Tuesday, 19 Dec 2006

Just in time for slackers who haven't finished their holiday shopping, Gristmill columnist Peter Madden of Forum for the Future has surveyed his colleagues and other smart green Brits to come up with a list of the most important environmental books. Classics Silent Spring and Small Is Beautiful made the list, but other picks were more unpredictable, including one novel, one children's book, and one autobiography. Also surprising is what didn't make the cut. Check out the top 10 and tell us if you think Madden and company nailed it or missed the mark.

Borneo to Be Wild

Scientists discover 52 new species on the island of Borneo

Over the last 17 months, scientists have identified 52 new plant and animal species in the rainforests of Borneo, a Southeast Asian island, the World Wildlife Fund announced yesterday. The finds include 30 unique species of fish, two tree-frog species, three new trees, a plant that grows only a single large leaf, 16 types of ginger, and a partridge in a pear tree. The world's second-smallest vertebrate -- a fish 0.35 inches long -- was discovered, as well as a catfish with an adhesive belly and protruding teeth. (Alas, the legendary Wild Man remains elusive.) No wonder Charles Dickens described Borneo as a "great wild untidy luxuriant hothouse made by Nature for herself." As always, the diverse habitat is threatened by human activity; only half of Borneo's original forest cover remains, thanks to deforestation for rubber, palm oil, and paper pulp production. And we had been so optimistic there for a moment.

Relax, It's Just Pollution

EPA relaxes industry pollution-reporting rules

In a holiday gift to industry, the U.S. EPA has relaxed rules on reporting toxic pollution. Under rule amendments approved yesterday, industrial plants will not have to file detailed public Toxic Release Inventory reports unless they spew 2,000 pounds of pollution or more, four times the previous limit, and they'll face looser requirements for reporting on their most toxic emissions, including lead, mercury, and dioxin. "[This] rule makes a good program better," said EPA Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock, with a straight face. EPA officials had considered upping the baseline to 5,000 pounds, and were originally going to let companies report every two years instead of annually, but backed off those changes after intense criticism. A mere 0.03 percent of 122,420 comments submitted to the EPA about the rule changes were in favor of them, according to advocacy group OMB Watch. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who plans to introduce legislation to disallow the rule changes, said, "The administration's proposed changes are nothing more than a giveaway to corporate polluters at the cost of everyday Americans' health." But what's new?


As the 109th Congress pushed through its final package of pork, a provision opening up new areas in the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling grabbed headlines. But more encouraging energy news slipped by largely unnoticed: Lawmakers also passed a bevy of tax incentives for renewable energy. (Perhaps they were hoping to avoid fossil-fuel deposits in their stockings.) Muckraker surveys the energy developments -- good and bad -- that came out of the final days of the congressional session.

Blow and Behold

World's biggest offshore wind farm given OK in England

The world's biggest offshore wind farm has been given the go-ahead and will soon be built 12 miles off the coast of southeast England. The quaintly named London Array, being developed by a consortium that includes Shell WindEnergy, will consist of 341 turbines. A separate 100-turbine wind farm in the Thames estuary was also given the OK yesterday. Together, the two projects could power nearly one million residences, or about one-third of the homes in Greater London. (So they think they're greater than us? Wanna fight?) Once the obligatory scuffling with locals over siting and increased traffic and noise is complete, London Array is likely to come online in 2011; the wind farm in the Thames estuary should be finished up more quickly, by 2008. With the addition of the two wind projects, Britain will become second only to Denmark in offshore wind generation, and will take a significant step toward its goal of increasing renewable energy resources by 500 percent by 2020. Clean energy -- it's a breeze!