"Nitrates and Cancer" (& Water)

From The Ecologist

Research from China suggests that even low levels of nitrites in drinking water can cause cancer. Why is the West ignoring the evidence? asks Oliver Tickell

The possibility of a link between nitrite in drinking water and cancer was first noted in 1970. To this day the view of the western ‘scientific establishment’ remains that the effects of nitrite – and the related substance nitrate – are well understood and there’s not much for us to worry about, though it is a good idea to eat less bacon and other preserved meats.

But Chinese scientists are reaching a very different view: that nitrite in drinking water is closely linked with cancer incidence and mortality. Indeed, nitrite pollution may be responsible for up to half of all cancer deaths in developed countries – even when nitrite and nitrate levels are within legal limits.

Nitrite is a common pollutant of rivers, streams, lakes and water supplies. It is also widely used as a meat preservative, both to prevent botulism and to give the meat an attractive dark red colour. In high doses it induces a state of anoxia in the blood known as ‘blue-baby syndrome’ or methemoglobinemia – a potentially fatal but mercifully rare condition. Nitrite in high doses is also linked with cancer as it can make carcinogenic nitrosamine and N-nitroso compounds. For this reason regulators have tried to reduce nitrite levels in food, and make sure it is used with ascorbic acid (vitamin C), which inhibits the formation of the carcinogens.

Nitrite and nitrate are readily interchangeable through reduction (of nitrate to nitrite) and oxidation (of nitrite to nitrate). Reducing conditions in the gut, for example, can cause nitrate to convert to nitrite, while exposure to oxygen does the reverse. Levels of both are regulated in drinking water. In the EU, drinking water may contain up to 0.5mg of nitrite per litre, and 50mg/l of nitrate. In the US, the limits are 1mg/l of nitrite and 10mg/l of nitrate. At first sight these levels seem fairly low, and after all we eat nitrate every day in ‘healthy’ fresh fruit and vegetables – so just how much is there to worry about?

In 2003, Xu Zhixiang published a summary of his research in his monograph Chemical Fertilizers, Pollution and Esophageal Cancer. Based upon his evidence, China may be divided into three zones: those of ‘low’ cancer mortality (less than 30 cases per 100,000); those of ‘high’ cancer mortality (more than 80 per 100,000) and those of ‘average’ cancer mortality in between those extremes. It turns out that the three cancer mortality areas correspond closely with areas of high, low and average levels of nitrite in drinking water...

In 1964, the Hongqi Canal was linked to the polluted Zhuozhang River, and began to supply most of Linzhou’s drinking water. Soon after, cancer mortality soared; cases of oesophageal cancer more than doubled from 83 per 100,000 in the years 1959-1963 to 171 per 100,000 in 1972-1976. In 1970, cancer specialists from Beijing went to Linzhou to investigate the problem. Although nitrite levels were not high by western standards, in the range of 0.1 to 1.0mg/l, they recommended switching the water supply to low-nitrite sources.

So deep groundwater sources with less than 0.01mg/l of nitrite were developed, oxygen-poor water storage tanks that caused the reduction of nitrate to nitrite were decommissioned and oxygenated tap water was introduced. Oesophageal cancer mortality duly declined, reaching 86 per 100,000 in 1996-2000 – roughly back to the pre-1964 level. There were exceptions: the two Linzhou townships that continued to get their drinking water from the Hongqi Canal, where cancer mortality remained high, and three townships whose drinking water came from the Qi River, where cancer mortality remained at the same relatively low incidence. Similar experiences accumulated in other parts of China.

Thanks to the increasingly convincing evidence of the contribution of nitrite to cancer mortality, China now has some of the world’s most stringent laws on nitrite pollution. In 2005, the government reduced the maximum level of nitrite (as nitrogen) in bottled water from 0.005 to 0.002mg/l, one-500th of the level allowed in drinking water in the USA, and set a limit of 0.02mg/l of nitrite for groundwater recharge – yet still failed to set any maximum for nitrite in piped drinking water for fear of depriving many cities of their water supply.

The broad-scale epidemiological findings on nitrite and cancer in China have been complemented by laboratory experiments in Russia, Japan and Taiwan. A synthesis of the experimental results carried out by Hsu and his colleague Huangpo Chaoshen in 2008 suggests that nitrite is not directly carcinogenic – that is, it does not convert healthy cells into cancer cells – but that it does stimulate the growth of cancer cells. The degree of stimulation depends upon various factors, including the concentration of nitrite and the age and type of cancer cell. And cancer cell growth stimulus operates at the low concentrations of nitrite that apply to drinking water in the EU and the USA...

"New Kits Turn Any Car Into a Plug-in Hybrid"

From Forbes.com

Soon drivers will be able to get at least double the gas mileage of a Toyota Prius hybrid, thanks to a spate of new aftermarket kits that convert any car into a plug-in electric vehicle. But they’ll have to pay upwards of $10,000 to do so.
Auto manufacturers are at least a year or two away from launching the next generation of hybrids, called plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), that recharge by plugging into a wall outlet. But battery companies are ready to start selling aftermarket kits within the next few months that convert hybrids, and in some cases regular vehicles, into plug-in electric cars.

A123Systems, an automotive technology company and battery supplier based in Watertown, Mass., is now taking orders for its Hymotion L5 conversion kit, which turns a Toyota Prius into a plug-in electric car. The $10,000 kit, due this fall, works with Prius model years 2004 through 2008 and adds a special, range-extending lithium-ion battery to the Prius' existing drivetrain.

Using A123’s plug-in system, the Prius, which normally runs only short distances at slow speeds on electric power alone, will have added battery power to extend its electric-only range and boost gas mileage to more than 100 miles per gallon. The Prius normally gets an estimated 46 mpg in combined city/highway driving.

Even if electricity costs as much as 15 cents per kilowatt hour, fully charging the 5 kilowatt-hour battery to run up to 40 miles would cost less than a dollar.

In late August, Poulsen Hybrid, based in Shelton, Conn., and run by Ulrik Poulsen, CEO of Bridgeport Magnetics, plans to offer a $7,000 conversion kit that turns any conventional car into a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle by mounting small electric motors onto the rear wheels. The Poulsen system also uses a lithium-ion battery pack and will double a car's gas mileage, says Poulsen, the system's creator. The company hasn’t released data on how far the system will go on a single charge, but charging it would also cost less than a dollar, he says.

VS Composites' $4,000 Electrocharger, due in 2009, also works with any conventional car, including ones whose engines have a turbocharger or supercharger — good news for car enthusiasts, who seek out such engines for the added power and acceleration they bring. The Electrocharger improves fuel economy in city driving by almost 60 percent by replacing a vehicle’s alternator with an electric generator, says Michael Van Steenburg, of VS Composites, based in Selma, Texas. Although the Electrocharger will be cheaper upfront than the Poulsen plug-in hybrid system, it will cost from $3 to $5 to juice the Electrocharger for a 50-mile range.
Any plug-in hybrid, whether created using an aftermarket conversion kit or built by a major automaker — like General Motors’ Saturn Vue Hybrid expected for 2009, and Chevrolet Volt expected in 2010 — would cost roughly 2 cents per mile to run, compared with about 10 cents per mile for a traditional car, says Philip Gott, director of automotive consulting at research firm Global Insight...

Plants Interacting

From the New York Times

The sea rocket, researchers report, can distinguish between plants that are related to it and those that are not. And not only does this plant recognize its kin, but it also gives them preferential treatment.

If the sea rocket detects unrelated plants growing in the ground with it, the plant aggressively sprouts nutrient-grabbing roots. But if it detects family, it politely restrains itself.

The finding is a surprise, even a bit of a shock, in part because most animals have not even been shown to have the ability to recognize relatives, despite the huge advantages in doing so.

If an individual can identify kin, it can help them, an evolutionarily sensible act because relatives share some genes. The same discriminating organism could likewise ramp up nasty behavior against unrelated individuals with which it is most sensible to be in claws- or perhaps thorns-bared competition.

“I’m just amazed at what we’ve found,” said Susan A. Dudley, an evolutionary plant ecologist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, who carried out the study with a graduate student, Amanda L. File.

“Plants,” Dr. Dudley said, “have a secret social life.”

Since the research on sea rockets was published in August in Biology Letters, a journal of the United Kingdom’s national academy of science, Dr. Dudley and colleagues have found evidence that three other plant species can also recognize relatives.

The studies are part of an emerging picture of life among plants, one in which these organisms, long viewed as so much immobile, passive greenery, can be seen to sense all sorts of things about the plants around them and use that information to interact with them.

Plants’ social life may have remained mysterious for so long because, as researchers have seen in studies of species like sagebrush, strawberries and thornapples, the ways plants sense can be quite different from the ways in which animals do.

Some plants, for example, have been shown to sense potentially competing neighboring plants by subtle changes in light. That is because plants absorb and reflect particular wavelengths of sunlight, creating signature shifts that other plants can detect.

Scientists also find plants exhibiting ways to gather information on other plants from chemicals released into the soil and air. A parasitic weed, dodder, has been found to be particularly keen at sensing such chemicals.

Dodder is unable to grow its own roots or make its own sugars using photosynthesis, the process used by nearly all other plants. As a result, scientists knew that after sprouting from seed, the plant would fairly quickly need to begin growing on and into another plant to extract the nutrients needed to survive.

But even the scientists studying the plant were surprised at the speed and precision with which a dodder seedling could sense and hunt its victim. In time-lapse movies, scientists saw dodder sprouts moving in a circular fashion, in what they discovered was a sampling of the airborne chemicals released by nearby plants, a bit like a dog sniffing the air around a dinner buffet.

Then, using just the hint of the smells and without having touched another plant, the dodder grew toward its preferred victim. That is, the dodder reliably sensed and attacked the species of plant, from among the choices nearby, on which it would grow best...

Although a view of plants as sensing organisms is beginning to emerge, scientists have been finding hints of such capabilities and interactions for 20 years. But discoveries have continued to surprise scientists, because of what some describe as an entrenched disbelief that plants, without benefit of eyes, ears, nose, mouth or brain, can and do all they are seen to do...

At the extreme of the equality movement, but still within mainstream science, are the members of the Society of Plant Neurobiology, a new group whose Web site describes it as broadly concerned with plant sensing.

The very name of the society is enough to upset many biologists. Neurobiology is the study of nervous systems — nerves, synapses and brains — that are known just in animals. That fact, for most scientists, makes the notion of plant neurobiology a combination of impossible, misleading and infuriating....

“Plants do send electrical signals from one part of the plant to another,” said Dr. Eric D. Brenner, a botanist at the New York Botanical Garden and a member of the Society of Plant Neurobiology.

Although those signals have been known for 100 years, scientists have no idea what plants do with them.

Diet Coke is a mix of neurotoxic & carcinogenic chemicals

From The Ecologist

...Aggressive marketing like the FIFA sponsorship and clever jingles like ‘Always Coca-Cola’ keep Coke in our consciousness, but before you ‘grab a Coke and a smile’ at this year’s main event, consider just what you are putting into your body. Although Diet Coke has a strong association with sport and health, it is actually a worrying mixture of neurotoxic and potentially carcinogenic high intensity sweeteners (aspartame and acesulfame K), tooth and bone destroying acids (phosphoric acid) and DNA damaging colourings (sulphite ammonia caramel), as well as psychoaddictive caffeine and other undisclosed ‘fl avourings’.

It also contains sodium benzoate, which can be broken down into the listed carcinogen benzene in the presence of strong acids, such as the citric acid found in this product.

Soda manufacturers have been aware of this synergistic possibility since the 1990s, but without pressure from regulatory authorities to change their formula to prevent the formation of benzene, have continued to mix benzoates and acids.

Ironically, the high fructose syrups used in regular drinks seem to slow this reaction down, and the formation of benzene appears to be most problematic in diet drinks...
_________________________________
Aspartame - Breaks down easily in heat and during storage to its neurotoxic components phenylalanine, aspartic
acid and methyl alcohol. According to the FDA aspartame is associated with headaches, dizziness,
loss of balance, mood swings, nausea, memory loss, muscle weakness, blurred vision, fatigue,
weakness, skin rashes, joint and musculoskeletal pain. (For a full report on aspartame toxicity see the
Ecologist September 2005). The most recent evidence shows that aspartame ingested at levels that
are currently found in daily soft drink consumption raises the risk of otherwise rare brain tumours
known as lymphomas.

Acesulfame K - Causes cancer in animals. Acetoacetamide, a breakdown product, has been shown to affect the
thyroid gland in rats, rabbits, and dogs. Although it is commonly blended with aspartame to cover its bitter taste, there are no studies to show if the combination is safe or whether it produces other toxic by-products.

Phosphoric acid - Can contribute to erosion of tooth enamel; leaches calcium from bones. Children with high intake of phosphoric acid suffer from brittle bones and a higher risk of fractures that follow them throughout life. Children consuming at least six glasses (1.5 litres) of phosphoric acid-containing soft drinks daily have more than five times the risk of developing low blood levels of calcium, compared to children who don’t drink sodas.

Citric acid - On its own relatively harmless, though it can be harsh on tooth enamel. When mixed with potassium
or sodium benzoate (see below) during storage, and especially at raised temperatures, it can aid the
formation of carcinogenic benzene.

Caffeine - A stimulant, psychoactive compound that can provoke mood changes, lethargy and headache.
Caffeine is addictive and ingestion of high levels can cause miscarriage as well as contribute to peptic ulcers and heart ailments. At the levels added to soft drinks caffeine adds virtually no flavour but does, if consumed regularly, trigger caffeine addiction. Children consuming caffeine have higher incidences of illness, headaches, sleep problems and iron depletion. A 330ml bottle of cola contains about half the caffeine of a cup of coffee.

Sodium Benzoate (E211) - People who suffer from asthma, rhinitis or urticaria may find their symptoms get worse following the consumption of benzoates. In acidic solutions (such as sodas), benzoates can break down into benzene, a known carcinogen. Surveys have shown that levels in soft drinks can be up to 40 times higher than recognised ‘safe’ doses.

Sulphite ammonia caramel (E150d) - Made by heating sugar, ammonia and sulphite-containing compounds, the sugar can sometimes come from GM maize. Ammonia is toxic by all routes of exposure, and caramels made by an ammonia process may damage genes, slow down growth, cause enlargement of the intestines and kidneys and may destroy vitamin B. This colouring has never been fully evaluated for its potential carcinogenicity or reproductive toxicity.

"How Do You Like the Collapse So Far?"

Found at Global Public Media.com

[Originally written for The Ecologist.]

Take relentless population growth. Add decades of expanding per-capita resource consumption. Simmer slowly over rising global temperatures.

What do you get?

Traumatic information: that is, information that wounds us through the very act of obtaining it.

Everyone knows things are going wrong. But if you understand ecology, you know this in a way that others don’t. It’s not just that the current crop of world leaders is idiotic. It’s not just a matter of a few policies having gone awry. We’ve been on a perilous track since the dawn of agriculture, capturing more and more biosphere services for the benefit of just one species. Fossil fuels recently gave our kind an enormous economic and technological boost—but at the same time enabled us to go much further out on an ecological limb. No one knows the long-term carrying capacity of planet Earth for humans, absent cheap fossil fuels, but it’s likely a lot fewer than seven billion. The implication is not just sobering; it’s paralyzing.

So what to do with such traumatic knowledge? An argument can be made for denial. Why ruin people’s day if there’s nothing they can do, if it’s too late to unseal our fate?

But we don’t know that it’s too late.

As hard as it is to get up every day and remember, "Oh yes, that’s right, we’re headed toward systemic collapse," in fact we can’t afford to forget it, if there are in fact measures to be taken to save a species, an ecosystem, or a human community.

To be sure, some of us are better able to handle the information than others. Many fragile psyches come unhinged without constant doses of hope and assurance. And so for their sake we need continuing positive messages—about a project to make a village sustainable, or about a new coal power plant halted by protest. Some will cling to these encouraging news bits, believing that the tide has turned and we’ll be fine after all. But as time goes on, collapse becomes undeniable. Limits to growth cease to be forecasts; instead, we see daily proof that we’re hitting the wall. As this happens, those who can handle the information spend more of their time managing the fraying emotions of those around them who can’t.

Strategy shifts. We move from rehearsing "Fifty simple things you can do to save the Earth" to discussing global triage.

As the Great Unraveling proceeds, there may in fact be only one occupation worthy of our attention: that of identifying the qualities that make our species worth saving, and then celebrating and exemplifying those qualities. If we concentrate on doing that, perhaps we win no matter what. Outwardly, it will probably look a lot like what many of us are already doing: working to save a species, an ecosystem, a human community; to make a village sustainable, or to halt a new coal power plant.

Taking in traumatic information and transmuting it into life-affirming action may turn out to be the most advanced and meaningful spiritual practice of our time.

I think that a lot of our culture - probably since the atomic bombs were dropped on people - has had a hopelessness about it. People react different ways - but denial and/or hedonism or a reverting to fundamentalism seems common. I have become part of a group of people who like to take life-affirming actions and who rejoice in nature, in living in the world. It is a good community to be a part of.

Algae: 'The ultimate in renewable energy'

Texas may be best known for "Big Oil." But the oil that could some day make a dent in the country's use of fossil fuels is small. Microscopic, in fact: algae. Literally and figuratively, this is green fuel.


Plant physiologist Glen Kertz believes algae can some day be competitive as a source for biofuel.
1 of 3

"Algae is the ultimate in renewable energy," Glen Kertz, president and CEO of Valcent Products, told CNN while conducting a tour of his algae greenhouse on the outskirts of El Paso.

Kertz, a plant physiologist and entrepreneur, holds about 20 patents. And he is psyched about the potential algae holds, both as an energy source and as a way to deal with global warming.

"We are a giant solar collecting system. We get the bulk of our energy from the sunshine," said Kertz.

Algae are among the fastest growing plants in the world, and about 50 percent of their weight is oil. That lipid oil can be used to make biodiesel for cars, trucks, and airplanes. Watch how pond scum can be turned into fuel »

Most people know algae as "pond scum." And until recently, most energy research and development projects used ponds to grow it.

But instead of ponds, Valcent uses a closed, vertical system, growing the algae in long rows of moving plastic bags. The patented system is called Vertigro, a joint venture with Canadian alternative energy company Global Green Solutions. The companies have invested about $5 million in the Texas facility.

"A pond has a limited amount of surface area for solar absorption," said Kertz.

Small Town Overthrows Corporate Giant for Control of Water

The people of Felton, California learned that they had successfully wrested control of their water from the clutches of a giant corporation on Friday, May 30, 2008.

Many of the 3,000 adult residents of the Felton Water District had been organizing for nearly six years to buy the community's water system from California American Water. Cal-Am is a subsidiary of American Water, which, despite an ongoing sell-off, remains under the ownership of German multinational energy and water titan RWE.

Surprisingly, less than a week before an eminent domain trial to decide the value of the water system, the announcement came that the San Lorenzo Valley Water District would pay Cal-Am $10.5 million in cash for the system. Of course, Cal-Am went for the deal to settle the eminent domain suit against it and avoid a jury trial, said Jim Mosher, who heads up the legal committee for Felton FLOW -- Friends of Locally Owned Water.

This is a great victory for the citizens of Felton and should inspire other communities to challenge private water utilities that are extorting huge, unjustified rate increases and failing to protect sensitive watershed properties. The SLV Water District has done an excellent job representing us and we look forward to having them manage the Felton water system."
In addition, the agreement states that Cal-Am will donate the 250 acres of forested watershed land in hopes of getting a tax break. Mosher questions whether the land transfer is a donation, however, since it appears to be an integral part of the deal and the price....

Cheaper Solar on the Horizon?

The solar power business is bracing itself for a collapse in prices that could lead to a shake-out in one of the most promising areas of the renewable energy sector.

However, a price slump could hasten the take-up of the technology which would help boost the overall volume of future activity, even as margins fall, industry analysts and officials add.

Expectations of falling prices have been partly sparked by a surge in the level of manufacturing capacity for solar panels. This is likely to lead to demand outstripping supply for the first time in years.

Another factor driving prices is uncertainty over the degree of government subsidies in some key markets for the technology.

According to Dean Cooper, analyst at Ambrian, the global capacity for solar module production is set to increase “dramatically”, from 3 gigawatts last year to 15 to 20 gigawatts of production in 2010. Much of the growth is coming from China.

Prices for solar components would drop from about $3.80 per watt to about $1.40 a watt by 2010, he said.

That could prompt consolidation in the sector within the next six months, with smaller players falling prey to longer established companies.

But Mr Cooper argues that lower prices could deliver benefits, since the high cost of making solar components has hitherto been a major impediment to growth in sales. A supply shortage of silicon in recent years has compounded the problem.

Lux Research is forecasting that revenues in the sector will more than triple in the next five years, to $71bn in 2012, while margins will fall.

NOAA Confirms Caribbean Monk Seal Extinct

After a five year review, NOAA’s Fisheries Service has determined that the Caribbean monk seal, which has not been seen for more than 50 years, has gone extinct—the first type of seal to go extinct from human causes.

Monk seals became easy targets for hunters while resting, birthing, or nursing their pups on the beach. Overhunting by humans led to these seals’ demise, according to NOAA biologists.

The last confirmed sighting of the seal was in 1952 in the Caribbean Sea at Seranilla Bank, between Jamaica and the Yucatán Peninsula. This was the only subtropical seal native to the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

"Humans left the Caribbean monk seal population unsustainable after overhunting them in the wild," said Kyle Baker, biologist for NOAA’s Fisheries Service southeast region. "Unfortunately, this lead to their demise and labels the species as the only seal to go extinct from human causes."...

You can't get here from there...

_________________________________________
Highway 37 through Martinsville-

_________________________________________
Paragon was "90%" flooded (along with Hwy 67)-

_________________________________________
Spencer flooding - to get worse as river rises-

_________________________________________
Interstate 65 near Columbus-

_________________________________________
A series of storms last week brought much flooding to the area last week. In Spencer, it is expected to go from bad to worse as the White River rises.

We went to a graduation party in western Monroe county yesterday - but a lot of people couldn't get there or much of anywhere. People on high ground found that roads (like highway 46) were closed to their east and west and they were stuck.

Some people were told to stay in their homes - later needing to be rescued because the water got too high. (I live on high ground).

Our access West - Spencer and beyond was closed; North - 231 was closed (Interstate 70 was closed at 231) - 67 was closed at various points (esp. Paragon) - 37 was closed (at Martinsville); East - 46 was closed in Brown County; South - Hwy 43 which would take us South was closed yesterday, parts of Greene County were flooded. I think we could have gone over 46 east to 37 South through Bedford and over to 50 and South on 65 - but not North. (Update: According the State Police - travel on 37 south of Bloomington is "questionable." )

Reporter-Times of Martinsville and Morgan County, Indiana

Water was nearly everywhere Saturday morning, as heavy rains flooded major roads and made many rural areas impassable. Relay for Life was canceled Friday night, and participants were evacuated as storms moved into the area. Water rescue teams and emergency personnel evacuated hundreds of people from their homes in the Martinsville and Paragon areas...

All the major roadways in the southern part of the county were closed. Ind. 37 just north of Martinsville was closed in both directions at Teeters Road from about 8 a.m. on. By 1:45 p.m., the water at the intersection of Ind. 37 and Ohio Street was so deep, officials began to shut off all traffic on Ind. 37 both north and south into the city.

For several hours, no one could get in or out of the city by way of Ind. 37.

Ind. 67 north of Paragon was closed due to high water, complicating the efforts of rescue workers to bring in boats to the area to rescue residents from their homes.

Earlier in the morning, Ind. 67 south of Centerton was shut for about 90 minutes by mudslides that carried trees and earth across the southbound lanes...

Ind. 252 near Eastview Christian Church was closed due to high water, and the intersection of Ind. 42 and Ind. 39 was closed due to high water.

Ind. 144 one mile east of Mooresville was closed after a culvert washed out.

In Martinsville, officials cut power to the whole city to prevent people from being electrocuted.

More and stronger storms were predicted as a consequence of global warming - we seem to be reaping the consequences.

"Strategic Spending on Organic Foods"

The Environmental Working Group tested dozens of fruits and vegetables to determine which foods are the worst offenders in terms of pesticide exposure. Some fruits and vegetables grown with conventional farming methods simply don’t absorb the pesticides. Some examples of vegetables and fruits with very low pesticide residues are onions, mangoes, asparagus, broccoli and eggplant. So whether you pick them up from the regular produce section or the organic aisle, your pesticide exposure is going to be low.

So if you are on a budget, focus your organic dollars where it counts — on foods that suck in a lot of pesticides when grown using conventional farming methods. Foods that typically have high levels of pesticide residue include peaches, strawberries, sweet bell peppers, celery and lettuce.

Environmental Working Group Fruit & Veggie Pesticide Guide

The Full List: 43 Fruits & Veggies

RANK

FRUIT OR VEGGIE

SCORE

1 (worst)

Peaches

100 (highest pesticide load)

2

Apples

96

3

Sweet Bell Peppers

86

4

Celery

85

5

Nectarines

84

6

Strawberries

83

7

Cherries

75

8

Lettuce

69

9

Grapes - Imported

68

10

Pears

65

11

Spinach

60

12

Potatoes

58

13

Carrots

57

14

Green Beans

55

15

Hot Peppers

53

16

Cucumbers

52

17

Raspberries

47

18

Plums

46

19

Oranges

46

20

Grapes-Domestic

46

21

Cauliflower

39

22

Tangerine

38

23

Mushrooms

37

24

Cantaloupe

34

25

Lemon

31

26

Honeydew Melon

31

27

Grapefruit

31

28

Winter Squash

31

29

Tomatoes

30

30

Sweet Potatoes

30

31

Watermelon

25

32

Blueberries

24

33

Papaya

21

34

Eggplant

19

35

Broccoli

18

36

Cabbage

17

37

Bananas

16

38

Kiwi

14

39

Asparagus

11

40

Sweet Peas-Frozen

11

41

Mango

9

42

Pineapples

7

43

Sweet Corn-Frozen

2

44

Avocado

1

45 (best)

Onions

1 (lowest pesticide load)

"Governor Declares Drought in California"

New York Times

Its reservoir levels receding and its grounds parched, California has fallen officially into drought, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday, warning that the state might be forced to ration water to cities and regions if conservation efforts did not improve.

The drought declaration — the first for the state since 1991 — includes orders to transfer water from less dry areas to those that are dangerously dry. Mr. Schwarzenegger also said he would ask the federal government for aid to farmers and press water districts, cities and local water agencies to accelerate conservation. Drought conditions have hampered farming, increased water rates throughout California and created potentially dangerous conditions in areas prone to wildfires.

The declaration comes after the driest California spring in 88 years, with runoff in river basins that feed most reservoirs at 41 percent of average levels. It stops short of a water emergency, which would probably include mandatory rationing.

Efforts to capture water have also been hampered by evaporation of some mountain snowpacks that provide water, an effect, state officials say, of global climate change.

A survey this year found that the state’s snowpack water content was 67 percent of average, and the Colorado River Basin, from which California draws some water, is coming off a record eight-year drought, contributing to the drop in reservoir storage...

A bill to require Californians to cut water use 20 percent recently passed the Assembly. The bill, which requires Senate approval, puts most of the onus on residents, and little on the agriculture industry, underscoring tension over conservation between city dwellers and farmers, who consume most of the state’s water.

Across the state, many districts and municipalities are instituting or considering recycling, rationing and higher fees for excessive use. For instance, Los Angeles officials recently announced their intentions to begin using heavily cleansed sewage to increase drinking water supplies.

The East Bay Municipal Utility District and the Long Beach Water Department, serving districts at opposite ends of the state, have made water rationing mandatory.

"Women's Rights, Healthy Planet Go Hand-in-Hand"

This should be a known fact by now - but it doesn't hurt to repeat every now and then.

From NPR.

How do population, natural resources and women's rights all intersect? Robert Engelman explains in a new book how allowing women to control their reproduction can lead to a more sustainable planet. He argues that personal issues such as the availability of contraception are inextricably tied to much larger issues ... such as climate change.

Engelman says that he doesn't like to use the word overpopulation — "with its implication that some of us already here should not be" — but, he writes, "the reality remains that what most people call overpopulation is more evident, in more places, than ever."

Engelman talks with guest host Richard Harris about population and reproduction through the ages and its connection to environmental issues past and present. Engelman's book is titled More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want.

Book excerpt:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently urged his fellow New Yorkers to "face up to the fact" that overcrowding undermines environmental stability. Members of Rwanda's nearly half-female parliament considered a national drive to achieve three-child families in the land-short African country, in the hopes that slower growth might prevent a repeat of its genocidal 1994 civil war. China, its 1.3 billion people clambering up the lower rungs of the consumption ladder, reached to Brazil for livestock feed, to the west coast of Africa for fish, and to Ethiopia for oil, where nine Chinese oil workers were killed by Somali insurgents. And as for the gorillas of Bwindi, they are far from the only apes that may miss the train to the twenty-second century. The 373,000 human babies born on the day you read these words will outnumber all the world's existing gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans, our closest animal relatives.

The most-covered story in the "population news" category, however, is one in which population received few mentions: final public acceptance that by using the atmosphere as a dump for waste gases, human beings are heating up the planet. Even as we have awakened to the scientific reality that human-induced climate change is real and happening now, we still pull up the covers and roll over in bed at the thought that this has any important connection to how many of us there are. In April 2007, Time magazine offered "51 things we can do to save the environment"; not one had anything to do with population. A report from the environmental group U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) called The Carbon Boom detailed state by state the rising emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from 1990 to 2004 in the United States. The word population did not appear in the report, even though the country's carbon dioxide emissions grew a hair less than did its population over the period, 18 versus 18.1 percent. As I neared completion of this book, serious talk began about the need to slash global and U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide by up to 80 percent within decades—with no discussions of how different population scenarios will affect our chances for achieving such a staggeringly challenging objective.

Why so much silence on something so firmly entrenched in the foundations of the environmental economic, and social challenges the world faces? Some resistance stems from the "impersonal reduction of humans to quantity," in the words of English historical demographer Peter Biller. Who wants to be reduced to a number, or go out for a beer with one? Partly, population is just a sensitive topic. Any discussion of population growth quickly taps into an edgy confusion of feelings most of us harbor about contraception and abortion, about childbearing and family size, gender relations, immigration, race and ethnicity, and—not least—the intense longing, the pleasure, and the risks we can't avoid as sexual beings. Sexual taboos are getting harder to confront as a wave of religious fundamentalism grows in apparent response to the same chaotic global complexity to which population growth itself contributes...

"US accused of holding terror suspects on prison ships"

The United States is operating "floating prisons" to house those arrested in its war on terror, according to human rights lawyers, who claim there has been an attempt to conceal the numbers and whereabouts of detainees.

Details of ships where detainees have been held and sites allegedly being used in countries across the world have been compiled as the debate over detention without trial intensifies on both sides of the Atlantic. The US government was yesterday urged to list the names and whereabouts of all those detained.

Information about the operation of prison ships has emerged through a number of sources, including statements from the US military, the Council of Europe and related parliamentary bodies, and the testimonies of prisoners.

The analysis, due to be published this year by the human rights organisation Reprieve, also claims there have been more than 200 new cases of rendition since 2006, when President George Bush declared that the practice had stopped.

It is the use of ships to detain prisoners, however, that is raising fresh concern and demands for inquiries in Britain and the US.

According to research carried out by Reprieve, the US may have used as many as 17 ships as "floating prisons" since 2001. Detainees are interrogated aboard the vessels and then rendered to other, often undisclosed, locations, it is claimed...

CIA "black sites" are also believed to have operated in Thailand, Afghanistan, Poland and Romania.

In addition, numerous prisoners have been "extraordinarily rendered" to US allies and are alleged to have been tortured in secret prisons in countries such as Syria, Jordan, Morocco and Egypt.

Oil prices up - Gas $4+/gallon US

Some various articles....

The first from the Oregonian about RV usage being down. Apparently it will affect their tourist industry. I'm surprised that any RVs get 10mpg - as big as they are. Most appear to not have considered any sort of streamlining or gas mileage. And why so big?- as if people have to take their whole house with them. I think it's nuts. It would be good if manufacturers made something more reasonable and people didn't drive them from coast to coast twice a year.

High gas prices crimp RV lifestyle

When Hubert and Barbara Walsh retired seven years ago, their first RV trips from Florida to Oregon cost $390 one way. Last month, it cost $1,180.

The Walshes have made the RV journey from their home in Tallahassee, Fla., to Hubert's mother's place in Tigard at least twice a year since they retired in 2001.

Now, the couple say they may have to cut back their visits to once a year or come up with a different mode of travel.

"With the cost of fuel being what it is, I can buy plane tickets round trip for less than it costs to come one way," said Hubert, 62, a retired accountant and former financial manager for the Department of the Army. "It's very disappointing, because this is the lifestyle we love, and we'd planned to live it throughout our retirement."

Evidence of the RV industry's slide is everywhere -- from recent bankruptcies of two RV builders in California and Washington to the sparsely filled RV campgrounds along the Oregon coast over Memorial Day weekend. RV dealerships across the state are dealing with a glut of unsold units. For 2008, the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association predicts that -- because of higher gas prices, a slowing economy and the credit crunch -- sales will decline to 305,000, a 30 percent drop from 2006.

Unstoppable gasoline prices have not only put off many would-be buyers, they also have braked many who already own or forced them to take some detours in their habits.

Most full-size motor homes get 6 to 12 miles a gallon, though smaller ones can get 15 to 18 mpg. In a vehicle like the Walshes', which gets 10 mpg, a 500-mile trip at $4.15 a gallon for regular -- a price seen on some pumps in Oregon in the past week -- would cost $207.

From "GreenYahoo"

EcoGeeks get all the girls

According to a study conducted by GM as part of this year's Challenge X competition:

Nearly 9 in 10 women (88 percent) say they'd rather chat up someone who owns the latest fuel-efficient car versus the latest sports car.

Eighty percent of American car buyers would find someone with the latest fuel-efficient car more interesting to talk to at a party than someone with the latest sports car.

More than 4 out of 10 (45 percent) 18- to 43-year-olds say it's a fashion faux pas nowadays to have a car that's not green or environmentally friendly.

GM's Challenge X is a yearly competition among college students to make GM vehicles more efficient. This year's competition had students from 17 universities "re-engineering" Chevy's Equinox to make it more efficient and reduce its greenhouse impact, while retaining consumer appeal.

Meanwhile over at energybulletin.net - the cost of gas is quite a bit more serious for some people....

In Europe, where a decades-old policy of heavily taxing oil products has resulted in gasoline and diesel retailing for $8 to $11 dollars a gallon, protests, blockades, and strikes by fishermen, farmers and truck drivers broke out across the continent last week. The protesters say fuel prices are so high they can no longer make a living and demand that the many-dollars-per-gallon fuel taxes be cut. So far France’s President has proposed cutting the EC-wide 20 percent value added tax and Britain’s Prime Minister has urged the oil companies to produce more oil. Neither of these proposals was met with much enthusiasm.

In Asia, where most consumers have been shielded by subsidies and state-mandated retail price caps, the cost has become overwhelming. Imported oil has gotten so high that national budgets are being eviscerated or local oil companies are going broke. Last week several countries, after much debate and soul searching, moved to increase retail prices. Governments fear that price increases for petroleum products would invoke such hardships on their peoples that widespread social disorder would ensue.

Indonesia, Taiwan, and Sri Lanka have already raised prices and India is expected to follow soon. The Chinese, faced with high rates of inflation, are expected to withhold any decision until after the election. Fuel shortages are appearing in China, India, Pakistan, and many other countries as national oil companies are no longer able to absorb the cost of crude.

In the US indications of reduced gasoline consumption are starting to appear with reports from the Federal Highway Administration that vehicle miles in March were down 4.3 percent over 2007 and from MasterCard that gasoline sales just before Memorial Day were down by 7.6 percent. The EIA however is still reporting only a minor drop in gasoline consumption. In the next month or so we should have a better indication of how much of an impact $4 gasoline is having on American driving habits.

....The EIA also reported last week that US crude imports during the first 143 days of 2008 were down by 2.9 percent over 2007 and that petroleum product imports were down by 19.6 percent. The US’s top suppliers in March were Canada (1.7 million b/d), Saudi Arabia (1.5 million b/d), Mexico (1.2 million b/d), Nigeria (1.1 million b/d), Venezuela (0.8 million b/d), and Iraq (0.8 million b/d). As exports to the US from Mexico, Venezuela and probably from Nigeria drop, increased imports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia are picking up part of the slack.

Some schools and businesses are considering going to a 4-day week to reduce fuel costs.