Tuesday, 03 Oct 2006

Forgive and Let Live

Debt-for-nature swap will protect rainforests in Guatemala

About 20 percent of Guatemala's debt to the United States will be forgiven in exchange for forest conservation efforts in the Central American nation, officials announced yesterday. It's the largest debt-for-nature swap carried out under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998, which allows debt owed to the U.S. to be invested in environmental protection. The U.S. government will donate about $15 million toward cancelling the debt, and The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International are each contributing $1 million; that money, along with interest it generates, will erase more than $20 million in debt and interest. Guatemala's newly available funds will then be dedicated over the next 15 years to protecting threatened plants and wildlife in Guatemala's rainforests, mangrove reserves, and mountains. "The areas protected in this agreement lie in the heart of Mayan civilization, and they are home to jaguars, scarlet macaws, harpy eagles, and countless other species," said TNC President Steven J. McCormick.

It's the Environment, Stupid

China's first-of-its-kind "Green GDP" report finds pollution hampering economy

The Chinese government is exploring an innovative way to assess economic growth with a new "green GDP" report, released last month. The report found that air and water pollution cost the nation $64 billion in 2004, equivalent to 3 percent of gross domestic product; it suggests that China's true growth rate in 2004 was actually closer to 7 percent rather than the officially touted rate of more than 10 percent. Pan Yue of the State Environmental Protection Administration spearheaded the reporting project, and hopes to refine the green GDP measuring system and convince the government to incorporate it into the official economic evaluation system. "China can't go the way of polluting first, and then treating it," said Jia Feng of SEPA, or "the ecological system that shoulders economic development will be crushed." More than 400,000 Chinese die from air pollution each year, and about 300 million lack access to clean drinking water.


Germany seems to be gearing up for a new charge against climate change. During the same week that German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the country's intentions of using its fast-approaching G8 and E.U. leadership to tackle the issue, a conference in Berlin brought together scientists and politicians to discuss what the heck to do when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Solutions? Maybe -- but the discussion alone was enough to get excited about. Michael Levitin reports from the scene.

A Stroke of Bad Luck

Lead still bad for you, and at lower levels than previously thought

Lead exposure levels long considered safe for adults have been linked to higher death rates from stroke and heart attack, says cheery research in the medical journal Circulation. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration suggests that safe blood lead levels for adults are up to 400 micrograms per liter, but the study -- which tracked 13,946 subjects for 12 years -- found increased risk of cardiovascular death at levels of 20 mcg/liter. The results were steady across socioeconomic classes, ethnic and racial groups, and gender. U.S. citizens' exposure to lead has dropped significantly since it was phased out of gasoline and paint decades ago, but between 1999 and 2002, almost four in 10 Americans had blood lead levels higher than 20 mcg/liter. In a teensy-weensy bit of good news, research from the Harvard School of Public Health indicates that dietary calcium "may be helpful in prevention of hypertension induced by elevated lead burden."

Does Silicone Count?

California will measure chemical levels in people's bodies under new law

The first state to measure how residents absorb chemicals from everyday products will be, of course, Arkansas. Ha ha -- you wish, Arkansans. No, it'll be California. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed a "biomonitoring" bill Friday that calls on state health officers to collect voluntarily submitted samples of blood, urine, tissue, hair, and breast milk from 2,000 Californians. The samples will be analyzed, taking into account ethnicity, age, income, and geography, to gauge levels of chemical exposure; the first report of the findings should be made available in 2010. "There are literally thousands of chemicals being used in our everyday products in the United States in cleaning supplies, pesticides, cosmetics, and more. It's important to know more about how those chemicals are building up in our bodies or how they may be affecting our health," said Schwarzenegger, who continues to cook up pre-election environmental bills like hotcakes.

Better Off Fed

Federal employees can donate to Grist through Combined Federal Campaign

Hark, employees of the U.S. federal government! We've got a special offer for you and you only: the opportunity to donate to your favorite nonprofit eco-publication (that's us) through the Combined Federal Campaign. Grist is recipient No. 2338, and we promise to use your tax-deductible donation to keep you in the loop with all the freshest environmental news and most provocative eco-views. It's easy to do -- and the more donations we receive, the better our puns get. Try it and see!