With big growth in use, reusable bags may not have the environmental benefit once thought

 

http://articles.philly.com/2011-04-22/news/29463321_1_reusable-bags-plastic-grocery-bags-reusable-water-bottle

 

It's not clear the reusables have done that in any significant way. Indirect measures suggest that plastic bag production has remained relatively steady.

 

Not every reusable bag is environmentally equal. A nonwoven polypropylene bag, for example, would have to be used just 11 times to make up for the negative effects of a plastic bag used one time, according to a British Environment Agency study that compared bags. A cotton bag, however, would have to be used 131 times.

 

Reusable bags have taken on such cachet that a just-released book celebrates them as an art form. The Tote Bag, by the British designer Jitesh Patel, even has a jacket that doubles as a reusable bag

Majority of European firms fail on carbon reporting: study

AFP/File – Somke raises above Paris from an incinerator in Ivry-sur-Seine in 2009. Less than half of Europe's …

– Mon Apr 25, 7:05 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – Less than half of Europe's top 300 firms are publishing full and verified carbon emission data, with French and Swiss companies ranking worst at greenhouse gas reporting, a study showed Tuesday.

British financial services company Aviva placed first in the rankings based on emissions and levels of disclosure and verification, while Polish mining company KGHM came in last, according to the non-profit Environmental Investment Organisation (EIO).

Swiss telecom operator Swisscom ranked first among non-financial companies while unsurprisingly utilities were overall the biggest emitters, accounting for nearly 46 of all climate-changing greenhouse gases.

The EIO compiled its Environmental Tracing Europe 300 Carbon Ranking index and plans to release further regional indexes and a global index in the coming months to provide tools for the investment community to tackle climate change.

"The purpose of the carbon rankings is two-fold: to highlight the carbon emissions and levels of disclosure of the world's largest companies with the aim of fostering greater transpacency and to form the basis of a series of stock market indexes, designed specifically to provide the investment community with a viable tool for tackling climate change," said Sam Gill, EIO's operational director.

The EIO found that European companies still have a long way to go on reporting greenhouse gas emissions, with 13 percent of companies still providing no public information and only 43 percent releasing complete and verified information for their own emissions plus electricity.

Spanish companies were best at reporting, with 92 percent providing complete information including 77 percent with the information independently verified.

French and Swiss companies were worst, with only 60 percent of French firms disclosing full emissions data while only 27 percent of Swiss firms provided independently verified information.

 

Tornadoes whipped up by wind, not climate: officials

Sorry Al:

US meteorologists warned Thursday it would be a mistake to blame climate change for a seeming increase in tornadoes in the wake of deadly storms that have ripped through the US south

Article HERE

A Toxic Setback for the Anti-Plastic Campaigners

http://www.american.com/archive/2011/april/a-toxic-setback-for-the-anti-plastic-campaigners

 

A comprehensive review by the German Society of Toxicology of thousands of studies on BPA concluded, “[BPA] exposure represents no noteworthy risk to the health of the human population, including newborns and babies.” The group, which included several scientists who have advised regulatory caution on BPA, bucked calls by advocacy groups to lower safe exposure levels.

Study tracks widening partisan divide on climate

Percent of those polled who believe global warming effects have begun:

·         2001 Republicans: 49%

·         2010 Republicans: 29%

·         2001 Democrats: 60%

·         2010 Democrats: 70%

 

Percent of those polled who believe changes in temperature over the last century are attributable to human activity

·         < college degree Republicans: 47%

·         College degreed Republicans: 40%

·         < college degree Democrats: 65%

·         College degreed Democrats: 83%

 

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/156881-study-tracks-widening-partisan-divide-on-climate

 

 

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53279.html

GOP: EPA ‘evaporating’ from hearings

House Republicans aren’t happy that top EPA officials are skipping hearings on efforts to roll back the agency’s regulations.

“We could call them the Evaporating Personnel Administration, I guess,” Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton said Friday. “They don’t seem to ever show up and be accountable.”

Of three Energy and Commerce Committee hearings held this week on controversial EPA rules, the agency sent an administration witness to just one.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53279.html#ixzz1JtPTIgmV

 

U.S. needs a "rational" policy for oil, gas development, API says

U.S. needs a "rational" policy for oil, gas development, API says
The American Petroleum Institute is seeking "rational" energy policy that backs domestic oil and natural gas production "to keep this country going strong," said Rayola Dougher, API's senior economic adviser of media relations. At a Wyoming conference of energy and business leaders, Dougher spoke of the impact of oil and gas on global economies and several challenges facing the industry. "I think some people think we're going to switch overnight from fossil fuel to renewables and it's just not going to happen," Dougher said. Wyoming Business Report