Wednesday, 08 Jun 2005

Get Me Rewrite!

Bush official edited gov't climate-change reports to play up uncertainty

Philip Cooney, a former top oil lobbyist now serving as chief of staff for President Bush's Council on Environmental Quality, edited scientific government reports on climate change to exaggerate the appearance of uncertainty and doubt, according to documents obtained by The New York Times. Cooney, a lawyer by trade, has no scientific training. Rick Piltz, a senior associate in the government office that coordinates climate research (and someone who does have scientific training), resigned in protest and is now represented by the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, which released draft reports with Cooney's handwritten edits. Meanwhile, separate documents from White House deliberations on climate policy (specifically Kyoto) from 2001 to 2004 reveal that ExxonMobil -- or rather, the Global Climate Coalition, a trade lobbying group it dominated -- was heavily involved in said deliberations. Exxon had previously denied lobbying on Kyoto. "[Bush] rejected Kyoto in part based on input from [the Global Climate Coalition]," says one briefing note. Oops!


Question: How best to celebrate in the northwestern U.S. when the soggy season finally ends? Answer: String up a clothesline, of course. A reader wants to take advantage of the summer sun to save a little energy, but isn't sure where to begin. Umbra gently guides him through the necessary cycles -- adding, of course, her own spin.

Puh-lease Academies

Science academies from 11 countries say global warming is, yes, real

Yesterday, national science academies from 11 nations cosigned a letter to the world's leaders, making an unprecedented joint statement: Global warming is almost certainly caused by human activity; it's the biggest risk we've ever faced as a species; please #$&!*% do something about it. Signatories include science organizations from every member of the G8 group of industrialized nations, plus Brazil, China, and India, the three leading greenhouse-gas emitters in the developing world. The agitated scientists released the statement a month ahead of the G8's July summit, where summit leader U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair will push for a strong, unified statement on climate change. What's more, they spoke up on the very day that Blair was meeting with President Bush -- a tireless advocate of, uh, studying the problem more -- in Washington, D.C. Known for his indifference toward international opinion, Bush was no doubt relieved that at least the U.S. National Academy of Sciences never signs on to these things ... oh, wait, this time it did.

Creating an Aquaculture of Life

Bush admin proposes massive U.S. aquaculture expansion

Just in time to celebrate World Oceans Day (happy WOD, by the way!), the Bush administration has unveiled a plan to open up 3.4 million square miles of U.S. coastal waters to aquaculture. Demand by hungry humans for seafood is expected to reach about 121 million tons in the next five years, even as wild ocean stocks decline; by 2030, most of that seafood will come from fish farms, the U.N. forecasts. The Bushies, smelling a market opportunity, hope to expand U.S. aquaculture from a $1 billion to a $5 billion industry and create about half a million jobs in the next two decades. The proposed legislation will now go to Congress. But some marine scientists and conservationists think it's fishy: The plan is notably lacking in specific safeguards against known aquaculture problems like pollution and escaped domestic fish breeding with wild fish. And it includes national marine sanctuaries -- "like putting industrial hog farms in national parks," says biologist Rebecca Goldberg.

Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair

San Francisco named most sustainable city; Houston least

San Francisco, Portland, Ore., Berkeley, Calif., and Seattle took the top four spots in a new ranking of 25 U.S. cities based on sustainability practices. Bay Area green group SustainLane created the list after scrutinizing the metropolises based on 12 criteria, including air quality, transportation, green building, and land use. Detroit was second to last and Houston the big loser -- "The city was built on oil and it shows," said the report. "Portland and San Francisco and other cities are really achieving things that are incredible," said SustainLane's Warren Karlenzig, pointing in particular to their efforts to expand use of renewable energy. Though Karlenzig says the group's efforts were aimed at "celebrat[ing] cities' successes" and providing a means by which city officials and citizens could compare their green efforts, some took the rankings a bit more seriously. Said No. 2-ranked Portland's mayor Tom Potter, "[L]et's throw down a green gauntlet."