MB Civic

MAYBE I’M AMAZONED AT THE WAY I REALLY NEED YOU
Drought could turn Amazon into desert, researchers warn

The Amazon rainforest — soon to be called The Artist Formerly Known as
the Amazon Rainforest, and then just some weird little symbol — appears
to be undergoing a second year of drought, and that has researchers
seriously alarmed. Starting in 2002, scientists at the Woods Hole Research
Center simulated drought on a small section of the Amazon and found that
after two years, the trees began to die, fall, and release more than
two-thirds of their lifetime storage of carbon dioxide. Widespread
desertification of the rainforest would likely spread drought into the
northern hemisphere; the Amazon contains 90 billion tons of CO2, enough to
accelerate global warming by 50 percent, spinning it out of control and
eventually making the world uninhabitable. Computer models predict that
harm to 50 percent of the Amazon would represent a tipping point — after
that, the whole thing starts going down the tubes. Today, about 20 percent
has been totally razed and 22 percent has been harmed by logging. Oy. It’s
only Tuesday and we’re already doomed.

straight to the source: The Independent, Geoffrey Lean and Fred Pearce, 23
Jul 2006 < http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=7367 >

straight to the source: The Independent, Geoffrey Lean, 23 Jul 2006
< http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=7368 >

6.
SOYCOTT
Big soy companies pledge not to source from recently deforested Amazon

Now for some Amazon news that won’t make you want to slit your wrists: Soy
producers operating in Brazil — including U.S. agribiz giants Cargill and
Archer Daniels Midland — announced yesterday that they will put a
two-year stop to buying soybeans grown in recently deforested areas of the
Amazon. They also said they won’t buy soybeans from plantations that use
slave labor. During the moratorium, producers will work with the Brazilian
government and non-governmental organizations to develop new rules for
operating in the Amazon region. An in-depth Greenpeace investigation
published earlier this year found that many businesses sourced their soy
from illegal Amazon plantations. Unnerved by the report, top European
supermarkets, food manufacturers, and fast-food chains began pushing soy
producers to clean up their act, and the soy companies relented.
Greenpeace applauded the moratorium as a good first step, but said better
long-term systems for preserving the Amazon need to be put in place.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 25 Jul 2006
< http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=7373 >

straight to the source: The Mercury News, Associated Press, 25 Jul 2006
< http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=7374 >

straight to the source: BBC News, 24 Jul 2006
< http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=7375 >

straight to the source: The Guardian, Felicity Lawrence and John Vidal, 24
Jul 2006 < http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=7376 >

NASA LAPSO
NASA deletes planet-protecting phrasing from mission statement

The phrase “to understand and protect our home planet” was quietly deleted
from NASA’s mission statement in February; the agency’s mission now is “to
pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and
aeronautics research.” NASA’s 19,000 employees were neither consulted nor
informed ahead of time of the deletion. The planet-protection phrase had
been added to the mission statement in 2002; scientists say it shaped
research priorities, and the deletion will reduce incentive for research
on phenomena like — oh, to pick one at random — climate change. Agency
spokesflack David Steitz said the change reflected President Bush’s goal
of flying people to the moon and Mars. The deleted phrase was oft-repeated
last winter by top NASA climate scientist James Hansen, whose advocacy on
the issue of global warming has famously drawn censorious pressure from
political appointees; Steitz said Hansen’s use of the phrase and its
subsequent disappearance from the mission statement was “pure
coincidence.”

straight to the source: The New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, 22 Jul 2006
< http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=7365 >

see also, in Gristmill: A chat with Andy Revkin about Inhofe’s attack
< http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/7/22/11360/0466?source=daily >

COME FRY WITH ME
Heat wave causing deaths, power outages

North America and Europe are suffering under a sweltering heat wave that’s
caused deaths, widespread irritability, and a powerful thirst. So far,
some 21 deaths are reported in France, two in Spain, and at least 29 in
the U.S. In southern England, they’re facing what may be the worst drought
in a century. On the upside, the U.K. bottled-water industry reports
record high sales. Back on the downside, utility Consolidated Edison chose
this felicitous moment to preside over a massive power outage in Queens,
N.Y. Around 100,000 New Yorkers, normally so soft-spoken and courteous,
are protesting loudly as some reach their seventh day without light,
refrigeration, or AC. Heat-addled minds naturally turn to global warming,
but remember, scientists won’t allow you to say that the heat wave was
caused by global warming. It’s just consistent with global warming. We
expect elderly residents stranded on the upper floors of Queens apartment
buildings with non-functioning elevators will find the distinction
fascinating, just fascinating.

REPS GONE WILD
House approves new wilderness areas in California, Oregon, and Idaho

The U.S. House yesterday unanimously approved bills that would create over
1,000 square miles of new wilderness areas and protect 47 miles of rivers
in California, Oregon, and Idaho. A bill to ban drilling in New Mexico’s
Valle Vidal also passed. All of the bills are compromises hammered out
over several years, involving the disparate interests of business owners,
ranchers, local governments, recreationists, conservationists, and Indian
tribes. The Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Act would protect
more than 277,000 acres as wilderness, and designate about 79,000 acres as
a recreation area for off-road vehicles and mountain bikes. The Oregon
bill would establish 77,200 acres of wilderness in the Mount Hood National
Forest, and the Idaho legislation would create three new wilderness areas
in the mountainous portions of the Sawtooth and Challis national forests,
protecting a total of 315,215 acres. The bills now go to the Senate.

straight to the source: The Mercury News, Associated Press, Matthew Daly,
24 Jul 2006 < http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=7369 >

straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Zachary Coile, 25 Jul
2006 < http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=7370 >

straight to the source: The Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin, 25 Jul 2006
< http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=7372 >