China begins largest wind power project

The world’s largest wind power project will begin construction this month near Beijing, bringing green energy and cleaner air to the 2008 Summer Olympics and city residents coping with some of the worst air pollution in the world.

The new wind power plant, located 60 miles outside Beijing in Guangting, will generate 400 megawatts when at full capacity, nearly doubling the electrical energy China currently obtains from wind. But that’s just the beginning. Last summer at a climate change conference in Bonn, Germany, China surprised many by announcing it will generate 12 percent of its energy from renewable sources such as wind by 2020.

Pollution is part of the driving force behind China’s newfound passion for green energy. According to Greenpeace China’s office in Beijing, acid rain blankets 70 percent of the country, cutting crop yields, damaging trees and making rivers and lakes too acidic to support fish.

China is the world’s largest coal-consuming country and home to 16 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities on the planet, according to the World Bank. At least 400,000 people in China die each year from air-pollution-related illnesses, the World Bank reports. (Wired news)

Toxic smog shrouds Beijing

Millions of Beijing residents were warned to stay indoors as a hazardous smog choked the city, closed highways and forced the cancellation of an air show for the visiting French president, Jacques Chirac.

The haze, which is caused by low-grade petrol used in the city’s rapidly increasing number of cars, was said to be as bad as at any time for several years despite measures to clean the air in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics.

According to the World Bank, 16 of the planet’s 20 most polluted cities are in China. Beijing is one of the worst, but, even by its appalling standards, Oct. 10 was grim.

The meteorological bureau graded the air-quality as hazardous to human health -- the third consecutive day in which the smog hit the worst ranking on the bureau’s five point scale.

This is a common story in China’s cities, where factories and homes rely on low-grade coal for about 80 percent of their energy needs and environmental protection has long taken second place to economic growth. The health costs, however, are becoming apparent. Respiratory diseases are the leading cause of death in China. (Guardian (UK))

Rainforest tree protected by UN trade treaty

Conservation groups have welcomed a decision by governments Oct. 8 to impose strict measures on the trade of a valuable tropical hardwood known as ramin, which could help save the endangered orangutan and the Sumatran tiger.

The listing of ramin in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species’ (CITES) Appendix II was adopted by all member countries at the 13th Conference of CITES Parties.

CITES, a UN treaty that has been in effect for nearly 30 years, subjects the international trade of 30,000 species of animals and plants, including 49 tree species, to varying degrees of control through listing in its three appendices according to the degree of threat and protection required.

Appendix I applies the most stringent controls on species threatened with extinction, Appendix II regulates trade in species that could potentially lead to extinction and Appendix III includes species listed by an “individual’’ country in an effort to enlist international cooperation to control trade from their country.

Forests where ramin grow are also home to endangered species such as orangutans and Sumatran tigers, which are losing their habitat because of clearing for agriculture and impacts of illegal logging. (IPS)

US lead level in water misrepresented

Cities across the country are manipulating the results of tests used to detect lead in water, violating federal law and putting millions of US citizens at risk of drinking more of the contaminant than their suppliers are reporting.

Some cities, including Philadelphia and Boston, have thrown out tests that show high readings or have avoided testing homes most likely to have lead, records show. The result is that communities large and small may have a false sense of security about the quality of their water and that utilities can avoid spending money to correct the problem.

The Washington Post examined 65 large water systems whose reported lead levels have hovered near or exceeded federal standards. Federal, state and utility records show that dozens of utilities obscured the extent of lead contamination, ignored requirements to correct problems and failed to turn over data to regulators.

Lead exposure can cause serious health problems, including lower IQs in children and brain and kidney damage in adults. Although health experts agree that no amount of lead in drinking water is considered safe, there is some dispute about how much tainted water has to be consumed to cause permanent damage. (The Washington Post)

Space full of trash

Astronomers working for the European Space Agency (ESA) warned Oct. 11 that space is so full of rubbish that it has become a danger to the people and satellites in it. A team from the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics predicted that it will have detected around 100,000 fragments of space rubbish by the time it has finished a definitive catalogue.

The detritus it has found consists of defunct satellites, spent rocket stages and other debris from spacecraft, either jettisoned deliberately, or broken off as a result of explosions or collisions. Equally dangerous are the tools that have been dropped by astronauts while performing external maintenance work.

Any artificial object orbiting the earth can be a nuisance, even plastic bags, pens and CDs. (Guardian (UK))

Montana to resume buffalo hunting

Wildlife commissioners in Montana agreed this week to allow bison hunting to resume for a month long season tentatively set to start in January.

Controversy started in 1990 when activists near the border of Yellowstone Nation Park faced off with hunters to keep them from killing the bison. Montana lawmakers stopped the hunting in 1991, changing it from sport to a disease control program implemented by state and federal officials

The controversy heats up each winter when the bison leave Yellowstone in search of food. Ranchers in Montana worry the bison will transmit brucellosis, which can cause cattle to abort. Scientists counter that there’s no proof that bison can spread the disease to cattle in the wild.

“I can guarantee you lawsuits. I can guarantee you public outcry,” Mike Mease of the Buffalo Field Campaign said. “These animals are sacred to a lot of people.” (abcnews.go.com)

Banned chemical use to increase in US

After a decade in which the use of the fumigant methyl bromide decreased by more than 70 percent among developed nations, its consumption is poised to rise next year in the US. Under a treaty known as the Montreal Protocol, the chemical was to be banned for most uses by the end of this year.

The US has already obtained international approval for a 16 percent increase in consumption next year over the nation’s reported use in 2003. This has happened through a new process that provides for exemptions from the ban in the case of “critical uses.’’

Methyl bromide, a pesticide so witheringly effective, is considered more destructive to the protective ozone layer in the stratosphere than some banned chemicals and has been linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer in farm workers. (NYT)

State money for pollution control misspent

In California, over the last four years, nearly $70 million in state bond money designated for pollution control has financed a score of giant dairies that have helped turn the San Joaquin Valley, which produces more milk than any other region in the country but has more violations of the eight-hour ozone standard than even LA, into the nation’s most polluted air basin.

State Treasurer Phil Angelides, who heads the Pollution Control Financing Authority and approved the loans, now says the $70 million in bond money for dairies was misspent.

Angelides said only businesses that take important steps to curtail their pollution should qualify for the financing. The 18 dairies awarded state bond money since 2001, by contrast, never offered any plans to use new air pollution control technology, he said. (LA Times)