Top Environmental Stories of the Year, Other than BP Oil Spill (7 Green Bloggers)

Tom Schueneman

“Though it is difficult to determine what the ‘biggest’ environmental story is so far for this year (even without considering the BP oil spill), I think the report published last May of research indicating continued ocean warming is certainly among the most significant. Consistent and accurate measurement of global ocean temperature is a challenge. The report released in May re-analysed and combined data collected over the past 15 years, giving scientists a more definitive record of ocean temperatures. Warming surface waters, combined with increasing acidification and rising sea levels, are harbingers of a rapidly changing climate.”

Tom is the founder, editor and publisher of GlobalWarmingisReal. He has studied climate and environmental issues for more than twenty years, and began writing GlobalWarmingisReal in June of 2006. Last year Tom attended the COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen and traveled to Germany at the invitation of the German Foreign Ministry to examine German environmental and energy policy. In addition to publishingGlobalWarmingisReal, Tom is also the publisher and editor of the Hippie Magazine Network, including HippieMagazine and TheGreenWashingBlog.

A contributing writer for several popular environmental blogs, including TriplePundit, Sustainablog and Ecopolitology and others, in his spare time Tom publishes the HistoryBlogProject.

Dave Harcourt

“To me the biggest story of the year is an emerging one! The complexity of feeding the expanding and changing world, while reducing carbon emissions, places new demands on managing food waste – the waste of:

excess consumption - Michelle Obama’s pact with the food industry to cut one and a half trillion calories of food consumption in the USA and the milkshake with enough calories to meet the daily energy need of a woman;

the home system - half a billion dollars a year of wine discarded in the UK and the weight of 74 Golden Gate bridges a year of wasted in food in the USA;

modern retail system - sell by, best before and use by dates simply complicate the consumers decisions;

food processing – UK food manufacturers producing 2 million tons a year of waste to make 59 million tons of food products;

commercial and subsistence farming – with estimates of post harvest losses from 15 % up to 60 %! not considering crops which don’t find a market!

“And that’s before considering all the energy we have put into producing all this food that’s simply gone to waste and that the waste has often produced, one of the ‘stronger greenhouse gasses’, methane.”

Following a career at CSIR, Africa’s largest research organisation, Dave Harcourt now consults in Food Processing and writes on agribusiness, energy and the environment from an African perspective. He previously wrote for Ecoworldly, runs DIGIVU – a processing technology website, maintains a number of blogs on news related to the website, tweets on things that amuse him and writes for Food Processing Africa. He graduated as a Chemical Engineer and experienced business from SASOL to the sweet vendor, gaining an intimate understanding of the complexities. As an African he is deeply concerned about the future of the continent but still inspired by its resources.

Scott James

“While the ongoing BP oil leak is dramatically and quickly ruining much of the Gulf coast ecosystem and fishing industry, there is a much slower but equally disturbing threat to the web of life and fishing industry in Lake Michigan and all of the Great Lakes: Asian carp. It’s really a blanket term for several types of carp, all of which are non-native to the area, originally introduced to eat algae in ponds along the Mississippi. Through flooding, breeding and migration, the carp are now just miles from getting into Lake Michigan through the Chicago River lock system that connects the Mississippi River system to the Great Lakes.

Michigan, sometimes on their own and sometimes with other Great Lakes-area states, have been suing Illinois to permanently close the lock system to definitively keep them out. I think the fact that the courts have repeatedly denied their requests and favored the economic interests of Chicago’s shipping industry over the risk of the invasive carp destroying the ecological balance of the Great Lakes is sinister. And the fact that there is no political push to do anything more than set up an electric underwater fence and periodically poison a few miles of the canal when the carp are close borders on criminal.”

Scott James is a freelance writer and social media strategist in San Francisco. You can find his other green thoughts on Blue Living Ideas, Green Living Ideas, and Earth Talk. When not writing, you can usually find him hunting down a good cup of coffee or playing <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/words-with-friends/id322852954?mt=8.“>Words With Friends.

Joe Mohr

“Same as it is every year; the creation of cheap useless crap. Our economy (based on chrematistics) creates phony needs for useless junk. We then deal with the environmental outfall of producing, transporting, consuming, and wasting said junk. The whole process is a toxic mess that poisons our air, water, and soil. Until we can really discern between needs and wants with our own critical minds, this environmental, economic, and social disaster will perpetuate.

“Next answer: allowing corporations to make uncapped donations to politicians…

“3rd answer: everything monsanto (of course)…”

Joe makes environmentally themed cartoons for adults on Wend Magazine and Twilight Earth, and kids (“Hank D. and the Bee”) on EcoChild’sPlay and NaturalPapa. Joe’s cartoons can be found all over the web as well–some notable sites include: Mother Nature Network, Ecopolitology, Sustainablog, The Fun Times Guide to Living Green, King of Nature, CalFinder Blog and many more! Joe is a hubby, daddy, bike lover, doodler/writer/painter, rookie beekeeper, traveler, aspiring children’s author/illustrator, and above average green bean grower. You can follow Joe’s Cartoon updates on twitter at @GreenCartoons

Excellent answers. So many issues.

For more from the 7 Green Bloggers Series, with answers from (mostly) different green bloggers, read:
1. Favorite Nature Destinations
2. When Did Your Mission to Protect the Environment Start?
3. Top Environmental Organizations in the United States

Photo Credit: nattu via flickr

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