Friday, 07 Feb 2003

When You Dish Upon a Star

Minnesota would become the first state in the U.S. to effectively ban phosphorus in automatic-dishwashing detergent if a bill working its way through the state legislature gets the eventual thumbs-up. Phosphorus, which helps to remove those oh-so-unsightly spots from glasses and dishware, ultimately gets flushed out of homes and into lakes and streams, where it contributes to algae blooms and clogged waterways. The bill now under consideration would make it illegal to sell detergents with a phosphorus content higher than 0.5 percent by weight; the current limit is 11 percent and most dishwasher detergents contain 6 to 8 percent phosphorus. No surprise that industry heavies such as Procter & Gamble are expected to make a big stink about the measure and mount a campaign to defeat it. In another trend-setting move, Minnesota last year began to clamp down on the use of phosphorus in lawn fertilizers.

Af-gone

Afghanistan's most significant wetland area is now almost as dry as a bone, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. Satellite imagery shows that 99 percent of the Sistan wetlands, which stretch into Iran, have dried out since 1998. The main source of water to the wetlands, the Helmand River, has been flowing at far below normal levels. Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani, Afghanistan's minister of irrigation, water resources, and the environment, said today that he hoped to have $20 million to spend on environmental work this year after the country finalizes its first national budget next month. Alluding to Afghanistan's many years of war and violence, Nuristani said research by UNEP "makes it clear how conflict causes environmental destruction." He added that "continued environmental depletion and scarcity of natural resources will cause further conflict" unless stronger systems of environmental management are put into place.

Hydra-gen

President Bush yesterday tried out several neat-o gadgets powered by hydrogen fuel cells (a video camera and cell phone, among others) and reinforced the lofty language of his State of the Union speech, saying that he would ask Congress to spend $1.2 billion on "a new national commitment to take fuel-cell cars from the laboratory to the showroom." Enviros and Democratic presidential candidates, however, say the administration's plan is a crock. First, they point out that fuel-cell cars won't be clean unless the hydrogen they run on is generated by renewable energy, rather than from fossil fuels. Second, they aren't satisfied with the timeframe of the administration's plan. Bush himself predicted that his grandkids would be among the first to drive fuel-cell vehicles; in the meantime, inefficient, polluting cars and SUVs will continue to fill the roadways. Finally, critics note that the government already has its hands on $400 million of the $1.2 million trumpeted by Bush, so his proposal is far less grand than it appears.

She Blinded Me With Science

What role should ethics and values play in science and environmental policy? How can the courts best work to protect human health and ecosystems? These are just a couple of the Big Questions that Carolyn Raffensperger grapples with as executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, a nonprofit that advocates the wise application of science to efforts to protect the environment and public health. As this week's Grist diarist, Raffensperger writes from Ames, Iowa, about scientific superheroes, environmental Lamed-vavniks, and lots more, only on the Grist Magazine website.