Farce in Alaska: Lots of money, time and fossil fuel burned by people who believe (?) that carbon dioxide is a major climate driver

Greetings from (nearly) the top of the world! I’m sitting in a tent full of science journalists at the Toolik Field Station, NSF’s long-term ecological research in northern Alaska. In the summer months, there are upwards of 120 scientists and support staff on site doing a range of research related to climate change.

The writers are here as guests of the Marine Biological Laboratory, which sponsors an annual science journalism program. The idea of the program is give journalists a glimpse of the research going on here not just by talking to folks in the field, but by also getting our hands dirty. Actually, hands, clothes, gear—it’s all dirty. We’ve been tromping through the tundra, wading into streams, sliding on aufeis, all in the name of science.

Yesterday, we hiked through the tundra to see a thermokarst, a gulley formed when an ice wedge melts beneath the thick layer of permafrost, causing the soil to erode. We took samples of the water and soil, then came back to the chemistry lab (tight quarters in a trailer), and analyzed them for nutrient content. The fear is that there’s so much organic matter trapped in the permafrost that this kind of rapid melting will only accelerate climate change. In the next week or so, we’ll be heading out to several locations in and around camp to get a flavor of the wide range of research happening here.

It all may sound rather straightforward, but consider this: in a given day, the temperature can fluctuate from below freezing to above 70ºF. Getting to the sampling site may require a several-mile hike carrying a ton of equipment, possibly even a drop-off by a helicopter...

How Green Is a Nudist Vacation? - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com

With summer upon us, how many green vacationers’ fancies will turn to thoughts of nudism?

Going without clothes on beaches and other vacation spots is commonly called naturism — a description that implies helping the planet, as some practitioners claim to be doing.

Spending more time with nothing on stems waste and pollution in all sorts of ways, according to an article by Kathy Blanchard on The Naturist Society’s Web site.
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Of the 1.5 million people who practice naturism in France, nearly a third come to Aquitaine while “foreign naturists” account for more than half of holidaymakers in the centers and campsites across the region. (Presumably their fossil fuel use in transportation could cancel any climate benefits of going clothes-free.)

In the Swiss Alps, nude hiking in winter seems to be a growing phenomenon — although some locals are trying to outlaw the practice, as my colleague John Tagliabue wrote earlier this year.

Has anyone checked to see if nudity in winter is mandated by Waxman-Markey?