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consumption, investing in more efficient heating and lighting systems, buying renewable energy, and even, on occasion, joining the effort to “build green.”

Conserving congregations see direct financial as well as environmental benefits. For instance:

•By installing solar panels on the roof and changing lighting. Christ Church in Ontario, Calif., saw its summer utility bills drop from $600 to $20 a month.

•All Saints Episcopal Church in Brookline. Mass., which installed a new boiler with zoned heating, programmable thermostats, and more efficient lighting, was rewarded with annual savings of $17,000. They’ve used 14 percent of the savings to buy 100 percent renewable energy, further reducing pollutants.

•Hebron Baptist Church in Dacula, Ga., revamped its lighting system, converting fixtures and exit signs. They’re saving $32,000 a year in church expenses and 450,000 kilowatt hours of energy.

Churches, mosques, and synagogues look for ways to make their buildings more energy efficient, both to heed ethical imperatives against waste, and also to save money.

з.

ECO-LABELING MAY MAKE PACKAGING MORE COMPLEX,

REPORT FINDS

From Boston Globe, December 18, 2002 By Patricia Wen

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Proposed amendments to European directives for packaging and waste electronics and new mercury laws passed in the United States will make package labeling more complex, according to a new report, “Green Labeling: Global Guide for Marketers in the New Millennium,” released by Raymond Communications.

“Only English-speaking countries seem to even have clear green labeling guidelines, and only the U.S. and perhaps the U.K. have ever tried to enforce such guidelines,” says publisher Michele Raymond. While fraudulent claims are rare in the United States, they may continue in other countries.

The report finds that eco-labeling programs, such as the German Blue Angel and the Nordic Swan will never gibe with each other because of cultural differences. American industry has shied away from eco-labels because the criteria can become obsolete quickly, and may not reward innovation. However, many European and Asian countries see them as a tool of soft policy. While use of an eco-label will not help sell products in America, an appropriate in-country label can be helpful for marketing in the green countries such as Germany, Austria, and the Nordic countries.

Other report findings include:

•Proposed amendments to the Directive on Packaging & Packaging Waste would make the material coding mandatory for all packaging.

•The new electronics directives will require new labeling on electronics for recycling.

•Companies that cannot take the European Green Dot off their package for Canada may have to pay license fees to an Ontario trade association.

•New mercury restrictions passed in five U.S. states will require disclosures on

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mercury-added products, though where the labels will be required will vary between the states.

•New international standards, and European Union rules require all wood packaging to be treated and marked because of problems with insect infestations.

•Japan and Taiwan require completely different material/recycling symbols on certain packages.

The report covers mandatory labeling in the United States, Europe, and Asia, as well as term definitions (such as use of the word “recyclable”), and summarizes ecolabel programs globally. It provides analysis of some of the more complex issues, such as use of the Green Dot, and when and where green labels make sense.

4.

ECO CARS

From Newsweek-September 17, 2001 By Jason Forsythe

Don’t look now, but the internal combustion engine may soon be put out to pasture, right next to the horse and buggy it replaced a century ago.

Jaques Nasser, Ford’s chief executive, rocked the automotive world in July 2000 when he pledged that his company would improve the average fuel “consumption of its sport utility vehicles (SUVs) by 25 percent, or roughly 5 mpg, over five years. General Motors and DaimlerChrysler have since followed suit. The result is that three of the world’s most influential manufacturers have mandated major environmental progress in more than 7 million vehicles they build every year.

The promised fuel savings will come not from new “magic bullet” technology, but from the combination of gains, ranging from better engines to lighter materials such as aluminium and carbon fibres. In Europe, where diesel engines are popular, common rail diesel and turbo direct-injection diesel engines are already bettering diesel-fuel efficiency by as much as.20-percent.

Nearly all the automakers agree that hybrids are merely a stepping stone to a hydrogen-powered future. A handful of zero-emission hydrogen prototypes are currently making the rounds of the auto shows, including BMW’s hydrogen-powered fleet of 15 750hL sedans.

An interim solution is ah onboard system that extracts hydrogen from gasoline under the hood. Both BMV and Daimler Crysler have shown mockups of this “reformer” system, which, include mini hydrogen refineries that can run on gasoline, methane, hydrogen or any of several other fuels.

“The conventional wisdom in the industry is that in the long term, hydrogen is the fuel of the future,” says David Hermance, executive engineer for Environmental Engineering at the Toyota Technical Center. “The problem is that it is very difficult to store enough of it onboard a vehicle to have a sufficient range, and there is no infrastructure to provide it.”

In the end, it is the politicians of the world who will make the move to radically cleaner cars economically feasible. “We have the technology today to make cars so fuel efficient that they can actually filter the air around them – so that you could drive a car through a polluted area to make it cleaner,” says Ford's Schmidt. “For now, this is far too expensive to be practical, but this is the big hope for the future. To ac-

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complish it, we will need cooperation with government and the oil industry. We cannot do it ourselves.”

5.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

From NEWSWEEK APRIL 24, 2000 By Tony Emerson

The Green uprising that started in the 1970s forced European five governments to clean up the most obnoxious messes, like stinking rivers and smokestack industries. But the movement has since stagnated, leaving problems that can be harder to spot and to solve. At the moment, the environment is just “not a major political issue,” says Gordon McInnes, a program manager at the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen, which authored the report.

The illusion that all is environmentally well is perhaps most powerful in Germany, where the Greens are in the government and politicians can take much credit for cleaning up the toxic wasteland was East Germany.

Yet many critics attribute cleaner air and water in Germany less to the €15 billion cleanup than to the collapse of the communist industrial machine. And much remains to be done.

Efforts to promote recycling have failed to halt the growing output of glass and plastic rubbish, according to the EEA report. Success in cutting smoke from factories has been more than offset by increasing exhaust from cars and trucks. Perhaps most ominously, the output of greenhouse gases, falling as of late, will reverse and rise by as much as 6 percent in the next decade.

Green regulations don’t always make sense, either Germany now requires citizens to painstakingly sort garbage for recycling, though only a fraction of the sorted trash actually gets reused. In December hundreds of volunteers rushed unsolicited to the Brittany coast to help clean up oil from the wreck of the tanker Erika. Now, many are complaining that they were not provided protective clothing – or warned that heavy crude could cause cancer.

The Greens have been most successful in the north of Europe. In Stockholm, the water is now clean enough to drink straight out of nearby Malaren Lake, and “the end of the pipe problem just isn’t a problem anymore,” says Per Stenbeek of Greenpeace. French authorities are for the most part still stuck at the stage of studying environmental problems. In Italy, outdated emission controls allow moped owners to modify their engines for use with recycled airplane fuel, which delivers more power – and pollution. Rather than protest, residents of major Italian cities don surgical or gas masks when the air gets too foul to breathe: Greece is at least as lax. “Environmental action is just beginning in Greece,” says environmentalist Carla Manolopoulou. And not an Earth Day too soon.

6.

BLACK SEA TRIANCLE

From Moscow News No 51, December 19-25, 2002 By Stanislav Slavin

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A Hamburg University expedition to study the Black Sea bed to the southwest of the Crimean peninsula has caused a sensation.

The researchers were above all interested in underwater deposits of methane crystal hydrates. This substance – solid water and methane gas compound resembling ice crystals – is formed under low temperature and high pressure, so in nature it usually occurs deep in the sea bed or the ocean floor, – or else in the permafrost.

The world’s methane crystal hydrate reserves are estimated to contain more energy than all proven oil, gas and coal deposits taken together. Experts believe that sometime in the not very distant future this energy source will replace or supplement other energy sources on our planet.

“Deep underwater, we observed, a powerful methane discharge from meterthick carbon formations, not unlike factory smokestacks in shape,” expedition chief Walter Michaelis told journalists.

He also spoke about yet another exciting discovery. Areas of gas discharge are surrounded by a four-inch layer of microorganisms living in oxygen-free water. The scientists managed to raise those microscopic methane-feeding creatures aboard the research vessel. A square meter of seabed was found to contain more than 20 kilograms biomass. These ancient living organisms play a key role in the methane cycle in world oceans.

There is also a working hypothesis whereby methane discharges to the sea surface – “light water” full of gas holes – could be the main reason behind the mysterious disappearance of vessels in the Bermuda Triangle. Ships were simply unable to stay afloat on such a flimsy “wave” and so capsized and sank in the twinkling of an eye.

It has long been known that life in the Black Sea exists at a depth of up to 200 metres. Below that, down to the seabed, there are layers of hydrogen sulphide, a poisonous gas with a characteristic odour of rotten egg. “This hydrogen-sulphide water will get into the atmosphere. In the best case scenario residents of the adjacent seacoast will have to hold their breath and wear gas masks when going out,” ecologist Vladimir Solovyev believes.

In the worst case scenario, the gas rising to the surface could ignite – an electrostatic discharge arising from a fountain of spray or a spark or lightning is enough for that.

Apart from a purely theoretical, the discoveries made, aboard the Professor Logachev have a practical dimension. Before a disaster has struck, there is time to build defence lines.

7.

FIR GROVES IN MOSCOW REGION FACED WITH DEADLY THREAT

From Moscow News No 51, December 19 – 25, 2001 By Yelena Subbotina

A tiny insect – the bark beetle, has for a third year in a row affected fir groves in the Moscow region. It has an insatiable appetite: within three months it can destroy even the largest of spruces.

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Trouble came in the wake of the July 1998 storm that felled a great number of trees. Wind-fallen wood provided an excellent breeding-ground for the bark beetle. The situation was compounded by the recurring heat and drought: The fir trees were short of resin – a natural protectant against insects. According to Mikhail Kobelkov, director of the Roslesozashchita forest protection center, from May 2000 until May 2001 the bark beetle destroyed 6,500 hectares of fir groves in the Moscow region, this past summer consuming another 1,500 hectares – in all, 8.000 hectares of the 230,000, or 3.5 percent.

Forestry specialists believe that only a complex of measure can remedy the situation: chemical pest-killers, clear-cutting, and traps for the beetles that were put up on the trees last summer. True, some people took an unhealthy interest in metal and strong-plastic cones, as a result of which about one third of the 140,000 traps were gone.

In early April, when the snow had just begun to melt, specialists at the Podolskbased Moscow Forest Protection Center took samples of forest flooring, hoping very much that the frost had destroyed the pest. The result, of analysis was disappointing: The bark beetle had safely weathered the mild winter with a 90 percent survival rate. Some firs had a stunning number of pests lying in wait under them: up to 10,000.

The fact is that young firs do not tempt the bark beetle: It needs mature trees, at least 40 years old. Meanwhile, there are large numbers of such firs in the Moscow region, – because like no other region in Russia it has many forest plantations – that is to say, trees there are of the same age. Foresters admit that such plantations are feeding trough for the pest. Moreover, forest affected by pollution – a cap of polluted air covers an area within a radius of 60 to 70 kilometers around the city – is especially susceptible. Alas, the outlook is less than favorable: there is no visible cause for the bark beetle population to decline. While there is no consensus as to how to fight off the invasion, some experts believe that it should be treated as a natural disaster that will subside eventually. True, we may be left with little more than tree stumps by then.

8.

HOW POVERTY POLLUTES

From NEWSWEEK. April, 24, 2000 By Pranay Gupte

Not long after the first earth day, prime minister Indira Gandhi of India addressed the United Nations Conference on die Human Environment in Stockholm. She startled her audience by declaring “poverty is the greatest polluter.” Poor people in developing countries, she said, contributed to ecological destruction through everyday practices such as firewood burning. The poor weren’t being malevolent, they were simply living off the cheapest resources available. On that same journey to Sweden almost three decades ago, she added: “Galloping poverty is a global challenge, not just one for developing nations. Everything is interconnected these days – the rich and die poor, the environment and the economy.”

Wise, prescient words. Yet last week, as preparations accelerated for the 30th observance of Earth Day, on April 22, the global environment – both ecological and human – seemed in worse shape than when Gandhi spoke them. True, many of the

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developed world’s rivers are cleaner; and many of its corporations profess a hew sensitivity to ecological issues. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, however, billions of people continue to grapple with the problem the late prime minister identified. Advanced economies can be kinder to the environment. But for the world’s poorest, advancement – or in many places, simple survival – seems to mean being cruel to it. Can the gap ever be bridged?

The news is not encouraging. In West Africa and parts of Asia, firewood gathering has produced deforestation on a vast scale. The Washington-based World Resources Institute estimates that just one fifth of the world’s original forest cover remains intact. Meanwhile, on the next rung of the developmental ladder, cities such as Beijing, New Delhi, Lagos and Mexico City have become environmental nightmares on account of accelerating industrial and vehicular pollution. Carl Pope, the Sierra Club’s executive director, expresses alarm over how widespread pollution-related illnesses are in China – especially in communities near coal-based industries. The costs of treating patients?Billions and billions of dollars.

9.

IS GLOBAL WARMING A BLESSING?

From Moscow News No 51, December 19 – 25, 2001 By Victor Danilov-Daanilyan

Many in Russia are not scared of warming, convinced that it’s a blessing: Just think how much fuel will be saved! There will be no need for fur coats, useful plants will no longer be affected by frost, and cornfields will extend to the polar circle. There is nothing to rejoice over, however.

Let us start with global warming. By the end of the century, the mean near-earth temperature is expected to rise two to six degrees. Many think that if somewhere in central Russia temperatures range from 35 below zero to 35 above zero, a two-degree rise in the mean near-earth temperature will neatly bring up both the upper and the lower limits by the same amount.

No way. The warming effect will certainly not be even. Unbalanced, the climate system will see temperature disparity in various places. This means that, should average temperatures rise by two degrees, the fluctuation span will expand, say, from 40 degrees below zero to 45 degrees above. So you can judge for yourselves whether it will take less fuel if one winter in three or four is much colder than even the coldest of the previous winters. The truth is that far greater fuel stocks will need to be laid in than was required in the Far Eastern Maritime region in the harsh 2000/2001 winter season.

Now, what will happen in the “new” hot summer seasons? What will happen to industrial and transport facilities, housing, and other, .infrastructure built on permafrost, which will melt, turning into marshland?

Even if it is a blessing, rising temperature in areas where it is cold at present will not really be that until after the onset of a new stabilization, thousands of years from now. In several thousand years all talk about the economy and agricultural yields will be ridiculous to say the least. Meanwhile, for the next few decades and even centuries we are in for climate imbalances with all the ensuing consequences.

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What could mankind do to head off this misfortune? First and foremost, stop destroying natural ecosystems, learn to make do with what has already been developed, returning everything else to nature.

Second, reduce pollution because while greenhouse gases directly affect the state of the atmosphere, ether emissions affect the state of weakening them and reducing bioproductivity.

10.

WATER PACKAGE APPROVED FOR TRENDWEST RESORT

From Department of Ecology News Release – May 23, 2002 By Joye Redfield-Wilder

YAKIMA – The state Department of Ecology (Ecology) has approved a package of water rights that will support the development of Trendwest’s Mountain Star resort and adjacent properties near Cle Elum.

In addition, the resort company has set aside water in several tributaries to enhance stream flows to benefit fish and other aquatic resources, and to offset the effects to the Yakima River of water consumed at the proposed resort properties.

“This is a particularly creative approach to finding water for a new development while also protecting existing water rights and stream flows,” said Bob Barwin, Ecology’s water manager in Yakima. “It’s been a long road, both for Trendwest and the community, but these decisions provide the certainty needed in a. region where water is a precious commodity.”

In its effort to secure water for the project, Trendwest Resorts,. Inc., acquired a number of water rights within the Yakima River Basin. The package includes a large set of water rights that had historically been diverted near Ellensburg. Before the water could be used at the resort, the company needed authorization to withdraw the water at Cle Elum. It also needed to change the rights from seasonal irrigation to year-round uses, including domestic, municipal and recreation.

The resort will have access immediately to about half of the water authorized in the decision. The rest of the water will be available after the resort company prepares an acceptable mechanism for monitoring the water rights placed into trust. The company also needs to show how it would manage water during years when water diversions are restricted by the U.S Bureau of Reclamation.

Ecology also has authorized transferring tributary water to the Yakima Basin Trust Water Program from Big Creek and the Teanaway River. The trust water rights will enhance stream flows in the tributaries and can be used mitigate the effects on Yakima River water users for water consumed at the resort that is more than the historic consumptive use at the Pautzke properties.

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Список основных химических элементов

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