| Sack Your Bags Whole Foods to stop giving out plastic grocery bags by Earth Day Whole Foods will stop handing out plastic grocery bags by Earth Day, April 22, this year. The mega-retailer of natural foods announced yesterday that it will instead encourage customers to bring their own reusable bags; the lazy and forgetful will have their goodies bundled into 100 percent recycled paper bags. "More and more cities and countries are beginning to place serious restrictions on single-use plastic shopping bags since they don't break down in our landfills, can harm nature by clogging waterways and endangering wildlife, and litter our roadsides," said Whole Foods' A.C. Gallo. "Together with our shoppers, our gift to the planet this Earth Day will be reducing our environmental impact." The grocer estimates that the plastic-bag ban at all its 270 stores in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. will eliminate the use of about 100 million plastic sacks between Earth Day and the end of 2008. All together, Americans throw away about 100 billion plastic bags each year (yes, that's billion with a B). [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] |
2008 -- new year, same old eco-dilemmas. From breakfast to babies and commuting to consumption, Grist's got your every eco-worry covered with our practical green guide to your daily routine: Wake Up and Smell the Planet.
TODAY'S NEWS
| The Chopping Bloc European Union unveils detailed plans to cut GHG emissions European Union leaders today unveiled detailed draft plans to reduce E.U.-wide emissions 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. The plans would require utilities to buy all of their greenhouse-gas emissions permits beginning in 2013, as opposed to the current practice of allocating nearly all of them for free, which companies can then sell at a profit. Also starting in 2013, other heavily polluting industries, such as aluminum, cement, and steel, will have to pay for a gradually increasing portion of their pollution permits until 2020 when companies will have to pay for all of them. In total, the draft plans are expected to cost about $87 billion a year, though E.U. leaders argued that the costs of inaction would be much higher. The European Union has also proposed country-specific renewable-energy targets that together aim to achieve the goal of getting 20 percent of the E.U.'s electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The plans still needs approval from E.U. country governments and the European Parliament in a process expected to take at least two years. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] sources: Bloomberg, Reuters, Financial Times |
| Woe Dirt Erosion is as big a problem as climate change, say experts Planet Earth loses some 1 percent of its topsoil to erosion every year -- and that's an environmental threat on par with global warming, say some experts. "Globally, it's pretty clear we're running out of dirt," says geologist David Montgomery, who identifies agriculture as the main culprit for "soil mining." In the U.S., cropland is estimated to be eroding at least 10 times faster than it's replaced. Farmers with an interest in sustainability are trying to persuade others to adopt "no-till" and organic farming methods to address the problem, but "it's hard to get people to pay much attention to this," says soil expert John Reganold. "Frankly, most of us take soil for granted." [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
| Thirty-Nine and a Half Won't Do United States scores badly in world environmental assessment The United States ranked poorly in a recent international environmental assessment, coming in 39th out of 149 countries. Nations were ranked according to their performance in key categories, including agriculture policies, air pollution, sanitation, greenhouse-gas emissions, and more. Countries in Europe scored well as a whole; seven of the top 10 nations were European: Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria, France, and Latvia. The others in the top 10 were Costa Rica, Colombia, and New Zealand. Researchers at Yale and Columbia University, who crunched the numbers, said this year they weighted climate-change efforts more heavily than in past assessments. High greenhouse-gas emissions, combined with lingering smog problems, contributed to the U.S.'s relatively low ranking. China came in at 104th, India was ranked even lower at 120th, and Iraq came in at 134th. Niger was dead last. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] source: The New York Times straight to the rankings: Environmental Performance Index 2008 |
| He's So Transparent Prince Charles saves CO2 by appearing as a hologram in Abu Dhabi Prince Charles made a sci-fi-inspired speech at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi this week. But swallow your cries of jet-setting hypocrisy: Instead of spewing planet-warming pollutants by flying to the Middle East, the Prince of Wales appeared as a life-size, 3-D hologram, and he used the occasion to call for urgent action against global warming. "Scientists are now saying that the problem of climate change is now so grave and so urgent that we have less than 10 years to slow, stop, and reverse greenhouse-gas emissions," said the virtual prince. "Common actions are needed in every country to protect the common inheritance that has been given to us by our creator." [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] sources: The Telegraph , The New York Times |
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GRIST COLUMNS AND FEATURES
 Tongue Tied On leather vs. pleather shoes Q. Hi Umbra, As a devoted vegetarian, I try to make it a point to avoid leather footwear. However, after too many hours of deep thought on the subject, I am now conflicted about the environmental ramifications of my choice to buy processed petroleum shoes, i.e., pleather ... Is it better for the environment to put aside my veggie ethics in favor of a natural material? KC Needs New Boots Hauppauge, N.Y. A. Dearest KC, I have now joined you in too many hours of deep thought on this subject. Sadly, I could not find a simple answer out there ... Read the rest of Umbra's answer. [ email | discuss | + digg | + del.icio.us ] new in Grist: On leather vs. pleather shoes |
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