02 Jul 2009: Environmental Toll of Plastics

The amount of plastic that will be produced this decade will nearly equal the total produced in the 20th century, and the substance is increasingly taking a toll on human health and the environment, a new study says. Reporting in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, more than 60 scientists found the following: Chemicals added to plastics are increasingly absorbed by humans, altering hormones and affecting fetal development and other physiological processes; millions of tons of plastic debris are ingested by hundreds of animal and fish species, clogging their digestive systems and infusing their systems with chemicals; floating plastic debris can last thousands of years in oceans and transport invasive species; plastic in landfills leaches harmful chemicals into groundwater; and 8 percent of world oil production goes into manufacturing plastics. “One of the most ubiquitous and long-lasting recent changes to the surface of our planet is the accumulation and fragmentation of plastics,” the paper said. The researchers did say that the ill-effects of plastic can be reduced in the future with the invention of biodegradable and less harmful forms of plastic and with improved systems of plastic recycling.
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02 Jul 2009: Turkey Resumes Dam Project

The Turkish government will revive a $1.6 billion dam project on the Tigris River despite concerns that it will displace tens of thousands of people, damage wildlife habitat, and destroy historic archaeological sites. Preparations for the Ilisu hydroelectric dam were suspended for six months after financial institutions in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria announced that they were withholding financial support because of environmental concerns. But Veysel Eroglu, Turkey’s environmental minister, said the financing would be made available for what the government considers an important part of a $32 billion plan to boost the economy in the nation’s southeastern corner, a region disrupted by armed conflict between the government and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party. Eroglu said improvements have been made to assure the project will meet international standards. Turkish officials say the dam, part of a larger proposed network of dams called the Southeastern Anatolia Project, would generate 1,200 MW of electricity after it is completed in 2013. But environmental advocates warn that the project would inundate as many as 80 towns, villages, and hamlets, and displace up to 80,000 people.
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01 Jul 2009: Oil Companies and Nigeria
Accused of Mass Pollution in Niger Delta

Amnesty International says Royal Dutch Shell, other oil companies, and the Nigerian government have violated the human rights of residents of the Niger Delta by polluting their land and harming their health with oil spills, natural gas flaring, and waste dumping. In a 141-page report, the human rights group said that at least 9 million barrels of oil may have been spilled in the past 50 years in the delta, home to an estimated 500,000 Ogoni people. “People living in the Niger Delta have to drink, cook with and wash in polluted water,” said the report. “They eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins. The land they farm on is being destroyed... yet neither the government nor oil companies monitor the human impacts of oil pollution.” A Shell spokesman said that, despite its efforts to protect the environment, 85 percent of the pollution from its operations comes from attacks and sabotage carried out by criminal bands operating in the Niger Delta.
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01 Jul 2009: India Will Reject Curbs
On Its CO2 Emissions

India will not accept limits on its greenhouse gas emissions at climate talks later this year and instead will focus on economic growth and lifting its people out of poverty, according to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. He said that a legally binding emissions target would endanger India’s food security and transport, adding, “India cannot and will not take emission reduction targets because poverty eradication and social and economic development are first and overriding priorities.” India has low per capita greenhouse gas emissions, but its population of 1 billion and the country’s rapid economic development now make it the world’s fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases. In advance of international climate talks in Copenhagen in December, China has also said it would reject limits on its CO2 emissions, and India’s declaration further complicates prospects of securing an international agreement. Both nations have called on the developed world to commit to sharp emissions reductions, with China saying the U.S. should slash CO2 emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Chinese officials have criticized a climate bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives for falling far short of that goal.
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30 Jun 2009: Decline of Seagrass Beds

Seagrass beds, which play an important role in coastal marine ecosystems and absorb large quantities of carbon dioxide, are increasingly being destroyed or degraded by development and pollution, according to a new study. Reporting in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American and Australian researchers estimated that 29 percent of the world’s seagrass beds have disappeared since 1879, with most of the losses occurring since 1980. Only 68,000 square miles of seagrass beds remain, making them “among the most threatened ecosystems on earth,” along with coral reefs and mangrove swamps, the study said. Seagrass meadows provide a major spawning area and juvenile nursery for fish, with some estimates saying that 70 percent of all marine life is in some way dependent on seagrass beds. The loss of seagrasses — the only flowering plants that can live entirely in water — “reveals a major global environmental crisis in coastal ecosystems,” the study said.
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30 Jun 2009: Obama To Open U.S. Lands
To Large-Scale Solar Power Projects

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his department is studying whether 670,000 acres of federal lands in six Western states are suitable for the construction of large-scale solar power projects. Salazar, appearing in Las Vegas with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said the Obama administration is doing “everything we can to put the bulls-eye on the development of solar energy on our public lands.” He predicted that by the end of next year, 13 commercial-scale solar power projects could be under construction on U.S. government lands in Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy announced new efficiency standards for fluorescent and recessed lighting fixtures, set to take effect in 2012. Energy Department officials said the tighter standards would save as much as $4 billion annually in energy costs and avoid 594 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions from 2012 to 2042 — the equivalent of removing 166 million cars from the road for a year.
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