January 2008 Archives

The Butler 2 Fire in the Big Bear area charred 14,000 acres last September. (The Press-Enterprise/Ed Crisostomo)

The statistics from scientists on climate change and its effects on wildfires is a little daunting, given our region's susceptibility to wind-driven infernos.

An interesting study on giant sequoias in the Sierra Nevada and their tree rings tell a 3,000-year story about drought and fire. From 900 to 1300 AD, there were a lot of fires burning every two to 10 years, especially from 1100 to 1300 when it was extremely dry. Then after 1300, it got cooler and wetter and the fire frequency was every 10 to 20 years.

Tom Swetnam, director of the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research at the University of Arizona, said that shows the strong correlation between fire and drought. And he said, that doesn't bode when you throw climate change into the mix.

"The recent scientific models show the Western U.S. and Southwest is likely to become an epicenter of drying and continued drought," he told me yesterday by telephone.

He is among the scientists and fire managers wrapping up a three-day conference on the topic today in Tucson, Ariz.

Swetnam and Anthony Westerling, of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute,
University of California at Merced had a study published September in the journal Science that showed that global warming has caused a 300 percent increase in the number of large wildfires over the last 20 years and a 600 percent increase in the area burned in the U.S.

Those at the conference said the next step is to figure out how to develop policy to better manage fires and forests. On the one hand, the trees take in a lot of carbon and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions; but as global warming causes more fires and destroys those trees, that tactic in reducing global warming will be lost.

And as fires more and more become large "complexes," taking over vast amounts of land, it will be especially important, they said.

Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology, said "it's difficult to get folks worried about fire in January … but I think that’s one of the things we’ll be seeing is the end of the seasonality of wildfire. It's going to become a permanent migrating phenomenon."

UC Riverside is joining in on the Focus the Nation effort with a lecture tomorrow night by a sociology student who was trained by Al Gore in 2006 to present a slide show on climate change based on "An Inconvenient Truth."

Hector Rivera will talk about the warming trend and how students can support efforts aimed at implementing solutions. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at the University Commons.

Then on Feb. 13, the actual program director of Focus the Nation, Eban Goodstein, an economics professor from Lewis and Clark College in Oregon, will present "How Today's College Students Will Stop Global Warming and Save the Planet."

Both events are open to the public. Click here for more details.

Icebergs float in a bay off Ammassalik Island, Greenland, on July 19. A record amount of Greenland's ice sheet melted last summer _ 19 billion tons more than the previous high mark _ U.S. scientists had reported, saying it was an ominous sign of global warming. (Associated Press/John McConnico)

Students and professors on more than 1,500 campuses across the country are conducting what's being called the nation's largest "teach-in" ever on Thursday. It will look at solutions to climate change, and here in the I.E., we've got a few universities and high schools taking part.

At the University of Redlands, the effort actually gets underway today when professors in the environmental studies department will brief other faculty on how they might incorporate talk of climate change into their business, English and other classes on Thursday.

"We'll give a briefing on climate change, the likely consequences and what the likely solutions are," said Monty Hempel, director of the Center of Environmental Studies at Redlands.

Other Inland campuses taking part can be found on this map. And you can see here some interesting lesson suggestions on what subjects can tackle what kind of climate-related topics.

Organizers of Focus the Nation are billing the event as the largest teach-in in the nation's history, noting that the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 began with a teach-in.

Hempel said students hold the promise to reversing the warming trend and its catastrophic results predicted by many scientists.

As part of the festivities, Hempel and crew will visit with Redlands Mayor Jon Harrison tonight to talk about how the city and university can cooperate on climate action steps such as incorporating energy-efficiency into redevelopment projects, Hempel said.

"We think of this as the first of a long series of thing that will happen on campus," Hempel said.

As for Thursday's event, it will culminate in round-table discussions between students, elected leaders and some members of Congress. Participants then will vote on top solutions, and the top five results from the "Choose Your Future" vote will be announced on Feb. 13.

Stay tuned!

Actor Ed Begley Jr. shows off a solar oven in the garden of his Studio City home. (The Press-Enterprise/Greg Vojtko)

Ed Begley Jr., that energetic actor and environmentalist, sure has been making the rounds in the I.E. lately. And it turns out he apparently owns half of a windmill in the San Gorgonio Pass. Who knew?

Begley already spoke at the Temple Sinai Town Hall Forum in Palm Desert, and this Thursday he'll be speaking at the University of Redlands for the Convocation Lecture Series. And there's no surprise here, but he will talk about living green.

If you recall, PE photographer Greg Vojtko and I visited Begley at his Los Angeles area home last year to watch the filming of an episode of "Living with Ed," on HGTV. And we got the grand tour of his modest home. A solar oven in the back yard, both an electric and hybrid vehicle in the garage, a rain barrel to irrigate his garden, a kitchen countertop made of recycled Coke bottles. I could go on and on....

Continuing his I.E. tour, Begley will also be in Temecula on Feb. 6 when he will be the keynote speaker at the 9th Annual Advancing the Choice Expo. That event is sponsored by the Western Riverside County Clean Cities Coalition. It's also sponsored by the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the Western Riverside Council of Governments.

John Wohlmuth, executive director of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments, stands in the Coachella Valley Preserve, which is protected from development.
(The Press-Enterprise/David Olson)

The award named after the woman who lobbied to protect Joshua Tree National Park back in the 1930s is being given this year to John Wohlmuth and the Coachella Valley Association of Governments.

The Joshua Tree National Park Association is bestowing the Minvera Hoyt California Desert Conservation Award to Wohlmuth, the agency's executive director, et al. for developing the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan.

HCPs, as they are known, are controversial in some circles because they allow the destruction of some species and their habitat, while protecting them elsewhere. Others say they are the best way of allowing development to occur while protecting species, their habitat and wildlife corridors. The Inland region has a similar plan in western Riverside County and the High Desert in San Bernardino County and a bunch of smaller ones scattered around.

Under the Coachella Valley plan, 240,000 acres of open space will eventually be preserved and 27 threatened and endangered plants and animals across the Coachella Valley will be protected. I put a call into Wohlmuth this morning but he wasn't in.

Coincidentally, Wohlmuth was at the symposium last week at the Mission Inn in Riverside that examined how to make cities more environmentally friendly. One point he raised was that perhaps more areas should consider banning development in areas prone to fire, flood or other natural hazards and preserve them for endangered species whose habitat often fall on those landscapes. He noted that's the case with the San Andreas Fault that runs along the north end of the valley, where water comes up to the surface and provides habitat. The fault, for instance, runs through the Coachella Valley Preserve, pictured to the right.

Past recipients of the Minerva Hoyt award include The Wildlands Conservancy, which bought thousands of acres in the desert and gave them to the federal government for preservation; and Donna and Larry Charpied, who have long fought the effort to build a large landfill near Joshua Tree National Park.

Any thoughts on habitat conservation plans and whether they are worthy for such an award?

Tova Rohatiner of Los Angeles screams while riding down the Alpine Slide at Magic Mountain in Big Bear Wednesday. (The Press-Enterprise/Mark Zaleski)

Off and on rain this weekend may put a bit of a damper on some outdoor activities, but it will be great for the Inland mountains. Just this morning, one of our ski resorts reported five to seven inches of new snow.

And if you're thinking of going out for sushi this weekend, you might want to read this article about the amount of mercury in tuna sushi. Even the presidential candidates are voicing thoughts on what to do about it.

A clean up of Arlington Falls in Riverside that had been set for Saturday has been postponed because of the rain until sometime in March.

If there is a break in the rain or you're like me and don't mind hiking in it, here's an often overlooked Inland place to get out and about.

And if you're in the market for a laptop like me, the Roberts Environmental Center at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont this week rated computer companies and gave Dell the highest mark and Apple the lowest when it came to environmental and social reporting. Something to think about, and if you want to read more, here's the report. Remeber, if you have an old computer that is too damaged to donate, you can recycle it.

And at REI in Rancho Cucamonga next week, you can attend clinics on snowshoeing and those GPS gadgets.

Strong winds carve intricate shapes in blocks of ice throughout the Antarctic coastline. (Associated Press/Brian Witte)

More bad news from scientists on the climate change front, this time from down below.

Ice loss in Antarctica increased by 75 percent in the last 10 years and is now nearly as great as that observed in Greenland. That's according to a new study by UC Irvine and NASA scientists that will be published in February's issue of the journal, Nature Geoscience.

The international team of scientists was led by Eric Rignot, a UC Irvine earth sciences professor and scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

They found that the net loss of ice mass from the continent increased from 112 gigatonnes a year in 1996 to 196 gigatonnes a year in 2006. Now gigatonnes are huge, just one gigatonne is more than 2.2 trillion pounds! And it's enough ice to raise global sea level from .01 inches a year in 1996 to .02 inches a year in 2006.

The ice loss was concentrated in West Antarctica's Pine Island Bay and the northern tip of the Antarctica Peninsula. Rignot said the losses have been caused by ongoing and past acceleration of glaciers into the sea, mainly the result of warmer ocean waters that cause glaciers to thin or collapse.

"Changes in the Antarctic glacier flow are having a significant, if not dominant, impact on the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet," Rignot said.

And, he said, large uncertainties remain in predicting the region's future contribution to sea level rise. "Ice sheets are responding faster to climate warming than anticipated," he said.

Rignot said scientists are now observing these climate-driven changes over a significant fraction of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and the extent of the glacier ice losses is expected to keep rising in the years to come.

Rialto well #2 was closed due to high perchlorate count. (The Press-Enterprise/Rodrigo Pena)

A new report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has some federal lawmakers again calling on federal environmental officials to create a national drinking water standard for perchlorate, an ingredient of rocket fuel and fireworks that has contaminated Inland supplies.

The FDA study looked at 285 common foods and beverages, and found that 75 percent of them contain some amount of perchlorate. That, says Penny Newman, an Inland activist, underscores the pressing need to rid perchlorate from Inland groundwater supplies.

"For it to be that pervasive is really scary," said Newman, executive director of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice in Glen Avon. "It's kind of bolstering the idea that you don’t just have to have contaminated water to get perchlorate contamination. But for communities who are already drinking some level of perchlorate, this just adds to it."

The findings of the FDA study underscore the need for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set a national drinking standard, said Rep. Hilda L. Solis, D-El Monte, who has authored legislation to do just that.

Other lawmakers voiced their frustration, too.

"For almost a decade, the Environmental Protection Agency has refused to set a drinking water standard for perchlorate, opting instead for further study," added U.S. Rep. Albert Wynn, D-MD. Wynn is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials.

Another report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that 35 states have communities in which perchlorate contaminates drinking water supplies at levels of 4 parts per billion or higher.

In the Inland region, Rialto, Colton, Fontana, Redlands, Riverside, Corona and others have some level of perchlorate contamination in their groundwater supplies. The water is either treated or blended to bring the concentration down to what is considered a safe level by the state.

But even the state standard, at 6 parts per billion, is too high given the pervasiveness of perchlorate in other food items, Newman suggested.

A Chinese tricycle passes plastic bags littered among other items at a market in Beijing, Jan. 10. Declaring war on the "white pollution" choking its cities, farms and waterways, China is banning free plastic shopping bags. (Associated Press/Andy Wong)

So much ado about plastic bags lately, an issue close to my heart as it's my eco-resolution to use re-usable bags when picking up groceries. A co-worker has already chided me to make sure I live up to it.

China announced earlier this month the country was banning ultra-thin plastic bags as a way to fight "white pollution" while allowing stores to offer thicker ones as long as they charge a fee for them. In Ireland, where stores charge more than 25 cents for plastic bags, use has dropped 95 percent as consumers opt to load their groceries into cloth totes.

Boy, that tact would sure work on me for motivation. The only problem is that it's illegal to do that in California. Turns out a recent state law that required in-store bag recycling programs actually prevents local governments from taking more effective measures to fight plastic pollution.

This afternoon, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on a motion calling on the Legislature to repeal that provision and implement a statewide fee on plastic shopping bags.

That might solve the issue for some Inland cities such as Twentynine Palms, which was concerned about legal challenges if passing a similar ban on plastic bags. Yucaipa also this month tabled discussions on the matter. Yucaipa is seeking alternatives to an outright ban by considering compostable plastic, reusable bags or recyclable paper bags.

That law would be modeled after legislation approved last March by San Francisco, the first U.S. city to pass such a law. San Francisco allows stores to offer biodegradeable alternatives made form potato-starch or corn statch. But those alternatives are expensive. Four to 8 cents compared to a penny for plastic bag. And some say, the starch doesn't completely degrade in landfills.

The flimsy plastic bags number in the millions and are hard to recycle and easily blow into trees and waterways, where they are blamed for killing marine life. So I say just go for the canvas tote! Or those cute red-and-white Trader Joes bags that hold quite the load.

Lester Brown's talk on Feb. 5 will be at 7:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church at the corner of Mission Inn Avenue and Lemon Street. That's in downtown Riverside. His talk will be followed by an audience Q&A, and a book-signing for his "Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization."

There will be no admission charge to his talk, hosted by the Universalist Unitarian Church of Riverside and UC Riverside. Seating is on a first-come basis, and door will open at 6:45 p.m. Donations to cover costs and support other public service programs will be accepted, said Dave Mowry, who's with the Green Sanctuary Committee at the Universal Unitarian Church of Riverside.

Bicycle riders travel on the the Santa Ana River Trail near Martha McLean-Anza Narrows Regional Park in Riverside. (The Press-Enterprise/David Bauman)

The Inland region may not be a hotbed of environmental activism like Berkeley or Santa Monica, but you wouldn't know it this week.

There are two day-long symposiums on tap in two major Inland cities --- one that will examine strategies for city revitalization and so-called green urbanism; and another that will look at climate change and global carbon footprints.

And that's not even mentioning the Global Warming Teach-In later this month that UC Riverside, University of Redlands and other Inland campuses will be participating in ... but more on that in a later blog.

On Wednesday at Dos Lagos in Corona, a symposium will examine climate change, green technology and sustainability. The keynote speaker is Richard Fedrizzi, founding chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council.

And on Thursday at the Mission Inn, many of the Inland region's most noted scientists, environmentalists and political leaders will participate in a workshop called, "The Inland Empire: Toward a More Humane Metropolis." The title is a take off of a recent book, "The Humane Metropolis: People and Nature in the 21st Century City," which was edited by Rutherford H. Platt. Platt, who will be in attendance, founded the Ecological Cities Project.

As cities and their surrounding regions become the dominant living environments for humans, there is growing concern about how to make such places more habitable, more healthy and safe, and more ecological. So some of the strategies that will be discussed at the symposium include developing more urban gardens, wetlands, trails like the one along the Santa Ana River, brownfield reuse, green buildings and environmental education.

Families make their way towards a hill for a day of tubing at Snowdrift Snow Tubing Park in the San Bernardino Mountains on Jan. 8. (The Press Enterprise/Stan Lim)

With the wind dying down but rain possibly on the way Tuesday, this weekend will be another great chance to get out and about in the Inland region, whether it's tubing in the mountains or hiking in the desert.

Out in the Coachella Valley Saturday morning, Dani Ortiz of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will lead folks on a seven-mile, 2,100-foot elevation gain hike through the cactus-studded Santa Rosa foothills. Meeting place is at Barona Road and Bogert Trail near Indian Canyons on the east end of Palm Springs at 8:30 a.m. (Thomas Bros' map page 816, F-1). But call Ortiz today at the visitors center for the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument for more information at 760-862-9984.

And what's great about our region and tall mountains is that one can always go snowshoeing or cross-country skiing in the San Jacinto Mountains atop the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.

On Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Big Bear Discovery Center, you can learn how to track the kind of animals that live in Inland forests. Cost is $3.

And mark your calendars for some chats about outdoor adventures and issues this coming week:

From Mary Ann Ruiz of the Sierra Club: Doug Scott, a well-known champion of wilderness, will give a presentation Tuesday in Claremont on "The Lure of Wilderness and The San Gabriel Mountains." The 8 p.m. talk, one of only two Southern California appearances, will be at the Alexander Hughes Community Center. The goals of the campaign, she said, are to better protect forest back country and improve water and recreational quality along the majestic San Gabriel River.

On Wednesday night, you can attend a clinic on preparing to climb Mount Whitney at REI in Rancho Cucamonga.

Also Wednesday night, you can catch a talk on earthquake faults in the Mojave Desert in Wednesday at the San Bernardino County Museum.

Lester R. Brown

He's perhaps the country's most-respected environmentalist. In fact, the Washington Post considers him one of the world's most influential thinkers, and he's coming here to the Inland region in a couple of weeks.

No, it's not Al Gore. It's Lester R. Brown, the farmer-turned-MacArthur fellow, whose latest book is called, "Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization." You guessed it, it's about saving the planet from climate change. You can read a recent Time article on the book by clicking here.

Brown will give a talk Feb. 5 in Riverside at a location to be determined, according to Reah Janise Kauffman, vice president of the Earth Policy Institute. Brown is president of the institute.

Dave Mowry, who was featured in a blog entry last month, is the local who asked Brown to appear here after he found out that he was speaking in Los Angeles.

Mowry said he's trying to find a venue large enough to accommodate as many people as possible and one that's cheap. Anyone with ideas, can e-mail him at drmowry@earthlink.net. And stayed tuned to this blog for updates on the exact time and location.

Coincidentally, Brown gave a teleconference to reporters yesterday in which he talked about the need for action. He said to save the planet, we have to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2020, a more extreme reduction than most have called for.

"This is what we think it’s going to take to control climate before things spiral out of control," he said.

Brown talked about developing more alternative energies, including wind, solar and geothermal, and how electric, plug-in cars could run off the power generated by them within a few years.

But, he said, time is running out, and he urged that everyone needs to do their part to reverse the warming trend.

"Saving global civilization," Brown said, "is not a spectator sport; we all have to get involved."

Greg Schorr, a researcher at Cascadia Research Collective, photographs a pod of pilot whales off the Kona coast of Hawaii, Aug. 25, 2007. The crew had been looking for beaked whales for a study of their vulnerability to U.S. Navy sonar. Beaked whales have been at the center of the dispute over the Navy's use of sonar ever since several washed ashore bleeding around their brains and ears during Navy exercises in the Bahamas seven years ago. (Associated Press/Audrey McAvoy)

It's been an issue off the Southern California coast that has been making headlines lately and now President Bush has weighed in on the controversy. According to this newspaper story, he exempted the Navy from an environmental law so it can continue using sonar in its anti-submarine warfare training off the coast.

While the president said it was in the name of national security, critics say the practice is harmful to whales and other marine mammals.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Los Angeles had issued a preliminary injunction requiring the Navy to create a 12-nautical-mile, no-sonar zone along the state's coastline and to post trained lookouts to watch for marine mammals before and during exercises. Under the order, sonar would have to be shut down when mammals are spotted within 2,200 yards.

U.S. District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper had ruled that the Navy’s plan to mitigate harm had been “grossly inadequate to protect marine mammals from debilitating levels of sonar exposure” in Southern California’s rich biological waters, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The NRDC has been the lead environmental group on this issue and a spokesman said the group would file papers with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later today or Thursday to challenge Bush's exemption.

Here's what one women's health group had to say about Clorox's new line of eco-friendly cleaning products.

"We commend Clorox for responding to consumer demand and providing a cleaning line that is less toxic to people and the environment," said Dori Gilels, executive director of Women's Voices for the Earth. "But why create one product line that has safer ingredients and continue to sell products that contain toxic ones? It sends a mixed message about Clorox's commitment to protecting consumer health."

To see the group's July 2007 report, which found that 17 percent of 100 household cleaning products listed as containing toxic chemicals were made by Clorox, click here.

What do you think?

Everywhere you look these days, companies are jumping on the "green" bandwagon, even one I associate with the most pungent of smells.

It's not necessarily a bad thing, but I get deluged every day with press releases from companies nationwide. But here are a few I thought you might find interesting.

First, the one with the smell. Clorox, long known for its bleach, has launched a line of natural cleaning products made from plant-based ingredients. The Oakland-based company says its Green Works line is at least 99 percent natural and brewed from such things as coconuts and lemon oil. You can check out the ingredients here.

And, they say, the products are biodegradable, non-allergenic, packed in recycled bottles and not tested on animals. And the price isn't bad either. The products range from $2.99 to $3.39 for an all-purpose cleaner, glass and surface cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, bathroom cleaner and dilutable cleaner that works on grease, grime, and dirt.

And while they're available in stores now, starting in April (will it be tied to Earth Day?) the product line will feature the logo of the Sierra Club, the nation's largest environmental group. Interesting. Any Inland members out there know the reasoning for this or have thoughts on it?

And, if anyone has used these products or will use them, let us know how they work by posting a comment.

And finally. Whenever I rent a car, I get stumped on the insurance question and other added costs. But now, there is yet another add-on. You too can pay $1.25 to offset the carbon dioxide emissions generated by an average car rental. Enterprise, National and Alamo customers will now have the option. The $1.25 will go toward TerraPass and onto other projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from animal waste and landfills, according to the companies. If you recall, that's the company Ed Begley Jr. uses.

Bald eagles await transfer to a warm U.S. Fish and Wildlife warehouse after being rescued on Friday in Kodiak, Alaska. They were among 50 eagles that dove into the back of an uncovered dump truck full of fish guts and became too wet to fly away. (Associated Press/Jay Barrett)

Most of the 30 bald eagles that survived a disastrous dive into a truck full of fish waste in Alaska are recovering today, according to an Associated Press story. It was a gruesome site over the weekend, when a large group of eagles dove into the uncovered truck, some becoming so wet in the slime that they couldn't get out. At least 20 died.

Officials at the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge and workers from the seafood plant rescued as many birds as they could, washing them in dishwashing soap to help remove the fish oil.

Meanwhile, volunteers were out in force in the Inland mountains this weekend scouting for bald eagles as part of a monthly census taken during the winter months.

And the results are in. At least eight bald eagles were spotted Saturday in Inland lakes in the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains. The highest number of eagles in one location was Big Bear and Baldwin lakes where three were observed. That's still down from the January average of 16.

The U.S. Forest Service has coordinated the counts of the federally protect species since 1978. Although, officials last year removed the bald eagle from the nation's list of threatened species, it is still protected under state and federal laws.

Crane Cast, who participated in the weekend census, put it nicely when talking about bald eagles.

"Eagles -- they just own the air," he said. "They're a Ferrari, a Rolls Royce or a Cadillac. They just spread their wings and they're flying."

A view of the snow-covered San Gabriel Mountains as seen Wednesday from Main Street in Hesperia near I-15. (The Press-Enterprise/Carrie Rosema)

The weekend is expected to be a great one for getting out and about.

And just to catch some of you up on outdoor news: the governor's budget unveiled yesterday is proposing to close three of our Inland parks -- California Citrus State Historic Park in Riverside, Providence Mountains State Recreation Area in the Mojave Desert, and the Salton Sea Recreation Area -- along with a campground at Mount San Jacinto State Park. You can check PE.com for the latest details.

And Sir Edmund Hillary, who along with Tenzing Norgay was the first to scale Mount Everest. died yesterday and I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know he was a beekeeper.

But on to the weekend activities starting with tonight. If you're in the Twentynine Palms area, you can hear all about the secrets of a desert oasis during a 7 p.m. lecture by Jim Cornett.

On Saturday morning, you can help count one of our nation's most treasured animals, the bald eagle. Monthly counts occur in the winter when the eagles migrate to Inland mountains where they prey on fish in the lakes. Click here for details on how you can participate.

And for other activities in the Inland mountains, check out this story for some ideas.

On Saturday and Sunday there are lectures on birds and geology of the Salton Sea at the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands.

If you recall in a post earlier this week, it was about how to go on a carbon diet. Well, some British soccer fans have some other ideas along the same lines. They say going to a pub to watch a soccer game is actually a good thing for the planet. Imagine that! But that way, fewer electricity-draining TVs will be turned on in homes. Or you can carpool to games rather than meeting your mates there to cut down on the amount of car trips. So with the American version of football happening this weekend, you might consider some of their ideas.

The Cadillac Provoq concept vehicle.

Never mind the lack of a so-called hydrogen highway, General Motors has unveiled its vision for the future of Cadillacs with a hydrogen fuel-cell crossover vehicle that emits nothing more than water vapor.

But what caught my eye about the Cadillac Provoq, is that it has a solar panel in its roof to power onboard accessories such as the interior lights and audio system.

Talk about our governor's million solar roofs idea! That one is actually for homes, but I wonder if this is could be the next trend. Although it looks more like a golf cart, a French company has said it would put its wind- and solar-powered car on the market this year. The three-seater might come in handy in the Coachella Valley with all its sun and wind.

Right now, GM officials say they know the infrastructure is not yet in place for such a car. The Hydrogen Highway in California is a long way off.

But part of the idea of presenting the concept car at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week was to generate feedback and let folks know the kind of technology they are looking at developing, David Caldwell, Cadillac's communications manager, told me this morning.

He told me that solar roof is only enough to generate power for some of the accessories. A solar panel to power the entire car would have to be huge, he said.

The fuel cell concept is part of GM's so-called E-Flex propulsion system. Essentially, it combines a fuel cell system and a lithium-ion battery to produce an electrically driven vehicle that uses no petroleum and has no emission other than water. The concept’s fifth-generation fuel cell technology is half the size of its predecessor, yet it has been developed to produce more power and performance, GM says.

Caldwell says that sometimes the company will adopt certain features of its concept cars but not all of them. Sounds interesting, I guess we'll see where it goes.

(Detroit Free Press/John W. Fleming)

So it's the New Year, and maybe some of you are hitting the gym a little more often now that the holidays are over. You may even want to drop a few pounds, but 3,000 pounds? That's only if you go on a carbon diet.

The National Geographic's Green Guide is making it easy to to reduce your carbon footprint, and thereby reducing several pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from your every day life. Such emissions, like carbon dioxide that comes from cars and other sources, are linked to global warming.

The online feature offers simple ideas for each month of 2008. The suggestion for January is to turn down your thermostat by 2 degrees, a move that will lighten your carbon footprint by 318 pounds, according to the guide. And for April, in car-crazy Southern California, the idea is to keep your tires properly inflated. That's a good one, for wear-and-tear and safety reasons if nothing else. And, they say, doing that will shave off 189 pounds!

San Bernardino kangaroo rat (Lloyd Ingles)

So I mentioned last week that Jan. 10 would be a busy day for the environment. We can add one more event to that list besides the energy corridor meeting in Ontario and the Senate field hearing in Los Angeles on greenhouse gas emissions.

Also on Thursday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be holding two hearings in San Bernardino to discuss the agency's proposals for critical habitat for the San Bernardino kangaroo rat and two mountain plants.

All three Inland species are listed by the federal agency as endangered, meaning they are in danger of going extinct. The plants are the San Bernardino bluegrass and the California taraxacum.

Despite its name, the San Bernardino kangaroo rat lives in parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties. And it looks like a miniature kangaroo with its large hind legs, which you can see in the photo, and it jumps like one too. The nocturnal animals dig small burrows in loose sands and gravel where they live and breed.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the kangaroo rat's habitat has been degraded and fragmented by urban and recreational development, sand and gravel mining and flood control projects.

Critical habitat designations are intended to add a level of protection to the kind of landscapes endangered species need to live, eat and breed. The designations generally come into play with large-scale developments _ typically housing, flood control or road projects _ that are within the boundaries of the habitat, and sometimes they have to be modified to protect the land.

Back in 2000, the wildlife service proposed to designate 55,408 acres of critical habitat for the kangaroo rat in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Then came one for 33,295 acres, and then another for 9,079 acres. The latest proposal, issued last summer in response to a lawsuit by the building industry, will possibly shrink that last number by 2,544 acres, in part because the agency said other habitat plans already protect the species in some areas.

Ileene Anderson, an ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the environmental group had "significant trouble" with the downsizing.

"They eliminated one whole critical habitat unit even though there are animals still there," she said, referring to the Etiwanda Fan area near Rancho Cucamonga.

As for the plants, the San Bernardino bluegrass is a perennial grass and the California taraxacum is an herb in the sunflower family. Scott Eliason, a botanist with the San Bernardino National Forest, told me last fall that hikers and equestrians aren't restricted from areas where they grow, but he said off-road vehicles are expected to stay off meadows and on existing roads.