Tuesday, 31 Oct 2006

Hauntingly Familiar

Groundbreaking climate report inspires predictable political responses

World reaction to yesterday's U.K. report linking climate change with possible economic ruin has been swift -- and painfully predictable. While British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his likely successor Gordon Brown hailed the findings, Kyoto-resisters Australia and the U.S. offered more lukewarm responses. Australian Prime Minister John Howard warned his government not to be "mesmerized" by the report, and the White House primly acknowledged Stern's "contribution" to the ongoing study of global warming, while declining to endorse his results. A U.S. energy-industry spokesperson was less circumspect, calling the report "fun with numbers," and OPEC's secretary-general said it reflected "scenarios that have no foundations in either science or economics." Ouch. Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that annual U.S. government spending on energy research and development is less than half what it was 25 years ago. Well, yeah: those 1980 freewheelers didn't have to save up for the next Great Depression.


After conservationist Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, she could have seized on the opportunity to travel the world talking about the urgent need for forest protection and regeneration. Instead, she's chosen to keep her focus on planting trees in Kenya. Maathai's dedication to greening her home country is obvious to anyone leafing through her new autobiography, Unbowed. Shalini Ramanathan reviews the results.

Spite of the Living Dead

Interior Department official disparages endangered-species recommendations

If Julie MacDonald had a farm (e-i-e-i-o), all the animals would die. At least six times since 2004, MacDonald -- deputy assistant secretary of the Interior Department -- has rejected staff recommendations to protect susceptible flora and fauna under the Endangered Species Act, documents show. The Interior Department's inspector general is looking into the role of MacDonald, a Bush appointee, who has admitted to overruling scientists' conclusions and mocking employees' suggestions. In one instance, when scientists indicated that a proposed road might hurt the habitat of the greater sage grouse, MacDonald wrote in the margin: "Has nothing to do with sage grouse. This belongs in a treatise on 'Why roads are bad'?" Shockingly, MacDonald's decisions have often benefited landowners or industry. The Bush administration has placed about 10 species a year on the list of threatened and endangered species, compared to 64 a year under President Clinton and 59 a year under President George H.W. Bush.

The Texas Supply-chain Massacre

Federal agency says cost-cutting a factor in fatal BP refinery explosion

Ooh, what a little belt-tightening can do: a new federal review says cost-cutting by BP contributed to the 2005 refinery explosion in Texas City, Texas, that killed 15 workers and injured 180 others. Carolyn Merritt, chair of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, says the corporation implemented a 25 percent cut that affected infrastructure and maintenance, despite knowing safety problems existed. "At an aging facility like Texas City, it is not responsible to cut budgets related to safety and maintenance without thoroughly examining the impact on the risk of a catastrophic accident," Merritt said. For its part, BP -- which has settled with all but one of the families of workers killed in the accident and will defend its actions in a case scheduled to begin next week -- claims that it actually boosted maintenance spending in the years before the explosion and had seen a 70 percent decrease in workplace injuries, which "led the company to believe that conditions at the refinery were improving," said BP spokesperson Ronnie Chappell. And if by "improving" he meant "exploding," they were right on the money.


If climate graphs don't move you, how about babies, evangelical Christians, or a '90s rock star? They all make an appearance in The Great Warming, a documentary debuting in U.S. theaters on Nov. 3. This latest bit of climate-change cinema reminds viewers that not only science, but also common sense and goodwill, should lead the world to battle our shared global crisis. Its light-on-science, heavy-on-the-heartstrings approach has already made it a hit at church screenings in the U.S., and reviewer Kate Sheppard says it's the kind of climate film you can take home to mom.