Wednesday, 11 Jan 2006

So Fresh, So Clean

Whole Foods makes record-setting wind-power purchase

Whole Foods Market, mega-purveyor of organic and free-range foodstuffs, plans to purchase a jaw-dropping 458 million kilowatt-hours of wind-energy credits. It will be the largest-ever such purchase in North America, enough to offset the entire company's projected energy use through 2006. The move will keep about 700 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions out of the atmosphere, according to the U.S. EPA, the equivalent of taking 60,000 cars off the road for a year or planting 90,000 acres of trees. Whole Foods is buying the credits from Boulder, Colo.-based broker Renewable Choice Energy. The purchase is not altruism, according to a Whole Foods director, but simply what the company's devoted customers expect. Says one outside strategist, "From a branding perspective, it's a stroke of genius." You listening, Safeway?

The Green Mileage

Mileage estimates likely to decline under EPA's proposed new system

The U.S. EPA has proposed new standards for calculating auto fuel-economy ratings, expected to reduce by 5 to 30 percent the mileage estimates in window stickers on new cars and trucks. Ouch. It's the first ratings overhaul since 1985, intended to reflect changes in driving conditions (e.g., more stop-and-go traffic) and technology (e.g., more fuel-eating air-conditioners). The city-driving mileage estimates for hybrids -- including Toyota's hot-selling Prius, which gets a 60-mile-per-gallon estimate under the current system -- are likely to shrink an especially dramatic 20 to 30 percent. Environmental groups are voicing support for the proposal, but are disappointed that the new estimates won't be used when determining manufacturers' compliance with Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards -- and thus won't lead to real fuel efficiency gains. The proposed standards are open for 60 days of public comment and expected to take effect with 2008 model-year vehicles.


Every advice columnist must decide which reader questions to answer, and which to relegate to the recycling bin of history. Don't think that it doesn't pain advice maven Umbra Fisk to make these choices -- oh, it does. Today she runs one of her favorite "silly" questions from last year, and reminisces about some of the others that tickled her fancy.

A Char, Char Better Thing That I Do

New study finds salvage logging bad for burned forests

The timber industry and Bush administration officials contend that salvage logging post-wildfire is the quickest path to reforestation, but a new study refutes that claim. Published in Science, it found that logging of burned trees after the 2002 Biscuit fire in Oregon -- the biggest wildfire that year in the U.S. -- killed about 70 percent of newly sprouted seedlings. After the Biscuit fire, enviro groups battled the Bush administration in federal court to limit salvage logging, but lost. Now greens hope the new study will help them make their case against bills in Congress that would speed up approval for salvage logging after wildfires.

Sicken-Me Elmo

California may restrict two chemicals used in plastic baby goods

In its continuing quest to make the rest of the country look environmentally retrograde, the California legislature is considering a bill that would ban the use of two controversial chemicals in baby products. Specifically, it would prohibit phthalates, used to soften plastic items like chew toys, and bisphenol A (BPA), used in polycarbonate plastic products like baby bottles. While phthalates are already banned in some countries, this would be the world's first restriction on BPA. Toy manufacturers and plastics-industry reps say both have proved safe in humans. But critics point to several studies implicating phthalates and BPA in hormonal and genital damage in lab animals -- as well as to some recent (and yes, controversial) research suggesting phthalates can hurt the sexual development of baby boys. With safer alternatives already available, ban supporters say, the state should take a "better safe than sorry" approach.