THEMCKAYPOST

Strange new creatures found in Antarctic, under melting ice shelves

 

Above: Shackletonia, an amphipod crustacean.  Below: Sea cucumbers

Regardless of where you come down on what is behind it, global warming is real, and it is causing two major ice shelves to melt away in the Antarctic, uncovering a world of creatures, many of which have never been seen until now. Here is an excerpt from the article in LiveScience via Yahoo!;

“researchers cataloged about 1,000 species in an area of the Antarctic seabed where warming temperatures are believed to have caused the collapse of overlying ice shelves, affecting the marine life below.”

“At least 30 appear to be new to science, said Julian Gutt, chief scientist of an expedition that was part of the International Polar Year research effort set to launch on March 1.”

You can read the entire article here.

Buyout shops going green!

KKR, and Texas Pacific Group lead the pack.

From The Int’l Harold Tribune

Beavers in N.Y.C.!!!

I love it!!! Now watch some idiot on the city council come along and call for something to be done before they dam up the East River. Leave my little buddies alone!

This just goes to show how we can clean up our environment, and create a healthy habitat for all of us to live in. 20 years ago, these little guys and gals would never have survived in the waterways of NYC!

This from Gothamist

Clean energy, the non-internet, non-IT sector some VCs seem to like.

I like clean. “Keep it clean”, this is a “clean deal”, “squeaky clean”, “clean as a whistle”, “clean it up”, “a clean house is a happy house”, and to borrow from those old cop shows; “he’s clean”. When I’m really sick, I like to say that I’m as sick as a garbage truck, because of all the germs seething in, and on these noisy, stinky contraptions. Who after all, wouldn’t like “clean”?

Yes, I have seen the math on corn ethanol. I know how expensive it is to produce and transport, and I’m not ready to see corn prices skyrocket while we pay the same amount for a higher blend of ethanol/gasoline, that we are paying now. There are however, other answers . Cellulosic ethanol is one option that does not threaten intolerable price increases for another commodity that we are dependant upon (raise the price of feed corn, and see how much you will pay for a steak, a hamburger, or a pork chop, among other products that depend on corn). In addition to cellulosic ethanol, there is bio-diesel, and I’m glad to see some in the VC community pursuing these options as investments.

Imperium Renewables, a firm that specializes in Bio-Diesel has raised a $113 million in VC funding (read the story at TheDealBlogs), and they are not alone. Another post on TheDealBlogs talks about the competition to invest in the right “clean tech” companies.

This is all good news to me. These are stepping stones to better, more efficient forms of energy (the hybrid before the fuel cell, the propeller before the turbo-jet).

Am I against big oil? No. I don’t expect us (the U.S.) to become fossil fuel independent overnight. This will take many, many years, but we have to start somewhere, because this is where we are all headed, and so, why not be first.

I like clean. In fact I think I’ll go take another shower.

Disclosure: At the time of this writing I have several wood burning fireplaces in my house, and use one of them regularly (the others only on occasion, when we have a lot of guests). I also drive an SUV. I’m not a fanatic, just a realist with positive visions for the future. This is neither an offer to buy, or a solicitation to sell any energy saving devices.