Wednesday, 17 May 2006

This Land Is Poorly Managed Land

BLM accused of not preserving cultural sites

Hundreds of millions of acres of public lands are going unprotected, with their historical artifacts undocumented, as the Bush administration focuses Bureau of Land Management funds and staffing resources on energy development in the West, according to a new report from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Under a federal mandate to speed up processing of drilling applications, the BLM lacks resources to deal with threats like off-road vehicles. A single law-enforcement ranger patrols Colorado's 164,000-acre Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, which contains more than 6,000 artifacts. Only some 6 percent of the 262 million BLM-controlled acres have been surveyed for historical and cultural value. BLM "has let their missions get out of whack," says National Trust President Richard Moe. "The extraction part, serving the energy industry, is hugely out of balance with the preservation business." The BLM maintains that just because funds are allocated a certain way doesn't mean priorities have changed. Um.


Clueful composters know they're not supposed to put meat scraps in their heaps. But what about plants -- are there restrictions on the types of weeds you should let decompose in the corner of your yard? Well, that depends what you want your yard to look like next spring. Today, advice maven Umbra Fisk helps a beginner unearth the secrets behind composting do's and don'ts.

The Labor of the Land

Organic farming creates more jobs, U.K. study finds

Organic agriculture has traditionally been linked to health and environmental benefits. Now it can add job creation to its portfolio: A study of nearly 1,200 farms in the United Kingdom and Ireland found that organic farming creates on average 32 percent more jobs than conventional agriculture. The U.K.'s agricultural workforce has declined 79 percent since 1952. But the Soil Association, Britain's organic certification body, notes that if the nation were to convert all of its farms to organic, it would create an additional 93,000 farm jobs. Currently only 4 percent of Brit farming is organic. Some argue that full-scale organic conversion wouldn't be a benefit: "The most expensive cost for farmers is labor and that is why organic food as a rule of thumb costs half as much again," says one economist. Nevertheless, applications to the Soil Association have more than doubled in the past year, so somebody in the U.K. must view employing members of their community as more than merely a cost.


A hullabaloo has erupted in the European Union over its one-year-old carbon-trading market, established to help the E.U. meet its targets under the Kyoto Protocol. It turns out that 21 of the 25 countries involved have come in under their greenhouse-gas emissions targets, leaving a 70.5 million ton surplus. Good news, right? Not so much. Industry types are being accused of tricking governments into high-balling the targets, leaving companies awash in credits they didn't have to work for. Worse yet, news of the surplus was leaked early, leading to a spectacular market crash wherein credits lost some 72 percent of their value. Growing pains or slow-motion train wreck? Time will tell.

Taking Care of Business

New York Times runs series on green biz

The New York Times is running a ginormous series today on green business, creatively titled "The Business of Green." (Hey, NYT, if you need headline help for the next series, just let us know.) Read about green collaborations among businesses and enviro organizations; Chicago's success in combining environmental and economic goals, and meeting them; entrepreneurs in the carbon-trading market; the risks of nuclear power as a "clean" energy source; and environmental products like lead-free bullets that are popping up in government agencies. Take a video tour of a cutting-edge green building; learn about the eco-trends in the restaurant biz, advertising, e-waste recycling, and pig farming (cute piggy photo alert!). A couple of articles focus on the moneymaking potential of green technology; a feature on sustainable investing discusses "big money managers who hope to substitute an 'n' for the 'd' at the end of 'greed' and still come out ahead." Clever! And timely, to boot.