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The Fallout from Hurricane Ian Continues

In a surprising development, at least nine electric vehicles suddenly caught fire in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.  It’s unknown how many cars in total may have been impacted throughout areas in the state affected by Ian, which hit Florida as a Category 4 storm at the end of September.

The fires were apparently sparked as conductive saltwater poured over flooded cars and their charged lithium-ion batteries. Saltwater can create a dangerous “salt bridge” between the positive and negative points of the battery, which has the potential to short-circuit and start fires.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, has warned that EVs can ignite weeks after contact with saltwater.   As a result of the news, tow truck companies are now refusing to pick up water-damaged EVs, ABC News reported.  The unexpected danger from affected electric vehicles has forced local fire departments to divert resources away from hurricane recovery to control and contain these dangerous fires.  As of August, there were more than 95,000 registered EVs in the Sunshine state, up from 58,000 in 2021.

Fires in electrical vehicles run extremely hot and are challenging to extinguish.  Six vehicles in Naples burned for “hours and hours” and required “thousands upon thousands” of gallons of water to extinguish — a far more intensive battle than one posed by a gas-powered car, a spokesperson for a local fire department told E&E News.  At least one electric vehicle reignited after flames were extinguished, destroying two houses that had survived the storm, according to officials.

Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s chief financial officer and state fire marshal, warned early this month about the problem in a tweet. He shared a video of firefighters in Naples extinguishing a vehicle fire. Patronis said “a ton” of EVs were disabled by the storm. The fires are a “new challenge that our firefighters haven’t faced before,” he noted.  Patronis sent letters to the NHTSA and EV manufacturers with pointed questions about the fires. In a message to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, he complained about the potential of EVs to “spontaneously combust” and described the recent fires as “surreal, and frankly, scary.”

 

Conservationists Destroying the Legacy of Black Farmers in the Midwest

At least 18 threatened or endangered plant and animal species, including the ornate box turtle and regal fritillary butterfly, have been sighted at the Sweet Fern Savanna Land and Water Reserve, in the heart of Pembroke Township, Illinois-- offering a glimpse into what much of the area looked like before European settlers drained swamps and cleared forests to grow corn and soybeans.  But there is a dark underbelly to this seemingly noble effort-- one that threatens the livelihoods of actual human beings.

Sixty miles south of Chicago, this wildlife reserve is among nearly 2,900 acres owned by the Nature Conservancy and other private individuals, trying to establish a network of nature sanctuaries in Kankakee County. Their efforts have overlapped with those of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which two decades ago put forward a plan to buy up and preserve thousands of acres of what conservationists consider a rare habitat, one that includes the nation’s largest and most pristine concentration of sandy black oak savanna. But the acquisition of land by both the federal government and private conservationists has continued in the face of persistent objections from local communities, including residents of this longtime Black farming community.

Founded by formerly enslaved people and later a haven for Black Southerners fleeing racial violence during the Jim Crow era, Pembroke became renowned as a symbol of Black emancipation and touted as one of the largest Black farming communities north of the Mason-Dixon Line. In its heyday, farmers and ranchers here not only raised their own food but supplied fresh produce to Kankakee and Chicago. Today, a small number of Black farmers are trying to hang on to what little they have left, while other parts of the township have struggled as well, with loss of jobs, a declining population and a crumbling village hall.   At the same time, land for the nature sanctuaries have been blithely purchased at county auctions after local residents fell behind on their property tax payments, or from outsiders who picked up the delinquent parcels and flipped them for profit, raising echoes of predatory practices that have long plagued Black landowners.

Cruelly, newly enacted environmental designations and restrictions have allowed these outside conservation groups to receive tax breaks that are eroding an already precarious tax base.  The loss of Black-owned land in this community exposes a cruel irony. Pembroke has been one of the few places Black landowners could gain a foothold in Illinois, in part because this land was passed over by white settlers who presumed its sandy soils were worthless. And now, after generations without large-scale development or landscape-destroying corporate farming, this land has become sought after by outside conservationists because Pembroke’s savannas remain largely untouched.  But for the benefit of who?  Not the hard-working underprivileged local citizens-- but seemingly for privileged absentee conservationists who don't deliver tangible benefits for people who actually live there.

Years of protest have done little to dissuade those pushing for more land to be dedicated for conservation.  Most of the sites reserved for conservation have banned long-standing local traditions like hunting and picking wild fruit-- restrictions which will remain in place forever, even if the land changes hands. In a community known for Black cowboys, new conservation-minded owners have even barred horseback riding-- yet still have  protected the right to cross-country ski (not exactly a popular pastime in Pembroke-- either now or back in the day when the  land was settled).

The growing tension has become a prime example of how predominantly white environmental organizations can marginalize communities of color by prioritizing conservation goals over the wishes of residents and actual people.  But as conservationists and the federal government continue to press on toward their ultimate goal of preserving savannas, Pembroke residents find themselves on the outside looking in.

Over the years, Pembroke’s farmers have suffered from the same racial inequities that permeate the American agriculture industry. Without capital or access to loans, they often used outdated equipment or planted by hand. Most farmed their land without irrigation systems, commercial fertilizers and pesticides — the hallmarks of modern agriculture. Many didn’t grow at the scale that would warrant crop insurance, leaving them vulnerable to drought or floods.  As time passed, Black farmers in Pembroke owned less and less land, due in part to financial hardship and lack of access to legal services that complicated the process of bequeathing property to heirs.

The push to preserve and restore rare natural habitats in Kankakee County, where Pembroke is the largest township by area, might have stalled out two decades ago if the only party interested was the federal government. 20 years ago, the federal government promised locals that they would not establish a national wildlife refuge at the Illinois-Indiana border until local residents were consulted and agreed to the effort.  But there were no such promises from The Nature Conservancy, which had endorsed the federal plan and accumulated land on the Indiana side of the border. Without any announcement or public input, it began buying on the Illinois side too.

 The Arlington, Virginia-based land trust has been praised for its efforts in protecting more than 125 million acres of land globally. But the organization also has been the subject of scrutiny for its real estate dealings.  A 1994 government watchdog report found some environmental land trusts, including The Nature Conservancy, had profited handsomely in some cases from selling land to the federal government. A 2003 Washington Post investigation found the organization had imposed permanent land-use restrictions on some of its properties to guard their natural features, but later sold the land to current and former trustees at reduced prices, some of whom built houses there.

 In 2015, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)revealed it would be pursuing the dormant plans for what it called the Kankakee National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area, the Kankakee County Board voted 22-2 in favor of a resolution objecting to plans for the refuge.  In November 2016, the Pembroke Township organized a ballot measure asking: “Should The Nature Conservancy be allowed to purchase land within Pembroke Township to establish a conservation marshland?”  Voters left no doubt about their preference, answering “no” by a margin of 708-123.

In response to the local outcry, the Nature Conservancy took conciliatory steps, agreeing to temporarily halt land acquisition efforts and consult with local residents in a Pembroke community planning project.  But conservancy leaders secretly struck a different tone in emails with government officials, characterizing the situation as a “melodrama.”  In an email later that year, the Nature Conservancy urged USFWS officials not to scrap the refuge plans despite community resistance.  “It is important that USFWS does not pull out all together because it will feed the idea that all you have to do is throw a tantrum and USFWS will pack up and leave.”  In 2017, the Nature Conservancy even schemed on how financial hardships for local farmers might favor the Conservancy's strategy.  “All it takes is two years of bad corn prices and it changes the chess board,” a Nature Conservancy official wrote in an email.

 The Nature Conservancy resorted to double dealing in its talks with Sharon White, the Pembroke Township supervisor.  ProPublic also unearthed an email a Nature Conservancy official to the USFWS, to which a list of tax-delinquent parcels in Pembroke was attached.  The email contained the note:  “Fyi. I will let you know how this works out.” Highlighted in yellow were seven parcels owned by Sharon White whose taxes were delinquent.   In an interview, White said she had no idea that her properties, mostly wooded lots neighboring her three-bedroom home, had been discussed by The Nature Conservancy and Fish and Wildlife.   “They knew me and they were trying to buy properties from underneath me,” White said.

The changes brought on by conservationists go beyond mere land use restrictions.  After gaining ownership, conservationists have obtained state designations or imposed land restrictions that drastically reduce what they have to pay in property taxes.   The Nature Conservancy enrolls Kankakee County land in the state’s Conservation Stewardship Program, which allows the property to be assessed at 5% of its fair market value. Other Nature conservancy land is earmarked for nature preserves which reduces the assessed value to only $1 per acre.

In a community where the median household income hovers around $29,000, local residents say it has been difficult to have land seized for failure to pay taxes and then see the new owners get a hefty tax break. In one instance, a Black farmer forfeited a 3-acre parcel of land in 2004 after falling behind on a $580.90 annual tax bill. The Nature Conservancy bought his land at tax sale, and two years later obtained a state conservation designation that allowed the organization to pay $19.60 annually in taxes — 96% less than the yearly amount the farmer lost it for.

Local opposition has been especially intense in Hopkins Park because of the village’s desperate need to reverse years of economic stagnation and disinvestment. The conflict pits The Nature Conservancy, which in a 2019 tax filing reported $1.1 billion in revenue, against the mayor of a village that collected less than $37,000 in taxes for that year. Mayor Mark Hodge has led the chorus of naysayers against the Nature Conservancy's efforts, which have severely undercut local development plans. The conservancy purchased six parcels on Main Street, one of a limited number of places within the township served by water and sewer lines. It also bought land within several residential subdivisions.  “When they own the property, that means a house can’t go there, a business can’t go there because they are not willing to relinquish it. That would be tax revenue that we would receive for any water, sewer and other utilities,” Hodges said, adding: “It’s obvious that this is David and Goliath, the big guy trying to crush the small guy.”  Many feel that such constraints on local development and the exercise of undue tax breaks amount to “community genocide.”

When landowners reduce or eliminate their tax payments, the remaining property owners in the tax district must pay more to make up for the lost funding needed for things like schools and roads, said Nick Africano, Kankakee County’s treasurer.  “These are communities that can least afford a hit to their school and village budgets,” Africano said. “They struggle for every nickel. I think it works for one set of people, and unfortunately most have no stake in our community.”

 

Urban Highways That Deserve to Die

The latest edition of the latest Freeways Without Futures report, assembled semiannually by the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU), calls out North America’s 10 most ill-advised urban highways. These are the roadways urbanists love to hate: They isolate neighborhoods, subject residents to increased air and noise pollution, pummel property values, and sponge up resources that could be better used elsewhere. In an effort to speed their demise, every few years CNU gathers transportation and design experts to single out the worst offenders, ranking the freeways most ripe for removal based on alternative designs, traffic conditions, community and political support, and other factors.

San Francisco’s 1991 Embarcadero demolition is the poster child for this movement: Previously home to an elevated freeway, the site now features a walkable boulevard with shops and waterfront access. More recently, Seattle is currently aiming to pull off a similar transformation by removing its elevated Alaskan Way Viaduct for a street-level boulevard and waterfront space.

Interstate 980 in Oakland divides the new glass skyscrapers of the city’s Uptown neighborhood, from West Oakland, a “food desert” where two-thirds of residents live below the poverty line.  West Oakland residents should be able to benefit from the growing number of amenities available in Uptown, since they technically live in walking distance. But crossing the 560-foot-wide interstate and two frontage roads is a daunting task.  Its 18 lanes are excessive for current traffic loads (it’s at 53 percent of capacity), and plans to replace it with a surface boulevard have been around for years. But there’s fresh energy behind the idea these days, thanks to support from Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. A reworked design promoted by the nonprofit ConnectOAKLAND would shrink the road by 75 percent, gaining as many as 15 cross streets and reclaiming land that could be put toward affordable housing.

Pot Is Power Hungry

Marijuana might look and smell natural, but its ecological footprint is anything but green.   The $3.5 billion cannabis industry is one of the nation’s most energy intensive, often demanding 24-hour indoor lighting rigs, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems at multiplying grow sites.

As many as ten states could legalize recreational marijuana this year, which means the resultant electricity consumption could cause problems for public utilities and city officials.  The Guardian reports that last summer in Portland, Oregon, Pacific Power reported seven outages from cannabis production. Portland General Electric (PGE) experienced similar blows.

Although "rewards" programs are sprouting up to encourage energy-efficient and environment-friendly technologies,  lighting companies are expected to profit handsomely, as lighting continues to account for 80% of any indoor grower’s electricity use.

We're All Children Of The Corn

Climate At Faux News

 

GOP: The Flat Earth Society

James L. Powell (Ph.D. in Geochemistry from MIT who was appointed to the National Science Board by Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush)  cataloged peer-reviewed articles published in scientific journals between November 12, 2012 and December 31, 2013.  He found 2,258 articles, written by a total of 9,136 authors. Only one article, by a single author in the Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences, rejected man-made global warming.

Powell previously examined 21 years of peer-reviewed literature and found that only 24 out of 13,950 articles — or two-tenths of a percent — came out and rejected human-caused climate change.

The Daily Dish correctly calls out the GOP for its obscene denial of the overwhelming amounts of evidence of global warming-- labeling it as a "transparent lie in defense of short-term material interest against the long-term interests of everyone [else] . . . and [outright] affront to reason.

Fish Are Getting A Little Fishy

A new study finds that 84% of the world’s fish tested was not safe to eat more than once per month because of mercury poisoning. And 13% of the fish isn’t safe to eat in any circumstances.  I'm not sure how one can eat something that is so poisonous that it's only safe enough to eat once every 30 days, quite frankly. 

In Japan and Uruguay, the study found that “Mercury concentrations in fish from sites in Japan and Uruguay were so high that no consumption is recommended.”  Yikes!  And they were only measuring for mercury levels-- there's PCB contamination, pollutants, and sustainability practices to factor in as well.

Blue Ocean's website provides great information for what kinds of fish to eat and which to avoid.  The best choices are Atlantic Mackerel, U.S.-farmed Tilapia, wild Alaska salmon, U.S. farmed shrimp, farmed clams/mussels/oysters, pacific sole and  pole-caught mahi-mahi.  Fish to avoid at all costs are imported shrimp, farmed salmon, shark, Atlantic cod, Atlantic halibut, Atlantic bluefin tuna, Chilean sea bass, orange roughy, grouper and Atlantic flounders and soles.

Doesn't Evolution Normally Punish The Stupid?

A panda at the Beijing Zoo accidentally crushed her new cub to death after abandoning its twin, Chinese media reported.  Eight-year-old Yinghua gave birth to female twin cubs but the mother nursed only one of them-- the abandoned cub was sent away to a research facility.

But tragedy struck soon thereafter-- the new mother, still clumsy and inexperienced, accidentally squashed her remaining cub to death in a corner of the pen after hearing it crying for milk. 

Why do we keep trying to perpetuate such a fucking stupid species of animal?  If they're so inept as to sit on their own children, shouldn't we try to focus resources on something else-- like  cleaning up massive oil spills or or feeding hungry humans?

Dana Milbank: The Anti-Gore

From his most recent Wapo column:

The lawmakers gazed in awe at the figure before them. The Goracle had seen the future, and he had come to tell them about it.

What the Goracle saw in the future was not good: temperature changes that "would bring a screeching halt to human civilization and threaten the fabric of life everywhere on the Earth -- and this is within this century, if we don't change.

. . . .

The Goracle's powers seem to come from his ability to scare the bejesus out of people. "We must face up to this urgent and unprecedented threat to the existence of our civilization," he said. And: "This is the most serious challenge the world has ever faced." And: It "could completely end human civilization, and it is rushing at us with such speed and force.

It's Camille Time Again

This month, Camille responds to reader mail, and covers a lot of fascinating topics. On the Fairness Doctrine:

If there's anything that demonstrates the straying of the Democratic Party leadership from basic liberal principles, it's this blasted Fairness Doctrine -- which should be fiercely opposed by all defenders of free speech. Except when national security is at risk, government should never be involved in the surveillance of speech or in measuring the ideological content of books, movies or radio and TV programs.

Broadcasters must adhere to reasonable FCC regulations restricting obscenity, but despite the outlandish claims of Democrats like Sen. Charles Schumer, there is no analogy whatever between pornography and political opinion. Nor do privately owned radio stations have any obligation to be politically "balanced." They are commercial enterprises that follow the market and directly respond to audience demand. The Fairness Doctrine is bullying Big Brother tyranny, full of contempt for the very public it pretends to protect.

On global warming:

I became a vocal opponent of the onrushing Iraq incursion when I was shocked by the flimsiness of evidence presented by Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations in 2003. Similarly, I have been highly skeptical about the claims for global warming because of their overreliance on speculative computer modeling and because of the woeful patchiness of records for world temperatures before the 20th century.

In the 1980s, I was similarly skeptical about media-trumpeted predictions about a world epidemic of heterosexual AIDS. And I remain skeptical about the media's carelessly undifferentiated use of the term "AIDS" for what is often a complex of wasting diseases in Africa. We should all be concerned about environmental despoliation and pollution, but the global warming crusade has become a hallucinatory cult. Until I see stronger evidence, I will continue to believe that climate change is primarily driven by solar phenomena and that it is normal for the earth to pass through major cooling and warming phases.

On college eduction vs. vocational training:

Perhaps there's hope of change because of the tens of thousands of liberal arts graduates with expensive degrees who are finding themselves out of work and depressingly marginalized in a society where the manual trades offer guaranteed employment at relatively high wages. A dose of Buddhism might do people good: Sweeping garden sand into oceanic designs around ornamental rocks is considered a spiritual exercise in Asia. I say that landscaping, construction, carpentry, metalworking and all the other trades should be promoted by primary education as worthy careers for both men and women. The pre-college rat race is a sadomasochistic imposition on the young that robs them of free will and saps their vital energies. When will they rebel?

Masking Pollution With Bullshit

Some members of the U.S. cycling squad arrived for the Olympic Games on Tuesday wearing black respiratory masks, apparently concerned over reports of unhealthy levels of air pollution in Beijing.

About half a dozen members of the team, male and female, were pictured wearing close-fitting face masks covering nose and mouth as they went through the Beijing airport. One was identified as Mike Friedman, a track cyclist who competes indoors.

"I suspect it was their choice, you would have to talk to them as to what prompted them to do this," said Darryl Seibel, chief communications officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee. "I will say this: I am not a scientist, but in my view that was unnecessary."

A cycling official tried to play down the incident which some Chinese may see as provocative. n "I don't believe there was any statement trying to be made," said Andrea Smith, spokeswoman for USA cycling.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said athletes have the right to express their opinions, but should not do so in the athletes' village or the sports venues.

Note: The Daily Dude has so far failed to see any significant coverage of the Beiijing pollution issue on NBC, and certainly doesn't expect to see this story covered on any GE/Universal media outlets. Even the Reuters story (where this story was picked up) concluded with this silly exchange:

"The misty air is not a feature of pollution but a feature of evaporation and humidity," [an Olympics spokesman] said. [note from the DD: Chinese/IOC officials like to bullshit reporters with the story that Beijing's toxic pollution is just "humidity"]

One Olympic rowing competitor said she rather enjoyed the humidity, comparing it to gliding through a steam bath.

Update: The four US cyclists who wore masks over their nose and mouths over pollution fears when arriving in Beijing apologized Wednesday to Olympic organizers, US Olympic Committee chief executive Jim Scherr said. Mike Friedman, Bobby Lea, Sarah Hammer and Jennie Reed were among about 200 athletes from an American delegation of 596 who were issued masks by their US sport governing body to combat pollution in Beijing.

"They've now seen how their actions have been perceived," Scherr said. "They were very eager to take the right action, which was to apologize to their hosts."

The perception that Beijing's pollution, which prompted a shutdown of factories and reduction in auto travel during the Olympics, was so harmful that Olympians needed masks on arrival was seen as a slap in the face to organizers. "You never want to go to somebody else's place and cause any embarrassment and in this case some of them did," said USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth, who said the cyclists apologized without prompting from US Olympic officials. (note from DD: yeah, right.)

Update #2: It looks like hypocrisy is not just limited to Chinese Olympic officials-- the USOC is now turning on its own athletes. The New York Times is reporting that the United States Olympic Committee had issued the specially designed masks to protect athletes from the potentially harmful air here. In fact, the USOC's lead exercise physiologist, Randy Wilber, had advised the athletes to wear the masks on the plane and as soon as they stepped foot here.

“This is really a surprise, because I didn’t think it was going to be such a big deal,” Friedman (one of the athletes that was forced to apologize) said. “Why we wore the masks is simple: pollution. When you train your whole life for something, dot all your i’s and cross all your t’s, why wouldn’t you be better safe than sorry? They have pollution in Los Angeles, and if the Olympics were in Los Angeles, we would probably wear these masks, too.”

But U.S.O.C. officials were apparently unhappy with their choice, scolding the cyclists for walking off the plane wearing the masks because it might embarrass the host country, Friedman and Lea said. The cyclists said they did not remember the name of the official who spoke with them. “They told us that the Chinese were mad and that this is a politically charged issue, but we didn’t mean to offend anybody,” Friedman said. “When they handed us these masks, they never said, ‘Here they are, but don’t wear them.’ ”

Lea said, “It’s disappointing, because I was under the assumption that the mask was approved for use because it was issued by the U.S.O.C.”

Prospects For A Pollution-Free Olympics Remain Clouded

Beijing's main Olympic stadium was barely visible under the city's murky sky on Monday, just four days before the Games are due to begin. The smog returned despite claims by Chinese officials that drastic anti-pollution measures had slashed the chances of Olympic events having to be rescheduled.

The familiar murky air seen in the capital reduced visibility to a few hundred metres (yards) just four days before the Olympic opening ceremony.

An Olympic official said the low visibility was due to high humidity, a natural phenomenon. But he was optimistic that athletes, officials and spectators would enjoy good air quality during the Games. The spokesman for the organizers, Sun Weide, said pollution control measures over the past decade would work.

According to data from Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, air quality on Monday was still considered a "blue sky day". Tests conducted by the BBC news service found one major pollutant, particulate matter, was almost six times higher than the recommended level.

The World Health Organization’s target is 50 micrograms per cubic meter. The BBC recorded levels in Beijing at 292 micrograms on Monday. The test was done at a time of day when many Olympic events will take place.

The International Olympic Committee has said endurance events lasting more than one hour could be delayed if the pollution is too bad. It remains unclear how bad the pollution has to be before an event is postponed.

Men's world record holder Haile Gebreselassie of Ethiopia pulled out of the Beijing marathon citing concerns the smog could damage his health, although he will run the 10,000 meters.

Penguins Dying To Visit Rio 's Beaches

Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia have been washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches.

More than 400 penguins have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state in the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency. Rescuers and those who treat penguins are divided over the possible causes.

Thiago Muniz, a veterinarian at the Niteroi Zoo, said he thinks overfishing has forced the penguins to swim farther from shore to find fish to eat, "and that leaves them more vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents."

But others disagree (warning: Al Gore alert): Biologist Erli Costa of Rio de Janeiro's Federal University said weather patterns could be involved. "I don't think the levels of pollution are high enough to affect the birds so quickly. I think instead we're seeing more young and sick penguins because of global warming."

Whaling Away On Japan

Last week, Australia released graphic pictures of minke whales caught by a Japanese hunt in the Antarctic. It is believed that the pictures, taken by Australian customs officers tracking the hunt, show a harpooned mother and calf being dragged from the sea. Japan denied that claim and called the pictures "emotional propaganda".

"To claim that this is in any way scientific is to continue the charade that has surrounded this issue from day one," said Australian environment minister Peter Garrett. Japan had planned to kill up to 900 minke whales during the current season.

Japan's whale research is conducted by the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), a privately-owned, non-profit institution. The institute receives its funding from government subsidies and Kyodo Senpaku, a for-profit company which handles processing and marketing of the "by products". Kyodo Senpaku, a consolidation of earlier commercial whaling departments of Japanese fisheries, sells roughly US$60 million worth of whale products each year. ICR's whaling research program costs $4.6 million per year.

According to the ICR's website, the objectives of Japan's whale research are as follows:

1. Estimation of biological parameters to improve the stock management of the minke whale,
2. Examination of the role of whales in the Antarctic marine ecosystem,
3. Examination of the effect of environmental changes on whale populations,
4. Examination of the stock structure of minke whales to improve stock management.

When someone keeps talking about "stock management", it seems to me that the ultimate goal is the harvesting of animals, not their preservation. In addition, the ICR claims that the number of minke whales to be taken each year is the smallest number required to obtain statistically valid results. The International Whaling Commission estimates that the mink whale population currently stands at 761,000. To obtain a 95% confidence level (with a confidence interval of 4%), the necessary sample size would be 600-- far less than the 900 whales sought by Japan. Hmmmm . . .

The World Of Plastic

Oceanographer Charles Moore is calling attention to a "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean that is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States. The vast expanse of debris – in effect the world's largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting "soup" stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan. The "soup" is actually two linked areas, either side of the islands of Hawaii, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches.


Moore, who discovered the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or "trash vortex", believes that about 100 million tons of flotsam are circulating in the region. According to Marcus Eriksen, a research director of the U.S.-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, "The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States."

Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer and leading authority on flotsam, has tracked the build-up of plastics in the seas for more than 15 years and compares the trash vortex to a living entity: "It moves around like a big animal without a leash." When that animal comes close to land, as it does at the Hawaiian archipelago, the results are dramatic. "The garbage patch barfs, and you get a beach covered with this confetti of plastic," he added. Because the sea of rubbish is translucent and lies just below the water's surface, it is not detectable in satellite photographs. "You only see it from the bows of ships," Moore said.

According to the U.N. Environment Program, plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food.

There has been a growing global effort in the past several years to deal with this issue.

In Australia, about 90 percent of retailers have signed up with the government's voluntary program to reduce plastic bag use. They have been banned outright in the state of Victoria and Australia is pursuing a nationwide ban to be put in place by the end of this year.

In 2002, the South African government required manufacturers to make plastic bags more durable and more expensive to discourage their disposal—prompting a 90-percent reduction in use. That effort is now building momentum throughout the African continent.

Ireland instituted a 15 cents-per-bag tax, which led to a 95% reduction in use.

A 2003 law in Taiwan required restaurants, supermarkets and convenience stores to charge customers for plastic bags and utensils. Within a year, it resulted in a 69 percent drop in use of plastic products.

A year ago, San Francisco was the first U.S. city to outlaw plastic checkout bags at large supermarkets and large chain pharmacies.

Just last month, China’s cabinet completely banned super thin plastic bags and is imposing a compulsory charge on plastic carrier bags as of June 1st. Disposable plastic bags had become a major source of pollution for China, with estimates suggesting that Chinese citizens use as many as 3 billion plastic bags a day! The cabinet also announced that they plan on creating more incentives for companies separating bags out from waste for reprocessing.

Whole Foods abruptly decided December to end the use of plastic bags in all its store nationwide, beginning this year.

Plastic is believed to constitute 90 per cent of all rubbish floating in the oceans. The U.N. Environment Program estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic. Eriksen said the slowly rotating mass of rubbish-laden water poses a risk to human health, too. The pollutants act as chemical sponges attracting man-made chemicals such as hydrocarbons and the pesticide DDT. They then enter the food chain. "What goes into the ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate. It's that simple," Eriksen said.

What's Fueling The Food Shortages?

The EU is being urged by British MP's to abandon its biofuels targets because they are damaging the environment. They say biofuels are ineffective at cutting greenhouse gases and can be expensive. The recommendation comes just before the EU is due to embark on a completely new climate change strategy. Critics of that strategy say the EU doesn't know how to ensure that biofuels production on agricultural land will not push up food prices or displace food production, forcing peasants or other agri-businesses into felling other virgin forest to grow food crops.

The British government's Environmental Audit Committee says that the EU and the UK government should concentrate on the use of "sustainable" biofuels. According to committee chairman Tim Yeo, "Biofuels can reduce greenhouse gas emissions . . but at present most biofuels have a detrimental impact on the environment overall." Even an internal EU report leaked to reporters late last week criticizes the EU's plan to boost the use of biofuels in transport, concluding that their costs outweigh the benefits.

Last fall, Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen published findings that the release of nitrous oxide from rapeseed oil and corn can contribute as much or more to global warming than the fossil fuels they displace. In his paper, Crutzen goes on to say production of biofuels from grasses (with less nitrogen demand) have more favorable climate impacts.

Meanwhile, the soaring cost of food is threatening millions of people in poor countries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned last month. Food prices have risen an unprecedented 40% in the last year and many nations may be unable to cope, the agency said.

Of course, George W. thinks that biofuel production is a fantastic idea-- he recently made a partial payment on his political debt to corporate agriculture by providing $160 million for the construction of three bio-refineries to expand U.S. ethanol production. Archer Daniels Midland, one of our country's top polluters, has contributed over $3 million to political campaigns the last eight years-- and was also a leading force in lobbying for the 54 cent per gallon tariff that the U.S. government has imposed on imports of sugar-cane based ethanol from Brazil, which is cheaper than ADM’s corn-based fuel.

Check out this posting by Dan Welch for many more details on the Bush administration's relationship with corporate agriculture and their (sordid?) love affair with corn-based ethanol.

Ranting About Rich Snobs and Rat's Milk

Heather Mills McCartney, the former model who is in the middle of a multi-million divorce battle with Paul McCartney, denounced the world's rich as misers and snobs this week. McCartney filed for divorce last year alleging "unreasonable behavior" by his wife. British press reports have speculated that McCartney has offered his wife around $50 million, while she is seeking at least double that amount.

Mills delivered the critical comments during a speech to the debating society of Trinity College Dublin. Mills said she was reluctantly obliged to befriend the world's wealthy because that was the only way to maximize her power as an agent for change. "Sadly, you have to mix at a certain level of people to raise the level of funds you need to bring about the greater good," she said. "Because people are very snobby. These people who have lots of money, they're either snobby or they're stingy. If you have lots of money, you have to be stingy — because why would you want that amount of money?"

She also compared herself to human rights crusaders down through the ages, suggesting they all had been victimized for their beliefs. "If you look at every single person in the history of the world who has tried to make a difference, you'll find a very long section of their lives where they were treated horrifically by the government or by the media," she said.

The speech came just days after she appeared at Speaker's Corner in London's Hyde Park. In that appearance, Mills suggested that people drink more rat milk, as she derided meat, dairy and fish products as principal causes of global environmental collapse. The 39-year-old Mills also asked people to cut down on one or two meat and dairy and fish dishes a week. "We are the only species that drinks another person's milk, so why aren't we drinking rat's milk, or dog's milk, or cat's milk, that's how crazy it is," she said. "It's mad that we are having cow's milk. Even cows don't drink it after one year but we continue forever."

The one-legged model's move to raise her profile on environmental issues was widely disparaged by the British press. Mills provoked accusations of hypocrisy after she arrived at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in a gas-guzzling Mercedes 4x4 - and kept the engine running for part of the morning. One of the posters in the ad campaign shows Miss Mills - whose leg was amputated after a motorbike hit her as she crossed a street - sending herself up with the logo: "You haven't got a leg to stand on!"

Moose Juice On The Loose

The poor old Scandinavian moose is now being blamed for climate change, with researchers in Norway claiming that a grown moose can produce 2,100 kilos of carbon dioxide a year-- equivalent to the CO2 output resulting from a 13,000 kilometer car journey.

Norway is concerned that its national animal, the moose, is harming the climate by emitting an estimated 2,100 kilos of carbon dioxide a year through its belching and farting.

As reported by Spiegel online, Norwegian newspapers are citing research from Norway's technical university in their claims that a motorist would have to drive 13,000 kilometers in a car to emit as much CO2 as a moose does in a year.

Bacteria in a moose's stomach create methane gas which is considered even more destructive to the environment than carbon dioxide gas. Cows pose the same problem as well, according to the website.

Norway has some 120,000 moose but an estimated 35,000 are expected to be killed in this year's moose hunting season, which starts on September 25, Norwegian newspaper VG reported.