You don’t have to show any body parts at all to read these stories.
From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, a story about fears of uranium mining in Pittsylvania County that’s kind of comical in its understatement of the issue. “…County leaders are urging a state commission studying the issue to state unequivocally whether mining would cause damage or harm.” Given the general track record of being able to answer such questions “unequivocally” before you do the mining—see Coal Ash Disaster and Gold Mine Pollution, for starters—I’m skeptical.
From UVA Today, a feel-good account of how kids living in dorms cut their energy use. It is interesting how people respond to, and sometimes even require, some other reason to take these steps, beyond a mere planetary emergency.
The Daily Progress reports on how homebuilders need to hang on for another year, because a boom is coming someday. Includes some interesting comments about the end of the McMansion era—though a home office is apparently still a "must-have" feature for today’s homebuyer. Guess we haven’t dialed it down quite enough yet.
From the blog of BuildingGreen, a hilarious and spot-on callout of “green” structures whose sustainable credentials amount to window-dressing. Justin Timberlake gets a smack, as does anyone who owns a vacation house.
And for dessert: From Ye Crazie Fox News, a piece about UVA’s own global-warming questioner Pat Michaels taking his message to Dartmouth. Note the raft of contradictions: We’re not heating up that much, but also, heating up might be good for us. And when another scientist disputes the basis of Michael’s claims, he just answers that challenge by dismissing “universities” (one of which, of course, employs him). Meanwhile a headline on the side of the page reads “Study: Antarctic Glaciers Melting Faster Than Thought.”
Post yer links, party people!