Monday, 07 May 2007

Roller Curby

High seas of South Pacific protected from bottom trawling

A landmark agreement between 21 countries will restrict the controversial practice of bottom-trawling in the high seas of the South Pacific. The deal, which takes effect in September, affects a quarter of the world's oceans, and is the first step toward implementing a U.N. resolution on bottom-trawling from December. "It can be done, it has been done, and it's time for all countries to do the same in all other ocean regions," says Matthew Gianni of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. Some sensitive areas will be declared off-limits to bottom-trawling, which uses weighted nets and rollers that indiscriminately destroy coral reefs and suffocate marine life, while permission to trawl in others will require protective measures including observers and monitoring systems. However, since the restrictions are voluntary, members of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization -- including the U.S., New Zealand, China, Russia, France, and others -- will have to be trusted to behave.


Sarah Augustine and Dan Peplow live on a sustainable ranch in eastern Washington state, but, more often than not, their thoughts and energies are focused on a Washington-sized country in South America. The co-directors of the Suriname Indigenous Health Fund supply technology and support to indigenous communities impacted by gold mining. As InterActivists this week, Augustine and Peplow talk about putting their own lives in danger, what they've got against engagement rings, and when environmental organizations do more harm than good. Send Augustine and Peplow a question by noon PDT on Wednesday; we'll publish their answers to selected questions on Friday.

I Believe the Children Are Our Lab Rats

Pesticides could make kids dumb, diesel emissions make them sick

You know how we say we shouldn't wreck the planet for "future generations"? Turns out we're wrecking them too! A study from Indiana University says children conceived in the summer score lower on tests in school, and suggests that in-womb pesticide exposure may be to blame. "To recognize that what we put into our environment has potential pandemic effects on pregnancy outcome and possibly on child development is a momentous observation, which hopefully will help transform the way humanity cares for its world," says IU's James Lemons. Meanwhile, states are struggling to clean up school-bus diesel emissions -- linked to asthma and lung cancer -- in the absence of $1 billion in cleanup funds pledged by Congress in 2005. More than 100,000 of the nation's 390,000 diesel school buses don't meet emissions regulations; California approved a $200 million cleanup, while a similar plan in Texas stalled out -- partly because, says the state's appropriations committee chair, "the science is not very good."


It's hard to believe, but there was a time when you actually had to leave the house to get any shopping done. A reader wonders whether the growth of online consumerism is a boon or bane for the environment: does leaving the car parked outweigh the effects of all that shipping and packaging? Advice maven Umbra Fisk explores the still-young science of shopping, charges to her own conclusions, and reminds us all to -- yes -- consume less.

Madrid, May I?

Spanish activists up in arms over unchecked urbanization

This weekend, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Spain to voice their fury over ... rampant urbanization. Yes, it's true, residents of la piel de toro have had it with the bull. A building boom that started in the 1960s is overrunning rural areas and coastal cities, say observers, and corrupt politicians are only too eager to make illegal deals that can increase pollution and limit water supplies. "Too often, construction in Spain represents the plundering of a community and a culture," reported a European Parliament delegation after a trip in March. Spain has the most homes per resident of any country in Europe; over the last decade, its population grew 5 percent and housing grew 26.3 percent. With high-profile cases putting shady deals in the spotlight and local elections approaching in a few weeks, activists hope a change is in the air. Spaniards, says one candidate, "are beginning to realize that they're losing the landscapes of their childhood to these crimes of urbanization."