Thursday, 20 Nov 2003

The Loophole in the Ozone Layer

Why the Bush Administration Ditched the Montreal Protocol

Until about, oh, a week ago, the Montreal Protocol on restoring and protecting the ozone layer was widely considered the most successful international environmental treaty ever negotiated. For more than a decade, a global alliance has worked together to gradually phase out ozone-depleting chemicals, and just this summer, scientists found the first irrefutable evidence that the protocol was working and atmospheric ozone levels were improving. But last week, the U.S. delegation to a routine protocol meeting threw a major monkey wrench in the works by demanding the right to actually increase use of the fumigant methyl bromide, which is banned under the protocol -- and which destroys ozone at 45 times the rate of chlorofluorocarbons, the better-known bad guy in the ozone-hole drama. In The Gist, Grist Magazine's monthly editorial, we ask: What on Earth is the Bush administration thinking?

Do I Smell Bacon?

Congress Refuses to Interfere with California Clean-Air Regulations

One trouble with pork-barrel politics: Sometimes your colleagues decide you're acting like a pig. That may be what happened yesterday, when congressional negotiators tossed out Sen. Kit Bond's (R-Mo.) spending-bill amendment, which would have prevented California from requiring catalytic converters on small engines, such as those found in lawn equipment. Bond's amendment, which was approved by the Senate before being axed by joint House-Senate negotiators, was basically a favor to one company, the small-engine manufacturer Briggs and Stratton, whose largest factories are located in the senator's home state. Apparently, the negotiators decided that California's right to clean up its air was more important -- a victory for the state's congressional delegation and for the brand-spankin'-new Schwarzenegger administration.

Talking Turkey

Make Your Thanksgiving and Holiday Meals Go Easy on the Earth

With Thanksgiving just around the bend, we thought this would be a good time to introduce our readers, real personal-like, to that staple holiday main dish, the turkey. Conventional turkeys have been bred for superior breast meat for so long that now they literally have trouble standing upright, resulting in birds that can barely walk -- let alone fly. Because these over-bred turkeys aren't genetically diverse, they are vulnerable to disease and can only reproduce via artificial insemination. They're pumped full of antibiotics and fed unnatural high-protein food, including slaughterhouse leftovers. Okay, we know -- ick, yuck, you get the picture, stop already. But even if you're a vegetarian, your festive meal might not be quite as healthy (for you or the planet) as you think. This holiday season, treat your guests, and yourself, to a truly healthy and ethical meal, with a little help from this month's Earthly Possessions column -- on the Grist Magazine website.

Forest Gumption

Scientists Call for Protection of Half of B.C. Rainforest

Almost half of British Columbia's coastal rainforest must be protected in order to maintain the health of its ecosystem, according to a team of independent scientists studying the 42,471-square-mile swath of forest on Canada's western coast. The surprise advice to preserve between 44 and 50 percent of the rainforest is the result of two years of work representing the first comprehensive study of the region. The recommendation of the study, which was commissioned by the provincial government, far exceeds not only the 32 percent of land B.C. has said it will consider conserving but also the amount environmentalists have demanded. The province is awaiting the completion of two other reports, on the region's social and economic needs, before making any land-use decisions.

Crash Test Dummies

Energy Dept. Reviews Hazards Posed by Military Aircraft at Yucca Mtn.

Increased military flights over Nellis Air Force Range and the Nevada Test Site will require revising hazard calculations about the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the U.S. Department of Energy announced yesterday. Earlier this week, a military jet crashed on the Nellis range, the third crash in as many years within a roughly 30-mile radius of Yucca Mountain. The U.S. Air Force has told the Yucca Mountain planners that it intends to increase the number of test flights in the relevant airspace, which "will certainly have an effect on probabilities [of accidents]," said Paul Harrington, system engineering leader for the DOE's Office of Repository Development. Nevada Nuclear Project Agency officials doubt that Yucca Mountain can safely withstand a crash, and say military operations and nuclear waste storage are incompatible. In other Yucca Mountain news, Democratic presidential contender Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) told Nevadans yesterday that he would not go forward with the n-waste storage plan "if I feel it's not safe."