Tuesday, 01 May 2007

Hey, That's Half the Battle

Bush chats with Merkel and Barroso, agrees climate change is a problem

U.S. President George W. Bush met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and E.U. President Jose Manuel Barroso at the White House yesterday, chatting about international trade, air-travel policy, missile shields, and The Most Important Issue of Our Time. Though no climate action steps were agreed to, Merkel and Barroso seemed happy that Bush even acknowledged the problem. "We agree there is a threat, there is a very serious and global threat. We agree that there is a need to reduce emissions. We agree that we should work together," said Barroso at the post-convo press conference. Bush, as usual, was fixated on China's-not-cutting-emissions-so-why-should-we, leading Merkel to explain, "If the developed countries who have the best technology don't do anything, it will be even harder to convince the others. But without convincing the others, CO2 emissions worldwide will not go down." Climate is on the agenda at June's G8 summit in Germany -- we'll look forward to copying and pasting this blurb then.


These days, college is about more than keg stands and beer pong: students all over the country are taking stands on global warming, pushing their schools to move toward climate neutrality. Nathan Wyeth, an undergrad at Brown University, is one of those students. But before proposing that Brown invest in a bunch of carbon offsets, Wyeth and his fellow students asked themselves some tough questions about what carbon neutrality really means. In a new column for Grist, Wyeth explores the offset controversy and describes the "climate positive" alternative that his school may adopt.

Or They Could Stop Waging War

Report says U.S. military needs to wean itself from oil

A report commissioned by the Pentagon says the U.S. military needs to break its oil addiction. The country used an average of 16 gallons of fuel per soldier per day in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2006, compared to four per soldier per day in the Persian Gulf War and one per soldier per day during World War II. The increase is attributed to cuts in troops and the use of centralized bases farther from conflicts. Also, this administration doesn't give a hoot about conservation. The study says the rising cost and shrinking supplies of oil could compromise effective military response, and recommends alternative fuel and energy efficiency. "We have to wake up," said National Defense Council Foundation President Milton R. Copulos, as Melissa Etheridge began to strum softly. "We are at the edge of a precipice and we have one foot over the edge. The only way to avoid going over is to move forward and move forward aggressively with initiatives to develop alternative fuels. Just cutting back won't work."


Twenty-seven years ago, Love Canal prompted the feds to invest resources in cleaning up America's most toxic sites and start shaking down the polluters responsible for creating them. But a new study from the Center for Public Integrity finds that underfunding of Superfund in recent years has severely disabled the program, and government inaction has slowed cleanup efforts to a near stop. This leaves the estimated one in five Americans who live within 10 miles of the 1,000-plus Superfund sites to deal with the health and environmental consequences of living downstream and downwind of major polluted sites -- and lets many polluters off the hook. Get the dirt in Gristmill.

Let My River Go

Unleashing Mississippi River could be key to restoring Louisiana wetlands

Painfully aware that their state is sinking, Louisiana politicians are pushing a $50 billion plan to fight wetlands erosion by unleashing the Mississippi River. The river built much of the southeastern part of the state over time, through sediment deposits. But levees and other restraints have kept it on an artificial course in recent decades, leaving nearby wetlands to sink. Since the 1930s, about 1,900 square miles have succumbed. Nothing a little re-engineering can't fix, say advocates of the plan, which calls for removing some levees, adding others, and mechanically pumping sediment in some places. While hurdles include the need for state and federal approval, a maze of property-rights issues, and concerns from some who think building more levees is not the road to healthy wetlands, many are on board. "This will be one of the great engineering challenges of the 21st century," said Denise J. Reed of the University of New Orleans. "What is obvious to everyone is that something has to be done."

Pep Rally

PepsiCo buys a lotta renewable-energy credits, tops EPA green power list

The U.S. EPA released its quarterly list of the top 25 buyers of green power yesterday, with the No. 1 slot filled by a new kid in the renewable-energy biz. That would be PepsiCo, which vaulted to the top of the list by announcing plans to purchase 1 beeellion kilowatt-hours of renewable-energy credits. In partnership with REC provider Sterling Planet, the fizzy-drink maker (and owner of Frito-Lay) will spend $2 million funding wind, biomass, and hydroelectric power to "offset" the power used by its U.S. manufacturing facilities, headquarters, distribution centers, and regional offices. Pepsi's renewable-energy buy is twice the amount purchased by previous list-topper Wells Fargo in October; Whole Foods Market, bumped to third on the list, was the first company to offset all of its energy use, in January 2006. "By switching to alternative, renewable power sources, PepsiCo is proving that going green can be the choice of every generation," says EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, who totally stole our punch line.

And Maybe We'll Finally Clean Out That Closet

Daily Grist taking day off tomorrow, back on Thursday

You know how, after you've been working for months on end, you get a hankering for a day off? You're not sick, but you feel a little burned out, and you're pretty sure tending to your own needs would help you do your job better, so you take a personal day? Well, tomorrow Daily Grist is taking a personal day. Instead of coming to your inbox, we'll be sleeping in, painting our nails with non-VOC polish, and reading a good novel. Oh, OK, you got us, we'll actually be in an all-day, staff-wide meeting -- but it's fun to dream. See you Thursday.