With all of the years bush has been in office, this has to be the most helpful program he has ever tried to launch. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Bush administration is considering launching one of the biggest conservation programs in U.S. history. If implemented, President George W. Bush could, with the stroke of a pen, protect vast stretches of U.S. territorial waters from fishing, oil exploration and other forms of commercial development. The initiative could also create some of the largest marine reserves in the world — far larger than national parks like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. The White House is thinking about taking "big steps, not small ones," says Jack Sobel, a senior scientist at the Washington-based Ocean Conservancy, an environmental group. A spokesman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality confirmed that the administration is considering the initiative but declined to discuss details, saying they are still under review. The idea is drawing strong support from conservationists who typically have been harshly critical of the Bush administration's overall environmental record. But some of the possible reserves are already attracting opposition from local leaders and industry groups and from some members of Congress. Administration officials said they wanted things they could do before they left office, says Sobel. "They [also] wanted things that they could do without tremendous political blow back … [but] would have a conservation impact." The groups — along with government agencies and other interested parties – ultimately developed a "wish list" that included about 30 potential marine monuments. They ranged from small reserves in U.S. coastal waters to vast swaths around U.S. territories in the distant Central Pacific. The candidates stretched "from Bar Harbor, Maine, to Dutch Harbor, Alaska" and beyond, says Jay Nelson of the Washington-based Pew Environment Group. The White House has now shortened that list to about five finalists, say scientists involved in the process. The list hasn't been released to the public, and a CEQ spokesman says changes are still possible. But conservation groups have identified some of the leading nominees.By far the most ambitious proposal is to protect more than 600,000 square miles around a number of small, mostly uninhabited islands in the Central Pacific. The islands — including Palmyra, Howland and Baker — are surrounded by biologically rich coral reefs and are home to huge seabird colonies. If implemented, the reserve would be among the largest in the world and about three times as large as the Hawaiian monument". by John Nielsen and David Malakoff + Reference + ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, preserve the land around potential oil deposits and add an extra .50 to every gallon at the pump. Good idea
Well, that's a hotly debated controversial topic. On one hand, we could plunder Antarctica, for an example, and take all of the oil deposits there, thus cheapening gas. However, pro-nature people think that if we do so, we'll wreck the ecological environment that live there.
Each time a whole polar ice cap melts, sea levels go up 20 feet. If Antartica were to melt, New york would flood, same with Venice and a lot of other locations. Now if Greenland and the North ice cap would melt, sea level would go up another 40 feet. Do you even know how devastating that would be Titmar?
Cheap gas > Penguins They will still be in zoos anyways. Id rather go to a zoo to see them than go to Antarctica
It's statements like the one above that reinforces my belief that there's no hope for humanity. I certainly hope it was meant in jest, otherwise it just reeks of ignorance.
LOL but seriously...we've found other ways to fuel our cars...if the government really cared, they would do something about this, they really are just enjoy that 3.90 a gallon right now...especially when none of us are slowing down our driving...
Yeah, but while it's super-efficient hypothetically, renewable energy sources are impractical due to our lack of appropriate equipment. We'd need something like 10-20 more years of technological development in that field to engineer an efficient renewable power plant that would meet the demands that fossil fuels met. I'm doing an educated guess. It's probably more than that.
sort of. scientists say that everything will be wind, solar, and water current powered by 2030. Not soon enough
true dat, true dat, though we've made entire cities within years, once we've found the technology, we generally rape it, so why not this? i mean...we should honestly be all over this, i fear it's all because of the $$$ ...
Great, we have more sea to enjoy! But that won't solve Global Warming. What good is some nice sea to look at when the world is literally ON FIRE and everyone around you is burning alive? And don't say "jump in it", it will have evaporated, duh. I understand teh ecology.
If the water evaporates, it'll go into the air and make it more humid. That will condense into rainclouds, which will then rain. Thus, the water will not be evaporated.
Electric cars will still require energy, which will be produced by fossil fuels. And don't even get started on how horribly inefficient they are.
do you seriously believe that crap 25 years ago people were screaming ahh global cooling the second ice age for the same reasons that your all screaming ah global warming. have you heard anything about the dreaded tear in the ozone over Antarctica no because it went away. im all for protecting the environment but 1 if it is as bad as they they say it is then we're all doomed any way and there is nothing you can do prius's require more energy to manufacture and dispose of then a hummer that includes driving.
The point is, until we start rethinking how to make cars, we're still going to be stuck with the fact that electric cars would need to be super-charged just to reach speeds of a normal car, and it would still be essentially a golf cart. The places that charge it will need to be powered by fossil fuels to logically work at it's fullest potential. Edit: WOOT Y2K