Monday, 30 Aug 2004

Sultans of Swing

Environmental Issues May Matter After All, Via Swing States

Conventional wisdom has it that environmental issues are low priorities for most voters, and thus for most presidential campaigns. However, this year's squeaker of a presidential election will be decided by voters in a small handful of swing states -- and in many of those states, top local issues are environmental. In Nevada, Kerry trumpets his opposition to the Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository. In Oregon, Bush touts his support for Columbia River dredging. In Michigan, Bush bashes Kerry for supporting higher fuel-economy standards. In New Mexico, Kerry blasts Bush for opening the Otero Mesa to oil and gas drilling. In Washington and Oregon it's logging; in West Virginia it's coal mining; in Maine it's polluted seafood. While environmental issues stay below the radar on a national scene dominated by Iraq and the economy, all politics, as they say, is local, and it may just be that the election is won or lost on issues close to enviros' hearts.

Maple Encyclical

Umbra Serves Up the Goods on Organic Syrup

Organic foods are dandy, but organic syrup? A poor, penny-pinching college student writes our environmental advice guru and asks whether, with a limited food budget, it's worth paying extra for organic maple syrup. What makes syrup organic anyway? Get the sticky details in Ask Umbra -- today on the Grist Magazine website.

Kim Jong Illin'

North Korea's Environment Is in Sorry Shape

Its rivers and streams are filled with industrial waste, its air is polluted, and its landscape is increasingly devoid of trees. Can't tell what country we're talking about? It's North Korea. The first large-scale environmental assessment of the country, conducted by dozens of government and academic researchers under the auspices of the U.N. Environment Program, found that increasing population, agriculture-related problems, natural disasters, and an over-reliance on coal power are pushing the nation toward a troubling future. (And while the report didn't highlight the country's brutal, repressive, totally isolated communist government, it can't be helping matters.) At a ceremony last week in which North Korea signed an agreement on international environmental cooperation, UNEP Director Klaus Toepfer lauded the country's "willingness to engage with the global community" (ironic given that the North Korean delegation refused to appear at a press conference after the signing) and urged a shift to sustainable agricultural practices and cleaner-burning coal.

Yes, We Have Mo' Bananas

Australians Kick Some Renewable-Energy Butt

Those Australians are busy bees these days! One team of Aussie researchers has announced that within seven years it will be able to produce hydrogen fuel from sunlight and water, in a process that has no moving parts and produces no pollutants. "This is potentially huge, with a market the size of all the existing markets for coal, oil, and gas combined," said project leader Janusz Nowotny. But enough about revolutionary, world-changing energy developments. Let's talk about bananas! Aussie researchers have come up with a plan for a power plant fueled entirely by the modest yellow fruit, which is produced in abundance in Australia; currently, tons of surplus bananas -- ones that are too small or green -- go to waste. The process involves allowing the fruit to rot and harvesting the resultant methane gas. But engineer Bill Clarke acknowledges that it is unclear whether bananas would be "a cost-effective energy source," as it currently takes more than 130 pounds of fruity goodness to run a household appliance for 30 hours.

By Any Greens Necessary

Enviro Justice Center Works to Link Green and Civil-Rights Movements

Environmental degradation often falls hardest on poor and minority communities, but these communities can have difficulty organizing to fight for environmental justice, and they've received too little help from a mainstream environmental movement perceived as a white, middle- and upper-class affair. Sociology professor Robert Bullard started the Environmental Justice Resource Center in Atlanta to connect the groups. It started with a battle against MARTA, Atlanta's public transit agency, to replace the polluting diesel buses serving poor and black communities with cleaner models. In the decade since, the center has served as a clearinghouse for information on environmental racism, working to link disadvantaged communities, civil-rights groups, and mainstream environmental groups. Bullard hails the growing environmental justice movement, saying that 20 years ago, "We would just get beat up. But now, when we get together, it's a fearsome force."