Tuesday, 22 Mar 2005

Men all over the world who are hard up -- or, ahem, not -- for lovin' get aphrodisiacal assistance from potions concocted of sea turtle eggs, ground rhino horn, and other products from endangered species. So, argues writer J.D. Smith, why not excise the middle-species (so to speak) and let them eat Viagra instead -- provided, of course, by enlightened conservationists? Thinking outside the box to save wildlife -- today on the Grist Magazine website.

Benefit to Be Tied

EPA ignores own research in creating mercury rule

The U.S. EPA may have grossly underestimated the health benefits of mercury-emission reductions, according to a study commissioned by, uh, the EPA. When the Bush administration's new mercury rule was released last week, administration officials claimed that it would yield only $50 million a year in health benefits, while costing industry $750 million a year to implement. This poor cost-benefit ratio was used as justification for not requiring greater reductions. But an EPA staffer has recently revealed that a study conducted by EPA and Harvard scientists estimated the health benefits of the rule to be some 100 times greater -- worth some $5 billion a year in health savings -- because of mercury's effects on cardiac health. Agency officials said the study was submitted too late, but interviews and documents reveal that to be, uh, not true. They also say the study had unspecified "flaws." But they now acknowledge that no one can say "definitively" that the costs outweigh the benefits -- just that they outweigh the "quantified benefits." Perhaps if they'd quantified all the benefits ...

The Strife Aquatic

Concerns about sea critters grow as ocean noise levels increase

As the world's shipping traffic more than sextupled between 1948 and 1998, scientists say the oceans' noise levels have increased by some 15 decibels -- and as the impact of decibels is calculated exponentially, that's nothing to sneeze at. Researchers worry about the possible threat to many marine organisms that depend on their sense of hearing to survive. Scientists have speculated for years about the relationship between marine mammal beachings -- such as the recent dolphin strandings on Florida's Key West -- and military sonar blasts. Some researchers believe the "acoustic smog" may also affect the animals' ability to feed, breed, communicate with each other, and navigate the waters. Joel Reynolds, Marine Mammal Program director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, argues for regulating ocean noise: "We have to treat it like any other form of pollution."

Just One Day Out of Life, It Would Be So Nice

World Water Day celebrated by U.N., few others

In case you haven't heard -- and you haven't -- today is World Water Day, an annual holiday aimed at drawing attention to alarming stats about global water needs, encouraging world leaders to take action, and otherwise passing by unnoticed. But today isn't just any old World Water Day; it's also the kick-off for the United Nations-backed International Decade for Water, during which the organization will focus on fulfilling its Millennium Goals, which include aiding the estimated 2.4 billion people worldwide who have no access to sanitary sewage systems and the 1.1 billion who lack safe drinking water -- numbers the U.N. hopes to cut in half by 2015. Although the goals were set out in 2000, little has been done thus far to achieve them. They were just waiting for the right holiday.

Virtually Reality

Automakers launch ad campaign claiming cars are squeaky clean

Fed up with negative publicity, automakers are making their vehicles virtually emission-free. Oh, wait, did we say "making"? We meant "calling." The "virtually emission-free" claim is at the heart of a new print ad campaign targeted at federal legislators by a coalition of automakers including Ford, Toyota, and General Motors. There's a grain of truth behind the campaign: Some car models generate roughly 99 percent fewer smog-forming emissions than their counterparts in the pre-regulation 1960s. But critics, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, point out several problems. For one, most automakers have acknowledged that smog remains a serious public-health problem that requires further efforts on their part. For another, the campaign disregards emissions not classified as pollutants by the U.S. EPA -- in other words, carbon dioxide. But again, automakers themselves have acknowledged that greenhouse gases like CO2 are causing climate change and need to be cut. The UCS has mounted a counter-campaign that it says has generated 20,000 complaints to the Federal Trade Commission about the coalition's claims.

Grist Grows Up, Moves Out, Gets Real Job

Coming soon: Grist HTML emails with pictures and pretty colors

All right, all right, we get it. Text emails are sooo 1998. To get with the times, in April we will be launching a snazzy HTML version of our Grist emails -- with pictures and pretty colors and everything! Of course, the emails will still contain the same hard-hitting news and gut-busting puns (sorry). For you minimalists who love text and do not want to receive HTML emails, please send an email message with the subject line "set * txt" (no quotes) to . Be sure to send the message from the address under which you're subscribed. And while we're discussing ourselves: To keep growing bigger and bad-asser, we have decided to accept limited advertising in Grist. You're going to love the tinkly music, flashing lights, and whack-a-monkey games that advertising will bring to our pages! (Ah, we kid. It will be tastefully done, we promise.) For more info on Grist's advertising policy, check out http://www.grist.org/about/advertising or fire off a missive to .