Red, Green, and Blue

A high profile Congressional committee investigation has revealed that, since 2006, the outgoing Bush administration has dropped or stalled enforcement actions on more than 500 cases of severe water pollution.

According to the Committee chairmen, the situation is now so bad that, “the federal government’s Clean Water Act enforcement program has been decimated over the past two years, imperiling the health and safety of the nation’s waters.”

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I doubt many people on either side of the fence are surprised that the referendum on Manchester’s congestion charge resulted in a resounding “no” vote. Apart from the fact that the plan itself was a great deal more complicated than that in London, people will, simply, probably not vote for environmentally-sound measures – not now, and not at all, probably, until it’s too late. Why? Because we are basically selfish.

I have no doubt that the vast majority of Mancunians simply felt that a congestion charge was an added cost they couldn’t justify, an added inconvenience they couldn’t countenance, and perhaps even a restriction on going where they want, when they want that was too much to bear. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, I received an email from a reader in Estonia (I was just as surprised we were big in the Baltics as you) who indicated that he used to be a believer in the global warming phenomenon until he “read some quite believable articles suggesting that man made Global Warming is a hoax.” Two of the pieces the reader pointed me to were authored by Robert Brisnmead, who, evidently, is a devoted climate change denier. The third was a longer, more detailed piece.

The reader also passed along a summary of the take-home arguments he gleaned in his newfound readings that I thought I would share with you. I’m only passing these along because the reader seemed like a friendly chap, not because I buy it. Do with it as you please. Read the rest of this entry »

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce says that the national government needs to create a market growth strategy to build a sustainable cotton textile industry. The routes to success are predicted to come through active participation in the Better Cotton Initiative and through offering fiscal, tariff and tax breaks for trade in international sustainable and organic cotton with a particular focus on the African cotton market.

What’s sustainable cotton?

The sustainable cotton goal is to change production, manufacturing and usage of cotton to make a healthy and profitable industry for cotton farmers and their communities, manufacturers, retailers and end users of cotton products. Included in this process is creating less chemically dependent practices. But it’s not organic and its aims are about building longer term business health, of which longer term planetary health is something of a subsidiary goal.

Perhaps surprisingly, cotton is one of China’s most important agricultural crops and the sole income of more than 100,000 cotton farmers. Perhaps even more important in the eyes of the Chinese is the economic health of more than 7,000 textile companies based in China, using locally produced cotton to produce domestic and export textiles, ranging from good luck symbols to be displayed at temples through to cotton room dividers used as temporary walls in crowded city housing.

China’s Cotton Deficit

On the downside, 30 – 40% cent of all pesticides used in China are applied to cotton and cotton farming and harvesting uses around 3,000 to 5,000 cubic metres of water per hectare, with most of this water coming from irrigation in regions already experiencing declining water tables.

It’s not just water that’s falling – the price for cotton has sunk by 33% since August as a result of hedge funds selling commodities to cover losses, and credit crunch fears have reduced demand for cotton clothing products. On top of this global concern, China’s failures to deliver on safety standards in relation to foodstuffs like milk, and luxury goods like children’s toys, has left it struggling in media-savvy markets in the West, so a redesign of policy may be necessary to achieve harmony between producer and purchasers. Like many other nations, China is discovering that sustainable growing practices may be more than good PR: they may become an absolute necessity in the face of rising costs, falling prices for finished goods, and more media scrutiny of the toxic effects of intensively produced cotton.

Photograph author’s own

An Obama presidency in the United States could pave the way for a common North American approach to environmental issues and any differences on trade could be worked out, Canadian Conservative Party officials said in a recent interview.

Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said that the Canadian government has quite a bit in common with Obama and sees the two countries as strong partners in protecting the environment. “On the environment issue, I’m pleased to see a similar approach between Canada and the United States, and that probably augurs well for a common North American approach to the environment,” said Cannon.

But can the Canadian federal government, now run by the Conservative Party, shed its reputation as somewhat of a laggard in the realm of environmental policy and help forge a new way forward in North American environmental policy?
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Endangered US animal and plant species are in danger of losing vital legal protection designed to prevent them from extinction.

The outgoing Bush administration is proposing to rush through legislation that will remove the right of government experts to ensure that dams, highways and other big infrastructure projects don’t pose an unacceptable threat to fragile plants and animals under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Crucially, the regulations must be approved by Friday if they are to come into effect before President-elect Obama’s swearing-in ceremony on January 20th.

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On Tuesday, more than 600 environmental officials and activists, along with five U.S. governors and regional politicians from local and foreign regional entities gathered in Beverly Hills for a two-day Global Climate Summit, hosted by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Conferees were greeted with an unannounced video welcome from president-elect Barack Obama, which, according to reports, received a standing ovation from those in the Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton. Read the rest of this entry »

Gov. tells state agencies they must prepare for the impacts of climate change, especially those caused by rising sea levels.

California’s water supply and coastal resources, including valuable natural habitat areas, are particularly vulnerable to sea level rise over the next century, and according to an executive order issued by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday, the state could suffer devastating consequences if adaptive measures are not taken.

In a first-of-its-kind executive directive, Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has ordered the state to begin taking immediate action to mitigate the impending damage to state resources caused by climate change. Read the rest of this entry »

In a landmark case, the US Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the US Navy can carry out sonar training exercises off the southern California coast, without safeguards designed to protect whales, dolphins and other marine mammals.

The decision is a major setback for environmentalists, who had hoped the Court would uphold an earlier injunction by a federal judge requiring the navy to take precautions while undertaking submarine-hunting exercises. Environmental groups originally launched the lawsuit claiming that the use of sonar can injure or even kill a wide range of marine species, including sea-lions and endangered blue whales.

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A television ad released yesterday by the McCain Campaign features Barack Obama stating that McCain’s Global Warming Proposal is “good for the environment.”

In an intriguing shift of tactics, the McCain campaign reminds the public that he has historically worked diligently to reduce global warming.  By using Barack Obama’s own praise of his past global warming proposals, perhaps McCain is trying to narrow the perceived divide among parties, on this issue.