunnel, with water from the carribean.

Jersey City as Miami

Battery Park City, 7 World Trade Center

Hudson River Esplanade, West Side Highway

Jersey City/Hudson River Sunset

High dynamic range imaging

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

In computer graphics and cinematography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) is a set of techniques that allow a far greater dynamic range of exposures than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to the deepest shadows.

HDRI was originally developed for use with purely computer-generated images. Later, methods were developed to produce a HDR image from a set of photos taken with a range of exposures. With the rising popularity of digital cameras and easy to use desktop software, many amateur photographers have used HDRI methods to create photos of scenes with a high dynamic range (i.e a large difference between light and dark areas). However, HDRI has many other applications and "HDRI" should not be mistaken for just this use.

When preparing for display, a high dynamic range image is often tone mapped and combined with several full screen effects.

More High dynamic range imaging

2006-09-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

Rockafeller Park, Battery Park City

Jersey City from Battery Park City

The battery park city neighborhood

High dynamic range imaging

When preparing for display, a high dynamic range image is often tone mapped and combined with several full screen effects

High dynamic range imaging

2006-09-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

High dynamic range imaging

In computer graphics and cinematography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) is a set of techniques that allow a far greater dynamic range of exposures than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to the deepest shadows.
HDRI was originally developed for use with purely computer-generated images. Later, methods were developed to produce a HDR image from a set of photos taken with a range of exposures. With the rising popularity of digital cameras and easy to use desktop software, many amateur photographers have used HDRI methods to create photos of scenes with a high dynamic range (i.e a large difference between light and dark areas). However, HDRI has many other applications and "HDRI" should not be mistaken for just this use.
When preparing for display, a high dynamic range image is often tone mapped and combined with several full screen effects.
ontrast.

High dynamic range imaging

2006-09-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

Images created using Photoshop CS2 'Merge to HDR' feature, generally from between 3 and 8 RAW images, allowing a dynamic range (of light to dark in a frame) far beyond what can be captured in a single frame, without the limitations of filters or the time spent manually merging frames.

Camping in South Jersey

2006-09-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

Camping with Rachel at Atsion Lake in the Wharton State forest, Southern New Jersey.

Wawa coffee

Canoeing down the Batso River (Quaker bridge to Batso)

Piranah food

Sundew

shipwrecked

Cranberry

Pitcher Plant

Non-Entourage Turtle

Coneheads Ice cream

Conehead, with ice cream

John Lennon, or Chris Robinson, Kate Hudson's ex?

The big banana split lasted about five minutes

Rachel does not like ticks

Touring Medford Lakes

Remnants of the dam washed out in Medford lakes

Bringing sexy back - turtles at Woodfords wildlife refuge

Mike's graduation

2006-08-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

Camping

2006-08-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

Jason and Elise's wedding

2006-06-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

State of the Planet at Columbia University available as video downloads

2006-05-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

Video and Audio of the Proceedings
Video
Welcome
John C. Mutter, Deputy Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University; Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University; Chair, State of the Planet Conference Steering Committee
Video & Transcript
Opening Remarks
Lee C. Bollinger, President, Columbia University
Keynote Speaker
Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University; Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, Columbia University; Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Video & Transcript
SESSION ONE: RESEARCH AND INGENUITY
Moderator: Darcy B. Kelley Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor of Biological Sciences, Columbia University; Chair, Frontiers of Science, Columbia College
Ismail Serageldin, Director, Library of Alexandria in Egypt
Dato Lee Yee-Cheong, President, World Federation of Engineering Organisations 2003-05; Co-Coordinator, UN Millennium Project "Science, Technology and Innovation" Task Force; Senior Fellow, Academy of Sciences Malaysia
Tim Palmer, Head of Probability Forecast Division, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast
Steven E. Koonin, Chief Scientist, BP p.l.c.
Frank Rijsberman, Director General, International Water Management Institute
Video & Transcripts
Keynote Speaker
Reforming the UN System to Help Meet the MDGs
Mark Malloch Brown, Chef de Cabinet to the Secretary-General, United Nations
Video & Transcript
SESSION TWO: DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURESModerator: Albert Fishlow Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Director, Institute for Latin American Studies, Columbia UniversityCarol Bellamy, President and Chief Executive Officer, World Learning; Former Executive Director, UNICEF
Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations
Rajendra K. Pachauri, Director-General, The Energy and Resources Institute; Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Eric V. Schaeffer, Director, Environmental Integrity Project
Georg Kell, Executive Head, United Nations Global Compact
Video & Transcripts
Keynote Speaker
Changing Values for a Sustainable World
Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University
Video & Transcript
Day 1 Closing Remarks
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Video & Transcript
Keynote Speaker
Managing Risk in an Uncertain Climate: A Reinsurer’s Perspective
John Coomber, Retired Chief Executive Officer, Swiss Re Group
Video & Transcript
SESSION THREE: TAPPING INTO MARKET FORCES AND THE ECONOMY
Moderator: David Nissen Director, Program in International Energy Management and Policy at the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy, Professor in Practice, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abby Joseph Cohen, Partner and Chief U.S. Investment Strategist,Goldman, Sachs & Co
Joseph Romm, Executive Director, Center for Energy and Climate Solutions
Stuart L. Hart, Samuel C. Johnson Chair in Sustainable Global Enterprise, Professor of Management, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University
David J. Refkin, Director of Sustainable Development, Time Inc.
Amy Davidsen, Director of Environmental Affairs, JPMorgan Chase
Video & Transcripts
SESSION FOUR: CHALLENGING BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS AND PERSPECTIVES
Moderator: Roberta G. Balstad Director, Center for International Earth Science Information Network, The Earth Institute at Columbia University
Joel E. Cohen, Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of Populations, Rockefeller University; Professor of Populations, Columbia University; Head of the Laboratory of Populations, The Earth Institute at Columbia University and Rockefeller University
Sir Partha Dasgupta, Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics, University of Cambridge; Fellow of St. John's College
Johan Rockström, Executive Director, Stockholm Environment Institute
Parker Mitchell, Co-CEO and Co-Founder, Engineers Without Borders, Canada
Andrew Dobson, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University
Video & Transcripts
SUMMATION: IS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FEASIBLE?
Moderator: John Rennie Editor in Chief, Scientific American
Joel E. Cohen
Abby Joseph Cohen
Sir Partha Dasgupta
Nicholas D. Kristof, Columnist, The New York Times
Rajendra K. Pachauri
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Video & Transcripts
Conference Closing Remarks
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Video & Transcript
Audio Podcast and MP3 Files
The entire conference is now available in MP3 files. You can download each audio file individually or subscribe to the RSS feed (What is RSS?): http://www.dkv.columbia.edu/sop2006/sop2006.xml
For those using iTunes to manage their downloads, they can subscribe to the SOP06 series by following these instructions:
a) Open iTunesb) Go to the Advanced Menu/ Subscribe to Podcast...c) Paste this URL in the window that opens up --http://www.dkv.columbia.edu/sop2006/sop2006.xmld) Click OK

PBS and HBO Examine Global Warming, Dimming of the Sun and Vanishing Species

2006-04-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

TV Review 'Dimming the Sun,' 'Journey to Planet Earth' and 'Too Hot Not to Handle'

PBS and HBO Examine Global Warming, Dimming of the Sun and Vanishing Species

By NED MARTEL
The global temperature is rising. As the poles become warmer, the domain of birds and insects is expanding. As humans take up — or mess up — more terrain, the habitat of large predators is shrinking.

And get this: From the latest measurements, all that new heat in the atmosphere is being matched with an equal decline in the rate of sea evaporation.

When television is such a mathematical word problem, it hurts the idle brain. But idling is exactly the problem, and three nationwide Cassandra cries dominate this week's public-affairs programming, with urgent calls for action. "Journey to Planet Earth: The State of the Planet's Wildlife," being shown tonight on PBS, explains the increasingly inhospitable outlook for all earthly creatures. The "Nova" report "Dimming the Sun," also on PBS tonight, complicates matters with the latest findings about how pollution has masked the effects of global warming. And on Saturday HBO declares the whole climate-change crisis "Too Hot Not to Handle."

Even if you delight in scientific method or visions of whiskered things, PBS's wildlife report is a chore. Nothing is objectionable in terms of imagery, nor are there facts to dispute, and the message of crisis is drummed all the way home. The problem is that the show hopscotches from one trouble spot to the next.
Somehow the makers of a program about interconnectedness must have assumed a narrative cohesion would just emerge. It didn't, and the voiceover, by a sleepy Matt Damon, goes on and on about "the timeless rhythms of nature." When malevolent images show up on screen, like elephant poachers or grassland turning into desert, they are accompanied by music straight out of Ed Wood's horror films.

HBO's program is hardly more subtle, but it is more comprehensive and comprehensible. Environmental advocates chime in, with their own statistic-spewing verve, to explicate what has gone wrong. Then a healthy dose of can-do ingenuity follows all the bad news, as prescriptions follow diagnoses. There are suggested changes for behavior at the household and industry levels.

"Too Hot Not to Handle" is shrewd for not insisting at every moment that all these changes are central to human beings' long-term survival. You would think that would be enough, but it tends to help when individuals can see short-term benefits: investment in green industries, renewable energy companies and less wasteful vehicles and appliances can put money in pockets, after all.

The first two programs are not only accessible, but their contents will also sound familiar to anyone who has listened to cycle-of-life eco-lessons from an early age. The "Nova" report on so-called "global dimming," however, is arresting, and not merely because its dynamic photography enlivens the soberness of academia. More important, recent and startling findings that "Dimming the Sun" describes subvert assumptions about global warming without discrediting them. On the contrary, it seems, the phenomenon is proving more nuanced and more dire.

Essentially the planet's particulate pollution has made clouds slightly more solid, and they now can act like big mirrors that keep the Sun's rays from reaching Earth. Beyond that, though, global temperatures will still rise as we reduce particulates. Why? As we stop sending particulates into the air, we remove a shield that has lessened the severity of observable global warming. That's right: we're worse off than we thought.

By the end of "Dimming the Sun" viewers will be able to talk about pan-evaporation, air streams above the Maldives and the potential for conflagration in the Amazon. It's an altogether more frightening hour than the others, even though it's more technical and less anecdotal.

None of these programs, timed to the annual Earth Day hand wringing — this year it's on Saturday — is overtly political. That is left to the new melting-Arctic books, special green issues of national magazines and the Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," about global warming.

"Too Hot Not to Handle," like the Gore film, lists Laurie David, a celebrity Earth Mother, as a producer, but unlike the Gore film, the HBO one aims to inspire the grass roots without criticizing the nation's leaders. In a brief instance when it does wade into politics, "Too Hot Not to Handle" hears from a hybrid-car enthusiast who says it's conservative to conserve fuel.

Essentially, these three television programs are still preaching mostly to the choir. The environmental movement used to accumulate irrefutable evidence that all living things are interconnected, and present the ripple effects of disrupted patterns in the public forum. But in that forum, facts did not always speak for themselves. Now celebrities are recruited and attention-getting analogies written, but still no uprising occurs. These films are themselves interconnected, part of an orchestrated moment of public discussion, instead of waiting for the next specific crisis of oily cormorants or Category 5 hurricane to arrive.

Read an Interviewwith executive producer Laurie David who discusses the film and how you can help.

Learn moreabout curriculum to use in the classroom and organizations. Get Involved!

Watch a Previewof this important new movie from HBO Documentary Films. Watch Video

25 Things You Can Do

The Citizens for Planet Earth website at TryScience.org will lead you on a voyage of discovery to evaluate environmental quality near your home, school or science center. You’ll find a variety of simple field activities you can do to learn more about environmental issues in your community. You will also be able to share your discoveries with us and learn about what other communities have done. Read more... The Programs provides more detailed information for purchasing and using the television series in educational settings. Find the right video to use with specific teaching standards. You can also enjoy our Photo Gallery.

The Journey to Planet Earth Action Kit explores the issues raised in the television series through hands-on activities for middle school students in and out of the classroom.

Journey to Planet Earth Clubs exist in communities all over the country. Find a club near you or learn how to start your own with free materials from Journey to Planet Earth.

Teachers Guides developed for the classroom provide numerous activities and lessons to use with the television series. For students in middle school through college.

The After-School "Sustainable Agriculture" brochure, developed by the National 4-H and South Carolina ETV, is designed for use in after-school programs, local Boys and Girls Club programs, 4-H or Future Farmers of America programs, or with similar groups.

Resources are available for Rivers of Destiny, The Urban Explosion, Land of Plenty, Land of Want and The State of the Planet. The last section offers environmental Internet sites that apply to all of the programs.Rivers of Destiny To learn more about topics addressed in "Rivers of Destiny" — water quality, flooding, the rain forest, wetlands — visit the following Internet sites.

American Rivershttp://www.amrivers.org/Their mission is to protect America's river systems and to foster a river stewardship ethic. The American Rivers site index offers information on dams, flood plains and a glossary of river-related terms.

Exploring the Environment Home Pagehttp://www.cotf.edu/ete/main.htmlThis page links to NASA's Classroom of the Future, the Middle School Earth Science Explorer, and other NASA links. It offers students an opportunity to examine Experimental Earth Science modules that make use of remote sensing technology and the Internet. Two of the teaching modules on this site explore water quality and the rain forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Live from the Rainforesthttp://passporttoknowledge.com/rainforest/intro.htmlSome of the world's leading biologists introduce students to the planet's largest rain forest.Mississippi River Basin Alliancehttp://www.mrba.org/The Alliance is a citizens' coalition that unites environmental justice organizations and traditional conservation groups around issues impacting the Mississippi River. The page entitled "About the River" offers good statistics and facts about this mighty river.

National Audubon Society700 BroadwayNew York, NY 10003-9501212-979-3000http://www.audubon.org/Solid science, policy research, forceful lobbying, litigation, citizen action and education are the tools used by the Audubon Society to protect the air, water, land, and habitats that are critical to human health and the health of the planet. The Society offers activities for middle school students that teach them the importance of preserving habitats to protect bird species.

National Geographic Society "Xpeditions"http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/main.htmlThe Atlas feature on this site offers access to 600 National Geographic maps. Visit this site to see the locations of the states, countries and rivers discussed in "Rivers of Destiny.

"Natural Resources Defense Council40 West 20th StreetNew York, NY 10011212-727-2700http://www.nrdc.org/NRDC is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the world's natural resources and ensuring a safe and healthy environment for all people. NRDC's guides offer tips on cleaning up water, reducing garbage and curbing over-fishing, along with a host of other topics.

NOVA Online — Floodhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/flood/This Web site was developed to accompany the NOVA public television program examining the 1993 Mississippi floods.

Rainforest Action Networkhttp://www.ran.org/ran/This network works to protect the Earth's rain forests and support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action. The "Kids Corner" on this site answers questions about the rain forest and introduces students to the animals and native peoples of the rain forest.

The Izaak Walton League of America, Inc.707 Conservation LaneGaithersburg, MD 20878-2983800-bugiwlahttp://www.iwla.org/The organization's "Save Our Streams" program has been teaching people of all ages how to adopt and protect streams and rivers. Activities include making observations, stabilizing stream banks, planting trees, and organizing cleanup campaigns.

U.S.G.S. Water Resources Informationhttp://water.usgs.gov/This site takes teachers to the U.S. Geological Survey's "Water Science for Schools" pages. They offer information on many aspects of water, along with pictures, data, images, and an interactive center where teachers and students can give their opinions and test their water knowledge.

Water Environment Federation601 Wythe StreetAlexandria, VA 22314-1994(800) 666-0206http://www.wef.org/wefstudents/Teachers/index.htmFounded in 1928, the goal of this organization is to preserve and enhance the global water environment. The Water Environment Web provides student materials and activities (K-12) concerning the water environment.The Urban Explosion To learn more about the issues explored in "The Urban Explosion" — drinking water quality, the effects of urbanization, creating sustainable communities — visit the following Internet sites or write to the organizations listed.

American Water Works Association (AWWA)6666 West Quincy AvenueDenver, CO 80235800-926-7337http://www.awwa.org/The American Water Works Association (AWWA) is an international nonprofit scientific and educational society dedicated to the improvement of drinking water quality and supply. Its Blue Thumb Project is an ongoing campaign to raise public awareness and understanding of drinking water issues.

The Blue Thumb Youth Activities (http://www.awwa.org/youthact.htm) and Educational Sheets (http://www.awwa.org/educatio.htm) can increase your students' understanding about these issues, too.

CARE International660 Fifth AvenueNew York, NY 10016(212) 686-3110http://www.care.org/This is a good source of information on agencies that deliver relief assistance to people in need and long-term solutions to global poverty.

Earthwatch680 Mount AuburnBox 403Watertown, MA 02272(617) 926-8200http://www.earthwatch.org/This organization's mission is to build a sustainable future through partnerships between scientists and citizens.

Friends of the Earth218 D Street, S.E.Washington, DC 20003(202) 783-7400http://www.foe.org/Dedicated to protecting the planet from environmental degradation, Friends of the Earth is a good source for student reports and information for awareness of urbanization issues.

Global Action Center
http://www.global-act.org/
The Global Action Center provides current information on world activities in areas including air, water, climate and habitat.

National Geographic Society17th and M StreetsWashington, DC 20036(202) 857-7000http://www.nationalgeographic.com/resources/ngo/mapsMaps, facts and profiles of the countries that serve as home to the mega-cities profiled in "The Urban Explosion" can be found here.

Population Reference Bureau, Inc.1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 520Washington, DC 20009(202) 483-1100http://www.prb.org/This is a source of information on specific statistics on population and population growth.

Sierra Club530 Bush StreetSan Francisco, CA 94108(415) 776-2211http://www.sierraclub.org/Students can request information about the Club's efforts to protect the environment against problems cause by urbanization.

Sustainable Communities Networkhttp://www.sustainable.org/This site links people to resources and one another to create healthy, vital, sustainable communities. It covers a host of areas, from smart growth and creating community to protecting natural resources and living sustainably. In the "Education, Training and Lifelong Learning" section, there are specific activities for grades K-12.

The United Nations Environment ProgrammeRm. DC2-0816United NationsNew York, NY 10017(212) 963-8138http://www.unep.org/This is a good source of information on the environment and how it is affected by population growth and/or urbanization of cities.Urbanization and Water Qualityhttp://wwwga.usgs.gov/edu/urbanquality.htmlThe U.S. Geological Survey's Water Science for Schools site examines the effects of urbanization on water quality.U.S. Agency for International DevelopmentState Department Bldg.2201 C Street N.W.Washington, DC 20520(202) 634-3600http://www.usaid.gov/This department is a good source of information on urban development in the United States and in countries around the world.Water Environment Federation601 Wythe StreetAlexandria, VA 22314-1994(800) 666-0206http://www.wef.org/Founded in 1928, the goal of this organization is to preserve and enhance the global water environment. The Water Environment Web provides student materials and activities (K-12) concerning the water environment.

World Affairs Council1726 M Street N.W. #800Washington, DC 20036(202) 293-1051http://www.world-affairs.org/This is another good source of information on the environment and how it is affected by the population growth and/or urbanization of cities.Land of Plenty, Land of Want To learn more about farming and technology, the Dust Bowl and El Nino, and other subjects raised in "Land of Plenty, Land of Want," visit the Internet sites listed below.
Agriculture for Kidshttp://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kidsThis site, under the name Sci4Kids, is a series of stories about what scientists do at the Agricultural Research Service.

The page entitled "Play Move the Cow Space-Age Style" (http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids/farm/story1/farmwinframe.htm) explores how technology is helping farmers to protect the environment. The site is geared toward students eight to thirteen.

Agriculture in the Classroomhttp://www.agclassroom.org/As the number of children living on farms and ranches decreases, it becomes more important than ever that students learn about our food and fiber systems through classroom curriculum. The "Ag in the Classroom" program offers teachers educational materials to integrate into their classroom lessons. There are also links to other ag sites on this page.

The American Experience: Surviving the Dust Bowlhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/dustbowlThis Web site was developed for the PBS program "Surviving the Dust Bowl," part of The American Experience series. It contains an eyewitness account of the Dust Bowl, New Deal remedies and a teachers guide.

Crop Productionhttp://www.farmland.com/Farmland Cooperative System is a highly diversified company with major business lines that include crop production. This Web site contains information about the production, processing, and marketing of agricultural products.

Dust Bowl Sitehttp://www.usd.edu/anth/epa/dust.htmlThis introduction to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s on the southern plains of the United States also includes a movie of a dust storm during that era.

El Niñohttp://pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elninoCreated by the producers of the PBS series NOVA, this Web site is entirely devoted to this weather phenomenon. Sections of the site include "Dissecting El Niño — to "Chasing El Niño.

"Making Sense of the Weather — El Niñohttp://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/nino/index.htmlThis explanation of El Niño and La Niña from NASA is geared to students in grades 6-12. The site also features weather-related science activities.

National 4-H Council Home Page
http://www.fourhcouncil.edu/
Teachers can find environmental stewardship publications on topics ranging from biotechnology to transportation and the environment listed under Curriculum in the "Programs" section of this site.

National 4-H Home Page
http://www.fourhcouncil.edu/
This 4-H site offers teachers access to curriculum that has been reviewed by Cooperative Extension staff nationwide. The National Juried 4-H Experiential Learning Youth Development Curriculum Collection (http://www.reeusda.gov/4h/curricul/curricul.htm) includes educational material on environmental education and earth sciences.

-->Sustainable Agriculture Networkhttp://www.sare.org/The Sustainable Agriculture Network is the communications and outreach arm of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. SARE works to increase knowledge about practices that are economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially responsible. The online brochure, "Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture," offers a comprehensive explanation about sustainable agriculture. It can be found at http://www.sare.org/htdocs/pubs/explore/.

The State of the Planet
To learn more about issues faces population, food and water and the effects of climate change examined in “The State of the Planet,” visit the Internet sites below:

Human Population Issues
Population Action International (PAI)http://www.populationaction.org/This organization sees the connection of human population to many other issues including reproductive health, policy, environment, gender and society, economics, etc. The web site provides useful links to all of these topics.

Population Connection (formerly Zero Population Growth or ZPG)http://www.populationconnection.org/This site includes fact sheets, factoids, educational resources, and lots of general information on population issues.
Population Reference Bureauhttp://www.prb.org/This web site is a tremendous source for data, population facts, and research, which is organized by issues as well as by region. The data base provides information on 220 countries, 28 regions, and the world as a whole.

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)http://www.ucsusa.org/Do a keyword search for “population” and you can explore many records including answers to frequently asked questions.

United Nations Development Program (UNDP)http://www.undp.org/Do a keyword search for “Human Development Index” to retrieve a data table with data on life expectancy, educational attainment, and adjusted national income for any country.

The World Game Institute (name may change to o.s. Earth, Inc.)http://www.worldgame.org/This web site describes workshops and materials related to a global role-playing simulation game that allows participants to see human population dynamics.

World Resources Institute (WRI)http://www.wri.org/The World Resources Institute offers much demographic and environmental information on countries around the world, with excellent charts and maps. The Earth Trends section presents individual country profiles.

Worldwatch Institutehttp://www.worldwatch.org/Click the research area for “people” and then “population and gender” to get a list of related Worldwatch papers and links to other sites.

Food Issues

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)http://www.fao.org/This organization leads international efforts to defeat hunger, and helps developing countries improve agriculture.
Food Firsthttp://www.foodfirst.org/The goal of this organization is to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger.

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)http://www.ucs.org/Visit the food issues part of this site to find out what food-related issues the UCS is involved with, especially related to sustainable agriculture.

United National Development Programme (UNDP)http://www.undp.org/Visit this site to find out how the United Nations brings together governments, multinational corporations, and citizens to address development concerns.
World Food Programme of the United Nationshttp://www.wfp.org/The World Food Programme combats hunger, promotes economic and social development, and provides relief assistance in emergencies.

Worldwatch Institutehttp://www.worldwatch.org/Click the “people” research area and then “food” issues to get a list of related Worldwatch papers and links to other sites.

World Resources Institute (WRI)http://www.wri.org/Visit the Earthtrends section of this web site and click “agriculture/food” to access related data, charts, and graphs for various countries.
Water Issues
International Water Resources Associationwww.iwra.siu.edu/worldwater/This site includes a guide to international water organizations.

The Nature Conservancy’s Sustainable Water’s Programhttp://www.freshwaters.org/This site provides a lot of background information on various fresh water issues around the world, and also offers lists of U.S. Federal and State, international, and non-governmental organizations committed to fresh water issues. This is an excellent site to visit to find organizations focused on specific issues or regions of interest.

Worldwatch Institutehttp://www.worldwatch.org/Click the “people” research area and then “water” issues to get a list of related Worldwatch papers and links to other sites.

World Resources Institute (WRI)http://www.wri.org/Visit the Earthtrends section of this web site and click “water rescources” to access related data, charts, and graphs for various countries.
Climate Change

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)http://www.ipcc.ch/This site offers baseline and scenario data for representing climate conditions. Click the “Global Climate Data Set.”

Worldwatch Institutehttp://www.worldwatch.org/Click the “Energy” research area and then “climate change” to get a list of related Worldwatch papers and links to other sites.

World Resources Institute (WRI)http://www.wri.org/Visit the Earthtrends section of this web site and click “climate” to access related data, charts, and graphs for various countries.

Environmental Internet Sites

EElink-Environmental Education on the Internethttp://eelink.net/ee-linkintroduction.htmlConsistent with key principles of environmental education, this site's mission is to spread information and ideas that will help educators explore the environment and investigate current issues with students. This site is a gateway to more information about fresh water, coasts and oceans, air and climate, waste, population, forestry and agriculture.

Environmental News Networkhttp://www.enn.com/The mission of this network is to create environmental awareness on critical issues through the presentation of fair and balanced daily news and information products.EPA Curriculum and Resourceshttp://www.epa.gov/teachers/curriculum_resources.htmResources for teachers on topics ranging from conservation, air and water pollution to waste and recycling are found here.

EPA Student Centerhttp://www.epa.gov/students/At the student center, youngsters in the middle and high school grades can explore a wide range of environmental issues — from air and water pollution and ecosystems to waste and recycling.

The GLOBE Programhttp://www.globe.gov/The GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) is a hands-on environment science and education program that unites students, educators, and scientists from around the world in studying the global environment. Their teachers guide focuses on topics discussed in Journey to Planet Earth — soil, water and global positioning system technology. Their "Resource Room" in their online library offers teachers additional materials.

Medical Mysterieshttp://medmyst.rice.edu/MedMyst is a web adventure that engages players in problem-solving activities in a quest to uncover the cause of an infectious disease and to prevent it from spreading. Each online missions accompanied by a MedMyst Magazine and Hands-on Activities correlated to the National Science Education Standards.

North American Association for Environmental Educationhttp://www.naaee.org/The North American Association for Environmental Education is a network of professionals and students working in the field of environmental education through North America and in over 50 countries. It offers guidelines to teachers for selecting environmental education materials.

World Resources Institutehttp://www.wri.org/WRI is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people's lives. Their publication World Resources 2000-2001 — People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life is the definitive guide to the global environment. The millennial edition presents a comprehensive assessment of five of the world's major ecosystems.

Earth Island Institutehttp://www.earthisland.org/Earth Island Institute (EII), founded in 1982 by veteran environmentalist David Brower, fosters the efforts of creative individuals by providing organizational support in developing projects for the conservation, preservation, and restoration of the global environment.The Nature Conservancyhttp://www.nature.org

The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.

Wildlife Conservation Societyhttp://www.wcs.org/The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild lands through careful science, international conservation, education, and the management of the world’s largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo.

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Tribeca Film Festival

2006-03-05T05:20:00.000-08:00

Tribeca Film Festival-2006
Established in 2002, this is a Spring festival in Lower Manhattan. News, general information, event guide and online ticket sales.

Energy gap: Crisis for humanity?: BBC

2006-03-05T04:54:00.000-08:00

Energy gap: Crisis for humanity?

By Richard Black
BBC News website environment correspondent

It is perhaps too early to talk of an energy "crisis".

Fossil fuels have been the cheapest and most convenient so far

But take your pick from terms like "serious concern" and "major issue" and you will not be far from the positions which analysts are increasingly adopting.

The reason for their concern can be found in a set of factors which are pulling in glaringly different directions:

Demand for energy, in all its forms, is rising

Supplies of key fuels - notably oil and gas - show signs of decline

Mainstream climate science suggests that reducing greenhouse gas emissions within two decades would be a prudent thing to do

Meanwhile the Earth's population continues to rise, with the majority of its six billion people hankering after a richer lifestyle - which means a greater consumption of energy.

Underlying the growing concern is the relentless pursuit of economic growth, which historically has been tied to energy consumption as closely as a horse is tethered to its cart.

It is a vehicle which cannot continue to speed up indefinitely; it must at some point hit a barrier, of finite supply, unfeasibly high prices or abrupt climate change.

The immediate question is whether the crash comes soon, or whether humanity has time to plan a comfortable way out.

Even if it can, the planning is not necessarily going to be easy, or result in cheap solutions. Every energy source has its downside; there is no free lunch, wherever you look on the menu.

Runaway horse

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts a rise in global energy demand of 50-60% by 2030.

If all else remained equal, that rising demand would be accommodated principally by fossil fuels, which have generally been the cheapest and most convenient available.

But oil supplies show signs of running down; this, combined with concerns about rising demand and political instability, conspired to force prices up from $40 a barrel at the beginning of 2005 to $60 at its close.

There is more oil out there, for sure; but the size of proven reserves is uncertain, with oil-producing countries and companies prone to exaggerate the size of their stocks. Currently uneconomic sources such as tar sands could be exploited; but at what cost?

Natural gas stocks - in recent times the fuel of choice for electricity generation are also showing signs of depletion, and there is growing concern in Western capitals about the political instability associated with oil and gas supplies from the Middle East and Russia.

Coal, the fuel of the industrial revolution, remains relatively abundant; but here the climate issue raises its provocative head most volubly, because of all fuels, coal produces more greenhouse gas emissions for the energy it gives.

Based partly on the predicted availability of cheap coal, the IEA forecasts a 50% rise in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Mainstream climate science, meanwhile, indicates that to avoid dangerous consequences of climate change, emissions should fall, not rise, by 50%.

The economic and environmental horses are clearly pulling in mutually incompatible directions.

No climate curbs

It is a rare human that dons a hair shirt voluntarily; and in seeking to deal with climate change, we are, it seems, behaving to type.

It took the world's most comfortably-off nations more than seven years to bring the Kyoto Protocol into force following its signing in 1997.

Sharp divisions over nuclear power show no signs of disappearing

An alternative "climate pact", the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, emerged last year contending that technology alone would solve global warming.

It recently concluded its first ministerial meeting by endorsing projections that under its aegis, emissions will at least double by 2050; economic growth is sacrosanct, and so consumption of coal and other fossil fuels must also continue to rise.

Concern over climate change, then, is not on a global basis proving to be a driver for clean technology or for reducing demand for energy.

Price barriers

Rising prices or simply constraints on supplies of fossil fuels could, however, bring other fuels into the equation; and nuclear fission is at the head of the queue.

According to the World Nuclear Association, there are now about 440 commercial reactors in the world, providing 16% of its electricity; for major developing countries such as India and China, nuclear power remains both a significant part of the electricity mix and a close companion to military programmes.

But concerns over waste have set other countries such as Germany on a determinedly non-nuclear path.

Waste apart, nuclear faces another potential obstacle; stocks of uranium are finite.

Photo-voltaic cells: The look of the future?

Analysts differ over how soon a uranium deficit might emerge; some believe that a significant ramping up of nuclear capacity would exhaust economic reserves on a timescale of decades.

That could be extended by adopting "fast breeder" reactors, which create more fissile material as they go.

Too good to be true? Perhaps, because there is a major downside; the creation of plutonium, with its attendant dangers of proliferation.

The other nuclear technology, fusion, is full of hope but even its most ardent supporters admit it is decades away.

Wind, waves and sunlight

Most of the energy we use on Earth comes directly or indirectly from the Sun.

It is the Sun which stirs winds and the great water cycle, depositing rain on highlands and creating the potential for hydro-electric power; it is the Sun's energy which grew plants which decayed to form the coal and oil that we have extracted so determinedly in our industrial age.

Is it now time, then, to use its energy directly, to blanket the Earth in photo-voltaic cells and silently power humankind's future?

Certainly it could be done, with energy to spare; but at costs up to five times that of coal and gas, it is not going to be soon.

Wind, wave and tidal power are all fine technologies, but their potential is limited, not least by the fact that they do not generate continuously.

That could be overcome by storing energy. But there are few realistic ways of doing it; and the additional cost would quickly negate any advantage these technologies currently possess.

Hydrogen, meanwhile, is touted as the great climate-friendly hope.

But hydrogen is just a carrier of energy. It must be created, for example by using electricity to split water molecules, in which case replacing petrol-driven cars with hydrogen vehicles would vastly increase the global demand for electricity.

No free lunch, indeed - but a desperately tortuous and risk-laden menu and a kitchen where political or environmental fires could flare up at any moment.

Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

Labouring for a greener planet: BBC

2006-03-05T04:52:00.000-08:00

Labouring for a greener planet

VIEWPOINT
Klaus Toepfer

The trade union movement has a critical role to play in building a cleaner and more just planet, argues the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) in our new series of opinion pieces on the BBC News website entitled The Green Room.

A few decades ago the relationship between the environment and the trade union movement was characterised as one of suspicion

Send us your comments

In Nigeria, a campaign has been launched to consign health hazardous, outdated and obsolete chemicals to the history books. It should eventually benefit an estimated five million factory workers along with the wider West African environment.

A joint Norwegian and Russian programme is educating and training staff at Russian factories in areas such as health and safety and cleaner production techniques.

Gains are expected to include healthier working conditions and reduced emissions to land, water and air.

Meanwhile in Germany a project is underway to make 300,000 apartments energy efficient under a renovation scheme. It should generate 200,000 jobs while cutting greenhouse gas emissions by two million tonnes.

The common thread running through these and numerous other pilots in both the developed and developing world is organised labour.

Indeed, they underscore the growing enthusiasm and commitment of trade unions to embrace sustainable development for the benefit of the workplace, communities living nearby and the global environment as a whole.

An enthusiasm also evidenced in the UN Global Compact, the initiative of the Secretary General, which has brought together a broad collation of private business and civil society.

Shared interest

A few decades ago the relationship between the environment and the trade union movement was characterised as one of suspicion.

Some in organised labour were concerned that environmental protection might jeopardize jobs by placing an undue burden on business and industry.

Environmentalists suspected that trade unions were bent on defending the status quo of heavy, and in many cases, polluting industry.

Those days are gone and these cobwebs of suspicion have been blown away by the realities of a modern globalised world.

Both sides now recognise the multiple benefits of reaching out in common cause.

There are obvious areas of mutual self interest, for example in the field of reducing exposure by workers and their families to harmful and dangerous substances.

International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates indicate that some 300,000 workers are killed each year as a result of exposure to chemical agents. This should and must be dramatically reduced.

Poverty targets

Other areas include a joint recognition that fighting environmental degradation is a win win battle. Take climate change.

Overcoming this most serious of serious threats will deliver not only a more stable and less wasteful world but one in which new, cleaner and more sustainable jobs can be generated in areas such as renewable energy systems and cleaner fossil fuel generation.

Meanwhile, organised labour can be a powerful catalyst for change, persuading employers and companies to be more environmentally responsible and resource efficient.

This should not only make firms more competitive - thus helping to maintain and boost employment prospects - but reduce the environmental footprint of such firms or sectors on forests and wildlife, up to water supplies and the Earth's protective ozone layer.

This blossoming relationship will come into sharp focus this month when 150 trade union leaders representing millions of workers meet at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Together, under the umbrella of the first World Assembly on Labour and the Environment, we will chart a new and forward-looking agenda aimed at taking organised labour and the global environment into a new sphere of cooperation.

The ultimate goal behind all of our aims will be a new push towards realisation of the Millennium Development Goals covering poverty eradication up to gender equality and environmental sustainability.

We are determined to make this unique event more than a mere talking fest.

United approach

A multi-pronged action plan, to be known as the Workers' Initiative for a Lasting Legacy or WILL2006, is set to be agreed in collaboration with Unep, the ILO, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the Sustainlabour Foundation.

Unep will also be looking to see how we can, in concrete terms, assist trade unions in replicating the more than 20 case studies scheduled to be presented at the Assembly.

Other areas of mutual self interest include training and educating on the latest developments in international environmental law in areas such as the newly adopted chemicals treaties, for example the Persistent Organic Pollutant or Stockholm Convention.

Over recent years, Unep has been reaching out to civil society from business and industry up to traditional environment and sustainable development groups, indigenous peoples and women.

The time for forging closer ties with trade unions has been long overdue. An estimated three billion people, or half those alive on the planet today, are classed as being in the global work force.

It is high time we made our manifest and mutual self interests work. Work for the man and women on the factory and office floor and in the fields of agriculture - and work for a cleaner, healthier and more dignified world for all.

Klaus Toepfer was Germany's Environment Minister before taking up his position at the UN. Unep hosts the World Assembly on Labour and the Environment in Nairobi, Kenya, 15-17 January

The Green Room is a new series of environmental opinion articles running weekly on the BBC News website

Photos over New York City

2006-03-04T10:07:00.000-08:00

Mardi Gras in NOLA, part 3

2006-03-02T08:58:00.000-08:00

Mardi Gras in New Orleans

2006-03-02T07:52:00.000-08:00

Mardi Gras in NOLA, part 2

2006-03-02T07:40:00.000-08:00

Green Power can be cheaper than Coal/Gas/Fossil Utilities

2006-02-28T06:36:00.000-08:00

For the past year, my apartment has been getting electricity from a group called coned solutions. This power company provided "green power" as a part of Coned - a power company in NYC using wind power and hydroelectricity.

I would like to point out that since signing the agreement to use only Coned Solutions our power bill has been less than it would have been if we used the standard Fossil Fuel energy choice. I am surprised that the media has not noticed this yet (Environment and Energy TV is an exception, see below).

Since energy rates are probably locked in when choosing green energy, my situation might be different from newer users of green energy.

Here is an outtake from a discussion with Lester Brown on E and E TV - a subscription service. http://www.eande.tv/main/ Lester has this to say about wind power's affordability:

Lester Brown: Well the growth in wind power in recent years has been around 30% a year. Last year, in this country, it grew by 35%. There's an enormous amount of wind energy in the world and some exciting things happening in this field now. One is that, as you know, many utilities have offered consumers a green power option now for probably close to a decade. If you wanted green power you signed up for it and you paid more for it, 10% more or 15% more, depending on the situation. But now in some parts of the country â€“ and I've seen the detailed data for Austin, Texas for example. In the Austin region of Texas those who signed up for green power years ago and have been getting it ever since are now getting it cheaper than the utility rate because a lot of the fuel for generating electricity in that part of the country comes from natural gas. And as you know natural gas prices have doubled in the last 14 months. So suddenly there are a lot of good environmentalists out there now who want green power. But it's an example of how the lines are crossing. I had a phone call from my son sometime back. He was driving on one of the interstates in West Texas. And he saw one of the new wind farms and the rows of wind turbines sort of receding toward the horizon. It's a huge wind farm. And interspersed among the rows of wind turbines were oil pumps and the oil wells were pumping and the wind turbines were turning. And he said it was such a graphic image because it was the past and the future meeting. What he was looking at was the energy transition, the old energy economy with the new energy economy superimposed on it. But there are a lot of exciting things happening with wind now. I mean one of the most interesting, to me, and probably the most important, is Goldman Sachs going into the wind business. I think it was a year ago this month roughly that they thought a small company that built wind farms called Horizon. As of today Horizon has about 5000 megawatts of wind generating capacity, either under construction or in the planning stages. 5000 megawatts is equal to 17 average sized coal-fired power plants. I mean it's not a trivial commitment and that's only within one year. I mean I think they're just getting started.

Southern Tier Tour 2001 Part 8 (back from the dead!)

2006-02-28T05:20:00.000-08:00

Where to go in New Orleans?

2006-02-22T14:16:00.000-08:00

Forget Burbon street, if you're travelling to NOLA get over to Magazine street. Grab a cup of coffee at rue de la course, then follow it up with breakfast at Slim Goodies Diner - just look for the line of locals waiting for a seat.

rue de la course has a great cup of cafe americano, and is spacious enough for you to read a newspaper or log on with wifi.

If you're doing the tourist bit, grab the $38 fruits de mer plate at the Bourbon House Seafood & Oyster Bar. It'll feed four, or stuff two.

Get reservations to see Ellis Marsalis at Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro on Friday nights.

rue de la course
Garden District3121 Magazine St. (9th St.)New Orleans, LA504-899-0242Cuisine: Coffeehouse, Dessert

Slim Goodies Diner
Garden District3322 Magazine St.(Toledano St.) New Orleans, LA 70115504-891-3447

Bourbon House Seafood & Oyster Bar
French QuarterAstor Crowne Plaza Hotel144 Bourbon St.(bet. Canal & Iberville Sts.) New Orleans, LA 70130504-522-0111

Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro Faubourg Marigny626 Frenchmen St.(bet. Chartres & Royal Sts.) New Orleans, LA 70116504-949-0696

The Takings Issue

2006-02-21T05:18:00.000-08:00

http://www.law.georgetown.edu/gelpi/takings/index.htm

The Georgetown Environmental Law and Policy Institute (GELPI) has a great website talking about the takings issue. You know this as the government's power of eminent domain to seize private property for economic development purposes.

The New York Times recently mentioned that:

More neutral observers expressed concern that state officials, in their zeal to protect homeowners and small businesses, would handcuff local governments that are trying to revitalize dying cities and fill in blighted areas with projects that produce tax revenues and jobs.
"It's fair to say that many states are on the verge of seriously overreacting to the Kelo decision," said John D. Echeverria, executive director of the Georgetown Environmental Law and Policy Institute and an authority on land-use policy.

"The danger is that some legislators are going to attempt to destroy what is a significant and sometimes painful but essential government power. The extremist position is a prescription for economic decline for many metropolitan areas around the county."

Southern Tier Tour 2001 Part 7

2006-02-13T05:17:00.000-08:00

New York City Blizzard 2/12/06

2006-02-12T13:44:00.000-08:00

Salsapuedes/Baja Norte 2003

2006-02-10T18:38:00.000-08:00

Times Square Blurred

2006-02-10T05:20:00.000-08:00

Deitch Projects, New York, NY

2006-02-09T17:33:00.000-08:00

Battery Park City Sunset 2/7/06

2006-02-09T17:19:00.000-08:00

Southern Tier Tour 2001 Part 6

2006-02-09T15:36:00.000-08:00

Southern Tier Tour 2001 Part 5

2006-02-09T15:31:00.000-08:00