U.S. policies are subsidizing new energy crops that are likely to spread off the farm and wreak economic and ecological havoc, a federalFor years, researchers have worked to develop "advanced" biofuel feeds from unconventional crops such as grasses and algae.
The goal is to enable a switch away from corn- and soy-based biofuel to cellulosic energy crops that don't compete on the food or feed market and have a smaller carbon footprint. A 2007 energy law, in fact, requires a total of 160 billion gallons of the plant-based cellulosic fuels by 2022 that these crops would produce.
As a result, researchers are now selecting, breeding and engineering species that demand less water, fertilizer and agricultural land and grow year-round at high yields.
But it is often exactly these traits, such as drought tolerance or pathogen resistance, that make the fuels of the future ripe to become invasive species and cause widespread damage. The issue highlights another potential complication in what has been a bumpy road in the development of the biofuels industry.
"Absent strategic mitigation efforts, there is substantial risk that some biofuel crops will escape cultivation and cause socio-economic and/or ecological harm," the white paper, adopted by the Invasive Species Advisory Committee, warns.
The group of outside experts advises a federal council tasked with coordinating invasive species policies among 13 departments and agencies. It called on the U.S. government to take major steps to combat the substantial risks from biofuels as it promotes and funds biofuels development.
Invasive species are already costly
Every year, invasive plants cost the United States a minimum of $34 billion in losses and control costs, according to one study the group's paper cites. The potential scale of biofuel cultivation, at more than 150 million acres, provides ample opportunity to add to those costs, the committee says.
Some proposed biofuel crops already are invasive species.
One of the most alarming examples is giant reed, or Arundo donax, according to Joseph DiTomaso, the University of California, Davis, weed specialist who drafted the paper.
The grass grows in dense clumps up to 20 feet tall and is classified a noxious weed in California and in Texas, as well as other areas of the South. But in Florida, researchers are looking to plant even more of it as a biofuel crop, he said.
Proposed energy crops like miscanthus and reed canary grass also are already invasive species in some areas of the world, he said. And jatropha and algae, crops that could one day supplant jet fuels used in aviation, also pose high invasion risk, according to the Global Invasive Species Programme.
Other heavily publicized biofuel crops, such as switchgrass, look to be safer bets in the United States, DiTomaso said.
The laws of unintended consequences are well-known to anyone familiar with the history of invasive species.
A field plowed with good intentions
One of the 10 worst weeds in the world, known as Johnson grass, was originally brought from the Mediterranean to the United States in 1830 as forage material for livestock. Today it's invasive in 23 states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and spreads aggressively in the South.
And kudzu -- the colorful "mile a minute" vine that has engulfed the southern United States -- was first imported from Japan to ornament gardens in the late 19th century.
The committee has made nine recommendations to avoid a more modern disaster.
It calls, for example, for long-term flexible funding for an early detection and rapid response system to monitor and respond to potential biofuel crop invasions.
But it also says that agencies need to craft proactive policies that minimize these risks in advance. It recommends evaluating each candidate biofuel crop in the region where it is proposed for cultivation and encouraging the use of low-risk species or cultivars.
Examples might be plants that are sterile or can't survive outside of the cultivated environment. Planting, harvesting, field abandonment, transport and storage practices should also be tailored to combat the threat, they said.
Selecting the right region is important, too. The committee recommended that federally supported research and demonstration projects select sites that minimize escape potential.
The issue goes beyond U.S. borders. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is also drafting guidelines on biofuels and invasive species. In Africa, it says, many governments are rushing to encourage biofuels development. But there, especially in countries lacking the resources to manage the risk of invasion, the threat has received scant attention, the group says. advisory board cautioned yesterday.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Air Pollution Travels, Kills Thousands Annually
Unseen and odorless, microscopic particles of air pollution wafting overseas and across continents kill some 380,000 people each year, according to a new study.
Exhaust from diesel engines, sulfur from coal-fired power plants, and desert dust swirl into an insidious cocktail of of tiny particles that can spend weeks airborne.
The most harmful are the smallest, less than 2.5 microns in diameter; when inhaled they can irritate the lungs or pass directly into the bloodstream and damage arteries.
Scientists and regulators know this is a major public health problem, especially in developing countries. But less clear is the effect that air pollution generated in regions like China and Southeast Asia has on far-off lands -- say, North America.
Particulate pollution born overseas that floats into Canada, Mexico and the United States accounts for 6,600 premature deaths each year, Junfeng Liu of Princeton University and a team of researchers found.
Similarly, their study, published in the journal Atmospheric Environment suggests that a dust plume from Africa and a fog of pollution from Europe converge on the Indian subcontinent, condemning nearly 200,000 people to early deaths.
Globally, the team estimates that some 380,000 people die prematurely as the result of particulates emigrating from foreign lands.
"It's clear that this is having an impact on health," said Denise Mauzerall of Princeton University, a co-author on the study. "If we want to develop a strategy to deal with anthropogenic pollution, we should consider the health aspect as well as climate implications."
Mauzerall said that regulating diesel exhaust would be particularly beneficial. Diesel engines emit both black carbon, which absorbs sunlight and warms the atmosphere and microparticles.
But Richard Derwent, an independent air pollution specialist based in Newbury in the United Kingdom questions the importance of focusing on transcontinental pollution.
Most pollution tends to stay local; The team's study shows that in all cases, less than 20 percent of a regions' total pollution comes from foreign sources.
"If I was a policymaker in Europe, and I look at this and see that 2 percent of my pollution is coming from North America, am I going to immediately start negotiations with the U.S. or Canada?" he said. "I'm not."
"Domestic emissions dominate," Mauzerall agreed. "But there is enough long range transport to have an effect -- it's small, but not negligible."
What's more, the difficulty of studying microparticles on a global scale means that the team had to treat natural dust sources as equally toxic to people as smoke from a coal-fired power plant. This is a gray area for science, as researchers are still uncertain which types of particles do the most damage.
Exhaust from diesel engines, sulfur from coal-fired power plants, and desert dust swirl into an insidious cocktail of of tiny particles that can spend weeks airborne.
The most harmful are the smallest, less than 2.5 microns in diameter; when inhaled they can irritate the lungs or pass directly into the bloodstream and damage arteries.
Scientists and regulators know this is a major public health problem, especially in developing countries. But less clear is the effect that air pollution generated in regions like China and Southeast Asia has on far-off lands -- say, North America.
Particulate pollution born overseas that floats into Canada, Mexico and the United States accounts for 6,600 premature deaths each year, Junfeng Liu of Princeton University and a team of researchers found.
Similarly, their study, published in the journal Atmospheric Environment suggests that a dust plume from Africa and a fog of pollution from Europe converge on the Indian subcontinent, condemning nearly 200,000 people to early deaths.
Globally, the team estimates that some 380,000 people die prematurely as the result of particulates emigrating from foreign lands.
"It's clear that this is having an impact on health," said Denise Mauzerall of Princeton University, a co-author on the study. "If we want to develop a strategy to deal with anthropogenic pollution, we should consider the health aspect as well as climate implications."
Mauzerall said that regulating diesel exhaust would be particularly beneficial. Diesel engines emit both black carbon, which absorbs sunlight and warms the atmosphere and microparticles.
But Richard Derwent, an independent air pollution specialist based in Newbury in the United Kingdom questions the importance of focusing on transcontinental pollution.
Most pollution tends to stay local; The team's study shows that in all cases, less than 20 percent of a regions' total pollution comes from foreign sources.
"If I was a policymaker in Europe, and I look at this and see that 2 percent of my pollution is coming from North America, am I going to immediately start negotiations with the U.S. or Canada?" he said. "I'm not."
"Domestic emissions dominate," Mauzerall agreed. "But there is enough long range transport to have an effect -- it's small, but not negligible."
What's more, the difficulty of studying microparticles on a global scale means that the team had to treat natural dust sources as equally toxic to people as smoke from a coal-fired power plant. This is a gray area for science, as researchers are still uncertain which types of particles do the most damage.
Wilder, wetter cyclones will hit Japan's economy
Typhoons are Japan's least welcome visitors. Every year, about 30 of the subtropical twisters visit the country, sometimes with devastating consequences. Just this week, 13 people died in the south-west of the country.
If as some expect typhoons, also called tropical cyclones, become stronger with climate change, then the destruction will only increase. What hasn't been considered is that Japan might be in for an economic shock, too.
To estimate the bill the country will have to pick up in the future, Miguel Esteban at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies in Yokohama, Japan, and his colleagues ran computer simulations to estimate the number of working hours that will be lost to typhoons in 2085.
Previous research has suggested that higher carbon-dioxide levels and warmer sea-surface temperatures will drive cyclonic winds to whirl 6 per cent faster in 2085, dumping almost a fifth more rain.
Storm shutdown
Currently, typhoons hit southern parts of the Japanese archipelago most strongly, but Esteban's model predicts that they will also strike hard further north in future, forcing more people to stop work and ports to close more often.
That's bad news for Japan, because almost a third of the country's GDP comes from trade. The simulations suggest that cyclones could rob Japan of 0.15 per cent of its GDP in 2085. In today's money that would mean a yearly typhoon-cost of more than ¥687 billion – some $7.2 billion, or about $60 per capita.
Japan will be able to cope, however, says Samuel Fankhauser of the London School of Economics – other countries should worry more about climate change.
"Other parts of the globe may be much harder hit," he says. "Relative to GDP, Africa's climate damages at that time might be 50 times as much, or 7.5 per cent of GDP, for example."
If as some expect typhoons, also called tropical cyclones, become stronger with climate change, then the destruction will only increase. What hasn't been considered is that Japan might be in for an economic shock, too.
To estimate the bill the country will have to pick up in the future, Miguel Esteban at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies in Yokohama, Japan, and his colleagues ran computer simulations to estimate the number of working hours that will be lost to typhoons in 2085.
Previous research has suggested that higher carbon-dioxide levels and warmer sea-surface temperatures will drive cyclonic winds to whirl 6 per cent faster in 2085, dumping almost a fifth more rain.
Storm shutdown
Currently, typhoons hit southern parts of the Japanese archipelago most strongly, but Esteban's model predicts that they will also strike hard further north in future, forcing more people to stop work and ports to close more often.
That's bad news for Japan, because almost a third of the country's GDP comes from trade. The simulations suggest that cyclones could rob Japan of 0.15 per cent of its GDP in 2085. In today's money that would mean a yearly typhoon-cost of more than ¥687 billion – some $7.2 billion, or about $60 per capita.
Japan will be able to cope, however, says Samuel Fankhauser of the London School of Economics – other countries should worry more about climate change.
"Other parts of the globe may be much harder hit," he says. "Relative to GDP, Africa's climate damages at that time might be 50 times as much, or 7.5 per cent of GDP, for example."
Bonn Climate Talks Move at Glacial Pace
Negotiations toward a new agreement to limit global warming ended today in Bonn with little progress, United Nations officials and conservationists said.
"At this rate, we will not make it," said the UN’s top climate change official, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Climate Change Secretariat.
A grim Yvo de Boer contemplates the slow pace of talksNegotiations need to move much faster to deliver strong outcomes on areas such as adaptation, technology and building skills in developing nations, he told reporters. Governments need to buckle down and concretely identify how to achieve this.
Attended by some 2,400 participants, the talks in Bonn were part of a series of UN gatherings this year designed to culminate in an ambitious and effective international climate change deal at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
De Boer stressed that "a climate deal in Copenhagen this year is an unequivocal requirement to stop climate change from slipping out of control."
The Copenhagen agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions is to follow the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012.
"So with only 15 days of negotiating time left before Copenhagen," said de Boer, negotiations will need to considerably pick up speed for the world to achieve a successful result at Copenhagen."
Anders Turesson, who chaired the European Union group in Bonn, said, "There are still chances for an agreement in Copenhagen in December, but it is time to step up the pace and other working methods are needed."
Dr. Jonathan Pershing, head of the U.S. delegation in Bonn, described progress as "modest but real" and said common elements are emerging that the United States would support.
"We would support the inclusion of a place for all parties, all countries, to inscribe their nationally appropriate mitigation actions and their commitments. We see a common element for low greenhouse gas strategies, and of measurement, reporting and verification of countries' actions."
A view of the plenary hall at the Bonn climate talks "For developed countries with commitments," said Pershing, "we envision that these would be quantitative emissions reductions with both a near-term and a long term component, there seems to be convergence among countries on that."
For developing countries, "We would like to see those countries inscribe robust, domestically-derived actions in a legally binding agreement," he said. "There are differences of view as to how that would be done."
Pershing says a deal in Copenhagen depends on India and China being included in any agreement. "Ourselves, Europe, China, India, Japan – it has to be the major emitters," he told BBC News. "If we think of a group of about 15 countries, they comprise of the order of 75 per cent of global emissions. We can't solve this without them; you need them all and they all have to move immediately."
The United States is willing to support least developed countries to build their capacity to make the needed changes, Pershing said. For coming financial year, the Obama administration "has increased nine-fold our financial request for adaptation, a key element of this agreement."
U.S. delegation head Johnathan Pershing briefs reporters. (Photo courtesy UNFCCC)
A key stumbling block is still the level and the source of financial support for poor countries, said Kim Carstensen, the head of WWF Global Climate Initiative.
Carstensen did say that "the growing number of countries supporting the idea of Copenhagen delivering a legally binding outcome was a positive sign."
"Delegates spent too much time arguing over procedures and technicalities. This is not the way overcome mistrust between rich and poor nations," he said. "Delegates are kept back by political gridlock. The political leaders must now unblock the process."
New figures from the United Nations released in Bonn show that 39 industrialized nations, excluding the United States, are planning to cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 15 and 21 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
Canada, for instance, presented their national target to reduce emissions by 20 percent from 2006 levels by 2020.
Delegates from around the world talked informally in Bonn. August 12, 2009. (Photo courtesy ENB)
Russia detailed plans to reduce emissions by 10 to 15 percent by 2020 in comparison to 1990s levels.
These levels are higher than those mandated by the Kyoto Protocol - an average 5.2 percent emissions cuts from 1990 levels - but they fall far short of the 25 to 40 percent emissions cuts most scientists say are necessary to avert the worst effects of global warming.
De Boer told reporters these promises are "miles away" from the ambition needed to meet the goal, set by the G8 leaders last month, to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
"Industrialized countries need to show a greater level of ambition in agreeing to meaningful mid-term emission reduction targets," said de Boer. "The present level of ambition can be raised domestically and by making use of international cooperation."
"We also need a clear indication of the finance and technology industrialized countries are ready to provide to help developing countries green their economic growth and adapt to the impacts of climate change," he said.
The action now shifts to a series of crucial political meetings in September - at the UN General Assembly, the Major Economies Forum, and the G20 meeting on global economic stability, all dealing with climate change.
An opportunity for all heads of state and government to provide clear political guidance to negotiators ahead of the Copenhagen conference will be the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Summit for world leaders September 22 in New York where leaders from all 192 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will assemble.
Work on the draft negotiating text will continue on September 28 in Bangkok, Thailand at a two-week session. Delegates will then assemble for five days of pre-Copenhagen negotiations in Barcelona on November 2.
The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen takes place from December 7 to December 18, 2009.
"At this rate, we will not make it," said the UN’s top climate change official, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Climate Change Secretariat.
A grim Yvo de Boer contemplates the slow pace of talksNegotiations need to move much faster to deliver strong outcomes on areas such as adaptation, technology and building skills in developing nations, he told reporters. Governments need to buckle down and concretely identify how to achieve this.
Attended by some 2,400 participants, the talks in Bonn were part of a series of UN gatherings this year designed to culminate in an ambitious and effective international climate change deal at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
De Boer stressed that "a climate deal in Copenhagen this year is an unequivocal requirement to stop climate change from slipping out of control."
The Copenhagen agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions is to follow the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012.
"So with only 15 days of negotiating time left before Copenhagen," said de Boer, negotiations will need to considerably pick up speed for the world to achieve a successful result at Copenhagen."
Anders Turesson, who chaired the European Union group in Bonn, said, "There are still chances for an agreement in Copenhagen in December, but it is time to step up the pace and other working methods are needed."
Dr. Jonathan Pershing, head of the U.S. delegation in Bonn, described progress as "modest but real" and said common elements are emerging that the United States would support.
"We would support the inclusion of a place for all parties, all countries, to inscribe their nationally appropriate mitigation actions and their commitments. We see a common element for low greenhouse gas strategies, and of measurement, reporting and verification of countries' actions."
A view of the plenary hall at the Bonn climate talks "For developed countries with commitments," said Pershing, "we envision that these would be quantitative emissions reductions with both a near-term and a long term component, there seems to be convergence among countries on that."
For developing countries, "We would like to see those countries inscribe robust, domestically-derived actions in a legally binding agreement," he said. "There are differences of view as to how that would be done."
Pershing says a deal in Copenhagen depends on India and China being included in any agreement. "Ourselves, Europe, China, India, Japan – it has to be the major emitters," he told BBC News. "If we think of a group of about 15 countries, they comprise of the order of 75 per cent of global emissions. We can't solve this without them; you need them all and they all have to move immediately."
The United States is willing to support least developed countries to build their capacity to make the needed changes, Pershing said. For coming financial year, the Obama administration "has increased nine-fold our financial request for adaptation, a key element of this agreement."
U.S. delegation head Johnathan Pershing briefs reporters. (Photo courtesy UNFCCC)
A key stumbling block is still the level and the source of financial support for poor countries, said Kim Carstensen, the head of WWF Global Climate Initiative.
Carstensen did say that "the growing number of countries supporting the idea of Copenhagen delivering a legally binding outcome was a positive sign."
"Delegates spent too much time arguing over procedures and technicalities. This is not the way overcome mistrust between rich and poor nations," he said. "Delegates are kept back by political gridlock. The political leaders must now unblock the process."
New figures from the United Nations released in Bonn show that 39 industrialized nations, excluding the United States, are planning to cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 15 and 21 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
Canada, for instance, presented their national target to reduce emissions by 20 percent from 2006 levels by 2020.
Delegates from around the world talked informally in Bonn. August 12, 2009. (Photo courtesy ENB)
Russia detailed plans to reduce emissions by 10 to 15 percent by 2020 in comparison to 1990s levels.
These levels are higher than those mandated by the Kyoto Protocol - an average 5.2 percent emissions cuts from 1990 levels - but they fall far short of the 25 to 40 percent emissions cuts most scientists say are necessary to avert the worst effects of global warming.
De Boer told reporters these promises are "miles away" from the ambition needed to meet the goal, set by the G8 leaders last month, to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
"Industrialized countries need to show a greater level of ambition in agreeing to meaningful mid-term emission reduction targets," said de Boer. "The present level of ambition can be raised domestically and by making use of international cooperation."
"We also need a clear indication of the finance and technology industrialized countries are ready to provide to help developing countries green their economic growth and adapt to the impacts of climate change," he said.
The action now shifts to a series of crucial political meetings in September - at the UN General Assembly, the Major Economies Forum, and the G20 meeting on global economic stability, all dealing with climate change.
An opportunity for all heads of state and government to provide clear political guidance to negotiators ahead of the Copenhagen conference will be the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Summit for world leaders September 22 in New York where leaders from all 192 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will assemble.
Work on the draft negotiating text will continue on September 28 in Bangkok, Thailand at a two-week session. Delegates will then assemble for five days of pre-Copenhagen negotiations in Barcelona on November 2.
The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen takes place from December 7 to December 18, 2009.
China to start cutting carbon emissions in 2050
China will start cutting its carbon emissions by 2050, its top climate change policymaker was quoted as saying in the Financial Times Saturday, the first time the nation has given a timeframe.
"China?s emissions will not continue to rise beyond 2050," said Su Wei, director general of the National Development and Reform Commission's climate change department, according to the paper.
China competes with the United States for the spot as the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases and intense interest is focused on its stance ahead of climate negotations in Copenhagen in December.
The December negotiations are aimed at hammering out a new climate change pact to replace the Kyoto protocol that expires in 2012.
As a developing nation with low per-capita emissions, China is not required to set emissions cuts under the UN Framework on Climate Change, and it has so far also seemed reluctant to accept caps in the future.
For the regime that will emerge after 2012, Su in Saturday's Financial Times seemed to signal a willingness to compromise.
"China will not continue growing emissions without limit or insist that all nations must have the same per-capita emissions. If we did that, this earth would be ruined," he said, according to the paper.
"China?s emissions will not continue to rise beyond 2050," said Su Wei, director general of the National Development and Reform Commission's climate change department, according to the paper.
China competes with the United States for the spot as the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases and intense interest is focused on its stance ahead of climate negotations in Copenhagen in December.
The December negotiations are aimed at hammering out a new climate change pact to replace the Kyoto protocol that expires in 2012.
As a developing nation with low per-capita emissions, China is not required to set emissions cuts under the UN Framework on Climate Change, and it has so far also seemed reluctant to accept caps in the future.
For the regime that will emerge after 2012, Su in Saturday's Financial Times seemed to signal a willingness to compromise.
"China will not continue growing emissions without limit or insist that all nations must have the same per-capita emissions. If we did that, this earth would be ruined," he said, according to the paper.
Chinese villagers dying from chemical factory's illegal pollution
The residents of Shuangqiao village say that their homes are now nothing but places in which to wait for death.
In the paddy fields surrounding this small community in Hunan province, southern China, the rice is neglected and strewn with weeds. The vegetable plots stand empty, stripped of the green beans and cabbages that were grown as cash crops.
Underfoot, the earth has been poisoned to a depth of 20cm (8in). The water in the wells is undrinkable.
Tragedies like this — the legacy of China’s rush to get rich — are all too common. Yesterday more than 600 children in Shaanxi province were found to be suffering from lead poisoning caused by a nearby lead and zinc smelter.
The plight of Shuangqiao, however, where three people have died and 509 are sick from poisoning by the heavy metals cadmium and indium, produced by a nearby factory, has drawn widespread attention since residents took to the internet to air their grievances.
“We wouldn’t be here today if the Government had paid attention to us in 2006 when we first told them the factory in our village was spreading pollution,” said one villager, who gave his name only as Li, for fear of official retribution. “Now it’s the responsibility of the factory and the Government that ignored us to help us.”
The Xianghe Chemical factory now stands shuttered and closed. Angry villagers have scratched away its name at the gate and scrawled in white paint the words: “Give us back our green hills, our clean water, our fresh air. Give us justice. We want to live.”
The Government of Hunan province — among the world’s most important producers of heavy metals and one of the most polluted regions of China — has begun to take seriously the threat from rivers so filthy that the drinking water for tens of millions could be toxic.
The mayors of eight cities, including the man responsible for Shuangqiao’s 7,000 people, have signed a pledge to the provincial capital to clean up their act, or assume personal accountability that could cut short their careers.
For some, however, it is too late. Ouyang Guoping had to watch his elder brother waste away after he fell ill while processing toxic ore for the Xianghe factory. He died on July 18. At least two other villagers have died this year of chronic illnesses.
Mr Ouyang’s body is wasted and health checks have found high levels of cadmium in his blood. His wife is in hospital. “I have little hope. I know that her illness is incurable.”
Officials say that pollution reaches a radius of about 500m (1,640ft) around Xianghe factory. But evidence points to a more serious situation.
Waste water and earth from the processing of the heavy metals have been dumped into a narrow valley at the back of the plant. The stream runs into a river 500m away that feeds into the main Xiang River, which provides drinking water for 20 million people.
The factory was supposed to produce the feed additive zinc sulphate. Instead, it illegally processed ore from zinc production to extract cadmium and rare indium, a key material in liquid crystal display screens and solar panels.
The price of indium soared from less than $600 (£360) a kilogram in 2003 to $1,000 by 2006. China now meets 30 per cent of world demand and at its peak the Xianghe factory produced 300kg of indium a month.
Former workers say that everyone knew what was going on but that the Government turned a blind eye. Zhou Haiming, 37, a former factory employee, said that he should probably be in hospital but someone had to support the family. His parents, his wife and his 7-year-old son are all ill.
“We tried to complain but they made us shut up. Now we want them to move us away from this poisoned place but they refuse. My wife will die. And I have no hope for my son.”
Officials had told him that his land would be unusable for 60 years but that he could grow non-edible crops such as cotton or trees to clean the soil.
Farmer Yang has abandoned hope. “It’s the children, the children,” he lamented. “We want our children to have a future. We have to leave.”
In the paddy fields surrounding this small community in Hunan province, southern China, the rice is neglected and strewn with weeds. The vegetable plots stand empty, stripped of the green beans and cabbages that were grown as cash crops.
Underfoot, the earth has been poisoned to a depth of 20cm (8in). The water in the wells is undrinkable.
Tragedies like this — the legacy of China’s rush to get rich — are all too common. Yesterday more than 600 children in Shaanxi province were found to be suffering from lead poisoning caused by a nearby lead and zinc smelter.
The plight of Shuangqiao, however, where three people have died and 509 are sick from poisoning by the heavy metals cadmium and indium, produced by a nearby factory, has drawn widespread attention since residents took to the internet to air their grievances.
“We wouldn’t be here today if the Government had paid attention to us in 2006 when we first told them the factory in our village was spreading pollution,” said one villager, who gave his name only as Li, for fear of official retribution. “Now it’s the responsibility of the factory and the Government that ignored us to help us.”
The Xianghe Chemical factory now stands shuttered and closed. Angry villagers have scratched away its name at the gate and scrawled in white paint the words: “Give us back our green hills, our clean water, our fresh air. Give us justice. We want to live.”
The Government of Hunan province — among the world’s most important producers of heavy metals and one of the most polluted regions of China — has begun to take seriously the threat from rivers so filthy that the drinking water for tens of millions could be toxic.
The mayors of eight cities, including the man responsible for Shuangqiao’s 7,000 people, have signed a pledge to the provincial capital to clean up their act, or assume personal accountability that could cut short their careers.
For some, however, it is too late. Ouyang Guoping had to watch his elder brother waste away after he fell ill while processing toxic ore for the Xianghe factory. He died on July 18. At least two other villagers have died this year of chronic illnesses.
Mr Ouyang’s body is wasted and health checks have found high levels of cadmium in his blood. His wife is in hospital. “I have little hope. I know that her illness is incurable.”
Officials say that pollution reaches a radius of about 500m (1,640ft) around Xianghe factory. But evidence points to a more serious situation.
Waste water and earth from the processing of the heavy metals have been dumped into a narrow valley at the back of the plant. The stream runs into a river 500m away that feeds into the main Xiang River, which provides drinking water for 20 million people.
The factory was supposed to produce the feed additive zinc sulphate. Instead, it illegally processed ore from zinc production to extract cadmium and rare indium, a key material in liquid crystal display screens and solar panels.
The price of indium soared from less than $600 (£360) a kilogram in 2003 to $1,000 by 2006. China now meets 30 per cent of world demand and at its peak the Xianghe factory produced 300kg of indium a month.
Former workers say that everyone knew what was going on but that the Government turned a blind eye. Zhou Haiming, 37, a former factory employee, said that he should probably be in hospital but someone had to support the family. His parents, his wife and his 7-year-old son are all ill.
“We tried to complain but they made us shut up. Now we want them to move us away from this poisoned place but they refuse. My wife will die. And I have no hope for my son.”
Officials had told him that his land would be unusable for 60 years but that he could grow non-edible crops such as cotton or trees to clean the soil.
Farmer Yang has abandoned hope. “It’s the children, the children,” he lamented. “We want our children to have a future. We have to leave.”
Friday, August 14, 2009
For Greening Aviation, Are Biofuels The Right Stuff?
Earlier this year, a Continental jet accelerated down the runway at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Nothing out of the ordinary for Capt. Rich Jankowski, who countless times in his 38-year career had eased such two-engine Boeing 737-800s into the sky. Except on this experimental flight, one of the engines Jankowski relied on was burning fuel derived from microscopic algae to push the 45-ton aircraft into the air and keep it aloft — a first in aviation history.
Last year, Virgin Atlantic flew the first commercial jet on biofuels, a 40-minute jaunt between London and Amsterdam in which one engine burned a mix of 80 percent conventional jet fuel and 20 percent biofuel derived from coconuts and babassu nuts. Other test flights have followed, culminating in a 90-minute Japan Airlines flight with one engine burning a blend of biofuel from camelina — a weedy flower native to Europe — and regular jet fuel at the end of January.
As global economies strive to wean themselves off fossil fuels, one of the most daunting challenges is to find a replacement for the liquid fuels that power the world’s aircraft. Biofuels made from algae and non-food plants are now the leading contenders. While homes, cars, and offices can be powered by electricity produced from such renewable sources as solar, wind, and hydropower, there is little likelihood in the near future that battery power will be lifting a jumbo jet into the sky. And the global aviation industry uses an enormous amount of jet fuel — energy-dense kerosene — frequently referred to as Jet A or JP-8: The U.S. commercial airlines alone burn about 50 million gallons of jet fuel every day, at a cost of roughly $150 million.
That’s a lot of greenhouse gases, released right where they can do the most damage — high in the atmosphere. The warming properties of jet fuel exhaust are intensified at high altitude, where nitrogen oxides from the jet’s turbines react with other molecules in the upper atmosphere to increase levels of ozone, which traps heat, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The water vapor that forms contrails and other chemically active gases emitted during flight also contributes to climate change. Although the amount of emissions from aircraft compared with other vehicles is relatively small — roughly 3 percent of total worldwide greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning — the mix of compounds in jet emissions and their release in the upper troposphere intensifies their heat-trapping power.
The environmental appeal of biofuels — especially if they are produced from algae or other non-food sources — is strong. Preliminary results from an Air New Zealand test flight in December show that burning biofuels — in this case jet fuel refined from jatropha oil — can cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 percent compared to conventional fuel. And, as a bonus, about 1.4 metric tons of fuel could be saved on a 12-hour flight using a biofuel blend.
This month, the International Air Transport Association set a goal of achieving “carbon neutral growth”? — meaning an increase in air travel would not emit any more CO2 than the present fleet and flight schedule — by 2020. The keys will be increasing fuel efficiency by 1.5 percent per year and using biofuel blends, according to IATA.
The overwhelming challenge is how to produce enough biofuel to supply even a fraction of the more than 60 billion gallons of jet fuel burned every year by the world’s aircraft. Relying heavily on biofuels made from food crops — such as soybeans, sugar cane, or canola — would not only affect food supplies and increase food prices, but would produce significant greenhouse gases during the planting and harvesting of these crops, as well as from forest clearing for more agricultural land. Non-food plant sources, such as jatropha and camelina, are promising, but difficult to produce in large quantities and can end up displacing food crops or lead to deforestation if the price of fuel rises high enough. Finally, making large amounts of jet fuel from algae represents a major hurdle, from perfecting the algae’s growth to extracting the oil cost-effectively.
Last year, Virgin Atlantic flew the first commercial jet on biofuels, a 40-minute jaunt between London and Amsterdam in which one engine burned a mix of 80 percent conventional jet fuel and 20 percent biofuel derived from coconuts and babassu nuts. Other test flights have followed, culminating in a 90-minute Japan Airlines flight with one engine burning a blend of biofuel from camelina — a weedy flower native to Europe — and regular jet fuel at the end of January.
As global economies strive to wean themselves off fossil fuels, one of the most daunting challenges is to find a replacement for the liquid fuels that power the world’s aircraft. Biofuels made from algae and non-food plants are now the leading contenders. While homes, cars, and offices can be powered by electricity produced from such renewable sources as solar, wind, and hydropower, there is little likelihood in the near future that battery power will be lifting a jumbo jet into the sky. And the global aviation industry uses an enormous amount of jet fuel — energy-dense kerosene — frequently referred to as Jet A or JP-8: The U.S. commercial airlines alone burn about 50 million gallons of jet fuel every day, at a cost of roughly $150 million.
That’s a lot of greenhouse gases, released right where they can do the most damage — high in the atmosphere. The warming properties of jet fuel exhaust are intensified at high altitude, where nitrogen oxides from the jet’s turbines react with other molecules in the upper atmosphere to increase levels of ozone, which traps heat, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The water vapor that forms contrails and other chemically active gases emitted during flight also contributes to climate change. Although the amount of emissions from aircraft compared with other vehicles is relatively small — roughly 3 percent of total worldwide greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning — the mix of compounds in jet emissions and their release in the upper troposphere intensifies their heat-trapping power.
The environmental appeal of biofuels — especially if they are produced from algae or other non-food sources — is strong. Preliminary results from an Air New Zealand test flight in December show that burning biofuels — in this case jet fuel refined from jatropha oil — can cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 percent compared to conventional fuel. And, as a bonus, about 1.4 metric tons of fuel could be saved on a 12-hour flight using a biofuel blend.
This month, the International Air Transport Association set a goal of achieving “carbon neutral growth”? — meaning an increase in air travel would not emit any more CO2 than the present fleet and flight schedule — by 2020. The keys will be increasing fuel efficiency by 1.5 percent per year and using biofuel blends, according to IATA.
The overwhelming challenge is how to produce enough biofuel to supply even a fraction of the more than 60 billion gallons of jet fuel burned every year by the world’s aircraft. Relying heavily on biofuels made from food crops — such as soybeans, sugar cane, or canola — would not only affect food supplies and increase food prices, but would produce significant greenhouse gases during the planting and harvesting of these crops, as well as from forest clearing for more agricultural land. Non-food plant sources, such as jatropha and camelina, are promising, but difficult to produce in large quantities and can end up displacing food crops or lead to deforestation if the price of fuel rises high enough. Finally, making large amounts of jet fuel from algae represents a major hurdle, from perfecting the algae’s growth to extracting the oil cost-effectively.
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