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Always low toxics? Well, sometimes, at least
A while back I wrote about all the "fake news" -- really, just corporate P.R. -- that comes into my email inbox as a result of our work on flame retardants in people's bodies. Most of the news stories are really just press releases from companies touting the fact that they'd removed PBDEs and other hazardous substances from their products. Any single press release, by itself, is hardly worthy of notice. But viewed as a whole, the steady drumbeat of companies announcing that they'd managed to make their products less toxic seemed like an important, if unheralded, good news story.
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There aren’t that many skeptics left, and they aren’t the problem
Coby Beck has an entertaining and informative series of posts called "How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic," if you're into that sort of thing.
But let me hazard an assertion: Maybe it doesn't matter all that much how to convince a global warming skeptic. Why? Because there aren't that many.
Head over to ES&T and read about a series of surveys done in four countries -- the U.S., U.K., Sweden, and Japan -- on climate change and related subjects. The way it's written up is a bit opaque, to say the least, but there are a few clear results (FYI: I've also got a copy of the original paper, which is behind a subscription wall).
Acceptance that global warming is a real problem is above 90% in all four countries.
The U.S. does have a small, hard core of skeptics -- around 7%, compared to 3% max for other countries. But I don't see why that 7% should be the focus of so much attention.
Here's a more important finding:
Global warming was ranked as the one of the top two environmental problems facing their country by 55% in the Swedish survey and 49% in the British survey, far ahead of any other environmental problems. In the U.S., however, global warming was only ranked fifth at 21% after water pollution, ecosystem destruction, overpopulation, and toxic waste.
Now, one way to react to this might be to say: Sure, Americans accept that global warming is a problem, but they don't understand how bad a problem it is. So the solution is ... more facts!
Human beings are not rational creatures. We make decisions, set priorities, establish habits based on a whole range of factors: personal history, peer groups, identity, taste, serotonin levels, whatever.
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Two eco-events upcoming in NYC
Hey, New York -- what are you doing on Tuesday night? February 28 is Fat Tuesday, and Grist is throwing a phat party in NYC. All Grist readers -- and people who wanna have a good time, but really those are one and the same -- are invited to Mardi Grist to rub elbows with a pack of Grist representatives and eat yummy food. A quarter of the proceeds will go to NOLA-area green groups. What's not to love? RSVP today!
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Priorities
The Bush administration spent more than $1.6 billion over a 30-month period on public relations and advertising contracts to promote its policies and programs, according to a report released yesterday by the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.
By way of comparison, Bush's much-heralded Advanced Energy Initiative pledges a total of $996 million to alternative energy research.
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Auto news from Ithe land o’ luck
A spiffy old car takeback program is being launched in Ireland.
The proverbial land o' luck plans to institute the End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) directive in 2007. Hee hee, elves. Hee hee, leprechauns. Um, anyway ... the first draft of regulations were revealed today. Hot off the presses! Lucky you! Hee hee, lucky ...
Under the regulations -- "a kind of car equivalent to the WEEE directive" -- each automobile importer or manufacturer would have to establish an authorised treatment facility (ATF) in every Irish county that consumers could bring their cars to for scrapping. These sites would be required to meet high environmental standards, remove pollutants in the dismantling process, and recover at least 85 percent of car material. If they don't, they could face big fines and prison time.
"The main effect of these draft regulations will be that when a person has a car or small van that has reached the end of it's useful life, there will be at least one facility available in their county or city where they can bring the vehicle in the knowledge that it will be depolluted and dismantled to a high standard," said Environment Minister Dick Roche.
Sweet.
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Old Dog Poop, New Tricks
San Francisco looks to harness the power of pet poop Renewable energy is the sh*t. No, really. San Francisco Bay Area cities are aiming to generate no trash by 2020, and nearly 4 percent of San Francisco’s residential waste is animal excrement. What to do with the doo? Turn it into methane and heat your […]
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Guess That Makes Us Punstitutes
BLM focuses on drilling at expense of wildlife, critics charge Wildlife biologists at the Bureau of Land Management office in Pinedale, Wyo., are finding their talents put to unusual use: reviewing drilling-permit requests. Western Wyoming has been a natural-gas drilling mecca for the last five years, during which its populations of mule deer and breeding […]
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Sludge Dread
Post-Katrina sludge puts kids at risk, says NRDC Government officials have been downplaying the public-health risks posed by the post-Katrina sludge coating greater New Orleans, which is spiked with potentially dangerous levels of arsenic, lead, and petrochemicals. So says a new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, based on U.S. EPA data. NRDC is […]
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But Who’s Responsible for Seafoam Green?
R.I. jury finds paint companies liable for billions in lead cleanup A six-person jury in Rhode Island made history yesterday when it found Sherwin Williams Co., Millennium Holdings, and NL Industries liable for lead paint contamination in hundreds of thousands of homes — and on the hook for potentially billions of dollars to clean it […]
