Thursday, 08 Dec 2005

Let's Take This Slow on the Road

Campaign by right-wing U.S. group aims to derail E.U. climate policy

American lobbyist Chris Horner is trying to convince major European companies to join a campaign against the Kyoto Protocol and any future such strategies to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases -- but he's not making much headway. Horner is a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the right-wing Washington think tank known for arguing against the scientific consensus on global warming -- and getting lots of funding from ExxonMobil. He's been talking to Ford Europe, German mega-utility RWE, and other E.U. firms in hopes of forming a coalition of companies, journalists, academics, and others to promote opposition to greenhouse-gas emissions caps -- similar to an industry-backed anti-Kyoto effort in the U.S. during the late 1990s. "I don't know why it's surprising [I have lobbied European companies]," he told the Independent. "What is surprising to me is why it's not working." Both Ford Europe and RWE say they don't back Horner's plan.

As the World Spurns

U.S. attacked on three fronts for obstructing climate action

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin took direct aim at the U.S. during yesterday's climate summit meetings in Montreal, reproaching the planet's leading emitter of greenhouse gases for not joining in international efforts to combat global warming. "To the reticent nations, including the United States, I say this: there is such a thing as a global conscience," said Martin at a press conference. "And now is the time to listen to it." E.U. environment minister Stavros Dimas and other European officials also criticized the U.S. stance. And representatives of the Inuit filed a petition yesterday with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, charging the U.S. with human-rights violations for failing to curb greenhouse-gas emissions and thus contributing in large measure to Arctic warming, which threatens to destroy traditional Inuit hunting practices and native culture. "What is happening affects virtually every facet of Inuit life," said Inuit leader Sheila Watt-Cloutier. "We are people of the ice."


These days, you can't sneeze without hitting a news story on avian influenza. Will the feared "fowl plague" become a global pandemic, or is it all a bunch of meaningless squawking? We can't say, but we did compile some fascinating factoids on the topic. Find out how the latest feared flu strain compares to others, how many people have come down with it so far, and what Korean food has to do with it all.

Para Normal

Violence against activists continues in the Brazilian rainforest

A trial begins in Brazil tomorrow for two men accused of murdering Dorothy Stang, a U.S.-born nun who had spent 30 years in the Amazon opposing illegal ranching and logging that razed the rainforest and displaced peasant farmers. But despite promises from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after her death that he would rein in violence in the rainforest, contract killings in the state of Para are on the rise. A human-rights group reports that 18 rural workers and human-rights activists have been killed there this year, and 15 in 2004. After Stang was gunned down in February, Lula sent 4,000 troops to Para to control gunmen hired by powerful logging and ranching bosses, but some say the government hasn't kept enough people on the ground to protect rural activists and peasants. "The death threats, the assassinations, the land invasions go on, while promised land reforms aren't happening," said Henri des Roziers, a Catholic priest and human-rights lawyer in Para.


In this crazy, mixed-up world of ours, sometimes it's rejuvenating to sit down with a good old-fashioned bit of nature writing. Or a new-fashioned bit. Get a taste of both in two new books reviewed by Jane Roy Brown. In The Prophet of Dry Hill, author David Gessner describes his walks and talks on the sands of Cape Cod with venerable nature writer John Hay. And in Finding a Clear Path, farmer and writer Jim Minick explores the terrain of southwest Virginia.

PVC-ing the Light

Microsoft will be PVC-free by the new year

Keep up the pressure, letter-writers: In response to customer concern, Microsoft has joined Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and other large corporations in declaring, "No vinyl, that's final!" The software giant announced yesterday that it has eliminated about 361,000 pounds of polyvinyl chloride packaging since July and will phase it out completely by the end of 2005. "These measures will reduce PVC packaging over the next two years by over 1.6 million pounds," the company says. As any good Grist reader knows, PVC has been widely criticized for releasing toxins, including dioxin and phthalates, that do all kinds of nasty stuff to humans and the natural environment. Microsoft plans to replace all PVC packaging with cardboard and recyclable polyethylene, and is also examining alternatives made out of corn starch, sugar, and vegetable oils. Soon you'll be able to open up a new computer and then eat the packaging. Yum!