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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: neolib who wrote (20582)	2/21/2008 5:57:10 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 36921

I thought planting trees was a good thing. Sunlight law levels trees Richard Treanor is fond of his redwood trees in Sunnyvale, Calif. A judge's decision, based on an obscure law, the Solar Shade Control Act, recently ordered Mr. Treanor to cut down two of his trees. (Associated Press) SUNNYVALE, Calif. (AP) — In an environmental dispute seemingly scripted for eco-friendly California, a man asked prosecutors to file charges against his neighbors because their towering redwoods blocked sunlight to his backyard solar panels. But the couple next door insisted they should not have to chop down the trees to accommodate Mark Vargas' energy demands because they planted the redwoods before he installed the solar panels in 2001. Experts say such clashes could become more common as California promotes renewable energy and, at the same time, solar systems become more popular. "Five or 10 years ago, you wouldn't have seen this case because there weren't that many systems around," said Frank Schiavo, a retired environmental-studies professor at San Jose State University. "I can almost guarantee there are going to be more conflicts." After more than six years of legal wrangling, a judge recently ordered Richard Treanor and his wife, Carolyn Bissett, to cut down two of their eight redwoods, citing an obscure state law that protects a homeowner's right to sunlight. The couple does not plan to appeal the ruling because they can no longer afford the legal expense, but they plan to lobby state lawmakers to change or scrap the law. The Solar Shade Control Act means that homeowners can "suddenly become a criminal the day a tree grows big enough to shade a solar panel," Mr. Treanor said. The case marks the first time a homeowner has been convicted of violating the law, which was enacted three decades ago, when few homeowners had solar systems.

To: neolib who wrote (20582)	2/21/2008 6:19:58 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36921

I have not seen any reconstructions of such. I'd like to seem some, and also have at least a rough understanding of how well they have been vetted compared to temp reconstructions. NASA Satellite images show that the N. Pacific has experienced a 30% decline in phytoplankton over the past several decades. Purely coincidence that this is the same period we started seeing CO2 increases and started worrying about global warming?? For the past 20 years (early 1980s to present), phytoplankton concentrations declined as much as 30 percent in northern oceans. gsfc.nasa.gov And research into Baleen in Bowhead Whales has revealed substantial decreases in carbon content over the past 5 decades: One of the ocean mysteries Planktos seeks understand related to the decline in productivity of the North Pacific that has documented to be going on for several decades. Don Schell is a researcher and director of the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He calculated ocean productivity by measuring the amount of carbon in the baleen of bowhead whales. The carbon comes from the whale's consumption of plankton. Bowhead whales add a layer of baleen each year, much like tree rings. Scientists can examine the layers of baleen and measure how ocean productivity has changed over time. Shell notes, "The record shows that from 1946 to 1963 everything went along fairly smoothly at a relatively high level of productivity. And then in the mid-60s it increased and peaked at around 1965, 1966. Then ocean plankton productivity began a steady decline and since the mid-1970s it has gone down and down and down. The last samples we have from 1994, 1995 and 1996 show the lowest primary productivity in the Bering Sea over this 50-year period." The story told in the baleen of bowhead whales is helping scientists explain the decline of species such as Steller sea lions, seabirds and fish that ultimately depend on plankton. Schell says the overall productivity of the North Pacific Ocean has declined some 40 percent. That means the ocean may not be able to support the variety of sea life that it once did. (www.uaf.edu/seagrant/NewsMedia/98ASJ/08.17.98_SeaChanges.html) Hawk