Our blogs about
America's Wars
War on Iraq
War on Drugs
War on Afghanistan
War on Columbia
War on Philippines
War on Venezuela

More
Matrix Masters
Blogs
World Events
US News
Science & Health
Earth News
Free Speech
News from Africa
News from Palestine
Bill of Rights Under Attack

Matrix Masters'
SUPPORTERS

Lorenzo's
Random Musings
. . . about Chaos,
Reason, and Hope

 

An Earth Day Celebration
Not only will air pollution not increase, there's virtually no way to stop large decreases in air pollution in the future. That's Earth Day news worth celebrating.

Has air pollution in the United States gotten worse or better over the past three decades? Polls consistently show that most Americans think that air quality has gotten worse. But, this is completely false. Uncontroversial data from agencies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board show that air pollution news has been good across the board for decades now. Since the mid-1960s the best available measurements show that sulfur dioxide levels have fallen by more than 80 percent, carbon monoxide levels are down more than 75 percent, nitrogen dioxide levels dropped over 40 percent, ozone levels decreased nearly 50 percent, and the level of total particulates (smoke, soot, dust) is down by more than 60 percent.

In the 1980s, the EPA also started measuring smaller particles in the air, which are believed to have graver health consequences than some of those older pollution markers. Levels of those tiny terrors have declined nearly 30 percent. By almost any standard, air quality greatly improved between 1970 and 2000, even as U.S. population grew by 39 percent, energy use increased by 42 percent, total vehicle miles driven jumped by 143 percent, and gross domestic product soared by 149 percent.

There is no connection any longer between increased population, industrial production, energy consumption, or car use and increased air pollution. The already low air pollution levels in the United States will inevitably drop much further over the next two decades. Most future pollution reductions will come from things we have already done. New cars already pollute far less than older cars, so as older cars are replaced by cleaner new cars, the air will continue to clear.

Some environmentalists fear that the effects of "suburban sprawl" and increasing numbers of gas-guzzling SUVs will halt the progress in reducing air pollution. But as the percentage of SUVs grew from 31 percent to 38 percent and gasoline use increased by 12 percent in California between 1994 and 2001, total emissions still continued their steep drops. Hydrocarbons were down by more than 60 percent, nitrogen oxides by over 40 percent, and carbon monoxide by 55 percent.

In the face of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, why do the majority of Americans still believe that air pollution is getting worse? When crime rates fall, mayors, police chiefs, and district attorneys are eager to spread the news and take the credit. But when pollution levels fall, environmentalists and environmental bureaucrats show a peculiar reluctance to cheer. The difference is that the environmental movement uses scare stories to raise money for their campaigns: no crisis, no money, no movement. In other words, Americans believe that air pollution is getting worse because some people make a living peddling that misinformation.

posted by Hal 9:28 PM

 

The Bush Administration's Air Pollution Plan Would Shred Current Clean Air Act Protections, Says Clean Air Trust
commondreams.org WASHINGTON - The Bush Administration's air pollution plan, euphemistically called the "Clear Skies Initiative," would shred current Clean Air Act protections, the nonprofit Clean Air Trust noted today. The Administration plan is supported by some of the nation's biggest polluters and environmental outlaws such as American Electric Power. And no wonder: the plan would eliminate numerous tools in current law designed to produce cleaner air and better public health. It would give special deals to big polluters. Environmental experts have noted that it would mean more pollution in the future than would faithful enforcement of current law.


A United States Senate subcommittee has scheduled its first hearing on the plan today. Although the Bush Administration has touted this as a bill that would only affect electric power plants, other smokestack industries would also be permitted to take advantage of huge new loopholes. The Clean Air Trust undertook this analysis to examine some of the key tools in existing law that would be eliminated or modified by the Administration plan.

posted by West 5:29 PM

 

Scientists create healthy clone of endangered species
Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Scientists have for the first time created a healthy clone of an endangered species, offering powerful evidence that cloning technology can play a role in preserving and even reconstituting threatened and endangered species.

The clone -- a cattlelike creature known as a Javan banteng, native to Asian jungles -- was grown from a single skin cell taken from a captive banteng before it died in 1980. The cell was one of several that had remained frozen in a vial at the San Diego Zoo until last year, when they were thawed as part of an experimental effort to make cloned banteng embryos.

Scientists transferred dozens of such embryos to the wombs of standard beef cows in Iowa last fall, and the first baby banteng clone was born April 1 after gestating for a standard 9 1/2 months.

"It let out this big bellow and everybody cheered," said Robert Lanza, a scientist with Advanced Cell Technology, a Worcester, Mass., company that collaborated in the project with the Zoological Society of San Diego and an Iowa high-tech cattle reproduction company.

posted by West 8:01 AM

 

EPA To Allow Emergency Dumping in Gulf of Mexico
TAMPA BAY, Florida, April 7, 2003 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made an emergency decision that could allow the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to transport and dump treated wastewater into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The agency has initiated consultation with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the first required step under an international treaty that governs dumping of wastes into ocean waters.

The treaty, called the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter and also known as the 1972 London Convention, calls for the EPA to notify the IMO and consult with other countries likely to be affected by the action.

EPA officials expect the emergency permit will be issued in the next several days. The permit will require Florida to continue to pursue alternatives and use other solutions to the maximum extent feasible.

posted by West 12:06 AM

 

British Voluntary CO2 Emissions Cuts Produce Results
LONDON, UK, April 7, 2003 (ENS) - The UK government today issued an upbeat first review of a series of voluntary agreements on cutting carbon dioxide emissions reached with 44 industry sectors in 2000 and 2001.

Nearly 90 percent of affected sites met their target for cutting emissions in 2002. Initial results from the climate change agreements "demonstrate real gains in energy efficiency," the government said.

The Chemical Industries Association, representing one of the UK's major energy users, claimed a 14.5 percent improvement in energy efficiency since 1998 and said it had exceeded its 2002 climate change agreements emission reduction target.

In total, 5,000 companies are covered by climate change agreements. Collectively they reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 13.5 million metric tons in 2002 - an amount three times greater than the government's target.

posted by West 12:04 AM

 

Great apes' African stronghold under grave threat
(NewScientist,com, 7 April 2003)
The bush meat trade and the Ebola virus are devastating great ape populations in west Africa - their last major refuge . . . The combination could push our closest animal relatives to the brink of extinction in the wild in just a decade, warns Peter Walsh of Princeton University, New Jersey, who led the study. . . . But new surveys conducted between 1998 and 2002 show the average population density has dropped by 56 percent. And that estimate is deliberately conservative, Walsh warns. . . . Satellite photos of Gabon show only modest deforestation, which had been thought the worst threat to the great apes. But big problems were found hiding under the trees. . . . Selective logging preserves tree cover, but the roads built to remove the wood give hunters easy access to ape populations. Losses were alarmingly heavy in areas where ape populations had been highest. They reached up to 99 percent in the Minkebe forest area in northeast Gabon. . . . The average annual decline of 4.7 per cent is bad enough to move both gorillas and chimpanzees from "endangered" to "critically endangered", Walsh says. The latter designation requires a projected loss of 80 per cent of the population in three generations. . . . Apes are important, says Sandy Harcourt of the University of California at Davis. "If they go, then we've lost a very, very direct connection to the rest of the animal world." . . . He agrees that the problem is grave, but says he is "a little less worried" about prospects for recovery if the animals can be protected effectively. Mountain gorillas have survived several wars. "The situation is way worse than we ever thought, but very far from hopeless," Harcourt says.

posted by Lorenzo 9:46 AM