New York, California, and 10 other states have joined forces with Greenpeace and other advocacy groups in arguing that the federal Clean Air Act gives the EPA the authority to regulate any air pollutant–including carbon dioxide–that may hurt public health or welfare.

While EPA officials have acknowledged the risks of global warming, they maintain that their agency does not regulate greenhouse gas emissions because Congress has not granted it such authority under the Clean Air Act.

Meanwhile, the court will also hear arguments from 10 other states, most notably Michigan where the automakers are headquartered, who say the EPA should stay out of the carbon dioxide regulation business, citing concerns about increased regulation leading to higher prices for automo?iles.
According to analysts watching the case, a decision from the court either turning the regulation of greenhouse gases over to the EPA or ruling in favor of the status quo could take several months.

Reporting by Roddy Schee

First and foremost is green car technology. Some 200,000 hybrid cars have been sold in the U.S. since 1999, and automakers will add as many as eight new gas-electric models in the coming year to the six already on the market.

Next is green buildings, with more than 200 new commercial and public structures in the last five years meeting or exceeding rigorous standards for energy efficiency, use of recycled materials, water conservation and other practices set by the U.S. Green Building Council. Also, almost 10 percent of new-home construction in some of the nation’s top housing markets meets Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star standards for high levels of energy efficiency.

Plant-covered green rooftops–which reduce storm-water runoff, air pollution, energy bills and the urban "heat island" effect–is another area where Americans are making strides, according to Lowy. Several major U.S. cities are adding thousands of acres of green roofs through various incentive programs.

Americans are also more and more inclined to purchase green energy. Lowy is especially intrigued by the prospects for wind energy, which has been growing 25 percent annually for each of the past five years, and which promises significantly increased production capacity over the next decade with the construction of ever-larger offshore wind farms.

Lastly, Lowy lauds efforts by chemical manufacturers to green up their product lines in the face of mounting pressure from environmentalists. Indeed, chemists have been working feverishly in recent years to develop chemicals that solve problems without adding to America’s pollution burden.

All in all, Lowy remains optimistic that these green trends bode well for America’s environmental future moving forward, despite the threats trumpeted by the skeptics.

Reporting by Roddy Scheer

The figure is the second highest on record, 6% higher than the previous 12 months.

Deforestation was worst in the state of Mato Grosso where vast swathes of land have been cleared to grow crops.

Greenhouse threat

The loss of 26,000 sq km means almost a fifth of the entire Amazon has now been chopped down.
On this occasion, just under half of the deforestation occurred in Mato Grosso, where trees have been replaced with soya fields.

Last year exports of soya, mostly to China and Europe, propelled Brazil to a record trade surplus.

But campaigners say exports are being put ahead of the environment.

In a statement, Greenpeace called the governor of Mato Grosso the "king of deforestation".

He himself is one of the world’s largest soya producers.

Responding to the figures, the government points out that it has increased satellite surveillance of threatened areas and created some of the largest environmental reserves in Brazilian history, but so far there is little to show for it.

The broader fear among environmentalists is that a shrinking Amazon will soon become a net polluter of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide as its absorbing properties are reduced and more and more felled trees are burned.

The core of the event is the international politics simulation, somewhat similar to a Model UN, but, arguably, much more dynamic. Lectures, workshops, and panel discussions provide further opportunities for participants to get in touch with prominent leaders, both from Bulgaria and abroad. We also organize a special excursion to Sofia?your chance to visit the Bulgarian Parliament and meet the real parliamentarians there!

The participation fee of 90 Euro (~120 US) includes all accommodation, food, a trip to Sofia, and all of the conference materials. We are able to provide financial assistance in the form of fee reductions and/or limited travel funding to qualified participants.

But cut to the present and Ballard?s stock is down from an all-time high of $140 per share in 2001 to just $6 and change these days. Investors, said Ballard President Dennis Campbell, have been ?discouraged by the long wait? and ?seduced by the lure of an easier solution to the energy and environmental challenges that we face.?

Meanwhile, FuelCell Energy?s stock has lost 80 percent of its value in the same time period. Investors who poured money into these companies on the heels of the dot-com crash hoped they would take profits to the bank in short order. But with major automakers and power producers reticent about implementing fuel-cell technology for mass consumption without reliable and convenient methods of hydrogen refueling and generation available, the revolution is taking much longer to materialize than anyone predicted. And many frustrated fuel-cell investors looking for quick profits have bailed as a result, leading to the sector?s collective NASDAQ plunge.

Competing Renewables

Meanwhile, the increasing development of wind and solar power is giving fuel cells a run in the race to dominate the burgeoning alternative-energy sector. ?The challenge is that most of the technologies are still emerging, and it?s unclear which of several competing technologies?fuel cells, solar, biomass?are going to win,? says green business pundit Joel Makower, who researches clean energy technology through his firm Clean Edge. ?In addition, these companies? stocks are subject to the vagaries of global politics, federal funding, oil prices and all of the usual stuff that jiggles stocks.?

Rona Fried, president of SustainableBusiness.com, the leading web portal for green business information and networking, agrees with Makower?s assessment. ?Fuel-cell stocks are very speculative,? she says. ?Investors should know they are making a bet when they buy into them. The people I know putting money into these stocks are buying only very tiny amounts.?

Meanwhile, some bold individual investors are unfazed by the risks of getting into fuel cells now. Charles Kirk, author of the popular financial weblog known as the Kirk Report, points out, ?Many times the best time to buy these stocks for long-term holdings is after Wall Street finally grows tired of them and throws in the proverbial towel.? Kirk adds, ?The fact that everyone now hates [Ballard Power stock] and clearly has doubt regarding its future has finally made me interested in buying it.?

Follow the Money

One way investors can get in on the game cheap but still hedge their bets is by piggybacking on the investment decisions of larger traditional companies. For instance, Ford and DaimlerChrysler together own more than a third of Ballard Power (19 percent and 17 percent respectively), which practically ensures that Ballard?s products will find their way into new cars at some point in the future. Also, rumors abound that the automakers want to take over Ballard outright, which would be a boon to investors who get in before any such mergers happen.

Another solid indicator of long-term success is the existence of real revenues today. Ballard brought in more than $89 million last year primarily through the licensing of its vehicular and portable fuel cells, while stationary fuel-cell maker FuelCell Energy topped $30 million in revenues through its operation of 23 power plants throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. Many of the analysts who now view Ballard as yesterday?s news are still bullish on FuelCell Energy?s business model and operational expertise.

Perhaps the moral of the story is that green inves?ors looking to cash in over the long haul might want to consider buying some of the more respected fuel-cell stocks now, as their share prices are at historic lows yet their prospects remain solid. While fuel cells will no doubt be challenged as the dominant alternative energy technology, their widespread application and low environmental and economic cost may well make them a key player in the future energy spectrum, if only investors can wait that long.

by Roddy Scheer

U.S. opposition to the proposal came to light via a leaked State Department memo stating concerns that without participation by fast-growing developing nations, the plan was doomed to failure in the face of building booms across China, India and elsewhere.

British officials came up with the controversial plan at the prompting of Indonesia, where corruption is so rampant that authorities are unable to stop gangs of poachers from logging in protected rainforest lands. The UK’s delegates to the G8 meeting say that the U.S. is merely interested in keeping the price of timber down for the benefit of American companies.

"This is outrageous," says Faith Doherty of the UK’s Environmental Investigation Agency. "U.S. business simply doesn’t want any restrictions on its own practices." Whereas the U.S. claims that restricting timber purchases would be ineffective without the participation of developing countries, Doherty and other proponents say the success or failure of the proposal, much like the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, hinges more on American participation.

Reporting by Roddy Scheer

The street Ford calls home looks like any other suburban stretch, except that its backdrop is a blazing refinery outlined by a gray blanket of smoke. ?The man who lived here just died of cancer,? Ford says, gesturing at a one-story house as the bus rolls past. ?If you look on this side of the street?the lady who lived there died of cancer. The man who lives next to my house had cancer, and the man next door to him has cancer. Over there you can see the elementary school.?

The refinery is lit up all night. Plumes of flame known as flares ignite from the smokestacks periodically. While the flares are only supposed to go off in emergencies, residents say they?re more like business as usual, sparking up an average of once every six days. According to the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, company accident reports show that chemicals considered ?extremely hazardous substances? by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are routinely discharged, with about one million pounds of pollutants emitted in excess of permitted limits per year. Rotten-egg odors and black coke dust migrate from the refinery to settle around the homes in a dark miasma.

?We need industry,? Ford explains. ?We need the jobs, and we?re not looking to blame anybody. But we also have a right to clean air. I?ve spoken to government officials, politicians, written to Congress. Everybody agrees that we have a problem, but nobody does anything about it.?

When he first complained to company officials about the foul-smelling chemicals permeating the interior of his house, his claims were dismissed. ?Eventually, I realized I?d have to get something to back me up,? he says. ?So I bought a weather monitoring station and started to log the time I smelled the odors, and I built up a case over time.?

Ford?s data collection got easier when the Louisiana Bucket Brigade introduced an EPA-approved, low-cost device that allows anyone to take independent air samples. The tool is simply a five-gallon bucket with a sturdy plastic bag inside and a hand-pumped vacuum on the lid. It?s easy to use: Suspect air is drawn into the bag, sealed in, and sent to a lab for testing. Louisiana Bucket Brigade director Anne Rolfes says that the bucket-gathered data tells a story that contrasts sharply with that of the oil companies.

?When the company gets up and says ?no problem,? what it?s really saying is ?nobody is going to die today,?? Rolfes says. ?We?re concerned with the long-term effects that these pollutants are having on communities.? While the Chalmette refin?ry uses its own fixed monitors, activists say the devices test for too few chemicals, too far from the homes nearby. The company also monitors in parts per million, while more protective provisions set for ambient air standards in Louisiana are in parts per billion.

ExxonMobil?s use of hydrochloric acid in on-site processing demonstrates policy that completely opposes the precautionary principle (see ?The European Dream,? features, this issue). Should a worst-case accident scenario occur, New Orleans could be heavily impacted. A safer alternative for hydrochloric acid not only exists but was patented by ExxonMobil, yet it has not been implemented in Chalmette. In early 2004, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade and Ford?s nonprofit, the St. Bernard Citizens for Environmental Quality, filed a lawsuit under the Clean Air Act against ExxonMobil?s Chalmette Refining. Based upon information from accident records out of the refinery?s own files, the suit cites such problems as the continual leakage of benzene?a known carcinogen and respiratory irritant?from storage tanks on site. Adam Babich, the attorney representing the Bucket Brigade in the lawsuit, argues that many of the incidents reported in the accident records were preventable: ?We?re suing about a slew of violations of permit, and the point we?re making is that a well-run facility should not have this number of incidents.?

?Cases like this are the reason Congress put citizen supervision in the Clean Air Act,? says student attorney Clay Garside. ?When neither the EPA nor state agencies are enforcing the act in courts, the citizens have a right to sue. Sometimes, they?re the best watchdogs.? A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the same refinery.

St. Bernard Parish (which includes Chalmette) has the highest cancer rate in the state, but cancer incidence and routine accidental releases are not confined to that area. About a quarter of the nation?s petrochemicals are produced in Louisiana, and the state ranks second in the nation for benzene pollution and cancer mortality. Louisiana is not alone: activists on the Chalmette tour represented communities in Texas, New York, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Bucket Brigade founder Denny Larson has spent nearly a decade bringing the air-monitoring buckets to communities across the globe. In 1995, attorney Edward Masry and his research assistant, the now-famous Erin Brockovich, became ill from fumes emitted from a Unocal-owned petroleum refinery in the Bay Area of California. Masry, who was representing the surrounding community in a lawsuit against the refinery, hired an environmental engineer to design the ?bucket? to enable his clients to monitor toxic exposure for themselves. Soon, bucket brigade chapters sprung up throughout Texas, Florida, Alabama, Ohio, and of course New Orleans.

?The problem I saw consistently was a lack of information in the face of a credible eye-witness testimony,? Larson says. ?It?s through generating misleading data that companies can get away with what they?re doing. Once you have proof, you can collapse the pyramid of deception, turn the tables, and bring on some dramatic changes.? The Bucket Brigades also use high-tech CEREX monitors that can instantly register what compounds are present in the air, and maintain log books of accident reports. When Bucket Brigades have taken polluters to court, the companies have been forced to relocate communities or invest in more effective monitoring equipment, and they usually settle before going to trial.

Thanks to the efforts of a Bucket Brigade spin-off, Global Community Monitor, communities are now being trained and equipped with buckets in all corners of the world. Larson notes that the most heavily impacted communities consist of people of color in the lowest-income bracket. ?It is a corporate strategy to move pollution away from the eyes of the Western world in order to avoid media oversight and regulatory structure,? Larson says. ?That is exactly why we made the Bucket Brigade into a global movement.??r

? Switch to compact fluorescents for your five most-used lights. Yes, compact fluorescents are initially more expensive ($2 to $20) than conventional incandescent bulbs, but some utilities subsidize them and the remaining extra cost is worth it. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a single compact fluorescent will shave $60 off your energy bill in its lifetime and keep a half ton of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The federal Energy Star program notes that if every household in the nation switched five bulbs, we could shut down 24 power plants. Compact fluorescent bulbs use at least two-thirds less energy and last six to 10 times longer than conventional bulbs?not a bad return on your small investment!
? Insulate your windows. If you don?t have double-pane windows and can?t afford to install them, consider putting up plastic. Window plastic comes in kits ($4 to $6 per window) that are available at most hardware stores, and can be installed easily. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the pocket of air created between the plastic and the window serves as insulation, reducing heat loss by 25 to 50 percent.
? Don sweaters and fuzzy slippers. Before turning up the thermostat, ask yourself if you might be just as comfortable putting on some layers. The DOE calculates that your energy bill will go up three percent for each degree you raise the thermostat. Remember that tightly knit clothing is warmer than loose-knit, and wool is warmer than cotton.
? Use hot water efficiently. Install low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators?you?ll use less water, so you?ll have to heat less water. The DOE notes that a low-flow showerhead reduces the amount of water you must heat by 20 gallons, without reducing the quality of your shower. A $10 to $20 showerhead will pay for itself within three or four months. Wash clothes in cold water whenever possible and use the washer only with a full load. Keep your water heater set between 120 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
? Watch your appliance use. Everyday appliances siphon huge amounts of energy off the grid, but those with Energy Star ratings use 10 to 50 percent less energy than standard models. When cooking, the NRDC advises consumers to ?resist the urge to open the oven door to peek?each opening can reduce the oven temperature 25 degrees.? Efficiency Vermont suggests keeping refrigerators at 36 to 38 degrees, and freezers at zero to five degrees. Unplug televisions when not in use, as they will continue to draw power even when switched off. Computers should be set to ?hibernate? when abandoned temporarily.
? Use blinds and curtains wisely. In the winter, open window coverings during the day to let in solar radiation and shut them at night to keep the heat in. Emulate the pioneers by only exposing south and west-facing windows. In the summer, apply this principle in reverse. Keep windows shaded during the day to keep the heat out.
? Pay attention to your thermostat. The NRDC recommends setting the thermostat to 68 degrees in the winter, and dropping it down to 55 degrees when you are asleep or are away from the house for more than a couple hours.
? Stop drafts in windows and under doors. The Utah Department of Natural Resources suggests you can reduce your energy bill by 10 percent by ferreting out and sealing up air leaks. The DOE advises consumers to ?pay special attention around windows and where siding or bricks and wood trim meet.? Caulking, sealant, and weather stripping will do the trick and are available at most hardware stores. Cute little draft blockers can be had at most craft fairs.
? Close doors and vents to unused rooms. Many of us live in houses with more space than we need, yet we still spend the money to heat empty rooms. The DOE calculates that, ?by closing the vents to just one spare bedroom in a fi?e-room house, you can instantly cut your heating bills by as much as 20 percent.?
? Use a humidifier. According to the DOE, ?It?s not the heat; it?s the humidity.? Moisture from a humidifier will increase the ?heat index,? making 68 degrees feel like 76. Maintain a relative humidity between 30 to 50 percent to keep condensation off the windows.

"Stock depletion has implications for food security and economic development, reduces social welfare in countries around the world and undermines the well being of underwater ecosystems," says Ichiro Nomura, FAO Assistant Director General for Fisheries.

The report details how seven of the world’s top ten fish species are stretched to their limits. Populations of Chilean jack mackerel, Alaska Pollock, Japanese anchovy, blue whiting, Atlantic herring and capelin are already fully exploited or over-exploited. "Serious biological and economic drawbacks are likely if fishing capacity for these stocks is further increased," warned the report.

As world fish consumption is expected to rise by more than 25 percent by 2015, FAO officials are stressing the urgent need to rebuild depleted stocks. Fish populations–not to mention the marine ecosystems and human livelihoods dependent on them–are at greatest risk in the Northeast Atlantic, Black Sea and the Southeast Pacific, according to FAO.

The game and one day lesson plan, called ?Environmental Jeopardy?, was sent to more than 6500 educators around the country who are members of Earth Day Network?s Educator?s Network. Teachers who join the Educator?s Network through the Teacher?s Corner of the Earth Day Network website will also receive a free copy of ?Environme?tal Jeopardy?.

?Earth Day Network?s engaging and innovative educational resources are designed to help educators improve the quality and quantity of environmental education their students receive,? said Eric Rubin, Director of Education Programs at Earth Day Network. ?These resources, including Environmental Jeopardy, meet educational guidelines and are fun for teachers to implement on Earth Day or any day.?

?Environmental Jeopardy? was designed by Earth Day Network to challenge the way students think about important issues such as recycling, energy, sustainability, transportation and pollution, which affect the lives of all Americans.

Earth Day Network works with educators around the country to provide innovative and thought-provoking environmental education tools and curricula. Earth Day Network believes that environmental education should be a year round priority and encourages its practice by providing an ongoing series of tools and curricula to educators who are a part of their Educators Network.Following this initial release of ?Environmental Jeopardy? Earth Day Network will promote a second version called ?What?s in Your Food, What?s in Your Body? which participating educators can download from the Earth Day Network website prior to Earth Day on April 22, 2005. Another version of the game will be available to educators by the end of May.
About Earth Day Network

Earth Day Network was founded by the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970 and promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Our mission is to build broad-based citizen support for sound, workable and effective environmental and sustainable development policies. Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world, with a global network that reaches over 12,000 organizations in 174 countries. As a result, Earth Day is celebrated by more than half a billion people each year making it the largest secular holiday in the world.