Monday, 11 Feb 2002

An Ocean in Iowa

Forget that image of pretty pastoral farmhouses dotting the rural U.S. landscape: The reality is that farms are responsible for an ever-increasing amount of pollution that poses a significant threat to rivers, the ocean, and wildlife. A recent study by the Pew Oceans Commission found that fertilizer runoff and livestock feedlots were among the fastest growing sources of ocean pollution, even though many of the largest farms are concentrated in states thousands of miles away from the nearest ocean. (One of the worst offending states is Iowa, which has no national parks or forests, but plenty of mega-farms.) Concern about pollution from farming has added extra fuel to the debate over the farm bill, a 10-year, $171 billion package that includes proposals to reduce water pollution, protect wetlands, encourage farmers to practice conservation, and limit the verrry generous subsidies that mega-farms currently enjoy.

Winding Down?

What is the world coming to? Denmark, that model of eco-friendliness, announced last week that it would prioritize financial competitiveness over environmental sensitivity -- and that, as a result, it would stop subsidizing the installation of new wind turbines beginning in 2004. Economy Minister Bendt Bendtsen said electricity generated by wind turbines was too expensive and compromised the position of Danish firms in the world market. Earlier Danish governments -- the new one is center-right, apparently with an emphasis on right -- were wind advocates; thanks to them, the tiny country has the world's fourth-largest wind turbine capacity, and renewable energy sources will generate 27 percent of the nation's electricity by 2003. After that, though, it's anyone's guess.

Not Sharky's Day

The cruel practice of shark-finning -- in which the fins are sliced off of living sharks to make soup -- has found its way into the heavily protected waters of Egypt's Red Sea. The discovery of illegal shark-fin fishing in the region has alarmed both environmentalist and tourism operators in the region. Underwater tourism in the Red Sea is a multi-million dollar industry, and every shark is estimated to be worth as much as $10,000 in income brought in by tourists. Trouble is, shark fins fetch a substantial wad of cash, too -- as much as several thousand dollars per fin, which makes eliminating the trade difficult.

Chesa-piqued

Saying that chemical contamination in the city's water supply led to miscarriages and infant deaths, 25 women have sued Chesapeake, Va., and almost 170 more plan to do so. According to a growing number of studies, the chlorine commonly used to purify drinking water can cause birth defects and miscarriages when it mixes with organic matter, such as fertilizer in surface water. In what has become a test case for the nation, the Chesapeake women are arguing that the city did not adequately warn them when toxins in their tap water reached harmful proportions -- sometimes almost 10 times higher than established danger levels. The women are seeking nearly $1 billion in damage, but chemical and water industry reps say there is no conclusive evidence that chemicals in tap water damage fetal development.

Love Birds?

It's tough to be a po'ouli as Valentine's Day approaches. Actually, it's tough to be a po'ouli on any day. Scientists are doing their darnedest to save the extraordinarily rare Hawaiian honeycreeper from extinction -- and right now, that means matchmaking. A team of biologists has outfitted the one known male po'ouli with a tiny radio transmitter and hopes to track him and bring one of just two known females of the species into his terrain. The plan is considered a long shot -- even if the birds are caught and introduced, there's no guarantee they'll hit it off enough to reproduce -- but it may be the last hope for what is thought to be the rarest bird in the world. Some say the species is too rare to bother trying to save, but others point to success stories like the revival of the Mauritius kestrel, a species with only four members in 1974 and as many as 600 today.