Friday, 24 Sep 2004

May the Schwarz Be With You

Schwarzenegger signs bevy of environmental bills

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) won props from enviros this week as he signed into law more than two dozen pro-environment bills. The measures will (take a deep breath) allow drivers of hybrids getting at least 45 miles per gallon to go solo in highway carpool lanes, require that all cars built since 1976 get emissions checks from now on, establish the Sierra Nevada Conservancy to protect the beloved mountain range, create a cabinet-level Ocean Protection Council, prohibit dumping of so-called "gray water" from sinks and showers by cruise ships, limit bottom trawling along the coast, raise money to replace old buses with cleaner ones, and allow regional air districts to raise vehicle registration fees to fight diesel soot. Many of the bills were opposed by powerful interests; in particular, Schwarzenegger gave the stiff arm to Ford CEO Bill Ford and Tonight Show host Jay Leno, who lobbied against the carpool-lane and emission-testing bills, respectively. "These bills were not all easy to sign," said Karen Garrison of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "He did take some risks, and he gets credit for that."

Conventional Foolishness

Readers sound off on the Republican convention, Britishisms, and more

Grist readers, always a feisty bunch, gave us an earful about our Republican National Convention coverage. They were outraged that the big enviro groups didn't plan protests, outraged at our dispatcher's mockery of the Critical Mass cycling protest, and outraged about that 16-year-old nimrod we quoted. One took time out from GOP-convention outrage to be outraged about our use of a certain Britishism that offends tender sensibilities. We're bloody sorry! Come share in the outrage in Letters to the Editor -- only on the Grist Magazine website.

If I Were Dictator ... Oh, Wait, I Am!

China establishes its first-ever fuel-efficiency standards for cars

Attempting to combat its growing dependence on oil imports, China is set to establish fuel-efficiency standards for cars, SUVs, and vans for the first time. The standards are identical to those in a draft circulated last November, about which the auto industry strenuously complained, claiming they were too strict. One thing about a communist dictatorship, though -- it's not particularly responsive to criticism. So the industry is more or less resigned to meeting the standards; Volkswagen, which dominates the Chinese car market, even went so far as to say that it "views China's new gas-mileage policy as a positive step towards modern fuel economy and addressing the ecological impact of its rapidly growing car population and economy." The standards are set to go into effect in two phases. In the first phase, the SUV and minivan standards will be more strict than those in the U.S.; in the second phase, set to start in 2008, the standards will be, well, way more strict than those in the U.S.

Brent Offerings

Friends of the Earth chieftain answers questions on a whole lotta stuff

From "Green" GDP to green buildings, from war to peace, from Congress to chocolate cake, Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder has no shortage of insights. Readers peppered him with questions on topics near and far and he responded to all with equal aplomb. Check out his answers in InterActivist -- only on the Grist Magazine website.

Like a Tundra of Bricks

Arctic tundra may produce rather than absorb CO2, accelerating warming

It's not often that drama emerges from the Arctic tundra, but there seems to be genuine excitement around revelations from a 20-year study just completed and published in the journal Nature. Researchers have long assumed that Arctic tundra would be a carbon dioxide "sink," absorbing CO2 and slowing -- at least slightly -- the global-warming trend. Well, turns out not so much: According to the study, warming might cause accelerated decomposition of the lower levels of the tundra, releasing far more CO2 than subsequent growth will absorb and establishing a "positive feedback" that accelerates warming -- and, incidentally, could foul up Canada's attempt to meet its Kyoto targets. In other news from chilly-but-not-as-chilly-as-they-used-to-be spots, scientists have found that the collapse of the Antarctic's Larsen B ice shelf two years ago has drastically accelerated the collapse of surrounding glaciers into the sea -- a grim harbinger of things to come in a region particularly hard-hit by global warming.