THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
UNEP and the Executive Director in the News
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Prison to get Sh20m for new sewage system (Daily Nation)
Watery dilemma (Reuters)
All about: Global fishing (CNN)
Environment tour starts with water clean upDaily Star: Lebanon set to join multilateral
effort to clean up Med coast (Shangai Daily)
Coastal waters in the Caribbean threatened (Antigua Sun)
Nigeria Suspended From Wildlife Trade Pact (AFP)
CITES takes action against Nigeria's trade in endangered species (Plenty Mag.com)
Kenya: Get a 'Green Passport' for a Guilt-Free Holiday (Business Daily (Nairobi))
Some Biofuels Cause Global Warming! What Does that Tell Us? (Gather.com)
Record glacier melting threatens World's poor (Media Global)
Avec peu de moyens, des prisonniers agissent pour l’environnement (Canoe.com )
Gletscher schmelzen in Rekordtempo (FT)
Un futuro de sequías extremas y altas temperaturas (Misionesonline.net)
Other Environment News
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U.N. Security Council must act preemptively – on climate change (Christian Science
Monitor)
China to spend $5.9 billion on environment (Reuters)
Call for delay to biofuels policy (BBC)
Environment chief vows to add muscle (China Daily)
Call to delay biofuels obligation (FT)
Biofuel boom threatens food supplies: Nestle (AFP)
Biofuels: a solution that became part of the problem (Guardian)
Walt Disney cartoons ‘contain secret messages on the environment’ (Times)
Australian animals threatened by climate change: report (AFP)
FEATURE-Australian wine industry feels heat from climate change (Reuters)
Investment is key in climate change battle (FT)
Study: Warming May Threaten Lake Tahoe (AP)
Former Chilean president travels to Antarctica to probe global warming (Xinhua)
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Environmental News from the UNEP Regions
ROAP
RONA
ROWA
Other UN News
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Environment News from the UN Daily News of 24 March 2008
Environment News from the S.G.’s Spokesman Daily Press Briefing of 24March 2008
UNEP and the Executive Director in the News
Daily Nation: Prison to get Sh20m for new sewage system
(Also appears in All Africa News)
Story by MWAKERA MWAJEFA
Publication Date: 3/24/2008
Shimo La Tewa prison will benefit from a Sh 20 million Unep funding for the development a new
sewerage system.
The prison is forced to use its aged system which was designed to cater for only 900 inmates
against its current population of 3,000.
The prison’s acting officer-in-charge Nicholas Maswai says the prison has been castigated by
marine ecosystem stakeholders because of its poor waste disposal and handling.
“We have been accused of polluting the sea and reducing the population of tewa, a giant cod,
which we cannot deny,” he added.
However, this will change when Unep through the Coast Development Authority (CDA) launches
the sanitation project that neutralises human waste.
Purify sewage
According to Mr Maswai the project is expected to take one year to complete.
UN under-secretary general and UNEP executive director Achim Steiner notes that the initiative
involves the development of a wetland to purify sewage.
“This is expected to cost a fraction of the price of high-tech treatments while also triggering scores
of environmental, economic and social benefits,” he said.
Mr Maswai said apart from waste-water management, the project is also expected to use the
filtered water for irrigation and fish farming thus giving the prisoners another source of protein and
income.
“The project will also use the ‘grey water’ from the prison’s kitchens and high human waste from
inmates for the production of biogas,” he said.
Mr Steiner said the biogas can be used as fuel for cooking, heating and lighting thereby cutting
electricity bills, saving the prison money.
Although the number of inmates has continued to increase at Shimo La Tewa, the sewage system
has remained the same since it was built in 1954.
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Reuters: Watery dilemma
(Also appears in Malaysia Star)
By ALISTER DOYLE
Proper sewerage systems simply do not exist in many parts of the world.
THE history of men is reflected in the history of sewers, wrote the 19th century French author
Victor Hugo, in Les Miserables. “The sewer is the conscience of the city. ... A sewer is a cynic. It
tells everything.”
Judged by its sewers, the world is not doing well. Only three in 10 people now have a connection
to a public sewerage system. And with the world’s population expanding, a goal of improving
sanitation by 2015 is slipping out of reach, despite progress in nations such as China and a few big
contracts for firms such as Veolia or Suez to build waste treatment plants in cities from La Paz to
Rabat.
Experts say a part of the solution, especially to cut water-borne diseases for the rural poor, may lie
in renewed and smarter exploitation of nature – for example through plants or soil bacteria that
feed on waste.
A girl crossing a makeshift bridge over a sewage canal in the Independencia neighbourhood of
San Martin district in Greater Buenos Aires. Presently, only three in 10 people have a connection
to a public sewerage system.
Novel schemes include a plan to build an artificial wetland at a jail in Mombasa, Kenya, to process
sewage from 4,000 inmates that now flows untreated into a creek, or ponds in South Africa where
algae purify waste and are then used as fertiliser.
“About 90% of the sewage and 70% of the industrial waste in developing countries are being
discharged untreated into water courses,” said Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations
Environment Programme (Unep). “Understanding the ability of peatlands, of marshes, of wetlands,
to play an integral part in filtering ... waste water is often overlooked,” he said.
The UN set a millennium goal of halving the proportion of people with no access to sanitation –
even simple latrines rather than sewers – by 2015 from 40% of humanity or 2.6 billion people now.
2008 is the UN’s International Year of Sanitation. A 2007 scorecard showed the sanitation goal
was likely to be missed by 600 million people worldwide on current trends.
France’s Veolia, the world’s biggest listed water supplier, says East Asia and the Pacific are
progressing best. In Africa, the company’s only big contract so far is to supply water and sanitation
to three cities in Morocco with investments totalling ?2.2bil (RM11bil).
UN data show a child dies as a result of poor sanitation every 20 seconds – that is 1.5 million
preventable deaths a year from diseases such as diarrhoea or cholera.
“A lot of countries under-estimate the effect of sanitation on health,” said Pierre Victoria, head of
International Institutional Relations at Veolia Water. In many countries “we are disappointed by
the lack of interest of the politicians about water issues,” Victoria said. “We’d like to have new
contracts in developing countries but we need contractual, legal and financial security.”
Cheaper options
Proper sewers, with pipelines and treatment plants, are prohibitively costly for many nations. As a
sign of low ambitions, the logo of the International Year of Sanitation shows a latrine built above a
hole in the ground.
Among lower-cost projects, prisoners at the Shimo La Tawa jail in Mombasa will soon start work
on an artificial wetland where plants will act as a sewage processing plant in an experimental
US$117,000 (RM386,100) scheme.
“This technology costs very little both for construction and maintenance,” said Peter Scheren,
manager of joint Unep-Global Environment Facility projects in Africa. The scheme will also
include a fish farm – fed by waste water purified by two artificial wetlands, each 55m long, 9m
wide and 2m deep. If it works, the fish can be eaten by prisoners, or even sold.
Such wetlands can have other spin-offs. “There are experiments going on in Tanzania where types
of grass for roof thatching and basket weaving are grown on wetlands,” he said.
Many scientists say natural systems – such as wetlands, forests or mangroves – are worth more left
alone rather than cleared for farmland because they supply free services such as food, water
purification or building materials.
Unep’s Steiner also said the world urgently needs a better understanding of the natural water cycle,
under threat from climate change stoked by human use of fossil fuels, to help manage water from
rains to drains. Global warming may aggravate water shortages for hundreds of millions of people,
for instance by disrupting Africa’s monsoons or by thawing Himalayan glaciers whose seasonal
meltwater now feeds crops from China to India.
UN estimates show it would cost only about US$10bil (RM33bil) a year to reach the 2015
sanitation target. And every dollar spent on sanitation creates spin-offs worth US$7 (RM23) on
average, largely because of less disease.
In need of funds
A 2006 UN Human Development Report said rich donor nations gave about 5% of total overseas
aid, or between US$3bil and US$4bil (RM9.9bil to RM13.2bil) a year, to water and sanitation.
Excluding big investments in Iraq, the recent trend was down. Many donors view water
investments as too risky, partly because of problems of accountable financing, it said, adding that
sanitation progress since the 1970s had been “glacial”.
Yet many firms stand to benefit from a focus on water and sanitation. There are prospects for
growth in the water sector – from drinking water to processing waste.
One headache is how to pass on the cost of upgrades.
“New systems are often under-funded. So the connections go often to the rich or medium-income
households and the poor do not get it,” said Helen Mountford, head of the Environmental Outlooks
division at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
With the world’s population growing, any advances in improving sanitation may be only helping
the world stand still. The OECD said this month that more than five billion people – or 67% of the
world’s population – are expected to be without a connection to public sewerage in 2030.
That is up by 1.1 billion from 2000, when 71% of a smaller world population had no connection.
About 1.1 billion people lack drinking water; another millennium goal is to halve that proportion
by 2015.
“Investments in sanitation, if anything, have to be more urgent than for water because the deficit is
double,” said OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria. – Reuters
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CNN: All about: Global fishing
By Rachel Oliver for CNN
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- It is commonly said that we know more about the Moon than the
deep blue sea.
art.fishing.jpg
A catch from an illegal bottom trawler in Ivory Coast. The practice of bottom trawling can have
hugely damaging environmental consequences.
Despite the fact that the sea takes up 95 percent of the world's living space, just 7 percent of it has
been properly studied and sampled, according to the United Nations Environment Program
(UNEP).
We don't even know how many species of marine life even live in the world's oceans. But the fish
we do know about, we are particular keen on catching to eat.
The problem, we are told, is we are catching too many of them, and we have a finite time period
available to us to fix the problem before it is too late. In the past 20 years, the UN says we have
managed to double both the percentage of fish stocks facing collapse -- from 15 percent in 1987 to
30 percent last year -- as well as the amount that are overexploited, from 20 per cent to around 40
percent.
UNEP's report, "In Dead Water" released in January, says as much as 80 percent of the world's
main fish catch species have now been "exploited beyond or close to their harvest capacity". We
are now being told that if we carry on fishing at the rate we do, by 2048 all of the species that we
currently fish for food will have disappeared.
In words not to be taken lightly, UNEP is now warning that unless governments around the world
enforce some radical changes right now, we could be in the process of witnessing "a collapsing
ecosystem".
Should that happen, it would mean nothing short of a catastrophe, with far reaching consequences
for marine life -- and human life. One billion people around the world rely on fish as their main
source of protein, while 2.6 billion of us get at least 20 percent of our animal protein intake from it.
Too many boats, not enough fish
There are several problems with how we catch fish.
For starters, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says the global fishing fleet is 2.5 times bigger than
"what the oceans can sustainably support" - i.e. there are too many boats catching too many fish,
and not giving fish stocks enough time to replenish them.
One living example of this can be found off the coast of Canada. In the early 1990's, cod stocks in
the rich fisheries of the Newfoundland Grand Banks collapsed -- some to as little as 1 percent of
their historical levels -- because of over fishing. A decade on, they have yet to recover.
The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) puts the number of fishing vessels
at around 4 million with a staggering 86 percent of them operating in Asian waters.
But, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN) just 1 percent of these vessels are big
enough to substantially threaten global fisheries, with the "capacity to take around 60 percent of all
the fish caught globally".
These large vessels have been largely kept in business by governmental subsidies, say nongovernmental organizations like the WWF which has been urging the World Trade Organization
(WTO) to do something about them.
The worldwide fishing industry employs around 200 million people, generating $80 billion a year.
But a hefty chunk of the industry's revenues come from subsidies, which are currently estimated at
around $34 billion a year. Those most responsible for subsidizing the fishing industry are Japan
(spending $5.3 billion a year), the European Union ($3.3 billion) and China ($3.1 billion),
according to activist group Oceana.
The increase in illegal fishing hasn't helped matters either, representing a fifth of all catches
worldwide, a figure that came out of a recent meeting between the World Bank and the IUCN
earlier this year. The business for pirate ships "flying flags of convenience from landlocked nations
has boomed", says the New Scientist.
And it's not surprising why. As much as 64 percent of the world's oceans have no national
jurisdiction. That means anyone can fish there, as they are deemed to be international waters. They
are known as the "high seas" and they cover 50 percent of the Earth's surface.
In 2004, the most recent year statistics are available, the industry caught a record 106 million tons
of fish.
The FAO says that, taking into consideration population growth, we will need an additional 37
million tons of fish a year to feed us all by 2030.
It says the only way to do this is through controlled fish farms. The "free-for-all" approach must be
curtailed.
Bottom trawling and by-catches
It's not just a problem of where we fish, or even how many we catch -- it's how we go about doing
it too.
The IUCN estimates that due to negligent fishing practices, we get as much as 20 million tons of
fish that aren't supposed to be there literally caught in the nets each year. They are known as bycatch, and one of the most ubiquitous by-catches around are sharks.
Oceana estimates that 50 million sharks are caught "unintentionally" a year, getting snagged up in
gillnets, long lines or trawls. These types of practices -- along with intentional shark hunts for the
meat or the fins -- have led to 135 species of sharks being placed on the IUCN's infamous "Red
List" of endangered or near extinct species.
By-catch has also been to blame for preventing parts of the Grand Banks from replenishing its cod
stocks. In 2003, for examples, a breathtaking 90 percent of the southern Grand Banks' remaining
cod population was lost to by-catches, reports trade site Fish Update.
But it's not just the fish that get in the way-- the way we fish is destroying entire ecosystems,
perhaps something that is even greater cause for concern.
UNEP's "In Dead Water" report notes that, "over 95 percent of damage and change to seamount
ecosystems is caused by bottom fishing".
Bottom trawling is generally accepted to be by far the worst kind of fishing around, with UNEP
putting the damage its responsible for "exceeds over half of the sea bed area of many fishing
grounds".
According to World Watch Institute, millions of marine creatures and their habitat, including coral
reefs, are destroyed by bottom trawling practices. This has been arguably buoyed by depleting fish
stocks, as ships seek to go deeper into the ocean in their pursuit of catches.
Bottom trawling can also exacerbate the by-catch issue, with some forms of this practice resulting
in 20 pounds of by-catch for every single pound of targeted catch, reports Environmental News
Service wire.
Fortunately an increasing awareness of the damage bottom trawling causes is taking hold. And last
year, more than 20 South Pacific nations came to an agreement in Chile to restrict bottom trawling
in the South Pacific high seas.
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The UN General Assembly is now considering imposing some form of moratorium on bottom
trawling on the High Seas.
It's about time, some say. Greenpeace says that bottom trawling has already "extinguished" 10,000
species. And such is the extent of the practice still, that the sediment that rises to the surface as a
result of dragging weighted nets across the seabed can now be seen from space.
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Shangai Daily: Environment tour starts with water clean up
By Yan Zhen and Zou Qi 2008-3-24
Water workers in Xuhui District attend to water plants along the district's Puhuitang River, where
5,000 pots of plants have been cultivated to beautify the waterway landscape.
AN environmental exhibition tour featuring a United Nations report claiming contaminated water
will become the greatest cause of human death and disease starts at local universities this week.
The exhibition tour began on Saturday, the World Water Day, as the Shanghai water authority also
kicked off public campaigns to save water use and clean up the city's waterways.
Initiated by Tongji University's Green Road Association, the exhibition tour will bring the latest
environmental research to 19 local universities.
Environmental protection forums had also been scheduled, Tongji officials said.
Zhang Shigang, China's permanent representative to the UN Environment Program, said China's
response to carbon dioxide emission reduction and quest for a green Olympic Games was of
worldwide concern.
According to UN environmental reports, the world's fresh water was declining and contaminated
water would become the greatest single cause of human disease and death.
Water withdrawal in developing countries would rise by 50 percent by 2025, the "Global
Environment Outlook 4" report by the UNEP said.
Fresh water stress, together with urban air quality, degraded ecosystems, agricultural land use and
increased waste, had already become environmental priorities for the Asia and Pacific region, the
report noted.
Also on Saturday, the Shanghai Water Authority launched campaigns urging people to conserve
water.
Shanghai also kicked off a two-billion-yuan (US$283.57-million) campaign to clean up 565 of the
city's rivers and creeks. Stench and discoloration will be removed from 339 sections of rivers.
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Daily Star: Lebanon set to join multilateral effort to clean up Med coast
By Tomos Lewis
Special to The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Preparations in Lebanon are well under way for this year's initiative to clean up the
country's Mediterranean shoreline and to combat the pressing threat of coastal pollution.
Organizations within over half the nations that border the Mediterranean have joined up with the
Clean Up The Med 2008 initiative to clean up one of the world's iconic coastlines. The campaign,
backed by the Italian Department of Civil Protection, will culminate during May 23-25 when
hundreds of thousands volunteers from Lebanon to Spain will engage in projects to protect the
environment around the Mediterranean Sea.
This year's campaign builds on last year's hugely successful event and arrives in the context of
ever-growing international concern toward the state of the world's natural environment.
The Centre D'Insertion Par La Formation Et L'ActivitŽ (CIFA) is spearheading Lebanon's
contribution to the initiative with events in April and May, leading up to the international Clean Up
weekend at the end of the month of March. From talks given by environment professionals to
information stands, and rubbish-collecting events that will encourage volunteers to clean up the
coast around Byblos and Beirut, Lebanon's plan aims to encourage engagement with the state and
preservation of the environment.
Sabina Llewellyn-Davies, project manager at TLB Destinations, which bills itself as Lebanon's
first tourist company with environmental awareness at its core, is managing much of CIFA's
activities during the Clean Up The Med 2008 campaign.
Mobilizing consciousness around the state of the Lebanese environment is key to CIFA's activities,
she said. "We have secured support from a wide range organisations, from private companies to
universities and schools, which will allow us to express the necessity for environmental action to
as wide an audience as possible," she said. Schools from all over the country will help clear as
much rubbish as possible from the coast around Beirut and Byblos.
The event's core aim is to motivate local action in combating environmental damage and
demonstrate that ground-level activity can often be the most successful way of changing attitudes
toward our relationship with the environment.
Llewellyn-Davies said educating within schools was central to their campaign. "CIFA has
arranged for a local marine biologist to give short talks to school assemblies throughout April and
May so that the children will understand how important taking good care of the environment is,"
she said.
Grassroots forums such as schools and volunteer organization and international bodies such as the
UN's environmental body (UNEP) have embraced the Clean Up campaigns. Supported by bodies
as diverse as the Lebanese Ministry of Environment, Radio One and Standard Chartered Bank, this
year's event is gaining a high profile amid international efforts to combat abuse of the natural
environment.
The event, in its third year, is part of the wider Clean Up The World initiative, founded in 1987 by
Ian Kiernan in Sydney, Australia. This international campaign has since mobilized millions of
volunteers across the world to remedy the damage caused to local environments worldwide. Achim
Steiner, executive director of UNEP, has praised the initiative for "placing the focus squarely on us
- as people, as agents of change. [These] actions truly make a difference" he said.
"Our efforts may only be scratching surface," Llewellyn-Davies said, "but we hope that the clean
up days will unite the youth in Lebanon and make them think about ways to conserve their
environment."
Copyright (c) 2008 The Daily Star
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Antigua Sun: Coastal waters in the Caribbean threatened
Monday March 24 2008
The discharge of large volumes of untreated wastewater into the marine environment in the
Caribbean poses a serious threat to the livelihoods of those who depend on fisheries as well as
tourism and other sectors. In addition, there is a negative impact on human health as well as the
health of the coastal and marine ecosystem.
As a result, the near-shore waters of many islands in the Caribbean are now becoming
environmental hot spots, where sedimentation and algal growth threaten vital coastlines and
coastal resources. In many ways, this further impacts on the economic growth and social
conditions of Caribbean countries.
In an effort to address these consequences, the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI)
in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) through its regional coordinating unit for the Caribbean Environment Programme (UNEP CAR/RCU) will be hosting a
wastewater management training course in Jamaica from today to Friday. The course is the second
of its kind in the Caribbean, the first having been hosted in Suriname.
The course is being funded by United Nations Environment Programme – Global Programme for
Action (UNEP-GPA) based in the Netherlands.
The training seeks to provide participants with analytical tools, substantive information and skills
on how to select, plan and finance appropriate and environmentally sound municipal wastewater
management systems. It will focus on objective-oriented planning; innovative technological and
financial approaches; stakeholder involvement, presentation techniques and feasibility reporting.
The course targets wastewater managers and decision-makers, town planners, and representatives
from stakeholder and user groups in the fisheries, tourism and public health sectors, along with
communities and environmental NGOs.
It is felt that this target group could provide support and technical solutions to the discharge of
untreated wastewater which pollute our coastal and marine environment.
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AFP: Nigeria Suspended From Wildlife Trade Pact
[also appears in All Headline News]
March 21, 2008 7:36 a.m. EST
Abuja, Nigeria (AHN) - Nigeria has been suspended from the International Convention on Trade
in Endangered Species (CITES) after it failed to respect the organization's rules on illegal trade in
endangered species.
Fidelis Omeni, who monitors the country's adherence to the international pact, said Thursday that
Nigerian authorities had made insufficient progress in curbing illicit traffic. Many cities in Nigeria
are known to encourage banned trade in endangered wildlife from within and outside the country.
The suspension means a total ban on imports or exports of every species of fauna and flora. All
exports were earlier covered under the convention that was ratified in 1974.
The west African nation was already warned in 1974 over breaches concerning the traffic of
protected animal species.
CITES is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international
trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. The agreement was
drawn up between 1963 and 1973 and has been ratified by 172 parties.
The convention is administered by the UN Environment Program.
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Plenty Mag.com: CITES takes action against Nigeria's trade in endangered species
Nigeria produces more than just obnoxious spam: the country is also home to way too much illegal
traffic in endangered species.
That's the verdict of the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which
this week banned Nigeria from importing or exporting any animal or plant species governed by the
organization.
From a report by news agency AHN:
Fidelis Omeni, who monitors the country's adherence to the international pact, said Thursday
that Nigerian authorities had made insufficient progress in curbing illicit traffic. Many cities in
Nigeria are known to encourage banned trade in endangered wildlife from within and outside the
country.
CITES, an international agreement administered by the UN Environment Program, governs trade
in protected species between 172 member nations. Under its policies, "All import, export, reexport and introduction from the sea of species covered by the Convention has to be authorized
through a licensing system." This ban means that no licenses will be granted to Nigeria for further
legal import or export or any endangered or otherwise protected species.
So, avoid emails from Nigerian princes, and consider not buying any products at all that come
from Nigeria. Economic pressure may be the only thing to bring about some government action to
stop the country's illegal wildlife trade.
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Business Daily (Nairobi): Kenya: Get a 'Green Passport' for a Guilt-Free Holiday
(Also appears in All Africa News)
Business Daily (Nairobi)
COLUMN
24 March 2008
Posted to the web 24 March 2008
Wangui Maina
Next time you are going on holiday ensure you have your "Green Passport" to enjoy a guilt free
holiday, by standing out as a protector of the environment.
Most times holidaymakers are unaware of the impact of the holiday choices they make, especially
on the destination and the people around. Increased debate on sustainable tourism and climate
change has led to a tourism sector initiative to ensure that travellers are well informed about
making environmentally- friendly holiday choices. Green Passport is the newest initiative.
It is a new website that was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to
raise tourists' awareness of their potential to contribute to sustainable development by making
responsible holiday choices.
In a day and age where travellers are confronted by debates of carbon footprint and the role the
aviation sector plays in global warming, the initiative will help build the tourism sector without
harming the environment, Achim Steiner, UN under secretary-general and UNEP's executive
director said.
He noted that many consumers were now making green choices from the household level, where
electricity is sourced from renewable sources like solar, to buying eco-friendly cars and choosing
to take holidays in eco-friendly destinations.
"Packing a Green Passport along with the airline tickets, the swimming costume and sun lotion
means it's no longer strange. Tourists should not leave their green credentials at home, but can
make them a part of the holiday of a life-time," said Dr Steiner.
By logging onto the websitehttp://www.unep.fr/greenpassport/ consumers can find practical tips to
help them reduce their environmental and social footprint while they are on vacations. Tourists
will discover that travelling green is not as hard as they imagined," he said.
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Gather.com: Some Biofuels Cause Global Warming! What Does that Tell Us?
By Ethan G.
March 24, 2008 03:30 PM EDT (Updated: March 24, 2008 03:32 PM EDT)
The word is now out: many biofuels, such as corn ethanol, actually cause global warming
according to two studies published in Science in February. Why? Their production leads to
clearing of wilderness to make way for agricultural land. Yet the vegetation cleared away helps
fight global warming by sequestering carbon dioxide.
This report came as no surprise. Environmentalists such as Lester Brown had long warned that
biofuels, particularly from corn, would do more harm than good (Earth Policy). In the United
States corn is grown using oil and oil products, so the total energy produced is relatively small.
Brazil extracts biofuel from sugar cane, which is far more efficient. Unfortunately growing extra
sugar cane spurs the clearing of the Amazonian rain forest, an irreplaceable environmental treasure
trove.
The amount of harm caused by corn ethanol is quite shocking, if the Science studies are to be
believed: nearly double the greenhouse gas emissions of petroleum fuel (Wall Street Journal).
Even switch grass, long thought to be a biofuel of the future, is questionable (Grist).
Why have we embarked on such foolish policies? The problem is not one of science but of
politics. A crash program of corn-based ethanol greatly pleased the powerful agricultural lobby in
the United States.
If the problem is political, the solution is also political. Before embarking on major new
"environmental" initiatives we need a true cost accounting of the program's benefits and costs, both
monetary and environmental. This is true not just for the United States but on a global scale.
Theoretically, there should be an optimal mix of oil, relatively clean coal, wind, solar, hydro,
geothermal, and biofuels that delivers the most energy with smallest environmental cost for the
least money. These factors can be manipulated somewhat—we can increase the overall cost to
help the environment, or vice versa. We need to find that mix, make the information readily
available, and implement policies that will cause us to move toward it.
Conservation is another key part of the mix—how much are we willing to spend, or sacrifice, to
reduce total energy usage? Again a cost benefit analysis will help make clear which conservation
measures, such as smaller cars, more use of public transportation, and less use of air
conditioning—should be implemented first to get the most benefit.
What we really want to avoid, however, is increasing the monetary cost and the environmental cost
simultaneously, as has been happening with biofuels. This is why a complete cost-benefit analysis
is so important.
At a global level, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is best equipped to deal
with environmental cost-benefit. Having a system in place to assess costs and benefits that shares
information and goals on as many levels as possible would be a good start.
Such as system should be implemented as part of a new international treaty to replace the flawed
Kyoto protocol. Meant to lessen global warming, Kyoto expires in 2012 and a new treaty is being
negotiated to take its place. A system of taxes on environmentally destructive energy sources and
incentives for environmentally friendly ones might be the best means of implementing a desired
energy mix.
Cost-benefit analyses do have difficulties, as goals, technology, and knowledge regarding impact
are constantly changing. Any international set of standards would need flexibility built in.
However, as individual countries and companies embark on environmental projects, having such
standards is infinitely preferable to not having them. Such standards would prevent
embarrassments like that happening with corn ethanol.
Other kinds of biofuels, for instance from waste product and perhaps from bacteria or algae, will
likely play a strong role in the future energy mix. And fast-growing wood or switchgrass grown
on marginal land may still have a place. However such products need to result from a real
understanding of their long-term impact, not from immediate political pressures.
Whoever of the three viable candidates becomes the President of the United States in 2009, he or
she is almost certain to have a far stronger environmental agenda than the current occupant. The
United States needs to play a central role in shaping whatever treaty replaces Kyoto. And we, the
people, have a duty to be as informed as possible, and to put pressure on the new President, to
formulate smart policy that accounts for long-term costs and benefits.
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Media Global: Record glacier melting threatens World's poor
17 March 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The world's glaciers are melting at an increasingly rapid rate,
the World Glacier Monitoring Service, a Swiss research center supported by the United Nations
Environmental Programme (UNEP) reported this week. Based on information from 30 reference
glaciers in nine mountain ranges around the world, the service estimates that in 2006
approximately 1.4 meters of water equivalent (equal to approximately 1.54 meters of ice thickness)
was lost, compared to only losses of only half a meter in 2005. Since 1980 the service reports that
more than 10.5 meters of water equivalent have been lost - a volume equal to 11.5 meters of ice
thickness, or nearly 38 feet. While this increasing rate of melting is cause for concern, says UNEP,
the most immediate victims will be the world's poorest people.
“There are suggestions by scientists that recent flooding in China, for example, is linked in part
with increased glacial melt,” Nick Nutall, spokesman for UNEP told MediaGlobal. Even more
worrying, he stressed, is the impact of unchecked glacier melting in the future. “In the medium to
long term, glaciers melting away may lead to water shortages in certain key months of the year”
said Nuttall.
“Mayors in several cities have expressed concern over drinking water supplies as a result of glacier
loss.” Glacier melting, says Nutall, is yet another example of the adverse impact of global climate
change on the world's poorest people, unless urgent action is taken.
“Unless the international community responds by combating climate change and factoring
adaptation strategies into development decisions and strategies, the poor and vulnerable members
of society face increasing water shortages; the loss of economically important ecosystems and
nature-based resources such as wetlands and inland fisheries and perhaps an increase in waterborne disease,” he said.
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Canoe.com : Avec peu de moyens, des prisonniers agissent pour l’environnement
Canoë
Virginie Roy
24/03/2008 16h39
Des prisonniers africains lancent un projet d’assainissement des eaux usées. Leur budget restreint
ne les empêche pas d’obtenir les mêmes résultats que les technologies avancées des pays
industrialisés.
Les détenus d’une prison sur la côte Est de l’Afrique lancent un projet d’assainissement des eaux
usées à fortes concentration de déchets humains. C’est ce que rapporte le Programme des Nations
Unies pour l’environnement (PNUE).
Le projet de la prison de Shimo la Tewa, située dans la ville côtière kenyane de Mombasa,
implique le développement d’une zone humide pour purifier les eaux usées. L’initiative va aussi
permettre d’évaluer l’utilisation de l’eau filtrée par les zones humides pour l’irrigation et la
pisciculture, apportant ainsi aux détenus une nouvelle source de protéines ou d’autres moyens de
subsistance par la vente sur les marchés locaux. Une partie de ces eaux usées sera également
utilisée pour la production de biogaz.
Le biogaz peut être exploité comme combustible pour la cuisson, le chauffage et l’éclairage, ce qui
permettrait au service pénitentiaire de réduire les factures d’électricité et de faire des économies
d’argent tout en diminuant les émissions dans l’atmosphère par la population carcérale forte de 4
000 personnes, y compris le personnel et les prisonniers.
Financé par le gouvernement de la Norvège et le Fonds pour l’Environnement mondial, ce projet a
été lancé dans le cadre de la Journée mondiale de l’eau qui avait lieu vendredi dernier. Cette
journée a pour but de sensibiliser et susciter l’action pour atteindre les objectifs du Millénaire pour
le développement d’ici 2015. Il s’agit notamment de réduire de moitié la proportion de personnes
n’ayant pas accès à l’assainissement, actuellement estimée à 40% de la population mondiale, soit
environ 2,6 milliards de personnes.
Le PNUE estime que la pollution par les eaux usées est responsable de la mort de 15 millions de
personnes par année en raison de maladies infectieuses.
Un projet à rabais
Le PNUE dénonce que les solutions trouvée pour le traitement des eaux des pays développés, sont,
depuis les cinquante dernières années, extrêmement chères. En effet, les projets ont consisté en
travaux de plus en plus sophistiqués, coûtant plusieurs millions de dollars. Pourtant, le PNUE
rappelle qu’il existe d’autres moyens moins coûteux de faire face au même problème avec
d’importantes retombées.
Ainsi, le projet des prisonniers de Shimo la Tewa devrait coûter une fraction du prix des
traitements d’une haute technologie, tout en engendrant des profits sur le triple plan
environnemental, économique et social. La collecte des eaux usées et le système de purification
des zones humides, ainsi que la main-d’œuvre et les coûts de construction, y compris
l’amélioration des installations sanitaires dans la prison s’élèvent à environ 110 000 dollars, soit 25
dollars par personne.
Le PNUE espère que cette initiative deviendra un exemple pour d’autres pays.
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FT: Gletscher schmelzen in Rekordtempo
Das UN-Umweltprogramm UNEP hat vor einem alarmierenden Tempo der Gletscherschmelze
weltweit gewarnt.
ANZEIGE
Der Tortin-Gletscher in der Schweiz wird im Sommer mit einer Sonnenschutzfolie abgedeckt
(Archiv).
Eine Untersuchung des Gletscherüberwachungszentrums der Universität Zürich habe ergeben, dass
die Gletscher zwischen den Jahren 2004/2005 und 2005/2006 doppelt so schnell wie bisher
geschmolzen seien, teilte ein UNEP-Sprecher in Nairobi mit. Das Institut habe weltweit fast 30
Gletscher in sieben Gebirgszügen untersucht. «Die Zahlen sind Teil eines sich beschleunigenden
Trends, bei dem kein Ende abzusehen ist», warnte Wilfried Häberlie, der Direktor des
Gletscherinstituts.
Arbeiter verlegen auf dem Zugspitz-Gletscher große Planen, um das Abschmelzen zu verhindern
(Archivbild).
UNEP-Direktor Achim Steiner erinnerte an die Bedeutung der Gletscher als natürliche
Wasservorräte. «Millionen, wenn nicht Milliarden Menschen hängen unmittelbar von ihnen ab»,
betonte er. Der Klimawandel sende viele Alarmsignale aus. «Die Gletscher sind unter denen, die
besonders laut sind, und jeder sollte aufmerken und hinhören.»
Der Perito Moreno-Gletscher im Süden Argentiniens.
Das Institut hat über die Jahrzehnte die Veränderungen der Dicke der Eisschicht gemessen, die den
Gletscher bildet. Während die Gletscher in den 80er Jahren bis zur Jahrtausendwende
durchschnittlich 30 Zentimeter Dicke pro Jahr verloren hätten, seien sie seit dem Jahr 2000 um
jährlich einen halben Meter und in den vergangenen Jahren sogar um 70 Zentimeter dünner
geworden.
Nackt für den Klimaschutz: 600 Menschen posieren in einer Aktion des Künstlers Specer Tunick
auf dem Aletschgletscher (Archiv)
Besonders dramatisch sei die Lage am norwegischen Breidalblikkbrea-Gletscher, der allein im Jahr
2006 um mehr als drei Meter schrumpfte. Alarmierend sei auch der überdurchschnittlich hohe
Rückgang des Großen Goldbergkeesgletschers in Österreich, des Ossoue-Gletschers in den
französischen Alpen und des spanischen Maladeta-Gletschers.
Diskutieren Sie verschiedene Themen in der FTD-Debatte
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Misionesonline.net: Un futuro de sequías extremas y altas temperaturas
a actividad que más sufrirá este deterioro climático será la agricultura ya que se estima que la
reducción en la cantidad de agua sería del 50%.
Nairobi (dpa). Durante está semana se realizó en Nairobi una importante conferencia sobre el
cambio climático como parte del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente
(PNUMA), cuyo jefe es, desde junio, Achim Steiner.
Sequías, altas temperaturas, derretimiento de los hielos, la emisión de dióxido de carbono (CO2),
el aumento del nivel del mar son sólo algunas de las consecuencias que el planeta deberá enfrentar
en los próximos años, afirmó el jefe del programa.
¿Siguen existiendo en la actualidad científicos que no se toman en serio el cambio climático?
La discusión sobre si existe o no el cambio climático está terminada. En todo caso, todavía hay
algunos rezagados a los que les cuesta modificar la estrategia de negación de los últimos años.
Tampoco en Estados Unidos se duda ya en el fondo de la evidencia científica. El debate público ya
no gira en torno a la pregunta de ¿debemos reaccionar? sino más bien a ¿cómo vamos a
reaccionar? Eso significa por un lado, reducir las emisiones de CO2 y, por el otro, desarrollar
estrategias de adaptación.
¿Puede mencionar ejemplos de cuáles pueden ser las consecuencias
del cambio climático?
Por ejemplo, la agricultura. Las variaciones cada vez más fuertes en las precipitaciones
determinarán dónde se puede seguir practicando la agricultura. O los diques de contención, que
están planificados en base a los análisis a largo de plazo de las lluvias. Lógicamente, siempre hubo
ciclos de sequía, pero ahora se vuelven más extremos. En Uganda, las represas este año estaban tan
vacías, que el país sufrió una crisis de energía. Esos extremos deberán tenerse en cuenta en las
planificaciones de infraestructura en el futuro.
Otro ejemplo son las altas temperaturas en verano en Europa. Varias centrales atómicas tuvieron
que ser apagadas, porque el agua para refrigerar estaba demasiado tibia. Otro ejemplo: ¿Qué pasa
en los mares del mundo cuando se derritan las capas de hielo? ¿Qué tanto se verá afectada la
utilización de nuestras costas? El aumento del nivel del mar amenaza las casas en la playa, los
puertos, la pesca.
También hay que hacerse otra pregunta: ¿Cuánto van a contribuir los cambios climáticos a que
aparezcan enfermedades en zonas en las que hasta ahora no existían? ¿Llegará por ejemplo la
malaria a Europa? Esas son preguntas que deben tenerse en cuenta en la planificación de una
estrategia sanitaria nacional.
¿Quién puede garantizar que en el futuro se tome más en cuenta el cambio climático en las
inversiones en infraestructura? ¿Qué papel juega el PNUMA?
Trabajamos con muchos países. Durante la conferencia sobre cambio climático, presentaremos
iniciativas sobre cómo el PNUMA apoya a los países para desarrollar estrategias de adaptación. En
Dinamarca, por ejemplo, ya se está analizando toda la administración y se toman en cuenta los
potenciales peligros de los diversos escenarios.
¿Qué probabilidad hay de que se den esos escenarios?
El problema es que el cambio climático no es lineal. En los últimos años, tuvimos que revisar
varias veces nuestros escenarios. Las consecuencias ecológicas de un cambio en la temperatura son
difíciles de predecir. No sabemos si la agricultura tiene que contar con un 20 o un 50% menos de
agua. Tenemos que invertir más en la investigación.
¿La comunidad internacional tiene la elección entre la reducción de las emisiones de CO2 y el
desarrollo de estrategias de adaptación?
Hace algunos años aún eran alternativas. Hoy ambas cosas son necesarias. Y tenemos que tener en
cuenta cómo vinculamos ecología y economía. Tenemos que conseguir que los mecanismos de
mercado y los flujos de inversiones reduzcan, por un lado, radicalmente las emisiones de CO2 y,
por el otro, que se incluya una garantía climática en el desarrollo de infraestructura.
¿Qué papel juega en eso la cooperación internacional?
Lo que hoy nos paraliza muchas veces son sobre todo intereses económicos y temores a
desventajas en la competencia. Sólo avanzaremos si conducimos a la comunidad internacional a un
proceder conjunto. Si todos los países actúan económicamente bajo las mismas condiciones,
podrán administrar los costos de una economía sostenible.
¿Y quién puede convencer a Estados Unidos, que se sigue negando a ratificar el Protocolo de
Kyoto?
Lo harán por sí mismos. Ya demostraron varias veces que a veces van un poco rezagados, pero al
final actúan rápida y radicalmente. En Estados Unidos ya hay más de 250 ciudades, varios estados
y el gobernador republicano Arnold Schwarzenegger que llevan adelante una política climática
activa.
Otro caso problemático son países como la India o China, que a medida que con su veloz
desarrollo económico producen cada vez más CO2. ¿Cómo se puede comprometer a esos países?
China será en los próximos uno o dos años el tercer país más grande del mundo en lo que a
emisiones de CO2 se refiere. Pero China no carga con la responsabilidad de los últimos cien años,
y los gases quedan en la atmósfera 200 años. Ese es un asunto de solidaridad internacional. En un
principio, tenemos que aclarar qué responsabilidad histórica tienen los países industrializados en el
cambio climático. Y tenemos que desarrollar estrategias de transformación económica y
políticamente defendibles. Los países industrializados deben aceptar su responsabilidad, para que
sea posible un proceder conjunto. Países como China y Sudáfrica están dispuestos a enfrentar el
cambio climático ofensivamente. Pero tiene que haber un juego limpio.
¿Cree que el sistema de la ONU debe ser reformado?
Se subestima lo mucho que realmente hace Naciones Unidas. La ONU hace de bombero en cientos
de lugares del mundo. Me sorprendió lo altamente motivados y altamenta calificados que están
algunos expertos del PNUMA.
Pero lógicamente la ONU es un aparato de funcionarios, que necesita una reforma estructural. Eso
lo noté en mis primeras semanas en el cargo. Puede demorar nueve meses para que se ocupe un
puesto. La ineficiencia con la que se llevan adelante esos procesos es muy frustrante. O la
implemetación de tecnología de comunicación moderna. Justo la ONU, que trabaja a nivel global,
debería estar al día, pero nuestros sistemas de información, la infraestructura de hardware y
software, están retrasados unos 15 años.
El Kilimanjaro se quedára sin su cima nevada
Los hielos retrocedieron un 82% desde su primera medición en 1912.
El deshielo de los glaciares del Monte Kenya y el Kilimanjaro representa un signo de alarma del
efecto del aumento de la temperatura global, trascendió en la duodécima Conferencia sobre
Cambio Climático (COP12).
La montaña de 5.199 metros de altura da nombre al país que acoge la magna reunión sobre el
clima, pero su casquete nevado que asombra por estar ubicado en pleno Ecuador, sufrió un
retroceso alarmante en la última centuria.
El pueblo kikuyu, grupo tribal más grande de Kenya, llama a la elevación Kirinyaga (cosa blanca).
Sin embargo, si el retroceso de los hielos continúa y desaparecen en el próximo siglo, ese nombre
quedaría obsoleto.
Lo mismo ocurre con el Kilimanjaro, en la vecina Tanzania, cuya belleza ponderó el escritor
estadounidense Ernest Hemingway en una de sus obras imperecederas.
Los hielos de esa elevación de 5.895 metros de altura sobre el nivel del mar, retrocedieron en un
82% desde que en 1912 se midiera por primera vez.
El Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA), está preocupado por esa
situación, pues constituye una evidencia de los efectos del calentamiento del planeta.
«Esos son indicadores visibles del cambio climático», dijo Christian Lambrechts, funcionario de
ese programa de la ONU.
Justo por encontrarse debajo de la línea del Ecuador, la presencia de glaciares en Africa ha
maravillado y desbordado la imaginación de cuantos los ven.
El impacto del aumento de la temperatura global en ese continente, el más vulnerable a aumento de
la temperatura global- según datos difundidos en Nairobi- se convirtió en un tema recurrente.
La situación de esos glaciares hizo que la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación,
la Ciencia y la Cultura (Unesco) se preguntara si algunos sitios Patrimonios de la Humanidad
desaparecerían de la lista por el cambio climático.
Para que un lugar sea considerado patrimonio universal debe tener cierto valor común, para la
ciencia o la tecnología. Pero si ese principio deja de ser efectivo, entonces el sitio es borrado de la
lista patrimonial.
«El derretimiento del glaciar es obviamente una señal visible de que el cambio climático está
teniendo un efecto negativo en nuestro patrimonio mundial», indicó un funcionario.
(imneuquen.com.ar)
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Other Environment News
Christian Science Monitor: U.N. Security Council must act preemptively – on climate change
This global threat requires a war-room mentality.
By Gregory Meeks and Michael Shank
Arlington, VA.
The United Nations tackled the task of troubleshooting climate change last month. Between
holding special General Assembly meetings at headquarters in New York, bringing 100
environmental ministers to Monaco in the largest meeting of ministers since Bali, and launching a
Climate Neutral Network to highlight best practices in tackling global warming, the UN appears to
be doing what it can to ensure that climate change does not fall off the political radar. Yet, it still
isn't enough. A concerted international strategy, on a par with the seriousness and scope of an UN
Security Council resolution, is what's needed to counter this climate crisis.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon was right in comparing the effects of climate change to the
effects of war, given the potential level of human and environmental devastation potentially
wrought by rising sea levels and increasingly catastrophic weather conditions. Philanthropist Sir
Richard Branson, who keynoted UN General Assembly deliberations on climate change, was
correct to call for a "war room" to adequately respond to a rapidly warming planet.
Both leaders recognize the need for serious strategy and the comparisons to war were not casually
made. The threat to international peace and security calls upon nothing less than the purview of the
UN Security Council.
Under Article 39 of the UN Charter, the Security Council maintains the right to identify threats to
international peace and security and to devise means to counter these threats. The potential impact
of that on climate change is substantial: the Security Council's toolbox includes the capacity to cap
greenhouse-gas emissions on every country and sanction those who fail to comply. Both a carbon
tax, as well as a carbon-trading scheme, could incentivize countries to reduce emissions below
even capped levels.
It is a moral imperative that the Security Council acts quickly. While island nations like Palau and
the Maldives stand to face warlike scenarios sooner than the Security Council's five permanent
(P5) members – China, Russia, United States, Britain, and France are not immune. Moreover, the
culpability of the P5's populaces in contributing to climate change must be recognized. China and
the US rank as the world's top two greenhouse-gas emitters.
Not surprisingly, this may well account for the Security Council's reluctance to tackle climate
change with carbon caps and concomitant sanctions. The P5 has a hard enough time wrestling with
resolutions that put parameters on their own political prowess. To expect them to write a resolution
that restricts their right to pollute may be unrealistic. But the alternatives to inaction on this issue
are dire.
Disappearing Pacific islands, due to rising sea levels, are projected for within our lifetime.
Catastrophic weather conditions accosting the coastal regions of China, the US, and the UK, once
mere prediction, are already taking place. Conflicts escalating over depleted natural resources, due
to disrupted and rising temperatures, are already occurring. The planet may not wait patiently until
the Security Council overcomes its propensity for political pandering.
Unless we act now, and with formidable preemptive force, more of this is what could face the
international community. Transcending the Security Council's usual scope of nation-state conflicts,
climate change-related conflict will affect all of us – with particular devastation to developing
countries not represented by the P5. Thus it is incumbent upon the Security Council, which has a
responsibility to protect weaker member states, to step up and save the world.
A global threat requires global commitment. And that commitment can be best coordinated in the
Security Council.
Representative Gregory Meeks (D) of N.Y. is vicechair of the House Foreign Affairs
subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment. Michael Shank is the government
relations adviser at George Mason University's Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.
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Reuters: China to spend $5.9 billion on environment
Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:08am EDT
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has earmarked 41.8 billion yuan ($5.9 billion) to fund environmental
protection and energy-saving projects this year, the finance ministry said on Monday.
In a statement posted on its Web site, www.mof.gov.cn, the ministry said the funds would be used
to scrap obsolete capacity, improve sewerage in central and western China and clean up several
rivers across the country.
It also said that China would consider setting up a "pay to pollute" regime and a trading system for
pollution quotas.
The investments underscore the growing political emphasis on sustainable development in a
country with some of the world's most polluted air and rivers.
In 2006, China set a goal of cutting energy intensity, or the amount of energy needed to produce
each $1 of output, by 20 percent by 2010, but it has already fallen well behind schedule. Energy
intensity fell 1.33 percent in 2006 and 3 percent in 2007.
China has also cracked down on loans to polluters and raised the bar for investment in heavy
industries such as cement, steel and smelting that consume large quantities of energy and belch out
pollution.
(Reporting by Eadie Chen; Editing by Alan Wheatley and Edmund Klamann)
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BBC: Call for delay to biofuels policy
By Roger Harrabin
BBC Environment Analyst
Ministers want 2.5% biofuels to be mixed in petrol at the pumps
The UK's chief environment scientist has called for a delay to a policy demanding inclusion of
biofuels into fuel at pumps across the UK.
Professor Robert Watson said ministers should await the results of their inquiry into biofuels'
sustainability.
Some scientists think biofuels' carbon benefits may be currently outweighed by negative effects
from their production.
The Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) is to introduce 2.5% biofuels at the pumps
from 1 April.
Professor Robert Watson warned that it would be insane if the RTFO had the opposite effects of
the ones intended.
He said biofuels policy in the EU and the UK may have run ahead of the science.
His comments in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme appear on the day when a
coalition of pressure groups from Oxfam to Greenpeace writes to the Department for Transport
(DfT) demanding that the policy be delayed until after the review.
Sustainability question
Professor Watson does not advise the DfT - and said his thoughts as chief environment scientist on
the sustainability of biofuels had not been sought.
The DfT is itself under pressure from an EU policy demanding the inclusion of 5% biofuels in road
fuels by 2010 in an attempt to cut carbon emissions.
The EU's Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas earlier told BBC News that this target should
only be reached if the biofuels could be proved to be sustainably produced.
It is impossible to say yet whether any biofuels are truly sustainable or not as they are blended on
the world market and their origins are impossible to trace.
Some scientists believe some biofuels - particularly ethanol from sugar cane - should be seen as
sustainable.
Serious concern
But others fear the impact of biofuels on food prices. And recent articles from US scientists argue
that the carbon debt incurred from carbon released from ploughing virgin soil often outweighed
any potential carbon saving from the biofuels.
Professor Watson said some of the calculations on soil science were controversial - but agreed that
carbon losses from soil were a serious concern.
He said that the UK was a leader in exploring the full sustainability implications of biofuels.
This is certainly true compared with the US which has set numerical targets for biofuels without
consideration of their carbon impact.
But many will question why energy experts promoting biofuels in the EU were allowed to go
unchallenged so long by the views on biofuels of agriculture specialists or soil scientists.
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China Daily: Environment chief vows to add muscle
By Sun Xiaohua (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-25 10:53
Giving environmental monitors and law enforcers more muscle will be the top priority for Zhou
Shengxian, when he takes up his new position as minister of environmental protection.
Speaking at the 2008 National Environmental Law Enforcement Conference yesterday in Beijing,
Zhou said setting up a law enforcement system of "iron and steel" was top of his agenda.
The meeting might have been the last under the State Environmental Protection Administration
banner, as the new ministry positions will be announced on Wednesday, Zhou said.
"The new ministry will have greater authority to crack down on environmental crime, and we will
expand our enforcement and surveillance teams," he said.
Regular meetings, and joint enforcement, surveillance and information sharing systems will be set
up not only among environmental protection departments of all levels, but also with law
enforcement and judicial bodies, Zhou said.
Wei Fusheng, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a researcher with the
Environmental Monitoring Center, said the lack of enough manpower is one of biggest problems
hindering the country's environmental monitoring work.
"Staff spend most of their time and energy on monitoring environmental quality and the national
key pollution sources," he said last week.
"But work relating to people's health has been neglected in recent years.
"In addition, because of a lack of personnel, standards and measures of monitoring have not been
updated, and this has hindered the development of the country's environmental surveillance."
But Zhou said the ministry will not be slack in its efforts to combat pollution.
The agenda for this year includes a conference on pollution treatment in the Songhua River, and
meetings to tackle pollution in the Huaihe River, agricultural pollution in Zhejiang province and
industrial pollution in Shanghai.
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FT: Call to delay biofuels obligation
By Jean Eaglesham
Published: March 25 2008 01:04 | Last updated: March 25 2008 01:04
Ministers came under pressure on Monday to delay a move to force motorists to use biofuels, after
the government’s top environment scientist warned that the supposedly green initiative could
prove counter-productive.
Robert Watson, chief scientist at the Department for the Environment, on Monday called on
ministers to postpone the introduction of the obligation, proposed for April 1, until a governmentcommissioned review of biofuels’ environmental sustainability had been completed.
The renewable transport fuels obligation will require at least 2.5 per cent of fuel at the pumps to
consist of biofuels. Such biofuels – principally ethanol and diesel made from plants – have been
promoted by policymakers in the US and Europe as a green alternative to fossil fuels.
Some scientists argue that the carbon benefits of burning biofuels may be outweighed by the
environmental factors involved in their production, as well as the impact on food prices.
“It would obviously be totally insane if we had a policy to try and reduce greenhouse gas
emissions through the use of biofuels that’s actually leading to an increase in the greenhouse gases
from biofuels,” Prof Watson told the BBC.
His call for a moratorium was reinforced on Monday by a coalition of leading environmental and
development groups, which wrote a joint letter to Ruth Kelly, transport secretary, warning that the
obligation risked doing more harm than good.
Greenpeace argued that it would be “incredibly reckless” to press ahead with the policy without
knowing its full impact on climate change. Friends of the Earth warned of the “potentially
catastrophic impacts on people and the environment” of western countries setting volume targets
for biofuel production.
The Liberal Democrats also backed calls for more analysis of the impact of biofuels. Norman
Baker, Lib Dem transport spokesman, said Prof Watson was “right to raise the warning flag”.
The Department for Transport defended the new requirement while stressing that the government
was reviewing the wider impacts of production.
“Biofuels have the potential to help reduce the impact of transport on the environment but we have
always been clear about the need to ensure that they are sustainable,” an official said.
“The [obligation] has at its heart a detailed sustainability reporting mechanism – going further than
any other country – which will create a strong incentive for transport fuel suppliers to source
sustainable biofuels.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
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AFP: Biofuel boom threatens food supplies: Nestle
1 day ago
ZURICH (AFP) — Growing use of crops such as wheat and corn to make biofuels is putting world
food supplies in peril, the head of Nestle, the world's biggest food and beverage company, warned
Sunday.
"If as predicted we look to use biofuels to satisfy 20 percent of the growing demand for oil
products, there will be nothing left to eat," chairman and chief executive Peter Brabeck-Letmathe
said.
"To grant enormous subsidies for biofuel production is morally unacceptable and irresponsible," he
told the Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.
While the competition is driving up the price of maize, soya and wheat, land for cultivation is
becoming rare and water sources are also under threat, Brabeck said.
His remarks echoed concerns raised by the United Nations' independent expert on the right to food,
Jean Ziegler.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly last year, Ziegler called for a five-year moratorium on all
initiatives to develop biofuels in order to avert what he said might be "horrible" food shortages.
Diplomats from countries pursuing such fuels, such as Brazil and Colombia, disagreed with his
forecast.
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Guardian: Biofuels: a solution that became part of the problem
* Terry Macalister
* Tuesday March 25 2008
Using plant-based materials for fuel in cars and trucks was until recently heralded as the answer to
the need to reduce carbon emissions from petrol and diesel fuels.
But the alarm expressed yesterday by Professor Robert Watson, the government's highest-ranking
environment scientist, that the headlong pursuit of biofuels could accelerate climate change, is the
latest in a series of comments from senior figures that have shaken Whitehall.
Both Watson and the former chief scientific officer, Sir David King, have joined the chorus of those
calling for a key "sustainability" clause to be introduced to ensure biofuels do not compound the
problem by competing for land with staple food crops and speeding up deforestation.
Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, Watson said: "It would obviously be insane if we had a
policy to try and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the use of biofuels that's actually leading
to an increase in the greenhouse gases from biofuels."
The comments are controversial because the government has committed the UK from April 1 to
ensuring that at least 2.5% of all petrol and diesel for vehicles comes from biofuels, with that figure
moving up to 5% by 2010. Meanwhile, the EU is aiming for 10% of power for transport being
provided by crops from 2020.
King said a distinction should be drawn between different kinds of biofuels, some of which are more
carbon-friendly than others. For example, biofuels from sugar cane in Brazil have 10% of the carbon
footprint of traditional fuel, while maize-based fuels in America would have 80% or 90% of the
footprint. He also has worries about the displacement of food crops by biofuel crops.
"There is enough evidence now that the White House having introduced to favour biofuels in the US
has created quite a massive diversion of food crop products into biofuel production and hence pushed
up prices of food, particularly in developing countries," he said.
The price of food in Britain rose three times faster than the level of inflation last year and major
increases in the cost of wheat and other basic commodities have been partly attributed to biofuels.
Meanwhile, vital rainforest in places such as Brazil and Indonesia is being cleared more quickly than
ever to make way for new plant-based fuel production.
The views from the two British scientists came as a coalition of environmental and development
groups wrote a joint letter to ministers warning their biofuels policy risked doing more harm than
good. In a letter to the transport secretary, Ruth Kelly, groups including Oxfam, the RSPB and
Greenpeace called for her to put an end to the biofuels policy being introduced through a Renewable
Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) until more was known about the impact of different forms of
plant-based oil.
The government agreed last month that it would undertake a review of the biofuels sector to ensure
"the full economic and environmental impacts of biofuels production are taken into account in the
formation of UK policy beyond 2010". The study will be undertaken by the new Renewable Fuels
Agency, which will report in the early summer, but Kelly made clear that, in the meantime, the
RTFO would apply from the start of next month.
The review follows expressions of concern from Stavros Dimas, the EU's environment
commissioner, the Royal Society and a parliamentary environmental audit committee. The last
concluded that the possible risks outweighed the benefits and said both the UK and EU should scrap
their targets until the green advantages of biofuels could be guaranteed.
Ministers have also been influenced by two studies highlighted recently in the US journal Science. In
one, researchers calculated that converting natural ecosystems to grow corn or sugar cane to produce
ethanol, or palms or soybeans for biodiesel, could release between 17 and 420 times more carbon
than the annual savings from replacing fossil fuels. Stephen Polasky from the University of
Minnesota, one of the authors of the report, said: "Landowners are rewarded for producing palm oil
and other products but not rewarded for carbon management. This creates incentives for excessive
land-clearing and can result in large increases in carbon emissions."
Any retrenchment by government over biofuels will cause resentment within big business, which
was opposed to the concept but has started to invest heavily.
The value of renewable power companies has soared over recent years. BP recently announced it
might sell off part of its "green" energy business, while Shell has put up for sale its Infineum joint
venture with ExxonMobil, which produces biofuels. But new British businesses such as D1 Oils,
which produce "second-generation" biofuels, have been laying off staff, saying the increasing
opposition to these fuels is undermining the business.
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Times: Walt Disney cartoons ‘contain secret messages on the environment’
Mark Henderson, Science Editor
Walt Disney films such as Bambi, The Jungle Book and Pocahontas have played an important role
in educating the public about the environment, a new book by a University of Cambridge academic
has claimed.
The stories of animated Disney characters, from Snow White in 1937 to the clownfish Nemo in
2003, have built “a critical awareness of contested environmental issues”, according to David
Whitley, a lecturer in English.
While Disney movies are often regarded as little more than escapism, and have even been
criticised as bland populism, many feature messages about conservation and the relationship
between people and the natural world that have proved to be highly influential, Dr Whitley said.
His book, The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation, argues that the films’ cute animals have
systematically encouraged generations of children to ally themselves with the natural world and
protect it.
Dr Whitley singled out Bambi, which was released in 1942, as particularly influential, saying that
many green activists had credited it as the inspiration that first made them interested in
environmental issues.
He said: “Disney films have often been criticised as inauthentic and pandering to popular taste
rather than developing the animation medium in a more thought-provoking way.
“In fact, these films have taught us variously about having a fundamental respect for nature. Some
of them, such as Bambi, inspired conservation awareness and laid the emotional groundwork for
environmental activism.
“For decades Disney films have been providing children with potent fantasies, enabling them to
explore how they relate to the natural world.”
The book, published by Ashgate, concentrates on two periods in the Walt Disney Company’s
history – between 1937 and 1967, when Walt Disney was in charge, and between 1984 and 2005,
when Michael Eisner was chief executive. Both moguls “saw themselves as having a sustained and
strong commitment to wild nature and the environment”, but in subtly different ways, Dr Whitley
said.
Walt Disney promoted a “folksy and homespun” relationship with nature, the influence of which
can be seen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Bambiand Sleeping Beauty. These
are pastoral films, in which the natural world is portrayed as an idyllic but vulnerable retreat from
a threatening civilisation.
During Eisner’s stewardship, Disney films became more complex, suggesting that people and
nature can coexist if people come to respect wildlife and realise their place in the natural order. Dr
Whitley said: “If you can accept their sentimentality, it becomes possible to see that these films are
giving young audiences a cultural arena within which serious environmental issues can be
rehearsed and explored.
“Popular art often does more than we think to shape our feelings and our ideas about certain
themes. Disney may well be telling us more about the environment and the way we relate to it than
we tend to accept.”
The movies could even reflect disputes about how nature is best conserved. Dr Whitley said that
the rivalry between the carefree Baloo and the authoritative Bagheera in The Jungle Book, released
in 1967, echoed contemporary disagreements between hippies and mainstream conservation
groups.
How animation brought green issues to life
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The jealous Queen arranges for the death of Snow White who escapes to the forest and befriends
dwarfs and woodland creatures.
The message “The forest’s pastoral setting gives viewers a sense of the integrity and separateness
of nature from the world of humans, which is shown as oppressively unbalanced. Snow White is
also a role model, showing how humans can protect nature and even bring order to it.”
Bambi (1942)
The plot follows Bambi through his friendships with Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk, the
death of his mother at the hands of hunters and his ascent to prince of the forest.
The message “A classic example of the use of animated detail to represent the idyllic realm of
nature rendered vulnerable by human incursions. The film is credited with having influenced a
generation of conservationists.”
Cinderella (1950)
Under the thumb of her cruel stepmother and stepsisters, Cinderella’s only friends are animals.
After attending the royal ball, the mice help the Prince to find her.
The message “Cinderella’s relationship with an extensive subculture of friendly animals
demonstrates that she is wholesome and good. The animals help to subvert the authority of a
repressive, self-regarding human culture cut off from nature and represented by the ugly sisters.”
The Jungle Book (1967)
Ten years after he was found by Bagheera, the panther, it is decided that Mowgli, a feral child,
should return to the world of human beings to escape Shere Khan, the tiger.
The message “Mowgli demonstrates not just a desire to protect the animal kingdom but to become
part of it. The film introduced young viewers to some of the competing theories about the
consumption of natural resources.”
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Ariel, the mermaid princess, longs to be part of the human world. She falls in love with Prince Eric
and temporarily becomes a human being.
The message “This suggests a fundamental division between humans and the natural world that
can, at least partially, be overcome. The film persuades viewers that the human and natural worlds
are comparable and equivalent.”
Pocahontas (1995)
Pocahontas, a Native American, falls in love with John Smith, an English settler. She shows him
that her people have an intimate and spiritual relationship with nature.
The message “Pocahontas’s decision to stay among her own tribe teaches that the natural world is
not there to be harnessed by the civilising effects of humans. The historically inaccurate
reconciliation with the colonists implies that our rift with nature can be healed.”
Tarzan (1999)
Tarzan is raised by gorillas. A group of humans arrive, including Jane, who falls in love with
Tarzan after he rescues her. Tarzan saves the gorillas from Clayton, a hunter who wants to capture
them.
The message: “The human impact on the environment is seen at its destructive worst in the form of
Clayton’s efforts to exploit the natural world for commercial gain.”
Finding Nemo (2003)
Nemo, a clownfish, is embarrassed by his overprotective father, Marlin. He is captured and taken
to Sydney.
The message: “The theme of letting go of one’s protective anxieties accepts the dangerous aspect
of nature, but we are encouraged to tolerate freedom with all the precariousness that entails.”
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AFP: Australian animals threatened by climate change: report
35 minutes ago
SYDNEY (AFP) — Native Australian animals are at increased risk of extinction due to climate
change, according to a report released Tuesday which found invasive species could benefit from
rising temperatures.
Species at risk from higher temperatures and lower rainfall include the kangaroo-like rock wallaby,
the rabbit-eared bilby and the quoll, a native cat, the report by environmental group WWF Australia
said.
These animals are already battling bushfires, loss of habitat and introduced predators such as the
cane toad and the European fox -- threats which are likely to be exacerbated by climate change, it
said.
"The early signs are that climate change is likely to make all of the existing threats to species worse,"
it said.
"As humans respond to changes in climate, agricultural expansion into parts of Australia, such as the
northern savannahs, that are predicted to have more rainfall, will mean old threats to species in new
places."
The report said weeds and pests were able to colonise new habitats quickly and even favoured
changing conditions.
"The threat posed by invasive species could increase with climate change," it said. "Pests such as the
cane toad will thrive in warmer conditions and move into new areas."
WWF spokeswoman Tammie Matson said the country already has the worst rate of mammal
extinction in the world, with close to 40 percent of global mammal extinctions in the last 200 years.
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Reuters: FEATURE-Australian wine industry feels heat from climate change
Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:03pm EDT
By Victoria Thieberger
MELBOURNE, March 25 (Reuters) - Australian grape growers reckon they are the canary in the
coalmine of global warming, as a long drought forces winemakers to rethink the styles of wine they
can produce and the regions they can grow in.
The three largest grape-growing regions in Australia, the driest inhabited continent on earth, all
depend on irrigation to survive. The high cost of water has made life tough for growers.
Some say they probably won't survive this year's harvest, because of the cost of keeping vines alive.
Water prices surged above A$1,000 a megalitre last year from around A$300.
"On the back of three very ordinary years, this year is probably the worst that could have occurred
with the drought and the high costs of water," said Michael de Palma, a mid-sized grower in
Redcliffe near Mildura in the Murray Valley, one of the country's three big wine regions.
"In this depressed situation, growers have only two choices, stick it out as long as they can or to cut
their losses and get out," said de Palma, who is part-way through a weather-influenced early harvest
on his 40-hectare vineyard.
Recent rains have bypassed the country's parched inland wine regions, and have fallen half-way
through the harvest in eastern Australia, too late to help the berries and instead causing a mildew-like
disease.
De Palma, the chairman of Murray Valley Winegrowers, said he would wait to see the results of his
harvest before deciding whether to sell up or hold on to his vineyard, which mainly supplies Foster's
Group, Australia's largest wine company.
He estimated around 40 percent of grape growers in the Murray Valley who had access to water
trading couldn't afford to buy water last year, while most of the others had to borrow to do so, going
deeper into debt.
Industry groups estimate up to 1,000 winegrowers out of around 7,000 may be forced to leave the
industry this year because their vineyards are no longer financially viable.
"There's a Darwinian economics going on at the moment, and the outcome remains to be seen," said
Paul Henry, general manager of market development at Australian Wine and Brandy Corp.
"One might say we're guilty of the charge of being slow to change thus far, but the experience of this
harvest will change the outlook for Australian producers."
In some regions, such as the Murray Valley, wine grape yields are down 30-40 percent.
Australia's harvest is forecast to be down on average years, which may cut into exports in the A$6
billion industry.
Wine exports total some A$3 billion. Australia is the number one supplier of imported wine in the
United Kingdom with a market share of 23 percent and it is second in the United States.
The smaller 2008 vintage, made worse by a record-breaking heatwave which withered grapes on the
vines, is expected to push up prices and spell the end of cheap bulk wine after a three-year glut that
produced a rash of no-name brands called "cleanskins".
WARMER AND DRIER
Scientists say Australia's vast inland winegrowing districts face the greatest degrees of warming.
These are the Riverland on the Murray River in South Australia, the Murray Valley, and the Riverina
on the Murrumbidgee River in New South Wales.
And it is the grape-growers in these semi-arid areas that already face the greatest hardship, with calls
to rural financial counselling services soaring in recent months.
"We believe there are 800 to 1,000 growers predominantly in Murray Valley and the Riverland in
South Australia who are going to have to make a decision this year about whether they stay or go,"
said Wine Grape Growers chief Mark McKenzie.
A landmark study by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
found these areas would warm by 2.5 degrees Celsius by 2030.
Last year was one of the warmest on record for southern Australia, where all of the nation's
winegrowing regions lie, as well as one of the driest.
And that is enough to change harvesting times as berries ripen earlier, which can also affect their
quality.
"Climate change is the biggest issue we face. Relatively small changes in temperature and
precipitation do have reasonably large impacts in terms of wine style," said Winemakers' Federation
Chief Executive Stephen Strachan.
"Wine is a bit of a bellwether in terms of some of the very immediate impacts you see from climate
change."
According to the CSIRO, grape quality could fall by 23 percent by 2030 because of the climate
changes, and suitable land for viticulture could be cut by 10 percent.
By 2050, some 44 percent of current grape-growing areas would be affected, the study found.
The solution may be for cooler climate areas, such as the bayside Mornington Peninsula south-east
of Melbourne and the Yarra Valley to the east, to expand the varieties they grow.
The southern island state of Tasmania is also attracting attention as a region that could dramatically
boost its grape cultivation, with its mild weather closer to that of New Zealand than the parched
mainland.
Indeed, wine-growers in neighbouring New Zealand are upbeat about a future that includes climate
change, because higher temperatures are expected to make cold areas of New Zealand more
temperate and better suited to grape growing.
CHANGING TASTES
Warmer temperatures and less rainfall will also mean changes in the grape varieties the traditional
growing areas produce.
"Styles in existing regions will change," said Strachan of the Winemakers' Federation.
"Most regions can produce most grape varieties, but whether they can produce them to quality levels
that the market expects is the big question."
While Australia's signature shiraz fares quite well in a hot climate, cabernet, pinot noir and merlot
among the reds and chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and riesling among the whites may have a tougher
time.
"Merlot is relatively intolerant of water stress, and it doesn't cope well with periods of very high
temperatures," said Snow Barlow, a winemaker and the chairman of the agriculture school at
Melbourne University, who co-authored the CSIRO study.
Experts say Australian growers need to experiment with tougher varieties from Spain and Sicily.
Tempranillo from Spain is one of Australia's fastest-growing varieties, while along the Murray river,
the Corsican grape Vermentino is being planted.
"Wine companies build up brands. Whe
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FT: Investment is key in climate change battle
By Kevin Parker
Published: March 24 2008 02:00 | Last updated: March 24 2008 02:00
Until recently, it was remarkably difficult for ordinary investors to put their own money behind the
fight against global warming. Mutual funds, most people's investment vehicle of choice, offered few
options.
That has changed thanks to government legislation and a new awareness among many of the world's
investment professionals that climate change is an opportunity, not a threat. In a little more than two
years, we estimate retail investors all over the world have pumped around $66bn (£33bn, €42bn) into
more than 200 newly launched mutual funds and exchange traded funds investing in companies that
help to mitigate or adapt to climate change.
This is a mere drop in the ocean of the $26,000bn held globally in mutual funds of all kinds. But that
just emphasises how much further climate change investing can and, indeed, must go as the world
economy reshapes itself to adapt to the greenhouse effect.
Government regulation makes the rules and can set the world on the path of change but ultimately it
will be the alignment with business that will drive the process forward. This is where the fund
management industry will play a central, transformative role.
On the one hand, it must raise the awareness of retail and institutional investors on the issues of
climate change, both scientific and economic. Better informed investors are the key to unlocking a
potentially vast store of capital.
Two things stand out about the money that has flowed into climate change funds so far. One is that
the response so far has been strongly retail. The other is that a mere $55m of the money invested in
new funds has come from the US. In short, the institutional and US markets have as yet hardly
entered the fray.
On the other hand, the fund management industry will be chiefly responsible for mobilising and
funnelling capital towards those companies that are engaged in adapting to or mitigating climate
change. Fund managers will be guided not by their individual whims but by the imperative of
producing healthy investment returns.
While climate change began as an ethical issue, the impact of government regulation and corporate
business decisions is turning it into a major economic force.
At Deutsche Asset Management, we see it as an economic theme with associated "green" attributes not the other way around. It will be a large enough economic force for the foreseeable future to lead
to market information inefficiencies and offers significant alpha opportunities for those investors
who can discern the trend.
So where do we expect to find these opportunities? Investors have recently paid a lot of attention to
renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar.
For a total solution to global warming, those technologies will have to be perfected but they still have
a very long way to go and they tend to be expensive - high risk, in other words. That's shown through
in the volatility and fanciful valuations of some companies in this sector, prompting dire warnings of
a "bubble" in climate change investing. It's more accurate to regard it as the inevitable ups and downs
of a new market, particularly where capital can at times chase the speculative end of the spectrum.
We believe that the less risky area for investors, at least in the near term, is the wide range of
existing, tested and often low-cost technologies. Most of them fall under the heading of "improved
efficiency"; building insulation, fuel efficiency in lighting systems, air-conditioning, water heating,
and so on.
To take one example, the Clinton Climate Initiative has pointed out that buildings contribute about
40 per cent of the world's carbon emissions, and about 70 per cent of the emissions of major cities
such as London and New York. Action will have to be taken to reduce this output. That will create a
potentially explosive market for investors in the known technologies required to improve buildings'
carbon footprint.
The fact that most of these technologies are relatively low cost compared with trendier technologies
such as most renewable energy and carbon capture is a bonus because this is where cost-conscious
governments will focus first.
Moderate cost plus simplicity will encourage their use through government regulation.
That does not mean it will always be simple to identify alpha. Many of the industry themes are
global but local and regional variations are likely to be large.
Different conditions and regulations in different countries will produce specific local opportunities. It
will take the resources of professional asset managers to find them.
Kevin Parker is head of Deutsche Asset Management
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AP: Study: Warming May Threaten Lake Tahoe
10 hours ago
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A new study predicts water circulation in Lake Tahoe is being dramatically
altered by global warming, threatening the lake's delicate ecosystem and famed clear waters.
The University of California, Davis study said one likely consequence is warmer lake temperatures
that will mean fewer cold-water native fish and more invasive species — like carp, large-mouth bass
and bluegill.
"What we expect is that deep mixing of Lake Tahoe's water layers will become less frequent, even
nonexistent, depleting the bottom waters of oxygen," said Geoffrey Schladow, director of the Tahoe
Environmental Research Center at U.S. Davis.
Schladow, Associate Director John Reuter and postdoctoral researcher Goloka Sahoo presented the
findings last week in Incline Village at a conference focusing on global warming and deep-water
lakes.
The changes, the study concluded, could turn Tahoe's famed cobalt-blue waters to a murky green in
about a decade.
"A permanently stratified Lake Tahoe becomes just like any other lake or pond," Schladow said. "It
is no longer this unique, effervescent jewel, the finest example of nature's grandeur."
Schladow said researchers are trying to determine if lowered global greenhouse-gas emissions would
significantly slow the lake's decline or possibly prevent it.
On average, water in Lake Tahoe — at 1,644 feet deep — mixes every four years, the researchers
said.
The water circulation brings nutrients from the bottom to the surface where they promote algae
growth. Oxygen from the surface, meanwhile, is spread through the lake and supports aquatic life.
The new study showed that, if global greenhouse-gas emissions continue at current levels, mixing
could become less frequent and less deep, and possibly stop as early as 2019.
"While we expected that the lake would mix less in the future, learning that we may be only a decade
or two from the complete shutdown of deep mixing was very surprising." Schladow said.
"If mixing shuts down, then no new oxygen gets to the bottom of the lake, and creatures that need it,
such as lake trout, will have a large part of their range excluded," Schladow said.
When the oxygen is gone, the study said phosphorus contained in lake-floor sediments would be
released and spur algae growth, further damaging the lake's clarity and water quality.
--On the Net: Tahoe Environmental Research Center: http://terc.ucdavis.edu/\
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Xinhua: Former Chilean president travels to Antarctica to probe global warming
www.chinaview.cn 2008-03-23 15:34:50
SANTIAGO, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos joined members of the
Socialist International Commission for a Sustainable World Society and some scientists in traveling
to the Antarctica to probe global warming on Saturday.
The group was launching a visit to Chile's Eduardo Frei Base in Antarctica, which is aimed at
researching the ecological and environmental impacts of global warming, Lagos told reporters ahead
of the Antarctica tour.
Lagos called on the international community to take effective measures to fight global warming,
which is seen as a mission impossible for every country to accomplish alone.
The Socialist International is the worldwide organization of social democratic, socialist and labor
parties. The Socialist International Commission for a Sustainable World Society, scheduled to meet
on Monday in Santiago, is expected to advance the body's work on the global environmental agenda.
Lagos is co-chairman of the commission. He was appointed in May 2007 as the U.N. Secretary
General's special envoy on Climate Change.
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ROAP MEDIA UPDATE
THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS
Tuesday, 25 March, 2008
UNEP or UN in the news


Watery dilemma – The Star
Water – a precious gift – PNG Post
General environment news



New Zealand : Lights go out to bring climate change into focus – NZ Herald
New Zealand : Urbanisation, farming threaten waters – NZ Herald
Australia : Pests will thrive on warming - SMH
UNEP or UN in the news
Watery dilemma
By ALISTER DOYLE
Proper sewerage systems simply do not exist in many parts of the world.
THE history of men is reflected in the history of sewers, wrote the 19th century French author
Victor Hugo, in Les Miserables. “The sewer is the conscience of the city. ... A sewer is a cynic. It
tells everything.”
Judged by its sewers, the world is not doing well. Only three in 10 people now have a connection
to a public sewerage system. And with the world’s population expanding, a goal of improving
sanitation by 2015 is slipping out of reach, despite progress in nations such as China and a few big
contracts for firms such as Veolia or Suez to build waste treatment plants in cities from La Paz to
Rabat.
Experts say a part of the solution, especially to cut water-borne diseases for the rural poor, may lie
in renewed and smarter exploitation of nature – for example through plants or soil bacteria that
feed on waste.
Novel schemes include a plan to build an artificial wetland at a jail in Mombasa, Kenya, to process
sewage from 4,000 inmates that now flows untreated into a creek, or ponds in South Africa where
algae purify waste and are then used as fertiliser.
“About 90% of the sewage and 70% of the industrial waste in developing countries are being
discharged untreated into water courses,” said Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations
Environment Programme (Unep). “Understanding the ability of peatlands, of marshes, of wetlands,
to play an integral part in filtering ... waste water is often overlooked,” he said.
The UN set a millennium goal of halving the proportion of people with no access to sanitation –
even simple latrines rather than sewers – by 2015 from 40% of humanity or 2.6 billion people now.
2008 is the UN’s International Year of Sanitation. A 2007 scorecard showed the sanitation goal
was likely to be missed by 600 million people worldwide on current trends.
France’s Veolia, the world’s biggest listed water supplier, says East Asia and the Pacific are
progressing best. In Africa, the company’s only big contract so far is to supply water and sanitation
to three cities in Morocco with investments totalling ?2.2bil (RM11bil).
UN data show a child dies as a result of poor sanitation every 20 seconds – that is 1.5 million
preventable deaths a year from diseases such as diarrhoea or cholera.
“A lot of countries under-estimate the effect of sanitation on health,” said Pierre Victoria, head of
International Institutional Relations at Veolia Water. In many countries “we are disappointed by
the lack of interest of the politicians about water issues,” Victoria said. “We’d like to have new
contracts in developing countries but we need contractual, legal and financial security.”
Cheaper options
Proper sewers, with pipelines and treatment plants, are prohibitively costly for many nations. As a
sign of low ambitions, the logo of the International Year of Sanitation shows a latrine built above a
hole in the ground.
Among lower-cost projects, prisoners at the Shimo La Tawa jail in Mombasa will soon start work
on an artificial wetland where plants will act as a sewage processing plant in an experimental
US$117,000 (RM386,100) scheme.
“This technology costs very little both for construction and maintenance,” said Peter Scheren,
manager of joint Unep-Global Environment Facility projects in Africa. The scheme will also
include a fish farm – fed by waste water purified by two artificial wetlands, each 55m long, 9m
wide and 2m deep. If it works, the fish can be eaten by prisoners, or even sold.
Such wetlands can have other spin-offs. “There are experiments going on in Tanzania where types
of grass for roof thatching and basket weaving are grown on wetlands,” he said.
Many scientists say natural systems – such as wetlands, forests or mangroves – are worth more left
alone rather than cleared for farmland because they supply free services such as food, water
purification or building materials.
Unep’s Steiner also said the world urgently needs a better understanding of the natural water cycle,
under threat from climate change stoked by human use of fossil fuels, to help manage water from
rains to drains. Global warming may aggravate water shortages for hundreds of millions of people,
for instance by disrupting Africa’s monsoons or by thawing Himalayan glaciers whose seasonal
meltwater now feeds crops from China to India.
UN estimates show it would cost only about US$10bil (RM33bil) a year to reach the 2015
sanitation target. And every dollar spent on sanitation creates spin-offs worth US$7 (RM23) on
average, largely because of less disease.
In need of funds
A 2006 UN Human Development Report said rich donor nations gave about 5% of total overseas
aid, or between US$3bil and US$4bil (RM9.9bil to RM13.2bil) a year, to water and sanitation.
Excluding big investments in Iraq, the recent trend was down. Many donors view water
investments as too risky, partly because of problems of accountable financing, it said, adding that
sanitation progress since the 1970s had been “glacial”.
Yet many firms stand to benefit from a focus on water and sanitation. There are prospects for
growth in the water sector – from drinking water to processing waste.
One headache is how to pass on the cost of upgrades.
“New systems are often under-funded. So the connections go often to the rich or medium-income
households and the poor do not get it,” said Helen Mountford, head of the Environmental Outlooks
division at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
With the world’s population growing, any advances in improving sanitation may be only helping
the world stand still. The OECD said this month that more than five billion people – or 67% of the
world’s population – are expected to be without a connection to public sewerage in 2030.
That is up by 1.1 billion from 2000, when 71% of a smaller world population had no connection.
About 1.1 billion people lack drinking water; another millennium goal is to halve that proportion
by 2015.
“Investments in sanitation, if anything, have to be more urgent than for water because the deficit is
double,” said OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria. – Reuters
http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/3/25/lifefocus/20671940&sec=lifefocus
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Water – a precious gift
Water is a precious gift from God and it must be managed properly to maintain its preciousness for
human beings to survive on Earth.
The Papua New Guinea Waterboard (PNGWB) managing director Patrick Amini said this last
Thursday during the World Water Day (WWD) celebrations in the National Capital District
(NCD).
He said the Waterboard was tasked to maintain that preciousness through its water management
for the people. Mr Amini said about 98 per cent of water was available in the oceans but only 2 per
cent was fresh water and the PNGWB was to ensure this was delivered to the people.
He said the United Nations (UN) had declared this year towards the improvement of water for
sustainability of human life.
Mr Amini said it was a first occasion for water sanitation and the Government was to provide
PNGWB with the funding to provide fresh water.
The deputy chairman of PNGWB board of directors Peter Pokawin said water was important for
human survival. He said the theme for this year was sanitation, which coincided with the UN
declaration of 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation.
“The word sanitation is very broad but it covers safe collection, storage, treatment, and disposal or
re-use of human waste, management recycling of solid waste, drainage, of storm water, collection
and management of industrial waste product and hazardous waste,” Mr Pokawin said.
He said the discharge of untreated wastewater and human waste into the environment affected
human health by several routes through pollution in drinking water, entry into the food chain,
using contaminated water and providing breeding ground for flies and insects.
He said this year the World Water Day theme would help them focus on the impact of poor
sanitation on them.
Mr Pokawin said access to sanitation in PNG was very low and it was numbered lowest among the
developing nations in the provision of adequate sanitation services to its people.
http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20080325/news10.htm
General environment news
Lights go out to bring climate change into focus
Sunday March 23, 2008, By Angela Gregory
An Auckland hotel will be lit for an hour this Saturday with thousands of biodegradable candles
while for parts of Christchurch it will be lights off.
The moves will be part of Earth Hour, a global movement to raise awareness of climate change.
Initiated by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) it aims to show that small actions, like switching
off a light, can together add up to a big difference in the fight against climate change.
People in 24 cities around the world plan to switch out their lights and turn off their appliances
from standby from 8pm to 9pm on Saturday.
The Langham five star hotel in Symonds St will switch off about 3000 lights to be replaced by
chemical free and non-toxic New Zealand-made soy candles.
The hotel would also be serving complimentary carbon-zero wine and canapes made from
sustainable and locally grown ingredients.
Langham managing director John Dick said the hotel wanted to show it was committed to
environmental sustainability.
"We still have a long way to go and this is just the beginning," he said.
Christchurch would be the first New Zealand city to commit to Earth Hour but WWF invited all
New Zealanders to turn off their lights for a time.
The southern city aimed to reduce its carbon emissions by 5 per cent in the first year after Earth
Hour, with Environment Canterbury stating that Christchurch's energy consumption had increased
by 2 per cent each year since 1982.
Restaurants and bars around Christchurch would hold candlelit Earth Hour events while Orion
New Zealand planned to monitor the city's power use during Earth Hour to measure how much
electricity was saved.
There would be acoustic music events in Christchurch on the night of Earth Hour, along with
community-run events around the city.
Earth Hour was pioneered in Sydney on March 31 last year, when 2.2 million Sydney residents
turned their lights off and 2100 businesses signed up to start reducing their emissions by 5 per
cent.
This collective effort reduced Sydney's energy consumption by 10.2 per cent, the equivalent of
taking 48,000 cars off the road.
Many iconic landmarks around the world would have their lights turned off this Saturday,
including Sydney's Harbour Bridge and Opera House, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, and
the 110-storey Sears Tower in Chicago, the tallest building in North America.
* CITIES IN EARTH HOUR 2008
1. CHRISTCHURCH, NZ
16. San Francisco, USA
2. Melbourne, Australia
17. Adelaide, Australia
3. Chicago, USA
18. Phoenix, USA
4. Toronto, Canada
19. Atlanta, USA
5. Tel Aviv, Israel
20. Bangkok, Thailand
6. Copenhagen, Denmark
21. Ottawa, Canada
7. Manila, Philippines
22. Vancouver, Canada
8. Suva, Fiji
23. Montreal, Canada
9. Aarhus, Denmark
24. Dublin, Ireland
10. Brisbane, Australia
11. Aalborg, Denmark
12. Sydney, Australia
13. Perth, Australia
14. Odense, Denmark
15. Canberra, Australia
* WORK TO BE DONE
New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions increased by 25 per cent between 1990 and
2005.
The country ranks 12th in the world for greenhouse gas emissions per head of population.
Total consumer energy demand in New Zealand increased by 21 per cent between 1995
and 2005.
The energy sector in New Zealand produced 43 per cent of total New Zealand greenhouse
gas emissions in 2005.
In 2005, fossil fuels (coal and gas) provided 34 per cent of New Zealand's total electricity
generation, up from 27 per cent in 2004. Sourced from Ministry for the Environment
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10499719
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Urbanisation, farming threaten waters
Tuesday March 25, 2008
By Wayne Thompson
The Hauraki Gulf faces increasing environmental threats from urbanisation of its shores
and the growth of dairy farming, says a report by its guardian agencies.
It says the health of the gulf's waters are directly affected by what is flushed from the
catchment where one million people now live and dairy cattle are densely stocked.
An updated version of the Hauraki Gulf State of the Environment published three years
ago, the report is the work of the Hauraki Gulf Forum, which includes the Auckland
Regional Council and Environment Waikato.
It says other threats to one of the country's most popular stretches of water include mud
and silt pouring into harbours, pollution, the introduction of exotic pests and erosion.
WATER QUALITY
Aucklanders use more water than they did three years ago - 303 litres a day per person
compared with 296.
In January 2007, it was estimated that about 2.9 million cu m of sewage went into the
gulf as a result of network overflows in wet weather.
Auckland City has 300km of sewers that also carry stormwater and overflow into local
waterways.
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However, levels of bad bugs in the water at bathing beaches are not getting worse thanks to councils making gradual progress in treatment of sewage and stormwater.
About 410,000 dairy cows are now farmed on the Hauraki Plains and stocking densities
grew in three years from 2.9 cows per hectare to 3.03.
This combined herd produces the same amount of faecal matter as six million people.
Environment Waikato research shows that Waikato rivers contribute 96 per cent of the
total nitrogen entering the gulf.
The western side of the Firth of Thames is most at risk of algal blooms should land
discharges of nitrogen increase.
SEDIMENT
Heavy metal contamination in the sediment of Auckland's poorly flushing harbours and
estuaries is a continuing threat to marine ecology and solutions need to address the
sources, mainly runoff from roads and building materials.
In the Firth, zinc and cadmium runoff from farms will need watching, while nitrogen
from paddocks is a potential cause of algal blooms.
In North Shore creeks, zinc concentration increases are attributed to recent large scale
urban development.
Sediment from earthworks continues to fill estuaries, allowing mangroves to colonise
sand and shell banks.
Such action has displaced some coastal wading bird communities.
The Firth is the only gulf coastal area being monitored by Environment Waikato for
sediment changes.
Chemical contamination of Auckland shellfish is low by international standards and
shows no deterioration.
DEVELOPMENT
The picture-postcard image of the gulf is changing. On the Coromandel Peninsula, the
number of homes grew by 18 per cent or 2664 between 2001 and 2006.
Visitors numbers edged towards two million a year.
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The coastline from the Auckland Isthmus to the Mahurangi Harbour is highly urbanised,
with regional parks providing buffers to settlements.
More than 60 per cent of the gulf coastline is now adjacent to publicly-owned land.
The land to the north of Pakiri remains the only large area of private undeveloped
beachfront along the northern coast. However, a development is planned for Te Arai Pt.
Ten camping grounds have been lost on the Coromandel Peninsula since 2000. Recently,
consent was granted to develop the Cooks Beach camping ground for residential purposes
and one new camping ground has been added.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10499855
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Pests will thrive on warming
March 25, 2008 - CLIMATE change poses a grave threat to native species and a boon for
introduced pests such as the cane toad, an environmental report says.
Human responses to climate change, such as increased farming in northern Australia,
could also harm fragile birds and animals, the World Wildlife Fund report, released
today, says.
Species identified as being under threat include bilbies, rock wallabies, quolls, turtles and
Gouldian finches.
The report, Australian Species And Climate Change, says that while such direct effects as
higher temperatures and altered rainfall will hurt such species, existing threats such as
bushfires and invasive species will increase.
"Many weeds and pest animals are favoured by changing conditions, as they can colonise
new habitats rapidly," it says. "Pests such as the cane toad will thrive in warmer
conditions and move into new areas."
The fund says the parts of Australia protected by national parks and reserves are not large
or connected enough to protect endangered species.
Changed human activity is also considered a threat as traditional farming areas in
southern Australia dry up.
"Agricultural expansion into parts of Australia, such as the northern savannas, that are
predicted to have more rainfall, will mean old threats to species in new places."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/pests-will-thrive-onwarming/2008/03/24/1206207010893.html
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Back to Menu
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RONA MEDIA UPDATE
THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE NEWS
Thursday 20 March 2008
UNEP or UN in the News
 The Christian Science Monitor: U.N. Security Council must act preemptively –
on climate change
 CNN: All about: Global fishing
General Environment News
 Edmonton Journal: Massive reserves at stake in Arctic oil claim
 MSNBC: Rocker Tankian is spreading a green message
 The New York Times: Lofty Pledge to Cut Emissions Comes With Caveat in
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Norway
The New York Times: Thinking Green While Sifting Through the Sand
The New York Times: Harnessing the power of wind and waves
The New York Times: McCain Offers Soothing Tones in Trip Abroad
The Kansas City Star: Coal's probable future: dirty and costly
The New York Times: Kansas Governor Vetoes Bill to Revive 2 Coal-Fired
Plants
The Wall Street Journal: Voices, Global Warming: Who Said What -- and
When
The Wall Street Journal: Could Resources Become A Limit to Global Growth?
The Wall Street Journal: New Limits to Growth
Yahoo: Curbing soot could blunt global warming: study
Green Biz: Coca-Cola Aims for 'Water Neutrality'
The Washington Post: Animal Planet Aims to Get Edgier
The Washington Post: Investing Money Where Your Mouth Is
The Washington Post: Insecure About Climate Change
The Washington Post: Air Force Prod Aids Coal-To-Fuel Plans
The Los Angeles Times: Still deeply rooted in social action
The Los Angeles Times: Book business turning green
The Los Angeles Times: A fade to brown at Echo Park Lake
San Francisco Chronicle: Scientists try to explain dismal salmon run
San Francisco Chronicle: Green groups flourish under Bush presidency
San Francisco Chronicle: SACRAMENTO - Probe sought over parks panel
ousters
The Globe and Mail: Scientists seek climate clues on Antarctic voyage
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General Environment News
 The Globe and Mail: We've been here before, and it wasn't pretty the first time
 The Globe And Mail: LESSONS FROM GERMANY'S ENERGY
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RENAISSANCE
The Globe and Mail: Energy stocks at bargain prices
USA Today: Green' bandwagon is getting a big push
USA Today: Air Force to Wall Street: Invest in coal conversion
USA Today: Mercedes sees electric-car progress
UNEP or UN in the News
U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL MUST ACT PREEMPTIVELY – ON CLIMATE
CHANGE
This global threat requires a war-room mentality.
By Gregory Meeks and Michael Shank
Monday March 24, 2008
ARLINGTON, VA. - The United Nations tackled the task of troubleshooting climate
change last month. Between holding special General Assembly meetings at headquarters
in New York, bringing 100 environmental ministers to Monaco in the largest meeting of
ministers since Bali, and launching a Climate Neutral Network to highlight best practices
in tackling global warming, the UN appears to be doing what it can to ensure that climate
change does not fall off the political radar. Yet, it still isn't enough. A concerted
international strategy, on a par with the seriousness and scope of an UN Security Council
resolution, is what's needed to counter this climate crisis.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon was right in comparing the effects of climate change
to the effects of war, given the potential level of human and environmental devastation
potentially wrought by rising sea levels and increasingly catastrophic weather conditions.
Philanthropist Sir Richard Branson, who keynoted UN General Assembly deliberations
on climate change, was correct to call for a "war room" to adequately respond to a rapidly
warming planet.
46
Both leaders recognize the need for serious strategy and the comparisons to war were not
casually made. The threat to international peace and security calls upon nothing less than
the purview of the UN Security Council.
Under Article 39 of the UN Charter, the Security Council maintains the right to identify
threats to international peace and security and to devise means to counter these threats.
The potential impact of that on climate change is substantial: the Security Council's
toolbox includes the capacity to cap greenhouse-gas emissions on every country and
sanction those who fail to comply. Both a carbon tax, as well as a carbon-trading scheme,
could incentivize countries to reduce emissions below even capped levels.
It is a moral imperative that the Security Council acts quickly. While island nations like
Palau and the Maldives stand to face warlike scenarios sooner than the Security Council's
five permanent (P5) members – China, Russia, United States, Britain, and France are not
immune. Moreover, the culpability of the P5's populaces in contributing to climate
change must be recognized. China and the US rank as the world's top two greenhouse-gas
emitters.
Not surprisingly, this may well account for the Security Council's reluctance to tackle
climate change with carbon caps and concomitant sanctions. The P5 has a hard enough
time wrestling with resolutions that put parameters on their own political prowess. To
expect them to write a resolution that restricts their right to pollute may be unrealistic.
But the alternatives to inaction on this issue are dire.
Disappearing Pacific islands, due to rising sea levels, are projected for within our
lifetime. Catastrophic weather conditions accosting the coastal regions of China, the US,
and the UK, once mere prediction, are already taking place. Conflicts escalating over
depleted natural resources, due to disrupted and rising temperatures, are already
occurring. The planet may not wait patiently until the Security Council overcomes its
propensity for political pandering.
Unless we act now, and with formidable preemptive force, more of this is what could
face the international community. Transcending the Security Council's usual scope of
47
nation-state conflicts, climate change-related conflict will affect all of us – with particular
devastation to developing countries not represented by the P5. Thus it is incumbent upon
the Security Council, which has a responsibility to protect weaker member states, to step
up and save the world.
A global threat requires global commitment. And that commitment can be best
coordinated in the Security Council.
Representative Gregory Meeks (D) of N.Y. is vicechair of the House Foreign Affairs
subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment. Michael Shank is the
government relations adviser at George Mason University's Institute for Conflict
Analysis and Resolution.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0324/p09s02-coop.html
All about: Global fishing
By Rachel Oliver
CNN
Monday 24 March 2008
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- It is commonly said that we know more about the
Moon than the deep blue sea.
Despite the fact that the sea takes up 95 percent of the world's living space, just 7 percent
of it has been properly studied and sampled, according to the United Nations
Environment Program (UNEP).
We don't even know how many species of marine life even live in the world's oceans. But
the fish we do know about, we are particular keen on catching to eat.
The problem, we are told, is we are catching too many of them, and we have a finite time
period available to us to fix the problem before it is too late. In the past 20 years, the UN
says we have managed to double both the percentage of fish stocks facing collapse -from 15 percent in 1987 to 30 percent last year -- as well as the amount that are
overexploited, from 20 per cent to around 40 percent.
UNEP's report, "In Dead Water" released in January, says as much as 80 percent of the
world's main fish catch species have now been "exploited beyond or close to their harvest
48
capacity". We are now being told that if we carry on fishing at the rate we do, by 2048 all
of the species that we currently fish for food will have disappeared.
In words not to be taken lightly, UNEP is now warning that unless governments around
the world enforce some radical changes right now, we could be in the process of
witnessing "a collapsing ecosystem".
Should that happen, it would mean nothing short of a catastrophe, with far reaching
consequences for marine life -- and human life. One billion people around the world rely
on fish as their main source of protein, while 2.6 billion of us get at least 20 percent of
our animal protein intake from it.
Too many boats, not enough fish
There are several problems with how we catch fish.
For starters, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says the global fishing fleet is 2.5 times
bigger than "what the oceans can sustainably support" - i.e. there are too many boats
catching too many fish, and not giving fish stocks enough time to replenish them.
One living example of this can be found off the coast of Canada. In the early 1990's, cod
stocks in the rich fisheries of the Newfoundland Grand Banks collapsed -- some to as
little as 1 percent of their historical levels -- because of over fishing. A decade on, they
have yet to recover.
The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) puts the number of
fishing vessels at around 4 million with a staggering 86 percent of them operating in
Asian waters.
But, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN) just 1 percent of these vessels
are big enough to substantially threaten global fisheries, with the "capacity to take around
60 percent of all the fish caught globally".
These large vessels have been largely kept in business by governmental subsidies, say
non-governmental organizations like the WWF which has been urging the World Trade
Organization (WTO) to do something about them.
The worldwide fishing industry employs around 200 million people, generating $80
billion a year. But a hefty chunk of the industry's revenues come from subsidies, which
are currently estimated at around $34 billion a year. Those most responsible for
subsidizing the fishing industry are Japan (spending $5.3 billion a year), the European
Union ($3.3 billion) and China ($3.1 billion), according to activist group Oceana.
The increase in illegal fishing hasn't helped matters either, representing a fifth of all
catches worldwide, a figure that came out of a recent meeting between the World Bank
49
and the IUCN earlier this year. The business for pirate ships "flying flags of convenience
from landlocked nations has boomed", says the New Scientist.
And it's not surprising why. As much as 64 percent of the world's oceans have no national
jurisdiction. That means anyone can fish there, as they are deemed to be international
waters. They are known as the "high seas" and they cover 50 percent of the Earth's
surface.
In 2004, the most recent year statistics are available, the industry caught a record 106
million tons of fish.
The FAO says that, taking into consideration population growth, we will need an
additional 37 million tons of fish a year to feed us all by 2030.
It says the only way to do this is through controlled fish farms. The "free-for-all"
approach must be curtailed.
Bottom trawling and by-catches
It's not just a problem of where we fish, or even how many we catch -- it's how we go
about doing it too.
The IUCN estimates that due to negligent fishing practices, we get as much as 20 million
tons of fish that aren't supposed to be there literally caught in the nets each year. They are
known as by-catch, and one of the most ubiquitous by-catches around are sharks.
Oceana estimates that 50 million sharks are caught "unintentionally" a year, getting
snagged up in gillnets, long lines or trawls. These types of practices -- along with
intentional shark hunts for the meat or the fins -- have led to 135 species of sharks being
placed on the IUCN's infamous "Red List" of endangered or near extinct species.
By-catch has also been to blame for preventing parts of the Grand Banks from
replenishing its cod stocks. In 2003, for examples, a breathtaking 90 percent of the
southern Grand Banks' remaining cod population was lost to by-catches, reports trade site
Fish Update.
But it's not just the fish that get in the way-- the way we fish is destroying entire
ecosystems, perhaps something that is even greater cause for concern.
UNEP's "In Dead Water" report notes that, "over 95 percent of damage and change to
seamount ecosystems is caused by bottom fishing".
Bottom trawling is generally accepted to be by far the worst kind of fishing around, with
UNEP putting the damage its responsible for "exceeds over half of the sea bed area of
many fishing grounds".
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According to World Watch Institute, millions of marine creatures and their habitat,
including coral reefs, are destroyed by bottom trawling practices. This has been arguably
buoyed by depleting fish stocks, as ships seek to go deeper into the ocean in their pursuit
of catches.
Bottom trawling can also exacerbate the by-catch issue, with some forms of this practice
resulting in 20 pounds of by-catch for every single pound of targeted catch, reports
Environmental News Service wire.
Fortunately an increasing awareness of the damage bottom trawling causes is taking hold.
And last year, more than 20 South Pacific nations came to an agreement in Chile to
restrict bottom trawling in the South Pacific high seas.
The UN General Assembly is now considering imposing some form of moratorium on
bottom trawling on the High Seas.
It's about time, some say. Greenpeace says that bottom trawling has already
"extinguished" 10,000 species. And such is the extent of the practice still, that the
sediment that rises to the surface as a result of dragging weighted nets across the seabed
can now be seen from space.
(Sources: The Guardian; The Independent; World Conservation Union; New Scientist;
World Wildlife Fund; United Nations Environment Program; United Nations Food and
Agricultural Organization; Oceana; Fish Update; The Times; ENS-Newswire;
Greenpeace)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/24/eco.aboutfishing/
General Environmental News
Massive reserves at stake in Arctic oil claim
U.S. company projects 400 billion barrels
By Randy Boswell, Canwest News Service
Edmonton Journal
Published: Friday, March 21 2008
A U.S.-based company that has controversially laid claim to nearly all of the Arctic
Ocean's undersea oil said Thursday that new geological data suggests a "potentially vast"
petroleum resource of 400 billion barrels.
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That figure is backed by a respected Canadian researcher who recently signed on as the
firm's chief scientific adviser.
Las Vegas-based Arctic Oil & Gas has raised eyebrows around the world with its roll-ofthe-dice bid to lock up exclusive rights to extract oil and gas from rapidly melting areas
of the central Arctic Ocean, currently beyond the territorial control of Canada, Russia and
other polar nations.
The company, which counts retired B.C. senator Edward Lawson among its directors, has
filed a claim with the United Nations to act as the sole "development agent" of Arctic
seabed oil and gas.
The firm acknowledges that the Arctic's petroleum deposits are the "common heritage of
mankind," but has argued that the polar region requires a private "lead manager" to
organize a multinational consortium of oil companies to extract undersea resources
responsibly and equitably.
The Canadian government has dismissed the company's "alleged claim" over Arctic oil as
having "no force in law," but experts in polar issues have raised alarms about the firm's
actions, saying they could disrupt efforts to create an orderly regime for exploiting
resources and protecting the Arctic environment under international law, rather than a
marketplace model.
In its latest statement about the polar seabed's "enormous reserve potential" for petroleum
deposits, Arctic Oil & Gas cites recent scientific evidence that huge, floating mats of
azolla -- a prehistoric fern believed to have covered much of the Arctic Ocean during a
planetary hothouse era about 55 million years ago -- decomposed soon after the age of
the dinosaurs and exist today as "vast hydrocarbon resources" trapped in layers of rock
below the polar ice cap.
Bujak, a former geoscientist with the Geological Survey of Canada who now works as a
private consultant in Canada and the U.K., is described in the Arctic Oil & Gas statement
as confirming the "highly probable validity" of recent research pointing to rock layers
"extremely rich" in "hydrocarbon precursors" throughout the Arctic basin.
Bujak, who previously worked for Petro-Canada as a petroleum geologist, co-authored a
landmark 2006 study in the journal Nature that first detailed the ancient azolla explosion
that shows up today in Arctic seabed core samples.
Neither Bujak nor Lawson could be reached for comment on Thursday.
Scientists have predicted that global warming could leave the entire Arctic virtually icefree for months at a time within 20 years. That prospect has hastened a scramble among
nations with a polar coast, including Canada, to try to strengthen their scientific claims
under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to extended territorial sovereignty over
the Arctic Ocean floor.
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© The Edmonton Journal 2008
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=0e151a0a-c5e6-49d7-bfa799bc4ff85f57&k=38324
Rocker Tankian is spreading a green message
Former System of a Down frontman connects war, environmental issues
By Cortney Harding, Billboard
MSNBC
Sunday March. 23, 2008
NEW YORK - A few days before the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, rock musician
Serj Tankian is sitting in an Austin hotel room and ruminating on the costs of the endless
battle. But Tankian isn’t talking about dead soldiers or civilians; he’s talking about the
cost to the Middle East’s environment, an issue that few people have raised.
“The topsoil there has been destroyed,” he says, “and who knows what kind of damage
all those bombs have caused to the ecosystems in the Middle East?”
Many bands these days are claiming the “green” label, but their concern often starts at the
merchandise table and ends at the recycling bin. Not so for the System of a Down
frontman-turned-solo artist, who sees beyond silos and realizes that issues like electoral
reform, recognition of the Armenian genocide, poverty and the environment are all
related.
As South by Southwest, the four-day music industry conference and party, rages below
him, Tankian is serious but not humorless; clad in jeans and a T-shirt, he fiddles with his
iPhone and shows off pictures of his dog before settling in to ponder weightier issues.
Later that night, he brings the seething, schmoozing Stubb’s crowd to a halt when he
plays three haunting acoustic tracks at a show to celebrate the release of the “Body of
War” documentary.
For Tankian, preaching about taking action is not enough. Rather than paying lip service
to green issues, he founded a Web site, skyisover.net, to connect his fans to
environmental and social justice organizations.
He also founded a nonprofit organization, Axis of Justice, with former Rage Against the
Machine guitarist Tom Morello.
“The organization has grown and morphed, and we really see the environment as being
tied to social justice and human rights causes,” Morello says. “We both realize that while
people can do things on a person-by-person basis to make the world more green, massive
levers need to be thrown to cause any real change.”
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Tankian is spreading his green message on the road and working with environmental
nonprofit Reverb to make sure that his current tour leaves as small a carbon footprint as
possible. With the organization, he ensures that all the food served backstage is organic
and locally grown, that recycling bins are available throughout the venues and that fans
can buy energy credits to offset their travel to the show. Still, Tankian recognizes that it’s
not enough.
“This is all great,” he says, “but it’s not going to stop the destruction. Right now the Earth
has a fever, and based on the accelerated rate of population growth, the way we live now
is completely unsustainable.”
Q: Many artists are becoming more active in promoting green issues, but you seem to be
one of the few who actually go a step beyond and connect environmental issues to issues
of poverty and war. How do you see the relationships between these causes?
Serj Tankian: For me, it all stems from the need to promote justice. I called my
organization Axis of Justice because I didn’t want to focus on only one issue. The
connections can be drawn because they are present in so many places; for instance, poor
urban neighborhoods have higher asthma rates. When a city wants to build a dump or get
rid of radioactive waste, they don’t put it in the nice part of town. Even materials that are
supposed to be environmentally friendly can be harmful to poor communities. Biodiesel,
for example, uses up farmland that could otherwise be used to grow food for starving
people.
Q: How did you first get involved in green issues?
Tankian: I’ve been a supporter of Greenpeace and the Sierra Club for years. I have a
place in New Zealand, and I was really impressed with a Greenpeace action that took
place down there recently. Greenpeace folks boarded a Japanese whaling ship to try to
shut it down, and in the midst of the conflict, both ships ran out of fuel. When a rescue
ship came, the Greenpeace people tried to disconnect the fuel lines to the whaling ship,
even though it meant they’d be stuck as well. It was kind of crazy, but sometimes you
have to be ballsy and put yourself out.
Q: This is all great, but I’m wondering how you justify being part of an industry that
produces so much waste. You’ve sold more than 10 million CDs, and many of those were
in plastic containers that had to be shipped to stores.
Tankian: Basically, we’re all hypocrites unless we go out and live off the land. That way
of living is a model for me, because I think those people are clued in about climate
change and the way we’re going to have to alter our lives. I spend a lot of the record
talking about the end of civilization, and I don’t mean an apocalypse. I think that we are
going to have to come to terms with the fact that the way we live now will not exist in 50
years, period.
54
Q: Along those same lines, you have been touring for this record, and while you have
carbon offset programs in place, you are still using a lot of resources and putting a lot of
goods out there. How do you reconcile that with your belief system?
Tankian: Again, I realize I am a hypocrite by going on the road and doing this. I’ve had
an idea for a long time, which might sound a little crazy, but I really want to look into
holographic touring. I think we could reduce our need to travel if we could project
ourselves into meetings and concerts. We have the technology, and we’re not using it
right now.
For instance, I have a studio next to my house and a live performance room in the studio.
I could broadcast a show in real time and could interact with the audience as if we were
in the same room. After all, it’s not like the audience can touch me, anyway. (laughs) It
would open up a whole new world for touring — shows wouldn’t have to be limited to
bars or clubs. There would be no travel costs, so bands with very little money could play
shows, and tickets would cost less.
Q: Well, even though that is still in the future, at least bands right now are starting to
become more conscious. Do you worry, though, that being green might just be another
trend for musicians and will be forgotten in a few years? After all, how many people do
you hear still talking about Tibet?
Tankian: I’m not a big trend follower, so I don’t know if this is just another blip. I think
that with the ice caps melting and everything changing, bands and everyone else on the
planet won’t have much of a choice about becoming green. I look at a place like New
Zealand, which is ecologically one of the most progressive places on Earth. People down
there are unconsciously conscious — they don’t get self-congratulatory when they
recycle, they just do it as a way of life. I think we need more education to get us to that
place.
Q: While bands are also becoming greener, they seem to be less interested in other
issues, like electoral politics. Would you agree with that?
Tankian: I think a lot of bands are coming out for this election, many more than the
previous few. Howard Dean had some good support and momentum in 2004, but it
collapsed quickly. I’m an Obama fan, but I have to say I was disappointed when I found
out he wanted to expand the defense budget. Still, he has done a good job getting younger
people invested in the process and teaching them about the way party politics work.
Q: You’ve used your position as a popular musician to spread the word about a number
of causes. Have you gotten any backlash or flack from your fans?
Tankian: I wrote an essay called “Understanding Oil” after 9/11 that led to me being
called a traitor and stations dropping our songs. The sad thing is, now that the war has
been on for five years, people are coming up to me and telling me I was right.
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Q: You just performed at a concert for the antiwar movie ”Body of War” and have a song
on the soundtrack. What other musical plans do you have for the near future?
Tankian: I’m going to continue touring behind the new record, and I’m also working on
some music for film. I might be working on a score for a theatrical production, too. My
next record will be a jazz orchestral record; I want it to have a whole different vibe than
the last one. I want to be able to play Carnegie Hall with the new one. I’m planning on
releasing it in 2009. I never studied music; I ran a software company before I did any of
this. I’ve been lucky that I’ve done so well and been able to make the music I want to
make.
© 2008 Billboard
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23768534/
Lofty Pledge to Cut Emissions Comes With Caveat in Norway
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
The New York Times
Saturday March 22, 2008
OSLO — Last year, as United Nations scientists were warning of the perils of man-made
climate change, this small country of fjords and factories reacted with an extraordinary
pledge: by 2050 Norway would be “carbon neutral,” generating no net greenhouse gases
into the air.
A series of articles examining the ways in which the world is, and is not, moving toward
a more energy efficient future.
Norway’s bold promise raised the bar for other nations, which were mostly still
struggling to figure out how to reduce emissions, by even a fraction. Then, in January, the
Norwegian government went a step further: Norway would be carbon neutral by 2030, it
said.
But as the details of the plan have emerged, environmental groups and politicians — who
applaud Norway’s impulse — say the feat relies too heavily on sleight-of-hand
accounting and huge donations to environmental projects abroad, rather than meaningful
emissions reductions.
That criticism has not only set off anguished soul-searching here, but may also come as a
cold slap to the many countries, companies, cities and universities that have lined up to
replicate Norway’s example of becoming carbon neutral — with an environmental
balance sheet showing that they absorb as much carbon dioxide as they emit.
Many signed on not only to set an example of their own but also for a kind of public
relations boon, or to pre-empt or get out ahead of government regulations they feel are
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probably inevitable. In the past year, the Vatican announced that it was carbon neutral,
and companies like Wal-Mart say they are aiming for that goal.
But their claims — like Norway’s — all require asterisks, like home-run records buoyed
by steroids. And as the Norwegian plan shows, achieving a carbon-neutral state, for now,
often depends as much on how you make the calculation and how much money you
spend, as it does on hard work, sacrifice or even innovation.
“We’re a nice little selfish country of petroholics, and that has made us lazy,” said
Frederic Hauge, president of Bellona, Norway’s largest nongovernmental environmental
organization. “The move from 2050 to 2030 is a sign of good intentions, but unless I see
action, I’ve heard it all before.”
Despite its pledges, seen from the perspective of its smoke-spewing rigs producing
billions of barrels of oil a year — Norway is the third largest exporter in the world —
industrial Norway does not look like a poster child for environmental friendliness.
In the short term, the country is poised to become carbon neutral by financing
environmental projects abroad, as allowed under the United Nations environmental
accounting policy. That means that emissions at home can be “canceled out” by things
like planting trees or cleaning up a polluting factory in a country far away.
But Norway’s actual plan for reducing its own emissions is much less clear. Like all the
environmentally conscious Scandinavian countries, Norway made the easy changes
decades ago. Any further cuts in emissions — the essential thing scientists agree is
needed to stem the momentum of global warming — are likely to be painful.
If anything, its early experience shows that cutting carbon dioxide emissions will require
real sacrifice closer to home, like driving less, flying less and putting restrictions on
businesses. Instead, so far it is relying in large part on developing unproved technology.
The Norwegian model, critics say, may not be a path to the future of carbon neutrality
and may not be sustainable, because it requires deep coffers and, anyway, there are not
enough environmental projects in poor countries to cancel out all the emissions of the
developed world.
“They’re willing to spend a lot of money on a climate policy that’s based abroad, but so
far they haven’t been quite so willing to make politically difficult choices at home that
people will feel,” said Steffen Kallbekken, a senior analyst at Cicero, the Center for
International Climate and Environmental Research, a nongovernmental group here. “So
it’s not so much of a model as it could be.”
The same goes for the Vatican, which “offsets” its emissions by planting forests in
Hungary, but it did not enter into the calculation the polluting travel of its priests and
officials — nor the emissions caused at properties outside Vatican City.
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Wal-Mart, an acknowledged leader on the environmental front, is encouraging suppliers
to emit less carbon, but does not take into account the emissions caused by the millions of
people who have to drive to its stores, which are in many cases located in places where
public transportation is often unavailable.
Those kinds of accounting gaps and trade-offs are widespread and mask the true
challenges ahead, even for well-intentioned countries like Norway, scientists and
environmental groups say.
Behind Norway’s green pledge lies an uncomfortable truth: though this country of five
million is fairly eco-friendly — with, for example, high taxes of cars and fuel — as one
of the world’s top sources of oil and natural gas, it exports emissions all over the world. It
also maintains a broad industrial base of its own.
A series of articles examining the ways in which the world is, and is not, moving toward
a more energy efficient future.
In its recently released Climate Change Performance Index 2008, the nonprofit group
Germanwatch, which is active on environmental issues, ranked Norway 16th out of 56
countries, tied with Indonesia, and well behind Sweden, Britain and Germany.
Heidi Sorensen, state secretary of Norway’s Environment Ministry, acknowledged the
contradiction. “We are living in a constant dilemma in Norway because we have grown
rich on the petroleum sector, releasing CO2 into the atmosphere,” Ms. Sorensen said. “So
there’s a lot of discussion about what responsibility we have. If we’re going to tell
countries like China and India to lower emissions, we have to do something, too.”
That something has been to finance good-will projects globally. At the climate
conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December, Norway announced that it would spend 3
billion Norwegian kroner (about $538 million at the time) to prevent deforestation, with a
special focus on projects that would also try to alleviate poverty in Africa. “We hoped
this would serve as a model for other countries,” Ms. Sorensen said.
Such projects fall outside international carbon accounting schemes. If those project were
taken into account, “we could be carbon neutral now,” Ms. Sorensen said.
But critics of the approach say the country’s leaders are not doing enough at home. Mr.
Hauge of Bellona said the government needed to be more specific and aggressive in
following through on its plans.
Norway has also been investing in emerging technologies, particularly carbon capture
and storage, in which emissions produced by factories are stored underground. Perfecting
the technique would be “Norway’s moon landing,” the government announced, a piece of
inspirational science to benefit the world.
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Most everyone in Norway applauds those moves, but that is where the cheering ends. The
government has not been specific about its plans to reduce emissions at home, and that is
making many nervous.
“We are very positive about dialogue with the government and very positive about
reducing greenhouse gases, but we want to be very careful that industry doesn’t end up a
loser,” said Finn Bergesen, director general of the Confederation of Norwegian
Enterprise. “It’s a good thing to set goals, but goals have to be realistic.”
Recently, a Norwegian aluminum producer announced that it would open a new plant —
in Dubai. “We have some of the cleanest plants in the world, and if they close up here
and pop up in China — where they will not be so clean — that’s not to anyone’s benefit,”
Mr. Bergesen said.
The one large political group that opposes the carbon-neutral goal, the Progress Party, has
become increasingly vocal.
“They have a goal but they don’t have a plan, and for me spending money without focus
on things that are merely symbolic is a problem,” said Siv Jensen, the party’s leader, who
is sometimes mentioned as a candidate to become Norway’s next prime minister.
Ms. Jensen would like more money spent on things like roads, improving Norway’s
recycling program and exporting knowledge of hydropower. Any further steps will not be
easy.
Cars and fuel in Norway are already heavily taxed, and gas-guzzling cars have long been
taxed more than small, economical models. A sport utility vehicle in Norway costs four
times as much as one in the United States.
Other countries can close highly polluting coal-fire electricity plants as an easy first step
toward reducing emissions. But Norway barely uses any coal at all. More than 95 percent
of the country’s electricity is from waterfalls — eco-friendly, renewable hydropower.
The main polluter in Norway is heavy industry — oil, gas, metal refining. They are, of
course, the industries that have made Norway rich. Their revenues ensure high pay and
good benefits here, and they help pay for reducing deforestation in Africa.
Environmental advocates say Norway should take the next step, issuing fewer permits for
oil exploration, for example, and even raising gas taxes. Instead of exporting energy, Mr.
Hauge suggests, Norway should use some of it domestically to create things like lowpriced solar panels for use in the developing world.
“We will sacrifice — in our own rich country way,” he said. “We can’t go to ski so easily
anymore. Maybe you’ll have to stop your electric car after 350 kilometers,” about 217
miles. “But will we freeze? No. We’ll be able to solve it.”
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/world/europe/22norway.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5
088&en=19114e2802d726fd&ex=1364097600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Thinking Green While Sifting Through the Sand
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
The New York Times
Saturday March 22, 2008
NECKER ISLAND, British Virgin Islands — Richard Branson was lounging under the
starry midnight sky on this palm-dappled speck of an island recently when he popped a
sobering question.
Lunch at Richard Branson's private island, where executives and other leaders recently
came together to discuss entrepreneurship and ways to improve the environment.
“So, do we really think the world is on fire?” Mr. Branson, the British magnate and
adventurer, asked several guests as a manservant scurried off to fetch him another glass
of pinot grigio.
What he wanted to know was whether his high-powered visitors, among them Larry Page
of Google, Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia and Tony Blair, the former prime minister of
Britain, thought global warming threatened the planet.
Mr. Branson does — and so did most of his guests. So on this recent weekend they
assembled here, on his private hideaway in the waters between the islands of Tortola and
Anegada, to figure out what to do about it and perhaps get richer in the process.
Some of them, like Mr. Page, jet-pooled in from Silicon Valley, where the financiers who
bankrolled the Web boom of the 1990s are chasing the new New Thing: green power. In
an era of $100-a-barrel oil, venture capitalists like Vinod Khosla, another invitee, are
pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into young companies that cook up biofuels and
harness the power of the sun.
Mr. Blair, now a senior adviser to JPMorgan Chase, squeezed in a few idyllic hours here
between assignments (he flew in late from California and left early for Jerusalem).
Another attendee only sort-of showed up. The Medusa, the 198-foot yacht owned by Paul
Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, was moored off Necker Island all weekend, but Mr.
Allen never made an appearance.
Mr. Branson hopes the Caribbean getaway weekend will be the first of many, an intimate,
enviro-version of the annual media gathering in Sun Valley, Idaho, sponsored by Allen &
Company. It was the brainchild of Richard Stromback, a former professional hockey
player who has remade himself as a clean-technology entrepreneur. Mr. Stromback, who
was host of the weekend and is the chief executive of Ecology Coatings, joked that a
gathering like this might seem nefarious to some people.
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“In James Bond movies, evil-doers meet in exotic settings to plot the destruction of the
planet,” Mr. Stromback said, puffing on a cigar before dinner. “This is the opposite of
that.”
So far, however, the hopes and dreams of alternative energy have far outstripped reality.
But for Mr. Stromback and many others here, a confluence of two powerful forces —
soaring oil prices and growing concern over global warming — means the era of
economically viable green power is finally at hand.
Many executives and financiers, including some in attendance, have a lot of money riding
on global warming. Mr. Branson, for example, has invested in a host of alternative energy
enterprises, including recently flying the first biofuel-powered plane engine for Virgin
Atlantic. He also put up $25 million in prize money to challenge scientists to find a way
to extract greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
Mr. Khosla, the founding chief executive of Sun Microsystems and one of the most
successful venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, has at least 33 investments in clean tech,
including new fermentation technology to make fuel-grade ethanol.
Much of the weekend was spent hashing over ideas in Mr. Branson’s new open-air yoga
pavilion in between massages, kite-surfing lessons and meals on beaches around the
island, which Mr. Branson said he bought for £180,000 in the late-1970’s and now rents
for as much as $250,000 a week to outside guests. (He’s trying to make the island carbonneutral and has erected a test windmill.) Talk ranged from the practicality of electricpowered cars to how much money would have to be invested in biofuels to reduce the
price of crude to $35 a barrel, a prospect Mr. Khosla said he considered “totally realistic.”
But the big question that hung over the meeting was whether the world could ever work
together to tackle climate change and emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
“We have an agreement that there should be an agreement,” said Mr. Blair, dressed in a
white polo shirt, blue cargo shorts and Nike sneakers. “But there’s no agreement on what
that agreement should be.”
Mr. Blair, who last week announced his Breaking the Climate Deadlock Initiative,
predicted that the United States would soon adopt a so-called cap and trade system for
carbon emissions, as the European Union has done, with mixed success. But, he
contended, “I’m a little skeptical that it will work unless it’s part of a global deal.”
As an alternative, Shai Agassi, the former president of SAP’s product and technology
group, suggested having companies buy carbon insurance. Insurance companies, after all,
price all kinds of risks. “They know how to put a price on it better than the bookies,” said
Mr. Agassi, whose start-up, Better P.L.C., is trying to support the use of fleets of electric
vehicles in Israel and elsewhere. (Stanley Fink, the deputy chairman of the Man Group,
the world’s largest hedge fund, with $72 billion, suggested that insurance companies
often misprice risk — as in the subprime debacle.)
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Everyone, it seemed, had some project in the works. Elon Musk, the co-founder of
Paypal, talked about his latest project: Tesla Motors, a Silicon Valley company that
makes sexy electric sports cars retailing for $100,000. Mr. Page has ordered one.
D. Hunt Ramsbottom, the chief executive of Rentech, talked about his plans to make
biofuels for airplanes. William McDonough, the designer, showed renderings of recent
planned projects: a building in Abu Dhabi with solar panels built into the windows and a
distribution center with a grass roof. And Mr. Page, who was married on Necker Island a
few months ago, talked about problems with permits that Google has faced in trying to
use solar energy.
With no naysayers on the island, the weekend, which was organized in part by the
Climate Group, a nonprofit, was filled with hopeful talk about the “war against carbon,”
as Mr. Branson put it. But there was also talk of money, which most of the attendees had
plenty of. And to make any of these technologies successful, they all agreed the solutions
had to be profitable without subsidies.
“It can’t work any other way,” Mr. Khosla said.
Mr. Page of Google complained that it is still too easy to make a profitable
environmentally friendly product that does not go far enough. “We need to give people
permission to think really big,” he said. He recounted how when an engineer told him he
could produce electricity at 10 cents a kilowatt, he asked if it could be brought down to 3
cents.
After a breakfast of scrambled eggs with salmon on the deck outside the main house
Sunday morning, Mr. Branson spent most the day talking about his next big idea. He
wants to create a coalition of the most respected people in business to help champion
environmental “best practices” — a resource for governments and multinational
companies looking for help as they develop environmentally sound policies.
He is tentatively calling the group the War Room. He wants to model it after another
group he formed last year, the Elders, with Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and Nelson
Mandela’s wife, Graça Machel, to help solve the world’s political and humanitarian
problems.
Mr. Branson was canvassing for names to run it. Someone wondered: what about Warren
Buffett?
Of course, there was plenty of time for fun and games. After lunch one afternoon Mr.
Branson suggested the entire group sail off to Mosquito, a nearby island he also owns,
aboard a dozen catamarans. He said there was a party over there.
One of Mr. Blair’s security personnel trailed behind in a motorboat. Mr. Page, an avid
kite surfer, struck out alone.
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As the catamarans beached on Mosquito, music was blaring and women in bikinis were
dancing. Mr. Branson deadpanned, “Normally the girls would be naked, but the prime
minister is here.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/business/worldbusiness/22deal.html?pagewanted=2
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Harnessing the power of wind and waves
Michael Kanellos, for News.com
The New York Times
Monday March 24, 2008
GALWAY, Ireland--Fierce, unforgiving seas surround Ireland's shores. And that could
prove to be a moneymaker for the country.
The government, university research departments, and a growing number of
entrepreneurs, are collaborating in various ways to tap the power and resources of the
ocean. Wavebob and Ocean Energy, for instance, have installed wave power prototypes
in Galway Bay and will experiment with larger prototypes in an energy park being
created just to the north, off the coast of county Mayo.
By 2012, the government aspires to harvest 75 megawatts from waves and by 2020 to
raise that energy production to 500 megawatts. It also wants to export services and
equipment.
"We have the best wave resources on the planet. We also have a maritime tradition.
Understanding how things work at sea, or how they don't work at sea, is very important,"
said Andrew Parish, CEO of Wavebob. "The common feeling is, wave (power) is where
wind was 15 years ago."
For all the promise of electric power generated by the sea, there are many impediments,
from construction costs to environmental concerns and the sheer unpredictability of the
weather. But rising energy costs and concerns over climate change are providing renewed
impetus--and a new sales pitch--for those pursuing such projects.
Wavebob plans first to target customers with the greatest need: Ireland, Tahiti, Hawaii,
and New Zealand are all promising early markets. Oil companies, which run their
offshore derricks on diesel power, are also potential early customers. Chevron, in fact, is
an investor. Defense departments are also interested.
Meanwhile, OpenHydro has developed what looks like a giant kitchen fan for harnessing
tidal power. The company has raised around $75 million and has been testing a prototype
off the coast of Scotland. More turbines will go in the water off the U.K.'s Channel
Islands and in Canada's Bay of Fundy over the next few years.
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But power isn't the only focus. As part of the Sea Change research program implemented
last year, Dermot Hurst at the Marine Institute in Galway heads up a project that will try
to develop "functional foods," or ingredients with nutritional or therapeutic value, out of
algae, underutilized marine species, and waste products from the fish-processing.
"It could be oils; it could be calcium extraction," he said. "When they (food processors)
look for ingredients, they don't care where they came from. They care if they are safe,
that they do what they say, and (that there is a) continuous supply."
The Marine Institute is also behind a project called SmartBay in which researchers will
lay down a network of sensors, cameras, and other devices in and around the bay.
Scientists will use the data to record environmental conditions for the fishing industry.
Additionally, multinational corporations such as Intel and STMicroelectronics will lease
time at SmartBay to experiment with devices they are making for national security or
monitoring shipping traffic.
Galway itself is a great advertisement for the strategy. Storms lashed the town for several
days during a visit I made several weeks ago as part of a tour of Ireland's tech sector.
Ocean Energy pulled in its buoy because of 18-foot swells. (The commercial version of
the device will survive those seas, but there's no point in risking a prototype.)
"I'm surprised they landed the plane," James Ryan, who manages strategic planning and
development services at the Institute, said to me after I arrived. And Galway Bay is
somewhat sheltered; out in the open Atlantic, waves can be much, much larger.
The right place--but is it the right time?
For wave power, Ireland's location is ideal. Perched in the North Atlantic, it sits in the
path of the Gulf Stream, cold air masses from Greenland, and winds from North America.
(The country also has some 220 million acres of underwater continental shelf that's
arguably within its territorial claims.) The fetch--or the distance that wind travels without
obstruction--across the Atlantic is one of the longest in the world, and that wind energy in
turn propels waves.
"The average wave energy is 70 kilowatts per wave meter. There is nothing else like it. If
you go to Portugal, you have an average of 40 kilowatts per meter," said Graham
Brennan, program manager for renewable-energy research and development at
Sustainable Energy Ireland, the government's green-technology arm. "There are higher
average wind speeds in the band of the Earth that we live in. The fetch is an enormous
factor."
Potentially, waves could provide up to 70 percent of Ireland's electrical power, Brennan
said. (Ireland consumed 24 terawatt hours of power in 2006, and roughly 20 terawatt
hours could conceivably be tapped from waves.)
64
It could also mean quite a number of jobs in regions of the country hit hard by the decline
in fishing. The government's goal is to create 1,900 jobs. Wavebob, for one, will base
some operations in Killybegs, a struggling fishing and shipbuilding center.
In January 2008, the government created a 26 million euro (about $39 million) fund for
development and commercial deployment of ocean energy. The fund also provides for a
feed-in tariff that will pay wave farm owners 22 cents per kilowatt hour for their energy,
higher than the subsidy for wind power.
Wavebob says its device--a large buoy, technically called a self-reacting point absorber,
with an internal chamber that can accommodate mechanics and technicians--will be
capable of producing 1.5 megawatts of power when the full-scale version is ready in
2010.
Incoming waves pressurize fluids contained in chambers in the buoy, and the pressure
then turns a turbine. Unlike other prototypes, Wavebob's device also senses the power of
incoming waves and automatically adjusts to maximize pressure and energy extraction.
The company hopes--maybe later in the next decade--to deliver power at 7.5 cents a
kilowatt hour, or more than wind (6.8 cents) but less than gas-fired plants (8.3 cents). In a
wave energy field, the buoys will sit a few hundred meters apart from each other.
Wave energy won't be easy, Parish adds. Wavebob's founder, William Dick, a physicist
who helped computerize distilleries on the island, started working on wave power in the
early 1990s. A small prototype in a wave tank in Cork and the quarter-size scale device in
Galway have worked fine, but the real test comes with the full-scale device in two to
three years off the Mayo coast. If it succeeds, multi-megawatt wave farms can start being
planned for 2015 and beyond.
Besides needing to survive harsh seas, the devices have to be cost-effective. To this end,
Wavebob has teamed up with Georgia Tech to see if it's possible to make buoys out of
concrete rather than steel. Capital will also have to be spent to build coastline power
stations and undersea electrical cables, which can cost 1 million euros per kilometer.
Video: S.F. considers ocean-based renewable energy
News.com's Kara Tsuboi talks to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who views tidal
and wave power as a swell idea. But how feasible and realistic is this new technology?
With all of the challenges, the government's goals--500 megawatts, 1,900 jobs--are pretty
lofty.
"The challenge clearly is getting the first megawatt out. Right now, there are a few
electrons trickling on the grid," Parish joked. "Nobody can put up their hand and say,
'We've got it cracked.'"
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Then there are the regulatory and environmental issues. In reality, the rules for planning
these projects in most countries don't even exist yet. One idea being floated about: putting
wave farms in no-fish zones, said Derek Robertson, who runs Wavebob's U.S. arm. Still,
even getting halfway would produce a noticeable bump in the energy industry.
Seafood for the masses
While energy constitutes a potential market, food and shipping concerns are driving
many of the other projects at the Marine Institute. One of the goals with SmartBay, for
instance, is to help come up with an early warning system for problems like red tide,
which can decimate fishing stocks and result in millions in losses, or to monitor the
health of prawn beds. After conducting tests and landing local customers, the know-how
will hopefully be exported.
"It's not that we want to particularly monitor Galway Bay. Our intent is to become a
major expert in this field," Ryan said.
Knowledge about the ocean, he added, is fairly sketchy. The Marine Institute, for
instance, recently completed a digital map of the bay. It's the first map of the sea floor
since the British undertook the job with chains and weights in the 1860s.
Some of the sensors that could grow out of this program are video cameras that can track
fish movements and DNA probes that can take censuses of microorganisms. There could
also be acoustic and weather monitors for marine traffic.
"We think it will revolutionize oceanic monitoring," Ryan said. "The seabed in deep
water is as a least as hostile as deep space. We can monitor Mars on a 24/7 basis, but
we're not yet able to do that with the ocean."
"It's about time we caught up with the space guys," he added.
http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-11392_36235194.html?pagewanted=2&sq=climate%20change&st=nyt&scp=2
McCain Offers Soothing Tones in Trip Abroad
By MICHAEL COOPER
The New York Times
Sunday March 23, 2008
PARIS — Senator John McCain’s trip abroad this week — which took him from the
Middle East to No. 10 Downing Street to the Élysée Palace here — was more than just a
Congressional fact-finding trip, or even a candidate’s attempt to appear statesmanlike.
It was also an audition on the world stage for Mr. McCain in his new role as the
Republican presidential nominee. And it offered him the chance to test his hope that he
could repair America’s tattered reputation by shifting course on some of the policies that
have alienated its allies, in areas like global warming and torture. But he is making his
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foray even as he embraces what much of the world sees as the most hated remnant of the
Bush presidency: the war in Iraq.
At several stops along the trip, Mr. McCain struck a markedly different tone from that of
President Bush. Mr. Bush is so unpopular, even with America’s allies, that people in
Britain and France told pollsters last spring that they had even less confidence in him to
do the right thing in world affairs than they had in President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
Mr. McCain spoke in Britain and France about the need to take action to reduce global
warming, a welcome stance in much of Europe, which accused Mr. Bush of doing too
little in that area. And in an opinion article that ran in Le Monde and The Financial
Times, Mr. McCain called for a “successor” to the Kyoto treaty on global warming,
which Mr. Bush had opposed, an act that angered much of the world.
He also denounced torture and repeated his call to close the detention center in
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that has sparked outrage around the world, writing that the
United States should reach an “international understanding” about what it should do with
its detainees.
“We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies,”
Mr. McCain wrote in the article, signaling a more collaborative tone after years in which
the United States has been widely criticized as conducting a headstrong, go-it-alone
foreign policy. “When we believe that international action is necessary, whether military,
economic or diplomatic, we will try to persuade our friends that we are right. But we, in
return, must also be willing to be persuaded by them.”
But some analysts question whether a new tone, however welcome, and the adoption of a
few policies that are more in line with the rest of the world would be enough by
themselves to improve America’s image, given the searing unpopularity of the Iraq war
— which Mr. McCain strongly supports — in much of the world.
“In terms of public opinion, I think the war in Iraq is paramount,” said Nicole Bacharan,
an expert on the United States at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris.
James M. Goldgeier, a political scientist who studies trans-Atlantic relations at the
Council on Foreign Relations, said of Mr. McCain: “There are positions that he’s taken
that are very different from that of the Bush administration, and sound much better to
European ears, on climate change and torture.”
“But then you’ve got Iraq,” Mr. Goldgeier added.
The precipitous decline in America’s reputation abroad — after no unconventional
weapons were found in Iraq and the revelations about abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib,
among other milestones — is underscored by a series of surveys conducted overseas by
the Pew Global Attitudes Project. The percentage of respondents in Britain, America’s
strongest ally, who said they viewed the United States favorably fell to 51 percent last
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spring, down from 83 percent before the Iraq war began; in France it fell to 39 percent
from 62 percent before the war began, said Andrew Kohut, the director of the project.
It is an issue that resonates with some voters back home; Mr. McCain is often asked on
the campaign trail what he would do to restore America’s reputation.
Now, as the world takes Mr. McCain’s measure, one of the questions people are likely to
grapple with is very much like one of the questions voters in the United States have been
asking: to what extent a President McCain would represent a break from Mr. Bush’s
policies, and to what extent he would be the continuation of them.
Some of Mr. McCain’s differences with Mr. Bush are clear; others go unspoken. Mr.
McCain has traveled far more extensively than Mr. Bush had when he was elected
president, and has been to all corners of the world. As a Navy officer, Congressional
liaison and senator, he has visited dozens of spots around the world, from Antarctica to
the Arctic Circle to every nation in NATO. At nearly every stop this week, he was
greeted at the formal photo-ops by local officials as an old friend; he noted Friday that his
meeting here with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, was his third.
But Mr. McCain remains perhaps the biggest booster of the unpopular Iraq war (though
he was critical of the Bush administration’s conduct of it before last year). How he winds
up being viewed abroad, as at home, will most likely depend on what happens there. At
nearly every stop this week Mr. McCain told listeners that the situation in Iraq was
improving, and that “Al Qaeda is on the run, but not defeated.”
But some of his message of being the most knowledgeable about Iraq was undermined at
a stop on Tuesday when he said several times in Amman, Jordan, that Iranians were
taking Al Qaeda into Iran, training them, and sending them back — a mistake he
corrected, but which drew criticism from Democrats back home.
Military officials have said that they believe that Iran, a Shiite country, has been largely
training and financing Shiite extremists in Iraq, and taking select Shiite militants to Iran
for training. Al Qaeda in Iraq is a Sunni insurgent group.
And while military officials have said that they have found evidence that Iran is also
aiding some Sunni insurgents, they have also said that they have not seen evidence that
Iran is directly aiding Al Qaeda in Iraq.
In London, a skeptical editorial in The Independent, headlined “A hawk lands in
London,” called Mr. McCain’s misstatement about Iran and Al Qaeda “a troubling error”
but went on to say that “a McCain brand of hawkishness is likely to be less inflexibly,
and ignorantly, ideological than George Bush’s.”
A supportive column in The Daily Telegraph credited Mr. McCain as being the architect
of the new strategy that has led to diminished violence in Iraq, and went on to say that “it
is unlikely, had Mr. McCain occupied the White House before the invasion, that he
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would have tolerated the inept handling of prewar diplomacy in Washington that led to
the greatest rift in the trans-Atlantic alliance since the 1956 Suez crisis.”
But, as at home, the hotly contested Democratic primary is garnering more attention in
Europe than the Republican nominee, and the Democrats are widely seen as offering the
prospect of a more significant break from the Bush years. As Mr. McCain arrived in
London, the newspapers were full of Senator Barack Obama’s speech this week on race
relations. The Times of London even ran a review of it by its theater critic.
Still, even with the ascendance of Mr. Sarkozy, a pro-American French president, it
would have been almost unthinkable four years ago, in the height of anti-French
sentiment and freedom fries, to see a Republican presidential candidate praising France.
“I think that our relations with France will continue to improve no matter who is
president of the United States,” Mr. McCain said after leaving Mr. Sarkozy at the Élysée
Palace on Friday, “because this president is committed to great cooperation, and values
our friendship.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/us/politics/23mccain.html?scp=6&sq=climate+chan
ge&st=nyt
Coal's probable future: dirty and costly
Kansas City Star
Saturday 22 March 2008
Wisconsin has its Cheese Heads. Kansans have their Coal Heads. You’ll recognize the
Coal Heads not by their hilarious hats but their hilarious logic.
One Coal Head blog, TheKansasRepublican, claims more coal for Kansas means
thousands of jobs and “3.6 billion in investment for some of the most economically
depressed parts of Kansas.”
Here’s the funny part: Coal Heads claim that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed pro-coal
legislation for Holcomb to not threaten her relationship with the left fringe of the treehugging Democratic Party.
“The environmentalist wing of the democratic party (sic) will veto Sebelius national
political ambitions if she signs this bill,” the blog noted as “fact.”
“If (Barack) Obama does not get the nomination and this bill is still in the air, Sebelius
will be running to land a compromise on this faster than a Kansas fly lands on a cow
turd.” For those not from around here what they mean is she’ll move pretty darn fast.
Who says Coal Heads don’t have a sense of humor?
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In all seriousness, though, little of what the Coal Heads have said makes much sense,
especially in economically strapped times. (See recession.)
But in all fairness and with all due respect, it’s not easy thinking clearly with a lump of
coal atop your profit-driven noggin.
Eliminate the environmental argument and you still have negatives about expanding coal
use in Kansas.
The Washington Post issued a startling report under the headline: “Coal Can’t Fill
World’s Burning Appetite: With Supplies Short, Price Rise Surpasses Oil and U.S.
Exporters Profits.”
Hello?
Midwesterners are plain-spoken folks, so here’s what that means to us: It’s the economy,
stupid!
Now for the SAT question: Why would Kansas commit to long-term reliance on this
fossil fuel when the industry is showing signs of distress which means shortages, fewer
jobs and higher utility costs for consumers?
“The signs of a coal crisis have been showing up from mine mouths to factory gates and
living rooms,” The Post reported. “An untimely confluence of bad weather, flawed
energy policies, low stockpiles and voracious growth in Asia’s appetite have driven
international spot prices of coal up by 50 percent or more in the past five months,
surpassing the escalation of oil prices.”
Kansans need to consider what’s at stake to the environment and the wallets. If they
really want coal in their future, there will be consequences for future generations that will
not only have to breathe this stuff but pay more for it.
From The Post: “If high prices last that would raise the cost of U.S. electricity, half of
which is generated by coal-fired power plants.” Duh!
Also last week, Star reporters Karen Dillon and Steve Everly quoted a vice president for
Cambridge Energy Research Associates as saying, “It’s a tough environment right now.”
Pardon the pun, but he meant economic environment, I suppose.
Star reporters noted that Westar Energy in Topeka tabled plans for a coal-fired plant
because of concerns about where the industry might be headed. Utility costs, including
those of KCP&L customers, are expected to increase.
Can you say solar power, boys and girls?
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Imagine paying a carbon tax on top of a rate hike. You’d have to have coal for brains —
or something Kansas flies like —to think Kansans would go along with something like
that.
In January, Sebelius said, “I think it’s important for Kansans to know we have to put
forth a compromise. We will continue looking for ways to find clean, secure and
affordable sources of energy to meet our growing demand as a state and a nation.”
That’s not what you call being partisan or political, that’s what you call being
conservative and smart. Kansans deserve no less.
Some day we may even find a way to put the energy of Kansas flies and cow pies to
better use. Talk about renewables!
http://www.kansascity.com/279/story/542654.html
Kansas Governor Vetoes Bill to Revive 2 Coal-Fired Plants
By FELICITY BARRINGER
The New York Times
Saturday March 22, 2008
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas vetoed a measure on Friday that would have forced the
state to approve two coal-fired power plants producing large amounts of carbon dioxide.
The veto, which was expected, is unlikely to be overridden in the Kansas House of
Representatives, two legislators said. The State Senate passed the measure with a vetoproof majority.
The two proposed plants, to be built by the Sunflower Electric Corporation in the
southwest corner of the state, would generate 1,400 megawatts of electricity and produce
up to 11 million tons of carbon-dioxide emissions. Because of the large production of
greenhouse gases, the state’s secretary of health and the environment, Rod Bremby,
withheld approval for the plants.
“We know that greenhouse gases contribute to climate change,” Governor Sebelius wrote
in a news release. “As an agricultural state, Kansas is particularly vulnerable. Therefore,
reducing pollutants benefits our state not only in the short term but also for generations of
Kansans to come.”
In addition to vetoing the bill to revive the coal plants, Ms. Sebelius, a Democrat, issued
an executive order creating an advisory group to advise the governor on energy and
environmental policy. She selected Jack Pelton, the chief executive of Cessna Aircraft,
based in Kansas, as head of the new group.
Ken Wick, a Republican legislator, said in a telephone interview that a new measure was
being drafted to revive the coal-plant proposal. This bill, he said, would be crafted to win
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over the representatives siding with Ms. Sebelius and blocking the chance for a veto
override.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/us/22kansas.html?scp=9&sq=climate+change&st=n
yt
Voices
Global Warming: Who Said What -- and When
The Wall Street Journal
Monday March 24, 2008; Page R2
It turns out Al Gore was hardly the first one to sound the alarm. Looking back nearly
three decades, you can find prominent people warning the public about the danger of
rising temperatures. But there have also been a number of skeptics.
Here's a selection of quotes on climate change.
--Compiled by Beckey Bright
1979 "It is the sense of the scientific community that carbon dioxide from unrestrained
combustion of fossil fuels potentially is the most important environmental issue facing
mankind."
--U.S. Department of Energy report, April 2
1988 "It is time to stop waffling so much and say the evidence is pretty strong that the
greenhouse effect is here."
-- James E. Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, testifying at
a Senate hearing
1990 "There is broad agreement within the scientific community that amplification of the
Earth's natural greenhouse effect by the buildup of various gases introduced by human
activity has the potential to produce dramatic changes in climate. Only by taking action
now can we ensure that future generations will not be put at risk."
--Statement by 49 Nobel Prize winners and 700 members of the National Academy of
Sciences
1996 "We could wait 20 to 25 years to take action until scientific uncertainty is
lessened."
--William O'Keefe, former vice president of the American Petroleum Institute and
chairman of the Global Climate Coalition, at a Cato Institute forum, June 28
1997 "There's a better scientific consensus on this than on any issue I know -- except
maybe Newton's second law of dynamics."
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--D. James Baker, former administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, quoted in the Washington Post, Nov. 12
1998 "Research data on climate change do not show that human use of hydrocarbons is
harmful. To the contrary, there is good evidence that increased atmospheric carbon
dioxide is environmentally helpful."
--Frederick Seitz, former president of the National Academy of Sciences, in a petition
letter against the Kyoto Treaty
1998 "Contrary to the doomsday economic predictions of the fossil-fuel industry and its
supporters, we can stem global warming without slowing the economy. The U.S. can
meet the Kyoto target and save consumers money through common-sense energy use at
home."
--Alden Meyer, director of government relations for the Union of Concerned Scientists,
quoted by Dow Jones News Service, July 23
2002 "With the disappearance of ice shelves that have existed for thousands of years, you
rather rapidly run out of other explanations."
--Dr. Theodore A. Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at
the University of Colorado, quoted by the New York Times, March 20
2002 "The mainstream of some so-called environmentalists or politically correct
Europeans isn't the mainstream of all scientists or the White House. The world has been a
lot warmer than it is now and it didn't have anything to do with carbon dioxide."
--ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond, in an interview with Chief Executive magazine,
October
2004 "Climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today, more serious
even than the threat of terrorism."
--David King, U.K. government chief scientific adviser, quoted in the Independent, Jan. 9
2004 "Global warming -- at least the modern nightmare vision -- is a myth. I am sure of it
and so are a growing number of scientists. But what is really worrying is that the world's
politicians and policy makers are not."
--David Bellamy, British botanist and author, in a commentary for the Daily Mail, July 9
2005 "I think it's crazy for us to play games with our children's future. We know what's
happening to the climate, we have a highly predictable set of consequences if we
continue to pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere."
--Former President Bill Clinton, at the United Nations Climate Conference, Montreal,
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Dec. 9
2006 "Carbon dioxide: They call it pollution; we call it life."
--Voice-over in an ad by the Competitive Enterprise Institute
2006 "The danger is that global warming may become self-sustaining, if it has not done
so already.... We have to reverse global warming urgently, if we still can."
--Prof. Stephen Hawking, in an ABC News interview, Aug. 16
2006 "I have not been one who believed in the global warming. But I tell you, they are
making a convert out of me as these blistering summers.... We really need to address the
burning of fossil fuels."
--Pat Robertson, 700 Club, talking about the heat wave on Aug. 3
2006 "Unless we stop dumping 70 million tons of global-warming pollution into the
atmosphere every 24 hours, which we are doing right now...the continued acceleration of
this pollution would destroy the future of human civilization."
--Former Vice President Al Gore, at a news conference in Helsinki, Finland, quoted by
Reuters, Sept. 5
2007 "The heavy condemnatory breathing on the subject of global warming outdoes
anything since high moments of the Inquisition."
--William F. Buckley Jr. in National Review, March 31
2008 "We don't solve the problem just by wishing it away."
--Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, at the Journal's
ECO:nomics conference, March 13
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120605552237153199.html
Could Resources Become A Limit to Global Growth?
The Wall Street Journal
Monday March 24, 2008
"Limits-to-growth" theories -- which argue that the world may run short of resources -last made a big splash in the early 1970s, when a group of scientists commissioned by the
Club of Rome, warned ominously of an imminent collision between global population
growth and finite supplies.
Since then, most of the projections made in the famous report -- sometimes referred to as
simply "the Club of Rome" -- haven't come to pass. But now, surging food and energy
prices are offering new reasons to re-think the relationship between resources and growth
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flagged by that report. The Wall Street Journal Online asked James Brander, a professor
of international business at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of
Business and Matthew Kahn, a professor at UCLA's Institute of the Environment, to
discuss limits-to-growth ideas in the context of today's rapid run-up in raw material costs.
(See related article.)
What do you think? Join the discussion in our online reader forum.
***
James Brander writes: The Club of Rome is reminiscent of the fable of the "Boy Who
Cried Wolf." There is a real wolf nearby -- in the form of resource degradation and
rapidly growing population -- but, like the shepherd boy, the original "Limits to Growth"
got the timing wrong and sounded the alarm too early.
The main reason for the timing error was failure to account for economic incentives.
When oil prices rose in the 1970s, this created incentives to develop more fuel-efficient
vehicles, greatly reducing the problem. For most of the 1980s and 1990s, energy and
food actually became more abundant rather than less. Incentive-based technological
progress stayed ahead of population growth and resource depletion. However, economic
incentives cannot be counted on to keep the wolf at bay indefinitely.
Real resource prices have finally surpassed previous record levels and per-capita food
availability has started to decline, suggesting that the wolf might be getting close. Despite
demographic transition to low fertility in East Asia, Europe, and North America, current
population growth rates would still triple world population to over 20 billion in about 90
years. This won't happen because it can't happen. The question is whether population
growth will fall due to declines in fertility or whether the Malthusian mechanisms of
epidemics, malnutrition, and violent conflict will carry out the adjustment, aided by
global warming.
***
Matthew Kahn writes: Imagine a world where everyone in China and India achieves
our living standards. In this world, with 7 billion people, if each drives a Hummer 10,000
miles per year, then the world would need 7 trillion gallons of gasoline to meet this
aggregate demand. Now, that's an ecological footprint!
Now, the New York Times recently reported that the Sun will only shine for another 7.59
billion years. Even so, if the rest of the world achieves the "American Dream" and
attempts to drive their Hummers until the sun finally flickers and dims, we are clearly
going to need a lot of gas.
Still, it's important to note that expectations of such future scarcity create incentives to
innovate. Implicit in the work of authors such as Jared Diamond is a type of massbehavioral-economics myopia where he and a few other "wise men" are the only ones
aware of the coming day of scarcity. I am more democratic and optimistic that, if there is
a future arbitrage opportunity, a few ambitious young capitalists will seek out a profit and
be ready with the next "Toyota Prius" to help mitigate future scarcity challenges.
James Brander is the Asia Pacific Professor of International Business in the Sauder
School of Business at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He has worked on a
variety of research topics, including trade and the environment, natural resource
management, venture capital finance, and innovation. He recently reviewed the
"sustainability" debate in the February 2007 issue of the Canadian Journal of Economics,
where he considers the "race" between technological innovation on one hand and
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population growth and resource degradation on the other. He will become President-Elect
of the Canadian Economics Association in June 2008. He received his B.A. from UBC
and his doctorate in economics from Stanford University.
Matthew Kahn is a professor at the Institute of the Environment and the departments of
economics and public policy at UCLA. He blogs on environmental and urban issues at
greeneconomics.blogspot.com, and is the author of "Green Cities: Urban Growth and the
Environment" (Brookings Institution Press 2006). He received his doctorate from the
University of Chicago.
***
James Brander writes: I agree with Matt. Residents of China and India are unlikely to
buy many Hummers -- or other SUVs -- and economic incentives will push them in more
environmentally friendly directions. If China were the model, I would be optimistic about
the future. Fertility there has declined to about replacement level and real income growth
has been very rapid with only modest increases in the "ecological footprint". (For
analysis of ecological "footprints," check out the Global Footprint Network.)
Also, China is poised to move along the downward-sloping part of the environmental
Kuznets curve – where people demand better environmental quality as incomes rise.
However, counterbalancing the positive outlook in China is the dismal picture in Africa.
According to the World Bank, per capita real income in sub-Saharan Africa fell between
1980 and 2005, despite starting at very low levels, and despite improvements in
technology made available in that period. Population growth remains very high and
infectious disease, malnutrition, and violent conflict have become more entrenched and
could spill over into other regions. Also, West Asia -- the "Middle East" -- and South
Asia are ecologically and economically precarious, with water scarcity being one of
several major problems.
***
Matthew Kahn writes: Water provides an important example of resource scarcity. It
rarely rains in Los Angeles, but golf courses and most people's homes there have green
lawns, rather than cactuses. If the people of Los Angeles faced higher water prices, I bet
that we would see households switch away from green grass. This raises the political
economy question of which politicians have the backbone to allow prices to reflect
scarcity. The easy -- and unsustainable -- path is to vote in favor of keeping prices
artificially low.
A second, important, set of issues raised by Jim concerns population growth in poor
nations. Optimists such as Julian Simon have argued that population growth helps to
solve environmental problems as each new person represents a lottery ticket who could
grow up and give us a cure for cancer or the next Google. In addition, population growth
helps to create new markets. If one million new environmentalists are born, this helps to
create market demand for green products and for-profit suppliers will respond by
producing green products to sell to this new birth cohort. Unfortunately, population
growth in the developing world is unlikely to trigger such an innovation supply response.
***
James Brander writes: As Matt points out, it is important to get prices right. Human
ingenuity can do great things and prices are signals showing where ingenuity should be
applied. Water is underpriced. If it were priced to reflect its true scarcity value, we would
get more water-saving innovation.
76
However, market-based prices cannot do everything, largely because of "externalities" –
non-priced third party effects. An electric utility using coal to produce electricity
contributes to global warming and other pollution problems. This effect is not priced –
the utility does not normally pay for or cover this cost. If it did, it would face stronger
incentives to reduce emissions. When we drive cars in crowded areas, we don't pay for
congestion costs imposed on others. Therefore we drive too much.
Similarly, we don't pay when we transmit an infectious disease, therefore, we take
insufficient precautions. Decisions to have large numbers of children may also impose
negative externalities on others -- depending partly on whether those children find cures
for cancer, become criminals, or something in between. In an increasingly crowded
world, problems caused by externalities are increasingly severe, and showing political
leadership in such areas is politically risky.
***
Matthew Kahn writes: At UCLA, I meet many students who are quite concerned about
climate change. Jim's point about externalities is highly relevant in this case. My students
would like to limit growth in order to mitigate the production of greenhouse gases. But
they are often vague about the details. Which people should not be born? Whose income
should decline in order to achieve their noble goal?
California is taking the lead to unilaterally mitigate its greenhouse gas emissions. In
2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB32. This piece of legislation commits
California to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. To
achieve this goal, California is likely to implement a cap and trade program which will
effectively create a new market in the "right to pollute." The new pollution permits will
trade at a positive price and this will create incentives to economize on greenhouse gas
production.
Is it surprising that California's governor is willing to commit his state to be the nation's
"guinea pig?" California has shown before that the costs of growth can be offset. In
recent years, Los Angeles smog levels have fallen sharply at the same time that there are
more cars on the roads and people are driving more. In this respect, effective regulation
has helped to offset the quantity of economic activity. But in general, I wonder whether
government is up to the task of limiting the costs of growth on a global scale.
***
James Brander writes: Potential limits to growth are real. Major resources such as
forests and agricultural land are under threat, as are the air and water. Possibly the
biggest threat, although a long way off, is a potentially catastrophic rise in sea level
caused by global warming. However, as Matt points out, public policy interventions can
have a big impact. Arguably the recent national U.S. policy stance has been
counterproductive, but I agree that California has been a leader in valuable policy
interventions. This includes establishing "markets" for pollution rights, congestion
pricing for roadways, vehicle emission controls, and other policies.
With good policy combined with technological progress, economic growth need not
cause environmental damage. On the contrary, improved living standards depend on the
environment. We normally fail to measure economic growth properly – ignoring
depletion of "natural capital" -- which should be subtracted from net growth as physical
capital depreciation is. We should focus on the right measures -- "green accounting."
Fertility reduction is the biggest challenge. Chinese-style state-imposed fertility control
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will not be acceptable elsewhere, but female education and female control over
reproductive decisions are very positive forces in achieving sustainable fertility patterns.
In the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" villagers became complacent about the wolf after the false
alarms and the wolf ultimately ate the sheep. I hope we fare better than the villagers -and the sheep.
***
Matthew Kahn writes: Will our great grandchildren have a lower quality of life than we
do? I doubt it. My optimism about our future quality of life is based on my belief that
people are forward looking and entrepreneurial. In 1990, I could not foresee the role that
Google would play in my life in 2008. If natural resources grow scarce, we will adjust
and in the long run, new substitutes will be introduced. The new pollution markets being
introduced to mitigate climate change will provide a great test of this optimistic claim.
The "Limits to Growth" debate raises a key issue: how much consumption do we need to
live a "good life?" Why is the "American Dream" our dream? As China and India grow
richer, will their new middle class seek to live a more restrained lifestyle or will they
embrace our conception of the "good life?" By making people think through the social
consequences of their own consumption goals, the "Limits to Growth" advocates may
actually help to mitigate the "crisis."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120576529550741839.html
New Limits to Growth
Revive Malthusian Fears, Spread of Prosperity, Brings Supply Woes;
Slaking China's Thirst
By JUSTIN LAHART, PATRICK BARTA and ANDREW BATSON
The Wall Street Journal
Monday March 24, 2008; Page A1
Now and then across the centuries, powerful voices have warned that human activity
would overwhelm the earth's resources. The Cassandras always proved wrong. Each
time, there were new resources to discover, new technologies to propel growth.
Today the old fears are back.
Although a Malthusian catastrophe is not at hand, the resource constraints foreseen by the
Club of Rome are more evident today than at any time since the 1972 publication of the
think tank's famous book, "The Limits of Growth." Steady increases in the prices for oil,
wheat, copper and other commodities -- some of which have set record highs this month - are signs of a lasting shift in demand as yet unmatched by rising supply.
As the world grows more populous -- the United Nations projects eight billion people by
2025, up from 6.6 billion today -- it also is growing more prosperous. The average person
is consuming more food, water, metal and power. Growing numbers of China's 1.3 billion
people and India's 1.1 billion are stepping up to the middle class, adopting the highprotein diets, gasoline-fueled transport and electric gadgets that developed nations enjoy.
The result is that demand for resources has soared. If supplies don't keep pace, prices are
likely to climb further, economic growth in rich and poor nations alike could suffer, and
some fear violent conflicts could ensue.
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Some of the resources now in great demand have no substitutes. In the 18th century,
England responded to dwindling timber supplies by shifting to abundant coal. But there
can be no such replacement for arable land and fresh water.
The need to curb global warming limits the usefulness of some resources -- coal, for one,
which emits greenhouse gases that most scientists say contribute to climate change.
Soaring food consumption stresses the existing stock of arable land and fresh water.
"We're living in an era where the technologies that have empowered high living standards
and 80-year life expectancies in the rich world are now for almost everybody," says
economist Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, which focuses
on sustainable development with an emphasis on the world's poor. "What this means is
that not only do we have a very large amount of economic activity right now, but we have
pent-up potential for vast increases [in economic activity] as well." The world cannot
sustain that level of growth, he contends, without new technologies.
Americans already are grappling with higher energy and food prices. Although crude
prices have dropped in recent days, there's a growing consensus among policy makers
and industry executives that this isn't just a temporary surge in prices. Some of these
experts, but not all of them, foresee a long-term upward shift in prices for oil and other
commodities.
Today's dire predictions could prove just as misguided as yesteryear's.
"Clearly we'll have more and more problems, as more and more [people] are going to be
richer and richer, using more and more stuff," says Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish statistician
who argues that the global-warming problem is overblown. "But smartness will outweigh
the extra resource use."
Some constraints might disappear with greater global cooperation. Where some countries
face scarcity, others have bountiful supplies of resources. New seed varieties and better
irrigation techniques could open up arid regions to cultivation that today are only suitable
as hardscrabble pasture; technological breakthroughs, like cheaper desalination or
efficient ways to transmit electricity from unpopulated areas rich with sunlight or wind,
could brighten the outlook.
In the past, economic forces spurred solutions. Scarcity of resource led to higher prices,
and higher prices eventually led to conservation and innovation. Whale oil was a popular
source of lighting in the 19th century. Prices soared in the middle of the century, and
people sought other ways to fuel lamps. In 1846, Abraham Gesner began developing
kerosene, a cleaner-burning alternative. By the end of the century, whale oil cost less than
it did in 1831.
A similar pattern could unfold again. But economic forces alone may not be able to fix
the problems this time around. Societies as different as the U.S. and China face stiff
political resistance to boosting water prices to encourage efficient use, particularly from
farmers. When resources such as water are shared across borders, establishing a pricing
framework can be thorny. And in many developing nations, food-subsidy programs make
it less likely that rising prices will spur change.
This troubles some economists who used to be skeptical of the premise of "The Limits to
Growth." As a young economist 30 years ago, Joseph Stiglitz said flatly: "There is not a
persuasive case to be made that we face a problem from the exhaustion of our resources
in the short or medium run."
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Today, the Nobel laureate is concerned that oil is underpriced relative to the cost of
carbon emissions, and that key resources such as water are often provided free. "In the
absence of market signals, there's no way the market will solve these problems," he says.
"How do we make people who have gotten something for free start paying for it? That's
really hard. If our patterns of living, our patterns of consumption are imitated, as others
are striving to do, the world probably is not viable."
Dennis Meadows, one of the authors of "The Limits to Growth," says the book was too
optimistic in one respect. The authors assumed that if humans stopped harming the
environment, it would recover slowly. Today, he says, some climate-change models
suggest that once tipping points are passed, environmental catastrophe may be inevitable
even "if you quit damaging the environment."
One danger is that governments, rather than searching for global solutions to resource
constraints, will concentrate on grabbing share.
China has been funding development in Africa, a move some U.S. officials see as a way
for it to gain access to timber, oil and other resources. India, once a staunch supporter of
the democracy movement in military-run Myanmar, has inked trade agreements with the
natural-resource rich country. The U.S., European Union, Russia and China are all vying
for the favor of natural-gas-abundant countries in politically unstable Central Asia.
Competition for resources can get ugly. A record drought in the Southeast intensified a
dispute between Alabama, Georgia and Florida over water from a federal reservoir
outside Atlanta. A long-running fight over rights to the Cauvery River between the Indian
states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu led to 25 deaths in 1991.
Economists Edward Miguel of the University of California at Berkeley and Shanker
Satyanath and Ernest Sergenti of New York University have found that declines in
rainfall are associated with civil conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. Sierra Leone, for
example, which saw a sharp drop in rainfall in 1990, plunged into civil war in 1991.
A Car for Every Household
The rise of China and India already has changed the world economy in lasting ways, from
the flows of global capital to the location of manufacturing. But they remain poor
societies with growing appetites.
Nagpur in central India once was known as one of the greenest metropolises in the
country. Over the past decade, Nagpur, now one of at least 40 Indian cities with more
than a million people, has grown to roughly 2.5 million from 1.7 million. Local roads
have turned into a mess of honking cars, motorbikes and wandering livestock under a
thick soup of foul air.
"Sometimes if I see something I like, I just buy it," says Sapan Gajbe, 32 years old, a
dentist shopping for an air conditioner at Nagpur's Big Bazaar mall. A month earlier, he
bought his first car, a $9,000 Maruti Zen compact.
In 2005, China had 15 passenger cars for every 1,000 people, close to the 13 cars per
1,000 that Japan had in 1963. Today, Japan has 447 passenger cars per 1,000 residents,
57 million in all. If China ever reaches that point, it would have 572 million cars -- 70
million shy of the number of cars in the entire world today.
China consumes 7.9 million barrels of oil a day. The U.S., with less than one quarter as
many people, consumes 20.7 million barrels. "Demand will be going up, but it will be
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constrained by supply," ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Officer James Mulva has told
analysts. "I don't think we are going to see the supply going over 100 million barrels a
day, and the reason is: Where is all that going to come from?"
Says Harvard economist Jeffrey Frankel: "The idea that we might have to move on to
other sources of energy -- you don't have to buy into the Club of Rome agenda for that."
The world can adjust to dwindling oil production by becoming more energy efficient and
by moving to nuclear, wind and solar power, he says, although such transitions can be
slow and costly.
Global Thirst
There are no substitutes for water, no easy alternatives to simple conservation. Despite
advances, desalination remains costly and energy intensive. Throughout the world, water
is often priced too low. Farmers, the biggest users, pay less than others, if they pay at all.
In California, the subsidized rates for farmers have become a contentious political issue.
Chinese farmers receive water at next to no cost, accounting for 65% of all water used in
the country.
In Pondhe, an Indian village of about 1,000 on a barren plateau east of Mumbai, water
wasn't a problem until the 1970s, when farmers began using diesel-powered pumps to
transport water farther and faster. Local wells used to overflow during the monsoon
season, recalls Vasantrao Wagle, who has farmed in the area for four decades. Today,
they top off about 10 feet below the surface, and drop even lower during the dry season.
"Even when it rains a lot, we aren't getting enough water," he says.
Parched northern China has been drawing down groundwater supplies. In Beijing, water
tables have dropped hundreds of feet. In nearby Hebei province, once large Baiyangdian
Lake has shrunk, and survives mainly because the government has diverted water into it
from the Yellow River.
Climate change is likely to intensify water woes. Shifting weather patterns will be felt
"most strongly through changes in the distribution of water around the world and its
seasonal and annual variability," according to the British government report on global
warming led by Nicholas Stern. Water shortages could be severe in parts Africa, the
Middle East, southern Europe and Latin America, the report said.
Feeding the Hungry
China's farmers need water because China needs food. Production of rice, wheat and corn
topped out at 441.4 million tons in 1998 and hasn't hit that level since. Sea water has
leaked into depleted aquifers in the north, threatening to turn land barren. Illegal seizures
of farmland by developers are widespread. The government last year declared that it
would not permit arable land to drop below 120 million hectares (296 million acres), and
said it would beef up enforcement of land-use rules.
The farmland squeeze is forcing difficult choices. After disastrous floods in 1998, China
started paying some farmers to abandon marginal farmland and plant trees. That "grainto-green" program was intended to reverse the deforestation and erosion that exacerbated
the floods. Last August, the government stopped expanding the program, citing the need
for farmland and the cost.
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A growing taste for meat and other higher-protein food in the developing world is
boosting demand and prices for feed grains. "There are literally hundreds of millions of
people...who are making the shift to protein, and competition for food world-wide is a
new reality," says William Doyle, chief executive officer of fertilizer-maker Potash Corp.
of Saskatchewan.
It takes nearly 10 pounds of grain to produce one pound of pork -- the staple meat in
China -- and more than double that to produce a pound of beef, according to Vaclav Smil,
a University of Manitoba geographer who studies food, energy and environment trends.
The number of calories in the Chinese diet from meat and other animal products has more
than doubled since 1990, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. But
China still lags Taiwan when it comes to per-capita pork consumption. Matching Taiwan
would increase China's annual pork consumption by 11 billion pounds -- as much pork as
Americans eat in six or seven months.
Searching for Solutions
The 1972 warnings by the Club of Rome -- a nongovernmental think tank now based in
Hamburg that brings together academics, business executives, civil servants and
politicians to grapple with a wide range of global issues -- struck a chord because they
came as oil prices were rising sharply. Oil production in the continental U.S. had peaked,
sparking fears that energy demand had outstripped supply. Over time, America became
more energy efficient, overseas oil production rose and prices fell.
The dynamic today appears different. So far, the oil industry has failed to find major new
sources of crude. Absent major finds, prices are likely to keep rising, unless consumers
cut back. Taxes are one way to curb their appetites. In Western Europe and Japan, for
example, where gas taxes are higher than in the U.S., per capita consumption is much
lower.
New technology could help ease the resource crunch. Advances in agriculture,
desalination and the clean production of electricity, among other things, would help.
But Mr. Stiglitz, the economist, contends that consumers eventually will have to change
their behavior even more than then did after the 1970s oil shock. He says the world's
traditional definitions and measures of economic progress -- based on producing and
consuming ever more -- may have to be rethought.
In years past, the U.S., Europe and Japan have proven adept at adjusting to resource
constraints. But history is littered with examples of societies believed to have suffered
Malthusian crises: the Mayans of Central America, the Anasazi of the U.S. Southwest,
and the people of Easter Island.
Those societies, of course, lacked modern science and technology. Still, their inability to
overcome resource challenges demonstrates the perils of blithely believing things will
work out, says economist James Brander at the University of British Columbia, who has
studied Easter Island.
"We need to look seriously at the numbers and say: Look, given what we're consuming
now, given what we know about economic incentives, given what we know about price
signals, what is actually plausible?" says Mr. Brander.
Indeed, the true lesson of Thomas Malthus, an English economist who died in 1834, isn't
that the world is doomed, but that preservation of human life requires analysis and then
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tough action. Given the history of England, with its plagues and famines, Malthus had
good cause to wonder if society was "condemned to a perpetual oscillation between
happiness and misery." That he was able to analyze that "perpetual oscillation" set him
and his time apart from England's past. And that capacity to understand and respond
meant that the world was less Malthusian thereafter.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120613138379155707.html
Curbing soot could blunt global warming: study
Yahoo
Sunday March 23, 2008
PARIS (AFP) - Sharply reducing the amount of black carbon -- commonly known as soot
-- in the atmosphere could help slow global warming and buy precious time in the longterm fight against climate change, according to a study released Sunday.
Curbing soot emissions could also be a life saver, said the study, published Sunday in the
British journal Nature.
Each year, more than 400,000 deaths among women and children in India alone, and 1.6
million worldwide, are attributed to smoke inhalation during indoor cooking using
biofuels such as wood or dung, one of the primary sources of black carbon, according to
the World Health Organisation.
Reviewing dozens of recent scientific studies, two researchers in the United States
calculated that black carbon is the second largest contributor to global warming after
carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels.
In addition, the eight million metric tonnes of soot released into the atmosphere every
year have created a number of "hot spots" around the world, contributing significantly to
rising temperatures.
The plains of south Asia along the Ganges River and continental east Asia are both such
hotspots, in part because up to 35 percent of global black carbon output comes from
China and India.
Emissions in China alone doubled between 2000 and 2006, according to the study,
published in 2006.
Fine black soot settling on snow and ice -- and thus trapping more of the Sun's radiative
force -- have also accelerated the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas and ice cover in
the Arctic, two regions that have been hit especially hard by climate change in recent
decades.
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"A major focus on decreasing black carbon emissions offers an opportunity to mitigate
the effects of global warming trends in the short term," the authors conclude.
While the presence of black carbon, sometimes in the form of great plumes several
kilometres high called atmospheric brown clouds, has been known to scientists for some
time, their impact on warming has been hard to assess.
Direct measurement requires multiple aircraft flying over the same domain at different
altitudes for an extensive period at the same time.
Significantly cutting back on black carbon emissions is not only possible, but would yield
rapid benefits, say the authors, Veerabhadran Ramanathan of the Scripps Institute in San
Diego, California, and Greg Carmichael of the University of Iowa.
Forty percent of soot comes from the same sources as greenhouses gases, notably the
burning of coal and oil, and will only be reduced as quickly or slowly as economies
become less carbon intensive.
But the remaining 60 percent of black carbon in the atmosphere comes from the more
easily altered practices of burning biofuels and forests, the authors say.
Also, cutting back soot output would have an almost immediate effect.
Unlike carbon dioxide, which lingers in the atmosphere for 100 years after it is released,
black carbon has an atmospheric life cycle of approximately one week.
"Providing alternative energy-efficient and smoke-free cookers, and introducing
transferring technology for reducing soot emissions from coal combustion in small
industries could have major impacts" on reducing soot's role in global warming, they
conclude.
Such measures would result in a 70-80 percent reduction in heating caused by black
carbon in south Asia, and a 20-40 percent cut in China, according to the study.
The authors caution, however, that soot reduction can only help delay unprecedented
climate change, which is due primarily to CO2 emissions.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080323/sc_afp/scienceclimatewarmingpollutioncarbon
Coca-Cola Aims for 'Water Neutrality'
By: GreenBiz.com
Monday 23 March 2008
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SAN FRANCISCO, March 24, 2008 -- Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) released
last week a report detailing the evolution of The Coca-Cola Co.'s water management
strategy.
The report, "Drinking It In: The Evolution of a Global Water Stewardship Program at
The Coca-Cola Company" follows the company's efforts to achieve "water neutrality"
across its worldwide operations while facing challenges from global water quality,
availability and access.
"By chronicling the journey of The Coca-Cola Company over five years, this case study
demonstrates how companies can be proactively involved in water management along
their supply chains and within their own facilities," said Emma Stewart, BSR’s director
of environmental R&D. "This report profiles one company's experience in advancing an
integrated water strategy throughout its global operations and promoting the
groundbreaking concept of 'water neutrality.'"
During the past five years, the company began developing a more holistic look at its
water strategy because of three issues: it began acquiring water brands; communities in
India protested a Coca-Cola bottler there because of appropriation and pollution issues; it
began reporting water issues as a material risk to investors.
The company created a survey for its plants and bottlers to gather information on
efficiency, compliance, watershed, supply reliability, supply economics and social and
competitive contextual information.
By 2007, the company developed an integrated water strategy focused on plant
performance (water use efficiency, water quality and wastewater treatment), watershed
protection, enabling access to clean drinking water and working to drive global
awareness and action to address water challenges. Its system-wide goal is to return all
water used in its operations back to nature. Its mantra: reduce, recycle and replenish.
This year, the company has set a goal of becoming the most efficient company in the
world in terms of water use in the beverage industry. It plans to be fully aligned with
global wastewater treatment and reuse standards by the end of 2010. It will support
projects and investments that focus on rainwater collection, reforestation, protecting
water sources and local access to them and the efficient agricultural use of water.
The report offers "key takeaways" for companies, such as getting involved in waterrelated governance and engaging organizations to build internal knowledge and
understanding of water issues.
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=55786&CFID=10408530&CF
TOKEN=67048551
Animal Planet Aims to Get Edgier
By DAVID BAUDER, The Associated Press
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The Washington Post
Monday, March 24, 2008
NEW YORK -- Animal Planet's desire to become less warm and fuzzy means exposure
to some unaccustomed issues, like danger on the high seas and journalistic fairness.
A network crew returned to port in Australia last week after tagging along on a mission to
interfere with a Japanese whaling expedition in the Antarctic. A miniseries about the
experience, "Whale Wars," is expected to air this fall.
To make the series, Animal Planet worked with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society,
activists who are considered heroic defenders of wildlife or dangerous meddlers,
depending on your politics. On this trip, the group tossed rancid butter on Japanese ships
to make the decks slippery and spoil whale meat, and diplomatic intervention was needed
after two society members climbed aboard a Japanese ship.
"There is an inherent excitement in what they do," said Charlie Foley, Animal Planet's
vice president of development. "It's always dangerous and there are also questions about
whether this is something they should be doing. It's not a prototypical Animal Planet
story, and that's one of the reasons we were attracted to it."
Best known for its annual cacophony of cute, the Puppy Bowl, Animal Planet is
particularly popular among children and older viewers.
But that's not where the money is in television. Animal Planet craves young adult
viewers, so it is promising "gripping entertainment" and is trying new series that "bring
out the raw, visceral emotion in the animal kingdom."
Even though other networks passed on "Whale Wars" when pitched by the Tennesseebased producers Rivr Media, primarily because of the danger and cost of insuring a
camera crew, Animal Planet pounced. Its sister network, Discovery, has a major hit with
"Deadliest Catch," about dangerous work in a forbidding ocean environment.
The Antarctic mission, dangerous work in a forbidding ocean environment, is "like a
giant game of Battleship," Foley said, with activists hunting Japanese ships over a vast
ocean. The scenery is spectacular, he said.
The physical risk to crew members (a camera knocked overboard turned out to be the
biggest casualty) is not the only chance Animal Planet is taking with "Whale Wars." The
network puts its reputation on the line by collaborating with an organization that has such
a strong point of view.
The Sea Shepherd Society is known for its aggressive tactics and public relations savvy,
said Dan Fagin, director of the Science, Health and Environmental Reporting program at
New York University. The group sails under the Jolly Roger and has been accused of
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trying to sink ships. The International Whaling Commission, devoted to protecting
whales, criticized the society for jeopardizing safety at sea with the Antarctic mission.
Supporters say that while others might condemn the killing of whales, the society is
actually trying to stop it.
Animal Planet was there to observe and document, Foley said, comparing the network's
role to journalists embedded with military units.
"To really understand what motivates them and understand what they do, they really need
to be on the boat _ literally and figuratively," he said. "This is not an endorsement."
Rivr Media and independent producer Dan Stone developed the idea for the series, said
Rob Lundgren, the company's president. He described Stone as an "avid supporter" of the
Sea Shepherd Society who has contributed money to the group.
"We're all really intrigued by people who want to ... make a difference on the planet,"
Lundgren said.
Producers doubted they would be given access to Japanese whaling boats, so they didn't
try. Makers of "Whale Wars" made no attempt to get the Japanese side of the story at all,
Lundgren said. Foley said they didn't have time.
While people at Animal Planet aren't journalists, Boston University journalism professor
Bob Zelnick said he's always wary about projects that tell a story from only one point of
view.
Both sides of the Antarctic confrontation have already found plenty to argue about.
The Japanese claimed four people on whaling ships were hurt when Sea Shepherd
volunteers began throwing the rancid butter; Sea Shepherd says it was just people
throwing up from the smell. Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson claimed the Japanese shot
at him; the Japanese say they fired stun grenades that make noise but have no shrapnel.
The incident where two activists spent two days aboard a harpoon boat is also murky.
The society initially claimed they were delivering a written protest to stop killing whales;
they later said the men planted electronic bugs to help the group track the Japanese fleet.
There were questions about whether the men were restrained while on the boat or not.
The Sea Shepherd Society has claimed victory on its mission, saying the Japanese didn't
kill nearly as many whales as they set out to.
While NYU's Fagin didn't find anything inherently wrong with Animal Planet's
participation, he said how the story is told is important.
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"I hope the final product will attest to the subtleties of the issue and not simply present it
as a morality tale with black hats and white hats," Fagin said, "because the world is not as
simple as that."
Foley promised an approach "as even-handed as we can be." He defended the decision to
show only one side.
"I'm not sure we wanted to be telling the story of the Japanese whalers," he said. "We
wanted to go down there and tell the story of what motivates these people who are trying
to stop the whaling."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301473.html
Investing Money Where Your Mouth Is
The Washington Post
Sunday, March 23, 2008; Page N02
With climate change awareness increasing and oil prices remaining high, demand for
Earth-friendlier products and services is growing. And as businesses change their ways,
the business of investing in them is, like so many other things, going green.
Values-based investing isn't a new idea, but it has traditionally focused on avoiding the
tobacco and weapons industries and companies with poor human rights records. Of every
$10 that's professionally managed, $1 goes toward socially responsible investment,
according to the Sierra Club.
Investors are increasingly looking to sustainability-minded stocks for both ethical and
financial reasons. "It's a way of putting your money where your mouth is," says Rona
Fried, editor of the Progressive Investor newsletter and president of
SustainableBusiness.com. Plus it can be a smart way to play the market. Alternative
energy, for instance, "is going to grow by leaps and bounds in the next five to 10 years,"
she says.
As with most investing, diversification is key; pouring your life savings into, say, a single
algae-biofuel outfit is no wiser than doing the same with an untested dot-com would have
been 10 years ago. "In any hot new area, you want to be careful about following the herd
and getting caught in a bubble," says Bruce M. Kahn, second vice president of wealth
management at Smith Barney and an environmental scientist.
Green mutual funds are one way to spread your assets, but just how Earth-friendly are
they? It depends on your point of view. While some funds focus on alternative energy,
recycling and pollution remediation, others invest in large companies such as Nokia,
Nike, Starbucks and Staples. These companies pledge to reduce their environmental
impact -- which, while commendable, isn't necessarily the same thing as not having much
of one in the first place.
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Some financial professionals argue that investing in large corporations with forwardthinking environmental policies sets an example for their respective industries, and that
such actions have tangible ecological benefits. "As companies embark on this path of
becoming better sustainability managers, they become more efficient and also uncover
new opportunities," Kahn says. "It's like a positive feedback loop."
New Alternatives Fund. Founded in 1982, this was the first U.S. fund to focus on
environmentally responsible companies (ticker symbol: NALFX). Holdings include
Whole Foods Market and companies that produce solar, biomass and wind energy;
recycling, insulation and water purification firms; and small credit unions.
PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio. This fund (PBW) is designed to reflect
the performance of the WilderHill Clean Energy Index (ECO), which tracks the
renewable energy sector.
Winslow Green Growth Fund. This fund (WGGFX) invests in companies that have a
"positive or neutral impact on the environment"; in 2006, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
magazine named it the best socially screened fund. Holdings include alternative energy
providers (First Solar, U.S. Geothermal) and food companies that incorporate moresustainable business practices (Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Chipotle Mexican
Grill).
Guinness Atkinson Alternative Energy Fund. Run from London by a manager who has
been researching and investing in conventional energy for decades, this fund (GAAEX)
focuses on solar power, wind energy and biomass stocks.
Green Century Funds. These funds (GCBLX and GCEQX) invest in companies that have
positive environmental track records or that are in the business of solving environmental
problems.
-- E.H.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/03/20/AR2008032002250_2.html
Insecure About Climate Change
By Joshua W. Busby, From the Council on Foreign Relations
The Washington Post
Saturday, March 22, 2008
When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, Americans witnessed what looked
like an overseas humanitarian-relief operation. The storm destroyed much of the city,
causing more than $80 billion in damage, killing more than 1,800 people, and displacing
in excess of 270,000. The country suddenly had to divert its attention and military
resources to respond to a domestic emergency. While scientists do not attribute single
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events to global warming, the storm gave Americans a visual image of what climate
change -- which scientists believe will likely exacerbate the severity and number of
extreme weather events -- might mean for the future.
The large, heavily populated coastal areas of the United States are vulnerable to these
kinds of extreme weather events, suggesting homeland security will require readiness
against climate change. Moreover, scientists tell us that poor countries in the developing
world, particularly in Africa and Asia, are the most vulnerable. They are likely to be hit
hardest by climate change, potentially putting hundreds of thousands of people on the
move from climate change-related storms, floods and droughts. In such circumstances,
outside militaries may be called on to prevent humanitarian tragedies and broader
disorder.
A number of recent studies have begun making these kinds of links between climate
change and national security. My report for the Council on Foreign Relations goes
further, focusing on what should be done in three main areas: risk reduction and
adaptation; mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions; and institutional changes in the U.S.
government.
Risk Reduction and Adaptation. Sadly, some climate change is inevitable. The U.S.
needs to "climate proof" its domestic infrastructure including military installations,
particularly along its coasts, to ensure it is prepared to withstand and respond to extreme
weather events. As Hurricane Katrina showed, investments in risk reduction are likely to
be much cheaper than disaster response. I support substantial investment in risk
reduction: coastal defenses, building codes, emergency response plans, and evacuation
strategies, among other measures. I also recommend enhanced vulnerability assessments
to know where the risks are.
These are "no regrets" measures that are warranted in the unlikely event climate change
proves to be less of a problem than feared. Internationally, developing countries need tens
of billions, yet the U.S. government has done very little to support this agenda. I
recommend several activities to help developing countries prepare for climate change,
including $100 million (over several years) for military-to-military environmental
security workshops. I recommend another $100 million per year to support an African
Risk Reduction Pool, a common fund from which Defense, State, and other agencies
would draw from to support security in Africa. These expenditures would be part of a
broader international risk reduction effort that I argue should be on par with the
president's five-year, $15 billion emergency plan for AIDS relief.
Strategic Climate Mitigation. We cannot adapt our way out of this problem. Unless the
world significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of this century,
climate change will exceed even many rich countries' adaptive capacities. To that end, we
need to reach agreement among the major emitters, most importantly China and India.
Whether or not they remain on good terms with the United States will depend, in part, on
how we handle their aspirations for respect and needs for energy. Handled badly, U.S.
relations with China and India could sour. Handled well, the U.S. can reduce greenhouse
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gas emissions cost effectively, support clean technology exports, satisfy their energy
demand, and solidify a more constructive relationship.
Institutions. Climate and security concerns do not get the attention they deserve in the
U.S. government because they have few high-level champions. A new deputy
undersecretary of defense position for environmental security should be created to redress
the insufficient institutionalization of climate and environmental concerns in the
Department of Defense. That said, we should not confuse national defense with what the
military can do. As the risk reduction agenda makes clear, other instruments of national
power will also be needed. To that end, the U.S. needs several senior positions in the
National Security Council dedicated to environmental security, including a Deputy
National Security Advisor for Sustainable Development to guide the inter-agency
process. The links between climate and security still might not get sufficient attention. A
special advisor to the president on climate change with some budgetary authority might
also help.
The policy proposals presented in my report have the potential to strengthen national
security by reducing U.S. vulnerabilities to climate change at home and abroad, securing
and stabilizing important partners, and contributing to other goals such as energy security
and industrial revitalization. In a world of new security challenges, forging a climate
policy along these lines must be a national priority.
Joshua Busby is an assistant professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the
University of Texas at Austin. This essay is based on his recent Council on Foreign
Relations special report on climate change and national security.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/03/21/AR2008032102631.html
Air Force Prod Aids Coal-To-Fuel Plans
By MATTHEW BROWN, the Associated Press
The Washington Post
Saturday, March 22, 2008
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. -- On a wind-swept air base near the
Missouri River, the Air Force has launched an ambitious plan to wean itself from foreign
oil by turning to a new and unlikely source: coal.
The Air Force wants to build at its Malmstrom base in central Montana the first piece of
what it hopes will be a nationwide network of facilities that would convert domestic coal
into cleaner-burning synthetic fuel.
Air Force officials said the plants could help neutralize a national security threat by
tapping into the country's abundant coal reserves. And by offering itself as a partner in
the Malmstrom plant, the Air Force hopes to prod Wall Street investors _ nervous over
coal's role in climate change _ to sink money into similar plants nationwide.
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"We're going to be burning fossil fuels for a long time, and there's three times as much
coal in the ground as there are oil reserves," said Air Force Assistant Secretary William
Anderson. "Guess what? We're going to burn coal."
Tempering that vision, analysts say, is the astronomical cost of coal-to-liquids plants.
Their high price tag, up to $5 billion apiece, would be hard to justify if oil prices were to
drop. In addition, coal has drawn wide opposition on Capitol Hill, where some leading
lawmakers reject claims it can be transformed into a clean fuel. Without emissions
controls, experts say coal-to-liquids plants could churn out double the greenhouse gases
as oil.
"We don't want new sources of energy that are going to make the greenhouse gas
problem even worse," House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.,
said in a recent interview.
The Air Force would not finance, construct or operate the coal plant. Instead, it has
offered private developers a 700-acre site on the base and a promise that it would be a
ready customer as the government's largest fuel consumer.
Bids on the project are due in May. Construction is expected to take four years once the
Air Force selects a developer.
Anderson said the Air Force plans to fuel half its North American fleet with a syntheticfuel blend by 2016. To do so, it would need 400 million gallons of coal-based fuel
annually.
With the Air Force paving the way, Anderson said the private sector would follow _ from
commercial air fleets to long-haul trucking companies.
"Because of our size, we can move the market along," he said. "Whether it's (coal-based)
diesel that goes into Wal-Mart trucks or jet fuel that goes into our fighters, all that will
reduce our dependence on foreign oil, which is the endgame."
Coal producers have been unsuccessful in prior efforts to cultivate such a market. Climate
change worries prompted Congress last year to turn back an attempt to mandate the use
of coal-based synthetic fuels.
The Air Force's involvement comes at a critical time for the industry. Coal's biggest
customers, electric utilities, have scrapped at least four dozen proposed coal-fired power
plants over rising costs and the uncertainties of climate change.
That would change quickly if coal-to-liquids plants gained political and economic
traction under the Air Force's plan.
"This is a change agent for the entire industry," said John Baardson, CEO of Baard
Energy in Vancouver, Wash., which is awaiting permits on a proposed $5 billion coal-
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based synthetic fuels plant in Ohio. "There would be a number of plants that would be
needed just to support (the Air Force's) needs alone."
Only about 15 percent of the 25,000 barrels of synthetic fuel that would be produced
daily at the Malmstrom plant would be suitable for jet fuel. The remainder would be
lower-grade diesel for vehicles, trains or trucks and naphtha, a material used in the
chemical industry.
That means the Air Force would need at least seven plants of the same size to meet its
2016 goal, said Col. Bobbie "Griff" Griffin, senior assistant to Anderson.
Coal producers have their sights set even higher.
A 2006 report from the National Coal Council said a fully mature coal-to-liquids industry
serving the commercial sector could produce 2.6 million barrels of fuel a day by 2025.
Such an industry would more than double the nation's coal production, according to the
industry-backed Coal-to-Liquids Coalition.
On Wall Street, however, skepticism lingers.
"Is it a viable technology? Certainly it is. The challenge seems to be getting the first
couple (of plants) done," said industry analyst Gordon Howald with Calyon Securities.
"For a company to commit to this and then five years later oil is back at $60 _ this
becomes the worst idea that ever happened."
Only two coal-to-liquids plants are now operating worldwide, all in South Africa. A third
is scheduled to come online in China this year, said Corey Henry with the Coal-toLiquids Coalition.
The Air Force is adamant it can advance the technology used in those plants to turn dirty
coal into a "green fuel," by capturing the carbon dioxide and other, more toxic emissions
produced during manufacturing.
However, that would not address emissions from burning the fuel, said Robert Williams,
a senior research scientist at Princeton University. To do more than simply break even,
the industry must reduce the amount of coal used in the synthetic-fuel blend and
supplement it with a fuel derived from plants, Williams said.
Air force officials said they were investigating that possibility.
In a recent letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Rep. Waxman wrote that a promise
to control greenhouse gas emissions from synthetic fuels was not enough. Waxman and
the committee's ranking Republican, Virginia's Tom Davis, cited a provision in the
energy bill approved by Congress last year that bars federal agencies from entering
contracts for synthetic fuels unless they emit the same or fewer greenhouse gases as
petroleum.
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Anderson said the Air Force will meet the law's requirements.
"They'd like to have (coal-to-liquids) because of security concerns _ a reliable source of
power. They're not thinking beyond that one issue," Waxman said. "(Climate change) is
also a national security concern."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/03/22/AR2008032200722_2.html
Still deeply rooted in social action
Jerry Rubin has protested many things over the years; right now his cause is ficus trees in
Santa Monica.
By Francisco Vara-Orta
The Los Angeles Times
Sunday March 23, 2008
It's been almost 30 years since his first protest, and he's still a fixture at political events in
Los Angeles, protesting with placards, speaking at Santa Monica City Council meetings
and walking thousands of miles cross-country -- all for a cause.
He's Jerry Rubin, and he's not afraid to hug a tree in public.
On a recent afternoon, in fact, Rubin visited Palisades Park in Santa Monica and wrapped
his arms around the tree that marked the site of his wedding 25 years ago. He also
attached a sign to it promoting his Treesavers organization.
"We need to continue to plant the seeds of peace," said Rubin, as he walked away. "Every
time a tree dies, I'll be back to help put another up."
But Rubin's real passion at the moment is for 54 ficus trees in downtown Santa Monica.
The city wants to remove them as part of an $8-million beautification project, but a court
order has temporarily blocked the power saws. Rubin has suggested that he may chain
himself to a ficus to keep the city from carrying out its plan.
The showdown would be just one in a very long string of protest moments.
Troubled youth
Rubin will turn 65 this year. But the first half of his life gave no hint of the activist to
come.
Born on Dec. 11, 1943, to Abraham and Betty Rubin in Philadelphia, he was the second
of three boys. His parents separated when he was 6, and the Rubin brothers spent six
months in a foster home until Betty Rubin got sole custody of her children.
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Though Rubin recalls his childhood as "enjoyable," a downward spiral started in middle
school, where he was bullied, he says, primarily because he is Jewish. He started
experiencing epileptic seizures at age 12. His inability to cope with the bullying and his
health problems led to excessive truancy in high school, eventually landing him in a
youth detention home.
"I don't blame anyone; if anything, I'll just blame myself for being dumb," Rubin said. "I
was so defiant and rebellious on one hand, but then felt so inferior on the other."
A high school dropout, Rubin worked a series of odd jobs in Philadelphia. At age 23, he
came to Los Angeles, following his brother Marty.
But Rubin soon fell in with a crowd of habitual drug users -- heroin, angel dust, crystal
meth -- and would live much of the next 12 years in a haze that included 18
hospitalizations, five suicide attempts and the use of a toy gun in an attempted robbery of
a Hollywood shoe store. (A decade later, Rubin lobbied lawmakers to outlaw toy guns
that resembled real weapons.)
In 1978, after the deaths of two good friends, Rubin stopped using drugs, he said. Then
he started taking classes at Santa Monica City College, where another student gave him a
ticket to a "No Nukes" concert at the Hollywood Bowl in the summer of 1979.
"It was the moment of change," Rubin said. "I don't know how it happened, but I realized
I wasn't doing anything with my life."
In the land of reinvention, Rubin, who is often confused with the Vietnam-era protester of
the same name who died in 1994, declared himself a peace activist, crusading against
nuclear weapons, development of wetlands, Ralph Nader's 2004 presidential bid, the
opening of a Hooter's restaurant and the ficus removal in Santa Monica, where he lives.
His first hunger strike was in 1981, when he walked nearly 200 miles from Santa Monica
to the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on California's Central Coast. At the time, he
was on probation for smashing a piece of cake into the face of Edward Teller, the "father
of the hydrogen bomb," at a UCLA speaking engagement.
In 1986, Rubin was one of 400 people who made the 3,300-mile trek from Los Angeles
to Washington, D.C., to rally support for global nuclear disarmament.
Views are mixed on the effectiveness of his tactics; critics say they are more publicity
stunt than change agent, but he has his fans.
Marcia Hanscom, an environmentalist based in Playa del Rey, recalls Rubin's water-only
hunger strike in 1997 to persuade DreamWorks executives to discuss their development
plans at Playa Vista.
"A lot of us said to him, 'You might not ever eat again. This isn't a good idea,' " Hanscom
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said. "He was convinced that was the way to do it. When he makes that commitment,
there's no compromising."
After 26 days, Rubin was hospitalized for starvation and dehydration. After doctors said
fasting could kill him, he agreed to drink juice.
The fasting brought him coverage in the media. DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg finally
agreed to meet with Rubin and two other environmentalists, but insisted the fast had
nothing to do with it, Hanscom said. Eventually, DreamWorks scrapped its Playa Vista
plan in 1999, citing financing problems.
"I don't think he's actually a nut, but he can come off as one," said Kevin Zeese, former
press secretary for Nader. "He wasn't effective because Nader stayed in the race, and [his
fasting] was just more of a bother, like a mosquito bite; annoying but not damaging."
Rubin counters, "Sometimes we're successful and sometimes were not, but you have to
try your best within the parameters of peace."
Leadership roles
Based in his tiny condo, Rubin now directs the Alliance for Survival, a grass-roots peace
and environmental organization, and the Activist Support Circle, a support group for
activists. He's also the leader of Treesavers, an informal group of Santa Monica residents
and visitors concerned with protecting the city's trees.
His wife, Marissa, now 68 and retired from working as a mental health practitioner for
UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute, has shared her earnings and her retirement to help
sustain the household while Rubin immerses himself in activism. He says his only
income comes from selling political bumper stickers on the Third Street Promenade; on a
good month he pulls in $600.
One of his best known efforts was to have the term "peace activist" appear under his
name on the ballot when he ran for Santa Monica City Council in 2000. The city clerk
said it would violate state law; Rubin sued, and the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court,
which declined to hear it.
Rubin lost the election, but a Santa Monica Superior Court judge eventually allowed him
the legal designation, which shows up on his state ID card -- he doesn't have a driver's
license and he and Marissa don't own a car.
Richard Bloom, who has been on the Santa Monica City Council since 1999, has agreed
and disagreed with Rubin over the years. He says Rubin can be stubborn but rarely raises
his voice and has never been violent. The two are at odds over the ficus removal.
"Whether or not you agree with him, one of his clear goals is to get your attention, and he
knows how to do that," Bloom said. "I think over the years that Jerry has generally had a
96
positive influence on his causes and the community. He always offers good food for
thought."
francisco.varaorta@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-merubin23mar23,1,1044363,full.story
Book business turning green
A new tome charts publishers' efforts, such as recycled paper and soy-based ink.
By Hillel Italie, Associated Press
The Los Angeles Times
March 24, 2008
NEW YORK -- The latest report about the publishing industry doesn't compile sales
figures, track the market for fiction or lament the future of reading. It does tell a great
deal about books -- not what they say but what they're made of.
"Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts" is an 86-page summary, printed on 50%
post-consumer recycled paper and full of charts about fiber, endangered forests and
carbon footprints. The news: The book world, which uses up more than 1.5 million
metric tons of paper each year, is steadily, if not entirely, finding ways to make
production greener.
"I was very pleasantly surprised," said Tyson Miller, founder and director of the Green
Press Initiative, a nonprofit program which has worked extensively with publishers on
environmental issues. "We're seeing a groundswell of momentum and real measurable
progress."
Commercially, publishers have certainly discovered the benefits of green, with bestsellers
including Deirdre Imus' "Green This!" and Al Gore's companion guide to the Academy
Award-winning movie "An Inconvenient Truth." Environmental themes can be found in
novels, children's stories and business books.
But reading books is healthier than making them. The climate impact survey, released
this month and co-commissioned by Green Press and the nonprofit Book Industry Study
Group, offers a mixed picture about industry practices.
There is great support in theory for going greener, but results are uneven. Just over half of
publishers, for instance, have set specific goals for increasing use of recycled paper.
About 60% have a formal environmental policy or are in the process of completing one.
Declining to name any specific companies, Miller said "the other 40% just aren't taking
the issue seriously or they aren't willing to pay a penny more to move in the right
direction. But," he added, "critical mass has no doubt been reached and my sense is that
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the majority of those publishers that aren't acting will step up and join their peers in this
effort."
Seventy-six publishers, representing just less than half of the market, participated in the
study, along with 13 printers (about 25%) and six paper mills (about 17%).
A turning point came in 2006 when Random House Inc. said that it would increase its use
of recycled paper, saving more than 500,000 trees a year.
Virtually all major publishers have taken some steps. Hyperion switched to soy-based
ink. Penguin Group (USA) uses wind power. And Scholastic Inc. printed the deluxe
edition of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" on 100% post-consumer waste fiber.
The Random House Publishing Group is experimenting with sending books online to
media outlets.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-etgreenbook24mar24,1,3244967.story
A fade to brown at Echo Park Lake
Dead lotus stalks are reminding residents of recent poor blooms.
By Deborah Schoch
Los Angeles Times
Monday March 24, 2008
A wealth of wildlife was stirring in Echo Park on this first evening of spring. The
squawking of geese and gulls drifted across the lake, mingling with children's calls from
the little playground. Palms barely swayed in the cool air.
But in the lake's famous lotus beds, only dry orange-brown stalks protruded from the
murky water, most bent over like weary elders.
They stand as a stark reminder of last year's lotus troubles and, for some strollers, a hint
that change is coming to one of Los Angeles' most iconic parks. Only a fraction of lotus
plants bloomed for last year's Lotus Festival. And although old-timers know well that
lotus leaves and flowers don't emerge until later in the year, some don't remember seeing
a stand of dead stalks in spring.
"It looks plain, sort of empty," said Mirna Rodriguez, 14, of Echo Park, who was walking
alongside Echo Park Lake at dusk.
"They're all dry and ugly," said Heidi Mondragon, 12, also of Echo Park.
In a park this popular, the most incremental change draws the notice of walkers, runners
and cyclists.
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So, where did the dead stalks come from? What about all those turtles found dead last
year? Or the rumors that the lake's concrete walls are failing? Is it true that the city wants
to drain the lake, just as it emptied Silver Lake Reservoir this winter?
Although city workers normally clear out fading leaves and stems after lotus season, the
stems were left alone last fall, noted "The stems have been there, been there, been there.
Not that they're bothering anyone, but I wonder about the departure from policy -- were
there just too few to bother with this year?"
That question is easily answered, say officials at the city Department of Recreation and
Parks. Because of the lotuses' poor performance last summer, they said, workers skipped
the trimming and let the lotus plants go dormant naturally.
Only 30 blossoms appeared in 2007, down from hundreds the year before. Park
employees blamed cold weather and drought.
When the lotuses bloomed too late for the 2006 festival, cool winter and an extra-hot
June were considered the culprits. When the 2004 blooms came early, some cited an
extra-hot May.
The lotuses' recent strange behavior remains a mystery, park staff told the Echo Park
Advisory Board at its regular meeting Tuesday.
"No one can give you a rational scientific explanation ," said board member Isa-Kae
Meksin. And their condition this year? "It's too early to tell," Meksin said. The
underwater plants don't send up new green shoots until late April or May.
The lotus problem is unrelated to the 13 turtles found dead at the park last year, said
Stephen Moe, the park department's water manager.
"They picked up a naturally occurring bacterial infection last year, and some of them
passed away," Moe said. He confirmed rumors of crumbling concrete lake banks.
"Some of the lake edge is deteriorating, and it's slipping down into the water," he said.
Starting in 2010, the city will empty the lake, remove sediment buildup, add screens to
reduce urban runoff and rebuild the lake edges, said Jimmy Tokeshi, a spokesman at the
city's Department of Public Works. The $60-million project will be funded by a 2004
bond measure, he said.
"It's going to address pollutants and stressors found by the state in its studies. Algae.
Ammonia. Copper, lead, PCBs. Trash," Tokeshi said. Cleaner water may lead to healthier
lotus plants, some park staff members said.
Draft plans call for removing the lotus tubers temporarily and replanting them in cleaner
sediment when the project is finished in an estimated 12 to 14 months.
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Musician Jeffrey Davies, 38, and photographer Nanci Sarrouf, 28, whose hillside home
overlooks the lake, wondered how other wildlife would survive the project.
"There's turtle, crayfish, frogs," Davies said.
Sarrouf isn't relishing a drained lake. "It's going to stink," she said.
Some residents walking by the dried stalks said they want their lotuses back -- and sooner
than 2012.
Jennifer Olson, 32, of Echo Park accompanied her son Liam, 2, who has never seen a
normal lotus year.
"It's so beautiful when the leaves come up," Olson said. She curved her arms forward as
if to embrace a large ball. "They're as big as a seat on a tractor. They form a big sea . . .
and the flowers are as big as a child-sized head."
If the lotuses don't bloom this year so that Liam can see them, it won't be for lack of
guardians in the neighborhood.
deborah.schoch@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-lotus24mar24,1,6684989.story
Scientists try to explain dismal salmon run
Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
Monday, March 24, 2008
Amid growing concern over an imminent shutdown of the commercial and sport chinook
salmon season, scientists are struggling to figure out why the largest run on the West
Coast hit rock bottom and what Californians can do to bring it back.
The chinook salmon - born in the rivers, growing in the bay and ocean, and returning to
home rivers to spawn - need two essential conditions early in life to prosper: safe passage
through the rivers to the bay and lots of seafood to eat once they reach the ocean.
Yet, the Sacramento River run of salmon that was expected to fill fish markets in May
didn't find those life-sustaining conditions. And some scientists say that's the likeliest
explanation for why the number of returning spawners plummeted last fall to roughly
90,000, about 10 percent of the peak reached just a few years ago.
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The devastating one-two punch happened as the water projects in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta pumped record amounts of snowmelt and rainwater to farms and
cities in Southern California, degrading the salmon's habitat. And once the chinook
reached the ocean, they couldn't find the food they needed to survive where and when
they needed it.
"You need good conditions in the rivers and ocean to get survival and good returns for
spawning," said Stephen Ralston, supervisory research fisheries biologist with the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, and a science adviser to
the Pacific Coast Fishery Management Council.
Without those favorable conditions, the salmon run crashed. Five years ago, the peak was
872,700 returning spawners. Roughly 90,000 were counted in 2007, and only 63,900 are
expected to return to spawn in fall 2008.
Helped by cool-water winter
The fishery council, a regulatory body charged with setting fishing limits, has
recommended a full closure or a strict curtailment of the commercial and sport season. A
final decision will come in April.
NOAA researchers say a cool-water winter will help the beleaguered run in the future.
An influx of cold Alaska waters, along with a shot of nutrients from vigorous upwelling
of deep waters, have been fueling the food chain that feeds salmon, birds and marine
mammals.
But the scientists warn that chinook, which have swum through the San Francisco Bay
for thousands of years, have suffered human harm over the past half-century and now
also need human help.
They've proposed a number of solutions, including sending more water over the dams
and reservoirs and down the tributaries where salmon spawn; removing barriers to
migration such as old dams; screening the fish away from the pumps and diversion pipes
that suck them up, misdirect or kill them; controlling pesticide and sewage pollution - and
catching fewer fish while the populations try to rebuild.
Over the millennia, salmon have been born in the Central Valley rivers. At about six
months, they head through the delta. At 10 months and only 4-inches long, they reach the
ocean and start feeding voraciously in the Gulf of the Farallones on small shrimp, krill
and young rockfish.
From there they move to the open waters from Monterey to Vancouver Island in British
Columbia until 3 or 4 years of age or older. Then they return home to their birth river to
reproduce and die. The young come down the rivers, and the cycle begins again.
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The problems for the troubled fall run began in 2004 and 2005, the years the chinook
were born and traveled to the ocean. In those two years, the federal Central Valley
Project and the State Water Project exported record amounts of delta water to urban and
agricultural customers in Southern California.
2005 a bad year for chinook
In 2005, a crucial year for the young salmon, 55 percent of natural river flows never
made it out to the bay, according to records of the state Department of Water Resources.
The water was either exported by the water agencies, diverted upstream of the delta or
held back by dams.
"The flows were less than what the salmon needed, and the populations are collapsing,"
said Tina Swanson, senior scientist with the Bay Institute. Even if water agencies are
meeting minimum standards, they are inadequate to protect the fish, she said.
A network of nonprofits, including the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, filed a
notice Tuesday with the State Water Resources Control Board, saying it would sue if it
doesn't curb pumping.
But when looking for an answer to the fall run collapse, Jerry Johns, deputy director of
the state Department of Water Resources, said there are many causes for the salmon's
decline.
"You can't just simply blame it on the pumps," he said. Ocean conditions, a reduction of
phytoplankton in the bay, the amount of salmon fishing, natural die-off and other factors
are part of the broader picture, he said.
There may have been increases in exports to water customers in recent years, but the
crucial point is whether there was also an increase in rainfall and snowmelt, he said. That
would mean there was more water to divert.
State and federal water project representatives say they follow requirements put forth in
their permits, which, among other things, ensure a big enough water supply to protect
endangered species and provide certain minimum temperatures. They've aided the salmon
by removing dams, screening off diversion pipes and improving habitat.
Biologists caution that salmon need generous flows of cold water at almost every life
stage. The fish also need the fresh river water from the reservoirs at the right times,
particularly in the fall and summer.
"The adults come upstream in the fall to spawn partly because they're responding to
cooler water temperatures," said Peter Moyle, professor of fish biology at UC Davis. "If
the females have to swim through water that's too warm, their eggs don't mature as well.
Some don't hatch at all."
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Some females, Moyle said, just stop migrating and wait for cool water. "They know from
evolutionary perspective that if they don't wait until the water gets cold, the young won't
survive," he said. In the end, they spawn or die before spawning.
'Squirrelly' ocean conditions
According to Moyle, good ocean conditions can somewhat make up for drought in the
river systems and vice versa. But ocean conditions have been "squirrelly" in the last
several years with a number of anomalies that produced abnormally warm conditions not
good for salmon, he said.
"Usually, salmon populations are at their worst when conditions are bad in both fresh
water and salt water," Moyle said. Some scientists think that is what happened to the
2007 fall run.
Once in the ocean, salmon must gorge on small sea creatures to survive.
In 2005 and 2006, the years that the 2007 fall run needed food near the shore in the Gulf
of the Farallones, the upwelling of nutrients apparently came too late to produce the small
fish that feed the salmon.
Most of the scientists studying the ocean link the unexpected bouts of rising temperatures
to global warming. As the atmosphere and oceans have warmed, researchers have had to
discard the theory of decades of warmer, then cooler, ocean temperatures. Now they
expect an unpredictability, which is projected in climate models.
"What's happening is that the rockfish, the squid, the krill, the anchovies and the
community of critters that salmon feed on changed dramatically in 2004 to the prey that
is not as favorable to salmon," NOAA's Ralston said.
The distribution of the sea life also changed. Young rockfish moved well to the north or
to the south of Central California, he said.
Ralston's hypothesis is that animals are adapted to finding food at certain times and in
certain locations. "When salmon arrive in the ocean, they'll go to certain areas to find
their food as they have for millennia," he said. "If we have a major change, their fitness,
their ocean survival is compromised."
Bill Peterson, a NOAA researcher in Newport, Ore., offered some hope for a cooler
offshore current, although he cautioned that there would be a few years of hard times for
chinook.
"It's looking kind of good this year" with five months of cold ocean currents, he said. But
the scientists are "very guarded" because in the past two years the ocean was cold in the
winter, and then the winds that brought upwelling quit in May and June, reducing the
zooplankton that feed the prey of the salmon.
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Peterson would like to see measures that would aid the salmon.
"These fish are so resilient and tough," Peterson said. "We should be a little nicer to
them."
Graphic: How a combination of river and ocean events during the chinook salmon's lifecycle may have contributed to one of the lowest counts on record in 2007 of the returning
Sacramento River run. A14
E-mail Jane Kay at jkay@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/24/MN1BVMR10.DTL
Green groups flourish under Bush presidency
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, March 23, 2008
DEVELOPMENT: Countless cries of alarm from environmental groups
WIDER VIEW: Yes, there are crises, big and small, from global warming to
antidepressant pills in the waste trickling into San Francisco Bay. But there isn't a crisis
in the environmental movement. Far from it: Greens have flourished during the reign of
the anti-green President Bush. Many groups' revenue has grown faster than inflation, and
at some groups it has boomed, according to an analysis by High Country News. The 800pound gorilla, the Nature Conservancy, topped $1 billion in annual revenue (up 28
percent since 2000), while Natural Resources Defense Council hit $70 million (up about
80 percent). The Sierra Club's revenue growth was modest - up 12 percent, to $81 million
- but in 2004, it spiked to $94 million due to electioneering activities, and the group's
people-power grew 23 percent (to total a record 800,000 members). The upward trend
demonstrates public opposition to Bush's policies and growing awareness that there are,
indeed, crises we need to tackle.
- Ray Ring / High Country News
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND?
DEVELOPMENT: The Boulder, Colo., scandal that won't go away
WIDER VIEW: No, it's not the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, it's the wealthy couple who
"stole" land - and got away with it in court. An irate person sent Dick McLean and Edie
Stevens bullets and a threatening letter ("Back in the Old West, we had a way to deal
with your kind...").
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The perpetrator is unknown, but local rumor has it that the couple sent the package to
themselves to garner sympathy.
The land - on the ironically named Hardscrabble Drive - is one of the few remaining
undeveloped parcels in a neighborhood of $1.2 million homes. Although Don and Susie
Kirlin have owned it since the mid-1980s, McLean and Stevens used the legal doctrine
known as adverse possession to claim they were more "attached," having used the lot for
20 years. The Kirlins have appealed. Whatever happens, it's hard to imagine McLean and
Stevens hosting barbecues anytime soon. As one angry local resident warned: "You'll
never enjoy a stolen view."
- Monique Cole / High Country News www.hcn.org
This article appeared on page G - 5 of the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/23/BAUNVNAEJ.DTL
SACRAMENTO - Probe sought over parks panel ousters
Associated Press
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, March 23, 2008
(03-23) 04:00 PDT Sacramento - -- A national environmental group is calling for a
legislative investigation into Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's removal of his brother-inlaw, Bobby Shriver, and actor-director Clint Eastwood from a state parks panel.
The Natural Resources Defense Council had initially called on Schwarzenegger to
reinstate Shriver and Eastwood to the State Park and Recreation Commission.
But the council said Saturday it wants the state Senate to investigate the decision to
remove them after learning that state law does not allow the governor to reappoint them
for at least a year.
The governor told Shriver and Eastwood on Monday that they would not be reappointed
to the parks commission, where they had opposed a Schwarzenegger-backed plan to build
a toll road through San Onofre State Beach, one of Southern California's most cherished
surfing beaches.
"The circumstances make very clear the governor's action is attributable to his support of
the toll road and their opposition to it," said Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney at the
defense council. "For them to be essentially dismissed from the commission based on
their actions to defend San Onofre is unacceptable."
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Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said Saturday the governor will not change
his mind.
The Republican governor told the Orange County Register's editorial board Thursday that
criticism of the toll road did not factor into his decision to remove Shriver and Eastwood.
"They served their four-year terms, and they've served the state of California really well,"
Schwarzenegger said. "And now it's time to change and let other people that are very
excited about being on this commission to be part of this."
Shriver, a Santa Monica city councilman who is the brother of the governor's wife, Maria
Shriver, told the Associated Press that he and Eastwood had asked the governor for third
terms.
Bobby Shriver said a Schwarzenegger aide told them Monday evening that they would be
replaced in what Shriver described as a power play by toll road developers who "were
able to arm-wrestle the governor into firing us."
Shriver said Saturday that he doesn't expect the governor to reverse his decision.
Eastwood, a former mayor of Carmel, did not return a call seeking comment Saturday.
Eastwood and Shriver were appointed to the commission in 2001 by former Gov. Gray
Davis. Schwarzenegger reappointed them in 2004.
In 2005, Shriver, as commission chairman, and Eastwood, as vice chairman, led the panel
in its unanimous opposition to a six-lane toll road that would cut through San Onofre
State Beach.
Shriver and Eastwood supported a 2006 lawsuit to block the toll road and urged the
California Coastal Commission to reject the project, which it did last month. That
decision is being appealed by local transportation agencies.
Schwarzenegger, who has visited the area, said in a Jan. 15 letter to the coastal
commission that the toll road was "essential to protect our environment" by helping to
relieve freeway gridlock in Orange and San Diego counties.
This article appeared on page B - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/23/BAL5VOUMO.DTL
Scientists seek climate clues on Antarctic voyage
DAVID FOGARTY Reuters
The Globe and Mail
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Saturday March 22, 2008
SINGAPORE — Scientists set off on a voyage to Antarctica on Saturday to see if the ice
sheets at the edge of the vast continent are melting faster and whether the Southern Ocean
is soaking up less climate-warming carbon dioxide.
The Southern Ocean absorbs a large amount of the carbon dioxide emitted by industry,
power stations and transport, acting as a brake on climate change.
"Some recent results suggest the Southern Ocean is becoming less effective at absorbing
CO2 than it used to be," said Steve Rintoul of Australia's government-backed research
arm the CSIRO.
"If it were to become less effective in absorbing it, that would tend to accelerate the rate
of climate change," he said.
"Our measurements of how much carbon dioxide is accumulating in the ocean will
provide a critical test of this hypothesis."
Mr. Rintoul is leading an international team of researchers aboard the Aurora Australis
that left the southern Australian city Hobart, in Tasmania, on Saturday.
The scientists from Australia, Britain, France and the United States, will spend nearly a
month taking measurements of the Southern Ocean between Antarctica and Hobart to see
how the ocean is changing and what those changes might mean for the world's climate.
The Southern Ocean is also a key part of the global system of ocean currents that shift
heat around the planet, a key driver of the world's weather.
Past voyages led by Mr. Rintoul have detected changes in the ocean that could mean ice
is melting faster in Antarctica.
The latest voyages aims to test that theory and the scientists will take a variety of
measurements, including salinity, temperature and ocean chemistry, such as carbon
dioxide and CFC concentrations.
JOURNEY TO THE DEPTHS
The vessel will deploy a device called CTD (conductivity, temperature and depth), that
will be lowered to the sea floor about 4 1/2 kilometres below and then takes a series of
water samples as it returns to the surface.
One of the most important tests will be checking the salinity of the water at the bottom of
the sea. So-called Antarctic bottom water helps power the great ocean conveyor belt.
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This is a system of currents spanning the Southern, Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans
that shifts heat around the globe.
Mr. Rintoul, of Australia's Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre, says past
measurements by his expeditions have shown bottom water is becoming fresher.
"If it turns out that bottom water is freshening because the ice in Antarctica is melting
more rapidly, then that has implications for sea level rise and for the future behaviour of
the Antarctic icesheet," he said.
Normally, water at the surface near Antarctica is made so cold and salty it becomes dense
enough to sink to the bottom of the ocean where.
The same thing happens in the far north Atlantic Ocean near Greenland and together this
helps drive the ocean conveyor belt.
This system brings warm water into the far north Atlantic, making Europe warmer than it
would otherwise be, and also drives the large flow of upper ocean water from the tropical
Pacific to the Indian Ocean through the Indonesia Archipelago.
If these currents were to slow or stop, the world's climate would be thrown into a chaos.
"If we see the dense water formed in the south near Antarctica is changing, it might
provide an early indication that this system of ocean currents, which is maintaining our
climate in its present state, might be susceptible to change," Mr. Rintoul said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080322.wantarctic0322/BNSt
ory/National/
We've been here before, and it wasn't pretty the first time
By ANDREW NIKIFORUK
Saturday March 22, 2008
THE GREAT WARMING
Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations
By Brian Fagan
Bloomsbury, 282 pages, $29.95
While the Arctic melts and our glaciers disappear, one by one, like guests at a late-night
party, Canada's political elites remain the only guys too drunk to recognize that the
climate is changing. Let's face it: Global warming probably will never sober up
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Conservative or Liberal leaders as long as tar-sands taxes fill the federal treasury, lower
the GST and give the loonie a petro swagger. And they are not the first group of rulers to
ignore the weather.
During the medieval ages, a great warming similar to our fossil-fuelled meltdown
profoundly changed civilizations from the Norse to the Khmer. Archeologists call it the
Medieval Warm Period, and it served up a "silent and oft-ignored killer": drought. The
dry-out even parched much of present-day Alberta.
In a book that reads like climate déjà vu, well-known University of California
anthropologist Brian Fagan shows that the Medieval Warm Period humbled political
elites and demolished their well-engineered empires with equanimity.
Fagan says we're now entering another era of extreme aridity, and that the challenges of
adapting to water shortages and crop failures won't be easy. Although elites can ignore
the climate, Fagan says, the climate won't ignore them. It never has.
Fagan begins his tidy and fascinating climate fable with a look at how a great warming
from the 10th to the 15th century really rearranged Europe. There, a rise of one or two
degrees actually favoured abundant crops and even established wine industries in
southern England and Norway.
Reliable harvests, however, encouraged much peasant begetting. Rising human
population, much like a pine beetle epidemic, leads to unprecedented forest clearing.
Forests, then as now "the mantle of the poor," served as a communal form of ecological
insurance that provided game, herbs, firewood and grazing space for animals.
But during the great warming, Europeans chopped down their ancient forests to grow
more meat, honey and flour. When the Little Ice Age came, along with the Black Death,
Rinderpest and other climate-driven surprises, Europe lost a third of its population. There
simply was no mantle for misfortune.
The medieval warming changed the global map for the Norse, too. Thanks to warmer
weather, they rowed out of the fjords of crowded Norway and founded a number of Club
Viking destinations. Thanks to favourable ice conditions, Club Viking even settled
Greenland and explored the Canadian Arctic, where they encountered the Thule, an Inuit
people on the move due to ice-free water. Trade in walrus ivory and iron made the two
cultures temporary global partners until temperatures started to drop again.
But for much of the world, the great warming basically served up "megadroughts" and an
ever-diminishing larder. In California, for example, sustained aridity killed off oak trees,
source of the carbohydrate-rich acorn for the Chumash people. (Just prior to the Spanish
conquest, aboriginals harvested 60,000 metric tons of acorns, a bounty greater than the
state's current sweet corn production.) But drought reminded the Chumash that counting
on acorns to provide 50 per cent of dinner could quickly translate into a crash diet.
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Drought, the product of the tempestuous Pacific marriage between ocean and atmosphere,
also emptied the pueblos in Chaco Canyon. While a decade-long dry spell pumped
people, plants and animals out of the southwest of North America (as well as Alberta), it
also dried up the lowlands of the Guatemala peninsula, taking down the Maya.
Jared Diamond, the author of Collapse, has covered this territory well, but Fagan adds
some critical details. In a land of unpredictable rainfall, Mayan rulers constructed
elaborate and huge water reservoirs in Tikal and other fabled cities, becoming "Lords of
the Water Mountains."
The elites, who considered themselves divinely infallible, had no real sense of tragedy,
and that's just when the climate served up a super drought. In the face of hunger and
thirst, ordinary people abandoned their rulers, who squatted alone on blood-stained
pyramids. The implosion of the Maya, Fagan says, "is a sobering reminder of what can
happen when societies subsist off unpredictable water sources, and through their efforts,
put more demands on the water supply than it can sustain."
Droughts also humbled Asia during the great warming. In northern China, the Yellow
River basin (Huang He) has always made too much or not enough water for nearly half of
China's people. The Medieval Warm Period delivered some spectacular droughts and
mass famine. Thanks to industrialization and Maya-like water managers, China remains
"even more vulnerable to catastrophe today."
Fagan, a veteran chronicler of how climate can undo a society's best-laid plans, cements
his lucid and often surprising observations on this climate event with much scientific data
collected from ice cores and tree rings. He admits that there is still much debate about
what caused the great warming, and nobody really knows how hot it actually got. But no
one doubts that the dramatic event turned a grape-like bunch of civilizations into raisins.
In his final chapter, Fagan explains why climate history matters, and it's not inspiring
reading. Britain's esteemed Hadley Centre for Climate Change recently documented a 25per-cent increase in global drought since the 1990s. Right now, about 3 per cent of the
planet is drying up. Global warming will soon place a third of the Earth in extreme
drought and force another half of the world's land mass to taste "moderate drought." Such
abiding dryness will "challenge even small cities, to say nothing of thirsty metropolises
like Los Angeles, Phoenix and Tucson." Even Las Vegas could lose a craps game or two.
But history in a virtual age remains an impoverished teacher, much like truth speaking.
The good news, Fagan says, is that highly nomadic communities with diverse food
supplies often read the weather signs and move. The bad news is that elites try to supermanage their way out of droughts, with disastrous results for ordinary people.
Fagan's account of how dry spells humbled the Khmer of Angkor Wat and probably
propelled Genghis Khan out of the Mongolian steppes certainly won't move imperial
mountains in Ottawa. But for ordinary readers, Fagan's book serves as another warning
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about a true marvel: It only takes a temperature change of a Celsius degree or two to
rapidly unsettle the order of things.
Andrew Nikiforuk's next book, The Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of the Continent,
will be published this fall.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080322.BKWARM22/TPStory/?q
uery=climate+change
COVER STORY: SOLAR POWER
LESSONS FROM GERMANY'S ENERGY RENAISSANCE
The world's alternative-energy superpower has lured companies from around the world
with offers of funding and support they can't refuse. Canada still has time to capitalize on
the demand for clean, sustainable power
The Globe and Mail
March 22, 2008
BERLIN -- Solar power will cost next to nothing. The fuel - the sun - is free. The price of
the photovoltaic cells used to covert sunlight into electricity will plummet.
Just give it time.
That's the theory of Ian MacLellan, the founder, vice-chairman and chief technology
officer of Arise Technologies, a Canadian photovoltaic (PV) cell company. But there's
one small hitch: Arise doesn't have time.
PV cells are still expensive. The solar energy market needs priming. Arise shareholders
want profits. Mr. MacLellan is 51 and would like to see his company make a buck before
he's a senior citizen.
Enter Germany. The ever-so-generous Germans tracked him down and made him an offer
he couldn't refuse - free money, and lots of it - as long as Arise promised to build a PV
factory on German soil. The German love-fest even came with flowers for Mr.
MacLellan's wife, Cathy.
Today, Arise's first factory is about a month away from completion in Bischofswerda, a
pretty eastern German town about 35 kilometres east of Dresden, in the state of Saxony.
Covering two storeys and 100,000 square feet, the sleek grey metal building will have
some 150 employees and produce enough PV cells each year to power the equivalent of
60,000 houses. The value of the annual output, based on today's prices, will be $375million, or more than three times the company's current value on the Toronto Stock
Exchange.
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"I couldn't build this in Canada," Mr. MacLellan said. "Germany is a very high-quality
environment for us. I have nothing to worry about."
Arise couldn't build the plant in Canada because the level of financial incentives,
engineering and construction expertise and general awareness of the growth potential of
renewable energy simply don't exist there.
Those factors are abundant in Germany and it shows: The country has become the world
leader in renewable energy technology, manufacturing, sales and employment. The
German map is dotted with hundreds of renewable energy companies. They make PV
cells, wind turbines, solar thermal panels, biofuels and technology for biomass plants and
geothermal energy.
No PV cells are made in Canada. The Canadian solar industry, lured by money and
markets, is jumping across the Atlantic and landing in Germany and a few other
European countries with generous incentives.
The German and Saxony governments, with a little help from the European Union,
offered Arise about €50-million ($80-million) in financing. The package included a €25million grant, which is being used to offset half the cost of building the factory and
installing the three assembly lines, and €22.5-million of working credit lines and
equipment loans at highly attractive rates.
The land was cheap and included a handsome, though abandoned, brick building from
1818 that began life as an army barracks, became a dance hall after the First World War
and a Soviet military barracks during the Cold War.
Arise plans to restore the old pile and use it as an office and corporate retreat. "We're
turning an old military base into a solar factory - how 21st Century is that?" Mr.
MacLellan asked.
Germany has created 240,000 jobs in the renewable energy industry, 140,000 of them
since 2001, said Matthias Machnig, State Secretary for the federal Ministry of the
Environment. Renewable energy technologies already make up 4 to 5 per cent of
Germany's gross domestic product; Mr. Machnig expects the figure to rise to 16 per cent
by 2025.
Renewables generated 14 per cent of the country's electricity last year, significantly
ahead of the 12.5-per-cent target set for 2010. "We are making a huge investment in the
markets of the future," Mr. Machnig said.
How did Germany turn green technology into a leading industry? And is the aggressive
effort to attract renewable energy companies, backed by scads of taxpayers' money, a
formula that should be imitated in Canada or its provinces? Mr. MacLellan thinks so. "I
think Ontario is in a leading position to clone Germany," he said.
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GERMANY'S VAST renewable energy industry is a careful and deliberate blend of
industrial, political and green policies. Wind power has been leading the charge.
Germany is a windy country and the ubiquitous wind farms generated 7.4 per cent of
Germany's electricity last year.
With onshore wind energy growth starting to level off - offshore wind probably will take
off once favourable regulations are in place - the Germans are injecting the photovoltaic
industry with growth hormones. "In a few years, the PV industry could be bigger than the
German car industry," said Thomas Grigoleit, senior manager for renewable energy for
Invest In Germany, a government investment agency.
It should come as little surprise that Germany has become green energy's focal point. The
country is a natural resources desert. It lacks oil and natural gas and its coal production,
which is heavily subsidized, is falling. The country has a moratorium on nuclear energy
development. Renewable energy is more than just a feel-good exercise; Germany sees it
as securing its energy future in a world of disappearing fossil fuels.
There's more to it than energy security. Germany is both latching onto, and propelling, an
industrial trend. It wants to do to renewables what it did to the car industry; that is, create
a jobs and export juggernaut. "We are at the beginning of the third industrial revolution,"
said Mr. Machnig, referring to the growth potential for renewable energy.
Germany is using its political might to ensure it benefits mightily from the green
revolution. The country is Europe's biggest economy and the continent's (and the world's)
biggest exporter. As the economic heavyweight, it has a lot of political influence over its
neighbours, said Paul Dubois, Canada's ambassador to Germany. "This is the key
country," he said.
Nineteen of the European Union's 27 countries count Germany as their main trading
partner, he noted. The figure for France is only three (Germany, Spain and Malta) and
only one (Ireland) for the United Kingdom.
The upshot: If Germany builds green technology such as wind turbines and solar panels,
its friendly neighbours will be sure to buy them, or so the German government believes.
That translates into the things politicians and economists like - jobs, export earnings,
trade surpluses, international prestige.
There's more. As Europe's most influential country, Germany can pretty much guarantee
that renewable energies will be the growth machine of the future. How? By insisting on
aggressive, EU-wide carbon reduction targets, care of Angela Merkel, the German
Chancellor who is no doubt the greenest European leader.
In February, the EU vowed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020
and said it would try to raise the target to 30 per cent. "If you take climate change
seriously, we have to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 to 80 per cent by 2050," Mr.
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Machnig said. "This is the biggest industrial change ever. This means reducing emissions
[in Germany] from 10 tonnes per capita to two to four tonnes per capita."
Germany doesn't think the reductions are possible without a broad effort that includes
renewable energy, the EU emissions trading system and, of course, a fortune in subsidies
to kick-start the green technologies and guarantee them a market for many years. The
main subsidy for renewable energy generation is the "feed-in tariff," which was
established in 2000 under the Renewable Energy Sources Act.
As far as subsidies go, this one is a beauty. The feed-in tariff for solar electricity is about
50 euro cents per kilowatt-hour, or almost 10 times higher than the market price for
conventionally produced electricity (the subsidy for wind energy is considerably less,
though still well above the market rate).
German utilities must by law buy the renewable electricity. The cost, in turn, is passed on
to the consumer and is buried in his electricity bill. "The feed-in tariff has put Germany
on the world [renewable energy] map," said Mikael Nielsen, the central European vicepresident of sales for Vestas, the Danish wind turbine company that makes turbine blades
in Germany. "If it weren't for the tariff, you wouldn't have a market like this."
The subsidy for all forms of green energy, largely wind, with solar just starting to come
on strong, costs the government about €3.5-billion a year. The figure is expected to rise to
€6-billion by 2015, and then will slowly decline. No wonder the renewable energy
industry is on fire in Germany.
But Germany's lunge into renewable energy is not without its critics. The solar industry
in particular is sucking up tens of billions of euros of grants and the question is whether
taxpayers are getting value for money. "The construction of a solar power plant is
currently an almost riskless investment," the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung said in
November.
RWI Essen, a German economic research institute, published a paper earlier this month
[March] called "Germany's Solar Cell Promotion: Dark Clouds on the Horizon," which
concluded the feed-in tariff has not accomplished two of the government's most cherished
goals - job creation and carbon reduction.
The subsidies for German solar energy probably rank as the highest in the world, thanks
to the feed-in tariff and other subsidies. RWI estimated the total subsidies per job created
in the PV industry (based on the subsidies and direct PV employment in 2006) at an
astounding €205,000.
The tariff has created more demand than the German PV market can satisfy. In fact, most
of the PV cells have been imported, creating jobs abroad, not in Germany (though this
may change as Germany attracts manufacturers like Arise). RWI argues that billions of
euros in subsidies have crowded out investment in other, perhaps more promising,
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technologies and has probably made the PV industry less efficient that it might otherwise
be.
RWI said "the subsidized market penetration of non-competitive technologies in their
early stages of development diminishes the incentives to invest in the research and
development necessary to achieve competitiveness."
Finally, RWI says the feed-in tariff "does not imply any additional emission reductions
beyond those already achieved" by the EU emissions trading system. Its argument is that
reductions under the cap-and-trade system would be made whether or not the feed-in
tariff existed.
The indictment is dismissed by the German Environment Ministry and by the PV
industry. Mr. MacLellan notes that every form of energy is subsidized to some degree
and that the PV subsidies will help Arise's German factory become profitable quickly,
allowing the business to pay income taxes within two years. "This is not charity," he said.
For his part, Mr. Machnig said the subsidies will help establish an export market - threequarters of the wind turbines made in Germany are exported, for example - as the number
of technology manufacturers expands. Furthermore, he said, renewable energy can only
make Germany more competitive as the price of fossil fuels rises. By 2020, renewables
will provide 27 per cent of Germany's electricity production.
ARISE TECHNOLOGIES was launched in 1996 by Ian MacLellan, an amiable
motormouth and Ryerson electrical engineering graduate who calls himself a "solar geek
with a spread sheet." Five years later, it formed a partnership with the University of
Toronto to develop a high-efficiency "thin-film-on-silicon-wafer" solar cell.
The company, whose headquarters are in Waterloo, Ont., went public in 2003 in Toronto
(it's also listed in Frankfurt) and at times came close to running out of money. Its fortunes
reversed in the past couple of years as energy prices soared and Arise displayed a
remarkable talent for snagging government freebies. The feds' Sustainable Technology
Development Canada fund handed the company $6.4-million in 2006. The general
enthusiasm for clean energy technologies allowed Arise to raise $34.5-million in a
bought deal last October.
The company's biggest break came entirely by accident. In March, 2006, a German PV
magazine called Photon International carried a story on Arise. Two months later, Mr.
MacLellan was in Hawaii for the World Photovoltaic Conference. "A guy from Invest In
Germany tracked me down," he said. "We met and he said: 'We're very interested in your
company and we want all the best companies to build in Germany. We'll give you half
the money.' "
Invest In Germany has offices around the world (though not in Canada) and its 80
employees, most of them young, multilingual and highly educated, are considered superb
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salesmen and women. Its goal is to convince foreign companies to build plants and create
employment in Germany and the appeal is quick, one-stop-shopping.
The team offers everything from assistance in site selection and construction engineering
to German financing and incentives from the European Union. Boozing even features
into the sales pitch. In the "Quality of Life" section of the promotional literature, the
agency cheerily notes the country is home to "1,250 breweries with more than 5,000
different kinds of beer" (a statistic not lost on Mr. MacLellan, who loves German beer).
The agency has had particular success in attracting renewable energy companies. Some
of the industry's best-known players - among them Shell Solar, EverQ, First Solar,
Nanosolar and Signet Solar - have built factories in Germany and created thousands of
jobs. "We work hard to find suitable companies," said Mr. Grigoleit of Invest In
Germany. "We go to conferences and trade fairs. We open up kiosks and we have offices
in Chicago, Boston, Shanghai, Tokyo and other cities. What we can offer is speed of
entry into the German market."
Mr. MacLellan was impressed by Invest in Germany's efficiency. Within months of the
Hawaii meeting, the financial and engineering machinery for the German plant were in
place. The funding package, including the €25-million grant, was approved in December,
2006, only seven months after the Hawaii encounter. Construction of the factory started
last August and the first cells will roll off the assembly by the end of April. "This is
amazing," he said. "We've gone from the first meeting to production in less than two
years."
He optimistically predicts PV cells made by Arise and other companies "will hit a wall of
infinite demand" and he's evidently not alone. At last count about 55 solar companies had
set up in Germany. The majority are in the former East Germany, where the incentives
are fatter because the employment rate is lower than in the industrialized western half of
the country.
There are a similar number of wind energy companies. More of both are coming. The
German government's "GreenTech" environmental technology atlas, which describes the
technologies and lists companies that develop and build them, runs 500 pages.
In July, a Quebec company called 5N Plus will open a plant in Eisenhuttenstadt, a town
on the German-Polish border southeast of Berlin. The plant, its first foreign operation ,
will employ 45 and make high-purity metals for thin-film PV panels. Jacques L'Ecuyer,
the CEO, said he built there because of the incentives - Germany provided about onethird of the plant's €9.5-million cost - and because he wanted guaranteed access to the
European market. "If we have a presence in Germany, it will be easier for us to do
business in Germany and in Europe," he said.
CANADA SEEMS to have taken notice of the German example. Make that parts of
Canada.
116
The West is still obsessed with oil. Quebec has few incentives for wind and solar power,
probably because it has so much cheap (and renewable) hydro power, Mr. L'Ecuyer said.
But Ontario, battered by manufacturing job losses and the high dollar, has made
renewable energy part of its industrial salvation plane. The province now has its own
feed-in tariff for renewable energy and recently announced a five-year $1.15-billion
program, called the Next Generation of Jobs Fund, to help finance everything from
"green" auto research to pharmaceuticals manufacturing. Arise may tap into the jobs fund
to expand in the Waterloo area, where it is building a plant to refine silicon for PV cells.
Ontario's new incentives, Mr. MacLellan said, "are not as attractive as Germany's but
they're getting close." With Germany still on top, Arise is already making plans to add a
second, and possibly third, PV factory, in Bischofswerda, next to the one opening in
April. Arise has more than enough available land and the town, one of eastern Germany's
Cold War victims, would welcome the jobs.
More foreign companies are bound to rush to Germany while the financial goodies last.
Mr. Grigoleit said Invest In Germany is targeting other Canadian renewable energy
companies. He won't say how close they are snagging them but seems confident they will
be unable to resist what he calls the "magnet" effect.
Even if Canada decides it wants a renewable energy industry of its own, it will face
formidable competition from Germany.
By the numbers
Germany's renewable energy industry (wind, solar, biomass, hydropower, geothermal)
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
2001: 100,000
2007: 240,000
2020*: 500,000TOTAL RENEWABLES SALES
€22.9-billion
GERMAN INVESTMENT IN RENEWABLES (AS OF 2006)
€9-billion
ESTIMATED INVESTMENT BY 2020
€200-billion
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PER CENT OF GERMAN ELECTRICITY GENERATED BY RENEWABLES
2000: 3%
2020*: 20%
2050*: 50%
BREAKDOWN OF WORLD'S PHOTOVOLTAIC CAPACITY
Germany 56%
U.S.: 8%
Japan: 17%
Rest of the world: 19%
Sources: Invest In Germany, German Environment Ministry, German Solar Industry
Association.
Trapping the light fantastic
Photovoltaic (solar) cells work by converting the energy present in sunlight into an
electric current. Here's how it works:
CROSS SECTION OF A SOLAR CELL
Glass
Anti-reflective
coating
Metal conductor
Semiconductor material such as silicon. Two layers are treated to create an electric field
Metal conductor
1. Sunlight is made up of photons, small particles of energy, which vary in strength. Not
all photons are absorbed by the cell.
2. When enough photons are absorbed electrons are knocked free from the semiconductor
material.
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3. Drawn by the electric field, the electrons flow along a circuit (this, by definition, is
electricity). It can be stored in a battery for later use
SOURCE: ARISE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION, NASA
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080322.RCOVER22/TPStory/?qu
ery=climate+change&pageRequested=all&print=true
COVER STORY: SOLAR POWER: BERMAN'S VIEW
Energy stocks at bargain prices
By DAVID BERMAN
The Globe and Mail
Saturday March 22, 2008
If ever there was an investment strategy that was well suited for a fund, renewable energy
is it. That's because investors who love the idea of tapping into one of the no-brainer
growth industries of our new century are met with a dizzying number of choices.
From solar to wind, from energy producers to technology developers, from small startups
to giant conglomerates, there are scores of stocks that have been given the "alternative
energy" label - but only a handful will reward investors with gains between now and the
day when the internal combustion engine and the coal-fired power plant are laid to rest.
The good news? While investing in alternative energy is not exactly a novel idea, stock
prices have recently fallen to more attractive levels because investors have recoiled from
risk, making the sector far more attractive today than it was just three months ago.
There is no strict definition for what an alternative energy company is. Some observers
believe that car companies can be green if they develop a few hybrid models to add to
their fleets of gas guzzlers. At the same time, General Electric Co. is often given the
green label because it manufactures wind turbines, even though that side of its business
represents a small fraction of its overall revenues.
That's why WilderHill Clean Energy Index comes in handy. This is an index of 42
relatively pure plays on alternative energy, from a small name like Ascent Solar
Technologies Inc. to big names like Cree Inc., a $2.4-billion (U.S.) company that
develops products for efficient lighting. Geography makes no difference, though most are
traded on U.S. exchanges.
Even better, the index is tracked by an exchange-traded fund, which resembles a mutual
fund but trades like a stock. The PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy fund was
launched two years ago, attracting $1.3-billion of assets.
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As the price of oil climbed to record heights and the fast-growing global economy
grasped for a cleaner way to heat homes and power cars, the fund's unit price soared from
a low of $12.75 in 2005 to a high of $28.72 at the end of 2007 - a 125-per-cent gain that
made alternative energy look priced for perfection.
It was: The U.S. economy sputtered soon after and it brought down growth expectations
for the global economy with it, making alternative energy look more like a game for the
rich than a global necessity.
Investors retreated from risky assets at the same time that some observers wondered
aloud whether the solar industry in particular was about to suffer from a glut.
Since its peak, the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy fund has tumbled 34 per cent.
This sudden downturn might have put off many investors who prefer to have momentum
on their side.
But the downturn also means that once-expensive stocks - which commanded price-toearnings ratios that would have made a dot-com investor blush - are far more reasonable
now. If you believe that alternative energy is the future, now is an ideal time to buy in to
that vision.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080322.RCOVERBERMAN22/T
PStory/?query=renewable+energy
Green' bandwagon is getting a big push
By Marilyn Elias
USA TODAY
Monday 24 March 2008
"The missing ingredient is the force of public opinion."
That's the line Cathy Zoi recalls from former vice president Al Gore when he urged her to
become CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection.
Americans are aware of global warming, "but they don't get the urgency of it and that this
is solvable," says Zoi, who took the job last year.
The new group is about to launch the most ambitious U.S. marketing campaign ever on
climate change, at a cost of more than $100 million a year for three years, to focus on the
urgency of the problem and solutions.
The need for a different approach is apparent, environmentalists say.
"We've come up against a brick wall with Americans," says Lee Bodner, executive
director of ecoAmerica, an environmental group based in Washington, D.C. Despite
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Americans' widespread familiarity with global warming, "only a small group are
changing their behavior."
There's little research on how to lower people's energy use, but early evidence suggests
that many people will change if:
• They think others similar to themselves are jumping on the "green" bandwagon.
• They get frequent positive feedback for effort.
• They feel able to make a difference by taking concrete steps.
• They think their children will be harmed by global warming, or children encourage the
family to lead a greener life.
Though research about green behavior is sparse, there's strong evidence on what sparks
behavior change in general. "We just haven't applied it to global warming the way we
have to public health issues like smoking and cholesterol," says Douglas McKenzieMohr, environmental psychologist in Fredericton, Ontario.
Fact-jammed books — appeals often used by global warming activists — and terrifying
threats about the future that don't offer solutions won't motivate many people and may
even backfire, says Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale University Project on
Climate Change. The more people are inundated with facts and figures, the more
emotionally turned off many become, "and you have to have an emotional response —
bad or good — to put a high priority on doing something."
That's not to say dire threats work better. If not paired with positive, doable actions, fear
tactics can make people feel overwhelmed and powerless, Leiserowitz says.
Spreading the word
It's understandable that activists want to heighten a sense of the threat. Most Americans
see global warming as a problem of the future in a far-away place, likely to affect other
species but not people, Leiserowitz's surveys show. Although concern has grown, fewer
than one-fifth of Americans are passionate about the issue, suggests a sweeping 2007 poll
by Jon Krosnick of Stanford University.
Amping up awareness could raise pressure for policy changes by government but won't
necessarily change personal behavior. Decades of research show little correlation
between attitudes and behavior, says Carrie Armel of Stanford's Precourt Institute for
Energy Efficiency. On global warming, action can be hard: Even concerned people may
live where there's no good public transportation and be unable to afford solar heat panels.
So what does spark change?
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For one thing, many are prompted to take green actions if they think others like them are
doing it.
In studies at hotels, guests who read in-room cards urging them to reuse towels to save
energy were much less likely to comply than travelers whose cards said most hotel
visitors recycled towels. Cards that said most who stayed in that very room had reused
towels were even more likely to recycle.
"We most want to follow those who seem similar to us," says study leader Robert
Cialdini, a persuasion expert at Arizona State University.
Cialdini's studies also have found that people use less energy if they think most neighbors
have cut back.
"This 'everybody's doing it' pitch is almost never used in the PSAs around energy
conservation." If people hear they're doing better than neighbors, they'll raise their energy
use. But they'll come down again if they just get a smiley-face icon on their bill praising
their extra effort, Cialdini says.
Tailoring messages to diverse audiences and hearing them from many sources also fosters
change, says Edward Maibach, director of a new center on climate change and
communication at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
"We have to mainstream this. It has to become easy and normal," Zoi says.
The Alliance for Climate Protection will buy ads and partner with grass-roots groups to
spread the word on how to cut greenhouse gases. It also is seeking partnerships with
consumer product makers "to amplify the message" on how to curb global warming
through their packaging, websites or ads, Zoi says. The website www.wecansolveit.org,
scheduled to launch in the next week, will spell out concrete steps for change.
Even with mass exposure, "you need to offer a reason to make changes that connects to
something they care about, probably something close to home," says ecoAmerica's
Bodner.
At work and at home
For Brian Flynn, it was bears creating havoc in Aspen, Colo. Bears were coming into
town a few years ago, breaking open containers of discarded vegetable oil behind
restaurants and scaring people.
Companies supply and pick up the containers, because commercial oil can't be dumped
into landfills. Flynn, a manager for the city, came up with the idea for a bear-proof
container. He learned of a company in Denver that converts the oil into a cleaner fuel for
automobiles, "and the next thing you know I had a recycling business on the side,"
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picking up the oil so it can be converted into fuel. His own Ford pickup has been
modified to run on the recycled fuel.
When Flynn and his wife, Lisa, built their first house three years ago, they used recycled
wood and framed with huge foam panels that cut the need for heat. That and other green
features increased costs by $50,000 to $60,000 — roughly 8% more than a similar house
without such materials, he says. "We have a very large mortgage, and we don't have a lot
of extra money, but I don't want to be a drain on this society. It makes me feel good to
live this way."
Surprisingly, money doesn't matter nearly as much as many think in deciding whether to
buy a gas hog or fuel-efficient car, according to new research. "Most people don't buy
cars based on fuel economy," says Tom Turrentine, director of the Institute of
Transportation Studies at the University of California-Davis. "Again and again, we hear 'I
buy cars I really like.' "
As for buying a hybrid car, money matters, "but buyers often are much more motivated
by making a statement about their values and beliefs. They feel it shows they're ethical
people, that we need to get together as a community to solve this," says Rusty Heffner of
Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting firm in McLean, Va.
Tom Creasman, 61, of Cincinnati says he likes the $3,000 he saves — compared with
previous cars he has owned — by driving 25,000 miles a year in his Prius.
"But it's equally important that it fits with our lifestyle," he says. The family has droughtresistant landscaping, eats organic and is considering adding solar heat panels. "I've
always been a backpacker, kind of leave-no-footprint-oriented. We try not to live our
lives like pigs at the trough."
Persuading people such as Creasman to lighten their carbon footprint is easier than
persuading others, says Bill Guns, CEO of SRI Consulting Business Intelligence, a
consumer behavior research firm. Since 1990, SRI has used a method called the VALS
System that separates Americans into categories based on what motivates them to make
choices.
About 20% will be driven by facts and ideals to change behaviors that contribute to
global warming, he says. Most are already convinced of problems linked to climate
change.
But another, highly influential 25% are middle-of-the-road, achievement-oriented people,
many of them 30 to 50 years old. "They never have enough time or money," he says.
Wonky research gives them a desired pretext to toss global warming concerns in the
"ignore" box, he says. They're drawn to appeals that promise more success or financial
security.
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The youth factor
And one thing matters greatly to many of them: their children.
"Kids are particularly effective in getting changes into these 'achiever' households," for
example by demanding a greener household, Guns says.
Any pitch that suggests their children will suffer harm from global warming would hit
this group hard, and their choices often spread to the rest of the population, he says.
To achieve widespread greener behavior and big policy changes, "we need to get this
group on board," Guns says.
Changes in how people live and use energy are inevitable, "because nature bats last,"
McKenzie-Mohr says.
"We'll be forced into it, whether we do it proactively or retroactively, and I hope it's not
retroactive because then we'll always be in a crisis mode. If we do it proactively, we're
more likely to do it wisely."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2008-03-23-greenbehavior_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
Air Force to Wall Street: Invest in coal conversion
By Matthew Brown, Associated Press
USA Today
Monday 24 March 2008
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. — On a wind-swept air base near the
Missouri River, the Air Force has launched an ambitious plan to wean itself from foreign
oil by turning to a new and unlikely source: coal.
The Air Force wants to build at its Malmstrom base in central Montana the first piece of
what it hopes will be a nationwide network of facilities that would convert domestic coal
into cleaner-burning synthetic fuel.
Air Force officials said the plants could help neutralize a national security threat by
tapping into the country's abundant coal reserves. And by offering itself as a partner in
the Malmstrom plant, the Air Force hopes to prod Wall Street investors — nervous over
coal's role in climate change — to sink money into similar plants nationwide.
"We're going to be burning fossil fuels for a long time, and there's three times as much
coal in the ground as there are oil reserves," said Air Force Assistant Secretary William
Anderson. "Guess what? We're going to burn coal."
Tempering that vision, analysts say, is the astronomical cost of coal-to-liquids plants.
Their high price tag, up to $5 billion apiece, would be hard to justify if oil prices were to
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drop. In addition, coal has drawn wide opposition on Capitol Hill, where some leading
lawmakers reject claims it can be transformed into a clean fuel. Without emissions
controls, experts say coal-to-liquids plants could churn out double the greenhouse gases
as oil.
"We don't want new sources of energy that are going to make the greenhouse gas
problem even worse," House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.,
said in a recent interview.
The Air Force would not finance, construct or operate the coal plant. Instead, it has
offered private developers a 700-acre site on the base and a promise that it would be a
ready customer as the government's largest fuel consumer.
Bids on the project are due in May. Construction is expected to take four years once the
Air Force selects a developer.
Anderson said the Air Force plans to fuel half its North American fleet with a syntheticfuel blend by 2016. To do so, it would need 400 million gallons of coal-based fuel
annually.
With the Air Force paving the way, Anderson said the private sector would follow —
from commercial air fleets to long-haul trucking companies.
"Because of our size, we can move the market along," he said. "Whether it's (coal-based)
diesel that goes into Wal-Mart trucks or jet fuel that goes into our fighters, all that will
reduce our dependence on foreign oil, which is the endgame."
Coal producers have been unsuccessful in prior efforts to cultivate such a market. Climate
change worries prompted Congress last year to turn back an attempt to mandate the use
of coal-based synthetic fuels.
The Air Force's involvement comes at a critical time for the industry. Coal's biggest
customers, electric utilities, have scrapped at least four dozen proposed coal-fired power
plants over rising costs and the uncertainties of climate change.
That would change quickly if coal-to-liquids plants gained political and economic
traction under the Air Force's plan.
"This is a change agent for the entire industry," said John Baardson, CEO of Baard
Energy in Vancouver, Wash., which is awaiting permits on a proposed $5 billion coalbased synthetic fuels plant in Ohio. "There would be a number of plants that would be
needed just to support (the Air Force's) needs alone."
Only about 15% of the 25,000 barrels of synthetic fuel that would be produced daily at
the Malmstrom plant would be suitable for jet fuel. The remainder would be lower-grade
diesel for vehicles, trains or trucks and naphtha, a material used in the chemical industry.
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That means the Air Force would need at least seven plants of the same size to meet its
2016 goal, said Col. Bobbie "Griff" Griffin, senior assistant to Anderson.
Coal producers have their sights set even higher.
A 2006 report from the National Coal Council said a fully mature coal-to-liquids industry
serving the commercial sector could produce 2.6 million barrels of fuel a day by 2025.
Such an industry would more than double the nation's coal production, according to the
industry-backed Coal-to-Liquids Coalition.
On Wall Street, however, skepticism lingers.
"Is it a viable technology? Certainly it is. The challenge seems to be getting the first
couple (of plants) done," said industry analyst Gordon Howald with Calyon Securities.
"For a company to commit to this and then five years later oil is back at $60 — this
becomes the worst idea that ever happened."
Only two coal-to-liquids plants are now operating worldwide, all in South Africa. A third
is scheduled to come online in China this year, said Corey Henry with the Coal-toLiquids Coalition.
The Air Force is adamant it can advance the technology used in those plants to turn dirty
coal into a "green fuel," by capturing the carbon dioxide and other, more toxic emissions
produced during manufacturing.
However, that would not address emissions from burning the fuel, said Robert Williams,
a senior research scientist at Princeton University. To do more than simply break even,
the industry must reduce the amount of coal used in the synthetic-fuel blend and
supplement it with a fuel derived from plants, Williams said.
Air force officials said they were investigating that possibility.
In a recent letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Rep. Waxman wrote that a promise
to control greenhouse gas emissions from synthetic fuels was not enough. Waxman and
the committee's ranking Republican, Virginia's Tom Davis, cited a provision in the
energy bill approved by Congress last year that bars federal agencies from entering
contracts for synthetic fuels unless they emit the same or fewer greenhouse gases as
petroleum.
Anderson said the Air Force will meet the law's requirements.
"They'd like to have (coal-to-liquids) because of security concerns — a reliable source of
power. They're not thinking beyond that one issue," Waxman said. "(Climate change) is
also a national security concern."
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Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-03-22-airforcecoal_N.htm
Mercedes sees electric-car progress
By James R. Healey
USA TODAY
Sunday 23 March 2008
NEW YORK — Mercedes-Benz says it will have a demonstration fleet of practical, if
small, electric vehicles on the road in two to three years.
They're expected to run 80 miles or more on lithium-ion batteries the German automaker
is developing. Regular production could begin a few years later.
The announcement follows its declaration earlier this month that it will be first in the
U.S. market with a gasoline-electric hybrid using a lithium battery pack.
Together they suggest significant progress in lithium battery development — a
breakthrough, Mercedes unabashedly says.
Lithium batteries, common in cellphones and laptop computers, are significantly more
powerful for their size and weight than other types of batteries. But scaling up for auto
use introduces new challenges.
Low-cost, long-life lithium batteries are seen as essential for accelerated development of
alternative-power vehicles, ranging from the now-familiar gasoline-electric hybrids that
double normal fuel economy to hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles that use no petroleum.
As automakers compete to make such models more practical, using their own
interpretations of Mercedes' backpack-size lithium battery, costs should drop. That would
mean you might be able, sooner and cheaper than expected, to buy a car that gets
extraordinary mileage, and perhaps directly uses no gasoline at all.
The first-to-market Mercedes hybrid using lithium-ion batteries will be a gasoline-electric
version of its S-class sedan in 2009. Its V-6 gasoline engine, helped by an electric motor,
will feel like a V-8 but use less fuel.
A key hurdle to using auto-scale lithium batteries is that they require careful temperature
management and monitoring of the charge in each individual cell.
Mercedes says it has solved those issues for the hybrid batteries and hopes to say the
same soon for a different version needed for its pure electric car based on its Smart brand
of tiny two-seaters.
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"Our plan in the next two to three years is to have a test fleet of Smart electric vehicles,"
Mercedes engineer and Vice President Herbert Kohler, who heads advanced powertrain
operations, said in an interview at the auto show here. He said it would take several years
to be sure the setup is right for mass production.
"To show a demonstration fleet is easy. To do series production is a different matter,"
says Thomas Weber, member of the Mercedes board of management who's in charge of
research and development.
Even though Mercedes expects to be first with hybrids using lithium-ion batteries,
General Motors aims to be first to field a showroom-ready pure electric vehicle using
lithium. Its Chevrolet Volt two-seater is planned for late 2010 or 2011, priced about
$35,000.
Unlike gas-electric hybrids, electric cars such as Volt and the Smart will be propelled
entirely by an electric motor running on batteries. They can be recharged by plugging
into an outlet for six hours or more.
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) — still in the prototype stage and not on sale —
would bridge the gap, running on battery power at least a few miles before requiring help
from the gasoline engine.
Lithium batteries' extra storage capacity would allow PHEVs to go farther before needing
help from their gasoline engines. PHEVs, like electric cars, can be recharged by plugging
into an electric outlet.
PHEVs and electric cars need more robust lithium batteries than conventional hybrids,
because the batteries undergo a more severe duty cycle, charged to the brim then nearly
drained.
Even as it pushes ahead on the electric Smart cars, Mercedes says it isn't sure
rechargeable batteries cut pollution or energy use. "You have to produce the energy" for
recharging, and that might come from inefficient, higher-polluting sources, Kohler
cautions.
The benefit of plug-ins has been oversold, he says: "It is a very good marketing argument
for the energy supply side. EPRI did that very well."
EPRI is the Electric Power Research Institute. It published a study last July, paid for
mainly by utilities that sell electricity, showing that PHEVs overall and over time are an
environmental benefit. The same analysis, however, projects that in 2010, rechargeable
vehicles' use of utilities' power could create from 1% to 11% more greenhouse gases than
would be created by conventional hybrids.
Greenhouse gases collectively are blamed by many for global warming.
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Toyota Motor is expanding lithium battery development and production, but also has
concerns. At the Detroit auto show in January, Toyota President Katsuaki Wantanabe
said: "We must address the energy challenges surrounding the use of advanced vehicles.
Is the power grid we use produced by coal, or wind?"
The government says that 2.4% of U.S. electricity is generated by wind and other nonpolluting renewable sources, while 49% comes from coal-burning generators. The data
do not specify how much of the coal-fired power comes from coal plants with or without
the most sophisticated emissions controls. Meanwhile, work on lithium batteries for
advanced electric vehicles continues.
Mercedes says the key to practical auto-scale lithium batteries is a combination of
technologies that the car company says address cooling, the batteries' Achilles' heel.
Mercedes taps the vehicle's air conditioning system for chilled liquid to regulate the
battery pack's temperature and uses special components within the battery pack to draw
heat from the cells. Kohler says Mercedes considers cooling mandatory to safe and
reliable long-term use of lithium batteries, whether in a hybrid or a pure electric car.
Mercedes' lithium batteries will come from a new factory in France, operated by JCS.
That's a joint venture between U.S. components supplier Johnson Controls and French
battery company Saft. Demand could cut the cost and hasten development of the
promising batteries, but predicting demand for battery-reliant cars depends on a key
question, Weber says: "How cheaply can we bring the technology?"
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/environment/2008-03-23-mercedes-electric-carbattery_N.htm
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ROWA Media Update
23 March 2008
Bahrain
Supermarket to ban plastic bags
A BAHRAIN supermarket chain has announced plans to ban plastic bags from its stores
in a bid to protect the environment.
From July 1, shoppers will receive 100 per cent biodegradable bags at the checkouts of
Jawad Business Group.
Shoppers at The Centre, in Nuwaidrat, and the Jawad Dome, in Barbar, who buy goods
worth BD20 are already being given free bags made of the natural fibre jute as the first
phase of the scheme.
Meanwhile, customers who purchase BD40 worth of items are being given larger-sized
bags.
The scheme is costing the company more than BD25,000 to implement.
"Being a pioneer in the supermarket concept in Bahrain, it is our duty to develop a
greener Bahrain and we intend to do this strongly," Jawad Supermarket manager Kareem
Jawad said at a Press conference.
Several officials, including Jawad group marketing manager Syed Noor, head of sales
and distribution supply Jawad Mahmood Jawad and divisional head Wafeia Al Metawa
attended the event.
Kareem Jawad revealed customers who spend less than BD20 will be charged a small fee
for the jute bags, but the proceeds will be donated to charity.
The scheme comes only a week after a government environmental specialist called for
plastic bags to be phased out to reduce waste.
Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife
senior environmental specialist Rehan Ahmed said Bahrain was generating 224 tonnes of
plastic waste a day.
He said a major contributor was plastic bags and called for the authorities to do more to
encourage the use of environmental-friendly alternatives and urged people to reuse
plastic bags.
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http://www.gulf-dailynews.com/Story.asp?Article=212329&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=31003
Protests clamp
POLICE are planning a clampdown on the trade in used vehicle tyres to make it more
difficult for rioters to torch them, the GDN has learned.Thousands of old tyres are
available at scrapyards and garages across the country, but there is currently no record of
who buys them, an Interior Ministry source said.
Smouldering remains of burnt tyres are a regular sight in the aftermath of violent protests.
However, the Interior Ministry is now working on a proposal to regulate the trade in
second-hand tyres, the source added.
It comes as security forces continue to clash with protesting youths, who often resort to
burning tyres along with other items like used furniture and garbage bins.
"We are thinking of ways to regulate who sells these tyres and to whom, so that we can
try and have some control," the source told the GDN.
The source would not reveal what the proposals were or when they would be
implemented, but did say it was just one of the steps the ministry was contemplating.
Scrap dealers and garages confirmed that tyres could be obtained across Bahrain at
throwaway prices. "These tyres are useless to us, so we sell them at whatever price we
can get," said one garage owner, in Muharraq. He also added that he often sent truckloads
of tyres to scrapyards in Sakhir or to the rubbish dump, in Askar.
International conventions ban export of used tyres, except under a specific licence to
countries that have tyre-recycling plants.
A manager at one of Bahrain's biggest scrap collection and trading companies, said, on
the condition of anonymity, "Whenever we get the opportunity, we sell them."
He said customers included owners of small boats and yachts, as well as people who want
them to fence gardens.
However, he said in recent weeks a Chinese businessman with a licence to export tyres to
Vietnam had agreed to buy them for $25 (BD9.5) per tonne.
"He has already taken away some after giving us a copy of his licence," he said.
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Crown Industries and Metals manager G P Thyagarajan said that tyres had been
identified as a waste in the past, meaning that they should be reused if possible.
However, they were not listed as hazardous.
"This is because the bulk of post-consumer waste was previously being sent to landfill,
stored in derelict buildings.
"Now that is all changing and there are some innovative and viable alternatives" he said.
It would take a lot of investment to implement similar ideas here. "It is possible and
unless that happens, the tyre problem will continue," he warned.
http://www.gulf-dailynews.com/Story.asp?Article=212314&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=31003
Lebanon
Frustration mounts among residents over Sidon's 'rubbish mountain'
BEIRUT: At least one person is looking forward to the next time Lebanon's "rubbish
mountain" collapses into the sea. "I am hoping it might collapse so I can find more
aluminum," said Mohammad Mawad, standing amid the toxic chaos of the four-storey
high, 600,000 cubic meters of garbage, soil, concrete debris, hospital waste and the
occasional dead animal.
"I have been scavenging like this for copper and aluminum for a year now," said the
former construction worker, as a wave broke and dragged more plastic bags out to the
turquoise waters of the Mediterranean. "I can earn an average of LL100,000 a day. That's
more than I would make working in the city."
Mawad's fondness for the rubbish mountain is not widely shared by residents of
Lebanon's southern port city of Sidon, on the outskirts of which the huge garbage dump
stands, right on the edge of the sea.
Established in 1975 as a temporary municipal landfill, the rubbish mountain has grown
over three decades of civil war, invasion and government neglect to become an open air
dump for hundreds of thousands of tons of refuse from homes, factories, hospitals and
slaughter houses, as well as debris from buildings destroyed in the 1982 Israeli invasion
of Lebanon.
The dump has repeatedly caught fire and at least three times partially collapsed into the
sea, prompting complaints from Cyprus, Syria and Turkey after currents swept rubbish
onto their beaches.
132
A collapse last month, following strong winds and an earthquake, sent about 150 tons of
rubbish into the sea, snaring fishing lines and choking sea turtles which,
environmentalists say, mistake the white plastic bags for jellyfish, their favorite food.
"When we go out our engines get clogged with garbage and our nets get cut," said
fisherman Abu Hassan, as he picked his way through the rubbish, looking for items to
scavenge. "I can't fish as much as I would like. At any time hundred of tons of garbage
could collapse again."
Air pollution from the dump, located near schools, hospitals and apartment blocks in
Lebanon's third biggest city, has meant Sidon's children suffer more from asthma than
children anywhere else in Lebanon, which doctors say is directly linked to the landfill.
"We have cases of asthma, respiratory problems, insect bites, rodent infestations, not to
mention allergies caused by the hazardous chemicals slipping into the sea water," said
Tarek Hussary, a doctor in Sidon.
Organically rich effluent leaking from the dump into the soil and the sea has destroyed
marine life across a radius of 500 meters out to sea, according to mayor of Sidon AbdelRahman Bizri.
The open-air landfill has also tarnished Sidon's image in the all-important tourism sector.
Today, bitter political divisions and an absence of clear policy are thwarting efforts to
solve one of Lebanon's most enduring environmental problems.
Bizri, who presides over the only large Sunni city to support the Hizbullah-led
opposition, blames the political stalemate that has left the country without a president or
a functioning Parliament for derailing clean-up plans for the dump.
Having made a technical evaluation of the waste and obtained legal documents from the
Ministry of Environment, Sidon municipality secured a $5 million grant from billionaire
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who has family ties to Sidon, for the removal of the
mountain.
But, said Bizri, a plan to dump the nonrecyclable waste in an unused quarry site just
outside the city was shelved because local residents objected, he said, under pressure
from the government coalition led by the Future Movement of the Sidon-born former
premier, Rafik Hariri.
"We are the only large Sunni city in the opposition. There was political pressure applied
to the villages neighbouring the quarry to reject our plan," said Bizri. "The government
wants to punish us by preventing a solution to the mountain."
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A spokesman for the Future Party in Sidon ignored several requests by IRIN to comment
on the accusations. As yet, only $1 million of the grant has been received, and little of it
spent.
Bizri said a new contractor would begin reducing the mountain by the end of March by
sifting the rubbish from the soil, which would then be treated and used in construction. A
long-term solution for the thousands of tons of toxic waste, however, remains elusive.
Many residents of this proud, sea-faring city, whose very name is said to mean fishing,
are increasingly exasperated that while their politicians feud, the sea on which so many of
their livelihoods depends grows more polluted by the day.
"Alwaleed gave us $5 million, but where did the money go?" asked Abu Hassan. "All the
municipalities say they want to do something, but in fact they are all just working for
their own benefit, not for the people."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=90135
Lebanon set to join multilateral effort to clean up Med coast
BEIRUT: Preparations in Lebanon are well under way for this year's initiative to clean up
the country's Mediterranean shoreline and to combat the pressing threat of coastal
pollution.
Organizations within over half the nations that border the Mediterranean have joined up
with the Clean Up The Med 2008 initiative to clean up one of the world's iconic
coastlines. The campaign, backed by the Italian Department of Civil Protection, will
culminate during May 23-25 when hundreds of thousands volunteers from Lebanon to
Spain will engage in projects to protect the environment around the Mediterranean Sea.
This year's campaign builds on last year's hugely successful event and arrives in the
context of ever-growing international concern toward the state of the world's natural
environment.
The Centre D'Insertion Par La Formation Et L'ActivitŽ (CIFA) is spearheading
Lebanon's contribution to the initiative with events in April and May, leading up to the
international Clean Up weekend at the end of the month of March. From talks given by
environment professionals to information stands, and rubbish-collecting events that will
encourage volunteers to clean up the coast around Byblos and Beirut, Lebanon's plan
aims to encourage engagement with the state and preservation of the environment.
Sabina Llewellyn-Davies, project manager at TLB Destinations, which bills itself as
Lebanon's first tourist company with environmental awareness at its core, is managing
much of CIFA's activities during the Clean Up The Med 2008 campaign.
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Mobilizing consciousness around the state of the Lebanese environment is key to CIFA's
activities, she said. "We have secured support from a wide range organisations, from
private companies to universities and schools, which will allow us to express the
necessity for environmental action to as wide an audience as possible," she said. Schools
from all over the country will help clear as much rubbish as possible from the coast
around Beirut and Byblos.
The event's core aim is to motivate local action in combating environmental damage and
demonstrate that ground-level activity can often be the most successful way of changing
attitudes toward our relationship with the environment.
Llewellyn-Davies said educating within schools was central to their campaign. "CIFA
has arranged for a local marine biologist to give short talks to school assemblies
throughout April and May so that the children will understand how important taking good
care of the environment is," she said.
Grassroots forums such as schools and volunteer organization and international bodies
such as the UN's environmental body (UNEP) have embraced the Clean Up campaigns.
Supported by bodies as diverse as the Lebanese Ministry of Environment, Radio One and
Standard Chartered Bank, this year's event is gaining a high profile amid international
efforts to combat abuse of the natural environment.
The event, in its third year, is part of the wider Clean Up The World initiative, founded in
1987 by Ian Kiernan in Sydney, Australia. This international campaign has since
mobilized millions of volunteers across the world to remedy the damage caused to local
environments worldwide. Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP, has praised the
initiative for "placing the focus squarely on us - as people, as agents of change. [These]
actions truly make a difference" he said.
"Our efforts may only be scratching surface," Llewellyn-Davies said, "but we hope that
the clean up days will unite the youth in Lebanon and make them think about ways to
conserve their environment."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=90137
UAE
Decision to end subsidy for plastic bags gets support
Dubai: Emirates Environment Group (EEG) has announced it strongly supports Dubai
Municipality's move to halt subsidies for black plastic bags.
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The municipality announced last week it is to halt the distribution of 14 million free
plastic bags in a bid to tackle the country's rising pollution rate, which sits at 17 per cent
in Dubai alone. The global average is between 6 and 9 per cent.
EEG hailed the municipality's decision and said it would provide a substantial reduction
in plastic waste as well as saving millions of dirhams in municipal resources that could be
used for more useful purposes.
Habiba Al Marashi, EEG Chairperson, said the decision sent a strong message across the
community that it is taking concrete measures to reduce Dubai's waste output through
innovative ways and means.
"It is easy to see we belong to a pampered community enjoying cheap water and
electricity, among other basic services. It is high time for the community to shoulder part
of the cost," she said.
"Dubai Municipality has realised the practice of people placing mixed garbage in smaller
plastic bags obtained from supermarkets before placing them in black garbage bags - a
practice that produces more and more unnecessary waste plastics that eventually end up
in landfills," she added.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/nation/Environment/10199496.html
UAE supermarkets slow to move on bags
Dubai: The vast majority of supermarkets in the UAE don't charge shoppers for plastic
bags and very few offer a viable alternative.
Only one UAE-based chain has so far imposed a fee on plastic carriers, and only three
offer customers the chance to purchase a reusable bag.
Last month, Ibn Battuta hypermarket Geant introduced a 25 fils fee for plastic carriers to
coincide with UAE Environment Day. Within a week their usage had dropped by half.
Jean Marc Lebrun, Chief Operating Officer at Geant, said: "We need to show we are not
only here to sell items but to be a citizen company. Customers asked us a lot of questions
when the charge was introduced but we no longer have any complaints. Shoppers know it
is normal for hypermarkets to charge for plastic bags and it works well for us."
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He added: "We have no further plans regarding plastic bags at the moment but we will
continue to analyse the situation."
No other supermarket in the UAE plans to introduce a fee for plastic bags. But several
stores are considering a number of initiatives to help eradicate them.
Abu Dhabi Cooperative Society and Carrefour both allow customers to purchase a
reusable cloth or jute bag and Spinneys has insulation bags for sale. Bijoy Thomas,
Marketing and Advertising Manager for Abu Dhabi Cooperative Society, said: "We are
trying to limit [plastic bag] use by providing shoppers with the option of buying reusable
shopping bags at a subsidised price of less than Dh2 per bag. We are working on a plan to
recycle plastic bags."
Kamal Vachani, Director of Al Maya Group, said: "We are working on [introducing an
alternative to plastic bags] but we have not decided on anything yet. However, we are
going to do something in the near future."
Lulu Hypermarket is also interested in introducing alternative carriers.
Nanda Kumar, Corporate Communications Manager of Emkay Group, which owns Lulu
Hypermarket, said: "We have no plans to start charging for plastic bags. But we are
working on a campaign to reduce their use, which will be launched shortly. We also plan
to introduce bags that are more eco-friendly."
Johannes CF Holtzhausen, Chief Executive Officer of Spinneys, said: "We have a plan,
but cannot immediately elaborate on it."
Manoj Thanwani, General Manager of Choithram Group, said it would be inappropriate
to penalise consumers with a surcharge for plastic bags.
He said: "We will be introducing jute bags, cotton bags and a canvas bag to coincide with
our campaign in the forthcoming weeks."
The Dubai branches of Marks & Spencer (M&S) have no plan to charge for plastic,
which its UK stores will begin doing in May.
The Dubai branch has no plans to implement a charge but it does plan to introduce
organic bags soon, a scheme M&S' UK stores had in place before announcing the charge.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/nation/Environment/10199494.html
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'No to Plastic Bags': Gulf News launches campaign
Gulf News launches a campaign against the blight of plastic carriers. We encourage
everyone to take part in activities to save the environment.
The Dubai Municipality has made an effort to resolve the problem. But more must be
done by government agencies, local supermarkets, retailers and others in the private
sector to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.
Around one billion plastic bags are used every year in the UAE. They clog the country's
sewers and have disastrous consequences for wildlife.
People must be educated on the dangers of plastic bags and encouraged to look for
alternative and safer solutions.
It is time to start saying 'No to Plastic Bags'.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/nation/Environment/10199622.html
UAE plans weather warnings
Abu Dhabi: Residents could soon receive text message alerts on bad weather conditions
from the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS), Gulf News has learnt.
An official at the centre, a division of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, said SMSs
could be used as a tool to send weather alerts.
However, this decision has not been finalised yet and various options are still being
considered, said the source.
"Authorities are still deciding what would be the best way to send notifications out to the
public. It could be by SMS or by some other means," he said.
A network of 56 surface weather stations of the NCMS all over the country monitors
changing weather patterns every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, to give an accurate picture
of the weather.
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Speaking on World Meteorological Day, Abdullah Ahmad Al Mandoos, Executive
Director of the NCMS, said the centre uses the latest technology to enable surface and
marine monitoring, as well as to monitor the upper layers of the atmosphere.
Infrastructure plays an important role in monitoring weather patterns, he noted, while
pointing out the NCMS's extensive network of monitoring stations.
"One of the objectives of the NCMS is to issue weather forecasts and early warnings, to
help people avoid any risks that might be associated with extraordinary weather
phenomena such as cyclones, severe windstorms, heavy rain, fog or dust storms."
The aim of the NCMS's warnings is to reduce the negative impact of these weather
phenomena.
Al Mandoos said weather information is provided to all sectors of society. The centre
would like to promote advanced studies of the atmosphere in the region and worldwide.
These studies could include weather enhancement such as cloud seeding operations.
The NCMS would also like to play its part in countering global warming. Prizes for the
best studies in these fields will be awarded, he said.
In addition, the NCMS exchanges information with other countries in the region, as well
as internationally, in accordance with the regulations and obligations established by the
WMO.
Al Mandoos said the strategy of his department is fully in line with global and
international practices in observing the weather.
A better future: Natural disasters
Each year, on March 23, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), its 188
members and the worldwide meteorological community celebrate World Meteorological
Day.
The WMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations. The theme for this year is
"Observing our planet for a better future".
"In the context of reducing the risk of natural disaster, the weather, climate and water can
impact almost every facet of life. These impacts are increasing and they are especially
critical for developing economies. Nine out of ten natural disasters are linked to hydrometeorological hazards, which, between the years 1980 and 2000, caused the death of 1.2
million people and their aftermath cost more than $900 billion," reads a brochure issued
by the WMO to mark the day.
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It also notes that although natural hazards cannot be prevented, suitable early warnings
can be used to minimise considerably their harmful effects.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/nation/Environment/10199433.html
Jordan
Feasibility, environment studies to start soon
AMMAN - An economic feasibility study and environmental assessment of the $2-4
billion Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project, or Red-Dead Canal, is scheduled to
start within three weeks, a senior water official said Saturday.
The French company, Coyne Et Bellier, has won the tender to carry out the feasibility
probe, while the British company, Environmental Resources Management, will
implement the environmental and social assessment of the mega multipurpose project,
Jordan Valley Authority Secretary General Musa Jamaini told The Jordan Times on
Saturday.
A total of six companies from the US, Germany, Canada, France and Italy were
prequalified to carry out the feasibility study in cooperation with local consultants. Four
other firms from the US, the Netherlands, Italy and the UK were shortlisted for
conducting the environmental assessment.
"We are now working on preparing the agreements to be signed with the two companies
and within three weeks, we will give them the go-ahead to commence on the studies,"
Jamaini said.
The water official added that the feasibility study and the environmental assessment were
scheduled to be completed in two years, however, due to the extreme importance of the
project, there are plans to reduce the period to 18 months.
Jamaini added that so far, about $10.5 million has been raised for the two studies. The
bulk of the funds was from France, the US and other countries including Canada, Japan,
Spain, Greece and other European countries.
The Red-Dead Canal Project is part of international efforts to save the Dead Sea, which
has been dropping at the rate of one metre per year, largely due to the diversion of water
from the Jordan River for agricultural and industrial use.
During the past 20 years alone, it has plunged more than 30 metres, with experts warning
that it could dry up within 50 years.
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Due to the water level drop, the sea's surface area has shrunk by about 33 per cent over
the last 55 years with an average annual inflow decrease from 1,200 million cubic metres
(mcm) to around 250mcm of water.
The environment-focused project seeks to pump one billion cubic metres annually with
the aim of raising the water levels in the shrinking lake from 408 metres below sea level
to 315 metres.
The project, which will alleviate pressure on renewable and nonrenewable water
resources in the region by providing about 850mcm of potable water annually, entails the
construction of a 200-kilometre canal from Aqaba on the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.
The canal, to be built along the border with Israel in Wadi Araba, will generate electricity
as water will be drawn from the Red Sea, and then released into the Dead Sea, which lies
400 metres below sea level.
Additional advantages in the secondary stage will include a hydroelectric powergenerating project and a desalination plant expected to produce 850mcm of potable water
to be divided between Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=6613
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ENVIRONMENT NEWS FROM THE
UN DAILY NEWS
24 March 2008
UN-backed biomass gas project provides clean power for rural areas in India
24 March - The latest biomass gasifier, which converts wood or agricultural residues into
a combustible gas mixture, was fired up today in a remote village of southern India, as
part of a project to provide clean power for rural dwellers, according to the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“This project looks at how remote communities can have better access to electricity in an
environment friendly, carbon neutral way,” Kemal Dervis, UNDP Administrator, said at
the commissioning ceremony for the small plant in Boregunte, a village in Karnataka
state.
“The project not only improves their lives but also helps reduce the greenhouse gas
emissions,” Mr. Dervis said, adding:
“The fact that they manage the project on their own gives them the opportunity to have
additional sources of income.”
The plant was funded by the UN’s Global Environment Facility, and supported by the
Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Government of India, the Government of
Karnataka, and UNDP, the agency said.
It is the second plant commissioned under the project and has the capacity of delivering
250 kilowatts of electricity, withexcess power to be sold to the Bangalore Electric Supply
Company, according to UNDP.
In the gasifiers, wood or coconut shells are reduced to small pieces and burned in a
reactor that converts them to combustible gases, a mixture of carbon monoxide and
hydrogen. This so-called ‘producer gas’ runs the engines, which produce power.
The first plant under the project was inaugurated in the village of Kabbigere on 24
January and has provided around 10,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity to four villages
since then.
A third plant, producing 250 kilowatt-hours, will be commissioned soon in
Seebirayanapalya and another in Chinnenahalli has been proposed to be commissioned
by the end of 2008.
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Nearly a million Southern Africans hit by floods, cyclones this season – UN
24 March - Almost a million people across Southern Africa have suffered as a result of
floods, cyclones and heavy rains so far during the annual wet season, and although the
worst of the weather is over for another year, problems could persist until the end of
April, United Nations relief officials report.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest
update on the situation in Southern Africa that further heavy rains are still expected,
including in central Mozambique, where the rivers are already swollen after two days of
intense rainfall last week.
In recent weeks heavy rains have also hit southern Angola, Namibia and the eastern part
of South Africa, OCHA reported.
But Cyclone Jokwe, which struck the Mozambican province of Nampula earlier this
month, has since dissipated without causing further damage to either Mozambique or
Madagascar.
In total, local authorities estimate that 987,516 Southern Africans have been affected
adversely by rains, floods and cyclones since October last year. The hardest hit is
Madagascar, where several cyclones as well as rains and floods have affected more than
332,000 people. Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia
and Zimbabwe have also been affected.
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ENVIRONMENT NEWS FROM THE
S.G’s SPOKESMAN DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
24 March 2008
**World Meteorological Day
World Meteorological Day was yesterday. This year’s theme is “Observing our Planet for
a Better Future”. To mark the day, the World Meteorological Organization is calling for
greater investment in technology for observing weather, climate and water conditions.
WMO notes that millions of people are more vulnerable than ever to extreme weather.
While state-of-the-art equipment exists in various parts of the world, it is often not
available in the world’s poorest countries, which are also the most prone to natural hazards.
We have more information also upstairs.information on all of these items upstairs.
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