Wednesday, 29 Nov 2006

So That's Why the Bay is Green

Billions of gallons of raw sewage flow into Great Lakes annually, report says

The Great Lakes, subject of our favorite mnemonic device (HOMES), is being contaminated by homes -- and other places where people poo. According to a report released today, 20 cities release billions of gallons of raw sewage into the lakes every year, enough to fill 37,000 Olympic-size pools. The report's authors say that's just a taste of the issue; the cities they assessed represent only a third of the region's 35 million residents, many of whom rely on the lakes for drinking water. "It's appalling," says report author Elaine MacDonald, a staff scientist with Sierra Legal Defense Fund. "I think countries as wealthy as Canada and the U.S. can do a hell of a lot better." In many cases, outdated systems can't handle both sewage and stormwater, so cities divert sewage when it rains. The worst offenders are Detroit ("quite a quagmire," says MacDonald), Cleveland, and Windsor, Ontario. Among the best: Ontario's Peel Region and Green Bay, Wisc. Which, sadly, renders our headline inaccurate.


Sure, you love raw fish. And who doesn't? (Well, we do know a few people who cringe at the thought of it. But that's beside the point.) The thing is, the world loves fish a little too much, and harvests the heck out of our oceans. And then there's all that mercury to worry about. So should you fret about the impacts of your sushi habit? Advice maven Umbra Fisk says worrying is swell, but educating yourself is a whole lot better.

What Goes Around Dumbs Around

Bush administration considers unloading mercury on world market

With stunning foresight, the U.S. Department of Energy is pondering a sale of more than 1,300 tons of mercury on the world market. Never mind that mercury sold overseas will, in all likelihood, just drift back to the U.S. as toxic air pollution. Never mind that, as Linda Greer of the Natural Resources Defense Council objects, "If they flood the market, how do we persuade the rest of the world to work on solving this problem?" And never mind that two years ago, the Defense Department elected to keep its 4,400-ton mercury stockpile off the market to avoid "human health and ecological risks." This is no time for sanity -- a bill to ban mercury exports is pending in the U.S. Senate, so the DOE needs to get crackin'. And what do federal environment-protectors have to say about it all? "We want to address the issue of all this excess mercury, but we need to do it in cooperation with the various stakeholders," says EPA's Maria Doa. Good idea -- perhaps over a tasty plate of sushi?


Are critics of the globalized industrial food system elitist? Does not recognizing the value of a Big Mac make you a big schmuck? Tom Philpott doesn't think so, but he understands why some people disagree. And recently, as he set about to cook a special meal with local ingredients on a limited budget, he got a glimpse of elitism from the other side.

Seas the Day

New reports from the U.K. say climate change is altering oceans

Apparently British researchers didn't get the memo about pretending climate change is no big deal. Two new ocean-related reports say the U.K. is getting hit hard, and predict scarier stuff to come. The government-convened Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership points to surface temperature and sea level rises, storm severity increases, and changes in the distribution of critters from plankton to seabirds. "Rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification, and melting polar ice are not just predictions, they are happening now," says Climate Change Minister Ian Pearson. (Ooh, we want a climate-change minister!) At the same time, a team of researchers from two British universities says the north Atlantic is storing heat that could be released into the atmosphere, causing more warming than previously thought. Still, says scientist James Lovelock, "We are not all doomed. An awful lot of people will die, but I don't see the species dying out." See, there's always a silver lining.