Monday, 30 Oct 2006

A Stern Talking-to

Ignoring climate change far more expensive than fighting it, says British report

Some folks worry that restricting greenhouse-gas emissions could hurt the economy. Turns out that's a bit like worrying that a tracheotomy will hurt a patient in anaphylactic shock -- yeah, it'll sting, but without it the patient will croak. (Yes, we watch way too much ER.) Ignoring climate change could dampen the global economy by 5 to 20 percent each year within a decade, costing the world up to $7 trillion, according to a new report from chief British government economist Nicholas Stern. Think Great Depression, but with much worse weather. In contrast, tackling climate change now would cost about 1 percent of global GDP each year -- roughly what the world spends annually on advertising. We better get cracking, though: the report warns that the chance to avoid the worst effects of climate change "is already almost out of reach." Eek. British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who commissioned the report, said the U.K. would take leadership in the international response to tackle climate change, and proposed a new E.U. target to reduce emissions 30 percent by 2020 and at least 60 percent by 2050.


Over the years, Brockton, Mass., has had a few claims to fame, including being the birthplace of boxer Rocky Marciano and ... um, we're sure there's something else. But these days, it's a rundown town better known as a destination for other cities' trash. Seeking to recover some faded glory, organizers have turned a local brownfield into a "brightfield" -- a vast array of photovoltaic panels that's the region's largest solar installation, and a symbol of bright hopes for the future.


Halloween is tomorrow, and you know what that means: time to fill children's heads with cavities and corporate cheer! But advice maven Umbra Fisk has a less frightening take on this hallowed holiday -- which, as she explains, has its humble roots in agriculture, and doesn't have to be an ode to mass consumption.

Goodbye Kitty

Japan struggles to save threatened Iriomote wildcat

As Japan seeks to make amends for long prioritizing industrialization over environmental safeguards, the case of the Iriomote wildcat is proving that redress isn't easy. The cats, suspected to number less than 100, live solely on the 110-square-mile island of Iriomote. But, as a mascot for the green movement, they can be seen all over Japan -- on city buses, refrigerator magnets, key chains, coffee mugs, and wildcat-poop-shaped chocolates (yes, really). The exposure has increased not only awareness, but tourism and development on Iriomote, introducing new threats: traffic, increased habitat loss, disease, stray dogs, interbreeding with house cats, and crab traps. The Iriomote Wildlife Conservation Center has responded heroically, introducing photo and radio tracking, a rehabilitation center, and a highway with cat-crossing signs and 80 cat underpasses. But despite best efforts, says the center's Maki Okamura, the cat is "barely hanging on. Even if we lose just one, it has a huge impact."


Public schools in North Carolina used to have a "spray and pray" pest-control philosophy -- use pesticides liberally, and hope they don't make anyone sick. But not since Billie Karel and her Pesticide Education Project convinced the state's legislature to demand less-toxic methods and parental notification. As InterActivist this week, Karel chats about her work protecting schoolchildren from the dangers of pesticides. Send Karel your burningest questions by noon PST on Wednesday; we'll publish her answers to selected questions on Friday.

Let's Talk About Rex, Baby

Senators ask ExxonMobil to stop funding climate-change deniers

ExxonMobil should "end any further financial assistance" to climate-change-denying lobbyist groups, say Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) in a scathing letter sent to ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson on Friday. According to an upcoming report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, the oil behemoth funded 29 climate-change-skeptic groups in 2004 alone, and has spent more than $19 million since 1990 funding groups that promote "science" that hasn't been peer reviewed. The senators singled out the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Tech Central Station website as Exxon-funded skeptic groups. ExxonMobil's support, and "skeptics' access to and influence on government policymakers, have made it increasingly difficult for the United States to demonstrate the moral clarity it needs across all facets of its diplomacy," the senators wrote. We congratulate them on their exquisite mastery of understatement.