While there’s little doubt the economy will be the defining issue in this election, the candidates’ positions on environmental issues can’t be downplayed (after all, what good are $700 billion bailouts if our coastlines are underwater). With the goal of keeping the environment front and center during this election season, best-selling author and DISCOVER contributor Thomas Kostigen put five questions to the two candidates, on topics including climate change, the dwindling water supply, hazardous waste, alt-energy investments, and the private sector’s role in contributing to the clean-up.
As you may recall, both Obama and McCain recently answered 14 questions on science policy from ScienceDebate 2008. While the Obama camp’s answers concerning climate change and alt-energy investments are largely consistent with what ScienceDebate received, this time he includes more detail, including his plans for allocation of the revenue generated by cap-and-trade auctions as well as his proposal to create a $10 billion venture capital fund to bolster clean technology development.
Similarly, McCain’s responses on energy and global warming echo what he told ScienceDebate, including his pledge to instate permanent alt-energy tax breaks (a promise that Obama makes as well) and a vow to “lead by example” in the “greening of the federal government.”
Questions to Barack Obama
TK: Ensuring an adequate water supply is a huge issue, arguably a bigger challenge than energy. Recent estimates say we are going to have to increase our supply of freshwater by 20 percent in the next 20 years to meet world demand. Two-thirds of the world’s population will experience water shortages by 2025. Meanwhile, the Clean Water Act hasn’t been updated since 1972. What plans do you have for addressing the freshwater issue?
(more…)
• Congratulations to Andy Revkin, New York Times reporter and DISCOVER alum, on winning the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, which is given to journalists who provide excellent reporting on “stories that simmer instead of explode”—though whether global warming falls into the former category or the latter remains to be seen.
• DrugMonkey sounds off on the “broken” NIH grant review system.
• The National Institute of Mental Health calls off a study on chelation in children. Why? Because it was dangerous and “unethical.” No kidding.
• We here in Mother Russia do not like silly American “Google.”
• Is media sensationalism a product of evolution?
• No politician is safe! An activist group hacks into Sarah Palin’s personal e-mail account, leaving McCain grateful that he doesn’t know how to use the Internet.
• Which scientific experts should the next U.S. president appoint to guide him? The National Academy of Sciences has a few ideas—and they’re happy to share.
• M.I.T.’s president calls for a major R&D funding increase for alternative energy; the world (hopefully) listens.
• Newsflash: Doctors admit to sometimes acting unprofessional. Good thing they’re only laughing at you while you’re anesthetized, and not handing you prescriptions for a drug they’ve been paid to endorse… oh, wait, never mind.
• Ed Brayton summarizes McCain’s “sex ed-gate” mess.
• And Gristmill offers a breakdown of the “Palin v. Palin” climate change message.
• The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund has its say on aerial wolf hunting.
(more…)
• Reading a teleprompter with gusto doesn’t mean you know jack about science (or anything else, for that matter).
• Counterpoint: Biden on the environment.
• What’s really going on in the North Pole?
• And while we’re on the topic, just how much of a sea level rise can we expect in the near future?
• The neuroscience of Zen Buddhist meditation, a.k.a. “How to get through an entire McCain speech without committing seppuku.”
• Finally, this has been all over the Internet—and now, including here:
Irony, meet paradox. The U.S. military, that paragon of technology-aided destruction, is setting its sights on environmental sustainability. Which isn’t a bad idea, given that the Defense Department alone uses a whopping 1.5 percent of all energy consumed in the U.S. (which, until recently, was the world’s single biggest emitter of greenhouse gases).
The Environmental News Network reports that the Army has begun working to reduce the carbon footprint at its bases, and is taking measures to cut its CO2 emissions by 30 percent by 2015. Its efforts include spraying troops’ tents with foam insulation to reduce energy used for air conditioning (which, in places like Djibouti, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, can be a significant power-drain) and building combat training ranges out of recycled shipping containers.
(more…)
In the midst of a food crisis, with grocery prices spiraling upwards across the globe, there’s nothing worse than hearing that every day, a massive amount of food gets tossed in the trash.
But since we’re not here to obscure reality as an excuse to make everyone feel better, here’s the truth: According to a new report by the Stockholm International Water Institute, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and the International Water Management Institute, about half of all the food produced worldwide goes to waste. The report states that the amount of food we produce is more than enough to feed the world’s population, but between our inefficient (or nonexistent) distribution systems and our ridiculous practice of tossing out perfectly good food, a big chunk of humanity goes hungry while another eats itself into an epidemic.
More depressing highlights:
(more…)
Last week we discussed the “heavy greening” efforts touted by planners behind both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. So how are the ultra-environmentally-friendly efforts in Denver faring so far? Here’s a report from Playboy.com blogger Carol Keeley on the bag of freebies presented to all credentialed journalists:
The media swag bag was surreal. Examples: a flat white plastic UPS truck that contains mints; an AT&T DNC ringtone gift card; a shitload of advertising for all things green, using shameless quantities of paper and plastic; a card with an embedded radio; Joint Juice; a metal pin of a bicycle advertising a phone company; a metal pin of a windmill; a plantable card; a card announcing that Coca-Cola is the Official Recycling Provider at the Pepsi Center; a plastic water bottle; and Dale Carnegie’s Golden Book, which includes his bio plus tips from How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Et tu, DNC committee?
• Are Olympic cheaters slipping through the cracks?
• Turns out it’s not just the uninsured who are getting screwed by medical bills: Those with insurance are under water as well.
• Dear presidential candidates: No matter which of you wins, you’ll be receiving a $9 billion bill for global warming. Please pay accordingly.
• Do degenerating brain cells make us hungrier (and thus fatter) as we age?
(more…)
The 2008 conventions are fast approaching, and the host cities—Denver for Democrats followed by Minneapolis/St. Paul for the RNC—are bracing themselves for the mass influx of reporters, supporters, and political insiders. Which leads to the inevitable question: What is each party doing to keep the events environmentally conscious?
For its part, the RNC has sprung into action to keep its energy use and waste to a minimum. The St. Paul Pioneer Press via Politico reports that their efforts will include the following:
[H]ybrid electric trucks delivering soft drinks to the Xcel Energy Center. Almost 300 containers for used cans, bottles, paper and all other things recyclable. A thousand bicycles available for convention-goers to get around the Twin Cities. Recycled desk chairs, cubicles and carpeting. Even 45,000 biodegradable discount cards for visitors.
(more…)
• The Olympics are here! We may not miss a chance to knock China’s political regime, but we’re more than happy to make money on the games—and discuss the smog problem ad nauseum.
• Americans aren’t the only casualty of a shrinking federal budget: Facing lack of funds, the National Center for Atmospheric Research shut down a program focused on helping poor countries forecast and deal with droughts, floods, and other climate-related disasters.
• The latest in obesity research technology: virtual reality studies.
• Researchers have created ten different stem cell lines that can be used for research on diseases from Down’s syndrome to Parkinson’s. And any protesters can relax: They’re all adult stem cells.
(more…)
Concern for global warming is often portrayed as a “rich” problem, accompanied by images of moguls throwing pricey fund raisers and Hollywood stars trading in their Hummers to ease their eco-conscience while the poor worry about corn prices and drought. It’s true that richer countries have plenty of cause to be penitent: The average American’s annual carbon footprint — 20.4 tons — is about 2,000 times that of a citizen of Chad. But a new study in The Sociological Quarterly found that citizens of poorer nations are in fact just as concerned about the environment as their wealthier counterparts.
The study, authored by Riley E. Dunlap of Oklahoma State University and Richard York of the University of Oregon, consisted of a comparison of four large cross-national surveys that were conducted in nations ranging from very poor to very wealthy. The surveys included a representative sample of citizens from each nation.
The authors found that citizens of poorer nations were equally if not more worried about the environment than people in wealthier countries, and were highly supportive of efforts to solve environmental problems.
(more…)
Not that we needed more incentive to stop global warming, but it looks like it’s on its way towards putting a big dent in our economy. A new set of reports from the University of Maryland’s Center for Integrative Environmental Research has found that climate change will mean heavy monetary costs for individual states, often in the billions of dollars. Even more good news: In some regions, these costs have already begun to accrue. The studies are being released today at the legislative summit of the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) in New Orleans.
Here are a few of the highlights:
— Colorado: More than $1 billion in losses due to impacts on tourism, forestry, water resources and human health from a predicted drier, warmer climate.
— Illinois: Billions of dollars in losses from impact on shipping, trade and water resources. Warmer temperatures and lower water levels predicted for much of the state.
(more…)
Last Friday brought a double-whammy for clean air activists. Not only did the EPA announce its decision to do precisely nothing to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act (a move that surprised few) but a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled that the agency lacked the authority to establish and enforce a landmark cap-and-trade regulation for air pollution.
The shot-down regulation, called the Clean Air Interstate Rule, was ironically the most aggressive move the Bush Administration has taken to clean up the air. It called for a drastic decrease in East Coast air pollution—up to a 70 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by 2025—by cleaning up coal-fired power plants in Midwestern states, and had even gained backing from a sizable number of power companies.
But alas, the court unanimously struck down the rule, holding that “[n]o amount of tinkering with the rule or revising of the explanations” would make it “acceptable.”
(more…)
On Fridays here at Reality Base, we’ll bring you a summary of the latest in science and politics news and opinion from around the Web.
• The G8 summit started out strong, but the end results were tepid at best. Still, a little good may have come of it.
• Are ration books next? The British government urges Brits to cut back on food waste and eat more leftovers.
• The awesome (and frightening) power of Photoshop: With a single doctored photo, Iran alters missiles, fears, international perceptions.
(more…)
Following the Bush Administration’s authorizing oil companies to “annoy and potentially harm” polar bears in order search for oil and natural gas, two conservation groups have struck back, suing the government for violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the law intended to protect the bears and their habitat.
The suit was filed in an Alaskan federal court by the Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Environment, an environmental action group that hasn’t been shy about suing Big Oil in the past. This time, the named defendants are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. In an interesting twist, Fish and Wildlife spokesman Bruce Woods offered a spin on why letting oil companies tear up Alaskan wilderness is actually good for the animals there:
(more…)
