Some Environmental Problems

A rather disturbing sample

Environmental Sustainability?What’s fishy about this map?

The Smoking Gun

Primary Industry Exports

What can you do to inform yourself?

• Consider multiple points of view

• Consider who has a prior agenda

• Consider who profits from the status quo

• Consider a variety of data

• Consider the history of debate over a range of issues including toxic chemicals, tobacco, etc.

http://www.env.duke.edu/faculty/crowley/climatemodel.html

Data from Climatologist Tom Crowley (Texas A&M)

NASA data

Data from GlobalWarming.org

Who should you believe?

• GlobalWarming.org is supported by the Cooler Heads Coalition, which is in turn supported by the National Consumer Coalition– http://www.consumeralert.org/ncc/members.htm– Strong ties to conservative organizations working to

privatize schools, cut taxes, end government regulation of corporations, and reduce environmental regulations

• NASA and Climatology professors at major research universities are interested in understanding the issue but will make money no matter what they find– http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/observe/surftemp/

Global climate change

• The greenhouse effect is not a subject of scientific dispute; our level of present and future contribution to the greenhouse effect is.

• Most scientists agree on an increase over the next century of 2.5 – 10.5 degrees Fahrenheit

• Evidence of climate change: – migration of tree-line– melting ice– temperature differentials in the earth’s crust– changes in species range

Melting Ice

• Arctic ice currently thinning 10% per decade

• 3000 k2 of Antarctic ice is lost each year

• net yearly outflow of Greenland ice shield = annual flow of the Nile

• warmest 23 years since record keeping began all since 1975

• overall change in past century about 1 degree Fahrenheit

How can a single degree change over the past century make such a difference?

Political pressure

• “For the first time, the Senate is about to vote on whether to restrict national emissions of carbon dioxide -- the respiration of our civilization and our economy -- in an attempt to control the world's uncontrollable climate. This legislation has absolutely no basis in science.”

• http://www.globalwarming.org/ (a project of the Competitive Enterprise Institute http://www.cei.org/gencon/014,03358.cfm)

• Bush administration withdrew US support from the Kyoto Protocol that would have called for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by industrialized nations

• Europe just suffered a record heat wave that claimed 35,000 lives, and will no doubt shape UN stances on Global Warming

Sea Level is Rising

• Sea level is rising at around 2 mm a year• faster than over the last 5000 years (less than 1 mm a

year)• slower than the rate predicted for the next 80 years (5

mm a year); approx. 1 meter in the next century• processes that have played an important role in

accelerating the rate of sea level rise in the last century.– loss of mid-latitude glaciers in the Alps, Andes, Rockies etc, – rising sea temperatures on the ocean's volume through thermal

expansion. – role played by the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets in

contributing to sea level rise?

• http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/ResourceCenterPublicationsSeaLevelRiseIndex.html

Welcome to Venice!

Chemical Pollution

• Various synthetic (not naturally occurring) substances

• Although there are many naturally occurring toxins, natural systems have evolved in the presence of these toxins, not the synthetic ones

• Worst are classified as “persistent organic pollutants” –very “durable,” – passed through food chain to the top (predatory birds,

various mammals, and humans!)– Bioaccumulation– Long-distance transport

Frog Deformities

• reported in 44 states since 1996 (57 amphib. species)– extra legs & eyes– misshapen, missing or

incompletely formed limbs– limbs in inappropriate places– missing eyes

• Causes (in combination)– naturally occurring parasite

(flatworm larvae)– pesticides that greatly

increase frogs’ susceptibility to the flatworm larvae

Pesticide Use

• The US uses over 5 billion pounds of pesticides annually [EPA data]

• This volume is increasing at a rate of 100 million pounds per year

• Data from California show that acutely toxic systemic nerve poisons (organophosphates and carbamates) increased 17%, from 1991 to 1997 [http://www.pmac.net/use_increasing.html]

• Data from California show that the use of carcinogenic pesticides increased 81% during this period [http://www.pmac.net/use_increasing.html]

1999 US pesticide use

Data Source, EPA: http://www.epa.gov/oppbead1/pestsales/99pestsales/usage1999.html#3_3

Cancer

BRAIN CANCER DIAGNOSES PER YEAR PER 1000 PERSONS, UNITED STATES

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990

YEAR

PE

RS

ON

S P

ER

100

0 W

ITH

BR

AIN

C

AN

CE

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Human sperm count

• study of 61 reports between 1938 and 1991 found sperm counts worldwide have fallen by about 50%

• a few studies show stable counts but none show an increase

• Sperm counts in US agricultural areas are around 2/3 of the level in US cities

• laboratory studies prove that extremely common chemicals such as phthalates can cause a decrease in fertility

Endocrine Disrupters

• Many synthetic chemicals and industrial byproducts have powerful effects on mammalian endocrine systems

• They may act as synthetic estrogens, interfere with testosterone or otherwise interfere in the processes of sexual reproduction and maturation

• Earlier onset of human sexual maturation has been observed overall [Herman-Giddens et al., various studies]

• Near chemical incinerators, delayed puberty has been observed (95% certainty level) [Elly Den Hond et al., 2002]

• What are the chemicals? Dioxin, PCBs, phthalates (used in PVC plastics and “vinyl,” as well as pesticides and cosmetics), lead, and mercury

Common Thread?

• Postindustrial lifestyle– High consumption levels– Demand for variety and visual perfection in foods– Political culture opposed to environmental regulation

• Confidence in technology– Unwillingness to infringe on people’s “right” to market

any product– Unwillingness to infringe on people’s “right” to use any

innovation– Bias against the calculation of long-term and

aggregate impacts of individual actions– Overall: bias in favor of the diffusion of new products

Summary

• Our “postindustrial” lifestyle involves high environmental impacts

• some groups (particularly corporate interests and their affiliated “think tanks” (read public relations firms)) want to instill a false sense of complacency

• research proves complacency will only increase the cost of dealing with the impacts in the long run