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Drug Waste Gives EPA the Blues
(Kristen Philipkoske, Wired.com, December 20, 2002)
Before flushing that expired bottle of antidepressants down the toilet, consider whether trout really need a serotonin boost. . . . At least one researcher suspects that they do not, and that serotonin and other drugs commonly disposed of through sewage systems might be harmful to aquatic life and even humans. . . . The sheer volume of pharmaceutical sales indicates the industry is a potential source of damaging waste, according to the EPA. . . . The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturing Association's Industry Profile 2000 says U.S. pharmaceuticals sales from 1999 to 2000 reached $100 billion. In 1997, the United States spent $319 per capita on drugs -- the third highest drug spending in the world. . . . "One can safely conclude that these sales figures represent very large quantities of actual chemical product," says the EPA's website. . . . When people flush expired drugs or excrete them, chemicals enter sewage systems, passing through practically untreated and making their way into aquatic environments. While the effect of such exposure on marine animals is still unknown, lifelong exposure to drugs designed for humans worries environmentalists. . . . Consumers can also help. While many poison-control centers recommend flushing unused or expired drugs down the toilet, other means of disposal are probably better for the environment. "If you can give them to curbside hazardous waste programs, that's the best option," Daughton said. "Or throw them in domestic trash, because at least that goes to engineered landfills that are lined to prevent things from getting into the environment."

posted by Lorenzo 6:27 PM

 

Oil's Not Well in Spain
(Julia Scheeres, Wired.com, December 17, 2002)
When an oil tanker carrying 20 million gallons of oil split in two and sank off the coast of northern Spain in late November, the government downplayed the event, saying most of the oil would congeal in the near-freezing ocean and never reach land. . . . activists have flocked to the Internet to narrate the untold story with photographs, personal accounts and independent reports of the disaster. . . . "The coast is asphalted as if it were a highway ... the air is unbreathable," . . . "I assure you that it is one thing to see it on television and another to be there, to touch it, smell it and to see the beaches from the sand, to see the birds completely covered with crude without being able to move, and to see the fishermen, people accustomed to hardships and a hard life, crying when they look at the ocean." . . . The University of Vigo has consistently contradicted the government's pronouncements on the advance of the black tide . . . "Without the Web, the satellite photographs of the affected zone wouldn't have been shown publicly, people wouldn't have been coordinated quickly to act as volunteers in the most affected zones, information wouldn't have gotten to the volunteers about how to handle the sludge," he said. "Definitely, the (role) of the Internet has been decisive."

posted by Lorenzo 4:13 PM

 

Dow Chemical's Biotech Greenwash
(Tom Price, CorpWatch, December 12, 2002)
So what would cause environmentalists to raise concerns over the proliferation of these wonder products? In a word, plenty. Missing entirely from Cargill/Dow�s press materials is any acknowledgement of the fact that the source material for these products is genetically engineered corn, designed by one of Cargill/Dow's corporate parents, Cargill Inc., a world leader in genetic engineering. . . . But with PLA, Cargill Dow may be able to do an end run around the global campaign to stop GE [genetic engineered] proliferation. By creating so many products with such an irresistible green appeal, voices of concern may be drowned out by the sheer weight of the marketplace. . . . Of course, this isn't the story Cargill Dow wants consumers to hear. It would rather they logged on to its Web site which boasts that, "Cargill Dow is launching an industrial revolution in which petroleum-based products are replaced with annually renewable ones, in other words, unlimited resources to replace limited ones. Reducing our environmental impact while at the same time producing a superior product is why our company exists," effuses the company Web site. . . . In fact, Cargill Dow exists to create new markets for the products of its parent companies. Cargill Dow is a stand-alone company created by two leaders in bioengineering, Cargill Inc. and Dow Chemical. Cargill is both the world's largest privately held company and the planet's largest producer of corn. . . . Not surprisingly, when Greenpeace activists caught wind of Cargill Dow's plans, they were furious. "The proliferation of genetic pollution through these GE crops has the potential to be the greatest environmental disaster in history, and it is highly disingenuous to claim this is green when it uses GE corn," said Craig Culp of Greenpeace USA.

posted by Lorenzo 7:32 PM

 

Lighting the Way to Solar Power
(Matt Wheeland, AlterNet, December 10, 2002)
The earth receives more energy from the sun in just one hour than the entire world uses in a whole year. . . . The electricity we rely on is polluting, wasteful, and expensive. Essentially, the energy industry in this country is mired in 19th-century thinking, and the veiled faces behind Vice President Cheney�s energy policy are fighting hard to keep it there. . . . So instead of using an outdated, wasteful and dirty method of generating electricity, the public could switch to solar energy and save money in producing it; save health costs by having cleaner energy; and protect the environment all at once. It sounds like an environmental fairy tale, but the technology is available and is rapidly dropping in price. . . . And while many people (especially those who live in the White House) seem to think that converting to renewable and efficient energy is unnecessary and difficult, around the country groups are working to make it happen. . . . In 2001, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly passed a public bond measure that would fund $100 million in renewable energy projects and conversion to more energy-efficient technologies. A revolutionary step in sustainable urban living, this bond measure, created by the Vote Solar Initiative, costs voters nothing, since the bond money comes from the energy savings in converting to solar power. . . . David Hochschild, one of the founders of Vote Solar and an architect of the initiative, calls this a truly groundbreaking piece of legislation. "We've got a very aggressive agenda in San Francisco. Thanks to the overwhelming support of the voters, we're sending a clear signal to Washington that the people want change on our energy policy, and it's starting here."

posted by Lorenzo 7:26 PM

 

Treetop Blogging Protests Logging
(Wired News, December 12, 2002)
For the past four weeks, the group of self-described geeks has been working on a plan to provide tree-sitters in the Headwaters Forest region of Northern California with access to an 802.11b wireless network. . . . "It's awesome," said Remedy, who, like the other activists trespassing on Pacific Lumber property, declined to give her full name. "I miss being on the Internet. But, of course, e-mail is just a fringe benefit. I want to use the Internet to spread the word about what's going on out here." . . . While some tree-sitters, like the now-famous Julia Butterfly Hill, have attracted the attention of major media outlets, the tech activists hope their wireless network will encourage sitters to post independent weblogs. . . . The group of five young activists, from the San Francisco Bay Area's Independent Media Center and regional wireless user groups, has already provided Remedy with a Linux-based laptop and a panel antenna. A car battery recharger powers the equipment, which will connect to an 802.11b access point 5.5 miles away in Eureka. . . . The activists have also set up a weblog [http://www.contrast.org/treesit/] for Remedy.

posted by Lorenzo 5:31 PM

 

Bush Administration Loses Appeal in California Offshore Drilling Case
From Natural Resources Defense Council - Monday, December 02, 2002
SAN FRANCISCO � A federal appeals court dealt a blow to the Bush administration's plan to allow new oil drilling off California's coast. A panel of judges upheld a lower court ruling that the government illegally extended 36 undeveloped oil leases off the central California coast. The panel agreed with the state of California and environmental groups who had sued the federal government because of the environmental risks posed by oil drilling. "This is a victory for the millions of people who visit, live and work by California's coast," said Drew Caputo, a senior attorney with NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), a national environmental group that joined in California's legal challenge. "After losing twice in federal court, it's time for the Bush administration to stop fighting for more oil drilling and to start protecting California's coast."

posted by A Curmudgeon 8:34 AM

 

One Farmer's Resistance Against Monsanto
(J.A.Savage, AlterNet, November 25, 2002)
Monsanto, you see, has a patent. It owns canola seed with a certain genetic trait. . . . Schmeiser maintains he was planting his own saved seed and that he couldn't help it if there was cross-pollination between his crops and others that were using, and paying Monsanto for, genetically modified seed. . . . "Monsanto has complete control of the seed supply," said Schmeiser of the canola crop farmed in western Canada. "A lot of farmers don't realize the implications" of a 2001 Federal Court of Canada decision siding with Monsanto against Schmeiser. The court said Schmeiser violated Monsanto patents on its Roundup Ready canola when he planted and sold seed for grain in 1998. Tests on Schmeiser's crop found it to contain Monsanto's patented gene. . . . After testing, Monsanto's patented gene was found in Schmeiser's crops � even though he swears it was accidental. . . . "Thus, a farmer whose field contains seed or plants originating from seed spilled into them, or blown as seed, in swaths from a neighbour's land or even growing from germination by pollen carried into his field from elsewhere by insects, birds, or by the wind, may own the seed or plants on his land even if he did not set about to plant them," noted the court. . . . "Monsanto has created a reign of fear," says Percy Schmeiser, who accuses Monsanto of stepping up its tactics to "harass" farmers this fall. "If a farmer gets one of these extortion letters, can you imagine the fear in that family. What will happen to them? That they won't have a farm left?" . . . "Monsanto is basically saying, 'If that gene is in your field it's ours.' That's overstepping what's reasonable," said Dan Charles, author of "Lords of the Harvest." He added that Schmeiser is "absolutely correct about Monsanto's bullying tactics."

posted by Lorenzo 6:46 PM

 

The Real Magic Mushrooms
(Linda Baker, Salon, November 26, 2002)
Once you've heard "renaissance mycologist" Paul Stamets talk about mushrooms, you'll never look at the world � not to mention your backyard � in the same way again.
. . . Stamets is about to thrust these higher fungi into the 21st century. In collaboration with several public and private agencies, he is pioneering the use of "mycoremediation" and "mycofiltration" technologies. These involve the cultivation of mushrooms to clean up toxic waste sites, improve ecological and human health, and in a particularly timely bit of experimentation, break down chemical warfare agents possessed by Saddam Hussein. . . . In a recent interview, Stamets also spoke mysteriously of a yet-to-be-unveiled project he calls the "life box," his plan for "regreening the planet" using fungi. "It's totally fun, totally revolutionary. It's going to put smiles on the faces of grandmothers and young children," he says. "And it's going to be the biggest story of the decade." . . . "He's the most creative thinker I know," says Dr. Donald Abrams, the assistant director of the AIDS program at San Francisco General Hospital and a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. Abrams says he became interested in the medicinal properties of mushrooms after hearing one of Stamets' lectures. Stamets is now a co-investigator on a grant proposal Abrams is authoring on the anti-HIV properties of oyster mushrooms. . . . Stamets envisions myriad uses of mycofiltration, one of which involves bridging the gap between ecological and human health. It's been more than 70 years since Alexander Fleming discovered that the mold fungus penicillium was effective against bacteria. And yet, complains Stamets, nobody has paid much attention to the antiviral and antibiotic properties of mushrooms � partly because Americans, unlike Asian cultures, think mushrooms are meant to be eaten, not prescribed. But with the emergence of multiple antibiotic resistance in hospitals, says Stamets, "a new game is afoot. The cognoscenti of the pharmaceuticals are now actively, and some secretly, looking at mushrooms for novel medicines." . . . Mycotechnology is part of a larger trend toward the use of living systems to solve environmental problems and restore ecosystems. One of the best-known examples is John Todd's "Living Machine," which uses estuary ecosystems powered by sunlight to purify wastewater. "The idea that a total community is more efficient against contaminants than a single Pac Man bug is gaining acceptance," says Jack Word, now with MEC Analytical Systems, an environmental consulting firm. The key challenge facing mycotechnologies, he says, is securing funding to demonstrate their large-scale commercial feasibility.

posted by Lorenzo 5:48 PM