News Archive
| Vaccine, nut oil may cut cow belching's contribution to climate change | |
| 6/11 | The worldwide race to quell livestock belching is on! Earlier this month, New Zealand researchers came one step closer to developing a vaccine that would reduce the methane emitted from belching livestock. Ruminant livestock burp and fart significant quantities of methane -- a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. "Our agricultural research organization ... was able to map the genome ... that causes methane in ruminant animals and we believe we can vaccinate against [that]," said New Zealand's trade minister. On Tuesday, Japanese scientists said they demonstrated that oil from the shell of the cashew nut may cut by some 90 percent the methane emissions from cattle burps when mixed in with their feed. The cashew-derived cattle-belch suppressant could be on sale within four years. If it takes off, the technology could be a real cashew cow! Ruminants are responsible for about 25 percent of methane emissions in Britain as well as some 90 percent of New Zealand's. |
| USDA Dropping Shroud over Pesticide Use Data | |
| 5/23 |
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced May 21 that it is eliminating the only program that tracks pesticide use in the United States. The USDA claimed it can no longer afford the program, known as the Agricultural Chemical Usage Reports. Consumers, environmental organizations, scientists, and farmers oppose the move. The Agricultural Chemical Usage Reports, collected by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), are the only publicly available data on pesticide use in the country. Since at least 1991, NASS has produced the detailed annual report widely used for scientific, consumer, and business research. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local governments have also depended on this information in developing chemical risk assessments and pesticide use policies. The USDA announcement marks the final blow to a program that has been steadily eroded over the last few years. The annual survey had been reduced to a biennial report, and in 2007, reports were only collected on cotton, apple, and organic apple crops. NASS announced that only "key" surveys will be done during the 2008 growing season. According to NASS acting administrator Joe Reilly, these will include monthly crop and livestock reports, meaning a comprehensive year-end survey or report will not be produced. NASS officials claimed they regret having to cut the program but said that they can no longer dedicate the resources required to run the program, which costs $8 million of the service's $160 million annual budget. Reilly said he "hates eliminating any program that is actually needed out in the American public," but justified doing so since similar data is available from private sources. The private reports are cost-prohibitive to most, however — as much as $500,000 per year for some — and only a few of the major agricultural chemical companies buy them. According to a coalition of environmental and public interest organizations, these private data sets are of lower quality and reliability than the NASS data. Proprietary concerns inhibit the disclosure of collection methodology and perhaps even compromise it. NASS's Advisory Committee on Agricultural Studies estimated that "a large number of the area wide estimates … are based on individual or statistically unrepresentative observations." Without these reports, farmers' decisions about what pesticides to use on their crops will be less informed and could lead to significant errors. Don Lipton from the American Farm Bureau also sees the accurate reports as the best defense against allegations of irresponsible chemical use. "Given the historic concern about chemical use by consumers, regulators, activist groups, and farmers," he said, "it's probably not an area where lack of data is a good idea." link |
| FDA Delays Creation of Food Safety Database | |
| 5/30 |
According to Congress Daily reporter Anna Edney, "The Food and Drug Administration will not meet the September deadline that Congress imposed last year to have a registry up and running to help the agency track food contamination and better understand where to focus its limited resources." The deadline was set in a bill passed last September that aimed to reform FDA's drug safety regime but also contained provisions to enhance food safety. Congress mandated creation of the registry, because FDA spent much of 2007 chasing food contamination crises instead of heading them off at the pass (spinach, peanut butter, and pet food to name a few). Lawmakers hope the registry will help prevent similar problems in the future. The Department of Agriculture regulates meat, poultry, and eggs, and FDA regulates pretty much everything else — a big job to be certain. While USDA is required by law to inspect all meat and poultry destined for commerce, FDA-regulated foods do not require inspection before making their way onto grocery store shelves. Because FDA is not required to inspect all the food under its jurisdiction, and because doing so would be too tall an order, the agency will use a risk-based approach. Put simply, FDA will try to figure out which foods are most susceptible to contamination and where in the supply chain contamination may occur. The agency will then use the information to target its inspection resources. Call it educated guessing. OMB Watch link |
| Best Buy tests free e-waste recycling program | |
| 6/2 |
Electronics retailer Best Buy announced on Monday that it's testing a free electronic-waste recycling program in 117 of its stores in the Baltimore, Minneapolis, and San Francisco areas, plus a few other select stores in the East and Midwest. Customers can bring in up to two e-waste items per day for free recycling, including TVs, computers, video-game consoles, VCRs, and the like. "We want to take the time to learn if we can handle this before we go any further," said Best Buy spokesperson Kelly Groehler. "We know the need is there and the waste stream is there. We think everyone needs to bear some responsibility for this -- consumers, retailers and manufacturers." If all goes well, Best Buy could expand the program to include its 805 other U.S. stores. link |
| Guerrilla Gardeners | |
| 5/30 | Brimming with lime-hued succulents and a lush collection of agaves, one shooting spiky leaves 10 feet into the air, it's a head-turning garden smack in the middle of Long Beach's asphalt jungle. But the gardener who designed it doesn't want you to know his last name, since his handiwork isn't exactly legit. It's on a traffic island he commandeered.
"The city wasn't doing anything with it, and I had a bunch of extra plants," says Scott, as we tour the garden, cars whooshing by on both sides of Loynes Drive. Scott is a guerrilla gardener, a member of a burgeoning movement of green enthusiasts who plant without approval on land that's not theirs. In London, Berlin, Miami, San Francisco and Southern California, these free-range tillers are sowing a new kind of flower power. In nighttime planting parties or solo "seed bombing" runs, they aim to turn neglected public space and vacant lots into floral or food outposts. Part beautification, part eco-activism, part social outlet, the activity has been fueled by Internet gardening blogs and sites such as http://www.GuerrillaGardening.org, where before-and-after photos of the latest "troop digs" inspire 45,000 visitors a month to make derelict soil bloom. "We can make much more out of the land than how it's being used, whether it's about creating food or beautifying it," says the movement's ringleader and GuerrillaGardening.org founder, Richard Reynolds, by phone from his London home. His tribe includes freelance landscapers like Scott, urban farmers, floral fans and artists... |
| India Tightens Security to Fight Rhino Poachers | |
| 5/30 | By Biswajyoti Das
KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK, India (Reuters) - Authorities in India's remote northeast said they were increasing security in the world's biggest reserve for the endangered great one-horned rhinoceros to save them from poachers. Poachers have killed at least 10 rhinos in two national parks in Assam state since January, eight of them at the Kaziranga National Park. "We are increasing the number of guards in Kaziranga because of a recent increase in poaching, and a probe has also been ordered," Rockybul Hussain, Assam's forest minister told Reuters on Wednesday. Last year, two dozen animals lost their horns to poachers in Assam, for their medicinal value in the international black market. Horns fetch up to $10,000 (400,000 rupees) and demand is soaring in China and Southeast Asian countries, wildlife experts say. |
| America’s Ten Most Imperiled Wildlife Refuges | |
| 5/23 |
National Wildlife Refuges are supposed to shelter countless migratory waterfowl, native mammals, reptiles and amphibians but many refuges themselves are under siege, according to a new report by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Destructive intrusion onto refuges ranges from industrial activities, such as mining and drilling, to recreational abuse, such as off-road vehicle traffic, but the common thread linking all these threats is political pressure to put the interests of wildlife second. The National Wildlife Refuge System was commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 when he designated Florida’s Pelican Island as America’s first wildlife refuge. Today the system encompasses more than 540 refuges in all 50 states. Based upon interviews with refuge staff, PEER identified the Ten Most Imperiled Refuges in the U.S. The threatened refuges span the nation from Alaska’s Yukon to the Florida Keys:
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| Humpback whales make a dramatic comeback | |
| 5/23 |
Once hunted to the brink of extinction, humpback whales have made a dramatic comeback in the North Pacific Ocean over the past four decades, a new study says. The study released Thursday by SPLASH, an international organization of more than 400 whale watchers, estimates there were between 18,000 and 20,000 of the majestic mammals in the North Pacific in 2004-2006. Their population had dwindled to less than 1,500 before hunting of humpbacks was banned worldwide in 1966. Grist link |
| Amazon deforestation on the rise, says Brazil's new environment minister | |
| 5/24 |
The destruction of the Amazon is once again on the rise despite a recent government crackdown on illegal logging, Brazil's new environment minister said on Wednesday. Carlos Minc said official calculations of how much rainforest has been cut down would be released on Monday by the National Space Research Institute. "It will be bad news. It will be data showing an increase in deforestation," Minc said in an interview on Brazilian national channel, Globo TV. Minc took his post last week after veteran rainforest defender Marina Silva surprised the nation by resigning, citing "stagnation" in the fight to preserve the world's largest remaining tropical wilderness. Deforestation in the Amazon declined for three consecutive years until earlier this year, when preliminary satellite data detected a sharp increase. In response, the government sent environmental agents and federal police units to tackle illegal logging in the jungle region. This policy has been met with violent protests as officials shut down dozens of illegal sawmills, leading to seizures of 15,500 tons of illegally logged wood. Earlier this month, the country's ministry of justice said the operation had reduced deforestation by 80% between February and March. link |
| House passes clean-energy tax credits, Calif. waiver | |
| 5/23 |
Exciting things going on at the Capitol: The House has passed a bill with tax credits for renewable energy; the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed legislation asking President Bush to grant California the waiver it needs to regulate vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions. See below. Grist link |
| Bay Area initiates first-of-its-kind fee on biz greenhouse-gas emissions | |
| 5/22 | Businesses in nine San Francisco Bay Area counties will pay 4.4 cents for every ton of greenhouse gases they spew, after the district air-quality board voted 15-1 Wednesday to approve the fee. Set to take effect July 1, the fee will affect more than 2,500 businesses; the district estimates that perhaps seven power plants and oil refineries will have to pay more than $50,000 a year, but most businesses will pay less than $1. The fee is modest enough that dramatic emissions reductions are unlikely to occur, but proponents laud the precedent. Businesses were, unsurprisingly, less enthusiastic, expressing concerns about the cost of tracking and reporting emissions, duplication of state efforts to address warming, and the authority of an air-pollution board to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. The fee is expected to generate $1.1 million in the first year, which will help pay for projects aimed at reducing the region's emissions. |
| The USDA Is Eliminating a Program That Many Groups Rely on to Track Pesticide Use | |
| 5/21 |
Every year the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts research on pesticide use and risk associated with various crops, such as corn, soybeans, cotton, and wheat, and the body then releases its data files. That data is used by chemical groups, trade groups, public interest groups and government agencies to track pesticide use and safety, and several advocates say it is the only reliable, publicly searchable database of its kind. In 2007, however, the USDA scaled back its data collection, and only gathered information on cotton, apples and organic apples. Now, the USDA has announced it will completely eliminate the program in 2008, due to budget cuts, and won't be collecting any data. This has many people concerned. Letters to the secretary of agriculture have been signed by the various groups who rely on the USDA's information, including public interest groups such as Greenpeace, NRDC, the Organic Center and the World Wildlife Fund, and industry groups such as Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc., Del Monte Foods and the American Soybean Association. More |
| One in eight bird species may go extinct | |
| 5/19 |
One in eight bird species is threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. In the latest update of the IUCN's Red List of threatened species, 190 birds are designated "critically endangered"; eight of those were added this year. Sixteen other bird species were also moved to a higher level of threat on the list, while only two found their prospects improved. "Species are being hit by the double whammy of habitat loss and climate change," says Stuart Butchart of BirdLife International, which helped compile the list. The most endangered feathered fauna include the Mallee emuwren, of which only about 100 are left in the wild, and the Floreana mockingbird, which is hanging on with a population of 60. To save them, says Butchart, we need "broad-scale climate-change mitigation measures" and a change in "society's values and lifestyles." Grist link |
| Nanowires may boost solar cell efficiency, UC San Diego engineers say | |
| 5/12 | University of California, San Diego electrical engineers have created experimental solar cells spiked with nanowires that could lead to highly efficient thin-film solar cells of the future. Indium phosphide (InP) nanowires can serve as electron superhighways that carry electrons kicked loose by photons of light directly to the device’s electron-attracting electrode — and this scenario could boost thin-film solar cell efficiency, according to research recently published in NanoLetters. |
| McCain Outlines His Plan to Confront Climate Change | |
| 5/12 |
Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting Senator John McCain of Arizona today offered his plan to combat global warming. Speaking at the Vestas wind turbine factory in Portland, McCain said what America needs is market-based cap and trade system to curb greenhouse gas emissions, mobilize innovative technologies, and strengthen the economy. McCain envisions a cap and trade system that would encompass electric power, transportation fuels, commercial business, and industrial business -- sectors responsible for just below 90 percent of all emissions. Small businesses would be exempt. By 2012, McCain says his plan would return greenhouse gas emissions to 2005 levels, which were 18 percent above 1990 levels. |
| Oxygen-poor ocean zones are growing | |
| 5/2 | By Kenneth R. Weiss.
Oxygen-starved waters are expanding in the Pacific and Atlantic as ocean temperatures increase with global warming, threatening fisheries and other marine life, a study published today concludes. Most of these zones remain hundreds of feet below the surface, but they are beginning to spill onto the relatively shallow continental shelf off the coast of California and are nearing the surface off Peru, driving away fish from commercially important fishing grounds, researchers have found. The low-oxygen, or hypoxic, zones may also be connected to the Pacific coast invasion of the Humboldt, or jumbo, squid. These voracious predators, which can grow 6 feet long, appear to be taking advantage of their tolerance for oxygen-poor waters to escape predators and devour local fish, another team of scientists theorizes. |
| Small cars gaining popularity in U.S. amid high fuel costs | |
| 5/2 |
High gasoline prices and other economic woes have driven car-buyers in the U.S. to purchase smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles lately. Last month, sales of compact and subcompact cars made up about 20 percent of total sales; in the mid 1990s, small cars accounted for only about one in eight cars sold in the country. Sales of vehicles with four-cylinder engines also outpaced sales of six-cylinder cars. "It’s easily the most dramatic segment shift I have witnessed in the market in my 31 years here," said a Ford sales analyst. Meanwhile, sales of SUVs and trucks are seeing a sharp downward trend this year, with SUV sales plummeting 25 percent so far. Some market watchers are forecasting a continued shift away from big vehicles since gasoline prices are expected to remain high for a long while. "The era of the truck-based large SUVs is over," said the CEO of the biggest auto retailer in the U.S. |
| Pittsburgh beats out L.A. for sootiest U.S. city | |
| 5/1 |
Pittsburgh, Pa., has received the dubious honor of being the U.S. city most well-sooted for short-term particle pollution, topping an annual list put out by the American Lung Association. Los Angeles came in at a surprise second as Pittsburgh became the first non-California city to top an ALA list. "It's not that Pittsburgh has gotten worse," says the association's Janice Nolen. "It's that Los Angeles has gotten better." A little better, anyway: L.A. was still deemed the worst city for ground-level ozone and for year-round particle pollution (Pittsburgh was the runner-up on that list). Overall, some 42 percent of the American population has unhealthy exposure to ozone and/or soot, according to the report. Want to breathe clean air? Fargo, N.D., beckons. |
| Bats in Trouble in Northeast | |
| 4/28 | By Mollie Matteson. Bats have been dying by the thousands recently in the Northeastern United States. No one knows why, and it may be months, perhaps years, before the cause is determined.
Meanwhile, scientists predict that this summer there will be a population explosion of insects, which bats normally eat in large quantities. Greater numbers of beetles and moths could mean severe and costly losses for farmers and timber producers. There could also be bigger swarms of mosquitoes and other biting bugs, which will mean more discomfort for all of us. |
| Mountain pine beetles fueling climate change via tree deaths | |
| 4/24 | Ravenous populations of mountain pine beetles in Canada's forests are contributing significantly to climate change through killing off large numbers of trees, according to a study in the journal Nature. So far, the beetles have killed trees in over 50,000 square miles of forests in western Canada, and hundreds of thousands of square miles in the western United States. "When trees are killed, they no longer are able to take carbon from the atmosphere. Then when dead trees start to decompose, that releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere," said study coauthor Werner Kurz. The study estimates that by 2020, beetle-killed trees in Canada could release some 270 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. "This is the kind of feedback we're all very worried about in the carbon cycle -- a warming planet leading to, in this case, an insect outbreak that increases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which can increase warming," said Andy Jacobson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. |
| Northwest sea lions granted stay of execution | |
| 4/24 |
Sea lions all set to gobble their last salmon supper at a Northwest dam have been granted a stay of execution by a U.S. appeals court. Judges granted an injunction, requested by the Humane Society, that a lower court had denied last week. It's only a partial victory for the Humane Society, however, as the court did OK the transfer of the whiskery rascals to zoos and aquariums; state officials planned to nab and relocate eight sea lions on Thursday. |
| Over 800 EPA scientists report political interference in their work | |
| 4/24 | More than 800 U.S. EPA scientists reported some form of political interference in their work in the last five years, according to a survey of EPA staff by the Union of Concerned Scientists. UCS sent out some 5,500 questionnaires to EPA scientists and received some 1,580 responses; over half the respondents asserted they had experienced political meddling of one kind or another in their work. Those most likely to report interference worked in offices involved in writing regulations or conducting risk assessments. Industry groups and the White House Office of Management and Budget were cited repeatedly by the EPA scientists as sources of pressure. Rep. Henry Waxman, chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to EPA head Stephen Johnson yesterday warning of a hearing on the UCS survey results next month. "These survey results suggest a pattern of ignoring and manipulating science in EPA's decision making," Waxman wrote. |
| Panel says link between smog and premature death is clear | |
| 4/22 | By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Short-term exposure to smog, or ozone, is clearly linked to premature deaths that should be taken into account when measuring the health benefits of reducing air pollution, a National Academy of Sciences report concluded Tuesday. The findings contradict arguments made by some White House officials that the connection between smog and premature death has not been shown sufficiently, and that the number of saved lives should not be calculated in determining clean air benefits. The report by a panel of the Academy's National Research Council says government agencies "should give little or no weight" to such arguments. AP link |
| All-electric car coming to the U.S. next year | |
| 4/22 | Reasonably priced, all-electric cars are coming soon to a California near you. (And then to the rest of the U.S. before too long.) Think Global, which was sold by Ford Motor Co. to Norwegian investors in 2003, will partner with two venture capital firms to mass-produce the battery-powered Think City in the U.S., starting next year. About the size of a Mini Cooper, the Think City is a two-seater but has room for two more seats for children. It can drive up to 110 miles on a single charge and has a top speed of around 65 miles per hour. It'll be priced under $25,000, meets European safety standards, and is adorable. Oh, and the Think City is 95 percent recyclable and emission-free, natch. |
| Cats and dogs contaminated with chemicals, says study | |
| 4/21 |
Pets are contaminated with higher levels of toxic chemicals than humans are, according to a report from the Environmental Working Group. In a test of the blood and urine of dozens of cats and dogs, researchers found 48 industrial chemicals. The contamination likely comes from such actions as gnawing on plastic toys, sleeping on fire-retardant-covered furniture, frolicking on pesticide-laden lawns, eating potentially mercury-laden pet food, and, of course, all that licking. Researchers point to a recent uptick in animal cancers and hyperthyroidism. "Our animals are trying to tell us something here," says EWG's Bill Walker. Grist link |
| Senate passes one-year extension of renewable-energy tax credit | |
| 4/10 | The U.S. Senate passed an extension of the renewable-energy production tax credit Thursday as part of a bill intended to address the ailing U.S. housing market. The renewable-energy credit provides a per-kilowatt-hour incentive for the first 10 years a renewable-energy project is in operation -- a credit considered to be a vital driver of clean-energy expansion. The credit is worth an estimated $6 billion and will be extended for another year, through 2009, if the legislation makes it past the House of Representatives and President Bush. Homeowners and businesses will also be able to offset up to 30 percent of the cost of solar and fuel-cell equipment under the bill, and homeowners who install efficient insulation, furnaces, and windows will get additional credits. "It would be difficult for taxpayers to find an investment that offers a better return," said Melinda Pierce of the Sierra Club. "This package of incentives will pay us environmental and economic dividends for years to come." |
| Pesticide Spraying in Santa Cruz | |
| 4/13 | State environmental health authorities said Thursday they are unable to determine whether respiratory problems reported by hundreds of citizens in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties in autumn were linked to an aerial spraying against the light brown apple moth.
A 32-page report released by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment found that the 487 complaints gathered after the spray campaigns were not detailed or consistent. As a result, the analysis was inconclusive. |
| New Forest Rules Inadequate | |
| 4/11 | The U.S. Forest Service has released new regulations for forest management that are remarkably similar to regulations that a federal judge struck down last year. Under the new rules, species' sustainability will not be evaluated individually; instead, the focus will be on overall habitat. A coalition of green groups have sued, saying the rules loosen protections for wildlife. |
| Salmon Season Canceled in CA | |
| 4/11 | For the first time ever, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council has voted to cancel the salmon fishing season off the coast of California and much of Oregon due to exceedingly low populations of chinook salmon in the Sacramento River area. The restrictions apply to commercial as well as recreational fishers; only a catch of 9,000 hatchery-raised coho salmon will be allowed this season by sport fishers off central Oregon. |
| Sonar will kill some marine life but safeguards are adequate, says Navy | |
| 4/04 | Navy training exercises could expose 94,370 marine mammals to behavior-altering sonar frequencies each year, potentially injuring or killing as many as 30, according to an environmental impact statement released Friday by the Navy. But in its 1,796-page report, the Navy sticks with current safeguards for protecting marine animals, not adopting stricter standards imposed by a federal judge earlier this year. Green groups are likely to challenge the EIS in court, continuing a seemingly neverending cycle of litigation and appeals. |
| Chinese environmental activist jailed | |
| 4/3 | Chinese activist Hu Jia, a high-profile campaigner for human rights, religious freedom, and environmental protection, has been convicted of "inciting subversion of state power and the socialist system" and will be jailed for three-and-a-half years. |
| Three Mile Island: 25th Anniversary of The Worst Nuclear Accident in U.S. History | |
| 3/27 | Twenty-five years ago this week, the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania malfunctioned, sparking a meltdown that resulted in the release of radioactivity. |
| Four nations rush to be carbon-neutral first | |
| 3/27 | It's the race for the greenest of the laurels, the contest for the ultimate ecological accolade. Four countries are competing to be the first of the world's 195 nations to go entirely carbon neutral.
They make a disparate line-up of runners, comprising the world's most northerly and southernmost independent countries, its third largest oil exporter, and a state that long ago dispensed with its army. |
| Three Mile Island: 25th Anniversary of The Worst Nuclear Accident in U.S. History | |
| 3/27 | Twenty-five years ago this week, the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania malfunctioned, sparking a meltdown that resulted in the release of radioactivity. |
| Two proposed solar projects to boost California's solar capacity by half | |
| 3/27 |
Two large solar-power projects were proposed in Southern California this week that together could provide up to 500 megawatts of power, just over half the state's current solar capacity and enough to provide electricity to about 300,000 homes. One of the projects, proposed by utility Southern California Edison, aims to put solar panels on 65 million square feet of commercial buildings across Southern California. It's expected to cost $875 million and could be completed in five years, pending approval by the state's utility regulators. The other project, to be sited in the Mojave Desert, is a solar thermal power plant proposed by utility Florida Power and Light; Grist link |
| Fewer zero-emission vehicles will be required on California roads by 2014 | |
| 3/27 | California's Air Resources Board has voted to reduce the number of zero-emissions vehicles required to be sold in the state by 2014 from 25,000 to 7,500. It's a hefty reduction, though less dramatic than the recommendation by CARB staff that the requirement be cut to 2,500 vehicles. Not-quite-zero-but-still-relatively-less-emissions vehicles, like plug-in hybrids, will make up the rest of the quotient, the board decided. |
| Protests in Tibet Partially Spurred by Environmental Concerns | |
| 3/18 | Violent protests that rose this week against Chinese rule in Tibet were spurred in part by anger about environmental destruction in the Himalayas, an area that Tibetans consider sacred. A Beijing-to-Lhasa railway opened by the Chinese in 2006 has provided easy access for Chinese miners to the pristine Tibetan highlands, where they've begun digging up copper, iron, lead, and other minerals. Tibetans are also none too happy about a Chinese plan to divert water from melting Tibetan glaciers and funnel it through canals to feed China's Yellow River. Whether China will be able to quell unrest and put on a happy face in time for the already controversy-riddled Summer Olympics remains to be seen. |
| Industry Launches Campaign Against Lieberman-Warner Climate Bill | |
| 3/20 | Energy industry and business trade groups have launched a concerted campaign against the Lieberman-Warner climate bill. The bill, which would establish a cap-and-trade system to reduce U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions, is much less stringent than some other climate bills in Congress, but Lieberman-Warner is so far the only one to pass out of committee; it's scheduled for a Senate vote in June. Industry and business groups are sponsoring a 17-state anti-climate-bill tour to head off the legislation. The centerpiece of the roadshow is an industry-funded study stressing huge job losses and energy price hikes due to the bill. Also this week, some 70 conservative and religious leaders wrote a letter to senators urging them not to support the Lieberman-Warner bill, describing it as "a vain attempt to change global average temperatures." The letter also characterized the bill as economically catastrophic and questioned the reality of climate change, declaring that even if climate change is real, the warming so far is negligible and "may be beneficial" to humans. Background info |
| S.F. Oil Spill Updates | |
| 11/30 Update | The Presidio national park has welcomed a group of eco-volunteers to compost a huge pile of human hair mats they used to clean oily San Francisco beaches in the wake of the fuel oil spill earlier this month.
Lisa Gautier, along with a group of surfers, neighbors and guerrilla activists, used the hair mats to soak up oil that had washed ashore when the Cosco Busan container ship sideswiped a tower of the Bay Bridge. They plan to harvest oyster mushrooms on the mats to turn the pile into compost - a process that takes about three months. Now Gautier just needs to wade through some red tape. She needs permission from the owner of the wayward ship to take the collected waste from a storage facility in Oakland and compost some of it in one of the nation's most picturesque parks. See original story on 11/9 in News Archive |
Lingering consequences 11/11
11/30 composting project Link
11/15 Cleanup update
| Ozone case shows Bush meddling in science: watchdogs | |
| 3/14 | President George W. Bush's decision to intervene in setting air pollution standards is part of a longstanding administration pattern of meddling in environmental science, watchdog groups said on Friday.
In cases this week dealing with polar bears, ozone smog and environmental research, groups that monitor these decisions faulted the Bush administration for slighting science in favor of politics. Bush overruled officials of the Environmental Protection Agency to weaken U.S. standards for smog-forming ozone meant to protect parks, crops and wildlife. On Wednesday, the agency tightened a different ozone standard aimed at protecting human health, but not as much as its own scientists unanimously recommended. ENN link |
| World's first aircraft powered by bio-fuel takes off | |
| 3/15 | The world's first commercial aircraft powered partly by biofuel took to the skies today. The Virgin Atlantic 747 took off on route from London Heathrow to Amsterdam using a 20 per cent biofuel mix of coconut and babassu oil in one of its four main fuel tanks. Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson said the "historic" flight was the first step towards using biofuels on commercial flights. But he said fully commercial biofuel flights were likely to use feedstocks such as algae rather than the mix used on today's passenger-less test run.
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic 747 was the first commerical aircraft to take to the skies using biofuel. The flight was made in partnership with Boeing, engine maker General Electric, and Imperium Renewables, with the aim of reducing carbon emissions. Environmental groups immediately dismissed the test flight as a "publicity stunt". Campaigners said carbon savings from biofuels, often made from organic materials such as wheat, sugarcane and palm oil, are negligible. And there is rising concern biofuel crops could be competing with food production, damaging the environment and displacing local indigenous populations. Sir Richard insisted his fuel was "completely environmentally and socially sustainable" and does not compete with food and fresh water resources. |
| Alaska Senators Introduce Legislation to Open Arctic Refuge to Drilling | |
| 3/13 | The push to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is back on. Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens have introduced legislation that would allow drilling in the Refuge if oil should hit $125 a barrel for five straight days. (For those keeping track at home, oil prices Thursday hit a record high of $111 a barrel.) "I can't believe that they would do this again; that dog won't mush," says Cindy Shogan of the Alaska Wilderness League, with an admirably Alaskan cliché. A Sierra Club spokesperson postulates that the legislation has neither much support outside Alaska nor enough votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate. |
| World's Tiger Population Unwell, WWF says | |
| 3/13 | The world's tiger population is doing poorly and may have been halved in the last 25 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The group estimates that the global tiger population has plummeted to about 3,500 today from as many as 7,500 in 1982. Habitat destruction and poaching to feed the thriving market in tiger body parts are thought to be the main drivers of the population decline. If China goes ahead with plans to legalize trafficking in tiger parts, the wild tiger population is expected to take an even bigger hit. Conservationists stressed that, while dire, the tigers' situation could improve if governments work to preserve necessary habitat, step up anti-poaching efforts, and work to curb the tiger-parts market. "Tigers are indicators of ecosystem health; they are indicators of forest health," said Sarah Christie, of the Zoological Society of London. "Saving the tiger is a test. If we pass, we get to keep the planet Earth." |
| Southern Baptist leaders urge action on climate change | |
| 3/12 | Over 40 prominent Southern Baptist leaders released a statement Monday urging action against climate change, asserting that "the time for timidity regarding God's creation is no more." The declaration is a notable departure from a statement released after the denomination's 2007 annual meeting that questioned human impacts on climate change. "We believe our current denominational engagement with these issues have often been too timid, failing to produce a unified moral voice," the new declaration says. "Our cautious response to these issues in the face of mounting evidence may be seen by the world as uncaring, reckless, and ill-informed. We can do better." The signatories also urged action on other environmental ills and called on churches to preach about caring for the environment. One of the signatories, Jonathan Merritt, stressed why environmental protection is so important. "[W]hen we destroy God's creation, it's similar to ripping pages from the Bible," he said. |
| San Francisco Gets Even Greener | |
| 3/7 | San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom got jiggy with eco-measures this week. He signed into a law a requirement that the city's taxi fleet be converted to low-emission vehicles by 2011; ordered all city departments to purchase 100 percent recycled paper and reduce overall paper use by 20 percent by 2010; and announced his support for a tidal-energy project in the San Francisco Bay, despite a recent study's conclusions that the project would be more expensive than it's worth. Newsom has proposed strict green-building standards for his city and will submit a carbon tax to voters; folks in don't-call-it-Frisco also live happily without plastic bags or toys containing bisphenol A and phthalates. |
| Startup Company Makes Thin-Film Solar Cells Via New Process | |
| 3/7 | Solar company Konarka has announced that it successfully developed a new process to manufacture solar cells that could lead to a range of new solar-powered products and applications. The solar cells are made without silicon and are manufactured into a thin, light film via an inkjet printer, which means they don't need to be born in a clean room like traditional silicon cells. One drawback to the new cells is their efficiency: while regular silicon solar cells achieve efficiencies of up to 20 percent, the new cells are only 5 percent efficient, but Konarka says they're likely to be less expensive and much more dynamic. They can be incorporated into plastics and come in a range of different colors, including transparent. |
