Ecomorality Manufacturing, Inc.

Quote of the Week

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:32:38 GMT

"The problem is we have so many stupid enterprises."

- Li Junfeng, deputy director general for energy research at China’s top economic planning agency and the secretary general of the government-run Renewable Energy Industries Association, on companies that deliberately underbid new renewable energy projects. "Green Power Takes Root in the Chinese Desert." NY Times. 2 July 2009.

Quote of the Week

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:20:04 GMT

"Well-meaning attempts at pursuing global peace can have very counterproductive consequences when these attempts are founded on a fundamentally illusory understanding of the world of human beings."

- Amartya Sen. "What Clash of Civilizations? Why Religious Identity Isn't Destiny." Slate. 29 Mar. 2006.

Which language do you now understand?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:13:09 GMT

Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, used to supply the slave trade with a seemingly inexhaustible count of humans, sent everywhere from the West Indies, to Mississippi, to Greece. Abolitionism infiltrated the area much later than most of the African slave world (1880-1950's, and can we so easily glance over seventy years?), and in fact, human trafficking of predominantly women and children is still a major human rights struggle today. But if we Americans learned anything from the industrial revolution, was it not that fossil fuel power is so much more valuable and interesting and easy than that of humans?

Chevron certainly thinks so.

Oh, oh, but here's an even better idea! What if we used the Nigerians to get the Nigerian fossil fuels for us?

Chevron holds a 40% interest in Nigeria's oil and natural gas production. This includes the Agbami Field, the largest deepwater oil resource in Nigeria, which is no small, peddling matter for the US's fifth largest oil exporter. Chevron exalts itself as a community savior of the Nigerian people, promoting itself as an encourager of scientific education, generous employer, and provider of clean water and electricity for villages near the company's operations. But two such villages, Opia and Ikenyan, sent people to the Parabe platform to peacefully protest the ways Chevron conducts its business -- not least of which includes environmental damage that contaminates the villagers' own water and fish supplies, threatening to undermine what little independence they have.

Chevron recruits professionals for positions in Nigeria, ensuring applicants that "individual growth is encouraged, with robust opportunities for both personal development and making a contribution to company-wide success." But they certainly do not encourage individual voices, especially when they might hinder any of that success. And thanks to a cozy relationship with the national government, in part due to its joint-venture agreement with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (who holds the other 60%), Chevron can count on its militant buddies to suppress such voices.

This is what one might believe happened to those at the Parabe platform -- on board a barge, nine miles off the coast of the Niger Delta. Read the San Francisco Chronicle article here: "Chevron trial over Nigeria protest gets started." by Bob Egelko

Maybe someone saw a knife on someone's belt. Another person may or may not have poured diesel on the deck. But tell me, what sort of weaponry is this against helicopters and automatic weapons bought with economic growth derived almost exclusively from oil and natural gas exportation? And these first shots, killing two people, were fired before the eyes could detect the glint of sharp metal or the nose could draw the whiff of flammable gases. This language of justification and fear looks familiar to me. It looks like the language of the oppressor. And so it is not surprising that Chevron would interpret as a threat (rather than a demand for dialogue) a letter that asks: "Which language do you now understand -- is it violence or sea piracy, war or peace?"

Abouts:
Slave Trade in Nigeria
UN Human Trafficking in Nigeria Report
Nigeria Energy Profile
Amnesty International on Chevron's 2005 Massacre
CorpWatch on Chevron invoice for soldier attacks
Chevron Nigeria FactSheet (pdf)
Job Opportunities with Chevron Nigeria

Coal: A Dangerous Defense Mechanism

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:00:35 GMT

I was under the impression that coal as a primary energy source was a desire of the past. In the graphs in my mind, coal use relative to other sources peaked sometime in the mid-20th century and then gave way to oil, which then ideally transitions into something else (which failed to occur following a significant drop in the 1970's). Granted, in 2005 the United States derived 49.7 percent of its electricity from coal and proposals to build new coal plants are submitted consistently, but this is mostly because of increased per capita consumption. And suddenly I start seeing people's bright ideas about "clean" coal popping up around the globe, such as:
The Tata Mundra project in India
Resurgence of Coal in Europe

If I were a psychologist, and World Society were my deranged patient, I would most certainly diagnose a classic case of Regression. Encyclopedia Britannica defines Regression as:
A return to earlier stages of development and abandoned forms of gratification belonging to them, prompted by dangers or conflicts arising at one of the later stages.
Doesn't that just about sound right?
earlier stage = building coal plants and increasing mining projects
abandoned forms of gratification = electricity is on the house, tonight, folks!
dangers or conflicts = demand for cultural and consumptive change, without clear alternatives and pathways
later stages = oil is $119.48 per barrel and climate change is for real

Now, I'd like to briefly vent about things I don't get when it comes to coal, brought to mind from the coal resurgence article linked above.

1) I am an opponent of nuclear energy as an answer to the oil crisis. However, in what bizarre world is nuclear energy banned prior to banning fossil fuels of any sort. Apparently this is the case in many European nations. Does this make any sense at all? Ultimately fossil fuel dependency is (at least reliably) more devastating to both natural and human environments, and it creates political complications that historically outpace even arguments over uranium access. I know Chernobyl was terrifying, but I bet it's nothing next to the consequences of following current carbon emissions projections into the next century. But hey, it's all a fun experiment, right? We just might find out which is worse.

2) Carbon capture and storage makes me laugh. I'd really like to get the inventors drunk and find out if deep down they really thought it was just a joke, too. So man went running around industrializing and manufactured on a scale never before witnessed on Earth, but his industry spewed billions of tons of waste. Naturally, he looked for the biggest places around to dump it where it wouldn't be in his way: the sky and the ocean. Here we are about 150 years later realizing the error of our ways, yet we think a good idea is to find another place to dump it. Yes, yes, underground. The only problem? It is even smaller than the other two and happens to be under our feet (and our homes). The whole mentality is just so "sweep it under the rug." Willfully blind to the limitations of both space and time.

3) Some newer coal plants try to paint a pretty green picture of their operations. The new Enel plant in Italy even features an on-site desalination plant so that it can get water for operations without competing with local drinking and agriculture needs. What is insane about this you might ask? Desalination as a process is still very energy intensive - so Enel is using massive amounts of energy to run its supposedly more efficient energy plant. Hmm...

I'd love to hear your responses if you chew on the same thoughts. In the meantime I'll be trying to get my patient to overcome Regression before he hurts himself. Maybe if the dangers or conflicts of later stages can be alleviated, so can the stifling fear. Ah, but what a vicious cycle to break.

Abouts:
The American Coal Foundation
Per Capita Coal Consumption by State
DOE Clean Coal
NPR Article on Clean Coal Technologies
Washington Post Article on "Clean" Coal
MIT's Carbon Capture Research Program
LiveScience Article on Desalination Plants

The FDA's Miraculous Cure-All Elixir

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:06:37 GMT

Thanks to Dr. Paul Uster, who delivered an excellent speech on ethics in the pharmaceutical industry, I know that the nation has come a long way from cocaine and alcohol-containing syrups and guarantees on magical snake-skin concoctions. Nonetheless, the current-day FDA has quite a stretch before it can consider itself ethically sound.

Specifically, I'm writing in response to the recent Bush Administration push to consider all drug-related legal cases "pre-emptive," and shove the FDA to acrophobia-inducing heights, beyond the reach of the Justice system.

Read about it:
NY Times "Drug Makers Near Old Goal: A Legal Shield" April 6, 2008

This situation raises two questions:
1) Has the FDA demonstrated that it is capable of restraint from industrial influences and is devoted to scientific integrity?

Though my impulse is to say, "I would not trust them with my life," the truth is I already have. However, I would not give them any more leeway than granted under the threat of legal responsibility - a process already too blind and inefficient for my taste. My thoughts on the subject are informed by the even brief acceptance of DES; industry-driven conclusions about Bisphenol-A's risks; unfounded approval delays for Plan B birth control; and a slew of concealed side-effects of drugs such as the birth control patch, Zyprexa, Depakote, Vioxx, and Ambien (just to name a few).

2) Is the Justice Department scientifically and ethically informed enough to judge the FDA?

Though this is a question the administration and pharmaceutical companies put forth, I do not really believe it matters. There is not an individual, company, or department considered too specialized to fall within the legal system - what on earth makes the FDA an exception? The whole point of suits presented on a case-by-case basis is that prosecution and defense can equally inform the judges on the relevant scientific facts at hand. And certainly ethics is the constant rumination of every judge. Sure, it's costly and laborious, but it is often the only route by which corruption in profit-hungry pharmaceutical companies and the power-hungry FDA is exposed.

Do we really want to pull another blanket over our heads? I'm certainly not comfortable with the prospects of paying to die when the classic "cure is worse than the disease" scenarios are common enough. Oh, but would it not be ironic for the Supreme Court to rule on its own ineptitude? Then I really won't know which department is more dysfunctional...

Tibet: Monks and Mountains

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:15:48 GMT

In light of the recent protests against China that have resulted in more than 80 Tibetan casualties, I started wondering - how much of China's interest in Tibet might be due to its natural resources? After all, historically, strangle-holding an unwilling people was often a matter of securing valuables - be it the people for slavery, the land itself for agriculture, under the land for minerals, or its geographic location for trade routes and political strategies.

It turns out that Tibet is quite the sparkling gem of the natural world. Its wild mountains are covered with forests (through which China has steadily munched over the past 55 years) and brimming with exotic life, including over 5,000 higher plants. Buried in its heart is a wealth of copper, lithium, and boron, the content of which rivals the most productive regions in China. To top it all off, Tibet helps to quell one of China's greatest functional challenges: electricity. This little mountainous region provides for some 40% of all of China's hydroelectric power (figure may not include any statistics from the Three Gorges Dam). And that is not even factoring in its untapped potential for wind, solar, and geothermal power.

Stunning, isn't it? Granted, there is a cultural history about which I am vastly ignorant, but if China has ulterior motives for occupation, Tibet's natural resources will not be deflecting its interests any time soon.

I can't help but wonder if the unthinkable becomes thinkable, and that an oil crash results in a resource panic and global chaos, how many other peoples will be subjected to political dominance for their resources? What new ecomorality questions will we be forced to ask ourselves? It sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel.

Let's keep it that way.

Abouts:
Most Recent Article on Tibet Protests
Tibet Awareness Site
International Campaign for Tibet - Economic Rights
Embassy of PRC, Nepal - Natural Resources

Crossroads on the Green Path

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:00:59 GMT

A recent Earth Liberation Front ecoterrorism attack on Seattle suburban homes surfaces the ugly face of violent environmental interests. They supposedly were targeting luxury homes that were attempting to greenly coexist with the surrounding wooded wetlands. Even if such an idea contradicts the concept of living simply, how does this community's sustainability failures make it a target more worthy than blatantly damaging housing and business operations?

When considering on which subject I should ruminate tonight, I was first thinking about closed-loops in a multi-loop and -line society and what individuals, groups, and governmental bodies can do to adjoin individual loops with a larger loop to ultimately eliminate waste on mass scale. Alas, I do not have the answer(s) to that one. But rethinking this question in terms of ecoterrorism is frightening. Destruction breaks loops. How can I be considering integrating loops when some of my fellow environmentalists are intent on smashing them?

I am constantly affronted with questions as to what change is possible, and if possible, how to make it happen. Beyond that, what are the real consequences of a particular alteration, and is it the most desirable in a series of methods and outcomes? Who, what, where, when, how, why? However, all of this reasoning includes an assumption: society should change.

As far as I can deduce, ecoterrorists like those in E.L.F. reject this assumption. Possible bases for the rejection could be that they do not believe that any change is possible, which nulls the imperative, or that they do not believe change is preferable to destruction.

The former shoots straight to the heart of world view. In considering history, has any real change been made for the sole purpose of preserving the environment? It takes an optimist to seek out and hug tightly the examples of these successes, but in doing so, we can create a new track record that illuminates our own history in a different light. I do not believe everyone has to be that optimist. I do not believe that denying possibilities makes dreams come true.

The latter, though, brings some more concrete concerns to the table. Even if we make change, will it be quickly enough, and will it be encompassing enough to save the things we love (species diversity, ecosystem balances, cultures, etc.)? Maybe not. It breaks my heart to contemplate how many aspects of the life we know we might lose. The difference between myself and an ecoterrorist of this colour, though, is that I do not consider destruction to be a viable alternative to change.

Surely enough, seedlings can emerge from ashes, but even ecological destruction comparisons falter. Breaking systems leaves them vulnerable to attack, and the new systems are not necessarily stable or even functional. As much as I give credence to inherent worth of all life, we are still humans considering the future of a human world. The hopes I cling to are those of moving entire peoples to want to live in a plentiful world and to be willing to become functional parts of the world they want. This takes vision of recreation, and we all have the capacity for it. The answer can't lie in destroying disagreement. It has to come from addressing it, instead.

The environment is everything. The world is everything. Attacking it damages the very thing you are trying to liberate. You do not like your Lego building? I'll tell you one thing - just knocking blocks on the floor is not going to get you very far. You will just have fewer pieces to work with...

Abouts:
Article on Seattle Housing Attacks
Earth Liberation Front
Background on Ecoterrorism

More Lightbulb Updates

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:55:24 GMT

The sort of failed mercury disposal I had feared:

Chicago Times Article

What's the Point of Organic Again?

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:18:12 GMT

The point of organic is as much as 40% more antioxidants in fruits and vegetables and up to 90% more antioxidants in milk from organically herded cattle. So really, toss the outdated, pesticide-riddled mess out the window and head down to your local organic farmer's market next time you get a hankering for tomatoes and hummus, or one of my personal favorites, brussel sprouts in apple vinegar. Just imagine overcoming the quandary of getting all your nutrients without overeating or force-feeding yourself vitamins (though Trader Joe's makes some tasty chewables). Who would have thought that Nature actually made that possible? Genius.

The EU's Quality Low Input Food Project has and will continue to rake in fascinating data on the application of organic and low-input methods in agriculture and communities. Finding the name of this project disappointingly took some poking around, but the website is definitely something worth bookmarking. These antioxidant findings, I believe, can be attributed to Workpackage 2.3 of Subproject 2, and I am particularly looking forward to Subproject 6: Transport, trading and retailing.

Abouts:
The London Times Article on Organic Benefits
Quality Low Input Food Project Research Page

Lightbulb Update

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:18:53 GMT

Finally the media acknowledges the unsound nature of CFL mercury levels, and GE in fact is attempting to reduce the average 5mg currently contained in each bulb.

Reuters Article on GE and CFLs

But I still insist that there is no good reason that the public should accept any level of mercury whatsoever in their lightbulbs. Thanks to good folks like those in Ann Arbor, MI, LEDs are gaining popularity and increasing public awareness as to the feasibility of using them en masse. The city will be replacing all of their old street lights with LED bulbs, which use approximately 50% of the energy of iridescents.

CNN Money Article on Ann Arbor and LEDs

Such conjunctions are representative of many environmental issues we face today. Yes, we find solutions, but sometimes too many -- with little solidarity in thoroughly researching which is the safest route to take. I find this is especially true in regards to green purchasing since individuals play such a powerful role in moving the market. These conflicts lead some interests to suggest that society refrain from making change before agreement has been made. However, I think the best method would be to pursue change, learn from it as we go along, and quickly implement adjustments to policy as needed. In this particular case, I would consider that adjustment to be leaning towards LEDs for our electricity reductions rather than CFLs because they involve fewer threats to public and environmental health.

Eating Pollution

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 05:25:33 GMT

It strikes me as particularly poignant to consider that a harmful pollutant humans have released around the globe has actually fueled the evolution of an organism - even if single-celled - to be able to survive off of our toxic waste. Well this is the case for dehalococcoides (Dhc) found in the black PCB-contaminated sludge at the bottom of rivers and bays. The theory is that this microbe once lived on a chemical similar to polychlorinated biphenyls, but adapted to consume PCBs when exposed to their plenitude. Good news for us, as well as the multitude of aquatic organisms that suffer the toxic consequences of these persistent chemicals! Now, of course, comes the question of how to best take advantage of its aptitude...

Harbor Sludge Might Hold Means to Clean The Anacostia River
By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer

How tough do you have to be to survive in Baltimore? Try breathing toxic waste instead of air.

That's what University of Maryland scientists have discovered a tiny microbe doing at the stinky, oily bottom of Charm City's stupendously polluted harbor. Down there, in muck as oozy as black jello, this creature can actually survive on PCBs -- one of the most harmful pollutants in U.S. waters -- and, in the process, break them down into something less dangerous.

Now, researchers are hoping to harness this nasty bit of nature's magic and use it to help other PCB-laden waterways, such as the Anacostia River. Their goal is to create a new kind of biological cleaning crew, bred from the original Baltimore stock.

"Up until now, nobody knew what to do with PCBs. They just lived with them," said Kevin Sowers, one of the scientists who led this research. "If we can do this, it will be the first time that we've been able to actually treat PCBs with a natural process."

This story begins at the Inner Harbor. It might look like a nice place to tourists, who generally stay above the waterline. But on the bottom, it's a different, much uglier story.

For decades, the harbor has been a catch basin for toxic dumping, gasoline leaks and runoff from dirty city streets. All that settled on the bottom to become a kind of super-sludge, which is to pollution what Washington is to lawyers. You could try, but you probably couldn't cram in any more.

"This is Baltimore Harbor," Sowers said one recent day in his laboratory, as researcher Birthe Kjellerup was opening a Mason jar full of black, viscous mud collected from the bottom. She was wearing gloves, since the stuff, and its rotten-egg smell, tends to linger on anything it touches.

"It'll be kind of a black coloration on your fingers, and it takes awhile to get it off," Sowers said. "It's like really black, oily ink."

Among the nastiness that suffuses this gunk are PCBs, whose full name is polychlorinated biphenyls. They are industrial chemicals, which were made from the 1920s until their manufacture was banned in 1977.

Over the years, PCBs were spilled into rivers, where they were eaten by bottom-feeding fish and then inadvertently eaten by creatures, including people, that eat fish. In humans, the chemicals have been linked to cancer and reproductive problems.

Health authorities warn against eating catfish from the Anacostia and Potomac rivers in Washington or eating the "mustard," or tomalley, in the innards of blue crabs from the mid-Chesapeake Bay, because of concerns about PCB contamination. Several other local waterways, including the Patuxent, Monocacy and Severn rivers, also have fish-consumption warnings because of these pollutants.

Scientists would like to get rid of the PCBs built up in these waters, but these chemicals were engineered so they would not break down. That used to be a good thing; now it's a problem.

"They don't fall apart in the environment," said Joel Baker, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. "They don't fall apart in humans."

In the Anacostia, which is heavily contaminated with PCBs from industrial work at the Washington Navy Yard and other sites, people are trying to bury the problem. Sections of river bottom have been covered with materials designed to keep the pollutants in place.

"Unless you dredge it up," which is very expensive, "there's no other way," said Monir Chowdhury of the District's Department of the Environment.

Sowers, the University of Maryland researcher, has spent years looking for another way. He needed to look in an extremely polluted place, in the hopes of finding a creature that was well-adapted to living in poison.

Sowers didn't have to look far. His lab sits on a pier extending into the dark, trashy waters of the Baltimore Harbor. Which is like a coral expert having an office on the Great Barrier Reef.

"I just go out the back door," Sowers said.

Using samples of that black harbor mud, Sowers and his team eventually found a very small -- as in eight-millionths of an inch wide -- lemon-shaped microbe that can break down certain PCBs. What it does is something like breathing, for a single-celled creature without any lungs.

"Instead of using oxygen, they're using PCBs," Sowers said. At the end of this process, the microbe has stripped one of the chlorine atoms out of the PCB molecule, making the chemical more vulnerable to other creatures that might break it down completely.

So, eventually, they might clean up Baltimore's problem on their own, but the time scale for that is probably decades, at the least, Sowers said. The amount of PCBs in the harbor has decreased sharply in the past 30 years, he said, but some of that is probably because of contaminated mud being washed out or removed through dredging.

In that time, Sowers said, the same microbe has been found all over the world, including in the Anacostia. His theory is that these microbes had evolved to rely on some PCB-like chemical that was in the environment naturally and then took to PCBs when humans started dumping them in.

Now, Sowers said, he would like to supercharge the reproduction of this creature and others like it, so they might be injected en masse into a place such as the Anacostia. He is experimenting with ways to do that, looking at adding other chemicals the microbes rely on to grow. Still, he said, it could be years before that goal is reached.

Thinking ahead, Sowers said, he cannot foresee any danger that these cleanup microbes might become a problem when PCBs are gone.

"Once they're done eating the PCBs, essentially they're going to stop living," he said.

In the meantime, Sowers said, he has been fielding requests from researchers in other cities, whose local muck does not measure up to the Baltimore brand. He bottles it up and ships it off.

"It's good stuff," Sowers said.

Abouts:
PCB ToxFAQs
ATSDR Health Consultation for Potomac and Anacostia Rivers 1991
Anacostia River Initiative
Dehalococcoides
Dhc Bioremediation Article

Quote of the Week

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 06:09:10 GMT

"According to a study published in July by Japanese scientists, a kilogram of beef generates the equivalent of 36.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide, more than the equivalent of driving for three hours while leaving all the lights on back home."

- Limit Meat Eating to Tackle Climate Change press release from Agence France-Presse

Source: The Globe and Mail "Limits on meat eating could keep global warming at bay," September 13, 2007.

Abouts:
Ogino et al. 2007
Fighting Global Warming with Food

Undersea Mining

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 05:48:13 GMT

The colors of assessing the ocean are shifting away from blue and green to shinier money colors like copper and gold. Unlike many other of humanity's ventures, which have a tendency to work their hardest to use sea water as a dumping ground before land, mining is turning the tables and looking to compensate for its dry ground shortages with underwater mining. At a time when gold miners are directly handling mercury, silver miners are regularly exposed to arsenic, tracks larger than the big apple are ripped wide open, entire mountain tops are relocated, and the US federal government loosens the legal definition of near-water dumping, the last thing this planet and its inhabitants need is to seek to an ocean-wide expansion of mining operations.

I read this article right after reading a Washington Post one on the 118 increase of near-extinction species since just last year -- coral reefs being included in the report. But as David Heydon, CEO of the mining company Nautilus, asks, "What's stopping us today?"

Mining Takes the Plunge; New Technologies Open Seas to the Harvesting of Precious Metals
Patrick Barta. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern Edition). New York, NY.: September 13, 2007. pg. B.3

The age-old hunt for gold, copper and other precious minerals is shifting to a new frontier: the ocean floor.

Mining companies have long known the world's oceans and seas cover vast troves of metals, including zinc, silver and other commodities currently in high demand. However, unlike oil and gas companies, which have operated offshore for decades, miners lacked the technology to haul their ocean bounty to the surface.

Now, the global boom in commodity prices has encouraged mining companies to take another look at undersea mining. Leading the effort is Nautilus Minerals Inc., a Vancouver, British Columbia-based outfit backed by some of the biggest names in mining, including large shareholders such as United Kingdom-based Anglo American PLC and Barrick Gold Corp. of Canada, one of the world's largest gold miners.

Nautilus is using complex underwater robotic vehicles to search mineral deposits a mile or more below the surface in waters off the coast of Papua New Guinea near Indonesia.

So far, Nautilus has focused its efforts on deposits left over from "black smokers," or chimney-shaped structures that form after underground magma pushes mineral-laden fluids through cracks in the sea floor. When the heated liquid comes into contact with cold salt water, its minerals coalesce into deposits of gold, silver, copper and other metallic elements.

Once the best sites are identified, Nautilus plans to use remote- operated vehicles that will move slowly across the ocean floor, grinding up 400 metric tons of rock an hour and then sucking it into a pipe to be pumped to daylight.

Another start-up, London-based Neptune Minerals PLC, has launched its own deep-sea minerals project off the coast of New Zealand, and other offshore ventures may follow.

Although a few mining companies have extracted diamonds and other minerals from shallow waters along shorelines, mining experts say the latest efforts would be the first to mine significant quantities from deep waters. Their common goal is a future in which underwater robots and other equipment prowl the ocean floors, cracking open new sources of minerals that can be used to make cars, mobile phones and other consumer products.

"We're doing this to start a whole new industry, just like the [offshore] oil and gas industry," says David Heydon, chief executive officer of Nautilus.

Some mining-industry veterans are skeptical, and they worry that the latest aquatic adventures could reflect an expanding market bubble, with investors pouring millions into high-risk projects that could fail if raw material prices fall. Because the practice is new and unproven, it is unclear what price levels would be needed for offshore mining to be profitable. A similar, $500 million effort by other major resource companies to raise manganese from the ocean floor in the 1970s collapsed amid technical difficulties, among other problems.

Deep-sea mining also faces criticism from environmental activists, who question whether it is worth the ecological cost to tear up areas rich in aquatic life.

"I've got major concerns" about the Nautilus project, says Techa Beaumont, an analyst at the Mineral Policy Institute, an Australia- based mining watchdog group. She says she attended a sustainable- development forum in Papua New Guinea recently at which numerous local residents raised complaints about the project. "There's no real accountability beyond them saying it's all going to be great," she says of Nautilus.

Mr. Heydon acknowledges that deep-sea mining will cause some environmental damage, but he argues the impact will be less than with larger, on-land operations. Consumers have to get resources from somewhere, and taking them from the sea could mean less interference with local populations, he says.

Research institutions such as the Australian government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, have studied minerals on the sea floor near Papua New Guinea and elsewhere for more than a decade, in part to get a better understanding of the way mineral deposits in general are formed.

Nautilus had hoped to mine offshore deposits since the 1990s. "People said we will mine the sea floor someday, and I just said, what's stopping us today?" recalls Mr. Heydon, who joined after the company was founded.

Nautilus negotiated with the governments of Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga and the Solomon Islands to secure exploration rights to an offshore area the size of the U.K. It also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange; to date, it has raised $295 million through stock sales.

Working from a command ship some 30 miles off the Papua New Guinea coast, Nautilus uses a number of underwater-exploration tools to determine which areas would be most profitable. They include a so- called autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV, that looks like a torpedo fitted with a computer and propeller system that can be programmed to guide the vehicle to specific areas to collect data. For sites that need closer scrutiny, Nautilus sends down a more-powerful remotely-operated vehicle, or ROV, which is connected to the ship by a cable and includes cameras and "hands" that can be manipulated by staff on the ship to pick up and move rocks and even drill into the sea floor to collect samples.

Nautilus says it has identified enough minerals to mine 150,000 metric tons of copper per year and 400,000 ounces of gold, with production beginning in 2010.

Mr. Heydon estimates the underwater rock is 8% to 10% copper, compared with 1% or less at comparable sites on shore, which means vehicles would need to dig up a small fraction of the dirt they would have to turn over on land.

Of course, all that could depend on where commodity prices go. Although copper, the key revenue source at Nautilus's first project, currently trades at about $7,200 per metric ton on the London Metal Exchange (up dramatically from 2002 levels), it has fallen about 10% from its recent peak in May.

(c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Abouts:
Race to the Bottom - Wired's article on undersea mining
Mongabay Fragile Marine Ecosystems related article
Nautilus Environmental Page

Organization Summaries, Part I

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 09:32:58 GMT

That fact of the matter is that there are thousands of organizations designed to improve human rights and the environment, and it is consequently extremely difficult to recall exactly what groups do what or even that they necessarily exist in the first place. Below is a list of some of these nonprofits with little blurbs on their missions, vague as those missions may be. I hope to expand this list, or at least create a better tailored one that highlights the most successful and/or interesting operations currently underway. I also hope this can serve as a helpful resource!

Alaska Conservation Foundation:
Founded in 1980 to organize conservation efforts in Alaska's wilderness. Has awarded millions of dollars in grant money to organizations pursuing research and outreach programs. Directly prioritizes issues with Alaska's oceans, rainforests, biodiversity, and climate.
www.akcf.org

Amnesty International:
"Working to protect human rights worldwide." Developed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is a compilation of very admirable goals for how every human on the planet should be treated. Attempts to free itself from governments, ideology, economic, or religion to address human rights from an unbiased standpoint. Of course, there's no such thing as being entirely free of those biases, but at least they try. Encourages action against human rights violations through direct protest, media exposure, political pressure, and all other means possible.
www.amnesty.org

Campaign for America's Wilderness:
Group interested in using the democratic system to protect threatened wilderness in the US. Offers education in policy and advocacy to empower citizens and organizations to impact change through the political system. Website has extensive information resource links.
www.leaveitwild.org

Conservation International:
Biocentric US-based nonprofit focused on preserving biodiversity through scientific study and the development of conservation strategies. Founded the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (CABS) which relies on scientific data and analysis to prioritize hotspots for research and conservation. The site posts publications related to current events that affect biodiversity such as climate change, deforestation, and biofuels.
www.conservation.org

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL):
Nonprofit organization tackling environmental issues in a very institutionalist fashion, namely working to change policy legally within governments. Implements a number of programs aimed at improving institution approaches via lobbying, education, and political analysis. The site offers a large quantity of their publications in pdf format.
www.ciel.org

Coastal Conservation Association (CCA):
Nonprofit comprised mostly of recreational anglers that lobbies for conservation in fisheries. An excellent example of an anthropogenic organization interested in conservation for the sustainability of human use actually successfully influencing protection of coastal waters. Publishes TIDE magazine that better educates members on the balance of aquatic ecosystems and threatened areas or species.
www.joincca.org

The Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE):
Network of partners and individuals aimed at addressing concerns over how environmental contamination could affect human health. Resource for environmental health research meant to challenge conceptions of chemical safety. Examines substances such as pesticides, heavy metals, and synthetics.
www.healthandenvironment.org

Earthwatch Institute:
International nonprofit that recruits volunteers to participate in scientific research projects around the world -- primarily for data collection. Most volunteer trips last around two weeks and cost a few thousand dollars. Aimed at supporting sustainable development research and shaping the culture of conservation through education.
www.earthwatch.org

ECOLIFE Foundation:
Charity that conducts humanitarian aid projects to directly provide water, food, and shelter to people experiencing crisis that have affected their access to natural resources. Also offers educational programs for communities to better enable them to operate sustainably. Views environmental problems as interconnected issues of environmental footprints, human rights, and most importantly, human interaction and balance with natural systems for sustainable resource use.
www.ecolifefoundation.org

Environmental Defense (e):
Founded in 1967 on the basis of having battled American DDT use in the court system and now works on developing policy to protect the environment without harming the economy. Their "about" section even features a picture of their leadership posed in clean-cut suits. Involved in policy for climate and air; land, water and wildlife; oceans; health; living cities; and international forestry. Vague site, but mainly expresses the success of pursuing change through economic channels both to revolutionize technology in the market and persuade government action.
www.environmentaldefense.org

Living on Earth:
Public radio program that reports environmental news and information. Broadcast through Public Radio International on a weekly basis. Also formed the Ecological Literacy Project which works in some high schools to encourage students to scientifically explore their environment and teaches them about radio production.
www.loe.org

The Mountain Institute (TMI):
Nonprofit organization that targets the conservation of mountain ranges from a social approach, taking into account culture and community-resource interactions. Works in the Andean, Appalachian, and Himalayan ranges. Strives to establish preserves by working directly with mountain parks, local peoples, and even companies interested in using mountain resources.
www.mountain.org

National Audubon Society:
Organization focused on local conservation, especially of biodiversity. Connects to community through satellite network of nature centers, as well as their magazine. Drafted a massively detailed Strategic Plan in 1995 to improve the organization's future direction, mainly concerning focus on habitat protection, public outreach, and funding recruitment. Was originally started by a small group of busybody women who were upset about the fashionable placement of dead birds on hats.
www.audubon.org

National Environmental Health Association (NEHA):
Created the Registered Environmental Health Professional credential to set a standard of education for public health professionals. Networks professionals to better educate and motivate concerning overall public health in relation to the environment, particularly through its conferences and workshops. Site features a sustainability section devoted to resource information on sustainability in energy, pollution, building, etc.
www.neha.org

National Geographic:
A massive scientific and journalistic effort to generate interest in international environmental and human rights issues. Publish numerous magazines, build trusts for exploration and conservation, and offer various national educational events. Features some of the most impressive photojournalism in the world. Also have a very nice museum in Washington, DC and a very nice little glacial fountain.
www.nationalgeographic.com

The Nature Conservancy:
Conservation organization that partners with governments, local communities, and corporations to purchase land or encourage conservancy regulations. Supports conservation science and utilizes conservation strategies like public land management and debt-for-nature swaps. Employs thousands of scientists and volunteers to implement conservation on the ground. A vast effort to address environmental protection worldwide, but oddly enough the "Save of the Week" is currently from February 20. Perhaps it should be "Save of the Year..."
www.nature.org

Save America's Forests:
Lobbies to protect national forests, as well as forest land around the world. Networks scientists and volunteers to help halt clear cutting practices and adopt preservationist forest management.
www.saveamericasforests.org

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society:
Organization that works to protect marine mammals from exploitation and slaughter, particularly in directly blocking illegal whaling and sealing operations. They also pull up abandoned long lines, expose poaching through the media, and support sea monitoring for governments unable to afford ships and crews. Overall enforce international treaties regarding ocean territories.
www.seashepherd.org

The Sierra Club:
Campaigns for, publishes about, educates on various environmental issues, particularly relating to conservation in the US. Grassroots approach to lobbying and club organization. Especially interesting in that it incorporates outdoor adventure and direct enjoyment of nature. Offers guided hikes throughout the country. They also give you a free backpack if you pay for membership.
www.sierraclub.org

Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP):
Nonprofit interested in improving women's communication in the media to better democratic systems. Publishes reports and newsletters to network women and educate them on advances in women's access to media. Works on ways to use modern technological developments to give women the opportunity for expression -- political, scientific, or otherwise.
www.wifp.org

Women for Women International:
Attempts to address international women's issues resulting from war and poverty. Offers sponsorship program for women that educates women on their potential and develops their skills and involvement in their communities. End-goal is to help women start their own business enterprises.
www.womenforwomen.org

World Wildlife Foundation (WWF):
Funds conservation projects and works with governments and institutions (including the World Bank) to develop policy enabling humans to live harmoniously with nature. Particularly interested in preserving biodiversity through habitat protection and prioritizes hotspots called the "Global 200" ecoregions. Campaigns and lobbies, but primarily focuses on forming partnerships. Public an annual review evaluating major environmental issues and WWF's response. Site has many cute and upsetting pictures of animals.
www.panda.org

National Children's Study

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 05:55:10 GMT

It stuns me that I did not hear of this study until early this summer. It is truly the most incredible epidemiological endeavor since John Snow's first constructs on the streets of London. The National Children's Study is a massive effort headed by the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) -- in collaboration with the EPA, CDC, and NIEHS -- to gather environmental and genetic health information on 100,000 United States children from pregnancy to age 21, specifically focusing on elements leading to asthma, obesity, and autism.

And now you have a once in a lifetime opportunity! The NICHD has just released their research plan and is open to public comment until September 25, 2007. The research plan is well worth a look over, but Volume 1 is a ghastly 288 pdf pages. The first six chapters though, particularly the background, are sincerely fascinating reads, and I recommend a thorough glance.

The study surely will face a plethora of challenges, such as accurate controls and psychosocial data collection. The plan not only acknowledges the multitude of confounding factors it faces, but also recognizes that science, technology, and even methodology are ever-changing in society. They hope, as do I, that they can reevaluate their strategies continuously in accordance with any future developments.

And if you do happen to know anyone planning a pregnancy in the chosen regions, the study is currently in its recruitment phase. I can't imagine a study in which an American could be more proud to partake.

Introduction and Link to Research Plan

Offset Mercury Emissions?

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 06:25:09 GMT

An article in the "News of the Week" section of the last edition of Chemical and Engineering News caught my eye as an interesting scientific tie to my last post on CFLs. The titanium dioxide in waste paint from manufacturers can possibly be burned in combination with coal in power plants and negate some of the mercury emissions. So far this lacks numerical data or any kind of actual study/analysis. The prospect is exciting though, and I'll be keeping an eye on it.

Chrysler and partners test titanium dioxide as power plant mercury remover
by Michael McCoy

Chrysler, Washington University in St. Louis, and the midwestern utility Ameren are exploring use of the pigment titanium dioxide to reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.

A pilot program kicked off last fall when an Ameren power plant near St. Louis began generating electricity by combusting coal and waste auto paint from Chrysler's St. Louis assembly facilities. Ameren is now analyzing the results of the test run.

One major paint ingredient is titanium dioxide. Although the program's main goal was energy generation from a waste material, officials soon realized that the pigment might have the additional benefit of oxidizing and complexing mercury that is released when coal is burned.

Pratim Biswas, chairman of Washington University's department of energy, environmental, and chemical engineering, is now working with Chrysler to test this pollution-prevention potential of titanium dioxide. Ameren is interested because it will be required under federal regulations to cut mercury emissions from its coal-fired power plants.

Bob McIlvaine, president of the consulting firm McIlvaine Co., says most utilities are looking to activated carbon to abate mercury in power plants, such as the St. Louis facility, that clean up their emissions with dry scrubbers.

But Ken Anderson, Ameren's managing supervisor of air quality management, points out that too much carbon can render power plant waste ash unfit for one of its primary uses-as a cheap replacement for Portland cement in the concrete manufacturing process.

"We believe titanium dioxide has the potential to remove mercury without affecting the quality of the power plant's ash," says Washington University's Biswas.

Reprinted from:
Chemical and Engineering News
July 30, 2007
Volume 85, Number 31
P. 17

Abouts:
Possible carcinogenicity of titanium dioxide
Dupont Titanium Technologies
Another way to recycle auto waste paint

What You Might Not Know About CFLs

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:03:36 GMT

Should you replace all of your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs)? The government, your environmentalist buddies, and even Wal-Mart seem to think so, and in fact insist that those who resist the shift are selfishly wasting. However, in my research on CFLs, I found a few important nuggets of information of which the standard consumer should be well aware.

1) CFLs are manufactured to contain 4 mg of mercury per light bulb. If CFLs become widespread, so does the inherent danger of mercury exposure. To give some context to that amount, a typical natural tuna in the U.S. contains about 0.2 mg/kg body weight, which translates into 0.24 ppm mercury in canned tuna. The EPA may suggest that this amount of mercury is negligible and poses no threat to human health or longterm environmental contamination, but even a junior high school chemistry student knows not to trust the government's insistence that a broken mercury thermometer does not threaten an individual's health. In actuality, the current EPA reference dose--the dose below which adverse effects are not recognized--is 0.1 micrograms/kg/day (0.1 micrograms = 0.0001 mg). Because of biological sensitivity to mercury, it is a serious consideration in both production and disposal.

When exposed to the neurological toxicant methylmercury (MeHg), humans suffer movement, speech, hearing, muscular, and visual impairment. The developmental effects in utero are even more extreme, involving impairment of the central nervous system, including cognition, memory, attention, and language performance. Methylmercury is lipophilic (loves fats) and thus accumulates readily in the brain and crosses the placenta during pregnancy. In addition, it is extremely persistent in the environment and bioconcentrates up the food chain--being found in highest concentrations in larger, predatory organisms.

Abouts:
EPA's CFL mercury fact sheet
EPA's mercury information
National Research Council - Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury
MeHg in adults - Atchison and Hare 1994
MeHg in utero - Crump et al. 1998

2) CFL packaging does not instruct the consumer what to do if a bulb breaks, let alone warn that they contain mercury and phosphorous powder. The Freedom Enterprise Action Fund is taking the initiative and in May 2007 announced that they are petitioning the Consumer Safety Product Commission (CSPC) to include mercury warnings on CFL packaging.

But what if a bulb does break? Energy Star details a clean-cut four-step process for "safely" gathering up the contamination. However, there is no true safe way to deal with spilled methylmercury; fumes are instantly released, making the first moments of the light bulb shattering the most dangerous, which is completely unavoidable. What's worse is if the person to break the bulb is unable to understand or execute proper methodology, such as a child. Not only would a child be unlikely to follow correct safety procedures, but children are more susceptible to the neurological effects of vaporized methylmercury.

The Energy Star recommendations (derived from the EPA), although they mention recycling, primary suggest sealing the debris in doubled plastic bags and placing it in the curbside garbage for "normal trash disposal." Assuming normal trash disposal leads the mercury to a landfill, we then face the probable leakage of the heavy metal into the soil, and in turn water supply and even agricultural produce. The EPA insists that local ground mercury contamination is preferable to the atmospheric contamination resulting from coal-based energy production. In contrast to that view, I would argue that no mercury release is acceptable, and that in fact, landfill contamination will disproportionately affect low-income, minority communities.

Given that the public is better informed and has access to the proper facilities, CFLs and even the mercury from a broken light bulb can be recycled. Recycling facilities use air-compressed vacuums and carbon filters to isolate the mercury for reuse. Something I have been unable to find further information on is the possibility of installing carbon filters on coal-based energy plant stacks and using that mercury to manufacture CFLs. In that case, both atmospheric pollution and all the nasties that result from mercury mining (such as miner exposure and run-off) can be reduced.

Abouts:
Freedom Enterprise Action Fund
Energy Star Clean-up
Solid Waste and Environmental Racism
New Idria Mercury Mine

3) Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs: energy efficiency, light range, and alternatives.

It's nice enough to browse the statistics on projected energy savings from CFL use, but I am not entirely convinced that the energy savings justify the mercury use. House lighting is far from being the primary source of energy consumption in this country, though most households are still behind the times in terms of such simple practices as turning off lights when not needed. CFLs quite simply do not address the environmental behavioral changes needed to directly head off our energy use.

Customers do not appear to be reaping the benefits of the claimed ~7 year life span on CFL bulbs, which may indeed be an overshot. In response to this shortcoming, industry claims that turning off and on the bulbs shortens their lifespan, and that customers may be able to extend the span if they leave lights on if they are absent for shorter time periods. I hardly see this as being energy efficient practice! Another area that I do not see examined is the background energy use involved in CFLs, such as transportation from the home to available purchase centers (or online product delivery), transportation of used bulbs to recycling facilities, and energy used in the recycling process itself. That's assuming, of course, that they are recycled.

Another area of CFLs worth mentioning is the light range of bulbs available. Though praised for their low cost and long life, cheaper CFLs are usually of the "cool white" variety, which have been correlated with nausea, headaches, and weakened immunity and have been banned in Germany altogether because of their negative health and productivity effects. Fret not, for full spectrum CFLs are available for purchase, though unfortunately for nearly twice the price. Doubling the price of CFLs essentially shreds the argument that the price is justified by the lifespan.

A potential alternative to CFLs is light emitting diodes (LEDs). In recent years, LEDs have been excessively expensive for the standard household (more than $5 for a basic LED chip), but developments in LED technology involving replacing phosphor with polymer and increasing the size of the bulbs will make it possible to manufacture affordable and increasingly efficient LEDs, minus the mercury needed for CFLs. Also, advances in green building are making it possible to efficiently install more windows for more natural daylight--the most preferable of light options.

If, however, you are planning on purchasing CFLs for your home or office, please consider the lovely gem of Neo-lite. Neo-lite offers full spectrum CFLs at prices comparable to regular cool whites, containing only 1 mg mercury and manufactured in accordance with ROHS.

Abouts:
CNET article on LEDs
E-efficient windows
Neo-lite

It appears that much of the argument that we should stock our homes and businesses with little mercury-toting globes is based on the status quo of using coal for the majority of our electricity needs. Coal mining and processing is one of the greatest environmental issues in this country, leading to the destruction of entire tracks of land through strip-mining, severe health consequences for coal miners, and air pollution in the forms of particulate matter, ash, carbon, and mercury vapors. Yet, in the DC metro trains, one can find advertisements for the U.S. coal industry, promoted with photos of running, laughing children. Is this our future? Clearly our energy and pollution problems rest on a faulty foundation much larger than an incandescent light bulb.

Quote of the Week

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 02:35:52 GMT

"We both like trees. He likes them horizontal; I like them vertical."

- Bill Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society, in response to [undersecretary for natural resources and environment at the Agriculture Department] Mark Rey's timber thinning policies.

Source: The Washington Post "Thick Forests, Thick Issues for Rey," Paul Lewis, July 20, 2007.

Abouts:
Forest Inventory and Analysis
Chipping and Health
Biomass Power Plant in NM

Vino

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 21:42:34 GMT

"Wine targets green shoppers"
Reuters July 18, 2007
by Sylvia Westall
Story

1) Endocrine disruption - Bisphenol A, a hormone disrupting chemical common in plastics, has been shown to increase infertility and miscarriages in women and decrease sperm counts in men--among other endocrine system effects. The longer a beverage is stored in a plastic container manufactured with BPA, the more the chemical leaches into it. The proposal to market plastic bagged wine strikes me as a particularly bad idea, considering that most wine is meant to be stowed away for long periods of time, anything from days to years. Wine is also rather acidic, further increasing the probability of BPA release. Endocrine disruption also occurs in the case of using plasticizers or pthalates in plastic.

2) Taste - Bottled water, tupperwared leftovers, plastic-packaged foods; the subtle flavor of plastic that infiltrates foods and beverages is something familiar to us all. Though there is plenty to scrutinize when it comes to the flavor of water or even Gatorade, wine is actually designed to be analyzed on the tongue. Switching from glass bottles to plastic bags would severely degrade the palatability of even the lowest quality wines. Polycarbonate plastics, which are touted as being flavorless, are unfortunately the BPA ones.

3) Targeted market - To make health matters worse, wine makers are apparently targeting beach-goers and barbeque fans as their future plastic bagged wine market. These two types of persons bring to mind the threats already inherent in each of those activities: ultraviolet radiation from prolonged sun exposure at the beach and the carcinogenicity of char and cooked meats at barbeques.

Well, wine is about relaxing and releasing the worries of the world, is it not?

Abouts:
Bisphenol A (BPA)
Article on health of workers exposed to plasticizers
UV Health Effects
PAHs from char
HCAs from grilling meat
Wine relaxes bunnies

Dvoeverie

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:55:14 GMT

Dvoeverie (dvoh-yeh-vyer-EE-yeh) is a term used to describe dual faiths coexisting in one culture. It is primarily used in reference to the Russian peasants' response to Christian Orthodoxy being grafted onto their pagan beliefs during the Middle Ages. I can't help but relate this to reverie, which though it has entirely different origins, similarly describes an abstract preoccupation.

The reason I bring this up is because of my reevaluation of top-down societal change in regards to environmentalism. Could our materialist desires be so deeply embedded that whatever change might be enacted there will still exist an undercurrent of consumerism? I believe so.

If Americans are to forge their own ecological dvoeverie, the key to sustainability will be to satisfy both ends of the duality--reduction and production. So don't necessarily look to the preservationists for answers, but look instead to the economists. My hopes lie in the human mind truly being Earth's greatest resource.

Oh, Julian Simon, you had better be right.

Abouts:
Dvoeverie
US Human Development Report 2006
National Center for Environmental Economics
Julian L. Simon