Tuesday, 22 May 2007

For the Love of ... You Know

Religious leaders urge Congress, Bush to act on climate change

After millennia of mistrust and conflict, the world's religions might be united by ... climate change? In an open letter published today in two Capitol Hill newspapers, the leaders of more than 20 religious groups urged Congress and President Bush to act on the issue. "Global warming is real, it is human-induced, and we have the responsibility to act," says the letter. "We are mobilizing a religious force that will persuade our legislators to take immediate action to curb greenhouse gases." That half-inspiring, half-threatening promise comes from groups including the National Council of Churches, the Islamic Society of North America, the political arm of the Reform branch of Judaism, and Episcopal, Methodist, and Baptist churches. National Association of Evangelicals board member Rev. Joel Hunter also signed on, though his group hasn't agreed on action. Another divided sect, ye olde Catholics, held a Vatican-sponsored conference on climate change last month, and leaders are debating a way forward.

Britney Was Ahead of Her Time

Some car seats leach toxic chemicals, says new report

Car seats have joined baby bottles and bath toys on the ever-growing list of Evil Things You're Subjecting Your Child To. The Michigan-based Ecology Center tested 62 models of tot-toters, finding that about a third can leach chemicals such as chlorine, bromine, and lead. The center, which released a study on the toxicity of car interiors in March, obviously doesn't advocate that you bear your babes on your lap, Britney-style. "Car seats save lives. It's absolutely essential that parents put their children in them while driving," says the group's Jeff Gearhart, but "some car seats are safer than others when it comes to chemical composition." So go for a seat found to be less likely to afflict your angel, like the Graco SnugRide Emerson or EvenFlo Discovery Churchill. (Who comes up with these names?) To reduce degradation, the report suggests parking out of direct sunlight, opening car windows, cleaning regularly, and limiting junior's time in the seat. It's all about less driving, peeps.


How can we speed up the switch to a cleaner, greener, safer energy system? We need to change the rules of the game, argue Timothy E. Wirth, Vinod Khosla, and John D. Podesta in an opinion piece in Grist. Today, U.S. rules governing the energy system encourage inefficient use of dirty fossil fuels -- exactly what we don't want. Smart, targeted changes to the rules could stimulate investment in clean-energy businesses, create good jobs, make the U.S. less dependent on imported oil, and help curb climate change -- exactly what we need.

The Tête Offensive

French eco-groups get face time with new president

Nicolas Sarkozy is better known as a friend to big business than as a friend to the environment, but the newly elected French president is reaching out nonetheless. Yesterday, three days after taking office, he gathered representatives from nine green groups -- along with the head of the newly created ministry of sustainable development, Alain Juppe -- for a gab session on climate change, nuclear power, genetically modified crops, renewable energy, and biodiversity. Pledging to pull together a conference involving business, labor, and greens in September or October, Sarkozy said ... well, lots of vague things, frankly. Like, "Environmental questions must not be seen as a threat but as a wonderful opportunity for France." And "It's time for action." Still, activists take heart in the fact that he's even initiating such conversations; despite "strong, incontestable differences," said Greenpeace France Campaign Director Yannick Jadot, the meeting was "a great sign of openness."

This Sounds Like a Job For ... Nobody

Workaholics, especially American ones, are ruining the planet

Now here's a theory we can get behind: workaholism is ruining the earth. "We are proudly breaking our backs to decrease the carrying capacity of the planet," says Conrad Schmidt, proponent of the 32-hour work week, who declares that overwork leads to overconsumption, pollution, and less fulfilling life experience. If there's anyone who needs to take the message to heart, it's Americans, who work more hours than anyone else in the industrialized world -- a full 500 hours more per year than Germans. Not coincidentally, the U.S. is also the world's largest polluter and produces half the world's solid waste, and a paper issued by the Center for Economic and Policy Research finds that Europeans would consume up to 30 percent more energy by 2050 if they worked like Americans. Says CEPR co-director Mark Weisbrot, "Because there's no limit to what we can consume, a change of values has to take place if the planet stands a chance of survival." We're taking the rest of the day off.