Friday, 20 Jul 2007

Too, Too Sullied Flesh

Meat production spews more greenhouse gases than a three-hour joyride

The next time you chomp a hamburger, think of this: the process of getting that beef to your bun may have spewed more greenhouse-gas emissions than leaving all your house lights blazing while taking a three-hour joyride in your car. Researchers looked at beef production in Japan and its impact on climate, water, and energy, and came up with sobering statistics. Wanna hear more? Not including transportation of meat from farm to store, production of 2.2 pounds of beef (OK, yes, that's a big burger) also spews the same amount of CO2 as an average European car driven 155 miles, and uses enough energy to keep a 100-watt light bulb bright for nearly 20 days. Methane-heavy cow burps and farts comprise most of the greenhouse-gas emissions; two-thirds of the energy used by the industry goes to producing and transporting feed. What could be done? Improve waste management, the study authors say, or shorten the interval between calving. Or, if we may suggest something totally crazy: Stop eating so much meat.


Everyone knows that Portland, Ore., is green. But what about Bangkok, Thailand? Kampala, Uganda? Curitiba, Brazil? We wave our world-traveling wand today to bring you a list of 15 of the globe's greenest cities -- plus four runners-up. Does your metropolis make the cut? Find out -- and if it doesn't, tell us why it should.

All Kinds of Sickening

Congress grills FEMA on toxic post-hurricane trailers

The media have reported for at least two months that the trailers used to house refugees from hurricanes Katrina and Rita have been giving off fumes that are making some people sick. Now it seems the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has fended off those accusations, has known about the toxic trouble since early 2006. The House Oversight and Government Reform committee subpoenaed FEMA records that recommend not testing for toxics, as that "would imply FEMA's ownership of the issue." At a hearing yesterday, legislators tore into FEMA head R. David Paulison, with Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) calling the agency response "sickening" and Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) blasting its "fog of risk-averse lawyering." With some 60,000 households still in the temporary housing, Paulison promised to ... consult with manufacturers. "We have lost a great deal through our dealings with FEMA," testified former Army officer and storm victim Paul Stewart, "not the least of which is our faith in government."


When InterActivist Jarid Manos sent back his answers to readers' questions this week, he noted, "Lot of good people you got reading Grist. ... People clearly want change." Manos, the CEO of the Great Plains Restoration Council, has plenty of ideas on how to enact such change, especially in regard to the nation's precious prairie. Read up and get inspired; then choose your response to what Manos terms our global challenge: "Throw our hands up and squeak, or roll up our sleeves, let our eyes shine, seek commonality with each other and our battered ecosystems, and get to work."

Welcome Back, Potter

Final Harry Potter tome is "greenest book in publishing history"

Feel that crackle in the air? That's millions of Harry Potter fans trying not to fidget as they wait for the book's midnight release. (Or trying not to freeze, in the case of an Australian fan who was rescued after diving into a frigid lake to retrieve his pre-purchase receipt.) The final installment of the mugglicious series is said to be the greenest book in publishing history -- a good thing, since it's set sales records at retailers like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Sixteen publishers around the world used eco-friendly paper for the edition, including U.S. publisher Scholastic, which went the conventional route for the last Harry book and faced a boycott as a result. In all, says Markets Initiative, a Vancouver-based group that helps publishers go green, the switch for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has saved nearly 200,000 trees and avoided almost 8,700 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Which totally makes up for the fact that Harry dies in the end. Oops, did we say that out loud?