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“European airspace, shrouded in a toxic cloud, has actually become remarkably cleaner in the last few days, at least in CO2 terms.”

According to NRDC’s Peter Malik, the erupting Mt. Eyjafjallajökull has emitted less carbon dioxide than a normally functioning European aviation sector would emit in sixty normal minutes.

Update: Looks like the numbers I used above were wrong. Sorry. The quote still works, however.

“I was prowling the stone hallways of Christ Church College one rainy day when I peered into a dusty chemistry lab and caught sight of a large metal contraption. A jumble of pipes and gauges, wires and tubes, it had a certain space-age charm. I noticed a bespectacled man in a white lab coat, dropping in banana peels and candy wrappers. A whirring ensued. Then, Eureka! Lights flashed on. My God, I thought, these Brits are on to something!”

That’s John O’Hurley, as J. Peterman, the character he once played on Seinfeld, describing, in Peterman Catalog style, a biomass-burning energy technology that is a big part of his business.

The man’s now a poop and garbage entrepreneur. For that, I salute him.

I also salute him for his dramatic video introduction to his company’s website.

(PLASTIC BAG)

18 minutes of online video is a lot to ask. But, if you hang in there, you’ll hear an amazing closing line. And, of course, a constant stream of classic Werner Herzog narration.

(SPOOKY’S ANTARCTICA)

Here’s some radio background on DJ Spooky’s relationship with the ice.

And here’s some blog background on the What Matters Most? project, the project that inspired Spooky to create that graphic.

Thank you Andy Revkin.

On Collapse And Complexity

That’s a link to a PSFK post about a Clay Shirky article.

Here’s how Shirky ends it:

When ecosystems change and inflexible institutions collapse, their members disperse, abandoning old beliefs, trying new things, making their living in different ways than they used to. It’s easy to see the ways in which collapse to simplicity wrecks the glories of old. But there is one compensating advantage for the people who escape the old system: when the ecosystem stops rewarding complexity, it is the people who figure out how to work simply in the present, rather than the people who mastered the complexities of the past, who get to say what happens in the future.

Maybe that “ecosystem” is market economics, and maybe the simpler, the more perfect.

(MAKING THE DEAL)

Mysterious place that Washington DC.

An April Fools joke maybe? Yikes.

(Update: Yes. An April Fools joke. And a weird one. Tough to be funny and terrifying at the same time. But props to Sierra Club for trying.)

“What I try to remember is that the whole country’s going through a process. We’re going to be a very different country in 20 years. That brings up a lot of fear and a lot of anger. People on both sides of the political spectrum are going to make mistakes. In my heart, I see these noisy attacks on me as friendly fire. These are my fellow countrymen and women, who don’t want to see this country continue to suffer. I feel exactly the same way.”

Van Jones said that, in an interview with Grist’s David Roberts, after Roberts asked him if he’s angry about what went down last September.

Solid response, in my opinion.

Forgiveness is a hugely powerful thing.

“To be honest, I’m not sure I’d characterize myself as an environmentalist now. While I got into global warming out of scientific curiosity, my continued interest and all the hours I spend on it are more out of concern for humanity than nature. I’m a Christian and a strong aspect of my faith is social conscience – hating injustice and caring for the poor. As I pored through the research into global warming impacts, I learned that poor and developing countries are those worst affected by global warming. Ironically, these are the countries least able to adapt to climate change.”

Aussie science-sorter John Cook said that in an interview with Andy Revkin.

Cook is a physicist, not a climate scientist, but he has spent a lot of time over the past few years examining the specifics of climate change skepticism. He’s not impressed.

So he blogs, “getting skeptical about global warming skepticism.” And he collects information, distills it, and feeds it into his iPhone App.

Still lots of work to do before I really truly call this thing a working web site. But we smoothed out a few wrinkles. And added some biodiversity to our upside-down lawn.

Come play if you want: www.carrotproject.com. If you don’t already have an account, request an invitation. Requests get granted.