Monday, 20 Sep 2004

Go With the FoE

Brent Blackwelder, Friends of the Earth president, InterActivates

Friends of the Earth is one of the oldest and largest environmental organizations in the world. It has been a pioneer on environmental issues ranging from genetically modified foods to watchdogging the World Bank. Brent Blackwelder, president of FoE, takes a moment out of his busy schedule to answer Grist's questions. He calls attention to the importance of "environmental accountants," traces his personal history of activism, and reveals which Bush administration official really puts a burr in his saddle -- in InterActivist, only on the Grist Magazine website. Ask him a question of your own by noon PDT on Wednesday, Sept. 22.

Sturm Und Dang

Climate change and urbanization lead to more natural-disaster fatalities

Thanks to global warming and the increasing concentration of the earth's denizens in densely populated urban centers, more and more people are vulnerable to natural disasters -- floods, droughts, storms, fires, landslides, and the like. The number of reported natural disasters rose from 261 in 1990 to 337 last year; during the same period, the number of people affected rose almost threefold to 254 million. The statistics, reported by a U.N. agency on Friday, are particularly relevant at the moment, as the Caribbean and Southeast U.S. are being pounded by a series of devastating hurricanes, and these new numbers may heat up the debate over whether global warming is responsible for the rise in such storms. Climatologists are divided on the matter; while many expect that global warming may increase the intensity of storms in the relative short term and their frequency in the long term, the consensus seems to be that the current spate of hurricanes is due to natural fluctuations.

The Rank and Vile

Umbra helps you choose where to buy gas

Americans tend to view low gas prices as a human right that rates right up there with health care ... oh, wait, they don't count health care as a human right. Anyway, one conscience-stricken reader writes to advice columnist Umbra Fisk wondering if perhaps there aren't some other criteria one might apply in one's search for gasoline to fill up one's mobile global-warmer. Are all gas companies the same, or is there some ranking of their relative social and environmental responsibility? Rather than give the reader a fish, Umbra teaches her how to fish -- in Ask Umbra, today on the Grist Magazine website.

Big Trouble in Big China

News flash: China's environment is bad and getting worse

A Washington Post exploration of China's environmental problems confirms all the sorry tales you've been hearing. The country contains at least six of the world's 10 most polluted cities, experts say, leading to respiratory problems for millions of citizens. Deforestation in north and central China means deserts are expanding by thousands of square miles a year. Five of China's largest rivers are so polluted they are dangerous to touch (not drink -- touch!), and an estimated 600 million Chinese, roughly half the population, drink water contaminated by human or animal waste. Meanwhile, the number of cars on the roads rises, 70 percent of energy comes from nasty brown coal, regional Communist bosses benefit from out-of-control development, and the country's environmental agency is understaffed and ineffectual. Environmental protests are more frequent, but some observers think that a Chernobyl-style catastrophe would be required to spur the drastic changes needed.

Gambler's Dilemma

Investing in renewable energy can pose ethical dilemmas

Over the past two years, the value of fossil-fuel companies has soared while the worldwide stock-market value of renewable-energy companies has declined from $13 billion to $10.7 billion. This, despite ever-renewing hope that a major energy transition will spark a boom in the renewables arena. Many Wall Street investors are reluctant to go for renewables because there's so much insecurity around energy markets. The U.S. and other key nations have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and there's a patchwork of national standards for carbon-dioxide emissions. Many socially and environmentally conscious investors continue to seek out renewable investments, but they face two problems. The small companies working exclusively in renewables -- wind, solar, biofuels -- are huge gambles. But the large companies making some investments in alternative energy -- like BP, Archer Daniels Midland, and GE -- are ethical compromises, as they tend to contribute to environmental problems with the right hand while nurturing renewable technologies with the left.