Tell it till you are green!
Every day I scan through up to 100 pages of worldwide environment news that comes through to my mailbox and then I summarise the news that grabs me – that’s if you’ve wondered so far where I get my news from. The theme for each week is an even easier task. After I have selected the news I enjoyed, I find a common theme and delete the rest, otherwise I would send you hundreds of pages. With that in mind, I wonder if it were possible to tell you enough environment news that you would actually turn green!
A colleague of mine has just bought a year 2000 Toyota Prius, which is a hybrid car that automatically alternates between fuel engine and a battery-powered motor thus saving up to 75% of the normal fuel consumption. This intelligent car is fully computerised and drives as an ordinary car would whilst in manages your fuel consumption by alternating between the two power sources. The basic science is that it uses the petrol engine to generate power for storage into the extra battery pack and thus you never need to plug the car into an electric source (as with the 100% electric cars).
A price to pay for being going green
Another colleague bought a 2004 Prius and this one doesn’t even have a key to start the car as it is voice activated. The car parks itself and warns you when there children or animals lurking around dangerously as you drive off. The only problem is he bought it from Japan and it talks to him all the time in Japanese – which he doesn’t understand. If he knew what she was saying at all, he might even be able to turn her voice off. That is one price to pay for being green.
Another price, for Al Gore, is that he is now being criticised for not being a vegetarian. As it turns out, eating meat is contributing to climate change. Enock Chinyenze – Regional Coordinator for Africa, TVE.
LA Times: 8 September, 2007. Independent carmakers lead the way on plug-in hybrids. Martin Zimmerman
Yet another environmentally friendly automobile is headed your way -- if you have a spare $80,000 or so. Irvine-based car designer Henrik Fisker just announced plans to unveil a plug-in hybrid at the Detroit auto show in January and to have his high-performance gasoline-electric sedans ready for sale in the U.S. within 18 months. If Fisker's hybrid is too rich for your blood, and you're patient, no worries.
Industry veteran Malcolm Bricklin, who introduced America to both the Subaru brand and the Yugo, also announced plans for a luxury plug-in hybrid sedan, saying his cars would be available in the U.S. by 2010. And he said the sticker price would be about $35,000. Whatever the price, suddenly, the plug-in hybrid market looks crowded. The hybrids on the road now are powered by a gasoline engine that is assisted by an electric motor and can run short distances at low speeds on electric power alone.
The plug-in hybrids on the drawing board will feature much more powerful battery packs that can power the car on electricity alone for many miles at highway speeds. And unlike electric cars, when the battery gives out, the gasoline motor takes over -- either to drive the wheels directly or to produce electricity to power the electric motor. The batteries could be recharged overnight at a household outlet. Both Fisker and Bricklin are aiming for electricity-only ranges of 45 to 50 miles -- far enough to allow many drivers to spend most days cruising on electrons alone.
"Our car can become your main car," Fisker says. "If you decide this afternoon, 'Hey, I want to go to Las Vegas,' you can do that. You can't do that in an electric car." Plug-ins could be just the thing to satisfy car buyers looking for relief from high gas prices -- and for auto companies facing the possibility of much tougher fuel economy standards from the federal government.
General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are pursuing plug-in technology but aren't expected to have models in showrooms until shortcomings of the current generation of batteries are overcome. Fisker is a well-known designer of high-end sports cars, including the BMW Z8 and the Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage. To produce the plug-in hybrid, he has formed a joint venture with Irvine-based Quantum Technologies, which will provide the crucial battery and powertrain design.
While providing few details, Chief Executive Alan Niedzwiecki said his company had developed a lithium ion battery pack that solves the overheating problems that have complicated development of plug-ins. "There are few automotive companies that have their own battery, and we're one of them," he said. The joint venture, named Fisker Automotive Inc., will contract out the production of the cars to a vehicle manufacturer. Initial plans are to build 15,000 of the premium-priced vehicles a year, and then in four to five years introduce a second plug-in design priced at $35,000 to $40,000.
Fisker wouldn't discuss financing, other than to say the company has attracted interest from venture capitalists and has enough cash for initial operations. Bricklin, whose up-and-down auto industry career has earned him comparisons to P.T. Barnum, is raising money from a network of dealer-investors and also plans to announce more investors this month. He originally planned to build the cars in China but now is considering other sites.
Fisker said he was confident he could find buyers for his pricey plug-ins, especially because he plans to market the car heavily in Europe. He expects the car to be popular with movie stars and other wealthy individuals who want to be "eco chic." "We wanted to create a vehicle that's environmentally correct but looks good and performs better than the car you're driving today," he said. Another high-end, eco-friendly carmaker, Tesla Motors Inc. of San Carlos, Calif., is finding a receptive audience for its $98,000 electric roadster. The company has received nearly 600 orders for the high-performance car, which will be built in England and have a range of more than 200 miles.
"That's way more than what we were anticipating," said Darryl Siry, head of marketing and sales for Tesla. "We're very happy with it." Tesla hopes to ship the first roadster this year and has plans to introduce a less expensive vehicle -- although still priced at more than $50,000 -- by 2010. That car will be assembled in New Mexico. Rumors are swirling that the car, code-named Whitestar, will be a plug-in hybrid, which could give it a broader appeal than the electric-only roadster. Siry declined to comment on the rumors. Jack Nerad, an auto market analyst at Irvine-based Kelley Blue Book, said independent carmakers like Fisker and Tesla are aiming to meet demand from consumers who are tired of waiting for GM, Toyota and the other auto giants to bring new technology to market.
"There's a thirst from a segment of the public for environmentally friendlier vehicles than what is now available from the big manufacturers -- even beyond what is available in hybrids," Nerad said. "And this is fueling the entrepreneurial spirit. There are people who think they can make money at this."
The Washington Post. Parking the SUV Temporarily: D.C. Mayor Hops Metrobus to Push Environmental Jobs, Public Transit Use. David Nakamura and Nikita Stewart
The mayor's advisers were stumped. No one could agree on the savviest way to handle the sensitive political situation. How would Mayor Adrian M. Fenty travel 2.1 miles from the John A. Wilson Building to Cardozo High School on Clifton Street NW for a news conference in which he was to tell residents to protect the environment and leave their cars behind?
Showing up in his usual gas-guzzling, government-issued Lincoln Navigator seemed politically incorrect. The Metro was an option, but Fenty was running late and would have to walk several blocks. Someone offered a vehicle from the city's fleet of hybrids, but the mayor ruled that out. He countered by offering to hop on the expensive Cannondale bicycle he uses for triathlons, but then aides reminded him that he might become sweaty in his navy business suit. So he walked up 14th Street NW and took the No. 52 bus north.
The mayor's appearance, without security, on the bus caused quite a stir. One woman had her picture taken with Fenty (D), and a male passenger handed the mayor a business card. "People were very surprised," said D.C. Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who rode the same bus to the news conference. At the conference, the mayor helped promote the numerous jobs available in the environmental industry and the city's first Car Free Day, which is scheduled for next Tuesday and was approved by the council in the spring. The District will join 1,500 cities worldwide to raise awareness about alternative transportation, said Wells, who usually rides his steel-gray Bianchi bicycle to the Wilson Building each day.
Wells said that because more people are moving to the District, a day without cars can deliver an important message. "We don't want to create a traffic nightmare," he said. "You don't need a car to get around. That's what makes us different than the suburbs." The District is a leader in public transportation. Statistics show that the city is second only to New York in the percentage of residents who use public transit and leads in the percentage of residents who walk to work. Residents can find out how to participate in Car Free Day at http://www.carfreedc.info.
In New York, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I), whose administration has served as a model for Fenty's, regularly takes the subway to work. But he was recently embarrassed by published reports that he takes a government car a few blocks from his residence to the subway entrance. During his tenure as chairman of the D.C. Council, the late David A. Clarke was known for balancing his 6-foot-8 frame on a beaten-up bicycle to get around. Fenty usually takes the Navigator. But a few weeks ago, he lightened its load by dropping his security detail on some days and driving himself through the city.
When the mayor decided on the bus yesterday, Wells had already left city hall for the news conference. A mayoral aide called Wells, who jumped off his bus at 14th and K streets NW and waited for Fenty's bus to arrive. Wells then joined Fenty and mayoral aide Veronica Washington for the rest of the trip. After the news conference, Fenty took the subway to the Wilson Building. But by last night, he was back in the Ford Expedition he owns, heading to a pair of community meetings across town.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/10/AR2007091002308.html
Reuters: 11 September, 2007. Mercedes to sell fuel-cell car from 2010. Frankfurt.
Mercedes-Benz will begin serial production within three years of a small car powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, the premium brand of DaimlerChrysler said on Tuesday. "The small-scale series production of the B-Class F-Cell will begin in early 2010," the carmaker said in a statement at the Frankfurt International Motor Show.
"The engine for this innovative vehicle will be a new generation of fuel-cell engine that is much more compact and yet at the same time more powerful and completely practicable for everyday use." It did not say how much the car will cost or how many it intended to sell. Fuel cells use the interaction between hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity that powers the car while emitting only water. They have not yet become commercially viable because of their high cost and limited durability.
The new B-Class car's electric engine will generate top output of 136 horsepower and perform on par with a two-liter petrol engine, the company said. It will consume the equivalent of 2.9 liters of diesel fuel per 100 kilometers driven.
Reuters: 7 September, 2007. Cars Neither "Green" Nor "Clean" - New Norway Rules. Oslo, Norway. Alister Doyle
No car can be "green", "clean" or "environmentally friendly", according to some of the world's strictest advertising guidelines set to enter into force in Norway next month. "Cars cannot do anything good for the environment except less damage than others," Bente Oeverli, a senior official at the office of the state-run Consumer Ombudsman, told Reuters on Thursday. Carmakers such as Toyota, General Motor's Opel, Mitsubishi, Peugeot Citroen, Saab and Suzuki had all used phrases this year in advertisements that the watchdog judged misleading, she said.
One Toyota advertisement for a Prius, for instance, described the gasoline-electric hybrid as "the world's most environmentally friendly car." "If someone says their car is more 'green' or 'environmentally friendly' than others then they would have to be able to document it in every aspect from production, to emissions, to energy use, to recycling," she said. "In practice that can't be done," she said of tougher guidelines entering into force in Norway from Oct. 15.
The guidelines distributed to carmakers said: "We ask that ... phrases such as 'environmentally friendly', 'green', 'clean', 'environmental car', 'natural' or similar descriptions not be used in marketing cars." Carmakers would risk fines if they failed to drop the words. Oeverli said she did not know of other countries going so far in cracking down on cars and the environment.
Utmost respect?
In one ruling abroad, for instance, Britain's advertising watchdog said that Volvo advertisements should not repeat a claim that its C30 car was "designed with the utmost respect for the environment in mind". Oeverli said carmakers, who are making huge investments in cleaning up emissions, seemed happy to get clearer rules about advertising. In future in Norway, they could only give information that could be firmly documented.
That meant that even phrases such as "Car X has low emissions of carbon dioxide", the main greenhouse gas released by burning oil, should be avoided. The watchdog argued that mentioning carbon dioxide alone could mislead buyers into believing that the car also had low emissions of toxic nitrous oxide or other polluting particles.
Transport, mainly trucks and cars, accounts for about a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions from human sources, widely blamed for stoking a warming that could bring more floods, desertification, heatwaves and rising seas.
The Nation (Thailand). 8 September, 2007. Growing green minds:Thailand's representative at Germany's 'Tunza' conference on the environment joined youngsters from around the globe spearheading the fight against climate change. Leverkusen, Germany
Concern for the environment opened the door for a boy from Ubon Ratchathani to attend a world youth conference in Germany. Siriwat "Big" Rittapai, who has been interested in ecological preservation for many years, was Thailand's representative at the "Tunza International Youth Conference" hosted by Bayer AG in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The 19-year-old Benchamamaharat School student was among 180 environmentalists aged 15 to 24 from 85 countries who swapped ideas on "Technology in Service of the Environment" at the event from August 26 to 30. "It's a great opportunity to make new friends from all over the world who have the same interest. Each of us has his own ideas and experiences that can be shared to prevent global warming," he says during a break at the camp.
This was his second time at the environmental forum in Germany. Last year he and four other teenagers from the Bayer Young Environment Envoy programme, established by Bayer Thai, represented Thailand on a five-day field trip. The Matthayom 6 student was very impressed with the German government's policy to protect the environment through such measures as renewable energy and waste separation. The young environmentalists debated key global environmental issues such as climate change, renewable energy, technology transfer and the agenda for environmental work in their own countries. The programme also included excursions to model environmental projects and facilities in Germany, including T?V Rheinland's solar-cell testing lab in which Siriwat took a keen interest.
"I will finish high school this year and I'm eager to learn about renewable energy, something that Germany is well-advanced in. I've talked with an engineer here on where and how I could study in this field," he says. However, Siriwat will need to find a scholarship to study in Germany. If that plan fails, he'll go King Mongkut's Institute of Technology in Thonburi. Siriwat says the inspiration for his concern for the environment was his participation in an environmental and energy camp at King Mongkut's three years ago. "Then I became a speaker for an environment club at my school and we did all sorts of activities based on the issue."
Another highlight of the "Tunza" programme was a presentation by astronaut Gerhard Thiele, head of the Astronaut Centre of the European Space Agency. Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP, said at the opening ceremony that he hoped the conference would give an overview on the state of environmental protection in an industrialised country, but also have a motivating effect on the young minds present. "Our hope is that on the basis of discussions at this conference, 180 young people will return to their communities and nations and become beacons for many others to play a part in addressing environmental challenges." Werner Wenning, chairman of Bayer, said the German company supported UNEP's activities in the areas of youth and the environment because youths' commitment to sustainable development had earned respect, and the voice of the young must be heard.
At the event, Steiner and Wenning signed a new three-year cooperation agreement, with Bayer supporting UNEP with its own programmes and a yearly payment of ค1.2 million (Bt54 million), up from the ค1 million of the past three years. UNEP chose the 180 participants from more than 1,000 applications in an online selection process. All the applicants were nominated by organisations or schools where they had actively contributed to projects supporting environmental work in their country.
The word "Tunza" that appears in the conference's title comes from the East African language Swahili and means "to treat with care and affection". It is also the slogan for UNEP's complete programme for young people and children. The organisation is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. The "Tunza" programme, endorsed in 2003, is a comprehensive, six-year strategy to promote the participation of children and youths in every part of the world in environmental activities.
It focuses on four thematic areas - awareness building, capacity building, information exchange and facilitating the involvement of young people in environmental decision making. The event in Leverkusen followed conferences in Dubna, Russia, in 2003 and Bangalore, India, in 2005. At the end of the conference, participants from each region elected their own representative to serve on the Tunza Youth Advisory Council, which will advise UNEP on issues relating to youth environmental work for the next two years.
Young environmentalists from China and the Philippines are the new Tunza Youth Advisory Council members representing Asia-Pacific. "I want to make the voices of young people heard," says Sara Svensson, from Sweden, a new member for Europe. "The council is a place where we can also share ideas on ways to have a better future."
New Strait Times (Malaysia). 10 September, 2007. Being green comes naturally. Nisha Sabanayagam. Kuala Lumpur.
It was the cartoon series in the 1990s called Captain Planet that started off 16-year-old Hana Shazwin Azizan’s environmental crusade. Captain Planet had sky-blue skin and wore red boots but he spread the important message about environmental hazards. Hana Shazwin recalled that even at the age of 5, she would berate her parents and brothers if they did something "wrong", such as wasting electricity or water. "I learnt this from the cartoon series." When she was 9, Hana Shazwin joined Yayasan Anak Warisan Alam, a non-governmental organisation that organises environmental education projects and activities for children. "That’s when my green lifestyle took off," she said. She mingled with like-minded people who are environmentally conscious. Soon, being green became second nature to her.
"It’s really not that hard to live this way." Now, Hana Shazwin has a portfolio that would make many people "green" with envy. She has travelled to Argentina, Australia, Japan and Kenya, representing Malaysia as a youth ambassador mainly for environmental conferences. Together with former schoolmate Jes Ebrahim Izaidin, 14, their parents and some friends, she has formed an environmental NGO called the Tree Theatre Group to provide a platform for other environmental-conscious children to share and present their projects.
"Malaysian youth have many ideas but have no platform to execute or present those ideas," said Hana Shazwin. The Tree Theatre Group will also make the youth aware of the opportunities available to represent their countries and attend environmental conferences. "We want to help others, especially children in the rural community, to be able to enjoy such activities," she said. Hana Shazwin has also hosted television shows for educational channel Bahagian Teknologi Pendidikan, formerly known as TV Pendidikan.
The young environmentalist has also won numerous essays and public speaking competitions. She and Jes Ebrahim wrote the song Tears for Trees, which was sung by 63 Malaysian children at the opening ceremony of the 24th United Nations Environmental Programme (Unep) Governing Council Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, in February. The song, which reportedly left some of the ministers teary-eyed, has been chosen as the theme song for Unep’s Billion Tree Campaign, which initiates projects in communities worldwide to encourage people to plant one billion trees by the end of the year.
Thus, it was only fitting that Hana Shazwin was chosen to represent Malaysia in the Tunza International Youth Conference 2007. The biennial conference is a long-term strategy of Unep, which partners with multinational company Bayer to engage young people from 15 to 24 years old in environmental activities and in the work of Unep. Hana Shazwin’s trip to Germany was sponsored by Bayer, which became official partners with Unep in 2004 to jointly organise environmental projects for young people around the world. "We learnt about starting and managing environmental projects and, of course, network with other youth ambassadors," said Hana Shazwin.
The conference, held from Aug 26 to 30 in Leverkusen, Germany, included meetings with politicians and Bayer’s industrial environment protection experts, workshops, plenary sessions and excursions. The theme for this year’s conference was "Technology in Service of the Environment". Hana Shazwin talked about Malaysia’s technological innovations, including locally-produced mobile incinerators and a multi-purpose organic fibrous material made of coconut husks. She also talked about recognising apathy as an environmental problem. Hana Shazwin already had a headstart on starting and managing projects.
The Tree Theatre Group has started the Janda Baik Eco School project, which aims to create young environmentalists through several project-based and subject-based programmes. This includes a "tree bank" to plant about 26 million trees in five years from next year to 2013. "We want to help the country achieve a neutral carbon dioxide status," said Hana Shazwin.
The New York Times. 11 September, 2007. ‘Feel Good’ vs. ‘Do Good’ on Climate. John Tierney.
After looking at one too many projections of global-warming disasters — computer graphics of coasts swamped by rising seas, mounting death tolls from heat waves — I was ready for a reality check. Instead of imagining a warmer planet, I traveled to a place that has already felt the heat, accompanied by Bjorn Lomborg, the Danish political scientist and scourge of environmentalist orthodoxy.
It was not an arduous expedition. We went to an old wooden building near the Brooklyn Bridge that is home to the Bridge Cafe, which bills itself as “New York’s Oldest Drinking Establishment.” There’s been drinking in the building since the late 18th century, when it was erected on Water Street along the shore of Lower Manhattan.
Since record-keeping began in the 19th century, the sea level in New York has been rising about a foot per century, which happens to be about the same increase estimated to occur over the next century by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The temperature has also risen as New York has been covered with asphalt and concrete, creating an “urban heat island” that’s estimated to have raised nighttime temperatures by 7 degrees Fahrenheit. The warming that has already occurred locally is on the same scale as what’s expected globally in the next century.
The impact of these changes on Lower Manhattan isn’t quite as striking as the computer graphics. We couldn’t see any evidence of the higher sea level near the Bridge Cafe, mainly because Water Street isn’t next to the water anymore. Dr. Lomborg and I had to walk over two-and-a-half blocks of landfill to reach the current shoreline.
The effect of the rising temperatures is more complicated to gauge. Hotter summer weather can indeed be fatal, as Al Gore likes us to remind audiences by citing the 35,000 deaths attributed to the 2003 heat wave in Europe. But there are a couple of confounding factors explained in Dr. Lomborg’s new book, “Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming.”
The first is that winter can be deadlier than summer. About seven times more deaths in Europe are attributed annually to cold weather (which aggravates circulatory and respiratory illness) than to hot weather, Dr. Lomborg notes, pointing to studies showing that a warmer planet would mean fewer temperature-related deaths in Europe and worldwide.
The second factor is that the weather matters a lot less than how people respond to it. Just because there are hotter summers in New York doesn’t mean that more people die — in fact, just the reverse has occurred. Researchers led by Robert Davis, a climatologist at the University of Virginia, concluded that the number of heat-related deaths in New York in the 1990s was only a third as high as in the 1960s. The main reason is simple, and evident as you as walk into the Bridge Cafe on a warm afternoon: air-conditioning.
The lesson from our expedition is not that global warming is a trivial problem. Although Dr. Lomborg believes its dangers have been hyped, he agrees that global warming is real and will do more harm than good. He advocates a carbon tax and a treaty forcing nations to budget hefty increases for research into low-carbon energy technologies.
But the best strategy, he says, is to make the rest of the world as rich as New York, so that people elsewhere can afford to do things like shore up their coastlines and buy air conditioners. He calls Kyoto-style treaties to cut greenhouse-gas emissions a mistake because they cost too much and do too little too late. Even if the United States were to join in the Kyoto treaty, he notes, the cuts in emissions would merely postpone the projected rise in sea level by four years: from 2100 to 2104.
“We could spend all that money to cut emissions and end up with more land flooded next century because people would be poorer,” Dr. Lomborg said as we surveyed Manhattan’s expanded shoreline. “Wealth is a more important factor than sea-level rise in protecting you from the sea. You can draw maps showing 100 million people flooded out of their homes from global warming, but look at what’s happened here in New York. It’s the same story in Denmark and Holland — we’ve been gaining land as the sea rises.”
Dr. Lomborg, who’s best known (and most reviled in some circles) for an earlier book, “The Skeptical Environmentalist,” runs the Copenhagen Consensus Center, which gathers economists to set priorities in tackling global problems. In his new book, he dismisses the Kyoto emissions cuts as a “feel-good” strategy because it sounds virtuous and lets politicians make promises they don’t have to keep. He outlines an alternative “do-good” strategy that would cost less but accomplish more in dealing with climate change as well as more pressing threats like malaria, AIDS, polluted drinking water and malnutrition.
If you’re worried about stronger hurricanes flooding coasts, he says, concentrate on limiting coastal development and expanding wetlands right now rather than trying to slightly delay warming decades from now. To give urbanites a break from hotter summers, concentrate on reducing the urban-heat-island effect. If cities planted more greenery and painted roofs and streets white, he says, they could more than offset the impact of global warming.
The biggest limitation to his cost-benefit analyses is that no one knows exactly what global warming will produce. It may not be worth taking expensive steps to forestall a one-foot rise in the sea level, but what if the seas rise much higher? Dr. Lomborg’s critics argue that we owe it to future generations to prepare for the worst-case projections.
But preparing for the worst in future climate is expensive, which means less money for the most serious threats today — and later this century. You can imagine plenty of worst-case projections that have nothing to do with climate change, as Dr. Lomborg reminded me at the end of our expedition.
“No historian would look back at the last two centuries and rank the rising sea level here as one of the city’s major problems,” he said, sitting safely dry and cool inside the Bridge Cafe. “I don’t think our descendants will thank us for leaving them poorer and less healthy just so we could do a little bit to slow global warming. I’d rather we were remembered for solving the other problems first.”
The Sunday Telegraph (UK). 9 September, 2007. Activists take Gore to task oh his diet. Philip Sherwell
HE MAY be the hero of the environmental movement for his crusade against global warming but Al Gore is about to be targeted by animal rights activists over his carnivorous contribution to greenhouse gases. Citing United Nations research that the meat industry is worse for the environment than driving and flying, animal rights groups are directing a campaign at the former American vice-president's diet.
When he delivers a lecture on global warming in Denver next month, protesters will display billboards bearing a cartoon image of Mr Gore eating a drumstick and the message: "Too chicken to go vegetarian? Meat is the No 1 cause of global warming''. The campaign is being organised by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) and is backed by other animal rights groups. "For Al Gore, the fact that his diet is a leading contributor to global warming is a highly inconven-ient truth - pun intended,'' said Matt Prescott, a spokesman for Peta.
Mr Gore won an Oscar this year for An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary based on his lecture-circuit presenta-tion detailing how man is allegedly destroying the environment. But he is now under fire for failing to highlight the im-pact of meat-eating. According to recent UN Food and Agriculture Organisation research, animal agriculture generates 18 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions - more than the 13.5 per cent produced by all forms of transport combined. Mr Gore's eating habits have previously drawn attention only because of his dramatic weight fluctuations. He cut a far slimmer figure in the run-up to the 2000 election than since - and observers would regard a reduction in his waistline as a likely sign that he intends join the Democrats' race for the White House next year.
AP: 12 september, 2007. Eating less meat may slow climate change. Maria Cheng. London.
Eating less meat could help slow global warming by reducing the number of livestock and thereby decreasing the amount of methane flatulence from the animals, scientists said on Thursday. In a special energy and health series of the medical journal The Lancet, experts said people should eat fewer steaks and hamburgers. Reducing global red meat consumption by 10 percent, they said, would cut the gases emitted by cows, sheep and goats that contribute to global warming.
"We are at a significant tipping point," said Geri Brewster, a nutritionist at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York, who was not connected to the study. "If people knew that they were threatening the environment by eating more meat, they might think twice before ordering a burger," Brewster said.
Other ways of reducing greenhouse gases from farming practices, like feeding animals higher-quality grains, would only have a limited impact on cutting emissions. Gases from animals destined for dinner plates account for nearly a quarter of all emissions worldwide. "That leaves reducing demand for meat as the only real option," said Dr. John Powles, a public health expert at Cambridge University, one of the study's authors.
The amount of meat eaten varies considerably worldwide. In developed countries, people typically eat about 224 grams per day. But in Africa, most people only get about 31 grams a day. With demand for meat increasing worldwide, experts worry that this increased livestock production will mean more gases like methane and nitrous oxide heating up the atmosphere. In China, for instance, people are eating double the amount of meat they used to a decade ago. Powles said that if the global average were 90 grams per day, that would prevent the levels of gases from speeding up climate change.
Eating less red meat would also improve health in general. Powles and his co-authors estimate that reducing meat consumption would reduce the numbers of people with heart disease and cancer. One study has estimated that the risk of colorectal cancer drops by about a third for every 100 grams of red meat that is cut out of your diet. "As a society, we are overconsuming protein," Brewster said. "If we ate less red meat, it would also help stop the obesity epidemic."
Experts said that it would probably take decades to wane the public off of its meat-eating tendency. "We need to better understand the implications of our diet," said Dr. Maria Neira, director of director of the World Health Organization's department of public health and the environment. "It is an interesting theory that needs to be further examined," she said. "But eating less meat could definitely be one way to reduce gas emissions and climate change."
Environment News in Africa
Kenya: Agencies Push for Levy to Counter Ban On Plastics
The Nation (Nairobi): Agencies with a stake in the environment are pushing for a joint plan for the management of plastic waste in Kenya. The plan by the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) and Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) is seen as an alternative to the ban imposed on certain types of plastics by Finance minister Amos Kimunya in his Budget Speech for the 2007/08 financial year. The report is based on a report by the Kenya Institute of Policy and Research Analysis. Mr Kimunya banned the manufacture and importation of plastic bags below 30 microns. The minister also introduced a 120 per cent excise duty on polythene bags. But the three agencies have called for implementation of a parliamentary paper that proposed a plastic levy (green levy) instead of the excise duty. While calling for introduction of the plastic levy, the three argued that the proposed excise duty on plastics may not be readily available to stakeholders for direct environmental conservation, particularly management of plastic waste. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709070175.html
South Africa: Willard to Recycle Old Batteries, Plant Trees
BuaNews (Tshwane): Willard Batteries has embarked on a recycling and tree planting initiative in Soweto, to promote and support this year's Arbour Week. A programme introduced by Willard Batteries is showing South Africans that scrap batteries can and should be recycled. Contrary to popular belief that old car batteries are dirty and useless, over 90 percent of a scrap battery can be recycled and used in the production of new batteries. The savings made through the recycling initiative is being channeled by Willard into tree planting as part of the company's environmental "carbon footprint." National environmental campaign Indalo Yethu is supporting Willard's initiative, since it complements Indalo Yethu's mission to popularise the notion that environmentally sound practices bring tangible economic and social benefits. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709070369.html
Zambia: Country's Number 2 Chair for Combat Desertification
The Times of Zambia (Ndola): Zambia has been elected vice chair of the Africa Working Group at the on-going United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) conference of the Parties eighth Session (COP8), in Madrid, Spain. Zambian delegates have also been co-opted into sub-committees of the Africa Working Group whose core objective is to make follow-ups on the 10-year UNCCD strategic plan which spells out measures to be undertaken in reversing or mitigating the effects of desertification. One of the critical issues that call for the attention of developed country Parties is increased funding to give added impetus to African countries' capacity to respond adequately to the challenge of fighting desertification. Alternate Head of the Zambian delegation to the conference, Godwin Gondwe, is Vice Chairperson of the Africa Working Group. Mr Gondwe who is also UNCCD focal point person for Zambia, expressed confidence that the African Group would make a break-through in convincing cooperating partners to consider increasing funding levels in aid of programmes and projects aimed at combating desertification and other environmental concerns across the continent. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709070520.html
Angola: Port Activities Should Safeguard Environment
Angola Press Agency (Luanda): Consciousness of workers, energetic and amended actions, in the execution of port and marine activities, safeguarding the environment, were aspects stressed Thursday, here, by the managing board chairman of Luanda's Port, Sílvio Vinhas. Speaking at the opening of the workshop on "Depollution, Environmental Management and Security of Luanda's Port", the official warned about the need for a change in the current pollution scene in the coastal region of Luanda, which he considered as "worrying". "We have to carry out a set of actions and seek to place Luanda's Port at the same level of the best ports in accomplishing internationally acceptable environmental standards", stated Sílvio Vinhas. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709070047.html
Zimbabwe: Open Fire Ban Long Overdue
The Herald (Harare): The banning of open fires for the next three months by Government this week should send strong signals to those who play with fire and destroy our environment that their time is up. The ban was, in fact, long overdue as it came when millions of hectares of grazing land and forestry have been torched to ashes by uncontrolled veld fires. This week alone, uncontrolled fires destroyed swathes of grassland in Mukuvisi Woodlands in Harare and Matopo National Park outside Bulawayo, destroying the natural habitat for animals in these sanctuaries. These fires have destroyed millions of acres of grazing land and forestry as it has become a habit for some people to burn grass every dry season. Sadly, our communities have over the years watched this evil practice with indifference. It is estimated that timber worth more than $800 million has so far been destroyed by wild fires since the beginning of the dry season. But with the ban invoked by the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Cde Francis Nhema, this week, it is hoped that the Government will put its foot down and effectively deal with those causing these fires. According to Statutory Instrument 7 Environmental Management (Environmental Impact Assessment and Ecosystems Protection) of 2007, no one shall start a fire outside residential and commercial premises. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709070095.html
Nigeria: FG Pledges to Address Environmental Degradation
Daily Trust (Abuja): Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Chief Sarafa Tunji Isola, has expressed commitment by the federal government to address environmental degradation as a result of mining and other environment related activities in the country. The minister made the pledge at a recent joint meeting between officials of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and the Ministry of Environment and Housing on the need to solve the problem of environmental degradation in several parts of the country. He noted that the nation is faced with environmental challenges as a result of mining and other environment related activities which require the collaboration of the two ministries as well as the World Bank to achieve a common goal. Chief Isola assured participants at the meeting that appropriate environmental considerations and plans were being incorporated in all facets of mining.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200709070489.html
Kenya: Battle Lines Drawn as Plans to Revive Forest Farms Unveiled
The Nation (Nairobi): Environment and Natural Resources minister David Mwiraria said the re-introduction of non-residential cultivation was a cheap way of replanting depleted forests, adding that this would benefit both the Government and the local communities. Mr Mwiraria explained that his ministry's small workforce could not plant and effectively look after the trees as most workers were retrenched a few years ago while the money allocated for replanting trees was not enough. But the suggestion has elicited stiff opposition from conservationists, who have warned that the shamba system posed a threat to natural biodiversity. Renowned environmentalist and Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai dismissed the minister's assertion that farmers would only be allowed to cultivate on the periphery of forests, where lantana, a wild flowery weed akin to the water hyacinth, grows. She insisted that the system was vulnerable to abuse. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709110628.html
Kenya: Group Petitions Tribunal On Villas
The Nation (Nairobi): Residents and conservation groups have petitioned the National Environment Tribunal over planned construction of villas at a lagoon in Malindi. The group is opposed to a decision by the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) to allow construction of villas at Blue Lagoon in Watamu. A total of 270 local residents appended their signatures to a memorandum opposing the project over claims that it will harm the environment. An Italian investor intends to build exclusive tourist apartments on the cliff. However, his representative, Mr Walter Kondik, said the residents were consulted and had endorsed the project. He said they had met environmental protection rules. During a tension-packed meeting at Watamu, officials of the seven associations vowed to block any construction. Controversy over the Blue Lagoon has raged for two years pitting Nema, residents and the Malindi District Environment Committee. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709111007.html
Uganda: Floods Wreck Havoc in East And North
New Vision (Kampala): Thousands of former internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Lango sub-region have fled back to the camps after their homes were destroyed by floods. The water has also swept away 20 bridges in the region. The rehabilitation of schools and health centres has stopped and the delivery of humanitarian aid came to a halt. A water drilling project for the Anti-Stock Theft Unit at Alir in Olilim sub-county also stalled as trucks, ferrying the materials, got stuck in the mud. The worst-affected counties in Lira include Otuke, Moroto, Erute North, some parts of Dokolo, Amolatar and Oyam districts. Amonmaka Bridge, which links Lira to Kotido district, has been completely flooded, making it impassable. The Ajur bridge and the bridges in Obalanga were also washed away, thus cutting all links to Teso. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709110007.html
Sierra Leone: Alpha Timbo Linked to Environmental Tragedy At Devil Hole
Concord Times (Freetown): A prominent government minister is responsible for an environmental nightmare east of Freetown which has polluted the local water supply and caused sickness among inhabitants. Minister of Labour Alpha Timbo is part-owner of Simosima Town Development Corporation - the company responsible for the environmental scandal and the cause of numerous problems in the Devil Hole community. Kothor Kamara points to the slick, black ground along the Rokel Highway outside Freetown. Used oil from the plant flows along the road outside the rundown building and into the nearby river, contaminating his village's water and destroying their crops. The company, which uses Chinese technology to convert second-hand oil into diesel, has been operating beside Kamara's home for three years and he's angry that regular complaints to its owners have been ignored. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709101154.html
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