Uncategorized

Explosion at Texas plastics plant just the latest in a record of malfeasance

For being the self-proclaimed "Jewel of the Texas Gulf Coast," Formosa Plastics isn't doing so hot. Lucky for us, Hurricane Rita, initially packing 185 mph winds and headed straight for Formosa's ill-prepared and sprawling 1,800-acre PVC plant in Point Comfort, Texas, decided to turn north at the last minute. Formosa dodged a bullet.

No bullet-dodging last week: On October 6, at 3:30pm and after 30 minutes of obnoxious chemical fumes that drove Point Comfort citizens into the streets to wonder what ill wind was blowing their way, Formosa Plastics blew, sending a Nagasaki-style mushroom cloud and three, four, and five explosions thundering over the blistering Texas landscape. Formosa Plastics and neighboring Alcoa plant workers ran for their lives, many throwing themselves into nearby Lavaca Bay, host to one of the nation's largest underwater mercury Superfund sites. But for those workers, the mercury was the lesser of two evils. The worst was Formosa's explosion, which sent 11 workers to the hospital, two with serious burns.

The Senate ag chairman balks at Bush’s subsidy-cut hints

Yesterday, I reported that top Bush administration officials have been openly discussing deep cuts in farm commodity subsidies. But the program, a $14.5 billion per year cash cow, is also a sacred cow.

Farm-state politicians, and the agribusiness giants that love them, speciously portray farm subsidies as a "safety net for the family farm." In reality, the program helps push commodity prices down -- and arguably helps drive farms out of business. In 1935, around the time the program started, there were 7 million farms in the U.S. By 1997, the USDA reports, only 1.9 million remained. Some safety net.

Well yesterday, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R.-Ga.), a man who reveres the free market so long as it doesn't impede his state's beloved cotton trade, lashed back.

ABC’s Boston Legal tackles issue of fish farms

The Late Show with David Letterman was not the only television program last night to expose enviro themes to the late night crowd. Over on Boston Legal, something fishy was going on (and I'm not talking about their usual shenanigans).

Normally, I wouldn't watch the show, but I got a tip from a reliable source that it might be worthwhile last night. So after returning from a night of Green Drinks and dinner, I plopped down on the couch and hit play on my VCR. In short, I was pleasantly surprised.

Now, I had thought Boston Legal was one of those legal shows where a defendant chopped up his spouse and fed her to his pet tiger ... and the defense team knows he's guilty, but champions the case anyway ... and the lead attorney sleeps with him ... and the tiger escapes in court ... blah, blah, blah. I don't know about you, but I've had enough of reality shows. I prefer fantasy myself, which is why I tune in to The West Wing. Ah, if only ...

But I digress ... Boston Legal ... here's the synopsis of last night's episode:

Reeling over his break-up with Tara, Alan Shore [played by James Spader] heads to Nimmo Bay in British Columbia with Denny Crane [played by William Shatner] for some fly fishing and male bonding in an effort to cure his pain. When they learn that the salmon population is being threatened by sea lice produced by fish farms, Shore and Crane feel compelled to act.

Yes, you read that right. The Emmy Award-winning show tackled fish farming during primetime TV. And it was funny.

Lucky Stiff

Asian men turning to Viagra over traditional animal cures for impotence Far East penises are getting an assist from the pharmaceutical industry, and that’s good news for the seahorses, green […]

Beyond a Reasonable Drought

Massive Amazon drought may be linked to warm Atlantic waters With the Amazon rainforest suffering its worst drought in a half-century, Brazil has declared a state of emergency in the […]

No Justice, No Peas

Sustainably grown food still the province of the wealthy The sustainable-food movement has a class problem. While lower-income rural and inner-city residents eat over-processed, nutrient-light food — and grow obese […]

Energy efficiency resources for business

I should have done this several days ago, but better late than never:

Check out Joel Makower's excellent list of resources for businesses looking to save (or make) some money through energy efficiency. As he says:

Energy efficiency (the more business-like alternative to "conservation") has a strong foundation in a bottom-line-centric world. And there are rich resources -- case studies, how-to manuals, calculators, incentive programs, technical assistance agencies, and more -- to help companies manage the process. There's also a sizeable industry that's grown up around helping companies audit, assess, implement, and finance energy-efficiency solutions.

And yet, we've barely begun to harvest the low-hanging fruit, let alone sow the seeds of an economy that can continue to grow and prosper using continually less energy from oil and other polluting resources.

Get to it!

French SUV-haters deflate gas-guzzling tires

Most every cyclist who's rolled alongside cars for any amount of time knows the feeling, the one that makes you pump your fist at that driver who nearly ran you over, or that one whose tailpipe is emptying its contents into your face, or the one who's emissions are melting that glacier you liked so much (anger rising, rising). It's this sort of frustration that makes regular bicycle commuters and eco-conscious citizens of all stripes regularly curse outright at aggressive, too-large-vehicle drivers: "you just wait. You'll get yours."

Now some activists in France are dishing out those just desserts to a growing number of SUV drivers in wealthy neighborhoods in the form of empty, but undamaged, tires. The Deflators (or Les Degonfles), a group of French SUV-dislikers tired of the massive vehicles clogging Paris' streets, have been quietly deflating SUV tires in the dark of night. Repeatedly.

And without damaging the vehicles, it's essentially just setting free the air within, they argue, but with amusing side effects.

It's not all late-night pranks, though. Their masked leader has braved a televised debate with the president of the French SUV-owners' association and is apparently working on some sort of a movement anthem, set to appear as both a children's song and a dance mix (oh, those savvy French).

Though The Deflators, who also often post fliers and smear mud on the targeted vehicles, have been in touch with sympathizers and potential deflators on this side of the Atlantic, it seems the mischievous Parisians have much less cultural inertia to overcome than their American counterparts in their quest to spread the message that SUVs sucketh throughout the land, what with openly SUV-hostile city officials and a national SUV-owner tax. Also, SUVs in France, according to the Los Angeles Times, make up only about five percent of the market, whereas Americans would be up to their eyeballs in potential deflationary targets, with SUVs comprising about one-quarter of its market.

Of course, that doesn't mean SUV deflations are a bad idea in America, just a lot of work ...

Defeat from the jaws of victory

Call it environmentalism, Bush style. A new federal tax credit will help allay the extra cost of purchasing hybrid vehicles, but the Byzantine formula for calculating the savings provides greater financial incentives for buying heavy SUVs than more fuel-efficient cars.

Read the rest at Wired.

(Via TP.)

Pharmaceuticals may be saving species

You may have heard that measurable levels of pharmaceuticals have been turning up in water supplies, causing concern about the potential effects on wildlife. But did you hear that they may also help preserve endangered species?

As noted today on Green Media, a recent study shows that, in China at least, widespread availability of Viagra-type drugs has decreased the demand for endangered animal body parts used to treat erectile dysfunction in traditional Chinese medicine. In all, the study names eight animals that stand to benefit from this trend, including seals and green sea turtles.

Sadly, tigers and rhinos are not on the list, because their body parts are used in the treatment of many, many other ailments.

Clearly Pfizer needs to come out with pills to address these other disorders, so that other endangered species can be saved as well. Maybe they could combine effects into one pill, depending on which animals' parts are usually used:

Got arthritis? Suffer from insomnia? Ulcers, rheumatism, epilepsy, hemorrhoids, skin disease? Tooth ache, fever, acne? Alcoholic? Try our little orange-and-black striped pill! It's grrrreat!