I recently noted that the U.S. population would reach 300M this month. The U.S. Census Bureau announced yesterday that this will occur on October 17. Here’s the entire press release:

Nation’s Population to Reach 300 Million on Oct. 17

The U.S. Census Bureau today [October 12] reported that the nation’s population will reach the historic milestone of 300 million on Oct. 17 at about 7:46 a.m. (EDT). This comes almost 39 years after the 200 million mark was reached on Nov. 20, 1967.

The estimate is based on the expectation that the United States will register one birth every seven seconds and one death every 13 seconds between now and Oct. 17, while net international migration is expected to add one person every 31 seconds. The result is an increase in the total population of one person every 11 seconds.

As of right now, the U.S. population is 299,970,723.

The Global Restoration Network (GRN) is a recently launched online project of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER). GRN:

… offers the field of ecological restoration a new database and web-based portal to trustworthy and hard-to-find information on all aspects of restoration, from historic ecosystems and recent causes of degradation to in-depth case studies and proven restoration techniques. …

The field of ecological restoration is currently experiencing an explosion of ideas and practices as the number of experts and practitioners increases, and more and more restoration projects are being undertaken around the world. And now that the field has been established, there is great need for a single, comprehensive source of information for governments, individuals, corporations and nonprofit organizations on the current state of degradation and the best restorative practices.

— GRN Home page

I’ve only just started browsing around GRN. There is a huge amount of information accessible on the site. The site offers several different ways of getting at all of this, including browsing and exploring through categories, themed pages with links to related resources, and search. They’re planning a searchable database for 2007.

The disturbing part: GRN is sponsored by Chevron. The last thing the field needs is greenwashing.

Disclosure: I recently joined SER as a member, not for any professional reasons, but because I’m interested in learning more about whether and how restoration works. As a member, I get their newsletters, journals, and so on.

Giant white men mock and threaten the frozen city of Kandor, while Dieter (Daniel Liebeskind, third from right) slaps the hand of Governor Pataki (center). “Do not soil the tiny white buildings, Herr Governator!”

Larry A. Silverstein is third from the left. I don’t recognize the other guys.

Credit: NYS DEC

Governor George E. Pataki, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, World Trade Center Developer Larry A. Silverstein and architects Lord Norman Foster, Lord Richard Rogers and Fumihiko Maki gathered at 7 World Trade Center recently to unveil designs for the three World Trade Center (WTC) towers that will rise along a reintroduced Greenwich Street on the site’s eastern edge, forming what will be the heart of a revitalized downtown Manhattan’s retail, transportation and office corridor. …

In keeping with the model established by 7 World Trade Center and the Freedom Tower, the three Greenwich Street towers will serve as the paradigm of modern skyscrapers in terms of environmental quality, life safety and technology. Silverstein Properties has committed to ensuring that each of the towers will achieve at least a gold rating, as did the recently completed 7 World Trade Center, under the U.S. Green Building Council‘s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. …

– New World Trade Center Designs Seek High Environmental Rating, NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Newsletter

Additional Links:

• World Trade Center

A one-day symposium of plenary speakers and breakout workshop sessions, this event is being hosted at the American Museum of Natural History.

The concept of “sustainability”–which seeks to balance the needs of human society with the ecological health of the natural world without compromising the future–has become a staple concept within the environmental community. But the concept is still largely confined to where environmental entities intersect with discrete entities such as energy providers, agriculturists, developers, and architects. How does this possible disconnect among these sectors play out in the New York Metropolitan region? …

The central question that we hope to address through this conference is how the sustainability movement relates to biodiversity conservation in the New York metropolitan region. …

Thanks to Ben Jervey’s Green Apple Guide for bringing this to my attention.

One of the feeds I subscribe to is the USGS Earthquake Center ShakeMaps. You can see it in my blogroll under the “Nature” category in the sidebar.

When I heard the reports this morning that North Korea had tested a thermonuclear “device”, I checked the feed. Sure enough, there it was:

Note the time, depth and magnitude. These all correspond to what’s being reported. The magnitude is 4.2 here, instead of the 3.6 that’s being widely reported, but it’s close enough. I haven’t seen any strong surface earthquakes of natural origins.

While the event chills me, I take hope in the abilities we have for monitoring and communicating the planet and the violence we do to it and ourselves. With feedback comes learning, from learning, knowledge, from knowledge – if we live long enough – wisdom.

[Updated 2006.10.09 21:50 EDT: Changed to link to original Reuters article and added link to article.]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 03:04 GMT (EST+5) Oct 09, 2006, the world population is estimated at 6,549,200,730. The U.S. population is estimated at 299,935,826, about 4.58% of the world population.

Some time this month, the number of Americans will surpass 300 million, a milestone that raises environmental impact questions for the only major industrial nation whose population is increasing substantially. The US Census Bureau predicts the 300 million mark will be reached in mid-October, 39 years after US population topped 200 million and 91 years after it exceeded 100 million. This will make the United States No. 3 in population in the world, after China and India.

Raw population numbers do not tell the whole story, however, due to our (most of my readers are from the U.S.) disproportionate impact. A 69-page report (PDF) from the Center for Environment and Population details demographic changes, beyond simple population changes, and explores their impacts. Some highlights:

• America is among the world’s top ten in per capita water withdrawal, with each American using three times that of the world average.
• In 2000, [U.S.] per capita sawn wood consumption was nearly twice that of developing countries and ten times the world’s.
• About 6,700 known plant and animal species are considered at risk of extinction in the U.S. Almost 1,000 species are listed by the U.S. government as endangered, and 300 as threatened (over twice the number listed a decade ago), mainly (85%) from habitat loss and alteration. Half of the continental U.S. can no longer support its original vegetation.
• Nearly 3,000 acres of U.S. farmland are lost every day to development, with the rate of loss increasing.
• With only 5% of the global population, the U.S. consumes almost 25% of the world’s energy.
• The U.S. is the single largest carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter in the world, accounting for nearly a quarter of all global emissions. These are predicted to increase by nearly 43% by 2020.
• The nation’s average temperature increase over the next 100 years is projected to be 5-9oF.
• Each American produces about 5 pounds of trash daily, up from less than 3 in 1960, five times the average amount in developing countries.

Thanks to PlanetArk for bringing this to my attention.

Links:

• Reuters article
• U.S. Census Bureau
• Center for Environment and Population
• PlanetArk

P.S. While I’ve been putting this together, the U.S. population has increased to 299,936,092.

[Updated 23:35 EDT: Added title and link to Smithsonian article. Minor edits.]

No, unfortunately, I am not the interviewer. Michael Pollan is the author of two books which have been nominated for the Garden Bloggers Virtual Book Club: The Botany of Desire, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, published in April of this year. While on vacation this week, I read his article, “What’s Eating America,” in the July issue of The Smithsonian Magazine on the issue of America’s dependence on corn: it’s not a good thing.

He also raises these issues, and others, in the interview in The Independent:

… [industrial agriculture] depends on cheap energy to such an extent that when energy prices go up and stay up, it will make it easier for organic to compete because organic fertilizer will be cheaper–and also make it easier for local food to compete. At Whole Foods in New York City, they were selling grass-fed beef from New Zealand at a lower price than the local upstate New York grass-fed being sold across the street without a middleman. What allows that to happen is cheap energy; cheap energy allows us to fly meat round the world. So in a sense there was something positive for the food industry in high prices (or for the reform of the food industry). But [oil prices] are not down to stay … but I think sooner or later cheap energy will be over. And I hope that will be a boon to local agriculture.

It just makes me want to read Omnivore’s Dilemma even more. Living in New York City, very little of the food available to us is locally grown. You have to go out of your way – say, a Greenmarket – to support local growers. Even then, they’re likely to be coming from more than 50 miles away. There’s just not enough commercially viable farmland left closer to New York City, and it gets worse every year.

This increasingly becomes a national problem: as the percentage of the population living in urban areas continues to increase, we become more dependent on transporting our food longer distances. Fuel prices continue to increase, which means the cost of transporting food increases. If there was a fuel or other transportation crisis, we would see higher food prices, food shortages … famine? How much of this could be reduced, or averted, by gardeners growing food at home. As fuel prices increase, the need for 21st Century Victory Gardens increases as well.

Thanks to Coturnix for bringing this to my attention.

[Updated 2006.10.06 23:51 EDT: Added captions for some photos, at Kati‘s request!]

Yesterday we visited the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Here are some macro and general shots.

The new bonsai exhibit is impressive. I’ll blog that in the second post.

Kalanchoe thyrsiflora “Flap Jack”

Allamanda cathartica “Cherries Jubilee”

Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Virginia Creeper

Acer griseum, Paperbark Maple

Sarracenia variety, Pitcher Plant

I’m on the road this week. Today we visited Pisgah National Forest and drove along a short stretch of the Blue Ridge Highway. These pictures are from Looking Glass Falls in Pisgah National Forest. Each image is linked to its flickr photo page, where you can see it at higher resolutions. Visit the flickr photo set for more images.

[Updated 2006.09.30 16:53 EDT: Added link to 360° Virtual Tour of Ellis Island.]

A rare opportunity to visit sites and buildings closed to the public the rest of the year.

openhousenewyork hosts year-round educational programs celebrating New York City’s built-environment, culminating in America’s largest architecture and design event, the Annual openhousenewyork Weekend.

As of right now, there are 27 different tours listed, plus many other activities such as lectures and so on. The complete guide will be included in today’s New York Times (City Edition only, sorry! Distant readers and out-of-town visitors should check the Web site). Here’s a couple of highlights of interest to me:

Ellis Island’s South Side, NY Harbor, Manhattan: Tour the grounds of the abandoned Ellis Island hospital where 1 million immigrants were treated between 1900-1954. Wear sturdy, closed-toed shoes. No children under age 16 will be permitted. (To see why these two conditions are important, check out Tours A-G of Jim Galvin’s 360° Virtual Tour of Ellis Island.)

Gowanus Canal Canoe Tour, Gowanus, Brooklyn: From tidal creek to urban industrial waterway, learn the history of the Gowanus Canal as you paddle a canoe along a two-mile stretch. Look out for wildlife such as blue crabs, fish and the black-crowned night heron. Tours organized by the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club. Participants must sign a waiver in order to participate. (Seriously.)

Governor’s Island, NY Harbor, Manhattan: Guided tours describe the history and future of the 92-acre island’s National Historic Landmark District in the hear of New York Harbor. View military installations from the American Revolution and hear about plans for the island’s redevelopment. Organized by the Governors Island Preservaton & Education Corporation.

High Line Cell Phone Tour, Meatpacking District, Manhattan: Self-guided cell phone tour discusses various stopping points along the High Line, the disused freight rail currenlty undergoing conversion into NYC’s first elevated park. Dial the main phone number 888-7-LOOK-UP starting Saturday, Oct 7th. Each stop has it’s own three-digit extension. Organized by the Friends of the High Line.

Victorian Flatbush Walking Tour, Flatbush, Brooklyn (yep, it’s my neck of the woods!): Follow Brooklyn Borough Historian Ron Schweiger through one of the largest concentrations of Victorian Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Greek Revival homes in the US. View journalist Nellie Bly’s former home, a 1903 japanese “cottage” and many more! Organized by OHNY.

World Trade Center — The Greening of Ground Zero, Lower Manhattan: This walking tour will discuss both the scope of the World Trade Center project, Visit the recently completed 7 WTC,and learn about current work at the site, the PATH station’s sustainable features, the memorial and other WTC buildings. Organized by GreenHomeNYC.