MB Civic

SEAS THE DAY
New reports from the U.K. say climate change is altering oceans

Apparently British researchers didn’t get the memo about pretending climate
change is no big deal. Two new ocean-related reports say the U.K. is getting
hit hard, and predict scarier stuff to come. The government-convened MarineClimate Change Impacts Partnership points to surface temperature and sea level rises, storm severity increases, and changes in the distribution of critters from plankton to seabirds. “Rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification, and melting polar ice are not just predictions, they are happening now,” says Climate Change Minister Ian Pearson. (Ooh, we want a climate- change minister!) At the same time, a team of researchers from two British universities says the north Atlantic is storing heat that could be released into the atmosphere, causing more warming than previously thought. Still, says scientist James Lovelock, “We are not all doomed. An awful lot of people will die, but I don’t see the species dying out.” See, there’s always a silver lining.

straight to the source: The Independent, Steve Connor, 29 Nov 2006

straight to the source: BBC News, 29 Nov 2006

straight to the source: The Guardian, David Adam, 29 Nov 2006
http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=8103

SO THAT’S WHY THE BAY IS GREEN
Billions of gallons of raw sewage flow into Great Lakes annually, report says

The Great Lakes, subject of our favorite mnemonic device (HOMES), is being
contaminated by homes — and other places where people poo. According to a
report released today, 20 cities release billions of gallons of raw sewage into
the lakes every year, enough to fill 37,000 Olympic-size pools. The report’s
authors say that’s just a taste of the issue; the cities they assessed
represent only a third of the region’s 35 million residents, many of whom rely
on the lakes for drinking water. “It’s appalling,” says report author
Elaine
MacDonald, a staff scientist with Sierra Legal Defense Fund. “I think countries
as wealthy as Canada and the U.S. can do a hell of a lot better.” In many
cases, outdated systems can’t handle both sewage and stormwater, so cities
divert sewage when it rains. The worst offenders are Detroit (“quite a
quagmire,” says MacDonald), Cleveland, and Windsor, Ontario. Among the best:
Ontario’s Peel Region and Green Bay, Wisc. Which, sadly, renders our headline
inaccurate.

straight to the source: The Globe and Mail, Martin Mittelstaedt, 29 Nov 2006

straight to the source: Sierra Legal Defense Fund media release, 29 Nov 2006
http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=8100

WHAT GOES AROUND DUMBS AROUND
Bush administration considers unloading mercury on world market

With stunning foresight, the U.S. Department of Energy is pondering a sale of
more than 1,300 tons of mercury on the world market. Never mind that mercury
sold overseas will, in all likelihood, just drift back to the U.S. as toxic air
pollution. Never mind that, as Linda Greer of the Natural Resources Defense
Council objects, “If they flood the market, how do we persuade the rest of the
world to work on solving this problem?” And never mind that two years ago, the
Defense Department elected to keep its 4,400-ton mercury stockpile off the
market to avoid “human health and ecological risks.” This is no time for sanity
— a bill to ban mercury exports is pending in the U.S. Senate, so the DOE
needs to get crackin’. And what do federal environment-protectors have to say
about it all? “We want to address the issue of all this excess mercury, but we
need to do it in cooperation with the various stakeholders,” says EPA’s Maria
Doa. Good idea — perhaps over a tasty plate of sushi?

straight to the source: Chicago Tribune, Michael Hawthorne, 27 Nov 2006

THANK YOU, SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER
As climate evidence solidifies, some U.S. energy companies request regulations

This climate-change conspiracy is getting elaborate: now leaders of some of the largest energy companies in the U.S. are in on it. Faced with a mish-mash of state-level regulations, behemoths like Shell Oil and Duke Energy are pushing for a federal cap on greenhouse-gas emissions, and an end to climate squabbling. “From Shell’s point of view, the debate is over,” company president John Hofmeister said recently at the National Press Club. “When 98 percent of scientists agree, who is Shell to say, ‘Let’s debate the science’?”

As other businesses, including ski resorts and hydroelectric plants, wrap climate concerns into their planning, the Supreme Court is preparing to hear a case this week on whether the EPA should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Meanwhile, a recent review of 866 studies on the effects of the global-warming crisis on wildlife says it has likely caused the extinction of some species and mass migration of others. Did we say “crisis”? We meant to say conspiracy.

straight to the source: The Washington Post, Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin, 25 Nov 2006

straight to the source: The Washington Post, Blaine Harden and Juliet Eilperin, 26 Nov 2006

straight to the source: Hartford Courant, Joel Lang, 26 Nov 2006

discuss in Gristmill: Climate-change deniers irrelevant

see also, in Grist: Biggest energy companies in U.S. call for emissions caps

MASS APPEAL
Supremes to decide whether EPA can or must regulate greenhouse-gas
emissions

Tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments in
Massachusetts v. EPA, a humdinger of a case looking at whether the federal
government can or must regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. The case centers
on a Clean Air Act provision that requires regulation of air pollutants
that “may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.”
The plaintiffs (a cadre of 12 states, three cities, and green groups)
argue that planet-toasting greenhouse gases fit that description. The Bush
administration, on the other hand, claims that GHGs are not air
pollutants, and thus that the U.S. EPA doesn’t have the authority to
regulate them. And you know how squeamish the White House gets about
overstepping the bounds of lawful executive authority. The Bush squad also
contends that even if they can regulate GHGs, that doesn’t mean they must.
(And furthermore, they never asked to be born!) While all eyes will be on
tomorrow’s action, a ruling isn’t expected until next summer.

straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko, 27 Nov 2006
< http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=8087 >

straight to the source: Detroit Free Press, Justin Hyde, 27 Nov 2006
< http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=8088 >

see also, in Gristmill: Global warming’s Supreme Court debut
< http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/11/22/9298/8890?source=daily >

THE HUNTER IS A LONELY HEART
Christian Coalition leader-to-be resigns over climate change, poverty stance

We remember when evangelical leaders served time before stepping down in
disgrace — hello, fabulous Bakker boy — but the latest kerfuffle
involves a figurehead who hadn’t even assumed his position. And this time
the scandal isn’t sexual, it’s environmental. The Rev. Joel C. Hunter, a
Florida pastor whose term as Christian Coalition president was to begin in
January, has resigned over a difference in philosophy. The difference: he
wanted the Pat Robertson-founded group to take a stand on poverty and
climate change, and the coalition’s board? Not so much. So Hunter won’t
show the way to the 2.5-million member organization, whose followers have
expressed concern that its agenda is becoming too liberal. “These are
issues that Jesus would want us to care about,” Hunter says. “To tell you
the truth, I feel like there are literally millions of evangelical
Christians that don’t have a home right now.” Remember, good people: you
always have a home at Grist.

straight to the source: The Orlando Sentinel, Willoughby Mariano, 25 Nov
2006 < http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=8095 >

straight to the source: The New York Times, Neela Banerjee, 28 Nov 2006
< http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=8094 >

see also, in Grist: A special series on evangelical Christians and the
environment < http://grist.org/news/maindish/2006/10/05/gate/?source=daily >

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“Our German forbearers in the 1930s sat around, blamed their rulers, said ‘maybe everything’s going to be alright.’ That is something we cannot do. I do not want my grandchildren asking me years from now, ‘why didn’t you do something to stop all this?” –Ray McGovern,  former CIA analyst of 27 years, referring to the actions and crimes of the Bush Administration