Wednesday, 11 Oct 2006

Du Diligence

DuPont unveils new sustainability program and predicts big profits

Chemical giant DuPont announced a major sustainability program yesterday that it expects will put an extra $6 billion in its coffers by 2015. "We see sustainable growth as the biggest market opportunity on the horizon for the next two or three decades," said CEO Charles Holliday Jr. In the next decade, the company plans to double spending on R&D into eco-friendlier products and services, introducing at least 1,000 easier-on-the-earth alternatives such as synthetic fibers with biological instead of petrochemical components, less greenhouse-gassy refrigerants, and lower-toxin automotive finishes. The company also plans to double its annual revenue from non-depletable resources such as biofuels to $8 billion by 2015. Since 1990, DuPont has reduced its emissions of air carcinogens by more than 90 percent and greenhouse-gas emissions by 72 percent; in the next decade it aims to further reduce both, as well as water consumption in areas with stressed supplies. "All these goals we think are good for the shareholder, not just the right thing for the environment," Holliday says.


Lettuce pause for a moment to think about where our salad greens come from: A massive, bacteria-infested warehouse in California? Or a local farm tended by people you can actually talk to about their products and processes? These days, that second option is looking mighty appetizing -- but politicians and bureaucrats in D.C. are proposing new rules that would force all vegetable growers into a regulatory scheme designed for industrial operations. Tom Philpott explains why that would bite.

We Must, We Must, We Must Increase Our Dust

Saharan dust may decrease effect of Atlantic hurricanes

Thick clouds of dust rising up from the Sahara Desert are linked to less frequent Atlantic hurricanes, says a new study in Geophysical Research Letters. Studying satellite data from 1981 to the present, American researchers noted that dust clouds were scarce in years with intense hurricane activity, while years with strong dust storms coincided with fewer hurricanes. "While a great deal of work has focused on the links between [hurricanes] and warming ocean temperatures, this research adds another piece to the puzzle," says study coauthor Jonathan Foley. When Saharan dust storms form, particularly in the summer and winter, millions of tons of sand can travel across the Atlantic Ocean at up to 50 miles an hour, reaching the Caribbean and Florida in as little as five days. Unfortunately, note the researchers, while dust storms may dampen brewing hurricanes, they may also shift them farther to the west, increasing the chance of contact with Caribbean islands and the U.S.


As research director for the Worldwatch Institute, Gary Gardner has developed expertise on issues ranging from nuclear proliferation to overpopulation. But with his latest book -- Inspiring Progress: Religions' Contributions to Sustainable Development -- he's returned to a subject close to his heart: the ways faith can help us build a greener, saner world. David Roberts interviewed Gardner as part of Grist's ongoing "God & the Environment" series.

Grace to the Bottom

W.R. Grace must pay to clean up asbestos mess in Montana, Supreme Court decides

W.R. Grace & Co. must pay $54.5 million to remove asbestos-contaminated soil from the mining town of Libby, Mont., the Supreme Court decided yesterday. The U.S. EPA sued the company five years ago to recover cleanup costs; a lower court ruled in the agency's favor and Grace appealed, but the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and now the U.S. Supreme Court have both upheld that lower-court ruling. Libby is among the most contaminated Superfund sites in the U.S., thanks to Grace's nearly-30-year operation of a mine for asbestos-tainted vermiculite. The Libby mine once produced about 80 percent of the world's supply of vermiculite, which was used as insulation in hundreds of thousands of buildings. In its ruling, the 9th Circuit Court wrote that about 12,000 residents of Libby and nearby communities "face ongoing, pervasive exposure to asbestos particles ... We cannot escape the fact that people are sick and dying as a result of this continuing exposure." Several former Grace bigwigs are being investigated in a separate criminal case for allegedly concealing health risks at the mine.


Eco-conscious parents these days are feeding their kids organic foods, cleaning their homes with non-toxic products, and steering clear of toys with PVC and other nasties. But, one mom asks, should they also be concerned about dressing their bundles of joy in clothes made from synthetic fabrics? Umbra Fisk snaps into action with some sage advice.