Monday, 27 Mar 2006

Tiiiiiime Is on Our Side, Yes It Is

Time cover story propels global warming into the mainstream

"Be worried. Be very worried." So warns the latest issue of Time magazine, which focuses on every Johnny-come-lately's favorite topic: global warming. The cover story -- the contents of which will be old news for devotees of scrappy nonprofit environmental magazines that need and deserve your ongoing financial support -- details the role of climate disruption in more violent storms, faster-melting glaciers, crippling droughts, animal and plant extinctions, yadda yadda yadda. Big placement in this most middle-of-the-road U.S. newsmag means that global warming has transcended the green and "liberal media" sectors to become a mainstream American enviro-political issue. Time backs up its editorial choice with a poll on Americans' environmental attitudes: 85 percent believe global warming is "probably happening"; almost half say it's a very important issue, up from 31 percent in 1998; and 52 percent favor government mandates in response, like curbs on power-plant emissions and tax breaks to advance clean energy tech. Welcome to worry, people.


A whole lotta politicians have hopped on the Everglades bandwagon in recent years, from ultra-lefty Ralph Nader to conservative-as-they-come Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire. What is it about this swampy spot that inspires accolades and action, and what can environmentalists learn from it about protecting the rest of the country? The Washington Post's Michael Grunwald, who's just written the book The Swamp about this marshy national treasure, shares his thoughts with Emily Gertz.

Oh Say, Can You, Seattle?

Seattle commission unveils recommendations for meeting Kyoto goals

Ex-VP Al Gore and environmental journalist Elizabeth Kolbert were in Seattle last week (both gave PowerPoint presentations, the chic new environmental look for '06) for a series of events Mayor Greg Nickels jokingly dubbed "climatepalooza." Capping the 'palooza was the unveiling of recommendations from the 18-member commission appointed by Nickels to figure out how Seattle can meet Kyoto goals for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. At a press conference attended by Nickels, Gore, commission co-chair Denis Hayes, Sierra Club honcho Carl Pope, and various other eco-hotshots, the commission presented a plan that prominently features -- brace yourself -- less driving. Suggestions include boosting public transit, changing zoning laws to encourage density, increasing use of biofuels, and imposing stiff parking-lot taxes, among other things. Nickels' U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement now includes some 219 mayors, all of whom will be watching to see if Seattle can overcome entrenched political forces and make real change.


You remember in The Sound of Music, when the nuns wondered how you keep a wave upon the sand? Today's question for advice maven Umbra Fisk is sort of like that -- only without the habits and the beach. A reader who's heard a lot about rising ocean temperatures wonders how scientists can measure something so vast and variable, and Umbra surfs around for an answer.

E-Waste Not, E-Want Not

Washington Gov. Gregoire signs far-reaching e-recycling law

On Friday, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) signed into law the toughest electronic-waste recycling measure in the U.S. -- good news for a state brimming with Microsoft techies who upgrade their systems once a quarter. The bill will require TV and computer makers to collect, transport, and dispose of the e-devices at their own expense starting in 2009. The Washington Department of Ecology estimates that state residents discard over 1 million heavy-metal-laden TVs and monitors annually. Manufacturers wanted costs passed back to consumers -- California's e-waste law requires customers to pay a recycling fee when they buy a TV or computer, and Maine's law charges folks $2 per recycled item -- but lost out. Supporters say the new law will encourage makers to find ways to e-manufacture using fewer hazardous materials.


Low-income households are often the most gravely affected by energy crises, says Jason Edens of the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance, yet they are the least able to afford renewable-energy alternatives. As InterActivist this week, Edens chats about installing solar-heating systems in rural areas of Minnesota and empowering families to warm themselves (but not the earth!). Send Edens a question of your own by noon PST on Wednesday; we'll publish his answers to selected questions on Friday.

Bait and Switchgrass

New coal-powered ethanol plant a sign of things to come

Greens leery about jumping on the biofuels bandwagon have new reason for trepidation: An ethanol plant that opened last December in Iowa is burning 300 tons of coal a day to transform corn into ethanol ... in order to beat global warming. Mmm, taste the sweet, sweet irony! The plant is no anomaly: The biofuels business is booming, with 30 to 40 facilities under construction and 150 more on the drawing board, and "[i]t's very likely that coal will be the fuel of choice for most of these new ethanol plants," says Robert McIlvaine, who has compiled a database of new and planned plants. An analysis in the journal Science found that if all 190 of the ethanol plants in question ran on coal, it would reduce America's greenhouse-gas emissions by exactly ... zilch. How does the biofuels industry answer this environmental concern? By waving the scepter of always-just-over-the-horizon cellulosic ethanol. We feel tons better.