Wednesday, 15 Nov 2000

Getting in Chip Shape

IBM has launched a new computer recycling program, just in time for America Recycles Day today. Computer equipment moves rapidly from state-of-the-art to obsolete, leaving many individuals and businesses stuck with machines that can be difficult to dispose of because they contain hazardous chemicals that don't belong in regular landfills. For a $30 fee, IBM will take an old computer off your hands and send it to a recycler that will either donate it to a worthy cause or recycle it in an "environmentally responsible way." Environmentalists say the program is a good step, but they are calling on IBM and other companies to recycle electronic equipment for free. Many activists are also pushing for "take-back" laws that would make electronics manufacturers responsible for disposal at the end of a product's life; such legislation is moving forward in Europe.

Good Things Come in Littleton Packages

Littleton, N.H., a town of 5,965 in the White Mountains, is being touted by some urban planners as a model of cutting-edge smart-growth practices. For starters, the town requires that every existing building be filled up before new ones are built. And citizens are invited to participate in town hall-style meetings to pore over blueprints, talk about traffic, and make planning decisions large and small. This type of citizen-based planning, which has been going on in Portland, Ore., for 30 years, is now spreading to other towns and cities around the U.S., including Boston, Mass., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Rochester, N.Y. When Rochester recently created neighborhood task forces and asked citizens for planning recommendations, it got many suggestions and tried to incorporate them into the city's master plan.

Retail-iation

Environmental activists around the U.S. are marking America Recycles Day today by protesting in front of Staples stores, criticizing the office-supply chain for selling paper and wood products made from old-growth trees and for not stocking enough products with high recycled content. With this campaign, the Coastal Rainforest Coalition, Rainforest Action Network, and other green groups are targeting a retailer rather than logging companies, following a model that proved successful for them earlier this year when they got Home Depot and other building-supply chains to stop selling wood from endangered old-growth forests. Staples is already on the defensive, putting up signs listing the recycled content of its products and prepping employees to answer recycling questions.

A Hague-y Shade of Winter

The European Union is unhappy with two proposals being pushed by the U.S. at the international climate change talks underway in The Hague, Netherlands. One would allow countries to count the ability of their forests and farmlands to absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide toward their targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Another would allow countries to skip significant emissions cuts at home and meet their commitments by providing funding and technology to help other countries reduce emissions. The head of the U.S. delegation at the climate talks, David Sandalow, said the proposals, if accepted, would lead to the most cost-effective emissions cuts and help the Kyoto treaty on climate change pass the U.S. Senate. The EU argues that at least half of emissions cuts should occur within each country's own boundaries. Environmental groups say the U.S. is seeking loopholes to avoid taking serious action against climate change. Meanwhile, the G77 group of developing countries, which includes island nations that are most threatened by the rising sea levels caused by global warming, is accusing the industrialized world of failing to do its part.

Thunder, the Circumstances

Against the backdrop of the international talks on climate change occurring in The Hague, Netherlands, scientists said yesterday that January through October in the U.S. this year saw the highest average temperature on record. The country averaged 58.1 degrees Fahrenheit over those months, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the top temperature since records started being kept in 1895. Meanwhile, the Inuits of the Canadian Arctic are experiencing something not recorded in their oral history: thunder and lightning. Electric storms are just one of the changes in the Arctic attributed to climate change in a new study by the Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development. Others include melting permafrost, thinning ice, mudslides, and skinny wildlife.

Greening From Ear to Ear

Although Ralph Nader came up short in his bid to get 5 percent of the vote in the presidential election, 18 other Green Party candidates around the U.S. won their races last week. Greens now hold a total of 72 elected offices in the country, mostly on city councils, school boards, and commissions in California, Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. The Greens hope Nader's high-profile bid for the presidency will help the party put more members into local and state offices. "We're encouraging people to run in a lot of elections in the upcoming years, and we're going to keep pushing on the issues we've been working on," said Winona LaDuke, Nader's running mate. Meanwhile, to the north, Canada's Green Party is arguing that it is being unfairly excluded from televised political debates, just as Nader and his supporters argued in the U.S. in recent months.