Thursday, 25 Sep 2003

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Eco-Friendly Advice on Contraception, Conjugal Disputes, and More

What's the best way to have (environmentally) safer sex? Condoms come with all that packaging (and, need we add, are not reusable), but the Pill releases hormones into the natural environment, possibly interfering with the reproductive systems of aquatic life. Umbra Fisk, environmental advice columnist extraordinaire, tackles eco-friendly contraception, husband-wife hunting disputes, and how to buy the perfect dishwasher, only on the Grist Magazine website.

Knights Who Say "NEPA"

White House Task Force Proposes Alterations to NEPA

One of the nation's most important environmental laws could be fundamentally altered, if suggestions from a White House task force are implemented. A panel of the Council on Environmental Quality yesterday proposed dozens of changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, a 1970 law that requires all major federal projects to be reviewed for their potential ecological impact. Industry groups have long complained that the environmental assessments and impact statements mandated by NEPA are too time-consuming, and the Bush administration has sought to change the law, for example by trying to eliminate assessments for some logging, highway building, airport construction, and energy exploration. Environmentalists support some of the task force recommendations -- including improving implementation of NEPA through new technology and better information management -- but oppose categorical exemptions to the law.

We've Got Mail

Grist Readers on Forest Decimation, Sewage, Political Ploys, and More

A call to save the dwindling forests of the southeast. A defense of septic systems. A swing at the Green Party. A bit of praise for our headline wizardry. A reminder that Democrats need to be watchdogged as much as Republicans. That's just a sampling of what's come into the Grist mailbox in the last two weeks. One irate letter-writer even carps at us for stooping to cover -- gasp! -- sly political maneuvering. (Hey, we don't make the news, folks. We just report it.) All this and more -- only on the Grist Magazine website.

Something Stinks

EPA, Livestock Farms Seek to Cut Deal on Air Pollution

Large livestock farms could gain immunity from air-pollution lawsuits by agreeing to monitor their emissions, under a new plan proposed by the U.S. EPA. The agency says the plan would benefit environmental regulators by generating data on how much air pollution is emitted by pork, poultry, dairy, and cattle farms; that data could then be used later down the line for establishing controls on farm-based sources of air pollution. In the meantime, though, participating farms would not be subject to the federal Clean Air Act. Environmentalists criticize the proposal, saying it will let large farms off the hook for the nitrogen, methane, ammonia, and other pollutants they produce. Industry groups not only support the plan; they originally proposed it to the EPA, and hope to hand-pick the independent organization that will monitor emissions if the proposal takes effect.

Food Chain Reaction

Mid-Century Whaling Caused Marine Ecosystem Collapse, Scientists Say

For years, marine biologists in the North Pacific have been puzzled by the seemingly inexplicable decline of Alaskan seals, sea lions, and otters in the region. The problem wasn't lack of food; in fact, these animals' prey populations, such as sea urchins, are booming. Now, a group of researchers think they have the answer: a collapse in the food chain caused by the decimation of whales 50 years ago. After World War II, Japanese and Russian whaling fleets killed a half-million whales; in response, orcas, which used to prey on the other whales, turned elsewhere for food. That was bad news for seals, the scientists say -- and when the seals grew scarce, it was bad news for sea lions, and then for otters. If the hypothesis is accurate, then the findings (which are being published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) suggest that conservation efforts must focus on entire ecosystems, rather than individual species.