TOP STORY
 Sass Is in Sessions Judge rules against Big Auto, says states can regulate CO2 emissions from cars States should be allowed to restrict greenhouse-gas emissions from cars, and Big Auto should just deal, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. Right now, the only real way to curb those emissions is to improve gas mileage; when Vermont decided to adopt California's strict emissions standards, automakers sued, claiming that the state was illegally regulating fuel economy -- and that making cleaner cars was unachievable and unsafe, to boot. U.S. District Judge William Sessions didn't see it that way: "The court does not find convincing the claims that consumers will be deprived of their choice of vehicles, or that manufacturers will be forced to restrict or abandon their product lines," he wrote. "History suggests that the ingenuity of the industry, once put in gear, responds admirably to most technological challenges." The ruling, while significant, doesn't mean the fight is over: Automakers have a similar suit awaiting verdict in California, and the U.S. EPA also has yet to rule on whether California can implement its stricter standards. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] |
TODAY'S NEWS
| Seeing Red Nearly 200 species added to World Conservation Union's Red List The World Conservation Union has added 188 animals and plants to its Red List, a tally of the flora and fauna most threatened with extinction. The additions bring the depressing total up to 16,306 species -- and researchers admit that's a low estimate of the world's imperiled animals and plants. Ten Galapagos Island coral species joined their endangered brethren on the list for the first time; the African lowland gorilla (it of our favorite species name, Gorilla gorilla gorilla) moved from endangered to critically endangered. While 70 percent of assessed plants are on the Red List, only one species was declared officially extinct: the woolly-stalked begonia, which was last seen in 1898. The conservation group estimates that extinction rates would be 100 to 1,000 times slower if humans weren't around to screw things up. But let's focus on the positive: the Mauritius echo parakeet moved from critically endangered to endangered, and was the only species to see its status improve. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] sources: MSNBC.com, Agence France-Presse, The Times, Associated Press straight to the list: 2007 Red List of Threatened Species |
| The Female of the Species Is More Doubly Than the Male Inuit in Arctic give birth to twice as many girls as boys; chemicals suspected Twice as many girls as boys are being born in Arctic communities across Greenland and northern Russia, where Inuit townspeople are known to have high levels of human-made chemicals in their blood. Many babies are being born premature; baby boys tend to be small. Hormone-mimicking chemicals originate in industrialized countries, travel to the Arctic by wind and water, and rise up the food chain to reach high levels in traditional Inuit fare of seals, whales, and polar bears. Greenland resident Aqqaluk Lynge tells it like it is: "This has become a critical question of people's survival but few governments want to talk about the problem of hormone mimickers because it means thinking about the chemicals you use." More food for thought: Recent research has also shown the gender ratio favoring girls for the first time in the U.S. and Japan. We're all about girl power, but this is ridiculous. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] sources: The Guardian, The Independent, The Times |
| Home Green Home Lenders offering "green mortgages" that reward energy efficiency Shocking news: an element of everyday American life is going green! This time it's mortgages. Lenders are increasingly offering bigger loans or discounts for buyers who are purchasing energy-efficient homes or making efficiency upgrades. The idea is that borrowers can afford bigger mortgage payments if they're saving money on their energy bills. The "green mortgages" also encourage builders to construct more eco-friendly houses, as they know there are mortgage products that can entice people to buy them. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] source: The Wall Street Journal |
| Pray Tell Religious leaders convene for a floating climate-change symposium Religious leaders from Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Shiite, Shinto, and Sunni traditions are in the midst of a six-day climate-change symposium coordinated by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. Traveling on a ship down the coast of rapidly melting Greenland, the leaders are floating ideas on cooperating to close the perceived gap between religious and environmental interests. Says Baptist minister Jim Ball, with admirable punniness: "The image of all the religious leaders on the boat with the Ecumenical Patriarch says that we recognize [climate change] and that it's time for us to get busy, and for all hands to get on deck." [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] |
GRIST FEATURES AND COLUMNS
 Hog Futures How the meat industry thrives, even as costs rise When corn prices shot up last fall, meat industry execs cried fowl -- but some of the biggest meat companies have just reported jaw-dropping profits for the last financial quarter. How do giants like Smithfield and Tyson keep the juices flowing in the face of higher costs, and what makes their fate different from that of fruit and vegetable producers? Tom Philpott explains. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] new in Victual Reality: Hog Futures |
 Cheers for Volunteers A debate over the power of voluntary personal actions In an opinion piece published in Grist last week, Mike Tidwell argued that calling for voluntary personal actions like changing light bulbs actually hurts the climate cause by distracting from necessary large-scale political and policy changes. In response, 22 social scientists have put their names to an essay in which they assert that voluntary actions are in fact crucial to the environmental movement, claiming that people are more likely to endorse and participate in big changes if they've already taken small actions. What side do you come down on? Share your thoughts in Gristmill. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] new in Gristmill: The power of voluntary actions see Tidwell's opinion piece: Voluntary actions didn't get us civil rights, and they won't fix the climate |
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