ECOLOGY

RAINFOREST GETS PROTECTED STATUS

BBC - Vast tracts of rainforest in Brazil are to get a new protected
status. The segments of land in the northern Para state together cover
63,320 sq miles, an area of land that is bigger than England. Thousands
of wildlife species inhabit the pristine forest, including jaguars,
anteaters and colorful macaws.

Campaigners say the decision made by Para Governor Simao Jatene is one
of the most important conservation initiatives of recent years. "If any
tropical rainforest on Earth remains intact a century from now, it will
be this portion of northern Amazonia, due in large part to the
governor's visionary achievement," said Russell Mittermeier, president
of Conservation International.

The protected area contains many species of wildlife. It is regarded a
global conservation priority, containing more than 25% of Earth's humid
tropical forests. Almost 90% of the Guyana Shield forest is untouched,
and the area also contains the most significant freshwater reserves in
the American tropics: almost 20% of the world's water runs through it.

Since 1970, more than 230,000 sq miles of Amazon rainforest - an area
larger than France - is said to have been destroyed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6205802.stm

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

CHINA'S WATER RESERVES BADLY POLLUTED

REUTERS - Underground water reserves in around 9 out of every 10 Chinese
cities are polluted or over-exploited, and could take hundreds of years
to recover, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. In
coastal areas overuse of reservoirs is allowing saline seawater to seep
into and contaminate freshwater, while underground pressure changes
caused by depleted reserves are also causing massive subsidence
nationwide. China has limited water resources, less than one third of
the global per capita average and falling. Groundwater is crucial
because it provides up to 70 percent of drinking water.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyid=
2006-12-02T051926Z_01_PEK199561_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENVIRONMENT-
CHINA-WATER.xml

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Revolt Over New Federal Mercury Law
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/120806EB.shtml
Facing a mandate to slash toxic mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants,
23 states are thumbing their noses at a federal cleanup plan and are instead
developing their own far tougher plans to deal with mercury.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Exxon Spends Millions to Cast Doubt on Warming
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/120806EC.shtml
The world's largest energy company is still spending hundreds of thousands of
dollars to fund European organizations that seek to cast doubt on the scientific
consensus on global warming and undermine support for legislation to curb
emission of greenhouse gases.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

EPA Shortens Science Reviews, Angering Some
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/120806HA.shtml
The US Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday streamlined the way it
updates regulations for the nation's worst air pollutants, a move that drew
immediate charges that officials are trying to quash scientific review to
benefit industry at the expense of public health.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

PRINCE CHARLES WANTS ECOLOGICAL BOOKKEEPING

TREE HUGGER - The Prince of Wales has launched a new green project:
"Costing the Earth - Accounting for Sustainability." He is hoping to
convince big businesses to assess the environmental impact of their
products through new accounting measures. The Prince told the audience,
which included everyone from Tony Blair to Al Gore, that the nation was
running up the "biggest global credit card debt in history". He added:
"We are consuming the resources of our planet at such a rate that we
are, in effect, living off credit and living on borrowed time". The
project will develop a range of accounting principles to help
organizations measure sustainability. . . The prince will lead the way
by labeling his range of organic food products, Duchy Originals, with
details of greenhouse gases emitted in their production and
distribution. On a personal level, he is determined to reduce his carbon
footprint further. He has said that he will commute to London from his
country house by scheduled trains and will no longer use private jets
and helicopters. He will be using Jaguar cars adapted to run on
bio-diesel fuel and has asked staff in London to travel by bicycle
wherever possible

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/prince_charles_1.php#perma

TREE HUGGER, JUNE - Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, has issued an
annual review of his household and its finances. Interspersed between
the numbers of staff (142 including two butlers, five chefs, three
chauffeurs, seven housekeepers and nine gardeners) and number of letters
personally written (2,247) are some fascinating facts about his green
life and commitment to saving the environment. Bricks are placed in the
cisterns in both his country and city houses to conserve water. Royal
water is recycled in a natural sewage system. Wood-chip heating systems
are being installed, along with solar panels, on top of Highgrove, his
country house. In London they use a green taxi. He has stopped playing
polo because of the environmental issues - he had to travel to and fro
by helicopter. . . His garden at Highgrove is completely organic and
highly regarded--more than 25,000 people were invited to visit it and
left donations to the Prince's charities of £113,000.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/06/a_very_royal_an_1.php

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

EPA WEAKENING POLLUTION CONTROL

FELICITY BARRINGER, NY TIMES - The Environmental Protection Agency has
changed the way it sets standards to control dangerous air pollutants
like lead, ozone and tiny particles of soot, enhancing the role of the
agency's political appointees in scientific assessments and postponing
the required review by independent scientific experts.

The change. . . largely tracks the suggestions of the American Petroleum
Institute but also adopts some recommendations of the agency's
independent scientific advisers. . .

The decision announced yesterday, the culmination of months of review
and comment, drew a scathing response from environmental groups like the
Sierra Club and Clean Air Watch, as well as the American Lung
Association. Vickie Patton, a senior lawyer with Environmental Defense,
said "the establishment of health-based standards are one of the single
most important scientific decisions" the E.P.A. made.

The changes, Ms. Patton said, will compromise two aspects of the process
"integral to scientific integrity and independence."

For one thing, agency scientists will no longer produce their own
independent review of the latest science to start the process of
deciding whether a pollution standard - for lead, say, or ozone - is
tough enough to protect public health. Instead, initial reviews will now
involve both agency scientists and their political bosses . . .

"They are using this idea of streamlined and expedited decision-making
as a Trojan horse to infect the most important decisions the
administrator makes with politics," Ms. Patton said.

In addition, she said, the role of the independent panel of scientific
advisers - who act as auditors, reviewing the document produced by
agency scientists and advising top management - has been diminished. The
panel, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, will now comment on
the agency's proposed actions after the public has been notified of
them, giving the scientists essentially the same kind of participation
as industry lobbyists and environmental groups.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/washington/08pollution.html?pagewanted=print

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

MCDONALD'S FORCED TO CLOSE IN BRITISH TOWN THAT LIKES GOOD FOOD

THIS IS LONDON - The McDonald's in Tavistock is being forced to shut for
lack of business in a town characterized by its healthy, quality food. .
. The fast food chain in Tavistock, Devon, simply wasn't being used
enough by locals. So after seven years struggling to make ends meet in a
town that has won many accolades for the quality of its food, McDonald's
will finally shut up shop. . . A McDonald's spokesman said: "As part of
an ongoing review of our restaurant sites, it has become clear that the
location of McDonald's in Tavistock is no longer suitable.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23377273-details/
McDonald's+forced+to+shut+from+lack+of+patronage+in+healthy+town/article.do

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||