Wednesday, 16 Apr 2003

Down Underdogs

In the 1950s and '60s, the British military conducted a dozen full-scale nuclear tests in the desert of southern Australia. To the military, the region was a wasteland, the ideal place for such a project; to the Aboriginal people, who have lived in the desert for millennia, the land was their home. The military told the Aboriginals that the testing was safe, but many went blind, suffered radiation sickness, or developed cancer. Now, half a century later, the Australian government has proposed building a new radioactive-waste dump near Woomera, in the state of South Australia. For their efforts to block construction of the dump, septuagenarians Eileen Wingfield and Eileen Kampakuta Brown shared one of this year's six Goldman Environmental Prizes. Read an interview with Wingfield, part of Michelle Nijhuis's special six-part series on the winners, only on the Grist Magazine website.

The Progress of Engines

Bulldozers, tractors, irrigation equipment, and other diesel-powered off-road machines will be subject to stricter emissions standards under a new plan announced yesterday by the U.S. EPA. The plan calls for cutting emissions by up to 95 percent, a move that would bring the standards for off-road vehicles in line with those for cars and trucks for the first time in decades. Off-road diesel engines are second only to power plants in emissions associated with lung cancer, asthma, and other health threats. The tougher rules are expected to prevent 9,600 premature deaths per year and save tens of billions of dollars annually in medical expenses and lost productivity. Environmentalists praised the plan, with the Natural Resources Defense Council hailing it as the most significant public-health improvement since unleaded gasoline.

The Tax Man Bummeth

With April 15 behind us, many U.S. citizens are doubtless thinking about where their hard-earned tax dollars are headed. This week's Grist diarist, Joel Sisolak of Friends of the Cedar River Watershed, is no exception. He's happy to pay his fair share for building schools, providing health care, and tending to the environment, but not so happy to be funding mayhem in the Middle East. He calls attention to one seldom-discussed environmental outcome of the war in Iraq: a severe -- and worsening -- water crisis. People in southern Iraq, desperately short of supplies, have been drinking untreated water from drainage ditches, and humanitarian aid workers warn that the worst may lie ahead. The U.S. military ought to restore clean water supplies to all Iraqis before any victory is claimed, Sisolak argues -- only on the Grist Magazine website.

Ever Glad-handing

The federal government is footing half the $8.4 billion bill for restoring the Florida Everglades -- so no wonder eight U.S. lawmakers are expressing concern over what they see as the state's efforts to alter the Everglades Forever Act, which sets the terms of the cleanup. Florida Department of Environmental Protection chief David Struhs is in Washington, D.C., today to reassure those lawmakers, who hailed from both sides of the aisle, and emphasize the state's commitment to restoring the Everglades. Those reassurances are necessary, because this week, the Natural Resources Committee of the Florida legislature approved changes in a matter of minutes to a law that took years to negotiate. Some of those changes include amendments so confusing that lobbyists on both sides of the Everglades issue were left in the dark. Now, many fear that the changes, if approved by the state legislature, will jeopardize billions of dollars in federal aid.

Can't See the Trees, Either

Spring is here, and all across the country, the first pale green leaves are appearing on trees. But if you live in an urban area, you may be lucky to see such a sight: During the past 15 years, the quantity of trees in many U.S. cities has dropped by almost a third, while paved areas have increased by 20 percent, according to the conservation group American Forests. To turn those numbers around, urban areas would need to plant some 634 million trees -- a daunting notion at a time when most municipalities are facing significant budget crunches. But the virtues of trees outweigh the costs, the group argues: They absorb carbon dioxide, return oxygen to the air, absorb stormwater runoff, provide habitat for local and migratory birds, muffle loud sounds, and cool things down on hot summer days. Together, those benefits can save cities millions of dollars.