A set of new conservation maps presented at the UN climate change talks this week pinpoint the areas with the most dense biodiversity on earth so that more resources can be directed to protecting the most biodiverse areas.
Biodiversity is the number of different species of plants and animals contained in an area. An area with more biodiversity has a greater number of species than one with a lower biodiversity.
Instead of trying to protect the entire Amazon, for example, efforts of various aid organizations can now be focused on the remaining areas of biodiversity. The Andes and Amazon sport the most biodiverse areas and the center of Papua New Guinea is also one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet.
The report and maps can be downloaded in PDF format from here.
When I went into my pharmacy last week to pick up my Ventolin prescription I was rewarded with one of the new CFC inhalers. After using it for about a week, I was left to wonder why drug companies didn’t switch over sooner. They seem to be of the same efficacy. In fact, I like the newer inhaler better because it delivers less of a forceful puff.
I found out here that in the US at least, the government is requiring that inhalers go CFC-free by December 31st, 2008. Asthma inhalers are now empowered by HFC’s, or hydrofluoroalkane. While the price may leave some gasping for air, removing the last widely-used product that uses CFC’s from the market is only good for the environment.
CFC’s, if you recall from the ozone hole scare in the late 80’s and early 90’s, knock a hole in the ozone layer when they are released into the atmosphere. Massive bans on them succeeded in nearly every country and nearly every product except asthma medication, where technology has only been perfected recently to replace them.
The National Organic Standards Board recently approved a move to allow farmed fish to be labelled “organic”. In addition, the farmed fish may consume up to 25% wild fish as part of their diet rather than the 100% organic feed that other sectors are required to feed their animals.
Open-net pens used to keep the fish in also pollute the ocean with concentrated fish waste and disease, making a fish farm a less than ideal aquatic environment for the fish that may end up on an organic buyer’s plate.
The Organic Consumers Association is sponsoring a petition to protest these new laws. Take a moment out of your day to head over there and sign it if you want to keep the organic label truly organic. Let’s not forget that when one industry is allowed to slide, others will surely follow and pretty soon the organic label won’t have any meaning.
A $1 Billion dollar project is planned for San Francisco in order to install a charging grid for electric cars. The company incentive funded project will be put in place by a company called “A Better Place” in partnership with Renault-Nissan. They will distribute the cars under a subscription based program which will offer the cars at a discount and people who purchase them will subscribe to a certain number of miles.
Better Place hopes to expand the plan to Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and the three highways connecting the Bay Area and the Los Angeles area.
Recent proposals that the Bush administration is looking to rubber-stamp in the last few months of the Bush presidency from the Department of the Interior are an assault on environmental resources in the US. They include:
Changes to the Endangered Species Act, reducing numbers of scientific reviews of projects from the US Fish and Wildlife service and disallowing the ESA from being used to prevent climate change.
New Management Plans for 11 Million Acres in Utah, including freeing up 9 million acres for oil and gas development.
Effort to revoke congressional commitee’s emergency powers to protect public lands, which would prevent measures like this summer’s use of the rule to protect lands around the Grand Canyon from uranium mining.
Repealing regulations that keep mining companies from dumping in streams.
Besides the obvious fact that Dems aren’t chanting “drill, baby, drill” at their rallies, there are many other reasons that environmentalists in the US and all over the world should be crossing their fingers for an Obama White House tonight.
Obama has called for a cap-and-trade arrangement to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, compared to McCain’s 60% cut through no stated scheme at all.
McCain has attempted to obfuscate the issue of the environment and global warming whenever he is asked a direct question about it.
Obama will invest $150 Billion in clean technology, opposed to McCain’s $2 Billion pledge for clean coal only.
Offshore drilling is McCain’s answer to energy independence rather than investment in green technologies.
With Obama, the US won’t be a stumping factor in a worldwide clean energy deal - they will be the spearhead that moves such a deal forward. With McCain, our earth and children stand to lose.
Voted against making companies disclose pollution sites and making them pay for the cleanup of toxic waste Superfund sites, leaving taxpayers to pay for the cleanup.
Strike 2 - Drinking Water Pollution
Voted against a law requiring utilities to let consumers know what pollutants are in their drinking water. He also voted against tightening the standard on arsenic in drinking water.
Strike 3 - Water Pollution by Mining and Oil Industries
Voted in 2002 to exempt the oil and gas industry from the Safe Drinking Water Act regulations, leaving them free to add chemicals like benzene to our water. He also voted against tightening regulations on the discharge from hardrock water companies, which have already polluted 40% of the water table in the West.
Whenever it has been a case of the environment versus big corporations, McCain will vote for the corporations every time. His record doesn’t lie.
According to a recently released study by the Center for Energy, Resources and Economic Sustainability at the University of California, Berkeley, green initiatives at the state level created jobs in the private sector. With consumers able to reduce energy spending, that spending was redirected to other demands.
The number that Berkeley came up with was $44.6 billion, of which $1.2 billion was in the light industrial sector, $11.2 billion was in wholesale and retail trade, $7.3 billion was in the financial and insurance sectors and $17.8 billion was in the service sector. The study primarily focused on household spending and how the spending habits changed after money was removed from the electric bill.
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, speaks at the Commonwealth Club about rebuilding the Energy Infrastructure of the United States. It’s so refreshing to hear him speak. Very interesting! A must watch.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has introduced new initiatives to remove lead from the air. The goal is to slash lead emissions by 90%. The EPA had to introduce the measure to comply with a court order. Smelters and waste incinerators are some of the lead producers that will need to slash their emissions significantly.
A set of new conservation maps presented at the UN climate change talks this week pinpoint the areas with the most dense biodiversity on earth so that more resources can be directed to protecting the most biodiverse areas.
