A Feast for the Senseless?
Two writers try to subsist on organic and fair-trade food -- find out what happens to their plates, their wallets, and their family relations, in Gristmill.
Tell Your Kids the Truth
Need to get your kids out of the house? Grist is giving away a limited number of tickets to a March 10 slideshow for kids 8-12 that's based on Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Click here for more info on this Town Hall Seattle event and find out how to win.
Need to get your kids out of the house? Grist is giving away a limited number of tickets to a March 10 slideshow for kids 8-12 that's based on Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Click here for more info on this Town Hall Seattle event and find out how to win.
An Old Lease on Life
U.S. Interior Department negotiating to recoup lost royalties
Not yet recovered from its embarrassment at a contractual omission that lost the U.S. a hell of a lot of money, the Interior Department is negotiating with 22 oil and gas companies to try and recoup the dough. When the feds issued deep-water drilling leases for the Gulf of Mexico in 1998 and 1999, they neglected to stipulate that drillers would have to pay federal royalties if the market price for oil and gas rose above a certain level. Prices have, of course, shot up, and meeellions of dollars have stayed in the pockets of more than 40 oil and gas companies instead of going to U.S. coffers. The companies have been loath to rectify the mistake, arguing that the leases, while flawed, were still valid; about half of the corporations have declined to even discuss the matter. However, a bill that would bar companies from bidding on new gulf leases until they renegotiate and pony up the cash has passed the House and is awaiting action in the Senate. See, justice always wins out in the end! Right?
see also, in Grist: Interior Wreckorating
Meany in a Bottle
Baby bottles found to leak chemicals, California may ban them
Most parents discourage their kiddos from ingesting known toxics, so a new study from green group Environment California is a bit of a bummer: when run through a simulated dishwasher 50 to 75 times, name-brand baby bottles leach the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, in levels that have caused reproductive abnormalities in lab animals. Baby-product representatives spun the bottle, calling the report "sensational and biased" and arguing that their products meet federal standards, which really is far from comforting. Feeling un-comforted, California Assembly member Fiona Ma (D) has introduced a bill to ban children's products containing BPA or toxic plastic softeners called phthalates in the state, mirroring a current San Francisco law. And a group of experts convened by the National Institutes of Health will meet next week to review data and conclude whether or not BPA poses health risks to humanfolk -- but the findings, according to an NIH spokesperson, will "not necessarily" be adopted by the feds.
straight to the source: CNN Money, Reuters, 28 Feb 2007
see also, in Grist: Rubber Ducky, You're Not the One
 | NEW IN GRIST Fertile Ground Reviving a much-cited, little-read sustainable-ag masterpiece |
At the turn of the last century (you remember that one), a young British scientist named Albert Howard ventured to Barbados to find cures for plant diseases. But as he pursued his quest, exploring the area and talking with native farmers, he soon realized that disease was part of an interconnected system of soil, plant, and animal health. His revelation led him to write books that sparked the modern organic agriculture movement, and Tom Philpott says there's still plenty to learn from the moldy old tomes -- one of which was recently reissued at long last. 
That's, What, Two Days in Iraq?
U.S. Department of Energy to grant up to $385 million for cellulosic ethanol
The U.S. plans to sink up to $385 million into cellulosic ethanol, doling out grants for six bio-refineries across the nation. The funds, spread over four years, will cover up to 40 percent of a $1.2 billion push expected to result in annual production of more than 120 million gallons. "Ultimately, success in producing inexpensive cellulosic ethanol could be the key to eliminating our nation's addiction to oil," said Energy Secretary Sam Bodman. The plants, in Iowa, Kansas, Florida, California, Idaho, and Georgia, will use sources ranging from switchgrass and cornstalks to landfill waste and timber scraps. "Cellulosic ethanol is not five or six years away," says the CEO of grantee Alico. "It is almost today." And as the U.S. gropes for the energy-independence grail, says energy consultant Lawrence J. Goldstein, leaders "are throwing money where they ought to be throwing it, because they know they can't get within shouting distance of their goal without a major, quick breakthrough in cellulosic."
straight to the source: Houston Chronicle, Associated Press, David Pitt, 28 Feb 2007
straight to the source: Forbes, Associated Press, Alan Zibel, 28 Feb 2007
see also, in Grist: Cellulosic ethanol may be coming sooner than you think
She Will Have Her Way
Hearing held on Inuit climate and human-rights claim against U.S.
In the northern reaches of the world, climate change is more than a theory. For years, native Inuit have seen extreme weather and weak ice interfere with their lives, and they say big emitters like the U.S. are to blame. Today -- more than a year after filing a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and a month after the body reversed its decision to deny a hearing -- the Inuit will have a chance to formally make their case. "Our way of life is at stake," says Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a past chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference whose activism recently garnered her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. "[We] tell the story of the Inuk hunter who falls through the depleting ice, how it's connected to the industries, connected to the disposable world." Watt-Cloutier will air her concerns to a commission with no power over the U.S. government. But her goal, she says, is a moral one: this issue is "about real people who live on top of the world." Eh, still seems kind of far away.
straight to the source: San Diego Union Tribune, Associated Press, Beth Duff-Brown, 28 Feb 2007
see also, in Grist: Inuit fight climate change with human-rights claim
Grist: Environmental News and Commentary
©2007. Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Gloom and doom with a sense of humor®.
Grist: Environmental News and Commentary
©2007. Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Gloom and doom with a sense of humor®.
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