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.