Thursday, 31 Aug 2006

California Dreamy

California will shrink greenhouse-gas emissions under groundbreaking plan

In arguably the biggest step ever taken in the U.S. to fight global warming, California's political leaders reached a deal yesterday to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the state 25 percent by 2020. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) pledged to sign Assembly Bill 32, under which the California Air Resources Board will set emissions limits for various industries beginning in 2012, and will have the authority to choose whether to institute an emissions-trading system. The bill will give the governor power to lift emissions caps for up to one year under "extraordinary circumstances." The deal emerged after intense negotiations, and reactions were as expected: Greens were satisfied but wished controls had been more stringent; business leaders were ticked off. Schwarzenegger, who's loudly touting his green credentials in his reelection campaign this year, proclaimed, "The success of our system will be an example for other states and nations to follow as the fight against climate change continues." Hint, hint.


The local-food movement is growing like a runaway basil plant these days, and organic has hit the big time thanks to companies from Whole Foods to Wal-Mart. The publishing industry, ever on its toes, has churned out a passel of books in response to the public's hunger for food-related reading. Today, Tom Philpott offers a rundown of some of this year's most lip-smacking tomes.

Off-Off-Road

New National Park Service guidelines will emphasize conservation

Today, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne will announce new National Park Service management guidelines that emphasize ... wait for it ... conservation. Wha-huh? The new regulations more or less disregard revisions proposed a year ago under previous Interior Secretary Gale Norton that would have expanded motorized recreation; instead, they're modeled on more nature-lovin' park-management policies that have been in place for 90 years. The new guidelines do not allow increased use of jet skis, snowmobiles, or off-road vehicles in national parks, nor do they favor commercial activities like mining and cell-phone-tower construction. They allow the Park Service to push the U.S. EPA to clean up park air pollution. The only sop to the recreation industry is an assurance that the communities that neighbor large national parks, which often have recreation-based economies, will have a role in park management decision-making. You da man, Dirk.

They Should Eat Their Spinach

Iron-deficient phytoplankton don't absorb as much CO2, study finds

Phytoplankton's ability to absorb carbon dioxide is hindered by a lack of iron in their diet, according to a study in Nature. Climate models have estimated that phytoplankton in the world's oceans have absorbed about 55 billion tons of carbon dioxide, but the new research suggests that anemic Pacific Ocean phytoplankton have sequestered up to 2.2 billion tons less than previously estimated. While the discovery will not completely throw off climate predictions, "In the tropical Pacific that change is a significant amount," says lead author Michael Behrenfeld. Dust blown in from deserts is a major source of iron in the oceans; as climate change creates new wind patterns, the ocean's iron content -- and coinciding phytoplankton carbon uptake -- may change as well.

Wireless Is More

Green communications technology heading to developing countries

Solar-powered internet and recycled cell phones are coming to a developing country near you. Internet access is widely heralded as a tool with the potential to transform the lives of low-income people, but construction of a wired network to remote villages is often prohibitively expensive. Enter the Green Wi-Fi project, which has developed a solar-powered wireless router that can run for up to four weeks even in prolonged periods of gray skies. Another organization aiming to increase global communication is the cleverly named ReCellular; with about 53 percent of the U.S. phone-recycling market, the company keeps some 75,000 functional cell phones from landfills every week, many of which it refurbishes and sells in developing countries. The March of Dimes and other charities raise funds by collecting used phones and selling them to ReCellular. Says ReCellular VP Mike Newman, "The fact that you can combine a business -- a profitable business -- with a useful service and a charitable good is a win, win, win." Game on.