According to the results of a recently conducted Harris Interactive Poll, nearly three-quarters of American adults agree that protecting the environment is important and standards cannot be too high. Meanwhile, almost half of the 1,200+ respondents surveyed believe the federal government should get more involved in environmental protection. Only one-fifth feel there is too much environmental regulation currently.
With consumers facing rising gasoline costs and skyrocketing prices for home heating oil this winter, the debate over the short- and long-term future of America’s energy supply rages on. Some observers point out that it’s getting tougher for environmentalists to distinguish among sources of energy that are acceptable and those that should be met with picket lines. This question is being raised with regard to the once universally despised specter of nuclear power, and it’s also being applied to liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facilities.
In other news about the impact of environmental problems on developing countries, the United Nations last week predicted that as many as 50 million people around the world could become "environmental refugees" by 2010 due to increasing drought, deforestation and declining soil fertility, all of which could be exacerbated by global warming.
Researchers believe that rising sea temperatures in the North Atlantic, possibly as a result of human-induced climate change, are primarily responsible for the worst drought in the Amazon in four decades. Brazilian officials have declared 16 cities within the country’s Amazonas region to be disaster areas due to the effects of the two-month-long drought.
It’s great to know that we’re all in this high-gas-prices thing together, consumers and oil companies alike. "If each of us took just one small step toward conservation, the impact would be huge," says a recent Chevron ad campaign, which adds that the company is "working around the clock" to get oil back to pre-Katrina production levels (and, presumably, prices). In the meantime, we’re urged to cut down on trips by "consolidating errands," "using public transportation when possible" and avoiding "rapid acceleration and braking." Thanks for the tips, Chevron!
Last week, the Bush administration unveiled its latest conservation initiative in the form of a cartoon pig pleading with consumers to save gasoline in their cars and energy in their homes.
Last week, the nonprofit environmental group Defenders of Wildlife released its second annual list of the nation’s ten most endangered national wildlife refuges. Topping the list this year is Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
September 22 was celebrated as World Car-Free Day in much of the civilized world, but there was no joy in the Washington office of the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute. "Many people may well choose a car-free lifestyle, but the notion that government should impose it in the name of sustainability is crazy," said the head of CEI’s Automobility Project.
There was some speculation that he wouldn’t actually appear, but there, in a polo shirt, sat House Natural Resources Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA), just inches away from Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope.
In 1993, the Chinese government banned the sale and trade of tigers and their parts, providing a much-needed safety net for the species then teetering on the brink of extinction due to over-hunting and habitat loss. But last week, the Chinese government hinted that it might reopen the trade in tiger parts from farm-bred, captive populations of the majestic cat.
