Free Republic

The vast swirl of plastic waste floating in the North Pacific has grown 100-fold over the last 40 years, according to a research paper published Wednesday. And scientists warned the killer soup of microplastic -- particles smaller than five millimetres (one inch) -- threatened to alter the open ocean's natural environment. In the period 1972 to 1987, no microplastic was found in the majority of samples taken for testing, said the paper in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Today, scientists estimate the swirling mass of waste known as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) or the Great Pacific Garbage...

Barack Obama, who has spent much of the time since his election closeted with his advisers in Chicago, sent a strong signal today that he intends to make a decisive break with George Bush on environmental policy once he moves into the White House The move was part of a carefully coded series of messages from Obama meant to reassure America and the world about the shape of his administration, which does not assume power until January 20. Also today, Obama appointed Madeleine Albright, who served as Bill Clinton's secretary of state, and Jim Leach, a former Republican member of...

I often wonder why people can't just put two-and-two together to come up with four. Take, for example, a recent decision by a New Jersey appellate court regarding alleged "endangered species." Rejecting a plea from the New Jersey Builders Association, the court ruled, in essence, that it was more important to "save" the Pine Barrens tree frog or the bog turtle, than to provide housing for those who live in the most densely populated State in the Union. Population per square mile: 1,158.2! This decision in late December came around the same time that the State permitted, for the first...

When the giant Altamont wind farm sprouted here two decades ago, the only major objections were aesthetic. Local residents didn't appreciate the forest of 7,000 ungainly wind towers cluttering their view. No one, apparently, thought about the birds. Since the phalanx of giant windmills began churning the air above the Altamont Pass east of San Francisco Bay, an estimated 22,000 birds have died, including hundreds of golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, kestrels and other raptors, after flying into the spinning blades of the wind turbines. Now, some environmental groups that routinely supported wind power as a clean, alternative source of electric...

At least 13 vehicles vandalized in city's West End Talk about a rude awakening. Sharon Messitt rubbed the sleep from her eyes yesterday morning to find that the two left tires of her Nissan Xterra had been slashed, draining all the air from them. The car was still parked in front of her house by late morning, tilted toward its left side, as she waited for police to arrive. Messitt and her family moved to Richmond from Northern Virginia a week ago and picked the 4600 block of Stuart Avenue because it was quiet and crime-free. But sometime overnight, the...

Oil is the lifeblood of our industrial society. But it's been under attack since the early 1970s. Environmentalists told us we'd all choke from the exhaust fumes back then. Then they lied about global warming. Then they lied about the ozone hole. Then they complained about oil drilling in Alaska. Then they complained about drilling for natural gas. Then they complained about oil drilling offshore. Then they complained about reliance on foreign oil and told us we must conserve. (They're right about the dangers of foreign oil. We don't need it. We ought to be energy independent.) Then they complained...

Green-spirited individuals hoping to do their part to save the environment by buying hydrogen-fuelled cars next year are in for expensive and rude surprises, a study by a Canadian and a U.S. scientist says. Establishing an infrastructure to fuel hydrogen cars, touted by their proponents as a wonder solution to global warming and smog, would cost $5,000 per vehicle, says the study by David Keith, a Canadian atmospheric physicist teaching at Carnegie Mellon University and Alex Farrell of the California Institute of Technology. Although cars operating on hydrogen fuel cells emit only water vapor, switching to hydrogen would be...