Monday, 16 Jun 2003

Tangled Up in Deep Blue

Each day, nearly 1,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises are sent to an untimely death after they get tangled up in nets and other fishing equipment, according to a new study conducted by American and Scottish scientists and released by the World Wildlife Fund. These accidental captures may be the biggest threat to the sea mammals' survival, more deadly than pollution and collisions with ships. "Several species will be lost in the next few decades if nothing is done," warned the study's lead author, Andy Read of Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, N.C. The study's release was timed to coincide with the International Whaling Commission's annual meeting, which got underway today in Berlin and threatens to be highly contentious. Pro-whaling nations -- namely Iceland, Japan, and Norway -- want the IWC to loosen whaling restrictions, while 18 anti-whaling nations -- including Australia, Britain, Germany, and the U.S. -- are pushing for the adoption of the so-called Berlin Initiative, which would give the IWC a stronger conservation role.

Lifestyles of the Green and Crunchy

In an effort to raise both funds and consumer consciousness, the Sierra Club is preparing to put its name on a range of eco-friendly products that will hit stores this fall -- toys, jackets, pillows, bedding, and organic coffee and tea. "Our products will make it possible to create a total Sierra Club lifestyle," said Johanna O'Kelley, the club's director of licensing. The environmental group has contracted with companies to make products that meet its green standards, and the club will receive royalties of 5 percent to 20 percent of the retail price of each item sold. Many of the products will come with postcards addressed to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, asking him to protect Alaska's forests. Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said he expected the product sales to raise $1 million for the group in the first year -- enough to boost the club's lobbying efforts by 20 percent. Pope acknowledged that the group may hit rough patches as it pursues commercial ventures, but he's optimistic about the possibilities. "Don't be surprised if you see a Sierra Club couch," he said.

A Man With a Plan

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), a top contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, made a bid for green votes on Friday when he unveiled an energy plan that would, among other things, tighten fuel-economy standards for automobiles and push the U.S. toward getting 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Kerry wants to end U.S. dependence on Middle East oil imports within a decade. "The threats that America faces today don't just come from gun barrels, they come from gas pumps -- and we need to disarm that danger," Kerry told an audience in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "No foreign government can embargo clean domestic renewable sources of energy and no terrorists can seize control of them." Kerry proposed launching a new fund that would finance research into renewable energy sources and spending $1 billion a year to help the U.S. auto industry build more eco-friendly vehicles. He said his plan would create 500,000 new jobs over a decade.

Nature Conservancy Goes Back to Nature

The Nature Conservancy, which was sent reeling last month after a series of Washington Post articles exposed embarrassing problems and questionable practices within the organization, has announced a number of policy reforms decided upon in a board meeting last week. TNC, the world's wealthiest environmental group, will stop drilling for oil on land it controls, making loans to staff members, and selling undeveloped land to trustees for use as home sites. The Post articles revealed, among other things, that TNC had drilled for natural gas on the last native breeding ground of an endangered bird and had given its president, Steven McCormick, a $1.5 million low-interest home loan. In the wake of the articles, two senators called for taking a close look at TNC's finances. The group hopes the new changes will head off further scrutiny and criticism. "This sounds like a big step in the right direction," said Peter Dobkin Hall of Harvard's Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations

Idle Trucks Are the Devil's Playthings

New gadgetry at truck stops could help slash pollution from idling big rigs. Most truck drivers across the U.S. leave their vehicles' engines running all night while they're parked at truck stops because it's the only way to keep the heating or air conditioning on while they get some shuteye. Between 840 million and 2 billion gallons of gasoline are burned each year in the U.S. by these idling trucks, according to an estimate from the South Coast Air Quality Management District in southern California, and that results in a lot of dangerous diesel exhaust that can damage lungs and exacerbate asthma or bronchitis, not to mention heat up the planet. IdleAire Technologies, a Tennessee-based company, has a solution to this dirty problem: truck stops where drivers can turn off their engines and tap into a system that gives them heated or cooled air via a tube with a control panel that attaches to a truck window. The system even offers Internet access. Think eco-friendly drive-in theater for the 21st century. So far, 200 truck stops in the U.S. have plans to adopt the IdleAire technology.