Monday, 16 Apr 2007

Calling All Hawks

New report says climate change is a threat to U.S. security

A government-funded report issued today by a group of retired U.S. generals and admirals says global warming is a security risk. The Military Advisory Board says climate change "can act as a threat multiplier," with severe weather and drought leading to mass migrations, battles over food and water, and the spread of disease. Noting that conflicts in places like Darfur and Somalia began with drought and other resource shortages, the report urges the U.S. to "commit to a stronger national and international role to help stabilize climate changes at levels that will avoid significant disruption to global security and stability." It also says military bases in some areas are vulnerable to rising seas. Former Army chief of staff Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan says he has moved from skeptic to believer: "The trends are not good, and if I just sat around in my former life as a soldier, if I just waited around for someone to walk in and say, 'This is with 100 percent certainty,' I'd be waiting forever."


Ever wish you could be in two places at once? Bill McKibben wanted to be in 1,400 this weekend, as Step It Up rallies and events unfolded in every state across the country. The veteran author and activist describes the scenes he saw in New York and D.C., the energy he felt, and his optimism for the future. We also bring you pics and videos from some of the more inspired protests we heard about, and Grist's Chris Schults offers some audio snippets of the big day in Seattle. Did you Step It Up in your neck of the woods? Comment on our stories and tell us all about it.


David Kroodsma just finished a 17-month trip biking from California to the southern tip of South America. Time to take a few weeks off? Don't be silly -- he's now teaming up with friend Bill Bradlee to bike around the U.S., educating Americans about science and the impacts of global warming. As InterActivists this week, the two spoke (ha!) about how readers can keep track of them as they travel, their somewhat unorthodox post-ride refresher, and how they don't need no stinkin' support vehicle. Send Bradlee and Kroodsma a question by noon PDT on Wednesday; we'll publish their answers to selected questions on Friday.

The Err Up There

EPA relaxes clean-air requirements for ethanol-fuel plants

Before last week, plants turning corn into liquor (yes, please) were allowed to emit 250 tons of emissions per year before triggering clean-air regulations, while those processing corn into ethanol fuel could emit only 100 tons annually. Just doesn't seem fair, does it? So the U.S. EPA did the logical thing, announcing that ethanol-fuel plants will now be allowed the higher pollution level too -- and they won't have to keep track of emissions from vents and other minor sources. Because a process for making clean energy should get to be dirty! The new rule will not apply in urban areas that have air-quality problems, which is fine, since everyone knows people outside cities don't care about air quality. "Even with the change, ethanol is significantly net positive for emissions and greenhouse gases," declared the CEO of the National Corn Growers Association, but Frank O'Donnell of the nonprofit Clean Air Watch is unconvinced: "It's going to mean more dirty air and more disease." We need a drink.


Between sips, a reader in California wonders what to do with her collection of wine corks, since the neighborhood already has all the recycled-cork trivets it can handle. Advice maven Umbra Fisk pours over the options, yielding a pleasing bouquet of recycling programs from outside the U.S., one ambitious company in Missouri that's entering the biz, and a few other creative ideas. Note: this column serves as a fine complement to fish, chicken, or seitan.

The Polar Excise

U.S. Interior edited document relating climate change to polar-bear fate

Remember when U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced that the agency would propose listing polar bears under the Endangered Species Act? And he said that, while the bears' home was indeed melting, "that whole aspect of climate change is beyond the scope of the [ESA]"? Funny story. Turns out Interior did study Arctic warming and efforts to reverse the trend. Even churned out a review of climate-change literature. And then those details got edited out of the final proposal; a chapter called "Mechanisms to Regulate Climate Change," for example, was changed to "Mechanisms to Regulate Sea Ice Recession." In other polar-bear news, Russia might sanction a hunt that will, it hopes, discourage poaching. Banned for the last 50 years, a legal hunt could help keep the peace between humans in Arctic villages and bears wandering in from Meltyland. "It is like the Russian saying" about win-win solutions, said one hunter. "The wolves would not be hungry, and the sheep would remain intact."