Phil Gutis's Blog
Press Clips: Food vs Fuel, Port Emissions, Patagonia and Water Quality in Miami
May 5, 2008
Posted by Phil Gutis in The Media and the Environment
In “Is Ethanol Getting a Bum Rap?,” Business Week’s John Cary considers biofuels’ connection to soaring global food prices. He writes, “Certainly a rapid rise in food prices brings misery to poor countries.”
Cary looked to NRDC Senior Policy Analyst Nathanael Greene, who offered one silver lining of increased food prices: after this initial shock, he says, higher prices will level the playing field for farmers in the developing world who have long competed in futility against heavily subsidized grain from Europe and the United States.
Cary concludes his article by saying that energy costs – not ethanol – should be blamed for high grocery bills. He cites a group of a group of agricultural economists at Texas A&M university who wrote, "The underlying force driving changes in the agricultural industry, along with the economy as a whole, is overall higher energy costs."
Greene also gets a nice plug from The New York Times' City Room blog and writer Carol Murphy who directs her readers to Nathanael’s blog on Switchboard as "an excellent place to get more information and details” on alternative energy.
On the other coast, NRDC appears in a Long Beach Telegram article regarding rising cancer rates around the expansion of the Port of LA. NRDC Senior Attorney David Pettit notes that, while the port trumpets the emissions reductions in its plan, their admission of an increase in cancer risk “[seems to be] saying ‘We’re already killing a lot of people, so what’s one more?’" Pettit adds, "That’s just not acceptable.”
Also not acceptable, says Jacob Scherr of NRDC’s International Program, are retirement funds that often invest against the ideals of their beneficiaries.
In talking with the Canadian paper The Globe and Mail, Scherr laments a planned hydroelectric project -- partly-funded through two Canadian public-sector retirement funds -- that would dissect a practically untouched portion of Andean Patagonia.
“I think a lot of Canadian pensioners would be very upset to realize that part of their legacy was destroying one of the most beautiful and pristine places left on the planet,” Scherr said. Moreover, the article reports Scherr’s assertion that such an “eco-gem” would bring “more value to Chileans over the longer term if it were left unspoiled.”
Albeit less pristine than Patagonia, Miami’s marine ecosystem also finds itself under anthropogenic attack. While many know South Beach for the diverse dating preferences of its inhabitants, the city’s pollution has created a less positive array of sexual diversity in the fish of its surrounding waters.
In a Reuters article carried by MSNBC.com, NRDC Clean Water Project director Nancy Stoner explains that the city’s dumping of "at least 300 million gallons of partially treated urban waste water...has been linked to abnormally developed fish that have both male and female characteristics."
Stoner says that pharmaceutical waste and pollutants such as endocrine disrupters "can drive hormone systems haywire.”
"The thing with pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupters and so forth is that people don't really know what the long-term effects are," she added. "I find that scary."
The article echoes her concern, pointing out that there are no effective programs in place in the United States to remove these types of pollutants from waste water. Although forced by environmental organizations and other activists to fix the problem, Miami authorities may take over fifteen years and $3 billion to re-route the ocean-bound waste stream.
Press Clips is a new feature on Switchboard that will provide a highly selective view of the world as seen through the eyes of NRDC staff quoted by mainstream media outlets. Roundups will appear daily, Monday through Friday.
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