A Particular Particulate Effect

Global Missions, Admissions, Emissions, and Omissions

Embattled and Empowered Butterflies

A Regressive or Progressive Industry?

New Clean Coal

A Particular Particulate Effect

We are all aware of the negative impact of air pollution on the environment; global warming, low air quality, acid rain, and ozone depletion are all products of our actions. Now an international research team based at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography is finding evidence of another detrimental impact of air pollution. Gathering data from the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX), the researchers believe that minute aerosols such as sulfates, nitrates, organic particles, fly ash, and mineral dust produced by fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning is weakening the planet's hydrological cycle. In short, the increase in these airborne particles is significantly reducing the amount of solar energy reaching the surface. Over a large area of Asia, for example, INDOEX data indicated a three-fold decrease in radiation reaching the surface. Chief among the potential environmental consequences is a disruption of the planet's hydrological cycle. Reduced solar radiation decreases evaporation from the oceans, disrupting the replenishment of our already fragile and overextended water resources. What is more, although aerosol pollution seems to reduce surface heating, it does not necessarily counteract global warming because it facilitates atmospheric heating. The work of the Scripps team demonstrates that more effort must be made to inventory aerosols in the atmosphere and that aerosol pollution must be factored into regional and climatic models. Additionally, the researchers note that aerosol pollution should not only be associated with industrial areas; rural populations that burn biomass are also significant sources of pollution not to be overlooked.

Visit:

Scripps Institute of Oceanography

http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/releases2001/indoex_water.html

Indian Ocean Experiment

http://www-indoex.ucsd.edu/

Center for Clouds, Chemistry, and Climate

http://www-c4.ucsd.edu/

Global Missions, Admissions, Emissions, and Omissions

The politics of global warming would appear to be as complex as its physics and chemistry. After much hard talking, agreement by many of the world's nationsÑincluding Russia, Japan and European Union countriesÑon how to implement the recommendations of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on Global Warming was finally reached in Morocco this November. Hopefully, with ratification in each country coming soon, a concerted, coordinated international effort to fight global warming may get underway in 2002. Ironically, the agreement lacks one major player, the United States. Without the backing of the planet's biggest polluter, it is hard to see how any international agreement can be truly meaningful. Arguing that the Kyoto Protocol damages the U.S. economy, the Bush administration is unlikely to change its position as that economy weakens, while focus on Osama Bin Laden also allows the U.S. to conveniently sweep the issue under an Afghan rug. And all this is happening as the U.S. Department of Energy announces that carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. grew by 3.1% in the year 2000 to 1,583 million tons of carbon equivalentÑone of the biggest increases in a decade. This may be news to warm the atmosphere, but it does not warm the hearts of environmentalists. It certainly does makes one wonder just how successful any implementation of Kyoto can be without U.S. cooperation. Meanwhile, other news underscores the problem. According to Greenpeace, Africa's highest peak, Kilimanjaro, will be free of permanent snow by 2015, exemplifying the reality of global warming, and reminding us that as snow around the globe diminishes, water resources are further compromised.

Visit:

Greenpeace

http://www.greenpeace.org/~climate/climatecountdown/index.htm

DOE -- Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center

http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/home.html

Environmental News Network (ENN)

http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/11/11122001/
reu_warming_45544.asp

http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/11/11122001/
reu_carbon_45543.asp

Embattled and Empowered Butterflies

A new study published in the journal Nature tells of significant declines in the populations of British butterflies. A research team from the University of Leeds observed 46 butterfly species, recording population decline in over 75% of them over the past three decades, at rates much faster than previously understood. This is also occurring at a time when the ameliorating climate conditions would suggest butterfly populations should be increasing. The researchers identify the cause as being the steady loss of habitat resulting from development and changes in agricultural practices. The problem is compounded by the fact that shifts in climate are also displacing butterfly populations that then find there is essentially no suitable habitat to move into. Chris Thomas, head of the Leeds research team, fears some species could be driven to extinction. Further, he suggests that what is happening in Britain is occurring throughout Europe, and not only to butterflies but to other animal, bird, and insect species, all of which are experiencing loss of habitat. Across the Atlantic in Mexico there is some more promising butterfly news. More focused efforts by the Mexican government and increased public awareness seem to be having a beneficial effect on the Monarch butterfly. Observations suggest that stronger enforcement of logging regulations in the Sierra Chincua sanctuary and efforts at reforestation are resulting in more and larger Monarch colonies migrating to the region this winter. In a country where conservation is still very much in its infancy, the success of Monarch protection could do much to raise public consciousness of the need for conservation.

Visit:

Nature -- Rapid responses of British butterflies to opposing forces of climate and habitat change

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v414/
n6859/abs/414065a0_fs.html

Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary Foundation

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/sm/aboutmbsf.html

Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary -- Michoacan, Mexico

http://www.incomich.net/lapolvilla/monarch.htm

Save the Monarch Butterfly

http://www.environmentalaction.net/monarch

A Regressive or Progressive Industry?

Computers and related equipment seem to become obsolete almost as soon as you have unpacked them. New and improved models are constantly appearing; consequently, the old models are being tossed aside. Ultimately, the equipment gets dumped and this means (in the U.S., at least) waste and pollution. Surprisingly, for an industry that seems so progressive, big name U.S. computer manufacturers and U.S. laws are not very attentive to clean production, recycling, and safe computer disposal. In Europe and Japan regulations demand computer companies "take back" old equipment, develop recyclable products, and reduce use of some very toxic substances used in production. Despite adhering to these standards abroad, American companies do little domestically to promote environmentally friendly products and recycling. Indeed, according to the most recent Computer Report Card released annually by an alliance of groups including the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and the Grassroots Recycling Network, U.S. computer companies consistently have the poorest environmental standards, and there are currently few policy initiatives in the U.S. to demand higher standards. As a result, those old monitors, printers, and hard drives wind up in dumps where toxics such as lead and brominated flame retardants find their way into ecosystems and water supplies. Taxpayer dollars pay for the clean-up. Environmental groups in the U.S. believe it time for the U.S. industry to step up to the plate and log-on to a more progressive approach. They also recommend government institutions should act by developing stricter laws for the computer industry. Moreover, as a major consumer of computers, government should make purchasing decisions in favor of environmentally superior products and force the industry to change. Domestic consumers should act likewise, and ask themselves just how frequently they really need to upgrade computer models.

Visit:

Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition

http://www.svtc.org/

http://www.svtc.org/cleancc/greendesign/index.html

Grass Roots Recycling Network

http://www.grrn.org

Mercury Policy Project

http://www.mercurypolicy.org

New Clean Coal

Coal remains an important part of the energy resource equation and its abundance means it is likely to remain so. Unfortunately it also remains part of the pollution equation; its burning releases sulfur and nitrogen oxides as well as a variety of toxic metals into the atmosphere. Although much progress has been made to reduce the levels of toxic emissions from coal burning facilities, there are ongoing efforts to purify coal before it is burned using bacteria. So far these attempts have fallen short due to the extreme conditions required to process coal but now scientists from the Brookhaven National Laboratory are experiencing promising results with experiments involving a technique called "challenge biosynthesis nutritional stressing." Taking bacteria, such as Leptospirillum ferrooxidans and Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, found in naturally extreme conditions, such as geothermal vents, the scientists have slowly developed strains able to tolerate extreme temperatures, high pressures, wide ranges of pH, and the presence of toxic metals. Furthermore, they have been able to coax these strains of bacteria to survive on coal as their food source. The researchers cultured bacteria in a mix containing a small amount of crude oil supplemented with nutrients. Over time the strains of bacteria that survived were introduced to mediums with higher concentrations of crude oil and lower levels of nutrients. This process was repeated until bacteria that could use oil as their only food source emerged. Subsequently, the crude oil was gradually substituted with coal, requiring the bacteria to adapt to coal as their food source. At the same time, the environmental conditions were manipulated to develop highly tolerant strains of bacteria that munched on the toxic content of coal. Experiments with coal slurry using mixed cultures of these hardy bacteria are enabling the scientists to convert various types of coal into more environmentally friendly fuels. Coal and coal mining poses many environmental questions, but while it remains part of the energy budget it is in all our interest to make it as clean as possible.

Visit:

Brookhaven National Laboratory

http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/2001/bnlpr121101.htm

Citizens Coal Council

http://www.citizenscoalcouncil.org/

U.S. Department of Energy

http://www.energy.gov/index/indexc.html#Coal