Monday, 30 Jul 2007

"People are ready to recognize the magnitude of the climate problem and take it on," Barack Obama says in an exclusive environment-focused interview with Grist and Outside magazine. And Obama argues he's just the man to lead the charge. He's got plenty more to say about climate change and energy, including a response to criticism of his position on liquefied coal and an argument that we shouldn't rule out nuclear power. Obama also talks about his greatest environmental achievement, his favorite natural area, his environmental hero, and more. This is the first in a series of interviews with presidential candidates; tune in this week and next for interviews with all of the other Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, and soon thereafter for interviews with Republican hopefuls. How green is your favorite candidate? You're about to find out.

Will Santa Be Evicted?

Russia stakes claim to North Pole waters and deep-sea oil and gas

In the next few days, Russia plans to launch tiny submarines some 14,000 feet under the North Pole's sea ice to take geological samples and gather data -- the first such journey to carry people to the North Pole's sea bed. And while the action seems innocuous and science-licious at first, Russia isn't just exploring for the sake of exploration. The expedition has set out to prove that the ocean floor around the North Pole is a geologic extension of Russia and therefore essentially Russian property under the United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea. If Russia can prove the geological link, and the U.N. confirms it, it would open more than 460,000 square miles of the Arctic shelf to Russian energy and minerals exploration. Experts estimate the area could contain as much as 10 billion tons of oil and gas. Other nations also claim a geological link to the Arctic, including Canada, the United States, and Denmark (via its territory of Greenland), and they're none too pleased by Russia planting its flag at Santa's homestead.


Here's a real mind-cluck: Is it good to put food out for your wild feathered friends, or does the process of growing and packaging all those seeds do more harm to the environment than letting a few tanager tummies go empty? A reader in Pennsylvania wonders if she's making the right choice, and advice maven Umbra Fisk wings her way through the eco-thicket of answers.

We Wouldn't Kid About This

Environmental problems kill some 4 million kids a year, WHO says

Gloom and doom alert: About 4 million kids younger than age 5 die every year due to environmental problems including air pollution, water pollution, and chemical exposure, according to a new report from the World Health Organization. In fact, more than 30 percent of illness and death in kids due to disease can be attributed to environmental factors, the researchers say. The report found that the developmental stage of life a child is at when exposed to an environmental hazard could be just as important as the level of exposure in determining what happens to them. "Children are not just small adults," said WHO researcher Terri Damstra. "Children are especially vulnerable and respond differently from adults when exposed to environmental factors -- and this response may differ according to the different periods of development they are going through." The report also confirmed the disproportionate effects environmental hazards have on poor and malnourished children, who are often exposed to the worst hazards and are least equipped to deal with them.


Picture a liquid fuel that is derived from the same feedstocks as cellulosic ethanol (switchgrass, sugarcane, corn stover) but contains 50 percent more energetic content and is made via a process that uses 65 percent less energy. Unlike cellulosic ethanol, this fuel can be distributed via existing oil pipelines rather than fuel-hogging trucks and trains, dispensed through existing gas stations rather than specialized pumps, and used in existing engines rather than modified "flex-fuel" engines. In short, it is a biofuel that can be substituted directly and immediately for gasoline or diesel, on a gallon-for-gallon basis. Sound too good to be true? David Roberts talks to a company, LS9, that claims it can produce just such a fuel at a cost competitive with gasoline.


Continually frustrated by all the "orphaned pages" his printer spit out (blank aside from a banner ad or line of legalese), GreenPrint CEO Hayden Hamilton took matters into his own hands. But instead of taking a bat to the printer à la Office Space, he created software that eliminates wasteful pages before they're printed. As InterActivist this week, Hamilton explains how a simple software program can save thousands of trees and how working at Ford inspired him to create it. Send Hamilton a question of your own by noon PDT on Wednesday; we'll publish his answers to selected questions on Friday.