THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT LETTER

Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment

Fisherville, Ontario, Canada

Tel. 416 410-0432, Fax: 416 362-5231

Editorial: editor@gallonletter.ca

Subscriptions: subscriptions@gallonletter.ca

Vol. 12, No. 3, March 19, 2007

Honoured Reader Edition

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This is the honoured reader edition of the Gallon Environment Letter and is distributed at no charge: send a note with Add GL or Delete GL in the subject line to subscriptions@gallonletter.ca. Paid subscribers receive a more complete edition without subscription reminders and with extensive links to further information following almost every article.Organizational subscribers also receive the monthly Sustainable Technology & Services Supplement. If you would like to subscribe please visit http://www.cialgroup.com/subscription. Individual subscriptions are only $30 including GST. Organizational subscriptions are $184 plus GST and provide additional benefits detailed on the web site. If you feel you should be receiving the paid subscriber edition or have other subscriber questions please contact us also at subscriptions@gallonletter.ca. This current free edition is posted on the web site about a week or so after its issue at http://www.cialgroup.com/galloncurrent.htm. Back free editions from January 2007 are available at http://www.cialgroup.com/whatsnew.htm

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ABOUT THIS ISSUE 


Late last month an expert panel of scientists issued a call for immediate action on climate change to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. While there is not a lot that is new in this report, we do expect that its timing as well as its focus on solutions may make it one of the more seminal international reports on the topic. We have postponed to the next issue continuation of our feature on extended producer responsibility to bring you an in-depth summary of the Road Map the scientists are proposing.


While on the topic of postponements, we should let nominators and nominees know that, for logistical reasons, we have postponed celebration of the Gallon Environment Letter 2006 Eco-Councillor award to the early summer. We will be announcing the date and location of the award ceremony in April and we are confident that everyone will be very pleased with the change of venue.


Also in this issue we report, with great pleasure that a well-known environmental business person has been appointed to the Order of Canada; we look at the problem of pollinators and why we must not let ourselves become fruitless; we review, and recommend you read, a book on corporate communications that we really do not like; the federal government's GeoConnections program provides a real link between mapping and Sustainability; we explain why organic farmers are very concerned about US government approval, and now a court moratorium, on genetically modified alfalfa, we pay tribute to our much loved local ornithologist John Miles, and we review the world's first post petroleum cookbook. As you will see as you peruse this issue, that's not all. The good people of Hibernia, Indiana, are having raccoon for supper.

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AN OPINION ON TAXATION IN A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY


Accountability is almost universally recognized as a key element of a sustainable society. In that context, we are going to step outside the conventional box and suggest that the current yelling and screaming for funding from municipalities and provinces to the federal government should be rebuffed. Our view is that in order to ensure accountability, raising and spending of money should, to the greatest extent possible, occur within the same level of government.


The problem with federal-provincial and federal-municipal transfers of tax dollars is that the accountability link is broken. In a particularly extreme example, Ottawa recently announced it would give Ontario a half billion for climate change and air pollution activities, yet Ontario does not yet have any climate change program so the money has been committed essentially without any accountability at all. Given that this is an election year, Ontario will likely end up wasting it on useless initiatives that look good but achieve little. As this is money raised by the federal government, it will be difficult for Canadian taxpayers, the majority of whom live outside Ontario, to hold the Ontario government accountable for misspending of the money. To compensate for the abandonment of the principle of accountability, the federal government will quieten every province by giving them other money, for most of which there will be no more accountability than there is for spending of the Ontario handout.


This issue of accountability is not new: taxation without representation was a key cause of the Boston Tea Party and of the American Revolution, yet government leaders do not seem to have learned that the government that raises the money should be the government that is accountable to its electors for the spending of the money. Much rather than giving municipalities one or two percent of gas tax money, we suggest that the federal government reduces gas tax by one or two percent and give municipalities the power to raise their own gasoline and sales taxes at whatever level they might wish. Then municipal voters will be empowered to decide whether taxes are being raised and spent wisely in their community.


Seeking accountability by having governments raise and spend their own money rather than being funded by a senior level of government may appear to run contrary to the idea of helping poorer communities or provinces through transfer programs, but when the country's largest province, Ontario, and largest city, Toronto, position themselves in the basket case category and therefore needing of federal support, we suggest that the problem is with the structure of the tax system and not with who is rich and who is poor. We still argue that a more equitable system would have each level of government raise taxes to pay for the programs it delivers. Linking public transit to automobile fuel taxes is a good idea but people who live in rural municipalities with no public transit should not be paying through their fuel taxes for systems in the major cities that do not even provide parking at the ends of transit lines for use by rural folks when they visit the city.


In our idea model, inequities between provinces and municipalities would be addressed by adjusting the program responsibility of the three levels of government, for example by having essential programs such as health, environment, and education delivered by the federal government on an equal basis to all Canadians, rather than such things being funded in part by whoever among the municipal and provincial politicians can yell loudest for money from the big tax machine in Ottawa.


Sustainable Development is a path to which most in the world aspire, but it will not be achieved until we introduce much more sustainable ways of funding and supplying government programs. Unfortunately, there is no sign that Canada is anywhere close to making such a change of direction. Apparently, travelling the province or the country handing out big cheques just before an election is just too good a vote getter.


Colin Isaacs

Editor 

 

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CLIMATE CHANGE: AVOIDING THE UNMANAGEABLE AND MANAGING THE UNAVOIDABLE 

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A February 27 report by a panel of scientists which includes past and current executive officers of the American Association for the Advancement of Science proposes a roadmap for the United Nations and its member countries to head off climate change and to adapt to changes which are unavoidable. The panel urges leadership at all levels, asserting there is no more time to delay due to "The imminence and severity of the problems posed by the accelerating changes in the global climate". The Secretariat of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development invited Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, an international group of research scientists, to convene the 18-member international panel of scientific experts to prepare a report outlining the best measures for mitigating and adapting to global warming and to anticipate the effectiveness, cost, and implementation of possible response measures. The panel began its considerations in November 2004.


Coordinating lead authors include John P. Holdren, AAAS Board Chairman and Director, The Woods Hole Research Center, Teresa and John Heinz, Professors of Environmental Policy, Harvard University, and Michael MacCracken, Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs, Climate Institute (US). A number of lead authors are from other countries such as Ulisses Confalonieri, Professor, National School of Public Health and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and from the corporate sector such as Jacques 'Jack' Dubois, Member of the Executive Board, Swiss Re, United States, Zara Khatib, Technology Marketing Manager, Shell International, United Arab Emirates, and Ajay Mathur, President, Senergy Global Private Limited, India. The report was peer reviewed by a number of scientists such as Anthony Arguez, NOAA National Climatic Data Center, United States and others from areas such as forestry, agriculture, geology and other scientific disciplines.


The report covers three basic issues:

THE CONSENSUS ON HUMAN INDUCED CLIMATE CHANGE


After reviewing the evidence, the report concludes that human-induced climate change is expected to have wide ranging negative effects on economic performance and human well-being. Society will be impacted in many and different ways "greatly depending on regional and local cultural practices, engineering infrastructure, farming customs, governments, natural resources, population, public health conditions, financial resources, scientific and technological capability, and socioeconomic systems." Climate change will make it very difficult to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals, a blueprint for a just and sustainable world.


Climate change is already causing significant harm now and it is a certainty that further damages will occur in the future. There is a good chance for succeeding at keeping climate change from causing catastrophe but it is a challenge, "Seizing this chance requires an immediate and major acceleration of efforts on two fronts: mitigation measures (such as reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases and black soot) to prevent the degree of climate change from becoming unmanageable; and adaptation measures (such as building dikes and adjusting agricultural practices) to reduce the harm from climate change that proves unavoidable." The potential exists to create more economic opportunity than the costs of dealing with the challenge and at the same time to advance societal goals.


Some of the points made include:

INTEGRATING MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION


The panel recommends identifying win-win opportunities as well as challenges which help both mitigation and adaptation and which may lead to reduced net costs or which provide co-benefits such as reduced air pollution and improved health over the long term, including:

THE ELEMENTS OF A ROADMAP


The report provides the Elements of a Roadmap for "avoiding the unmanageable and managing the unavoidable" which will require "an immediate and major acceleration of efforts to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. The main recommendation is that society set a goal to keep the increase in average global temperature to no more than 2°C and if not possible to absolutely no more than 2.5°C which would not be easy but would require rapid reductions in emissions of methane and black soot globally and a levelling off of global CO2 emissions by 2015 or 2020 at or near the current level and a decline to no more than a third of that level by 2100.


The recommendations for immediate attention by the United Nations (UN) system and governments worldwide are:


1. Accelerate implementation of win-win solutions that can moderate climate change while also moving the world toward a more sustainable future energy path and making progress on attaining the MDGs. This in includes measures such as

2. Implement a new global policy framework for mitigation that results in significant emissions reductions, spurs development and deployment of clean energy technologies, and allocates burdens and benefits fairly. Such a framework needs to be in place before the end of the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period in 2012. Elements of the framework should include:

3. Develop strategies to adapt to ongoing and future changes in climate by integrating the implications of climate change into resource management and infrastructure development, and by committing to help the poorest nations and most vulnerable communities cope with increasing climate-change damages. Measures include such as:

4. Create and rebuild cities to be climate resilient and GHG-friendly, taking advantage of the most advanced technologies and approaches for using land, fresh water, and marine, terrestrial, and energy resources. Action examples include:

5. Increase investments and cooperation in energy-technology innovation to develop new systems and practices to avoid the most damaging consequences of climate change. Current levels of public and private investment in energy technology research, development, demonstration, and pre-commercial deployment are not even close to commensurate with the size of the challenge and the extent of the opportunities. Examples include:

6. Improve communication to accelerate adaptation and mitigation by increasing education efforts and creating forums for dialogue, technology assessment, and planning. Among the actions suggested are:

BENEFITS OF ACTING NOW OUTWEIGH COSTS OF DELAY


Climate change is expected to affect "many of society's most vital interests." Humans rely on the terrestrial and marine ecosystems which provide priceless ecological services and which are being (possibly irrevocably) altered by the shifting climate. Earlier steps may require little or no costs while still providing environmental and social benefits. Subsequent steps are likely to be more expensive and complicated but the report says, "Their costs are virtually certain to be smaller than the costs of the climate-change damages these measures would avert." Failure to act can lead to catastrophic results that threaten development in poverty-constricted areas and standard of living in affluent countries. The path of reducing dangerous emissions is seen as transforming society while contributing to the sustainability of economic systems, reducing global poverty, preventing degradation of ecosystems and otherwise meeting the needs of the growing population.


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JACQUES WHITFORD CO-FOUNDER APPOINTED TO ORDER OF CANADA


Hector Jacques, co-founder of Jacques Whitford, a North American leader in environmental engineering and management was appointed to the Order of Canada, the country's highest honour for lifetime achievement, on February 20. Born and raised in India, he formed Jacques Whitford with Michael Whitford in 1972 after the two graduated from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. From that time until 2003, he was President and CEO.


GL congratulates Hector Jacques and is pleased to see environmental achievement recognized by the Governor General, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean.

 

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WE MUST NOT BECOME FRUITLESS


Although the latest buzz is about the disappearance of bees, warnings have been out there for a while including concern in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment about the degradation of habitat (see GL Vol. 10 No. 5). In 2005, York University Professor Laurence Packer and then doctoral candidate Amro Zayed published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA using computer models to estimate the proneness of bees to become extinct due to genetic factors, which often are not mentioned in pollinator protection agreements. Their model underestimates the risk of actual extinction because other factors such as habit loss and fragmentation, use of pesticides, climate change, etc also reduce populations below survival points. The research suggests why so many bee populations have crashed not only in Canada and the US but around the world. Bees are more likely to go extinct because in small populations, more of the bees turn into males reducing the number of both workers (which are always female) and fertile females. Zayed is now a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Entomology, University of Illinois.


About 70% of all flowering plants and a third of the food humans eat depend on pollination. About 20,000 species of crops and flowers depend on pollination by the about 1000 species of bees. Many species of bees are specialists relying on certain plants. and are genetically isolated. If the plant disappears so do the bees and vice versa. The pollination of bees is said to be economically worth $1 billion in Canada and $15 billion in the US but is actually priceless.


As suggested in the Common Ground (IFAW) about other species (GL Vol. 11 No. 14), Packer and Zayed said that the populations of bees have to be kept at much higher numbers than previously thought to be sustainable. They conclude that "Our findings necessitate a fundamental shift in approaches to the conservation and population biology of these ecologically and economically crucial insects."


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COMMUNIQUÉ: THE CANADIAN POLLINATOR PROTECTION INITIATIVE


The first meeting of the Canadian Pollinator Protection Initiative (CPPI) was held in Ottawa from January 18-19, 2007 and was attended by over 80 delegates. This Initiative represents an expansion of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) into Canada and serves to link Canadian pollinator conservation with similar activities in the USA and Mexico.


Speakers from universities, governments, NGOs, museums, and the private bee industries highlighted the historical roles that Canada has played, and continues to play, in developing the science and application of pollination. Pollinators are enormously important in seed and fruit production in agriculture and horticulture. The 2007 report of the U.S. Academy of Sciences on the Status of Pollinators in North America was presented at the conference, which discussed, briefly, its implications for insect pollinator conservation in Canada. The Canadian Initiative still has to determine whether or not to adopt its recommendations as the basis for pollinator conservation throughout Canada.


Canada, having ratified the 1992 Biodiversity Convention, has an obligation to protect pollinating species. About one eighth to one third of Canadians' food is due to pollinating insects and thus central to our national food security. Wild pollinators maintain natural food webs and generate the seeds and fruits upon which so many of our wild animal species depend. Pollination is the critical link between the specially co-evolved species of plants and animals, and their service role is central to maintaining biodiversity across Canada's landscapes.


The decline of these insect pollinators and their services is due to pesticides, diseases of bees, habitat fragmentation and urban expansion. The conference examined what needs to be done on different fronts to redress this situation and to enhance the conservation status of native and managed insect pollinators in Canada.


Conserving pollinators is an investment in food security, biodiversity and environmental health. The federal government needs to be sanction this Canadian Initiative so it can get involved with its NAPPC partners. The US and Mexican governments have already done so. Cooperation and clarification of jurisdiction and responsibilities on joint action needs to be developed, in Parliament through the Standing Committees and the Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable Development, at the federal department level such as Environment Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and Natural Resources Canada, and at the federal-provincial-territorial level. The municipalities of Canada should be included in this Initiative because they have so much control over the local habitats of pollinating species. The participation of the private bee industry is essential.


GL suggests that business and ordinary citizens can do a lot, too. For example, the pesticide control companies list bees as pests but if you have a lot of bees in a nest or swarm, call a beekeeper not pest control. Less or no use of pesticides, a small patch of natural area (aka a bit of untidiness, native plants, some weeds) or growing plants which haven't been too genetically manipulated, for example, single rather than double flowers, all help. Enthusiasts could find lists of native plants particularly appealing to bees most under threat but variety really is the spice of life so plants including shrubs and trees that bloom throughout the season are good, some very early in the spring, some through the summer and others very late in the fall.


Our yard is naturalized which is ideal for bees (and grasshoppers in case any of GL's readers want to try that recipe in Albert Bates' book discussed in this issue) but aside from the show of flowering bulbs in the spring and a typically beautiful gold and purple southwestern Ontario meadow in the fall, we have less success in wresting ground space for tame and wild annual and perennial flowers from the tall grasses. Bee stings are very rare except if someone flaps and slaps at a bee just passing. One also needs to be careful not to sniff delightedly at a flower without first looking at what's inside. Another necessity is to pour beverages into glasses so you can see if any bees might be joining you instead of drinking from less transparent cans or bottles.


Thanks to Charles Caccia who sent GL the Communiqué (read the full version and power point presentations at the NAPPC web site) and has been instrumental in starting the initiative.

 

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SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: CLIMATE CHANGING SPORTS


When the cover story of Sports Illustrated is on Sports and Global Warming, environment is touching people or as author Alexander Wolff says, "An eco-consciousness is leeching ever so slowly into the jockosphere." The article describes how sports are adapting to global warming and improving environmental practices.


Wolff observes the effect on skiers of "a whipsaw of extremes": from a dump of November snow in Colorado which led to cancellation of the men's practice for the World Cup while a day later in the French resort Val d'Isere a World Cup event had to be cancelled due to lack of snow. A skating marathon through 11 cities through Holland, The Elfstedentocht, has been held only once in the last 20 years. Alpine ski resorts are so threatened with lack of snow that the Swiss are wrapping a glacier to insulate it. Snow melt is expected to stop skiing on Bolivia's Chacaltaya mountain, the highest skiing in the world. Ice fishing, cross-country skiing may become lost activities.


The article suggests that indoor facilities such as arenas can be built with environmental features such as siting near transit, wind turbines, and water filtering and reuse. Instead of being pesticide-laden, golf courses can become green space protectors and water filters. Motorsports have a big environmental effect.. Formula One has some hybrids and ethanol is mixed with gasoline in Indy races. Although racing cars are exempted from phasing out leaded fuel under the Clean Air Act, NASCAR is phasing lead out. World Wildlife Found is working with the National Basketball Association and major league baseball teams who are paying to plant trees to compensate for travel. Wolff concludes that athletes can set a good example where fans can follow "But as we watch, let us remember that this game is different. We don't have the luxury of looking on from the sidelines. We must become players too."


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RECYCLING COUNCIL OF ONTARIO: MOVING


The Recycling Council of Ontario moved on March 12. The new location is an environmentally friendly building managed by the Centre for Social Innovation. RCO is looking for 2 good quality office task chairs and a freestanding desk and possibly other furnishings if anyone is redecorating and willing to donate. New address is RCO 215 Spadina Avenue, Suite 407 Toronto, ON M5T 2C7 tel: No Change 416 657-2797 http://www.rco.on.ca

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GEOCONNECTIONS: MAPPING FOR ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT


Sharing geographic information from different sources can result in important efficiencies and better decision-making. In 1999, the Government of Canada joined in a mapping project in partnership with provincial/territorial governments and with Canada's geomatics industry - mostly small- and medium-sized companies in the business of gathering, processing and delivering geographic information. An initial budget of $60 M over five years resulted in the creation of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure and leveraged about $110 M in additional investment from partners. The 2005 Budget allocated another $60 M over five years to expand the CGDI for decision-making in four priority areas - public safety and security, public health, environment and sustainable development, and matters of importance to Aboriginal communities.


Led by Natural Resources Canada's GeoConnections, the CGDI is not a centralized collection of map-related information but rather a distributed network with databases managed in different locations across Canada. Users can search across many databases which may be free or fee-based, Canadian or not, online or not, indexed extensively or not. The search provides info on the name of the data, the originator, online access if available, whether it can be searched, an abstract with detailed description, start dates and end dates, distributor info and fees.


There are various options for searches of the CGDI. For example, a search on the province of British Columbia provided about 400 results including

The "distributed" approach overcame several challenges. Data-producing organizations retain local control over "their" data, including the ability to keep it current, and are therefore more willing to share with and gain reach to a broader range of clients. This distributed approach also harnesses 'local expertise' and spreads the cost of data management across participating organizations. As well, like the Internet itself, it is less vulnerable to single failure points. The network also reduces duplication, for example, in 1999, eight separate departments across the federal and provincial/territorial governments held different Canadian road network databases and by 2005, this had been reduced to only two, expected to be one lead department by the end of the current program in 2010.


Connecting and presenting information from different sources requires a standardized approach to exchanging data over the Internet. When the CGDI was first formed, few or no such standards existed. So GeoConnections worked with the international community to develop the needed standards, and with Canada's geomatics industry to develop the necessary software. In the process, Canada's reputation for international leadership was enhanced, and Canadian firms developed leading-edge location based technologies.


Different levels of government in Canada collect a vast range of spatially-referenced data - information on soil quality, air quality and disease outbreaks, inventories of forests, critical infrastructure, endangered species, and mineral deposits, to name just a few. Given this wealth of information, the potential applications of the CGDI, which enables users to cross-reference and overlay these different datasets, are nearly infinite making this network a leading edge infrastructure for meeting Canada's information needs.


Thanks to Rebecca Last, Policy Advisor for the GeoConnections Program for the information.


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GEOCONNECTIONS: INTEROPERABILITY DAY


On April 20, Canadian agencies, organizations, and companies are invited to attend the Canadian Interoperability Day at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ottawa, Ontario. The event is being hosted by ESRI Canada, private sector partner located in Toronto, Ontario, and GeoConnections. According to Lucie Seguin, Director of GeoConnections, "Participants will learn about the vision of GeoConnections, the architecture, standards and services of the CGDI; they will see a showcase of CGDI tools and applications and they will be able to explore users' contributions thus far to the CGDI." Gordon Plunkett Director, Spatial Data Infrastructure, ESRI Canada said that the event will explain the benefits of interoperable standards and the data sets based on them.


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FRANK LUNTZ: WORDS THAT WORK


When CBC's Fifth Estate ran the show The Denial Machine in November 2006, it discussed the small but powerful group of scientists and corporations who have created a message of denial of the science of climate change, which is widely accepted around the world as a scientific fact. One of the group active in muddying the water is Frank Luntz who transformed his company from market research to testing of words and language for corporate and government communications. Luntz tends to say that his job was merely to turn the "principles" of his clients into the message, the words and language that persuade Americans to accept the client's position whatever it may be. In his book Words That Work, he describes a much more pro-active role for himself within the Republican Party and its success in elections until the 2006 election. Luntz sold his company to The Omnicom Group Inc. in 2005, remaining as President of the new entity Luntz, Maslansky Strategic Research.


Frank Luntz became the marketing guru of the US Republican Party after crafting the Contract with America with Newt Gingrich in 1994. Luntzspeak became a term to describe language and phrasing used to redirect disgruntled middle-class people disaffected by their government to support the Republicans. The success of the Democrats in the 2006 election has undermined his position and apparently he is moving to California out of favour, and himself disgruntled with the Republican Party for various reasons including he said their failure to select a good slogan in the 2006 election.


In 2002 or 2003 Luntz wrote a 16 page memo which became the White House template for arguments against global warming: The science of climate change is uncertain, Climate change prevention costs too much, and The US will not make the targets of Kyoto so it isn't worth trying. These statements have also been echoed by the New Government of Canada. He advised to use the phrase Climate Change rather than Global Warming because Climate Change sounds more benign. In the memo, Luntz wrote that Americans don't trust the data about hottest year on record, rising sea levels etc, and recommends Words That Work: "Scientists can extrapolate all kinds of things from today's data, but that doesn't tell us anything about tomorrow's world. You can't look back a million years and say that proves that we're heating the globe now hotter than it's ever been. After all, just 20 years ago scientists were worried about a new Ice Age." For the real history of Climate Change check out the site run by Spencer Weart, Director of the Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics. In the early 1970s, concern about possible cooling caused by air pollution/volcanoes and warming caused by the greenhouse effect meant the only consensus was that scientists agreed they didn't know enough about the climate system.


It is well worth reading that memo and/or the book. On a cynical level, the public may get some insight into how politicians and spinners manipulate them through lies and other deceptions. The work of his words seems a bit unclear but seems to be to win elections, sell products, get a job, or a table at a crowded restaurant. If the work of the words is undermining international cooperation to deal with a threat to the planet then that seems to be fine, too, from the author's point of view. On a more practical level, his descriptions of what people perceive and what they value could be useful although GL had trouble finding the kernels of truth among the chaff of fiction.


Although critics say his linguistic rules are arcane and unfounded by science and that his advice led to failure, others acknowledge that his words did work because the media began to seek out climate sceptics every time they did a story to "balance" the views. On the book's jacket, Democratic Senator John Kerry is quoted as saying, "Frank Luntz understands the power of words to move public opinion and communicate big ideas. Any Democrat who writes off his analysis and decades of experience just because he works for the other side is making a big mistake. His lessons don't have a party label. The only question is, where's our Frank Luntz."


When the Fifth Estate dragged Luntz over the coals about the disinformation campaign to undermine the well-documented science of climate change, Luntz said he now accepts the science of climate change. In a more recent interview in a segment called Master of Politics and Propaganda with George Stroumboulopoulos on CBC's The Hour on February 26, Luntz, the consummate spinmeister, complained that Canadian media wasn't being fair to him.


Ethics


Like other consultant groups, polling and public relations associations have Codes of Ethics which certainly allow for accentuating the positive but forbid direct lies. For example the Canadian Public Relations Society has the statement: "A member shall practice the highest standards of honesty, accuracy, integrity and truth, and shall not knowingly disseminate false or misleading information. Members shall not make extravagant claims or unfair comparisons, nor assume credit for ideas and words not their own. Members shall not engage in professional or personal conduct that will bring discredit to themselves, the Society or the practice of public relations."


These codes are rarely and poorly enforced but in 1997, the American Association for Public Opinion Research tried to enforce its Code and found Frank Luntz, then a pollster, in violation. AAPOR said that Luntz reported polling results which seemed to show that 60% of the public,  a suspiciously high percentage, supported each of the elements of the Republican's "Contract with America" released during the election in 1994. The Code of Ethics requires that researchers must disclose to the public the methodology, the wording of questions and make other specified disclosure. The investigation began in 1996 and Luntz ignored requests from AAPOR, eventually gave only partial information but refused permission to make the information public, a key element of the Code. Then AAPOR's President Diane Colasanto said, "When researchers make public arguments based on their research data, then refuse to say how their research was conducted, that harms the public debate on issues and reduces the credibility of all survey and public opinion research." Luntz was not a member but his book indicates he hasn't changed much.


He makes all kinds of claims about the impact of his selected words but there is little supporting research: about the only example he gives for proving his point of the importance of his list of words was having four different senators read exactly the same speech, presumably each in their own way, and found that the focus groups (which he also ran) reacted to the speech in the same way indicating, he said, that it was the words not the person or the delivery that mattered. But since he provides no data on that little study, one is left completely unable to verify anything he says. This does not mean that he is wrong about the power of words. Almost everybody tries to frame their position with words.


Environment


GL bought his book to see what he had to say about environmental issues but there is no climate change or global warming in the index. Environment is not a big feature in his ten rules of effective language, 21 words for the twenty-first century and 21 political words and phrases you should never use which seem to assume that Americans are a homogenous group. He promotes the use of the phrase energy efficiency rather than energy conservation because conservation is supposed to mean paying more to get less. Instead of drilling for oil, one is supposed to say exploring for energy, expanding the concept with "When you talk about energy, use words such as efficient and balanced and always express concern for the environment." It isn't apparent whether he sees it as important at all to have an actual concern for the environment. He recommends, "If you want people to think your hip and healthy, you make sure they see you drinking bottled water - and the fancier the better. ..There a cache to the consumption of water, and expensive and exclusive brands are all the rage." One of his pet phrases is common sense as in common sense solution to replace deregulation, which implies weakening of environmental legislation. Luntz writes "If you win and occupy the rhetorical territory owned by common sense, your position will be virtually unassailable."


We expected to get raised blood pressure but with so little on the environment it proved somewhat flat for us but we are sure that lots of people would enjoy reading this book. Instead of buying the book, various web sites also provide access to papers Luntz wrote for the GOP. The book, despite his comments about his own pleasure in language and wordsmithing, is not exactly a page turner but there are observations that may help communicators, for example, making connections with the audience at the level of their daily lives, avoiding use of big words if they are unnecessary to improve communication, and some understanding that what one meant to say may not be what people hear. And the political insider viewpoints are definitely worth a read.


What strikes GL is that someone so ready to stock the arsenal against science and provide the words to President Bush to wait for "sound science on climate change" should seem to care so little for real evidence. What is most scary is that the most powerful government in the world apparently has been willing to sacrifice scientific evidence which may be key to preventing catastrophe on Luntz's (no science, thank-you) say-so. It makes GL wonder what else has been manipulated, for example the data on amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the US.


Paid subscribers see links to original documents and references here


Weart, Spencer. Discovery of Global Warming site created with support from the American Institute of Physics, the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. http://www.aip.org/history/climate/index.html or for a ten minute summary http://www.aip.org/history/climate/summary.htm

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ALBERT BATES: POST-PETROLEUM SURVIVAL GUIDE AND COOKBOOK


Each generation seems to need advice on "how to live"in the form of household hints and tips. Now a new book by Albert Bates may provide advice on how live after Peak Oil. The book is called The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook. Bates is an inventor, a permaculture instructor at the Ecovillage Training Center at The Farm community in Summertown, Tennessee, and the author of eleven other books. Perhaps what the book does best is highlight the idea of the (now Oscar-winning) song "I Need to Wake Up" (Music and Lyric by Melissa Etheridge) from the Al Gore movie, An Inconvenient Truth.


Bates offers advice on recipes, growing your own fuel, and how to store food. The recipes are sometimes used to illustrate a theme. Examples include Tempeh Gravlax which discusses what people used to do before refrigeration, what the future might hold for alternative technology such as compact solar refrigerators, and what might be good investments now, such as solar electric refrigerators. Except for the grasshopper quesadillas and the balsamic milkweed, the recipes tend to be fairly conventional vegetarian to illustrate how much land, water, pesticides and energy are used to grow crops to feed animals. While GL understands the logic (maybe as much as PM Harper 'gets' climate change), GL's editor prefers meat and thinks that meat such as pastured beef, lambs, poultry, rabbits, pork, etc are part of sustainable agriculture, providing manure to replace chemical fertilizers in a cycle of life. Bates' choice of ingredients may not reflect what is or can be grown locally so Canadians may find it a bit of a puzzle why these recipes are more suitable for post-petroleum age than the ones we enjoy already.


The book is an eclectic mix of practical and philosophical ideas about climate change, environment and sustainability, It includes the views of such people as Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute and Albert Bartlett, who has contributed letters to GL. In the first chapter, called Crude Awakening, Bates says we have spent the last one hundred years at a huge party thrown by petroleum. Some people think they can go home to bed, come back and find the party still ongoing but Bates writes, "Wrong. It's nearly over now. The band is packing up. Tomorrow we have the big cleanup."


He suggests that people help each other, learn to appreciate other routes to happiness than excessive consumption, learn the skills and knowledge needed to live more lightly on the planet as well as how to get along with each other. There are twelve steps such as Rebuild Civilization, Save Your Water, Create Energy, Grow Your Food, Change Your Need, Quit Your Job, and Utopia by Morning. Each section has diagrams and suggestions for technologies at the individual and the village scale. For example, one of the lists is of hand tools, many of them favoured by Bates' Amish neighbours.


The book resembles others, such as books by Scott and Helen Nearing, also prolific writers, which encourage people to live the good life by going back to the land, by earning and spending less cash, and by spending more time, understanding and effort on living . These books tend to be a bit on the bucolic side for GL's taste but have an audience of their own. On another level, Bates is different in not suggesting so much a particular lifestyle as asking people to think about and act on sustainability including

The lifestyle promoted is rather closer to rustic than the vast majority of urban Canadians might want to adapt to although the ideas of performing the same function with less or no power is a good one. GL remembers seeing streetcars being pulled by horses in East Germany due to lack of cash to pay for power but hopes acting sooner rather than later on climate change will mean we can still use fuel and power for such important things in life as public transit. However, whatever approach different people chose, Bates asks readers whether they know how they are going to provide the basics for their families such as energy such as for heat, light and cooking, food, waste, and so on if faced by a lack of power. Emergency services crews commonly use the guideline that families should be able to look after themselves for 72 hours but many households don't have essentials at home and when they can't go out shopping, get stuck without food, heat, water, or medicines.


Bates, Albert. The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook: Recipes for changing times. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC: 2006. Ask at major bookstores or www.newsociety.com or direct http://www.newsociety.com/bookid/3927


An intro by Richard Heinberg, also an author on a lower carbon future, is available at http://www.newsociety.com/titleimages/pop_for.pdf

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GL IN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE


GL is often quite amazed by who likes to use our articles. The article on hope for continued progress to protect the ozone layer through the Montreal Protocol appeared on the US Army Environmental Policy Institute web site (GL Vol. 12 No. 1). It was included in the Environmental Security Monthly Scan done by the UN University with Battelle Columbus Operations on "worldwide emerging environmental issues affecting the U.S. Military" in their January 2007 report.


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BIOTECH: FIRST US MORATORIUM ON PREVIOUSLY APPROVED GM CROP


At the Michigan Organic Conference held in East Lansing on March 3, GL's editor heard from a number of organic farmers who were appalled that the US Department of Agriculture has approved genetically modified alfalfa, a Roundup Ready product from Monsanto which was already for sale. They said that the high cost meant it was not selling as well as expected but dealers were giving perks such as one extra bag if a minimum number were bought.


A paper by Jacqueline Pridham of the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada, the leading organic agriculture research facility in Canada, describes why there is so much furor. She writes, "Roundup Ready crops also increase the influx of herbicides to soils and groundwater, create resistant weeds, and potentially transfer their genetic constructs to a wide variety of other organisms. Not only do Roundup Ready crops threaten the viability of organic farming practices through rampant contamination, but they also threaten the genetic stability of our environment."


Specific concerns relate to alfalfa because of its importance in organic agriculture. It is widely grown in non-organic agriculture on almost 25 million acres in the US so almost every organic farm could be exposed to GM alfalfa if it is used widely. Unlike corn and soybeans, where the crop is the seed, in alfalfa, the crop is the whole plant. Alfalfa is an essential forage (hay and pasture) crop for both non-organic and organic farmers with high protein content. Because it fixes nitrogen, organic farmers rely on it for soil nutrients and organic matter. Only organic alfalfa can by used by organic farmers for sale or use as seed or feed; organic alfalfa cannot contain genetically modified organisms. Cross-contamination with GMOs means that not only the alfalfa crop cannot be sold but all the animals fed non-organic alfalfa, their meat, milk, eggs cannot be sold as organic either.


Round-up Ready Alfalfa used in non-organic operation will be sprayed with the herbicide Roundup. The RR alfalfa can survive because it has an inserted gene which makes it resistant to the herbicide while weeds and indeed any soil cover crop would be killed. Crops such as corn are wind-pollinated which also pose a threat to organic crops but have a buffer zone of non-GM to stop some of the spread. However, alfalfa is pollinated by bees who will carry the pollen from the non-organic alfalfa to the organic, cross contaminating the organic with GMOs. If a few seeds are carried by dirty equipment, then GM alfalfa may grow directly in the organic field increasing cross pollination; alfalfa is a perennial so a GM alfalfa will still be there over a number of years. Even a small amount of GMOs can disqualify an organic crop from sale as organic.


On March 12, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued a temporary injunction concluding that the federal US Department of Agriculture had "violated the National Environmental Protection Act ('NEPA') by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement ('EIS') before deregulating Roundup Ready alfalfa." The Court said it granted the injunction "because of the potential significant environmental impact of gene transmission; specifically, the acknowledged risk that the genetically engineered gene will 'contaminate' organic and conventional alfalfa." The Court said that the USDA didn't consider how the approval of GM alfalfa would affect the development of Roundup resistant weeds.


Some growers have already planted Roundup Ready alfalfa. These growers will be allowed to harvest, use or sell any of the RR alfalfa already planted. All others are prohibited from planting even if they have already purchased the seed. The ruling is based on the premise 'When the proposed project may significantly degrade some human environmental factor, injunctive relief is appropriate' and read "The federal defendants shall issue the appropriate notices notifying Roundup Ready alfalfa sellers and growers that no Roundup Ready alfalfa seed may be planted after March 30, 2007. In addition, only that seed which has already been purchased by growers may be planted prior to March 30, 2007. All sales of Roundup Ready alfalfa seed are prohibited pending the Court's issuance of permanent injunctive relief." 


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SHORT-EARED OWLS


For quite a few years now, birders and photographers have been coming to GL's 150 acre naturalizing project called the Fisherville Raptor Preserve. We don't allow hunting there because it is intended for conservation (not that it stops some people) but other than that all we do is provide habitat: a mix of meadow, wetland bush, stream and trees. No chemicals other than a few tractor fumes are applied. Unfortunately we've felt forced to plant more trees than we really want to because grasslands, which are most beneficial to raptors, are taxed at a much higher and ever-increasing residential property tax rate even with agricultural zone and no house.


The support of John Miles, a local birder whose death in December 2006 is deeply felt, was a great help. His nomination won the project an award from the Ontario Field Ornithologists of which he was a member and his report of bird sightings brought birders, some of whom take startlingly beautiful pictures. Over time, neighbours who at first were prone to focus on weeds, have come to enjoy having the recognition and then enjoying the birds. They have even found it advantageous because the flow of birders from many areas in Canada and from the US has been good cause to get the County to better maintain the road and maybe even in the near future, pave it - not GL's idea of a good environmental move but we have chosen not to fight with our neighbours over this issue and there are some environmental benefits to a paved road.


Short-eared owls have been a major attraction; sometimes John would tell us he had seen 24 owls at a time although the numbers varied over the season and each winter. Unlike many owls, they are active not just at night but also during daylight hours. Usually sightings have been on the Preserve and on trees on neighbours' properties within a half a kilometre or so although the birds range more widely. This year six owls decided to regularly roost and hunt right where we could see them during the day: sometimes there were several sitting on fence posts, flying low with glides and the occasional elegant flap of wings, perching in the spruces or right at the top of wind-broken limbs of the aging silver maple trees. They were completely silent except when they were doing the dance of life when they fly together high up as if around an air cylinder and squawk (not elegant at all). We don't know why we are so lucky to have them so near although the naturalization in the yard and leftover corn and soybeans in nearby fields no doubt helps to supply rodents. A wildlife photographer, Raymond J Barlow, was recently outside our place taking pictures of the owls. He is an example of one of many businesses which benefit from conservation and nature. Some of the pictures of the owls that he took are at http://www.pbase.com/raymondjbarlow/recent_photos [Find thumbnail photos No. 42-49 and click on the photo to enlarge]

 

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RACCOONS FOR DINNER


According to an Associated Press story, an annual fundraiser which has been running since the 1950s in Hibernia, Indiana features raccoon for supper. Unlike GL's experience, where the raccoons come for supper, it seems the good folks of Hibernia actually eat the fried raccoon. There was a four year break in the tradition because the 86 year-old woman LaVeran Lorenz retired from the raccoon frying business in 2002 and nobody else wanted to clean the animals even though the community wanted to keep raccoon on the menu.


This year hunters brought over 100 raccoons when Ms Lorenz agreed to come back. So why were we interested in this story? The fact is that raccoon hunters often come to the farming areas around our office here, hunting with dogs and shotguns, sometimes throughout the night.


A number of years ago, one of the hunters came to ask permission to hunt in our bush (see article on Short-Eared Owls). The hunter was a friendly guy so we asked, "What is it you do with all the raccoons." He said he sold the fur and then "You don't want to know what I do with the rest." After some persuasion, he told us that he sold the raccoon meat to restaurants in a few towns and cities which he named. If raccoons are good enough for the good folks of Hibernia, Indiana, then maybe they are OK for those of us who live in SW Ontario. On the other hand, we wonder how often inspectors of food establishments check the species on the menu.


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All rights reserved. Readers are advised to check all facts for themselves before taking any action. The Gallon Environment Letter (GL for short) presents information for general interest and does not endorse products, companies or practices. Advertising or sponsorship of one or more issues consistent with sustainable development goals is welcome and identified as separate from editorial content. Subscriptions for organizations $184 + GST = $195.04 includes monthly Sustainable Technologies and Services Supplement STSS ; for individuals (non-organizational emails and paid with non-org funds please-does not include monthly STSS): $30 includes GST. Issues about fifteen times a year with supplements. http://www.cialgroup.com/subscription

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