Tuesday, 24 Jul 2007

Viva Zap

Canada, U.S., Mexico sign five-year energy pact

Will an energy pact between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico pave the way for alternative fuels or grease the skids for business as usual? Maybe a little of both. The five-year agreement, signed yesterday by Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Gary Lunn, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, and Mexican Secretary of Energy Georgina Kessel, "represents another step -- we believe a major step -- toward enhancing global energy security and environmental protection," Bodman said. The countries will share information and technology on renewable sources like wind, solar, and biomass; draft energy-efficiency guidelines for products; and encourage consumers to conserve. How innovative! How forward-looking! How -- oh, and they'll also keep pumping oil and natural gas with abandon, pushing for "clean coal," and dodging the question of whether oil tankers can traverse protected waters off the coast of British Columbia. But hey, let's stick with innovative and forward-looking. It just feels better.


This week, a movie comes out that will give the infernally popular March of the Penguins a run for its money. Arctic Tale, narrated by Queen Latifah, follows a walrus and polar bear from birth to parenthood, telling the respective creatures' stories as they fish, frolic, and face the effects of climate change. How did filmmakers Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson capture all that footage, what do they hope audiences will see in the scenes, and what happens when you swim with a walrus? Grist's Kate Sheppard talked with them to find out.

Just Call Us the Rainmakers

Study confirms connection between human activity and increased rainfall

A study led by Canadian scientists shows that peeps have an effect on precip: "For the first time, climate scientists have clearly detected the human fingerprint on changing global precipitation patterns over the past century," the team says. Comparing rainfall records from 1925 to 1999 against nearly 100 scenarios generated by 14 computer models, the team found that 50 to 85 percent of rainfall increase at latitudes north of 40 degrees, including Russia, Canada, and northern Europe, was connected to human activity. The study, set to appear in Nature on Thursday, also pinned increased rain in the 30 degrees of latitude south of the equator on fossil-fuel use in the Northern Hemisphere; latitudes up to 30 degrees north of the equator are getting dryer. "Temperature changes we can cope with," said Francis Zwiers of Environment Canada. "But water changes are much more difficult ... That will have economic impacts, and impacts on food production, and could ultimately displace populations."


It's a dilemma faced by every green: We know it's more effective to focus on the positive when talking about environmental crises, but we consistently find ourselves stressing sacrifice and impending chaos instead. (Grist, with its "gloom and doom with a sense of humor" tagline, is admittedly no exception.) Today, Peter Madden of Forum for the Future urges all eco-minded folk to focus their energies on painting attractive, believable visions of a sustainable future. Can it be done? How? Unburden yourself in Gristmill.

Old MacDonald Had a Harm

Feds to review endangered-species decisions made by departed official

Remember Julie MacDonald? The Bush appointee's oversight of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ended with her abrupt resignation in May, after she was accused of overriding scientists' recommendations in order to make decisions beneficial to industry and detrimental to endangered species. Now the Department of the Interior plans to review and likely overturn several wildlife and land-use decisions "inappropriately influenced" by MacDonald during her five years at the agency. Of MacDonald's more than 200 species and habitat decisions, Interior is focusing on the eight it deems most likely to have been politicized, three of which have already inspired lawsuits. Greens, while supportive of the agency's step toward righting its wrongs, were quick to point out that MacDonald almost certainly meddled in more cases than are actually being reconsidered. Species currently doing a little dance in anticipation of possible added protection include the white-tailed prairie dog, Arroyo toad, and Canada lynx.