Conservative Revolutionary American Party III: Daily Grist: Kiribati creates world's largest marine reserve, dessert recipes to sweeten your Valentine's Day, and more

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Tiny island nation of Kiribati creates world's largest marine reserve

The tiny Pacific island nation of Kiribati has created the world's largest marine reserve, spanning 164,200 square miles (roughly the size of California). In contrast, the islands comprising Kiribati itself total only about 313 square miles, or about four times the size of Washington, D.C. The new Phoenix Islands Protected Area is home to sea turtles, over 120 species of coral, 520 species of fish, and contains important sea-bird nesting sites. In creating the reserve, the impoverished nation will be giving up millions of dollars in foregone commercial fishing licenses every year, though Kiribati officials stressed that they hope to make up for some of the lost revenue via increased tourism. Officials have also been trolling for financial assistance from other nations. Russell Mittermeier of Conservation International said, "The creation of this amazing marine protected area by a small island nation represents a commitment of historic proportions." The previous world's largest marine protected area was the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands set aside by President Bush in 2006.

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sources: Reuters, Associated Press
see also: CIA World Factbook's entry on Kiribati

Compare and Contrast the Candidates. How green is your candidate? Take a look at Grist's in-depth coverage of the presidential candidates' green stances, including exclusive interviews and fact sheets on their energy and climate platforms.

TODAY'S NEWS

Credits Where Credits Are Due
House Democrats make another push for renewable-energy incentives

Democrats in the House of Representatives have introduced legislation that would extend renewable-energy incentives, which were booted out of both the recent energy bill and the economic stimulus bill. The House legislation would provide tax breaks for investments in energy efficiency and solar, wind, and geothermal power, at an expected cost of $17.5 billion over 10 years. It would be financed mostly by repealing some $13.6 billion in tax breaks currently enjoyed by crazy-rich oil and gas companies. The House legislation passed committee on Tuesday, but likely won't be taken up by the full chamber until next week. There's reason to hustle: Some current clean-energy incentives will expire at the end of this year if they're not renewed.

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sources: Dow Jones, Associated Press

Polyvinyl Want an Attacker?
PVC is latest target of folks concerned about toxic toys

Lead-toy furor is so last year; the source du jour of parental outrage is plastic polyvinyl chloride in toys. Numerous playthings -- balls, dolls, rubber duckies, tea sets, you name it -- contain PVC, which is made with carcinogen vinyl chloride, often softened with phthalates, and frequently contains lead and other heavy metals. While the Toy Industry Association says PVC poses no safety risks, many big retailers have begun to phase it out in favor of corn-based and other less-toxic plastics. What? You're nostalgic for lead-toy-related aggravation? Fine: The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which in August was temporarily authorized to make rules governing lead-toy manufacture and pursue violators in court, recently let its authorization deadline expire without taking action.

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sources: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal
see also, in Grist: A special series on parenting and health

The Lotion in the Ocean
Sunscreen-slathered swimmers contributing to coral bleaching, says study

Up to 6,000 tons of sunscreen wash off of ocean swimmers each year, posing a threat to up to 10 percent of global coral reefs, according to a new study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Four common sunscreen chemicals can awaken dormant viruses in coral-dwelling algae, with results of horror-movie proportions: the viruses replicate to the point that the algae explode, spilling the viruses into surrounding seawater and infecting neighboring coral populations. The algae, called zooxanthellae, provide coral with food energy and contribute to reefs' bright colors; without zooxanthellae, the coral bleach and die. So burn, baby, burn -- or, better yet, seek out a nontoxic sun lotion.

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source: National Geographic News
see also, in Grist: Coral reefs suffer from proximity to humans, says study
see also, in Grist: A reef-protection crusader answers questions

Shoulder the Tap
Campaign spurs restaurant patrons to donate to drinking-water project

Mark your calendars for the week of March 16, when diners at participating restaurants can choose to drink local tap water instead of bottled water and donate $1 to the Tap Project. Proceeds from the project benefit Unicef's efforts to provide clean drinking water to children in developing countries. The Tap Project was started pro bono last year by New York boutique exec David Droga; it raised $100,000 in New York last year, will go forth in more than a dozen additional cities next month, and may go global in 2009.

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sources: The New York Times, Richmond Times-Dispatch

Our Kind of Guy
Engineer plans to sell compressed-air car in India within a year

Could folks in India be driving a car that runs on compressed air within a year? French engineer Guy Negre says it will be so. Tata Motors has backed his invention: a five-seater called the OneCAT, selling for about $5,000. According to its designers, the car would produce no emissions on shorter trips when it runs purely on compressed air, and would get the equivalent of 120 miles per gallon on longer trips when liquid fuel increases the car's range by heating, and therefore expanding, the compressed air. "The first buyers [of the car] will be people who care about the environment," says Negre, who hopes that investors around the world will set up factories to build the car using local materials, cutting down on shipping emissions. "I really hope he succeeds," says Terry Spall from the U.K. Institution of Mechanical Engineers. "It is a really brave experiment in producing a sustainable car."

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source: BBC News