Wired’s June 2008 ‘Inconvenient Truths: Get Ready to Rethink What It Means to Be Green’ has a few fascinating facts to consider with regard to the environment:

• On harvesting trees:  Old forest growth can actually contribute to global warming:

Over its lifetime, a tree shifts from being a vacuum cleaner for atmospheric carbon to an emitter. A tree absorbs roughly 1,500 pounds of CO₂ in its first 55 years. After that, its growth slows, and it takes in less carbon. Left untouched, it ultimately rots or burns and all that CO₂ gets released.

• On nukes: They are the most climate friendly scalable power: As were were driving up to Scotland (north England, near Harrogate) we passed 3 nuclear power plants with a minimum of 8 silos each. Impressive and quite ugly, but consider this:

Look at the environmental protection agency’s CO₂-per-kilowatt-hour map of the US and two bright patches of low-carbon happiness jump out. One is the hydro-powered Pacific Northwest. The other is Vermont, where a 30-year-old nuclear reactor, Vermont Yankee, keeps the Ben & Jerry’s cold. The darkest area corresponds to Washington, DC, where coal-fired power plants release 520 times more atmospheric carbon per megawatt-hour than their Vermont counterpart. That’s right: 520 times. Jimmy Carter was right to turn down the heat in the White House.

• On Air Conditioning: Heating a home emits 15X more CO2 than cooling a home. A hypothesis on this topic, perhaps we think of A/C as a luxury while warmth is required to survive. Still, global warming will reduce the emissions simply by reducing the over all need to heat.

The entire list of facts can be read here: Get Ready to Rethink What it Means to Be Green:

1: Live in Cities

2: A/C Is OK

3: Organics Are Not The Answer (I found this one very interesting)

4: Farm the Forests

5: China Is the Solution (My next home will be solar)

6: Accept Genetic Engineering

7: Carbon Trading Doesn’t Work (This is a big UK one, everywhere I go they have little notes – make this transaction carbon neutral by paying ‘X’ – what a load).

8: Embrace Nuclear Power

9: Used Cars — Not Hybrids (A very interesting statistic on the cost to build a hybrid. Sorry Leonardo).

10: Prepare for the Worst

I blogged on this topic a couple of years ago after reading Michel Crighton’s book State of Fear (great book). In the end, the focus on the environment is a great thing. But we need to balance fact with fiction.

Keep it up Al Gore.