Each year, we humans generate 20 to 50 million tons of electronic "e-waste," containing such toxic chemicals as lead, mercury and cadmium as consumers toss out their quickly outdated cell phones, computers and televisions in favor of more high-tech models <a href="https://emagazine.com/view/?3172">(see "How to Recycle Practically Anything," feature, May/June 2006).</a>
Iris Harden knew that something in her Harlem, Georgia house was making her sick. "I wasn’t educated. I didn’t know it was mold," she says. "All I knew was that something in that house was doing it to me." She had a good idea of the cause after environmental testing found elevated levels of mold spores in her kitchen and bedroom. Her discomfort, headaches and a burning sensation around her eyes became so acute that she had to move out of the house.
To find one of the world’s rarest felines, first fly into Tokyo. You’re still a long bus ride, two more flights and a turbulent ferry jaunt from reaching the only spot in the world—a far-flung island in southern Japan’s Yaeyama group—where an observer can spot a wild yamaneko, or mountain cat.
There’s no doubt 2006 has been a great year for green building—at least in terms of PR.
On Easter Monday of 2006, 20 people grabbed their camping gear and left the comfort of their homes to erect a tent city at Eagleridge Bluffs, a scenic area in West Vancouver, British Columbia. They were protesting the state government’s plan to build a four-lane highway through the Bluffs that would destroy rare and sensitive ecosystems and would decimate portions of a popular hiking trail.
It is widely agreed that aquatic life and fisheries are in global decline. However, a new report says the damage could be worse than previously suspected. Appearing in Science, the report summarized a four-year study by a team of ecologists and economists, and concluded that at current rates of over-fishing almost all marine life harvested by humans will be wiped out before 2050.
The Democratic Congressional victories are likely to provide new momentum for the U.S. to finally act on climate change. Three newly empowered Senators—Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) sent a letter to President Bush November 15 urging him to work with them to "signal to the world that global warming legislation is on the way."
When Wal-Mart announced plans to double its offering of organic products (see "High-Volume Organic: Should We Applaud When Wal-Mart Goes Crunchy?" Currents, September/ October 2006) the organic community responded with mixed feelings. Now skeptics have new ammunition, because the Cornucopia Institute has filed a legal complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture accusing Wal-Mart of selling non-organic food products as organic.
Last October, Iceland announced it would resume hunting great whales, breaking a 20-year moratorium on commercial whaling. Icelandic whalers will be allowed to kill nine endangered fin whales and 30 smaller, more abundant minkes by the end of August. The killing has already begun: By the end of last November, whalers had killed seven fins, producing a storm of international criticism.
When it comes to solid waste, most people think of candy wrappers, soda bottles and Styrofoam packing peanuts instead of the house they’re living in or the Target where they shop. However, the EPA estimates that up to 40 percent of U.S. solid waste is construction and demolition debris. Deconstruction—taking homes and commercial buildings apart, rather than landfilling the waste—does involve more labor than demolition, but it also avoids costly disposal fees. What had been a total loss—demolition and landfilling—turns into a revenue-generating opportunity to resell what was previously waste.
