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Questioning the the "Precautionary Principle" and its ill effects on the poor
How Precaution Kills: The Demise of DDT and the Resurgence of Malaria by Roger Bate. The Precautionary Principle purports to be a rule for decision-making in uncertainty. In practice, however, it is quite the opposite: it is a means of imposing arbitrary restrictions on the use of technology, including products, processes, and services. Take a look at the extreme harm that our preoccupations in the west have upon the poorest people of the world.

posted by Hal 10:01 PM

 

Asteroid to miss - this time around
bbc.co.uk -- Astronomers have ruled out an Earth impact from asteroid 2002 NT7 on 1 February 2019 - but they say, as yet, future collisions have not been completely excluded. 2002 NT7, a two-kilometre-wide (1.4 miles) chunk of rock, was discovered on 9 July. Initial estimates of its orbit suggested there was a small chance of it colliding with our planet in 17 years' time. However, the latest observations accumulated over the last few days have confirmed the asteroid will fly harmlessly by. Dr Don Yeomans, of the US space agency's (Nasa) Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said: "We can now rule out any impact possibilities for 1 February 2019." But further work needs to be done to confirm that 2002 NT7 is not a threat further into the future.

posted by West 2:15 PM

 

Record Sea Temperatures Threaten Great Barrier Reef
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Sea temperatures at Australia's Great Barrier Reef last summer were the warmest on record and this year's El Nino event means the risk of mass coral bleaching has increased considerably, scientists reported on Thursday. The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has just completed an atlas of sea temperatures over the past decade and amalgamated it with historical data to show 2002 was the warmest year for water temperatures off northeast Australia since 1870. The rise in temperatures around the world's largest living organism coincided with mass bleaching earlier this year that affected around 60 percent of the Great Barrier Reef's 345,400 square km (133,300 square miles) of coral. "Unless the corals can adapt and become acclimatized then obviously the long-term future for the coral is at risk," said AIMS oceanographer Craig Steinberg. "The outlook isn't good. If coral can't adapt then they're going to bleach and you get mass mortality." The sea temperature over the last century has risen by just half a degree Celsius. But corals tend to live within one to two degrees of their maximum temperature threshold and a tiny increase is therefore enough to ensure a major impact.

posted by West 8:55 AM

 

Astronomers track mile-wide asteroid that may be on a collision course for Earth
PASADENA, Calif., July 24 (UPI) -- Astronomers are tracking a mile-wide asteroid that may be on a collision course for Earth. The asteroid, dubbed 2002 NT7, was discovered July 9, and early data about its orbit indicate it could hit Earth early in the year 2019. It is 2,000 meters in diameter, or about 1.24 miles.

posted by West 8:51 AM

 

What is GAIA Saying?: Far-reaching four year drought chokes much of U.S.
CNN -- Four years without adequate rainfall have left a broad quilt of browned lawns, withered crops and scorched forests across much of the United States. The effects have been seen most dramatically in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, where kiln-dry timberland exploded into a string of wildfires. More than 3.2 million acres have been burned this year, roughly twice the 10-year average, federal fire officials report. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared the entire state of Utah and numerous counties in Colorado, California, New Mexico and Arizona agricultural disaster areas, making farmers and ranchers in those regions eligible for federal emergency loans.

posted by West 9:00 PM

 

EU Demands Proof States Are Protecting Ozone Layer
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -- Not a single European Union country has shown it is doing enough to protect the ozone layer from damage by man-made chemicals, EU authorities said on Monday. The European Commission said none of the 15 member states had shown how they intended to ensure ozone-depleting chemicals in scrapped refrigerators or old fire extinguishers would be safely removed to stop them worsening the hole in the ozone layer. The governments have two months to the provide the information or face the threat of legal action.

posted by West 8:56 PM

 

Calif. Governor Signs Landmark Auto Emissions Law: Automakers Vow To Dismantle It In Federal Court
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- California Gov. Gray Davis signed a landmark law Monday making his state the first in the nation to regulate vehicle greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to curb global warming. "This is the first law in America to substantively address the greatest environmental challenge of the 21st century," Davis said. "In time, every state -- and hopefully every country -- will act to protect future generations from the threat of global warming. For California, that time is now." But the auto industry, which strongly opposed the California law, vowed to dismantle it in federal court by invoking federal laws that reserve for Congress the power to set fuel economy standards.

posted by West 8:54 PM

 

Is A 'Sixth' Extinction Brought On By People Looming?
KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, South Africa (Reuters) - Seemingly oblivious to the large group of crocodiles resting on a nearby sandbank, four rare black storks sun themselves in South Africa's Kruger National Park. But the real danger to these elusive birds, which resemble colorful sentinels with their striking red beaks and legs set against glossy black feathers, is not the razor-sharp teeth of the crocodiles who lie just a few yards away. It is the teeth of chainsaws thousands of miles to the north, where old growth forests -- habitat vital to the bird's survival -- are being mowed down. The black stork is one of many species which scientists fear could follow the dinosaurs down the road to extinction because of human activities such as logging, farming and building dams. Many credible scientists fear that the sixth mass extinction in the planet's long history is unfolding -- a doomsday scenario dismissed as alarmist by some. A recent U.N. report, prepared ahead of a summit next month in Johannesburg on the environment and poverty, warned that 12 percent, or 1,183 bird species, and 1,130, or nearly a quarter of all mammal species, are regarded as globally threatened.

Why isn't this front page news? Why isn't this the lead story on the evening news?

posted by West 10:22 AM

 

Study Fuels Worry Over Glacial Melting: Research Shows Alaskan Ice Mass Vanishing at Twice Rate Previously Estimated
washintongpost.com -- Alaska's glaciers are melting at more than twice the rate previously thought because of warming temperatures, dramatically altering the majestic contours of the state and driving up sea levels, according to a new study. Scientists using highly precise airborne laser measurements of 67 Alaskan glaciers from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s discovered that the glaciers are melting an average of six feet a year -- and in some cases a few hundred feet -- and that the rate has accelerated in the past seven or eight years. As one measure of the severity of the problem, the researchers calculated that the glaciers are generating nearly twice the annual meltage of the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the Northern Hemisphere and second only to the Antarctic. That would mean the Alaskan melt is adding about two-tenths of a millimeter a year to sea levels -- a seemingly small rise that nevertheless could eventually have long-term implications for flooding on Pacific islands and along coastal areas, the researchers concluded.

posted by West 8:37 AM

 

Envoys Face More Meetings to Salvage Earth Summit
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Envoys from 25 countries still have to resolve differences on a plan for eco-friendly development to be adopted at a global summit in Johannesburg in August, officials said on Thursday. "There is talk that smaller meetings will start on August 24. But the official meeting will start as scheduled on August 26," Thandi Davids, spokeswoman for the summit's organizing company, told a media briefing. The World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg from August 26 to September 4, aims to hammer out a detailed plan for global economic development that preserves the environment while battling hunger and poverty.

posted by West 8:38 AM

 

Green Century Institute (GCI) - Dedicated to the Evolution of Sustainable Communities in the 21st Century
The Green Century Institute is a project of The Pacific Northwest Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable and educational foundation. GCI is developing three educational initiatives in 2002-2003:

Paradox Conferences on Cyberspace, Habitat, and Sustainable Development
See the video, website, and printed documentation of the first three Paradox conferences held in 1997, 1999 and 2001 at Arcosanti, Arizona. Development of Paradox IV is scheduled for September 2003.

Green Community Network (GCN)
A web-based resource exchange, publishing and outreach program promoting sustainable development and new community models. The GCN's first phase will focus on the intelligent presentation of information and resources that foster green commercialand residential developments and green remodelling of existing communities.

Califia - San Francisco Bay Area Ecocity Project
A revolutionary urban settlement for 7000-10,000 residents to showcase and test sustainable development designs and technologies, and new community models. To be developed within a 30 mile radius of San Francisco over a 10 year period. GCI is working with pioneers in large scale eco-city design to produce a comprehensive proposal for the project to share with potential stakeholders from the Bay Area community, the commercial development sphere, civic and federal agencies, and the sustainable funding community.

posted by Lorenzo 2:29 PM

 

It's difficult to find bias-free news on the issue of global warming. Breaking the Global-Warming Gridlock from The Atlantic is a rare exception. A [long] well balanced article. BOTTOM LINE: Humans should learn to adapt to climate change.
Many folks who don't buy the standard "global warming" theory often assert that environmentalists are nothing more than commies, control-freaks, pro-governement authoritarians, or socialists. But, this is an oversimplistic view. The end-result of many enviromentalist policies and views might be command and control regulations and more big-government socialism. All bad outcomes -- and at the expense of capitalism and freedom. But, many zealous enviromentalists are likely to be misguided, rather than malicious. On the surface there is nothing wrong with the good intentions: To preserve or reclaim a healthy planet.
But, a skeptical mind looks at all sides and is skeptical of them all. For a totally different view: From Science a GoGo: Global Warming � We Love It! Life flourished when Earth was warmer. The threat of a global warming doesn't scare Judith Parrish, a geologist at The University of Arizona in Tucson and an expert on ancient climates. Over the last 700,000 years, the climate has operated on a relatively predictable schedule of 100,000-year glaciation cycles. Each glaciation cycle is typically characterized by 90,000 years of cooling, an ice age, followed by an abrupt warming period, called an interglacial, which lasts 10,000-12,000 years. The last ice age reached its coolest point 18,000 to 20,000 years ago when the average temperature was 9 - 12.6� F cooler than present. Earth is currently in a warm interglacial called the Holocene that began 10,700 years ago.
And there's also the The Role of Water Vapor in Climate Change.

posted by Hal 2:06 PM

 

Moon a great power source: Helium 3 Isotope
Sydney Morning Herald -- Within 15 years people could be mining the moon for a safe and clean nuclear fuel that could phase out fossil-burning power stations, the last man to step onto the lunar surface said yesterday. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, who with Gene Cernan made the final moon landing aboard Apollo 17 in December 1972, also predicted lunar tourists could eventually follow. In Sydney yesterday the geologist and only scientist among the 12 Apollo moonwalkers predicted the next lunar explorers would be funded by international investors rather than taxpayers. Their goal would be an isotope called helium-3, rare on Earth but found in abundance on the moon. It could be used to develop a clean, safe and limitless fuel for nuclear fusion power stations. Unlike atom-splitting fission technology, fusion - the source of the sun's energy - generates power by squeezing atoms together. "If we are going to see a continued rise in the population of the Earth to 10 or 12 billion people by 2050 and if we also expect to see an improvement in people's standard of living, it's going to take a factor of eight increase in our energy supply."

posted by West 7:20 PM

 

Humans Running an Overdraft with the Earth
GENEVA, Switzerland, July 9, 2002 (ENS) - A report issued today by the environmental group WWF predicts that global living standards will fall rapidly from 2030 unless urgent action is taken to address unsustainable consumption patterns. "Significant" efforts to improve resource efficiency could stave off this doomsday scenario and limit the world's huge resource consumption "overdraft," WWF says.
The report is part of a series profiling the health of global ecosystems and measuring the world's "ecological footprint." The footprint indicates the extent to which nations, and the world as a whole, live within or exceed the productive capacity of their land's area. "The fact that we live on a bountiful planet, but not a limitless one, presents world leaders at the World Summit on Sustainable Development with a clear challenge," said Dr. Claude Martin, director general of WWF International, looking ahead to August 26 when the government and NGO leaders gather in Johannesburg, South Africa to set a plan for sustainable development. "Ensuring access to basic resources and improving the health and livelihoods of the world's poorest people can not be tackled separately from maintaining the integrity of natural ecosystems," said Dr. Martin. "Unless we ensure the health of those ecosystems, we will never be able to guarantee an acceptable standard of living for much of the world's population," he warned.

posted by West 8:40 AM

 

Should We All Be Vegetarians? Would we be healthier? Would the planet? The risks and benefits of a meat-free life.
TIME MAGAZINE -- FIVE REASONS TO EAT MEAT:

1) It tastes good
2) It makes you feel good
3) It's a great American tradition
4) It supports the nation's farmers
5) Your parents did it

Oh, sorry ... those are five reasons to smoke cigarettes. Meat is more complicated. It's a food most Americans eat virtually every day: at the dinner table; in the cafeteria; on the barbecue patio; with mustard at a ballpark; or, a billion times a year, with special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun. Beef is, the TV commercials say, "America's food"�the Stars and Stripes served up medium rare�and as entwined with the nation's notion of its robust frontier heritage as, well, the Marlboro Man. But these days America's cowboys seem a bit small in the saddle. Those cattle they round up have become politically incorrect: for many, meat is an obscene cuisine. It's not just the additives and ailments connected with the consumption of beef, though a dish of hormones, E. coli bacteria or the scary specter of mad-cow disease might be effective enough as an appetite suppressant. It's that more and more Americans, particularly young Americans, have started engaging in a practice that would once have shocked their parents. They are eating their vegetables. Also their grains and sprouts. Some 10 million Americans today consider themselves to be practicing vegetarians, according to a Time poll of 10,000 adults; an additional 20 million have flirted with vegetarianism sometime in their past.

posted by West 9:37 AM

 

Earth 'will expire by 2050'
(Mark Townsend & Jason Burke, The Observer, July 7, 2002)
Earth's population will be forced to colonise two planets within 50 years if natural resources continue to be exploited at the current rate, according to a report out this week. . . . In a damning condemnation of Western society's high consumption levels, it adds that the extra planets (the equivalent size of Earth) will be required by the year 2050 as existing resources are exhausted. . . . The report, based on scientific data from across the world, reveals that more than a third of the natural world has been destroyed by humans over the past three decades. . . . Experts say that seas will become emptied of fish while forests - which absorb carbon dioxide emissions - are completely destroyed and freshwater supplies become scarce and polluted. . . . It is not just humans who are at risk. Scientists, who examined data for 350 kinds of mammals, birds, reptiles and fish, also found the numbers of many species have more than halved. . . . 'It seems things are getting worse faster than possibly ever before. Never has one single species had such an overwhelming influence. We are entering uncharted territory.' . . . Attention is now focused on next month's Earth Summit in Johannesburg, the most important environmental negotiations for a decade. However, the talks remain bedevilled with claims that no agreements will be reached and that US President George W. Bush will fail to attend. . . . The WWF report shames the US for placing the greatest pressure on the environment. It found the average US resident consumes almost double the resources as that of a UK citizen and more than 24 times that of some Africans. . . . The report, which will be unveiled in Geneva, warns that the wasteful lifestyles of the rich nations are mainly responsible for the exploitation and depletion of natural wealth. Human consumption has doubled over the last 30 years and continues to accelerate by 1.5 per cent a year.

posted by Lorenzo 11:55 AM

 

Earth 'will expire by 2050'
observer.co.uk -- Our planet is running out of room and resources. Modern man has plundered so much, a damning report claims this week, that outer space will have to be colonised. Earth's population will be forced to colonise two planets within 50 years if natural resources continue to be exploited at the current rate, according to a report out this week. A study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), to be released on Tuesday, warns that the human race is plundering the planet at a pace that outstrips its capacity to support life. In a damning condemnation of Western society's high consumption levels, it adds that the extra planets (the equivalent size of Earth) will be required by the year 2050 as existing resources are exhausted. The report, based on scientific data from across the world, reveals that more than a third of the natural world has been destroyed by humans over the past three decades. Using the image of the need for mankind to colonise space as a stark illustration of the problems facing Earth, the report warns that either consumption rates are dramatically and rapidly lowered or the planet will no longer be able to sustain its growing population. Experts say that seas will become emptied of fish while forests - which absorb carbon dioxide emissions - are completely destroyed and freshwater supplies become scarce and polluted. The report offers a vivid warning that either people curb their extravagant lifestyles or risk leaving the onus on scientists to locate another planet that can sustain human life. Since this is unlikely to happen, the only option is to cut consumption now.

posted by West 12:01 AM

 

Fireworks: Breathtaking ... and Deadly
(Gar Smith, AlterNet.org, July 1, 2002)
Air-bursting shells -- with picturesque names like chrysanthemum, peony, willow, saturn, strobe, and salute -- are lovely to watch but, when it comes to skyrockets, every silver lining has a cloud. As the Bulletin points out, heavy metal fallout from exploding fireworks poses a threat to "nature, animals and human beings." . . . fireworks contain a number of toxic metals that produce a range of dazzling colors. Strontium produces blazing reds, copper compounds burn blue, magnesium, titanium and aluminum create brilliant white sparks. Sodium chloride produces orange-yellow fire, boric acid burns green, potassium and rubidium compounds produce purples and burning lithium glows red. Glittering greens are produced by radioactive barium. . . . the Bulletin estimates that the millennial celebrations shot 124 tons of lead into the air of the European Union countries. The spectacular show above Australia's Sydney Harbor filled the air with an estimated six tons of lead. In the US, fireworks shows may have generated 90 tons of sky-borne lead pollution -- a flagrant (and pungent) violation of the Clean Air Act. . . . "How can we expect people in the so-called third world to be environmentally friendly if we cannot abstain from completely useless pollution?" . . . The exploding use of fireworks poses an increasing -- and unexplored -- threat to human health. Airborne chemical particulates have been linked to lung cancer, heart attacks and premature deaths. An estimated 50,000 US citizens die each year from exposure to airborne particulates.

[Hagerty comment: For a pollution-free fireworks display, check out >JHANABI.

posted by Lorenzo 1:38 PM