TOP STORY
 All Bark and No Bite? Can you eat meat and still be an enviro? PETA says no. Our guest essayist says hell yes. "You just cannot be a meat-eating environmentalist," a PETA spokesperson declared recently. His group and other animal-rights advocates are pushing a new campaign that points out the climatic impact of meat production -- and that mocks Al Gore on billboards for not being a vegetarian. This approach hit a nerve with Alex Roth, who argues that such holier-than-thou preaching simply turns people off from the environmental cause. Must a green eat only greens? Share your thoughts in Gristmill. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] new in Gristmill: PETA's dogma is all bark and no bite |
TODAY'S NEWS
| Swap Meat Study says eating less red meat helps fight climate change Speaking of environmentalists and animal flesh, the British medical journal The Lancet published a study this week that advises people in rich countries to eat less red meat in order to help mitigate climate change and improve their health. Far from advocating citizens of the world entirely eschew meat, the study advised a climate-friendly cut in red-meat consumption of 10 percent of the world average by 2050. The average is currently 100 grams per person per day, but that masks a big divide between rich nations and poor ones; average people from wealthy nations consume 200 to 250 grams a day while citizens from developing countries average only 20 to 25 grams. The study actually advocates that people from poorer nations increase their meat intake, and advises red-meat gluttons to switch to chicken or fish because it's healthier than red meat and because animals with only one stomach contribute less to climate change than multi-stomach critters like cows as their gas-passing and belching are more innocuous. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] sources: Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, The Sydney Morning Herald see also, in Grist: Umbra on vegetarian remorse |
 Congress Sees the Lighting on the Wall Bill to phase out incandescent light bulbs gains steam in U.S. Congress Momentum is building in the U.S. Congress for a bill that would require phasing out regular incandescent light bulbs in favor of compact fluorescents and other, more efficient lighting technologies. The bill now in the works would require bulbs to be three times more efficient by 2020 and would require the phase out of 40-, 60-, 75-, and 100-watt incandescent light bulbs by 2014. Ye olde incandescents typically convert only 5 percent of the electricity they consume into visible light, and proponents say that installing more-efficient bulbs, including CFLs, next-generation incandescents, LEDs, and other lighting alternatives could save U.S. consumers some $6 billion a year in energy costs and effectively cancel demand for 80 coal-fired power plants. The legislation may be lumped in with the pending energy bill that's expected to be voted on in October. The United States is the largest single market for incandescent light bulbs, accounting for nearly one-third of the global market. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] sources: McClatchy News Service, The Wall Street Journal (access ain't free) |
| Permanent Depress Top 10 most polluted places on earth tallied by Blacksmith Institute China, India, and Russia are each home to two of the most polluted places on earth, with sites in Azerbaijan, Peru, Ukraine, and Zambia rounding out the top 10, says the second annual tally by the nonprofit Blacksmith Institute. Some 12 million people total live in the affected areas, which are tainted largely by chemical-weapons manufacturing, heavy-metal and coal mining, and other dirty industry practices. "Children are being poisoned in droves," says a representative of Green Cross Switzerland, which helped to compile the list. Satisfy your hankering for depressing statistics: In La Oroya, Peru, 99 percent of children have dangerous levels of lead in their blood. In Sumgayit, Azerbaijan, the cancer rate is up to 51 percent higher than the national average. In Vapi, India, mercury levels in groundwater are 96 times higher than what's considered healthy. Cleanup in many places would only involve simple engineering projects, but funding, technical ability, and political priorities are often lacking. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] sources: Reuters, Financial Times, swissinfo, Bloomberg, MSNBC.com see also, in Grist: Our writeup of last year's list straight to the list: World's Worst Polluted Places 2007 |
| The Spillage Voice EPA says oil spill in Brooklyn, N.Y., may be larger than originally thought A giant oil spill that's been languishing underground in Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Greenpoint neighborhood since at least the 1950s might not be as big as first thought -- it's likely even bigger! Initial estimates pegged the spill, which came from a number of petroleum facilities in the 1950s, at 17 million gallons, but a new U.S. EPA report says the spill could be as large as 30 million gallons (significantly larger than the more high-profile Exxon Valdez disaster). The EPA says the state should conduct tests to determine whether vapors from the slick could be entering homes and businesses in the area. The EPA report also suggests re-estimating how long it will take to clean up the spill, a process being undertaken by ExxonMobil and other oil companies; the best guess in 2001 was that at the rate it's been going it'd take until 2026. Borrowing language from President Bush concerning a different long-lasting ugly mess, an ExxonMobil spokesperson said the company would "stay in Greenpoint until the job is done and the job is done right." Hopefully with a much lower body count than that other job. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] sources: Associated Press, New York Daily News, New York Post straight to the report: Newtown Creek/Greenpoint Oil Spill Study [PDF] |
| Science Friction U.S. climate-change research found inadequate in many ways The good news: the National Research Council finds that the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, started in 2002, has gathered some useful climate data. The bad news: well, where do we start? Less than 2 percent of the money spent by the program has gone to studying how climate change will affect humans. The NRC finds that the 13 federal agencies involved in climate research have been "inadequate" at combining results, assimilating priorities, supporting decision-making, managing risks, and disseminating information. Only two of 21 planned reports have been published. Many climate research opportunities, particularly those designed to gather long-term data, have been delayed, cut back, or canceled altogether, and the program continues to be threatened by spending cuts. The NRC will produce a follow-up report with suggestions for improvement next year; we, on the other hand, would be happy to give our suggestions at any time. Just give us a call. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] sources: Associated Press, The New York Times |
GRIST FEATURES AND COLUMNS
 On and Off the Green A chat with actor Morgan Freeman Compile a list of celebrity eco-activists in your head, and Morgan Freeman might not leap to mind. But the elegant actor-director is quietly working behind the scenes, taking an everyman approach to planetary protection. Adam Spangler talks with him to find out what he's up to, why he doesn't toot his own horn, and whether The Electric Company could ever be reinvented as a show with a green theme. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] new in Grist: On and Off the Green |
Coming next week: Brood Awakenings: A Grist special series on parenting and health
Grist: Environmental News and Commentary
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