Friday, 22 Apr 2005

Global warming may be the most significant phenomenon to hit the earth since the emergence of human civilization, but despite this fact -- or perhaps because of it -- we still haven't absorbed it. Where are the novels, the songs, the operas, the works of imagination that digest this enormous upheaval and give it meaning on a human scale? Writer Bill McKibben muses on the challenges and rewards of bringing imagination into play against the biggest threat of our time.

Souuuueeeee!

House passes pork-laden energy bill

The House of Representatives approved broad energy legislation yesterday by a vote of 249 to 183. The 1,000-plus-page bill contains some $12 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for energy companies, less than 5 percent of which go to clean energy or energy conservation. It contains a provision that would funnel $2 billion to deep-water oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. It would open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. It would allow "downwind" states to delay meeting air-quality standards until "upwind" states have met them. And it would protect from liability lawsuits the makers of MTBE, a fuel additive that has contaminated some 1,800 community water systems in 29 states, with projected clean-up costs of $29 billion. All of these measures, say critics, pad the pocketbooks of large political contributors but do next to nothing to solve the country's long-term energy problems or current high gas prices. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Joe Barton (R-Texas) was philosophical: "Well, isn't something better than nothing?" The bill's fate in the Senate is uncertain, but a supportive Bush administration is optimistic.


Since the first Earth Day 35 years ago, we've come a long way. How far? Well, we thought you'd ask, so we quantified it. OK, not exactly. But we did compile a bunch of engaging stats on various aspects of the environment from 1970 until now. Many things are better. Others, not so much.

Oh, Right, I Knew We Were Forgetting Something!

Bush climate-change research won't research climate-change effects

According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, the "more research" President Bush is always touting as his response to climate change is overlooking an area some might consider important -- namely, what effects global warming might have on people and the environment (oh, that!). In fact, the GAO report to be released today says that none of the 21 studies of climate change the administration plans to publish by 2007 will include assessments of its possible effects on agriculture, water, energy, or biological diversity (oh, those!). This is in violation of the 1990 Global Change Research Act, which requires the federal government to produce a report on the consequences of climate change every four years. Critics say the research program was deliberately jiggered to prevent it from generating alarming findings that might increase political pressure for action. But without accurate information, said the GAO, "it may be difficult for the Congress and others to use this information effectively as the basis for making decisions on climate policy." You think?


Strange Days on Planet Earth producer Mark Shelley says the best part of filmmaking is, well, getting the funds so he can actually make films, and then getting to shoot dramatic underwater footage. Of course, working with down-to-earth celebs like Ed Norton ain't so bad either. In answering reader questions, Shelley describes Norton's cool 'tude, chats about the importance of taking baby steps to protect the planet, and explains how media can make a difference.

Ice Hassles

Antarctic glaciers rapidly melting

Wanna travel to Antarctica, but worried about all that ice? Worry no more. On the Antarctic Peninsula, a 1,200-mile-long mountain chain 600 miles south of Argentina, about 212 of the 244 glaciers are retreating, fast. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey studied photos and satellite data from the 1940s to 2001, concluding in the journal Science that, as temps have risen more than 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit on the peninsula since the 1950s, the glaciers that wrap the mountains there have been retreating at an average rate of about 164 feet a year. "Fifty years ago most glaciers were slowly growing in length," said BAS's Alison Cook, "but the pattern is now reversed and they're shrinking." So now the research team is worried about another problem if the glacial retreat continues apace: If bare rock is uncovered, it could attract invasive species to the continent. Happy Earth Day!


As Earth Week reaches its big finale today, Grist offers not just one but two inspirational stories from Goldman Environmental Prize winners. Isidro Baldenegro López fought logging projects in the Sierra Madre of Mexico for years, following in the footsteps of his father, who spoke out against logging before being murdered by crime bosses. Chavannes Jean-Baptiste works with rural peasants in Haiti, teaching them sustainable farming methods and fighting for their legal and economic rights. And to think, all you have to do is separate paper from plastic!