basilbias.com

The latest BPA findings are still not conclusive, but they’re scary nonetheless. In the face of all the scientific uncertainty surrounding this ubiquitous chemical, this New York Times op-ed piece quotes Dr. Ted Schettler of the Science and Environmental Health Network:

When you have 92 percent of the American population exposed to a chemical, this is not one where you want to be wrong. Are we going to quibble over individual rodent studies, or are we going to act?

Which makes me wonder, why are chemicals considered safe until proven harmful (beyond any shadow of a doubt) anyway?

This appeared in the New York Times last week:

Government ministers in the Maldives are taking scuba lessons and learning hand signals in preparation for an unprecedented underwater cabinet meeting intended to highlight the threat of global warming. Since taking office last year, President Mohamed Nasheed has emerged as an important voice on the impact of climate change amid fears that rising ocean levels could swamp his nation within a century. The Maldives is the lowest-lying nation on earth. The ministers, who will wear scuba gear for the Oct. 17 gathering, plan to sign a document calling on all countries to reduce their carbon emissions.

Symbolic? Yes. But what else can a tiny island nation of 300,000 do, exactly?  Although a plan to become the first carbon-neutral country on Earth is already in place, without getting the rest of the world’s attention, the Maldives will still be ocean in no time.

After a long, Bush-induced slumber, the Environmental Protection Agency is poised to…actually start protecting the environment from global warming! Of course, just declaring greenhouse gases to be a threat to public health won’t have any immediate effect, but it indicates a fundamental shift in the right direction. David Donager, director of the climate center at the Natural Resources Defense Council, had this to say:

At long last, the E.P.A. has officially recognized that carbon pollution is harmful to our health and to the climate [...] With this step, administrator Lisa Jackson and the Obama administration have gone a long way to restore respect for both science and law. The era of defying science and the Supreme Court has ended.

Read the rest of the article here.

While the stimulus bill (that just passed in the House) falls short of the aid our country desperately needs in many respects, there is some good news:

“It’s rare for a compromise to make a bill better, but that’s what happened yesterday,” said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. “Tens of billions of dollars for clean energy, energy efficiency, public transportation, scientific research and a smart energy grid remain. Tens of billions set to be wasted on coal and other outdated energy sources were removed.”

In total, the bill provides about 62.2 billion in “direct spending on green initiatives.” Read the full article from grist.org here.