Friday, 30 Sep 2005

Scientists have been baffled by the origins of SARS since it first broke out three years ago. But a team of researchers announced yesterday that they've pinpointed the source of this earth-shaking malady: the lowly horseshoe bat. The SARS virus, which sickened thousands of people, would have been happy to stay with bats, say these experts from the Consortium of Conservation Medicine, if only humans hadn't gone sticking their noses in every nook and cranny of nature. They say it's further proof that every living thing is connected -- in sickness and in health.

He's Got His Head up His Act

House passes Pombo bill to overhaul Endangered Species Act

On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would overhaul -- critics say gut -- the Endangered Species Act. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), passed on a 229 to 193 vote that didn't break down along traditional party lines: 34 Republicans (largely East Coast and Midwest moderates) rejected it, while 36 Democrats (many from the rural West and South) supported it. Pombo's bill -- the culmination of his 12-year drive to gut the ESA -- includes mandated federal payments to private landowners if the presence of an endangered species limits development on their land, and dismantles current provisions for designating critical habitat to help endangered critters and plants recover. The legislation faces a cool reception in the Senate, where moderate Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.), chair of the subcommittee overseeing the ESA, says taking up the measure is not on his agenda for the year. The Bush administration, however, affirmed its support for the bill hours before the vote.


From eco-conscious home renovation to real-estate investing, it seems Grist readers have a keen interest in Martin Melaver's work as CEO of an environmentally and socially responsible real-estate company. Melaver happily responds to their many queries on topics like land-use planning in low-income communities, finding the perfect design team, and how he accounts for his "commute" between Georgia and Israel.

Don't It Make My Brown Eggs Blue

U.S. bans imports of beluga caviar to help conserve sturgeon

The U.S. -- destination for 60 percent of the world's beluga-sturgeon caviar -- yesterday announced a ban on beluga imports from the Caspian Sea, where sturgeon stocks have plunged by about 90 percent in the past two decades, a casualty of pollution and unlawful harvests. Legal caviar trade is worth about $100 million a year, and illegal trade as much as five times more. The move comes because nations bordering the Caspian -- Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Russia -- failed to deliver requested sturgeon-conservation plans. Leading importer Armen Petrossian thinks the ban will just bolster the black market for the gourmet foodstuff, although foodies are already learning to appreciate other caviar varieties. Sea-life advocates lauded the embargo. "Time is running out for the beluga and there's no excuse for the free-for-all in the Caspian," said Shannon Crownover of the conservation campaign Caviar Emptor.


Early this December, Montreal will host a big meeting of every country that's ratified the Kyoto Protocol (and a few that haven't, not that we can think of any). It ought to be a wild time -- especially if Latvia sits next to Luxembourg again! Whoo. But what's really going to make it boisterous is the global-warming Action Day planned for Dec. 3. If all goes well, this collection of protests in Montreal and around the world will be the first step in a bold new movement taking the fight against climate change to the streets. Ted Glick explains what's happening, and why you should get involved.