eco-roundup7

10 Natural Sunscreens for Safe Summer Fun

The Daily Green highlights 10 natural suncreens identified as effective by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

Full listings of 134 EWG recommended products — and 589 products to avoid — are also available.

Europe Poised to Meet Kyoto Target

The European Environment Agency reports that 2007 marked the third consecutive year in which production of greenhouse-gases declined, adding to earlier reports that emissions among the EU-15 were 5 percent below Kyoto base year levels.

Apparently, the European cap-and-trade system has not turned out to be the failure that critics predicted.

China’s Carbon Intensity: A Roller Coaster Ride

Bill Chameides at TheGreenGrok poses the question: “China is now the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2), but are its emissions getting cleaner or dirtier?”

One measure of the dirtiness of a country’s emissions is the carbon intensity of its economy: how much carbon is emitted per unit of stuff produced. If the country’s technologies are inefficient and highly polluting, its carbon intensity will be high. Conversely, countries with low carbon intensities tend to use highly advanced technologies and/or renewable energy sources.

… A different but related metric is the per capita emissions. Like carbon intensity, this is affected by the country’s technologies, but the amount of energy and consumer products produced are also factored in.

… China’s predicament as a developing economy with the world’s largest emission rate is an anomaly. Developing economies typically use inefficient technologies and as a result have high carbon intensities. But these economies also tend to be small, and so, even though they have high carbon intensities, their total emissions are relatively small in a global context. China is unusual because of the sheer size of its economy. A high carbon intensity and lots of industrial production make for lots of emissions.

Great article, and a most enlightening read.

Did Your Car Cause the Crisis?

Until the fall of Lehman Brothers last autumn, the economic story of the year had been the doubling of oil prices. Ryan Avent at The American Prospect looks back to the mid-1980s to learn what effect the price of oil had on the current economic recession, and the role it may play in delaying economic recovery.

Reducing Methane Emissions through Livestock Diet (Again)

Fifteen dairy farms in Vermont have seen methane emissions drop 18 percent just by changing feedstocks. For farms that hadn’t previously been organic, reductions should be much larger: similar practices in France have resulted in a 30 percent decrease.

While greenhouse gas emissions from livestock represent a small proportion of greenhouse gases in the US, the UN predicts a worldwide doubling of meat and milk production over the next 30 years that make livestock emissions more dangerous to the atmosphere than cars and trucks combined.

Rediscovering Exxon Valdez Oil, 20 Years Later

To the casual observer, Prince William Sound appears to have recovered two decades after suffering the worst environmental disaster in US history. But beneath the surface, NOAA estimates about 20.000 gallons remain affecting wildlife and beaches.

California Governor Proposes to Terminate State Environmental Agency

Facing a $24 billion budget deficit, Gov. Schwarzenegger plans to save $6.5 billion by closing the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. The office is charged with protecting people from toxic chemical exposures in air and water.

Is Mitsubishi Attempting to Corner the Market on Endangered Bluefin Tuna?

The Independent reports:

“Japan’s sprawling Mitsubishi conglomerate has cornered a 40 per cent share of the world market in bluefin tuna, one of the world’s most endangered fish.”

The move appears to be a blatant, cynical move to both hasten and profit from a species’ extinction.

“Bluefin tuna frozen at -60C now could be sold in several years’ time for astronomical sums if Atlantic bluefin becomes commercially extinct as forecast, a result of the near free-for-all enjoyed by the tuna fleet.”