Report Highlights Green Cities

The Urban Environment Report, put out by the Washington, D.C.-based Earth Day Network, ranks 72 U.S. cities on their greenness and contains a "vulnerable population index" that takes into account the segment of a city's population that is most susceptible to environmental changes including the unemployed and uninsured. "This study is the first of its kind, not only because of the sheer quantity of environmental data analyzed, but also because it redefines the term 'environmental' to include public health, poverty, education, and other quality-of-life issues," said Earth Day Network President Kathleen Rogers. Other factors studied include climate-change action, air quality, transportation, toxics, and human health. Topping the list of green go-getters is Fargo, ND, with Burlington, VT, Portland, OR, and Colorado Springs, CO, close behind. Languishing at the bottom: El Paso, Cleveland, Miami, and Detroit.

Los Angeles ranked as worst (of 72 cities) with regard to "Drinking & Surface Water" and near the bottom for "Quality of Life" and "Air Quality".

As one of Santa Barbara's greenest companies, NWA applaudes the efforts of those cities making an effort toward a sustainable world. We tirelessly promote "green" practices with our residential, commercial and city clients.

More on this report...

Minnesota Embraces Renewable Energy

The new Renewable Energy Standard that passed the Minnesota House on February 20, will require 25% of Minnesota's electricity to come from renewable sources -- such as wind and solar -- by the year 2025. Currently, Minnesota imports more electricity from outside sources than any other state.

Minnesota's numerical goal trails targets in place for Maine and New York, but those states had been getting a significant amount of electricity from large-scale hydropower facilities before their standards were adopted, according to data from the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"As a percentage of where all their electricity will come from, Minnesota is now in the lead with this policy in terms of supporting new renewable energy development," said Jeff Deyette, an analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

More than 20 states have some type of renewable requirement or good-faith objective. Colorado is moving toward a standard of 20% by 2020, and Governor John Lynch of New Hampshire challenged lawmakers last week to adopt a 25% requirement by 2025.

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Ozone Hole Grows Again

As ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons were banned in Europe and began to be phased out in the U.S., the ozone hole seemed to be closing. But now demand for air conditioning in India and southern China is slowing the healing process. The main offending gas is refrigerant HCFC-22, which developing countries are allowed to continue using through 2040. Estimates have HCFC-22 output in developing countries rising 20% to 35% each year. Ozone producing air conditioners are, of course, much cheaper than cleaner modern ones, and chemical companies dole out HCFC-22 readily to repair shops.

Industrial countries currently must phase out production of HCFC-22 by 2020 and are ahead of schedule, with the U.S. banning domestic production in 2010. The Environmental Protection Agency is studying whether to ban imports of the gas and the sale of new products using the gas by then as well.

By contrast, the Montreal Protocol, which governs the phaseout of ozone- depleting chemicals, allows developing countries to continue using HCFC-22 through 2040.

China in particular is stepping up exports to the United States of air conditioners using the chemical, often labeled as R22, especially after the European Union finished phasing out the production and import of such air conditioners in 2004.

Pound for pound, HCFC-22 is only 5% as harmful to the ozone layer as the chlorofluorocarbons it replaced. But it still inflicts damage, especially when emitted in enormous quantities by China, now the world's dominant producer of window air conditioners, and by India, a fast-growing market and manufacturer.

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Beavers Return to the Hudson after 200 years!

Tese days it seems eco-voctories are far and few between.

One of New York City’s greater triumphs—the cleaning-up of the previously mucky Hudson River—was marked just a couple of days ago by the appearance of… a beaver. The beaver, incase high school biology class is a little fuzzy for you, too, is a semi-aquatic, dam-building, tail-slapping rodent, and it hasn’t been spotted in New York City for roughly 200 years.
Some biologists and New York City residents have suspected since last fall that a beaver was stealthily building a home in the Hudson, but it wasn’t until this Wednesday that biologists actually caught him on videotape. He was swimming upriver and looking for more material with which to insulate his home.

The beaver in question has been nicknamed José, after United States Representative José E. Serrano of the Bronx. Serrano has, according to an article in the Feb 23rd NY Times, “directed $15 million in federal funds toward the Hudson River’s rebirth.”

Patrick Thomas, Bronx Zoo curator of mammals, said José probably trekked out to the Bronx from a rural area like Westchester County, and that he seemed to be a male looking for a mate (a tad late for Valentines’ Day, José). He said that it would be interesting to see if a mate had accompanied José, or whether one would come down and help start a new beaver community, the likes of which New York City hasn’t seen since Times Square was farmland.

Beaver History 101, courtesy of the NY Times:
The North American beaver vanished from New York City in the early 1800s as a result of trapping, fur trading, and deforestation. Beavers helped speed Manhattan’s development by attracting fur traders who were eager to feed huge demands for their pelts in Europe. To this day, beavers remain tightly linked to New York’s identity. Images of the beaver are on the official seal and flag of New York City. It is the official state animal of New York State, and a Beaver Street is between Broadway and Wall Street in Lower Manhattan.

Guess we'll have to rewrite New York's beaver history...

For the NY Times article

Scary Dairy

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced last December that the agency will likely approve the sale of cloned foods this year. The FDA’s action flies in the face of widespread scientific concern about the risks of food from clones, and ignores the animal cruelty and troubling ethical concerns that the cloning process brings. What’s worse, the FDA indicates that it will not require labeling on cloned food, so consumers will have no way to avoid these experimental foods. The FDA is accepting public comments on its decision until April 2.

Cloning first succeeded in producing a live birth with the famed sheep clone Dolly in 1997, and has since been used with many other animal species, including dairy cows and beef cattle, poultry, hogs and other livestock. But after the hype, few followed the story of Dolly’s untimely demise. Just six years old when she was euthanized (sheep of Dolly’s breed generally live to 11 or 12), Dolly suffered from premature arthritis and lung disease usually seen in much older animals.

Sadly, Dolly was hardly unique among cloned animals. Incidents of unusual health problems, chronic illnesses and sudden unexpected deaths plague the cloning industry. Ian Wilmut, the lead scientist responsible for creating Dolly, has warned that even small imbalances in a clone’s hormone, protein or fat levels could compromise the safety of its milk or meat, saying, “If companies start marketing this food and there are problems it will bring the whole technology into disrepute.”

Tell the FDA: No Food From Cloned Animals

Will the US participate in the Climate Change Conversation?

The troubled Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is set to expire in 2012. With American sentiment for action on global warming building rapidly, environmentalists are focusing on drafting a follow-up agreement on which even holdouts like the U.S. and Australia can agree.

Thanks to Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth and with environmentally friendly Democrats running the show in Congress, activists feel that the time is ripe for talking up the possibilities of an agreement—whether a renewal of Kyoto or a different agreement entirely—that meets the concerns of the U.S., namely that developing nations like China and India are not subject to the same restrictions as industrialized nations.

Despite such efforts, however, the Bush administration has not changed its stance on Kyoto or any similar future agreement. “At the moment I am really quite skeptical. I get no sense that (U.S. President George W.) Bush is about to move on this,” Catherine Pearce, international climate change campaigner for the nonprofit Friends of the Earth, told reporters last week.

But that’s not stopping Pearce and her supporters from lobbying for a new all-inclusive global warming treaty, which would take as long as four years to iron out before it could be implemented. At that point, a new administration—one likely more concerned about staving off the myriad ill effects of global warming—will have moved into the White House.

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Drugging our water

Despite what you’ve seen in the movies, you usually shouldn’t flush your drugs down the toilet. The EPA issued new guidelines yesterday that suggest putting expired prescriptions in sealed containers with kitty litter or coffee grounds to prevent drug abuse and harm to the environment.

"Following these new guidelines will protect our nation's waterways and keep pharmaceuticals out of the hands of potential abusers,” says EPA administrator Stephen Johnson.

When people empty unused or expired prescriptions into their toilets, the drugs often end up in lakes and rivers. Scientists have found more than 100 chemical compounds in water samples taken from both surface and groundwater in the United States and Europe. Research shows that chemicals from prescriptions dumped into the sewage system could find their way into our drinking water.

Scientists also admit that they aren’t sure how the combination of chemicals in the water could affect humans, let alone plants and animals. So far, one researcher found that “this mixture of drugs at environmental levels inhibited the growth of human embryonic kidney cells,” according to the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

Another study published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry found that hormones from drugs in waste water can make male tadpoles female. “Our findings show that frogs are more sensitive to hormone-disrupting environmental pollutants than we previously thought,” Cecilia Berg, the researcher of the study, said in a press release.

The EPA recommendations state that “drugs should be flushed down the toilet only if the label says it's safe to do so,” and if people follow these directions, well that’s a start. But when it comes to non-flushable drugs, we have to wonder how many people are actually going to take the time to package their old prescriptions with the grounds from this morning’s coffee or the litter from their kitty’s box.

EPA drug disposal recommendations

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Demolition < Deconstruction

When it comes to solid waste, most people think of candy wrappers, soda bottles and Styrofoam packing peanuts instead of the house they’re living in or the Target where they shop. However, the EPA estimates that up to 40 percent of U.S. solid waste is construction and demolition debris. Deconstruction—taking homes and commercial buildings apart, rather than landfilling the waste—does involve more labor than demolition, but it also avoids costly disposal fees. What had been a total loss—demolition and landfilling—turns into a revenue-generating opportunity to resell what was previously waste.

New Eco-friendly Products

TCrazy as it sounds, the latest trend in eco-friendly products is poop. Creative Paper Wales, a company based in Snowdonia, Wales, makes its patented Sheep Poo Paper ($6 to $40) out of, you guessed it, sheep poop. The process consists of taking fresh sheep poop, putting it in a pressure cooker and using the leftover cellulose fiber to make greeting cards, post cards and stationery. The process is completely Earth-friendly and the result is a cute, stink-free card featuring a cartoon sheep. Another poop-inspired product is the new Organic Worm Poop Fertilizer from Terracycle, an organic lawn care company based in Trenton, New Jersey. This product is made from the organic waste of worms and is packaged in recycled soda bottles collected by school children across the country. Just by adding water, you can bathe your lawn in nourishing (and eco-friendly) liquefied worm poop.

Senate Bill to Require Food Labels for Products from Cloned Animals

Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) announced today that she will introduce a Senate bill, the Cloned Food Labeling Act, to label all foods from cloned animals should the FDA approve such products for sale. The move follows similar bills introduced at the state level in California and Massachusetts.

“The public deserves to know if their food comes from a cloned animal. My legislation will help the American public make an informed decision,” said Senator Mikulski. “I am strongly opposed to the FDA approving meat and milk products from cloned animals for human consumption. If cloned food is safe, let it onto the market, but give consumers the information they need to avoid these products if they choose to. We need to let Americans – many of whom find this repugnant – speak with their dollars and choose the food that they feel confident is safe.”

For Senator Mikulski's Press Release.

Calif. To Phase Out All Incandescent Lights by 2012

In yet another instance of California being a trend-setter for the rest of the nation, Assemblymember Lloyd Levine, the Chair of the Assembly’s Utilities and Commerce Committee, announced that he is introducing legislation to phase out the sale of incandescent light bulbs in California by the year 2012.

“Incandescent light bulbs were first developed almost 125 years ago, and since that time they have undergone no major modifications,” Assemblymember Levine said. “Meanwhile, they remain incredibly inefficient, converting only about five percent of the energy they receive into light. It’s time to take a step forward – energy-efficient bulbs are easy to use, require less electricity to do the same job, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and save consumers money.”

According to the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a nonprofit organization that focuses on energy policy, replacing a 75-watt incandescent light bulb with a 20-watt compact fluorescent would result in the same amount of light but would save 1,300 pounds of carbon dioxide and save customers $55 over the life of the bulb (while the life of one 75-watt incandescent bulb is roughly 750 hours, the life of a compact fluorescent is a whopping 10,000 hours).

It's not THE answer, but certainly is a part of it.

Federal Court Rules USDA Violated The Law In Approving Monsanto's Genetically Modified Alfalfa

In a decision handed down February 13th, a Federal Court ruled, for the first time ever, that the U.S. Department of Agriculture failed to abide by federal environmental laws when it approved a genetically engineered crop without conducting a full Environment Impact Statement (EIS).

In what will likely be a precedent-setting ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer ordered that a full Environmental Impact Statement must be carried out on “Roundup Ready” alfalfa, the GE variety developed by Monsanto and Forage Genetics. The decision may prevent this season’s sales and planting of Monsanto’s GE alfalfa and future submissions of other GE crops for commercial deregulation.

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Three Tallest Trees on Earth Discovered

HUMBOLDT REDWOODS STATE PARK, CA - Michael Taylor and Chris Atkins discovered what are believed to be the world's three tallest trees in a creek bed. All of them are taller than 370 feet and as much as 2,200 years old. They have been christened Helios, after the Greek God of the Sun; Hyperion, his father; and Icarus, the mythological youth whose wings melted when he flew too close to the sun.

Coast Redwoods grow in a 470 mile area from the Oregon-California border to Big Sur, and commonly top 300 feet - the height of a 30 story building. Only 36 Coast Redwoods taller then 360 feet have been recorded. Mr Taylor or Atkins had a hand in locating 28 of them. In the 370 foot plus category, there are only four - all found by Taylor and Atkins.

Another College Campus Goes Solar

The eight solar panels hang conspicuously upon the brick surface of the Mechanical Engineering Building (MEB) of the University of Washington (UW), glinting with a silver-blue sheen which clashes with the traditional architecture.

High visibility, however, was exactly the point, explains Nathan Miller, recent graduate from the UW mechanical engineering (ME) department. Like a billboard without words or images, strategically placed in sight of high-traffic walkways, the panels serve to grab attention. The impact, Miller hopes, will generate awareness of the promise of solar energy, one passerby at a time.

In 2002, then a junior in the ME department, Miller led a small group of students in applying for the funds and equipment which now constitute the MEB photovoltaic (PV) project. Half of the panels were mounted on the roof of the building, where the sun's rays are most direct, and the other panels were placed with visibility in mind.

Down in the lobby of the building, the project is showcased in a prominent glass display case. A large computer screen contributes both images and information. A continuous PowerPoint presentation outlines the history of the project and teaches some basics about solar power as well as renewable energy in general; it also provides a live-update summary of the amount of energy being generated by the solar panels.

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Algae far superior to corn and soy biofuel

The most exciting developments may come from algae: a single acre can produce 15,000 gallons of biodiesel, vastly trumping soy (50 gallons per acre) and even the very promising Carribean plant jatropha (also called psychic nut, and capable of producing 200 gallons per acre). Companies are also starting to create closed-loop systems in which animal manure or landfill gas is used to run the plants.

Six months ago, investors piled into biofuels stocks as if facing the next dot-com boom, creating an artificial price spike. But now, corn prices are rising because of demand and more meager harvests are forecast. Share prices have fallen and public offerings have been postponed.

The point is the powers that be, corn and soy, are fighting very hard with Exxon for those government subsidies. Ever hear of ADM - supermarket to the world? On the other hand, algae has no lobby aside from a few granola munchingh academics who university programs are underwritten by agribusiness. Folks, we're on the right path but we've got a long way to go. Do we have the time? Is the political will there? After all, the Kyoto protocol was voted down 93-0 in the Senate. Not even a single Democrat voted for lower our emission per Kyoto. That's the inconvenient truth. However, hundreds of major Amercian cities have voted to abide by Kyoto. Has your city?