Currents

To the surprise of those who still view Americans as laggards in terms of alternative energy development, more new wind power generation facilities were installed in the United States in 2005 than anywhere else in the world. According to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), an international trade group which helps promote wind power globally, the U.S. installed 2,400 megawatts—equivalent to the energy produced by five large coal-fired power plants in a year—during 2005 alone.

I never met actor Dennis Weaver, but I sure wish I did. Not only was he anyone’s idea of an environmental hero, he also sounded like a whole lot of fun. The brief obituaries of this well-known actor, who died of cancer at age 81, stressed the part of his life taken up with Gunsmoke and, later, McCloud. They often included only a single line about his activism. "Off-screen, Weaver served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and was a vegetarian and activist for environmental and charitable causes," said one.

The Christian Science Monitor is reporting that increased concern about global warming in many of the so-called "red" states, which ushered George W. Bush into the White House, will make it tougher for conservative politicians at all levels of government not to favor stronger reductions in carbon dioxide emissions in future elections.

Seven years after the Clinton administration declared that our nation’s symbol, the bald eagle, was no longer endangered, the federal government is finally getting around to removing endangered species protections for the majestic raptor. Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its bald eagle delisting proposal for public review.

Based on a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), an Arizona-based environmental group, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has embarked on a formal review to determine whether or not polar bears should be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act due to their sea ice habitat melting as a result of global warming.

Following a decision last week by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) not to take an institutional stand on global warming, an independent group of 86 Evangelicals calling themselves the Evangelical Climate Initiative took matters into their own hands to urge Congress to pass legislation curbing emissions of carbon dioxide, which most scientists agree is contributing to climate change.

After spending four years connecting dozens of dots, two Oregon State University professors published a study crediting Yellowstone Park’s reintroduced wolves with unilaterally beginning a dramatic restoration of the ailing Lamar River valley. And the implications, like the wolves themselves, have spread beyond the borders of Yellowstone to other regions of the Pacific Northwest, where splinter packs are eventually expected to take up residence.