Vegetables Fight Global Warming

Vegetables Fight Global Warming | moby.com
It turns out there’s something anyone can do right now to make a big impact on global warming, says one climate researcher: Eat more veggies.

A new study of how much greenhouse gas is released into the atmosphere by the production of food shows that the difference between a meat-based and plant-based diet amounts to the same as driving an SUV versus a small sedan.

Not surprising. As one moves up in the food chain more space and energy is needed to provide the food. It’s only a question of time before humanity will have to become vegetarian.

Baghdad Oud

Music: The Baghdad Lute – Naseer Shamma

Another Ud CD. In England it’s ud, in the USA mostly oud. I think I am just going to switch back and forth… Found the CD at amazon – see direct link above – and enjoy the music very much. On track #5 he used his fingers instead of the plectrum commonly used – and apparently this is an ancient oud technique, as sculptures and inscriptions show. A technique “used nowadays for the flamenco guitar”, as the liner notes point out.

Asked Rahim AlHaj – check out his updated web site – what he thought of Naseer Shamma, and he wrote this: Nasser Shamma is a good friend of mine. He graduated a few years before me. He is an incredible musician. In fact he is the best oud player in the world right now. We compete against each other in a good way. I admire him very much.

Well, we should support these incredible musicians by buying their CDs. There is very obviously a great wealth of wonderful musicians out of Baghdad. Ah, and I think by the end of next week you should be able to buy and download two of Rahim’s albums from the ListeningLounge.

400 Dead Dolphins

400 Dead Dolphins Found Off African Coast – Yahoo! News
ZANZIBAR, Tanzania – Hundreds of dead dolphins washed up Friday along the shore of a popular tourist destination on Zanzibar’s northern coast, and scientists ruled out poisoning. It was not immediately clear what killed the 400 dolphins, whose carcasses were strewn along a 2 1/2-mile stretch of Nungwi, said Narriman Jidawi, a marine biologist at the Institute of Marine Science in Zanzibar. But the bottleneck dolphins, which live in deep offshore waters, had empty stomachs, meaning that they could have been disoriented and were swimming for some time to reorient themselves. They did not starve to death and were not poisoned, Jidawi said.

In the United States, experts were investigating the possibility that sonar from U.S. submarines could have been responsible for a similar incident in Marathon, Fla., where 68 deep-water dolphins stranded themselves in March 2005.

A U.S. Navy task force patrols the East Africa coast as part of counterterrorism operations. A Navy official was not immediately available for comment, but the service rarely comments on the location of submarines at sea.

Also see THIS, THIS, THIS, and THIS.
Thanks Carol.

Forests in Southeast Asia

Forests in Southeast Asia Fall to Prosperity’s Ax – New York Times
The Indonesian government has signed a deal with China that will level much of the remaining tropical forests in an area so vital it is sometimes called the lungs of Southeast Asia. For China, the deal is a double bounty: the wood from the forest will provide flooring and furniture for its ever-expanding middle class, and in its place will grow vast plantations for palm oil, an increasingly popular ingredient in detergents, soaps and lipstick.
(Via Treehugger)

I get the feeling it’s going to get a whole lot worse before it’s going to get better.

Corolla or Prius

Wired 14.05: How can I be more green?
Should I ditch my old Toyota Corolla and buy a Prius? Hybrids get better mileage, but it takes energy to build a new car, right?

Right – but the green choice is still the Prius. Manufacturing accounts for approximately 10 percent of the energy consumed by an automobile during its life cycle. Gas burned by the engine makes up almost everything else. So if a 1993 Corolla gets 27.5 miles per gallon and a 2006 Prius gets 55 mpg, you should earn back the energy ‘investment’ that went into making the hybrid in about four years. Additionally, by purchasing a Prius, you help tilt the economies of scale in favor of hybrids. Toyota’s hybrid technology is still relatively expensive, but production costs will come down as more Priuses are sold. And the more Priuses that fill the roads, the more consumers will view them as a legitimate option for their next car, rather than just trendy eco-boxes for Hollywood do-gooders.

Right on.