Earth Hour. Because the World Isn't Worth a Whole Day. (Peter Watts)

There was never a time when things could be turned around with such petty gestures. You want to effect real change? You've got to address the root of the problem: human psychology. We evolved in the moment, we evolved to recognize imminent and proximate threats: pestilence, predators, an alpha male coming at us with murder in his eyes. The site of a rotting corpse or a deformed child makes us squirm; the toothy smile of a great white freezes our blood. But we never evolved to internalize graphs and columns of statistics. They may be real; they just don't feel that way.

Watts' essay puts me in mind of an experience at Starbucks not long ago. The corporation was hawking the soundtrack for "Arctic Tale," a movie about Cute Polar Bears. The in-store advertising boasted a list of things potential "Arctic Tale" viewers could do to help Save the Planet, none of them significantly more useful than "Earth Hour" and, worse, tainted by the condescension corporations are so uncannily good at crafting when faced with the dilemma of selling overpriced crap to people who can scarcely afford it. (Especially big corporations who welcome the delusion that they're in it for the good of humanity. In Starbucks' case, it's "not about the coffee," but forging bonds within the community.)

One of Starbucks' main suggestions was to reduce electrical consumption by switching to low-power light-bulbs. So I looked up -- and realized that Starbucks uses roughly enough high-intensity lights to illuminate a modest stadium, all so that the handful of customers who actually enter the store instead of idling for fifteen minutes in the drive-thru can examine ranks of cheap plastic merchandise without having to squint.

It's not that I don't try to be optimistic. It's that I've become aware that I'm living in a society that's about to end in a most unceremonious manner. And we're not necessarily blind to the brick wall bearing down on us; on the contrary, I think we see it all too well. The gestures and symbols are intended to be useless in precisely the same way that last month's cellphones are intended to be thrown out when the fake chrome starts to chip.

If the future seems to be bullying us it's because we've forced its hand. Self-indulgent and media-blinded, we've chosen not to care. And with self-proclaimed planetary stewards like Starbucks here to show us the light, why should we?

Ozone Case Shows Bush Meddling In Science - Watchdogs

Asked why the president intervened, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said: "What we were trying to do on the smog decision was try to have a decision that was consistent with our interpretation of the statute. This was not a weakening of regulations or standards governing ozone, but it was an effort to make those standards consistent."

Environmental and scientific groups disagreed, saying the decision benefits coal-fired power plants and other industries that emit ground-level ozone. In addition to harming plants, ozone smog endangers human health, especially the young, the elderly and those with respiratory problems.

"This is a pattern unfortunately that extends across the Environmental Protection Agency, across pretty much every science based agency in the federal government," said Tim Donaghy of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

I just discovered BreathingEarth. It's a bit like manning the control panel in some James Bond villain's lair.

(Thanks: Elan.)

AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water

A vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

(Via Variable Gravitas Content.)

You know, this article actually had me concerned. Then I came to the part about the utilities insisting that everything's OK and abruptly realized my foolishness. I'm not even sure why I'm posting this.

Of course, we also thought dumping garbage in the oceans was "safe," but I'm sure that was just a bad call.

"Accidents happen."

"This sort of thing is inevitable."

"We sincerely regret this incident."

'Space debris' on beach removed by homeowners on Hutchinson Island

No one knows exactly what the mysterious "space debris" on the beach near Pebble Beach Condos was -- but residents removed the object that washed ashore earlier this month.

Tony Tallon, a retired Toronto police detective who lives nearby, said he and his neighbors banded together Monday and carted the strange debris -- which some suspected came from a space ship -- off the beach.

As Nuclear Waste Languishes, Expense to U.S. Rises

Forgotten but not gone, the waste from more than 100 nuclear reactors that the federal government was supposed to start accepting for burial 10 years ago is still at the reactor sites, at least 20 years behind schedule.

Total human impact on oceans mapped for the first time

"This project allows us to finally start to see the big picture of how humans are affecting the oceans," said Ben Halpern, assistant research scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who led the research. "Our results show that when these and other individual impacts are summed up, the big picture looks much worse than I imagine most people expected. It was certainly a surprise to me."

Risky Chemical Found In US Hurricane Trailers

Tens of thousands of people lost homes in Katrina in 2005 and many have been living for about two years in trailers bought by the government for temporary housing. Some residents have attributed health problems to formaldehyde exposure.

The CDC conducted indoor air-quality tests for formaldehyde between Dec. 21 and Jan. 23, 2008 on a random sample of 519 travel trailers and mobile homes in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Formaldehyde is a chemical used widely in the manufacture of building materials. It also is used in embalming fluid. It can irritate the skin, eyes, nose and throat, and high levels of exposure may cause some types of cancers.

Not surreal enough for you? Try this:

Pentagon Plans To Shoot Down Disabled Satellite

The Pentagon plans to shoot down a disabled US spy satellite before it enters the atmosphere to prevent a potentially deadly leak of toxic gas from the vehicle's fuel tank, officials said on Thursday.

President George W. Bush decided to have the Navy shoot the 5,000-pound (2,270 kg) minivan-sized satellite with a modified tactical missile, after security advisers suggested its reentry could lead to a loss of life.

The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan

A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said.

Yes, dear readers, you read that correctly.

The vast expanse of debris -- in effect the world's largest rubbish dump -- is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting "soup" stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.

Rubberized Gas Mask for Raccoons in Polluted Forests

As toxins invade environments where small animals dwell, and as those animals are bio-engineered to be smarter, you're going to see a booming market in safety gear for tiny creatures who want to stay pert for their Cute Overload closeup. I predict a run on artist Bill Burns' rubberized gas masks. They're made for any creature with a snout who is about the size of a possum or raccoon. Burns has got a whole line of safety gear for the post-apocalyptic Cheezburger set, including safety goggles and biohazard suits in diminutive sizes.

I've got to hand it to the folks at io9: they come up with some fantastic oddities.

The plastic killing fields

In one of the few places on Earth where people can rarely be found, the human race has well and truly made its mark. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean lies a floating garbage patch twice the size of Britain. A place where the water is filled with six times as much plastic as plankton. This plastic-plankton soup is entering the food chain and heading for your dinner table.

(Via Reality Carnival.)

"The Story of Stuff": holiday must-viewing.

Count on Mondolithic Studios to rouse me from my general pessimism and cast the future in a hopeful new light:

My Kind of Environmentalism

30 years from now, we're going to look back and wonder why we ever thought that it was going to be so hard to change. We're going to look at the new fortunes made by new industries and wonder why we ever thought that going green would bankrupt our society and sound the death knell of capitalism. We're going to see the resurgence in local manufacturing, local ownwership and self-employment and wonder why we ever thought we needed to ship cheap underwear and crappy lead-laced toys across oceans in shipping containers. We're going to see the garden home ghetttos and lonely McMansions replaced with communities and wonder how we could have stood with living so isolated from each other. We'll see the cooperative adaptive energy network that replaced our obsolete power grid and wonder what took us so long to get our act together. We'll see the skies above our cities cleared of smog, and wonder why we ever listened to the desperate lies of corrupt leaders and corporate shills when they told us that reorganizing our society was going to be too difficult, too expensive, and would destroy our way of life.

It won't be easy, of course, but ultimately we might not have a choice.

A Third of Freshwater Fish in Europe Under Threat

More than a third of freshwater fish species in Europe face extinction due to overfishing, pollution and dams which have caused rivers to dry up, a scientific study said on Thursday.

The continent's 522 freshwater fish species are under a much higher level of threat than birds or mammals, according to the study "Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes", published in collaboration with the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

UN issues 'final wake-up call' on population and environment

You know the score: rapidly diminishing natural resources, overpopulation, massive extinction, ecological collapse, and a climate in chaos. And this is just the opening act.

Our Drinkable Water Supply Is Vanishing

We are faced with thoughtless development that paves flood plains and destroys wetlands; dams that displace native people and scar watersheds; unchecked industrial growth that pollutes water sources; and rising rates of consumption that nature can't match. Increasingly, we are also threatened by the wave of privatization that is sweeping across the world, turning water from a precious public resource into a commodity for economic gain.

(Via PAG E-News.)

Pollution May Cause 40 Percent of Global Deaths

Water, air and soil pollution, along with other environmental factors, contribute to 40 percent of deaths worldwide each year, a new study concludes.

In a review of research into the effects of environmental pollutants and other sources of environmental degradation, Cornell University ecologist David Pimentel estimates that 62 million deaths per year (40 percent of all that occur) can be attributed to environmental factors, particularly organic and chemical pollutants that accumulate in the air we breathe and the water we drink.

Manufactured landscapes

Edward Burtynsky is a photographer that makes pictures scarred or altered landscapes, changed by industrial activities. His work shows the disappearance of nature and the appearance of a new sort of nature.

Burtynsky's industrial hellscapes are simultaneously revolting and hypnotic. Take a good look: these blighted vistas just might epitomize our future.

Antarctic Ozone Hole Appears Early in 2007 - UN

A hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has appeared earlier than usual in 2007, the United Nations weather agency said on Tuesday.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said it would not be clear for several weeks whether the ozone hole, which is expected to continue growing until early October, would be larger than its record size in 2006.

Pollution closes record number of beaches: study

The number of U.S. beaches declared unsafe for swimming reached a record last year, with more than 25,000 cases where shorelines were closed or prompted health advisories, an environmental group reported on Tuesday.

Chinese dolphin 'probably extinct'

The long-threatened Yangtze River dolphin in China is probably extinct, according to an international team of researchers who said this would mark the first whale or dolphin to be wiped out due to human activity.