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Senate passes asbestos ban, Democrats want to rid toys of lead

Hey, you with the asbestos-contaminated attic: The Senate has unanimously passed a measure to ban importation, manufacture, processing, and distribution of products containing asbestos. Forty other nations have already banned the cancer-causing mineral, which is found in more than 3,000 consumer products in the U.S. Speaking of things that should have happened a long time […]

A look at Sam Brownback’s environmental platform and record

Update: Brownback dropped out of the presidential race on Oct. 19, 2007. Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback, who has represented Kansas in the U.S. Senate since 1996, calls for the U.S. to be “energy secure” so it won’t have to depend on unfriendly countries for oil — and touts ethanol as a homegrown solution to […]

Walruses, whales and … wave farms?

Illegal acts pervaded the seas, waves were promoted as renewable energy, and Brooklyn got a new resident in a busy week for the oceans. This week in ocean news ...

... The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation voted to immediately reduce cod bycatch by 40 percent off Canada's eastern coast at its annual meeting ...

... nine Pacific nations concluded Operation Big Eye, a 10-day, $15 million sting on illegal fishing boats. Patrols boarded 38 vessels ...

... another multinational effort in the north Pacific captured photographic evidence of 10 vessels rigged with driftnets, which are banned by the United Nations ...

World Bank encourages destructive logging in the Congo, says report

The World Bank’s encouragement of industrial forestry as a means of economic recovery in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is counter to the organization’s legal commitment to protecting the environment, according to a new report. An independent inspection panel charges that the bank overestimated possible export revenue from forestry, leading to a logging scramble […]

The threat from climate deniers

People forget that Margaret Mead's overused quote about small groups being able to change the world doesn't necessarily imply "in a good way."

Here's an interesting interview to think about when you next read something from folks like the National Assn. of Manufacturers, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, or Bjorn Lomborg:

Research funded by seafood industry concludes that moms should eat fish

A group of scientists affiliated with the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) announced conclusions yesterday that new moms and moms-to-be should eat at least 12 ounces of seafood per week to encourage wee ones’ brain development. Federal agencies, which advise moms to consume no more than 12 ounces of seafood per week to […]

Water limits on power plants

From Greenwire today (sub req'd): water availability may limit new power plants. This is widely appreciated in the power sector, but doesn't get as much attention elsewhere. It's especially acute as our population growth moves south and west where we are especially water-limited.

What's under-appreciated is that this is a story about efficiency. When two thirds of the fuel we burn in power plants is wasted as heat, and that heat is rejected in cooling towers (at least in coal and nuke facilities), any gain in energy efficiency is a reduction in water use. Given the huge gains available in efficiency, it ought to be central to this discussion. Also bear in mind that Clean Air Act compliance and carbon sequestration drive down the efficiency of coal plants, thereby increasing water use per MWh.

Excerpts of the full article below the fold:

For every problem there’s a solution that’s simple, attractive, and wrong

Like the noise standard one jurisdiction in Michigan has adopted for wind turbines:

"Based on their studies, noise was identified as a key problem. After lengthy research and discussion the regulation was made simple.

"If it makes noise and we can measure it, you shut it down," Arndt said."

Shall we apply that to coal burners and natural gas turbines (jet engines)??

From Butts to Bedtime

Tap that ass We like Butt Butts and we cannot lie. Awkwardly placed spigot and all. Photo: Hemingway Design Stem well-researched Wish your homegrown zucchini was better-endowed? Urine luck! Just be careful not to squat over your alt-pesticide cannibalistic plants. Eat your heart out, Little Shop of Horrors. Photo: Ellen Jong Get your fix The […]

An interview with Sam Brownback about his presidential platform on energy and the environment

This is part of a series of interviews with presidential candidates produced jointly by Grist and Outside. Update: Sam Brownback dropped out of the presidential race on Oct. 19, 2007. Sam Brownback. Photo: IowaPolitics.com “America is on the verge of an energy crisis,” Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) warns on his presidential campaign website, blaming “years […]