TOP STORY
Palin digs into energy issues in convention speech
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin hit on a number of energy issues during her forceful convention speech on Wednesday night -- and didn't bring up climate change at all. She talked up her battles with Big Oil and touted a natural-gas pipeline project in Alaska. "We Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas. And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both," she said. "Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems -- as if we all didn't know that already. But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all. Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines and build more nuclear plants and create jobs with clean coal and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources." Other speakers last night also raised the issue of energy independence, including Rudy Giuliani, who let out a cry of "Drill, baby, drill!" Check out more Grist convention coverage.
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new in Gristmill: Palin bullish on energy
see also, in Gristmill: Greens say McCain's VP pick has anti-environmental record
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TODAY'S NEWS
Breaking and Exiting
Another large section of Canadian ice shelf breaks loose
In a predictable yet mildly troubling reminder of the Arctic's continued ice melt, researchers say yet another massive ice chunk has broken off from an ice shelf in Canada. The Serson Ice Shelf just saw its mass more than halved when two large sections broke off recently, leaving it about 47 square miles smaller. For those of you keeping track at home, this summer has seen 19 square miles of the Markham Ice Shelf break off and float into the sea, as well as an 8.5-mile section of the Ward Hunt shelf. "These changes are irreversible under the present climate and indicate that the environmental conditions that have kept these ice shelves in balance for 4,000 years are no longer present," said Trent University's Derek Mueller. Ice shelves are made of very old floating sea ice that's still attached to land; the surrounding sea ice usually acts to brace the shelves against wind and waves, but this year's and last year's were not much help. "We have now reached a threshold where [the environment] is too warm for these ice shelves to exist anymore," said Luke Copland of Ottawa University.
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sources: Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Telegraph
"Some" of All Fears
National Toxicology Program still concerned about BPA
The National Toxicology Program begs to differ with the Food and Drug Administration's recent conclusion that common chemical bisphenol A is safe at currently regulated levels. In a report released Wednesday, the NTP notes "some concern" that BPA can affect children's brains and reproductive systems. The agency made the same conclusion in a draft report in April, which caused enough outcry to make companies including Nalgene and Wal-Mart back away from BPA. The NTP's final report says further study is needed and suggests that concerned parents consider limiting their family's exposure to BPA, but does not recommend altering U.S. safety standards at this point. "There remains considerable uncertainty whether the changes seen in the animal studies are directly applicable to humans, and whether they would result in clear adverse health effects," says NTP's John Bucher. "But we have concluded that the possibility that BPA may affect human development cannot be dismissed."
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sources: Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, ScienceDaily
straight to the report: The Potential Human Reproductive and Developmental Effects of Bisphenol A [PDF]
Warming seas make strong storms stronger, says new study
As Gustav, Hanna, Ike, and Josephine become household names, more research has been added to the ongoing debate over the impact of climate change on hurricanes. A new study published in Nature indicates that warming seas have not increased the intensity of your everyday hurricane, but have made the mightiest storms even mightier. In essence, "if the seas continue to warm, we can expect to see stronger storms in the future," says lead author James Elsner, who says the findings are consistent with hurricane models. As always, plenty of research remains to be done. The new study provides "a very suggestive result and a very interesting result," says Thomas Knutson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "but it's not a definitive smoking gun for a greenhouse warming signal on hurricanes."
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sources: Reuters, Agence France-Presse, The New York Times, LiveScience, The Destin Log
Don't Shoot the Messenger
New HP laptop packaged in messenger bag instead of box
Don't take Grandma to Wal-Mart: the big-box store's new Hewlett-Packard laptop "will be displayed on shelves wearing only the HP Protect Messenger Bag." Scandalous! But actually, there's no need to avert your eyes: the HP Pavilion dv6929 is served up in a recycled, reusable messenger bag instead of a box, cutting cardboard and plastic packaging by 97 percent. Thinking outside the box helped HP win Wal-Mart's Home Entertainment Design Challenge, which judged suppliers' products on attractive design, environmental innovation, and less-wasteful, less-toxic packaging. Wal-Mart says 25 percent less truck space is now needed to schlep the computer to stores, cutting transportation costs by 31 percent. In addition, purchasers of the $798 laptop, which is available only at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, can recycle an old PC for free.
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sources: Reuters, Wal-Mart, HP, Environmental Leader
see also, in Grist: Tech companies go for the green
Good-Natured
New Ecuador constitution would give nature inalienable rights
Ecuador's environment will be given inalienable rights if residents of that country vote yes Sept. 28 on a referendum to overhaul the constitution. One of the draft document's 444 articles gives nature the right to "exist, persist, maintain, and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions, and its processes in evolution." The controversial constitution, which would greatly extend the power of leftist President Rafael Correa, would also give the state more control over Ecuador's mining and oil industries.
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sources: Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Prensa Latina, Xinhua
In Brief
Snippets from the news
• New eBay site is environment minded.
• Big Auto's sales continue to skid.
• Toddlers are chock full o' flame retardants.
• Western forests face flammable future.
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GRIST COLUMNS AND FEATURES
A few thoughts on an amazing event -- and a recipe for a delectably slow-cooked pasta sauce
Slow Food USA board member and Iowa chef Kurt Friese attended the big food celebration in San Francisco last weekend known as Slow Food Nation. He might be biased, but he'll say it anyway: Slow Food Nation rocked. He loved the populist feel of the free events, he was energized by the hubbub of the crowd, but most of all, he reveled in the amazing food. In the spirit of the event, he offers a recipe that requires top-of-season tomatoes, cooked -- you guessed it -- nice and slowwwww. He swears the results justify the wait.
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new in Grist: A few thoughts on an amazing event -- and a recipe for a delectably slow-cooked pasta sauce
Coming Friday: Another foodie's wrap from Slow Food Nation
Grist: Environmental News and Commentary
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