How committed is McCain to climate change?
It used to be that McCain's bipartisan work combating global warming was a point of pride for the GOP senator. That was before he selected VP candidate Sarah Palin, who doubts that global warming is largely human caused and is passionate about drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The closest McCain got to the climate was in talking about energy:
We'll produce more energy at home. We will drill new wells off-shore, and we'll drill them now. We'll drill them now.
We'll -- we'll -- my friends, we'll build more nuclear power plants. We'll develop clean-coal technology. We'll increase the use of wind, tide, solar, and natural gas. We'll encourage the development and use of flex-fuel, hybrid and electric automobiles.
Senator Obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power. But Americans know better than that.
We must use all resources and develop all technologies necessary to rescue our economy from the damage caused by rising oil prices and restore the health of our planet.
Salmon swimming through the Ballard locks. Josh Trujillo/P-I
Luckily, it's really easy to find a nearby, accessible location for watching the big ole fish that are returning from the oceans and Puget Sound to spawn and die in local creeks.
The folks at King County have put together this handy list of when and where to watch for the iconic fish, and you can call 206-296-8016 or go to this site for more information:
Events at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night seem to raise questions as to presidential candidate John McCain's commitment to fighting the causes of global warming and protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling.
Some of the most exuberant response from the crowd came with chants of "drill, baby, drill" during former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's speech (see more from the P-I, Grist, Newsday and Mother Jones).
VP candidate Sarah Palin has made clear her enthusiasm for domestic drilling for oil, despite the fact that in the case of coastal explorations, it could be 10 years or more before the fuel is available to consumers, and that there has been continued public opposition to drilling in the ecologically-sensitive ANWR. (See more on Palin's enviro stands here and here.)
It all makes McCain's trip to Alaska three years ago to witness firsthand the environmental damage being caused by climate change seem so far away (see this story in the Anchorage Daily News).
Said McCain in August 2005 from Anchorage:
"The question is how much damage will be done before we start taking concrete action. Go up to places like we just came from. It's a little scary."
A 321 page study from the National Toxicology Program -- part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services -- concluded that bisphenol A, the plastic chemical found in some baby and sports bottles, does indeed pose a health risk.
Last month, the Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for consumer protection in this case, decided that bisphenol A, or BPA, was of little concern at the levels found in common products.
The Daily Green and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have nice summaries of what the National Toxicology Program found. ("Some concern" is a two out of five for the program's risk measurement scale, "minimal" is a two, "negligible" is a one)
There is "some concern"for the development in fetuses, infants and children concerning their:
There is "minimal concern" for:
There is "negligible concern" for causing:
Chemical flame retardants used in countless consumer items were detected at higher levels in the blood of children compared to their parents, according to new research out today from an environmental organization.
Seattle's Hannelore had twice the amount of PBDEs as mom Erika Schreder.
Environmental Working Group found "that toddlers and preschoolers typically had three times as much of these hormone-disrupting chemicals in their blood as their mothers." Among the 20 U.S. families sampled was a mother and child from Seattle.
The flame retardants, called polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDEs, are added to electronics, TVs, beds, upholstered furniture and the inside of air planes to reduce fire risk. PBDE manufacturers in 2004 voluntarily stopped producing two forms of PBDEs -- called penta and octa -- after they were found in the environment.
But a third form called deca remains in wide use -- and was detected in the families tested. The chemical can cause developmental and neurological defects in lab animals.
Neighbors trying to protect a grove of trees called Waldo Woods in northeast Seattle have lost their appeal to a city hearing examiner.
Members of the Maple Leaf Community Council were challenging a plan to cut down approximately half of the more than 100 trees on the site in order to build 39 townhomes and single-family dwellings. Native trees and shrubs will be planted to help compensate for the loss.
Opponents to the project had appealed a decision by Seattle's Department of Planning and Development concluding that the project would not cause significant environmental harm.
In the decision, the hearing examiner agreed with the Maple Leaf Community Council that the building plans overestimated how much tree canopy would be provided with the replanting plans. An initial, incorrect proposal showed a net gain in tree canopy, while there will actually be a net loss of more than 15 percent to 2,248 square feet of tree coverage. But the examiner determined that the city had followed the law in coming to its conclusion that the environmental damage would be limited.
Scientists checking English sole for tumors. Paul Brown/P-I
West will touch on four major classes of contaminants in Sound's ecosystem, discuss where the toxics are the worst and how much is found in key species including English sole, rock fish, Pacific herring (and their eggs), coho and chinook salmon.
From past interviews, I'd have to say he's a smart and funny dude, so I'd expect the talk to be worthwhile. Get more details here, and here's the when and where and how much:
Bill Ruckelshaus
In a press release from the Obama campaign out this morning, Ruckelshaus states:
"While I have voted for Republicans all of my life, I am voting for Sen. Obama in this election because, when it comes to the future of our country, the stakes are too high.
Senator Obama has a specific plan that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, grow our economy, and tackle climate change. Senator Obama's New Energy for America Plan will invest $150 billion over the next ten years to encourage private efforts to develop clean energy technologies in a clean energy future. Not only is it Obama's intention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, but his plan should create millions of new green jobs."
Ruckelshaus was the first EPA administrators in 1970, and reappointed to the post in 1980. His CV includes a tenure as Deputy Attorney General of the United States during the Nixon administration, acting director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and service in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955.
Just when you were starting to feel like you might be getting a grip on how to reduce your carbon footprint -- more carpooling, combining errands, switching to fluorescent bulbs -- now you might have to cast a skeptical eye toward electronics containing semiconductors and liquid-crystal displays (aka LCDs).
That's because these popular items -- including some TVs, calculators and digital alarm clocks -- use nitrogen trifluoride in their production.
To learn more about this unsung greenhouse gas, check out this story from The New York Times by Richard Morgan.
In stark terms it spells out the threat from nitrogen trifluoride:
...Geophysical Research Letters branded as a "missing greenhouse gas" nitrogen trifluoride, which is used in production of semiconductors and in liquid-crystal displays found in many electronics. According to the report, it causes more global warming than coal-fired plants. Nitrogen trifluoride, which is not one of the six gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol, the celebrated international global warming accord, is about 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Its estimated worldwide release into the atmosphere this year is equivalent to the total global warming emissions from Austria.
Presumptive GOP presidential candidate John McCain has gotten some credit from enviro groups for his green values, including his support of legislation to slow global warming and his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
His running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is significantly less ecologically friendly (let's see, the opposite of green on the color wheel would be umm, red. Huh, 'spose that works!).
Grist was quick out of the gate in summing up Palin's enviro record. The gov:
