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Environmental Crisis in Lebanon
(BBC News, 31 July 2006)
An oil slick caused by Israeli bombing of the Jiyyeh power station now covers 80km (50 miles) of coast. . . . Local environmental groups describe the slick as an "environmental disaster". . . . Almost as much oil may have entered the water as during the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker incident in Alaska, which led to widespread ecological damage. . . . according to the Lebanese environment ministry, "minimal amounts of dispersants, booms, adsorbents, and skimmers are readily available". . . . Initial reports indicated that 10,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil had escaped from damaged tanks, but the eventual total could be 35,000 tonnes. . . . By comparison, spillage from the Exxon Valdez accident totalled just under 40,000 tonnes of crude oil. . . . "What we have here is equivalent to a tanker sinking, and 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes reaching the shoreline," said Berj Hatjian from the Lebanese environment ministry. . . . The group Green Line says that some of the oil has settled on the sea floor, threatening areas where tuna spawn. . . . It also says that slicks on beaches will prevent baby turtles from reaching the sea after they hatch. . . . The green turtle, whose eggs hatch in July, is an endangered species. . . . Unep agrees that the oil is a significant threat to some Mediterranean wildlife, but also says the slick could compromise livelihoods when the current conflict ends. . . . "Firstly our thoughts are with the suffering of the civilian population," said Mr Steiner. . . . "But we must be concerned about the short and long term impacts on the marine environment, including the biodiversity upon which so many people depend for their livelihoods and living via tourism and fishing."

posted by LoZo 4:42 PM

 

President Chavez Announces Ban of Genetically Engineered Crops in Venezuela
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias has announced that the cultivation of genetically modified crops will be prohibited on Venezuelan soil, possibly establishing the most sweeping restrictions on transgenic crops in the Western Hemisphere. Though full details of the administration’s policy on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are still forthcoming, the statement by President Chavez will lead most immediately to the cancellation of a contract that Venezuela had negotiated with the U.S.-based Monsanto Corporation. . . . Before a recent international gathering of supporters in Caracas, President Chavez admonished genetically engineered crops as contrary to interests and needs of the nation’s farmers and farmworkers. He then zeroed in on Monsanto’s plans to plant up to 500,000 acres of transgenic soybeans in Venezuela.

posted by LoZo 3:36 PM

 

Big Problems with Canadian Oil Sands
According to Western Oils Sands, one of the major players in the oil sands project, the cost of extracting the oil is "skyrocketing." The cost of its project jumped 50 percent over the previously estimated bill of $7.3 billion, thanks to increasing costs of labor and supplies. Competitor Nexen says its oil sands costs will rise 10 percent, while Shell says the cost of its oil sands plant went up 50 percent. . . . According to Western, oil sands are a mixture of sand, bitumen and water. Bitumen is a heavy viscous crude oil that contains high amounts of sulfur. Bitumen can be processed into high quality, synthetic oil. . . . The environmental cost is also steep, as Al Gore told Rolling Stone that "four metric tons of landscape is torn up for every barrel of oil." . . . So while there may be lots of oil in the sand, it won't come cheaply.

posted by LoZo 4:12 PM

 

Climate change 'real and severe' reports BBC's expert panel
(BBC News, 6 July 2006)
Temperatures are likely to rise by 3C to 5C by the end of the century, with impacts likely to be "severe" but not "catastrophic", the panel said. . . . It also concluded that politicians are unlikely to cut emissions sufficiently to prevent dangerous global heating. . . . The panel's discussions were based on themes set by Professor James Lovelock in his latest book The
Revenge of Gaia . . . . The book argues that human society, through greenhouse gas emissions and other forms of environmental degradation, has brought the natural world to the brink of a crisis. . . . Temperatures will rise, Professor Lovelock warns, reliable supplies of water will be disrupted, life in the oceans will be compromised, food production will decline, and there will be mass migrations to areas of the planet's surface which remain habitable. . . . "The fact that you've been taking higher-end, pessimistic predictions of the IPCC is something that shouldn't be dismissed," he said, "even if there's only a 5% or even a 1% probability that they might be real. . . . "Would you get on an aeroplane if the pilot told you there was a 5% or a 1% probability that you wouldn't reach your destination? No of course you wouldn't; you have to take even very low-probability scenarios very seriously." . . . There was general agreement that the rising global population and rising levels of consumption are major issues which are largely absent from discussion in political and public circles in many countries. . . . "I think it should be a call for action, and that action has to involve organisations and governments worldwide." . . . The panel did not believe, however, that governments were hearing alarm bells as loudly as they should, with only one of the seven members feeling that carbon emissions would be cut sufficiently to avoid "dangerous" warming. . . . Ron Oxburgh, a former chairman of Shell, contended that the die had not yet been cast. . . . "Whether the very serious and gloomy scenarios that Jim is emphasising come about is really within our own grasp," he said. . . . "I'm confident on the technology; I'm much less confident that we have the social and political will to make the hard decisions that are required. . . . "The future is not inevitable, but we have to work hard to avoid the scenarios Jim has described."

posted by LoZo 10:10 AM