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.
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!
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a version of Resources Committee Chair Dick Pombo’s revision of the Endangered Species Act, which calls for major changes to the nation’s premiere environmental law. Pombo, a California Republican, says the existing law is too cumbersome in the courts and too costly for landowners and developers.
Is Congressman Richard Pombo (R-CA), the chairman of the House Resources Committee, joking? Did he really circulate a razed-earth anti-parks bill as a rather mean-spirited joke, or was he for real? It’s a little hard to tell with him, but the national parks sections are certainly laughable. In any case, the idea of making wildlife "pay its passage" is not new: In the 1997 film Fierce Creatures, a sequel to the fabulous A Fish Called Wanda, an evil magnate modeled on Rupert Murdoch takes over a small British zoo and demands that it produce a 20 percent return. Among his bright ideas: hanging bank-promoting advertising sandwich boards on the big cats.
