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The separation of economy and environment is a myth.

New head of the United Nations Environment Program Achim Steiner:

"Care for the environment is often portrayed as detrimental to economic growth," he told on his first day as head of the United Nations' top environment body.

"We hope to lay that myth to rest in the 21st century," he said by telephone from UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, setting out priorities for a four-year term.

Common sense ... I like it.

I put up my tent!

So I made it to 'Roo, as all the cool kidz call it. I even set up my tent, in the dark, all by myself.

Mmm ... Nothing like fair-trade coffee and sunlight to show you how dirty you really are. Yay for showers in my camp area. Boo for not finding them 'til I was dressed and sunscreened!

On tap today: interviews with Lyrics Born and a 'Roo green guy. Plus my first press conference!

China can pollute and dam all at once!

China has experience with spilling toxics into rivers: it's done it just recently in the Songhua, the Xiangjiang, the Yellow, and the Yangtze.

And China really loves dams; oh, does it heart dams.

So I guess this shouldn't be surprising:

Chinese authorities tried to slow the spread of a toxic spill by building 51 makeshift dams along the tainted river and using fire trucks to pump out polluted water before it reaches a reservoir serving a city of 10 million people, state media said Friday.

The spill of 60 tons of coal tar into the Dasha river in north China's Shanxi province was the latest in a series of mishaps fouling the country's already polluted waterways. Officials said there have been at least 76 water pollution accidents in the last six months.

Nope, not surprised. Just depressed.

Don’t Be a Menace to South Central

Urban gardeners evicted from community farm in L.A. South Central Farm, a 14-acre community garden in a sea of warehouses in urban L.A., will be bulldozed to make way for … a warehouse. The 350 low-income families who for years have been growing food on the plot this week lost their fight to save the […]

Must Not Be Any Oil There

Bush creates world’s largest marine protected area Well, slap our ass and call us Sally: George W. Bush, the prez formerly known as the earth’s worst enemy, created the largest protected marine area in the world yesterday when he designated the 1,200-mile-long Northwestern Hawaiian Islands chain and surrounding waters as a national monument. The region […]

Getting a Move On

Grist outgrows office, begs readers for help with upgrade Dear readers, we knew this day would come. We’ve finally outgrown the solitary desk that has served us well for so many years. As we look about for a larger space — perhaps one with two desks! — we’re also thinking about other ways to expand. […]

Catch and release program for fossil rats

According to this MSNBC story, these creatures were thought to be extinct for 11 million years. Researchers learned of their existence last year from dead specimens found in local meat markets (the food kind). They released it back into the wild after taking photos. In the old days, researchers would have shot and stuffed it. An increasing awareness of the plight of our biodiversity is catching on. Catch and release fishing is a common practice now, although there will always be people who don't give a rat's ass.

Fly in the ointment

When U.S. air traffic was grounded for three days after September 11th, meterologists got a bit of a surprise. Apparently, the lack of airplane contrails -- the high altitude trails of condensed water that form around tiny particles from engine exhaust -- had a measurable effect on the climate. (More in this document.) Apparently, contrails reflect sunlight during the day, but also trap heat at night. On net, researchers believe that contrails can have two to three times as much climate-warming power as the CO2 emitted in airplane exhaust.

Now, the L.A. Times is reporting on a study by a British research team that found that the biggest contrail impacts come from nighttime flights (when contrails reflect solar radiation back to the earth's surface) and during winter months.

"We get one-half of the climate effect from one-quarter of the year, from less than one-quarter of the air traffic," said meteorologist Nicola Stuber, who led the English research team. "If you get rid of the night flights, you can reduce the climate warming effect of the contrails."

The quick fix: a few schedule changes. A bit inconvenient, perhaps, but hardly inconceivable.

Not much going on.

Hangin' in St. Louis for my three-hour layover. No hottie musician-type sightings to report.

Hawaii Islands Win Unprecedented Protection

In the last five years, I can count on one hand the number of times environmental groups have come together to praise a new policy by President Bush -- and that one hand was probably making a fist. So for the ocean conservation community to be celebrating the president's announcement today, you know this is a VERY big deal.

George W. Bush is designating the world's largest fully protected marine reserve -- 84 million acres to be exact. A biologically rich string of islands known as the Northwestern Hawaii Islands (NWHI) will now enjoy complete federal protection from commercial fishing activities as a new National Monument. This is fantastic news for the seals, turtles, albatrosses, sharks, corals, and other marine life that call these waters home, and a strange, welcome, happy, confusing moment for conservationists everywhere. Congratulations to our colleagues who worked so hard to make this happen, including the Pew Charitable Trusts, The Ocean Conservancy, Marine Conservation Biology Institute, Environmental Defense, and especially all the groups in Hawaii. Read all about it.