Thursday, 19 Oct 2006

Ice Vice, Baby

Iceland to resume commercial whaling despite international ban

Iceland plans to resume commercial whaling for the first time in nearly 20 years, despite an international moratorium. Through August 2007, the government will permit whalers to harpoon 30 minke whales and nine endangered fin whales. Iceland's Fisheries Ministry says there are 43,600 minkes and 25,800 fin whales off of Iceland's coast, and that limited commercial hunting is "consistent with the principle of sustainable development." Iceland has been killing whales for allegedly scientific purposes since 2003. Anti-whaling nations, including the U.S. and Britain, were dismayed by Iceland's announcement, as were green groups in Iceland and elsewhere. "There is no market for this meat in Iceland, there is no possibility to export it to Japan; the government appears to have listened to fishermen who are blaming whales for eating all the fish," says appropriately named Arni Finnsson of the Iceland Nature Conservation Association. "This decision is giving the finger to the international community."


This summer, shortly after Vail Resorts announced that it was buying gobs of wind-energy credits to offset the gobs of energy consumed by its ski operations, the town of Vail followed suit. (Wait, there's a town of Vail? Who knew?) Timothy Sprinkle talks with the town's environmental health chief to find out how the deal went down.

Power Shift

E.U. launches action plan for reducing energy use

The European Union has adopted an action plan for reducing energy use 20 percent by 2020, saying increased efficiency could save it $125 billion by that year. Under the plan, the 25-nation bloc will expand building energy-efficiency rules to apply to smaller structures, and develop binding minimum efficiency requirements for electric, heating, and cooling systems. It will develop new energy standards for 14 product groups such as copy machines and TVs, paying special attention to the machines' energy-sucking standby mode. The E.U. also intends to review energy tax rules and introduce stricter standards for energy-efficiency labeling, and it might introduce legislation to limit vehicle CO2 emissions. As yet, the plans are broad and not thoroughly fleshed out, but when formally launched, they could very well set new global standards, as all imports into the E.U., as well as goods made in the E.U., would have to comply.


No one has worked longer at the intersection of environmental science, evangelical ethics, and practical activism than Calvin DeWitt. A professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, DeWitt has been one of the prime movers behind almost every significant environmental collaboration between evangelicals, scientists, and politicians, including the much-discussed Evangelical Climate Initiative, a statement from high-profile evangelicals calling for concerted action to fight global warming. David Roberts chatted with DeWitt about evangelical politics, environmental conversion, and creation care.

The Bees' Needs

Scientists worry about declining numbers of honeybees and other pollinators

Researchers are warning of a significant population decline in species that together pollinate three-quarters of all flowering North American plants, including more than 90 commercial crops. A study released yesterday by the National Research Council indicates a "demonstrably downward" trend in populations of birds, bees, bats, and other pollinating species. The American honeybee population has declined 30 percent in the last two decades; last year, American farmers imported honeybees for the first time since 1922. European researchers have also documented a significant decline in pollinators. Contributing factors, says an NRC panel, include introduced parasites, pesticides, habitat loss, and possibly global warming. "Despite its apparent lack of marquee appeal, a decline in pollinator populations is one form of global change that actually has credible potential to alter the shape and structure of terrestrial ecosystems," says NRC panel chair May R. Berenbaum.