Thursday, 12 Dec 2002

Texan's Chainsaw Massacre

Disregarding opposition in both houses of Congress, President Bush announced a plan yesterday to expedite the cutting of trees and brush in national forests by streamlining environmental reviews and judicial oversight. Bush says the plan will help reduce fire danger, but critics say last summer's wildfires merely provided the pretext for permitting more logging on public lands, including commercially valuable old-growth trees. The proposed plan would reduce the ability of opponents to delay logging projects and would decrease the amount of environmental impact information needed to approve clear-cutting projects -- in some cases, from 200 pages to as little as one page. Environmentalists strongly criticized the plan as another example of Bush sacrificing the environment as a favor to industries that are major Republican donors. The plan, which applies to 10 national forests, will take effect after a 30-day public comment period.

Pennsive

Pennsylvania occupies an unfortunate but indisputable position in the Environmental Hall of Shame. The state ranks number one in the nation in combined sewer overflows, where raw sewage is dumped into streams, rivers, and wells when rain hits; has the fifth-highest rate of sprawl; is home to the two largest mercury polluters; produces more greenhouse gases than 83 countries; and experiences rainfall 100 times more acidic than clean rain. No doubt then, that the environmental group Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future has its work cut out for it. This week's Dear Me features diary entries from the organization's president, John Hanger, who muses on the impact of asthma on young people, the state's incoming and outgoing elected officials, scandals at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Quality, and more. Check out a week in the life of a Keystone Stater, only on the Grist Magazine website.

Share the Magic

If you have a little money squirreled away somewhere, maybe it's time to take out stock in ... an auto company. Thanks to a dedicated coalition of environmentalists who did just that, both General Motors and Ford Motors will be voting on global warming resolutions at their next shareholders meetings. Shareholder resolutions like the ones that will be considered by the car companies have been promoted by the Center for Environmentally Responsible Economies. CERES seeks to foster environmental accountability in U.S. businesses and believes that the failure to develop responsible global warming policies creates a huge potential for financial liability and amounts to abuse of shareholder trust. GM and Ford -- the world's largest automakers -- will mail out statements regarding shareholder resolutions in the spring, and votes will take place in May and June.

Safe at Home?

Hotel bombings in Bali, deep unrest in the Middle East, the specter of war with Iraq -- is the world starting to feel like a reckless and unsafe place? In this month's Global Citizen, columnist Elizabeth Sawin calls forth our vulnerability, while calling on us to be mindful of the distinction between those vulnerabilities that we cannot control -- natural disasters large and small -- and those we can, such as violence and environmental destruction. We are constrained but not powerless, she says, and it's time to start exercising that power. Take a break from the bleak, only on the Grist Magazine website.

Water We Thinking?

The U.S. has earned the dubious distinction of being the most wasteful user of water in the world, according to the first-ever Water Poverty Index. Developed by a team of British researchers, the index ranked 147 countries according to water resources, access, capacity, use, and environmental impact. The U.S., which has the highest per capita water use in the world, ranked 32nd overall, but last in efficiency. The nations that fared best were a mix of developed and developing countries, with Finland topping the list, followed by Canada, Iceland, Norway, Guyana, Suriname, Austria, Ireland, Sweden, and Switzerland. By contrast, the worst-ranking nations were all from the developing world: Haiti, Niger, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Malawi, Djibouti, Chad, Benin, Rwanda, and Burundi. Some of the issues raised by the index will be discussed at the World Water Forum, scheduled to be held in Japan next March.