Friday, 15 Jul 2005

New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D) is a mild-mannered moderate, but he's emerging as one of the Senate's more outspoken advocates for action on global warming. That's not saying much -- as Bingaman readily admits, Congress is woefully behind cities and states when it comes to innovation on stabilizing the climate. Still, he's chipper about some successes with the Senate energy bill, including an amendment he sponsored that would require utilities to produce 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Now the test is whether that and a few other sunny provisions actually make it into law, he tells Amanda Griscom Little in an interview.

A Dung Deal

Toxic pollution in Arctic likely caused by contaminated bird poop

Native residents of northern Arctic regions are ridden with toxic chemicals -- some of the highest body concentrations in the world -- and new research has uncovered an unlikely culprit: guano, or as we prefer to call it, bird dookie. Scientists have long assumed that the industrial world's toxic effluents were carried northward on wind and water currents, but that doesn't explain why they concentrate in particular hotspots. A new study in the journal Science places the blame on migratory birds, which eat chemical-ridden food and poop chemical-ridden poop, which then moves up through the Arctic food chain. The researchers hope that their discovery will allow Native populations to resume eating traditional foods -- many had moved to new diets, escaping high toxin concentrations but running headlong into Type II diabetes and other ailments -- by choosing to gather them in (relatively) cleaner areas. But the real long-term solution, say activists, is to end the use of the toxic chemicals -- DDT, mercury, and several long-lasting chlorinated pollutants.


One of the biggest roadblocks Seth Heine faces in his quest to keep millions of toxic cell phones from the landfill is getting the message out about how easy it is to recycle old phones. If only there were some avenue through which Heine could interact with eager readers, answering their questions about the process. Oh, wait, there is! As this week's InterActivist, Heine, president of CollectiveGood, describes what happens to recycled phones, how he manages his business without sacrificing his "youthful ideals," and more.

The Axis of Oil

China gets pushy about finding oil and gas supplies outside Mideast

Historians cataloguing the unintended consequences of the Iraq war can add another to their list. Until 2003, China had been wooing Saddam Hussein, hoping to lay claim to some of Iraq's undeveloped oil reserves. But the U.S.-led war, perceived by China's leaders as a bid to secure geopolitical hegemony in the Middle East, KO'd that plan. So now China is trying to secure energy supplies in some unsavory regions (think Sudan, Iran, and Myanmar) less directly influenced by the U.S. -- one reason state-owned Chinese oil company CNOOC is bidding hard for California-based Unocal Corp., which controls many Asian oil and gas fields. Said an anonymous Chinese government energy adviser, "No matter if it's rogue's oil or a friend's oil, we don't care. Human rights? We don't care. We care about oil."

Slitherin' Scholastic

Greens urge boycott of Harry Potter's U.S. publisher

J. K. Rowling and a coalition of eco-Muggles are giving props to Canadian publisher Raincoast Books for printing Rowling's hotly anticipated sixth novel -- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, being released tonight -- entirely on recycled paper. Canadian conservation group Markets Initiative estimates that Raincoast's good green citizenship will save 28,221 trees -- more than would fill New York City's Central Park -- while increasing costs no more than 5 percent. Meanwhile, U.S. publisher Scholastic, the world's biggest Potter publisher, declines to reveal how much paper used in its 10.8-million print run of the book is post-consumer pulp, saying only that company policy is to not use paper made from old-growth forests. (Greenpeace contends that Scholastic contracts with suppliers that use paper made from Canadian old-growth boreal forests.) A coalition of green groups is urging Americans to boycott Scholastic and order the latest Potter tome from Canada, via Amazon.ca or Chapters.ca.