Blogs / Better Planet

If you’re a yellow perch or a walleye, native to the Great Lakes, the last fifty years have been something out of War of the Worlds, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Earth Girls Are Easy et al. Strange alien species fiercer than their American and Canadian counterparts, like the Eurasian ruffe, have been arriving out of nowhere, taking your food, ruining your habitat. If you’re a smallmouth bass, the distinctly unattractive round goby, pictured below, eats your egg nests.   As a result, humans in the area are suffering about $200 million worth of ecological damage every year, a new study says.

This is a matter of ocean vessels accidentally dragging species from far away into the lakes through their ballast water. A big chunk of the estimated annual loss, $123.6 million, comes from the loss of recreational fishing money—those hobbyists love the bass.

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The waves lightly flow to the seawall below my feet. A small harbor is just 200 meters away. Fresh catch is brought to shore each day. That combined with local vegetables, fruits, and spices make for incredible meals. The sun sets late, around 9 pm. And the Cote D’Azur lives up to its name during the day, with the sparkling bright blue sea calling you in for a swim, or, at least, a wade as you gaze at the hills in the distance. Southern France this time of year is beautiful. The trees stand tall and green just a few feet from shore. The flowers bloom. People are happy. Little kids splash about in this relatively tranquil part of the Mediterranean. You can keep the impact low here just by walking, swimming, eating local and enjoying what nature has to offer, which is sea, sun and beauty.To be sure, the giant mega yachts steaming over to Saint Tropez across the bay are disturbing. I saw one yesterday that must have been 200 feet long; perched at its bow was a helicopter. Dozens more from all over the world (as you can tell from the flags that they fly) come to this section of the planet.Nature calls us toward its most provocative and beautiful sites. And we each have our way of enjoying it. But sometimes our flights of fancy are a bit over the top. I’m not sure if there is another place on earth where humans flaunt their wares so extravagantly as here. I’m not going to contemplate the impact of recreational boating, mass tourism, and the extreme waste that is created across the bay from me. There will be time for that in another post.Right now I am more interested in watching and listening to the waves rolling to shore, and wondering why such a simple act of nature can fascinate and hypnotize for hours — calming and calling you in. I now plan to accept the invitation.   

As I set to travel for the 4th (I’ll be blogging from France), it’s worth giving a shout out to CarbonFund.org for offsetting my carbon emissions. If you need to offset (always a last resort, of course) then Carbon Fund is a good choice. It’s a nonprofit and you get to choose from a menu of alternative energy sources or carbon reducing programs in which to invest. Cheap too! 

I’m here in Orlando giving a keynote speech to Disney executives about how we are all connected to the world’s natural resources.

The theme of my speech is putting images with actions, connecting the light switch, if you will, to the polar bears. And Disney is quite a place to speak about images. It’s all about images here: the cast (which is how Disney refers to its employees) are well-trained on all aspects of the resort. The one character they all seem to know is Jiminy Cricket. He’s the character Disney uses to speak about green initiatives throughout the Disney family, and I must say all the family members seem to be interested in what he has to say, whether it’s the volatile organic compounds found in paint (Disney avoids VOCs in paint for this reason), to the sustainability of vegetation in the Animal Kingdom, or to the new type of fireworks the company is looking into to replace its iconic show each evening over the Magic Castle. There is a general sense of wanting to do more good.

Still, the biggest talk is about the baby elephant about to be born. After almost two years, his mother (it’s a boy) is ready–any minute now–to give birth.

It also jibes with the big question that kept being put to me on how to better engage children in environmental issues. To me, that’s easy. Children are already engaged. They want to learn more about animals and nature. They are naturally curious. So the opportunity for Disney to provide even better information about the environment to kids is huge.

I hope they continue to improve their programs and highlight environmental friendliness. By the looks of it they will. But certain things get in the way. The city of Orlando, my hybrid taxi driver tells me, has banned the use of Prius’s as vehicles for hire. The cars, he explained, don’t fit the luxury image the city believes it should portray to visitors.

Disney, with 60,000 employees at Disney World alone is by far Orlando’s biggest employer. I ask them to complain. I plan to. And if you live there, you should too.

Since when does the government get to arbitrarily define what luxury is?

Luxury, as my speech explains, is the opportunity nature affords us to live off its resources. It doesn’t mean excess, even though many, tragically, believe that is how it should be defined.

Cryptosporidium is a microscopic organism that has been found in surface waters across the United States. Water treatment plants are capable of removing these organisms, but 100% elimination cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, my local water district admits, “a very slight chance of contracting the organism remains.” Further, it says, “Cryptosporidium need not be a concern for healthy people; however, others may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water. Immuno-compromised persons such as cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, individuals who have undergone organ transplants, those with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders, some elderly and infants can particularly be at risk from infections.”

Avoiding tap water is a difficult thing to do. Turning to bottled water isn’t the be-all solution either: approximately 25% of all bottled water comes from municipal sources; in other words, it’s tap too.  

Not to be an alarmist, but this is valuable information for sick people, the elderly, and parents. I received notice of the cryptosporidium issue from my district’s annual Water Quality Report, which I read cover to cover.

The solution for people most susceptible to infection from the organisms is to contact their health provider about drinking water. The USEPA/Centers for Disease Control offers a Safe Drinking Water Hotline: 800-426-4791, and website: www.epa.gov/safewater/dwhealth.html

This time of year, when it’s hot, hot, hot outside and our water use increases, we should be aware of its hazards. Moreover, it’s a reminder that our Clean Water Act needs to be updated. It was passed in 1972 and has only been weakened by lawmakers since.  

Given all the attention my last blog post on rotten tomatoes and climate change received (thanks, mostly, to the front page position The Drudge Report gave it), I’ve been asked to chime in on the subject again.

First , let me just give the prequel: Last month Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, director of the Institute of Science in Society, warns that further indulgence in GMOs will severely damage our chances of surviving the food crisis and global warming; organic agriculture and localized food systems are the way forward.

Cut to the continuing concern over salmonella in tomatoes that has sickened at least 383 people and remains a mystery.

Then, read Timothy J. LaSalle’s (CEO of the Rodale Institute) post today on Treehugger:

“While many have been fed through advances in modern agriculture that increases yields with petroleum-based fertilizer and toxic chemical pesticides, many have been harmed. In a recent report the World Bank said that overuse of chemical pesticides in developing countries contributes to costly health problems and questioned whether the risks of using pesticides outweighed the benefits. Additionally, excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizer has a significant negative impact on global warming, due to agriculture’s contribution of non-carbon dioxide emissions. Chemical fertilizer use for the past 50 years has produced a huge greenhouse gas burden through its manufacturing, transport and routine escape into the atmosphere from agricultural fields. Additionally chemical runoff has polluted our waterways.”

GMOS, or God-modified organisms as I like to call them, won’t change the world for the better. They only have the potential to retard it further. Climate change (yes, my preferred term to the reader who asked), has produced enough problems. We shouldn’t be trying to solve man-made disaster with artificial ingredients for more. 

We need to let nature get back to business and step kindly out of the way.    

The tomato scare that has sickened 170 people and is the worst food scare since the E. coli/spinach outbreak is being blamed by some environmental activists on climate change and the need for more food grown with the help of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

I was interviewing a board member of Food and Water Watch for a feature I am writing, and he positioned the scare as an eco outbreak because with less space to farm, more droughts, and higher costs, GMOs are the logical choice for farmers who want quick crops from less land.

For the record the source of the tomato infection hasn’t been determined. The FDA hasn’t narrowed its search. But this time of year the most common varieties are red round, red Roma, and red plum tomatoes. They are most likely grown in Florida or Mexico. The agency admits U.S. consumer demand to eat fresh fruits and vegetables year-round has made its job a lot more difficult. And concedes it needs more inspectors overseas. See a good take on this from the San Jose Mercury News here.

Anyway, the source of the E. coli in spinach turned out to be feces on the hoofs of wild boars that traipsed through spinach plants.

The source of tomato infections may turn out to be something as naturally errant as that. But with less room and climate change affecting crops, another outbreak is sure to come. GMO strands can only serve to exacerbate the spread.

So it’s definitely worth watching where your food and water comes from. And know their source.

A great new site has been launched by my friends across the pond at the UK-based Ethical Corp. Check it out: climatechangecorp.com

Meanwhile, Ethical Corp. itself has an intriguing piece on the soya biz in Latin and South America: Soya, Latin America’s “miracle crop”, is literally changing the landscape of the region. The area of land given to soya fields has more than doubled in the past decade in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia. Demand is projected to grow a further 60 per cent over the next 20 years…

Read it here:  Soya – A sustainable miracle?

The answer to that question isn’t easy. There are myriad issues, both positive and negative, to be considered. Like many environmental issues, “it’s complicated.”
 

Last year much was made out of Apple’s seemingly lacking commitment to the environment. Greenpeace asked “How Green is that iPhone” and claimed the device contained hazardous chemicals. Countering that point, Steve Jobs posted an announcement on Apple’s corporate web site saying “Apple has been criticized by some environmental organizations for not being a leader in removing toxic chemicals from its new products, and for not aggressively or properly recycling its old products. Upon investigating Apple’s current practices and progress towards these goals, I was surprised to learn that in many cases Apple is ahead of, or will soon be ahead of, most of its competitors in these areas. Whatever other improvements we need to make, it is certainly clear that we have failed to communicate the things that we are doing well.”

Yesterday, perhaps the biggest technology announcement of the year was made by Jobs: the new iPhone will be available July 11th for half the price it sold at last year.

So you’d think this would be an opportune moment to also show off Apple’s new commitment to the environment. Nothing was said in the much ballyhooed keynote speech Job gave for the new iPhone, a speech heard round the world via online video and that made the front pages of many of the nation’s newspapers, not to mention the “everywhere on the Internet status” it quickly achieved. So I emailed and called Apple’s public relations office. A spokesman who is responsible for all of Apple’s environmental initiatives said she didn’t know whether the new iPhone meets the “Green Apple” standards set last year.

Huh? 

Her reasoning: “It’s not out yet.” Ah, Earth to Apple: When a product is on shelves it’s too late to do anything about its environmental impact. The price is known. It’s tech specs known. Even which countries the new iPhone will operate in are listed. But its eco impact isn’t even given a thought by the person responsible for making its environmental friendliness known?

Dear Apple, you have a responsibility to live up to your name and where said thing comes from: Nature. You’re a progressive, hip company. People care about the environment these days. Get with it. Sure price is important in your sales, so are the advancements and capabilities of the new iPhone.

But so too is the planet.

Yes folks there is another day dedicated to the environment besides Earth Day (actually there are even two Earth Days) and today is it: World Environment Day 

To celebrate, Republicans in Congress forced aides to read aloud the entire manuscript of the Climate Security Act, which is something like 500 pages long, to thwart debate on the topic of climate change. What a mature way to begin the process of enacting laws that will seriously affect the way we all live.

Meanwhile, other groups, businesses, and those who like big “Days” have events scattered about to highlight the need for carbon dioxide emission reduction and environmental legislation. I, of course, embrace all these measures for the big reason (and the name of this blog): a better planet. But I also kinda want environmental measures to kick in so we can stop holding so many “days” in honor of the planet. The planet, now this is going to sound soft, should be honored everyday by what we do. We need to work to preserve, not keep stopping work to yap about it.

For the background of WED, check this explanation by the United Nations out. Now can we please stop talking, celebrating, honoring and go back to work so we can actually get things done?