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 Overconsumption
Ranking the World's Carbon Producers - 1997 - NRDC
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and Overconsumption
August 09, 2008
The Club of Rome - Limits to Growth.
In April 1968, a group of thirty individuals from ten countries--scientists,
educators, economists, humanists, industrialists, and national and
international civil servants-- gathered in the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome.
Out of this meeting grew the Club of Rome, an informal international
organization whose members are united by their overriding conviction that
the major problems facing mankind are of such complexity and are so
interrelated that traditional institutions and policies are no longer able
to cope with them. In 1970 Professor Jay Forrester from MIT (Massachussets
Institute of Technology) presented a model displaying the interaction over
time of population, agricultural and industrial production, natural
resources and environmental degradation. ...Abstract prepared by Eduard Pestel. A report to The Club of Rome (1972). By
Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, William W. Berens
III.
Ecological Footprints Of Nations.
How Much Nature Do They Use? -- How Much Nature Do
They Have?
Mathis Wackernagel and others
What the World Wants.
The cost estimates and proposed solutions for solving the
world's problems. From the World Game Institute.
Human Behaviors Said to Make Things Worse.
- having too many children
- agricultural burning
- overconsumption of resources
- failure to re-cycle
- production/disposal of toxic waste
- improper disposal of human waste
- improper disposal of garbage
- mis-use of pesticides
- overcrowding
- economic dependence on growth
- depletion of soils by overfarming
- erosion from removal of vegetation
- urban sprawl
- over-fishing
- removal of carbon sinks (trees)
- inefficient use of fuel
- urbanizing farmland
- urban growth where water is scarce
- eating meat
World population would not be a problem if there were unlimited land,
unlimited water, unlimited resources. Unfortunately, with overpopulation,
there is the problem of sharing the same sized pie with smaller and smaller
portions. People in developed countries who have been accustomed to a better
quality of life are reluctant to give it up. In many cases, more efficient
use of resources has come along hand-in-hand with improved quality of life.
But there are still problems of overconsumption, exploitation, the
short-sighted search for an ever-higher quality of life, and the greed of
companies and individuals in cutting corners resulting in pollution and
reckless use of raw materials. Less-developed countries that, in the past,
had smaller populations such that slash-and-burn agriculture had less
impact, cities had fewer vehicles to send pollution into the air, and
industries were not as attracted by cheap labor and thus polluted rivers and
the air less.
This is a difficult subject. Should people have less children or should
people use less resources, pollute less? Or both? Should one problem have
priority over the other? The world population has doubled in the last forty
years. Who has contributed the most to overconsumption and pollution? The
more developed nations with a relatively stable population growth, but who
use 5-50 times the resources of the poor, or the less developed nations
whose populations will double again in 30 years, who will run out of food
and water first, and whose pollution due to agricultural burning, coal
burning, lack of emission controls, mis-use of pesticides, and toxic waste
from under-regulated industries, will only worsen with the increase of
population? And then there is the question of ownership and distribution of
resources, do the rich exploit the poor, and to what extent? As I said, this
is a difficult subject.
There is a delicate balance here: we want the poor countries to improve
their economic situation and to improve the family's quality of life. This
has been know to lower the birth rate. But we want the rich countries to
consume less, perhaps lower the quality of life. We need to balance the
quality of life between the rich and the poor, at the same time, hoping to
balance the family size between the rich and the poor.
Sustainability and Population
Population is not of concern if there are enough resources to go around. Important resources like water of suitable quality for growing crops, drinking, cooking, and cleanliness, fertile soil for growing food and trees, and fuel for warmth and cooking.
Depletion of important resources leads to poverty, disease, malnutrion and often death. Impoverished people are usually forced to destroy their environment in order to survive.
Sustainability is the practice of conservation that will allow people to have enough resources through their life and the lives of future generations. Sustainability is possible by conserving energy, materials, resources, by new technologies, and by ensuring that the number of births is low enough so that there is enough to go around.
Karen Gaia Pitts
UCSD to Tackle Globe's Environmental Issues.
Rising global temperatures and falling biodiversity to worldwide hunger and health epidemics - the most pressing environmental problems facing the planet - will be addressed by UC San Diego, harnessing UCSD's biggest academic strengths: earth sciences, information technology and biomedicine. The effort will be marshalled by Charles Kennel, who will step down as director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography by September 2006. "It is the role of universities in the next 10 to 20 years ... to think about solutions," he said. The project will depend on outside funding such as private donations or federal grant money. A growing group of academic institutions worldwide, including include Yale, Harvard and Columbia universities, as well as the newer Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara, support studies on sustainability, or how humans can best manage the planet's limited natural resources.
"Sustainability means that you'll use your natural resources in a way that won't send you to the poorhouse," said Jeremy Jackson, a biologist at Scripps in La Jolla and a world authority on the decline of marine species. The study of sustainability aims to understand how humans are depleting the planet's natural resources ?" and what that does to the environment and people's well-being. It encompasses subjects as diverse as air pollution, climate change, biodiversity, access to clean water and arable land, agricultural productivity, overpopulation and the causes of hunger and poverty.
"The environmental movement of the last 40 years has run out of energy, and what's required is a new vision of how to address environmental concerns," said Daniel C. Esty, a professor at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. "The science of sustainability aims to underpin environmental thinking with analytic rigor, and it shows great promise."
The National Academies of Science recognized as much with a 1999 report titled "Our Common Journey: A Transition Toward Sustainability."
They called for a research agenda that addresses key global challenges. Among them were finding ways to:
...Reduce by 10 percent the projected rise in the world's population between 2000 and 2050.
...Find ways to make the world's cities more habitable, with better access to housing, water, sanitation and clean air for the projected 7 billion people who will live there in half a century.
...Reverse declining trends in agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa, the only region where population growth has outpaced growth in agricultural yields.
...Accelerate improvements in energy use.
...Restore degraded ecosystems while preserving biodiversity elsewhere.
June 28, 2005
San Diego Union Tribune
Intact Northern Forests Worth US$250 Billion/Year.
Forests in northern nations are worth US$250 billion a year because they by purify water or soak up greenhouse gases. Governments are urged to place value on natural services rather than treat them as free.
It estimated that in filtering water and waste, providing habitats for animals and plants, capturing greenhouse gases and attracting tourists forests were worth about US$250 billion a year.
Such valuations would help preserve forests, for instance, and discourage logging that was not replaced. Environmental services provided by Canada's forests alone are worth about 93 billion Canadian dollars (US$83 billion) a year. If these ecosystem services were counted they would amount to roughly 9%of GDP. Under conventional accounting, governments can spur short-term GNP by axing forests for building materials or pulp. A UN report said that coral reefs are worth $US1,000-6,000 per hectare per year because of services ranging from fisheries to tourism. Forests could also counter global warming. The forests and peatlands store an estimated 67 billion tonnes of carbon in Canada alone.
September 24, 2006
Planet Ark
If Sustainability is to be achieved, the necessary leadership
and resources must be supplied by people who are not starving.
... Albert A. Bartlett
oil and soil
... of the Resources Crucial to the Sustainability
of the Earth, These Are Most Debated.
.
In Studying the Adequacy of Both Food Supply and the Petroleum
supply,.
one must understand the 'cushions', or lack of, in production
and delivery. One cannot say, as Julian Simon said, that prices are an
indicator of supply. Improved technology will allow humankind to borrow
against the future by pumping more and more oil out of the ground in harder
and harder to reach places, to flood the ground for agricultural irrigation
by overpumping, and to apply fertilizers derived from fossil fuels.
Government, conglomorates, and world organizations such as the UN, have
insured that a supplies are 'banked' against the future. Theoretically, a 60
day surplus is needed to provide sufficient material/food in the 'pipeline'
to avoid spot shortages and turbulence in the system and in pricing. This is
similary true in the oil business. K. Gaia
Food Grains Produced With
modern, High-yield Methods (including Packaging and Delivery) Now Contain
between Four and Ten Calories of Fossil Fuel for Every Calorie of Solar
energy.
It has been estimated that about four percent of the
nation's energy budget is used to grow food, while about 10 to 13 percent is
needed to put it on our plates. In other words, a staggering total of 17
percent of America's energy budget is consumed by agriculture! *34 By 2040, we would need to triple the
global food supply in order to meet the basic food needs of the eleven
billion people who are expected to be alive. But doing so would require a
1,000 percent increase in the total energy expended in food production.
*35 But the depletion of oil will make it
physically impossible -- thus economically impossible -- to provide enough
net energy to agriculture: "A recent review of the future prospects of all
alternatives has been published. The summary conclusion reached is that
there is no known complete substitute for petroleum in its many and varied
uses." *36 Global food production will drop to a
fraction of today's numbers: "If the fertilizers, partial irrigation [in
part provided by oil energy], and pesticides were withdrawn, corn yields,
for example, would drop
from 130 bushels per acre to about 30 bushels." *37
*References in http://dieoff.com/page185.htm
.
New Analysis
of World's Ecosystems Reveals Widespread Decline..
A pioneering analysis of the world's ecosystems reveals a widespread decline
in the condition of the world's ecosystems due to increasing resource
demands. The analsysis, by the World Resources Institute (WRI) warns that if
the decline continues it could have devastating implications for human
development and the welfare of all species. The analysis examined coastal,
forest, grassland, and freshwater and agricultural ecosystems. The health
of the each ecosystem was measured, as based on its ability to produce the
goods and services that the world currently relies on. These goods/services
include production of food, provision of pure and sufficient water, storage
of atmospheric carbon, maintenance of biodiversity and provision of
recreation and tourism opportunities. The analysis shows that there are
considerable signs that the capacity of Earth's ecosystems to produce many
of the goods and services we depend on is rapidly declining. To make matters
worse, as our ecosystems decline, we are also racing against time since
scientists lack baseline knowledge needed to properly determine the
conditions of such systems. June 19, 2000 ENN
mt
Global Population Too High..
A New Zealand scientist
from the Central Institute of Technology says the present global population
of six billion people is about 30% more than the earth's biological capacity
to sustain present standards of living, but growth may not even stabilize at
the projected 10 billion by the year 2050. There are 51 billion hectares on
the earth's surface, but only 1.3 billion hectares are available as arable
land 3.3 billion hectares available as pasture land. The world needs to
immediately reduce by 1/2 its carbon dioxide emissions, yet United Nations'
member countries have only agreed to reduce it by 5% by 2012. The United
States puts out 20 tonnes of CO2 per capita, in comparison with New Zealand,
which produces about four tonnes per capita. January
27, 2000 The New Zealand Press
Vulnerability In Agriculture Energy Use, Structure and Energy Futures.
by Folke
Gunther.
Sustainable Agriculture Cannot Be Based on Large Annual Energy Inputs
from Fossil Fuels, Particularly Petroleum..
i.e. ) "The food system consumes ten times more energy than it provides to
society in food energy." ( Giampietro and Pimentel 1993 )
Irrigation of farmland, as it has been practiced throughout history
and up to the present time, cannot be sustained. ( Abernethy 1993a, p. 136
)
i.e. ) The lands become poisoned with salts.
Hydroelectric power generated from reservoirs created by construction
of large dams, cannot be sustained.
i.e. ) The reservoirs fill with silt.
January 1992
Does the World Have the Will to Feed the Hungry?.
Despite the fact that the global population is growing fast and is expected
to top eight billion by 2030 and 9 billion by 2050, the United Nations Food
and Agriculture organization (FAO) says the world has the resources and the
know-how to feed everyone, but half a billion people will go hungry and many
millions will starve to death due to war, politics and economics, more than
climate change, natural disasters or plagues. FAO reports that the numbers
of undernourished people in developing countries has declined from 960
million (or 37% of the global population) to 790 million (18%) in 1996. FAO
says that cereal production is growing faster globally than the world
population. The world can produce enough food for each person to have a
quota of 2,720 kilocalories per capita per day, although in sub-Saharan
Africa, the average is only 90 calories above the agreed critical threshold
of 2,100. The French relief organization Action Against Hunger (ACF) says
"Famine is no longer a result of natural disaster. The map of great famines
exactly matches that of wars." Conflicts over land or resources such as
diamonds, oil and water are likely to continue preventing the even spread of
food supplies. "In the Vanni region of Sri Lanka, the population is on the
brink of starvation, because the government has banned the use of fertilizer
for the reason that it could be used by the Tamil Tiger rebels to make
bombs. In Iraq, because President Saddam Hussein has not complied with
western demands, 1.4 million Iraqis have died including 500,000 children,
the UN estimates. Unknown numbers of Chinese peasants go hungry and Cubans
and North Koreans are on rations of 500 calories a day due to the political
isolation of their governments. In addition, the strain on fresh water
reserves is expected to increase by 40% over the next 20 years, and age-old
tension between dry countries is likely to be exacerbated. Even if food
needs are met, there is growing concern that the environment will continue
to deteriorate as a result of pollution, erosion and deforestation, making
land, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, increasingly unproductive.
Technical advances such as genetically modified foods and increasingly
efficient farming methods make the outlook for industrial food production
hopeful. August 11, 2000 Agence France Presse
[Not all would agree with FAO's optimism and many wonder what the
world will do for fertilizer when petroleum becomes less accessible, and
what will happen when overpumped aquifers can no longer support crops. See
April 4 article by David Pimentel: Ten Billion Mouths to Feed]
Freedom (from Oil) Option Package.
This two page brochure from the Sierra Club describes several ways to improve the fuel economy of vehicles, and suggets that consumers demand these technologies. They are, Continuously Variable Automatic Transmission, Variable-Valve-Control Engine, Integrated Starter-Benerator, and Fuel-Efficient Design. Also given are the addresses of the Web Sites that provide information on the technologies involved.
August 25, 2002
Sierra magazine
Happiness, Life, Or Wealth?.
The article by Bjorn Lomborg and Oliver Rubin in the Nov/Dec 2002 issue of Foreign Policy Magazine takes a simplistic, one-sided view of a complex situation and from this the authors attempt to define its eventual outcome. In doing so they are careful to omit any evidence that does not agree with their assumptions.
For example the comment that "Vital minerals ---- should have been exhausted now. But they aren’t." A search of the Internet pages will quickly show that this is not the case, for example there is concern that lack of certain metals may limit fuel cell production. Some metals are likely to be depleted by the middle of this century. The comment "Yet food prices have never been lower" is not evidence that there is enough food in the world. A recent report states that 800 million people are undernourished or starving. Would the world’s food prices have been lower if all of these people had been fed? Development and changing weather patterns are reducing permanently the amount of arable land and a growing population is demanding more food. Then there is the comment that "Few (of the world’s) resources have turned out to be essential". Water is essential and the supply for both domestic and agricultural purposes is becoming critical in many countries, including our own. Some states are looking to de-salination as the solution, but this and pumping water over long distances demands more electrical power. With our growing population there is an increasing problem of pollution of our drinking water sources and water treatment is an option that also demands an increase in the amount of power available. Much of that power is generated from oil and natural gas. New reserves will continue to be discovered but a recent detailed report states that we now find one barrel of oil for every four we consume and new gas findings will peak in 2020. So here is another resource that is essential and for which we have no clear alternative. In spite of the efforts of technology we have no alternatives for oil and gas. The wind generators being installed are only estimated to produce a small proportion of our present and ever growing power needs. As the authors suggest, technology will change the picture, but can only help us to use our limited resources as efficiently as possible. Technology cannot replace limited resources. We could, if necessary, live without personal transport, but we cannot live without food and water, and our lifestyle will totally change without available power.
Nowhere in the entire article is there any attempt to consider the ultimate way of life of the peoples of the earth, for example the phrase "For starters, global warming does not have remotely the same impact on wealth as would a theoretical exhaustion of essential world resources." Are we then linking the well being of our people only to wealth?
Towards the end there is the comment that "had the emission of carbon dioxide posed a real threat to future growth, the global community would be capable of significantly limiting carbon dioxide emissions with the technology at hand." Have the authors failed to notice the many very costly efforts being made to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide, yet there is still a need for even further reduction. Finally there is the comment that "corruption, barriers to trade and war are the real threats to growth and prosperity". This suggests that growth and prosperity go hand in hand and if we continue to grow and prosper then in some strange but undetermined manner everything else will take care of itself. We will all be fed, the oil will flow and we will all have water in plenty no matter how much our population grows. This is so obviously impossible that perhaps the authors prefer not to look at hard facts. On the other hand they may believe that the birthrate will in some undetermined manner automatically fall. But according to their paper that would then be "too low to sustain a vibrant workforce", which would threaten "growth and prosperity".
We must determine what lifestyle we want for the foreseeable future and only then can we determine the population level that we can support in that manner. We can then begin to plan the future for our world. Of course it will be difficult, it will take years to reach our goals and there will be many changes en route, but we will have some objectives to measure our performance. It is sad to see so many half truths and distortions of facts on such an important subject.
January 1, 2003
Ralph Woodgate, Brewster NY
Global Economy Consuming More Than Earth Can Yield, Expert Warns.
The global economy is using natural resources faster than they can be renewed, says Lester Brown of the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute. We are releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere faster than the earth can absorb it. Our economy is based on cutting trees faster than they can grow, overpumping aquifers, and draining rivers. Soil erosion in our croplands exceeds new soil formation. We are taking fish from the ocean faster than they can reproduce. We are creating an economy whose output is inflated by drawing down the earth's natural capital. The challenge is to deflate the global economic bubble before it bursts when it will affect the entire world. To avoid this, action must be taken to reduce water consumption to a sustainable level and address population stability, particularly in developing countries, as well as stabilizing emissions. Avoiding the effects of higher temperatures on crop yields means quickly stabilizing climate by cutting global carbon emissions in half by 2015.
September 05, 2003
Agence France Presse
Forum: WHO and Population Growth.
The WHO estimates the population to rise to 12 billion people and then stabilize in 2050-60. WHO says this proves that family planning works and all talk about collapse is just cultism - there is no cause for alarm. The WHO projection would make sense if the REST of the earth's living community remained stable. Unfortunately in order to sustain a human population of 6 billion we are losing 70,000 species a year. We are in a period of mass extinction for which the human population is responsible. A human population of 6 billion is not sustainable; the living community cannot indefinitely sustain a loss of 70,000 species a year. As our population grows, the number of extinctions will increase. Our population might become stable at 12 billion but that does not mean the REST of the living community would be stable. And our survival depends on its survival. Some experts still have the ridiculous idea that humanity is separate from the rest of the living community.
December 21, 2003
Daniel Quinn Q & A
Nations Ranked as Protectors of the Environment.
Countries from Northern and Central Europe and South America dominated the top spots in the 2005 index which ranks nations on maintaining or improving air and water quality, maximizing biodiversity and cooperating on environmental problems. Finland, Norway and Uruguay held the top three spots. The U.S. ranked 45th. The lowest-ranking country was North Korea. Near the bottom were Haiti, Taiwan, Iraq and Kuwait. The report is based on 75 measures, including the rate at which children die from respiratory diseases, fertility rates, water quality, overfishing, emission of heat-trapping gases and the export of sodium dioxide, a component of acid rain. It offers a step toward a more vigorous approach to environmental decision making. The report cited a correlation between high-ranking countries and countries with effective governments. The report's flaws stem from inadequate data and the ranking is approximate. At 33, Russia's ranking is a consequence of the country's vast size. It has vast, untrammeled resources and more clean water than anywhere in the world. This report analyzed seven clusters of similar countries with the U.S. slightly below the halfway point among 24 members of the Organization of American States. Another cluster ranked countries whose land is more than 50% desert. Israel ranked second, after Namibia, and the best-performing Arab countries were Oman and Jordan. But some nations with considerable oil wealth, like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, ranked in the bottom third. South Korea moved up 13 spots between 2002 and the new report, but was only 122 in the overall index, and 14th out of 21 high-density countries in which more than half the land has a population density greater than 100 people per square kilometer.
January 24, 2005
New York Times*
Finland Tops Environmental Scorecard at World Economic Forum in Davos .
The latest Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) ranks Norway, Uruguay, Sweden and Iceland two to five respectively, their success attributed to natural resources, low population density, and management of environment. The ESI ranks countries on environmental sustainability, pollution levels, environmental management, protection of the global commons, and capacity to improve its environmental performance. The U.S., which is placed 45th behind the Netherlands and ahead of the U.K., reflects top performance on water quality and environmental protection. But the U.S. was ranked bottom on waste and greenhouse gas. The lowest ranked countries are North Korea, Iraq, Taiwan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - all face challenges, and have poorly managed policies. Belgium is as wealthy as Sweden, but it lags with regard to pollution control and natural resource management. Political debate, a free press, lack of corruption, rule of law are correlated with environmental success. Finland is the equal of the U.S. in competitiveness but scores higher on sustainability and outperforms the U.S. from air pollution to global-scale environmental efforts. Developed countries face pollution stresses and consumption-related issues. Developing countries face resource depletion and a lack pollution control. The ESI hones in on human vulnerability to environmental stress, the functioning of ecosystems, and global stewardship and will promote a deeper international understanding of environmental management.
February 4, 2005
EurekaAlert!
Experts Say That Attention to Ecosystem Services is Needed to Achieve Global Development Goals.
Approximately 60% of the ecosystem that supports life on Earth - such as fresh water, capture fisheries, air and water regulation, and the regulation of regional climate, natural hazards and pests - are being used unsustainably. The harmful consequences could grow worse in the next 50 years. Any progress in addressing the goals of poverty and hunger eradication, improved health, and environmental protection is unlikely to be sustained if most of the ecosystem services continue to be degraded. The ongoing degradation of ecosystem services is a road block to the Millennium Development Goals agreed to by the world leaders at the United Nations in 2000. Experts warn that the ongoing degradation of 15 of the 24 ecosystem services examined is increasing the likelihood of changes that will affect human well-being. This includes the emergence of new diseases, changes in water quality, "dead zones" along the coasts, the collapse of fisheries, and shifts in regional climate.
March 30, 2005
Push News Journal
Problems Aplenty in a World of Plenty.
Humans are devouring more resources and the worldwide pursuit of prosperity is stoking environmental and security problems. Increased consumption reflects economic growth in 2004, but costs of economic growth go largely unnoticed. Pollution is rising, ecosystems are degraded, and many of the poor shut out from the gains of economic growth. Chinese demand for oil surged by 11% to 6.6 million barrels a day, fuelling the increase in oil consumption. Chinese demand has driven up steel production by one-third in the last five years. China's economy has grown by 9% in 2004, but these gains have led to environmental problems that pose threats to the planet. Air pollution is estimated to cause 590,000 deaths per year in China and the economic growth has led to a jump in its emissions of greenhouse gases that scientists blame for global warming. China emits 47% more carbon dioxide than in 1990. The country now ranks second in emissions and these are projected to keep increasing. Wealthy nations remain a major threat to the environment. The US is home to 5% of the world's population but more than 25% of greenhouse gases. It consumes 20 million barrels of oil every day. More than half of the world's 6.3 billion people live on less than two dollars per day and more than one billion lack safe water, proper nutrition, basic health care, and services needed to survive. World production of grains, meat, and fish rose in 2004 but the number of hungry people also rose for the first time since the 1970s. Despite economic growth, a record number of people were looking for a job in 2003, a cause of instability across the developing world. In the Middle East, 58% percent of the population is under 25, 25% of young people of working age are unemployed. Many nations have responded by increasing defence spending that worldwide rose to $932 billion in 2003. By contrast, the world's donor countries spent $68 billion in 2003 on development aid.
May 14, 2005
InterPress Service
Annual Report Released of the State of the World.
The prospect of China and India becoming the next economic powers of the world raises concerns among environmentalists. The Worldwatch Institute says demands on the environment and natural resources, for an increasing population, and pollution must be addressed. The next few decades will be crucial for the development of our planet. Without new models of development, a reduced dependence on oil and more attention to the preservation of natural resources, many people will suffer. China and India, and their 2.5 billion people, are the keys to a sustainable future. The emergence of these two countries with 40% of the world population moving into a resource intensive, high consumption economy, presents huge challenges. China and India have some promising developments in renewable energy resources, but they show signs of Western-style development in areas such as the use of electric power and automobiles. The U.S. uses ten times more oil per person than China and 20 times as many resources as India. Although the individual demands in China are minimal, the total demands of 1.3 billion people are substantial. The choices countries like China and India make in the next few years, will be decisive. But the president of Competitive Enterprise Institute says the report is another negative story to frighten people and maintain the political control of the rich countries and argues against the global warming, the limitation of resources and the attempts for population control.
January 13, 2006
The Worldwatch Institute
Can Our Planet Support the Rise of China and India?.
Two of Washington's environmental think tanks warn that the economic boom in China and India could present one of the world's gravest threats to the environment. The two countries have 2.5 billion people, or nearly 40% of the world's population. China eats up one-third of the world's rice, over one-quarter of the world's steel and nearly half of its cement. The Earth cannot supply these countries' rising demands for energy, food, and raw materials. The use of oil has doubled in India since 1992, while China has becoming the world's second largest importer in 2004. Prices worldwide have soared as India and China scooped up shares in oil companies. The US is still the greatest burner of oil, using 25% of global annual supplies and producing 25% of carbon. The average US citizen requires about 9.7 hectares to provide resources and space for waste, 205% of what the country can provide. That figure is only 1.6 hectares for the average Chinese, or 201% of the country's capacity, and 0.8 hectares for the average Indian, or 210% of the country's capacity. Both India and China have programs to use renewable energies. India now aims to raise its share of renewable energies to 20% to 25%. China and India are signatories of the Kyoto Protocol, but as developing nations they are exempted from cutting their emissions. China has taken voluntary measures which have had a very positive impact.
January 14, 2006
Taipei Times
Java Island Disaster-Prone, Environment Official Says.
The condition of Java is under danger status - flood or landslide problems have threatened the island but its environmental sustainability has also declined. Population pressure is heavy due to a limited transmigration and population growth and has created high land demand. Land destruction seems to run faster that reforestation. Ideally forest coverage was around 30% in every river basin area, but vegetation coverage has declined to much less than 30%. The government will focus on disaster-prone regions and prepare a long-term strategy. Flood and landslide disasters have been dealt with by the local governments.
January 23, 2006
Antara News
Sustainability a Great Buzzword but a Distant Ideal.
True sustainability is a distant ideal. The definition of "sustainability" consists of the following 5conditions:
• Renewable resources shall not be used faster than they can regenerate.
• Pollution and waste shall not be put into the environment faster than the environment can recycle them or render them harmless.
• Nonrenewable resources shall not be used faster than renewable substitutes can be developed.
• The human population and capital plant must be kept at low enough to allow conditions 1, 2, 3 to be met.
• The previous 4 conditions must be met by means that are fair enough that people will stand for them.
No household in the US is sustainable. Our use of petroleum alone makes us far from sustainable. Other nonrenewable resources are being extracted, used, and buried in landfills.
Renewable resources are being extracted faster than they can grow back. Commercial agriculture, in addition to consuming petroleum, is depleting topsoil, at an alarming rate.
Population is the biggest challenge to achieving sustainability. Our inability to control skyrocketing world population illustrates our quandary. If we can't stabilize human population on our own, then war, disease and famine will do it for us, and it will not be pretty. Getting the human family onto a sustainable trajectory would be much easier if world population can be brought down to a manageable level.
With Lane County's abundant water, farm land, forests and a relatively sparse population, genuine sustainability is possible. But visionary leadership heretofore unseen in our city and county governments is required. This calls reflecting the peak of global petroleum production, which will make rebuilding much more expensive.
Permits for building and development resulting in sprawl should be halted, so that no more of our farmland is lost. Any further development should be mixed-use, medium-density projects at existing intersections and degraded urban properties. This will encourage bicycle, pedestrian and public transportation.
Every effort should be made to promote alternative transportation. The buses should be made free. A tax on gasoline could finance this and would begin to reflect the true environmental and social costs of petroleum use.
Any new construction should use nontoxic materials and zero energy design. All wood products should come from managed forests. Any use of concrete and steel should be in the context of extreme longevity. Rather than encouraging green building, it must be compulsory. This will elicit protest from interests that profit from unsustainable business practices. But the only economy that will be harmed is the unsustainable economy that liquidates resources and disperses toxins, with no thought to future generations.
In any long-term view, what's good for the environment is good for the economy. If we care about our children's future, we must take the word "sustainability" much more seriously.
April 27, 2006
Robert Bolman - Register Guard
Is a Bigger Nation Richer?; as the US Population Clock Approaches 300 Million, Experts Examine a Possible Link Between Growth and Prosperity..
In the past 39 years, the United States has added 100 million people and at the same time, sustained greater economic growth. Is there a link?
By any socioeconomic standard, most American workers are better off today than they were in 1967. The economy that boosted their earnings has also provided many more jobs.
Today the fastest-growing job types are computer design and support, systems analysis, desktop publishing, and healthcare.
The most significant change is the rise of women in the workforce.
Back in 1967, 41% worked outside the home. Today, it's 59%.
At $23,546, median annual earnings for women are more than $10,000 a year less than they are for men.
Families in Europe and Japan are not having enough children to keep their populations growing in the long term. That stands in contrast to the US, which alone among the developed nations is expected to see its population surge in the coming decades.
A younger, growing population stimulates a workforce to produce more while energizing research and development and increasing the market for goods and services.
Not every expert agrees with these assessments. You can have economic well-being with a steady-state population. Ireland, for example, has a fertility rate that is below the replacement level. That change coincides with the country's extraordinary economic surge.
A nation's population can grow too fast and overwhelm its resources. In the US the rate of growth is slowing. But adding more people than ever before in absolute numbers because the population base is so much bigger than it was.
Today's poverty rate is a bit less than it was when there were 200 million Americans in 1967. The real incomes of lower- and middle-class households have fallen since 1970, while those of the top fifth have increased dramatically. But poor Americans have been enjoying progressively higher living standards.
In Oregon, dozens of sawmills in rural areas have shut down while high-tech facilities have blossomed near cities. The largest private employer in the state now is computer chipmaker Intel - which recently announced that it will eliminate more than 10,000 jobs worldwide.
Karen Gaia says: the U.S. jobless rate is much higher than the government tells us. Faced with a declining source of oil and an increased demand, per capita oil will drop. Oil runs the U.S., and enough renewable energy is a long way off. Other natural resources: water, soil, natural gas, fertilizer, along with precious and industrial metals, are starting to be in short supply. Add to that, the national debt is extremely high, the trade deficit is high, and the housing bubble has burst.
September 12, 2006
Christian Science Monitor
Scientists Want US to Be Hooked on Fish.
Some fish and shellfish are caught or farmed in a sustainable manner. You can pick fish good for both your heart and the planet.
Fish that are highest in contaminants such as sharks, bluefin tuna and swordfish also tend to be unsustainable under current practices. Several species are discouraged. Patagonian toothfish known as Chilean sea bass, is chief among them as the fishery is in decline, and half of the catch is illegal. Farmed salmon can contain higher levels of contaminants and fewer Omega-3 fatty acids than wild salmon.
Consumption of wild-caught salmon is encouraged in part because the commercial fishery is tightly regulated.
Near the top of the sustainable list are Dungeness crab, ling cod and farm-raised abalone, oysters and clams. Halibut and mahi-mahi are fished in a sustainable way but could contain moderate levels of mercury.
Wild fish generally are superior to farmed fish making the preservation of wild stocks paramount.
Given the growth in global (human) population, our oceans may not be able to satisfy demand.
Fishermen were concerned about maintaining stocks way back in the 1950s. If you don't have good regulations for catching fish and maintaining habitat, you're going to lose fisheries.
Alaskan salmon is under tight regulations and no matter what the demand is, only a limited number of fish can be caught.
The Seafood Watch list sometimes parses the differences between products to an extremely fine degree.
It champions farm-raised caviar but spurns wild caviar.
Large corporate retailers also are getting involved.
Wal-Mart announced they will identify the source of all their seafood in three to five years.
October 18, 2006
Resource Wars.
This essay is from the conference of the Union for Radical Political Economics and presents one view of the relation between war and natural resources. It begins with colonial conquest and continues to between 1965 and 1999 when there were seventy-three civil wars, almost all driven by greed to control resources of oil, diamonds, copper, cacao, coca, and even bananas. At the start of the twentieth century war casualties were 90% soldiers. Today, resource wars with their devastating impacts on civilians have become the norm.
The article then investigates each country in detail. Wherever there are resources to be plundered we find foreign companies ready to cooperate; including the World Bank.
By controlling the world's energy, the US is able to deny the lifeblood of any society and coerce the world more effectively. The Carter Doctrine claims: “An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.
Climate change will bring on new and even greater resource wars.
The relationship of demand and supply of oil is complicated.
The most effective resistance to this imperialist pattern now is coming from Latin America where Hugo Chávez has been repeatedly elected because he has stood up to the United States.
Today one in four people on the planet do not have access to safe drinking water; 12% of the world's population consumes 86 percent of available fresh water. With global consumption of fresh water doubling in the next twenty years, there are all sorts of water war scenarios. Already five million people die a year from diseases related to contaminated water. China's rapid industrialization has been accompanied by water contamination affecting 300 million people - nearly a third of the population. If present trends continue two out of three people on the planet will live in countries considered to be “water stressed.” In Palestine, Israel's commandeering of scarce water is a major issue and on many other borders water conflicts are major occurrences.
The resource war against the environment will be better avoided when we stop counting consumption of nature as income, as a free good, while we deplete our natural capital.
January 08, 2007
Monthly Review
Ecological Footprints.
From an interview with Mathis Wackernagel, the executive director of Global Footprint Network: There's a new definition of sustainable development, as one of the most specific policy concepts around. It has two parts; one is development, the other one is the sustainable. Development can be measured with the UN human development index, which summarizes three key components. One is to have long lives. The other is to have access to education and literacy. And the third one is to have access to some minimum income. However, we have to provide this development within the means of one planet. And that's what we can measure with the ecological footprint.
Among all the 90 countries we looked at, we only found one country that meets both minimum criteria, they are providing long lives and high education and minimum income without using more than what is available globally worldwide per person. And this country is Cuba.
Cuba would like to have a larger footprint; it would like to have access to more resources. They were forced to be resource efficient because of the trade embargo so their footprint has shrunk a little bit since the Soviet Union collapsed back in the early 90s. They have been able to maintain high human development in terms of increasing longevity and high access to educational success.
Wackernagel said if everybody lived like him, it would take about five planets.
Many of the Caribbean nations and Latin American nations are pretty close to the sustainability quotient, which is defined by low footprint and high human development.
The US has one of the largest footprints per person worldwide. Wackernagel said will we be able to provide well-being within the means of one Planet Earth, or not? If not, we'll be seeing more and more collapses around the world. We have seen them in, Haiti, with severe resource constraints and extreme social misery. What we saw in Rwanda and Darfur is a manifestation of the resource crunch leading to tragic human breakdowns. However, there's another path which the World Wildlife Fund calls 'one planet living.' And the idea is: how can we live well within one planet?
The big decisions that we make in our lives, how many offspring we have, what kind of housing we buy, determine resource consumption for the next decades to come. building infrastructure right and making sure we have resource-efficient, cities is the key to the future.
November 09, 2007
Living on the Earth
Australia: Lighten the Load on the Planet.
The environment is the top topic for one in three Australians and represent the most challenging streams of discussion at this weekend's 2020 Summit. Of the nearly 10,000 submissions more than 1300 touch on the topics covered by the sustainability stream.
Many of the background notes focus on cities and urban design. Growth in single person households is increasing demand for power and water. The suburbs keep expanding new demands for fuel and new exhaust emissions. The triumph of the McMansions are raising our cities' energy demands.
Discussion of cities and talk about population go hand in hand. Our population has grown at 1.3% a year during the past 10 years, with Queensland and Western Australia growing much more rapidly.
Climate and water appear to be the core sustainability issues for 2020. The environment is viewed as the most important issue facing Australia now and in five years.
Australians believe the environment, the economy and then water are the three most important issues facing the country.
Drought and the water restrictions apply to almost 80% of Australian homes and have changed our attitudes to sustainability.
Rainfall has decreased around all big population centres. Sixteen of the past 18 years in Australia have been warmer than the long-term average.
Australians produce more carbon per capita than other Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development countries, with the exception of the US and Luxembourg. The Government's top adviser on climate change has warned of the price impact of an emissions trading scheme. What is required to increase clean energy production, increase energy efficiency and better manage demand? How do we encourage households to be involved in reducing emissions and waste?
April 18, 2008
The Australian
New Zealand: Protecting Our Ocean Resources.
From New Zealand's State of the Environment Report, Environment 07 -
Environmental indicators are a valuable tool as part of our work towards carbon neutrality and a sustainable New Zealand. Environment 07 measures the impact of transport, energy, waste, and our consumption on the environment.
New Zealand research, based on a survey of 1000 people, found that the most popular sustainable actions New Zealanders are taking included recycling 92% and composting 54%. The least popular actions were transport and water use.
The government is advancing new proposals including:
The creation of a waste levy to to encourage recycling; regulation including recognition of existing industry sponsored schemes; funding public recycling stations under the brand name "Love New Zealand".
The provisions for product stewardship aim to get businesses to create their own solutions to protect the environment. The public sector programme is aimed at government agencies sharing their knowledge and experience. Antarctica New Zealand reported a 24% reduction in water consumption at Scott Base and Inland Revenue reported savings of $100,000 per annum through their energy monitoring programme. The Ministry of research, Science and Technology reported a 79% reduction in their waste sent to landfill.
The Carbon Neutral Public Service programme is designed to be useful for the private and non government sectors seeking to reduce their carbon footprints.
It was a huge achievement to have calculated the carbon footprint of the core public service, equivalent to 159,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2006/07.
Six agencies have a target of carbon neutrality by 2012 and are doing well. The government is developing an online database to provide guidance on the eco-labels and eco-standards that are in use in New Zealand.
An important part of sustainability includes managing our water resource.
The proportion of the population receiving drinking water that complies with guidelines has increased significantly, and pollution from point source discharges has decreased due to improved management.
The National Environmental Standard for Sources of Human Drinking Water has just come into force, and will contribute to keeping pollution out of our water supplies, rather than just relying on treatment at a later stage.
In the Exclusive Economic Zone, the EEZ, will encourage investment in sustainable offshore activities.
June 26, 2008
Scoop.co.nz
Water may be the most critical natural resource. Both population size and wasteful consumption impact the availability of fresh water. Conservation of water will help considerably in easing the strain, as will reducing pollution, but if the population continues to grow to 9 or more billion, even reducing wasteful consumption will not be enough. Also, conservation and pollution reduction requires the financial resources that many people do not have, especially those impoverished by the strain of overpopulation. Today about 1/3 of the world's people do not have access to fresh water. To help meet the need of increasing water consumption, farmers are pumping the world's aquifers at a rate much faster than they can be replenished. When the bottom is reached, or when the lower layers of water laden with heavy metals are reached, the current population of the world will need to grow crops on even less water or suffer intense famines. WOA-gaia
Water is a big subject which has its own page. Please click here for more.
Humans Appropriate 24% of Earth's Productivity. Researchers have developed a detailed analysis of humankind's impact on the biosphere, as represented by a metric known as HANPP or human appropriation of net primary production. They show that HANPP is 23.8%. 53% from harvest, 40% from land-use-induced productivity changes, and 7% from human-induced fires. In most areas productivity has decreased due to human activities, though in some areas it has been artificially increased through intensive fertilization, irrigation and mechanization of agriculture. Intensification is resulting from shrinking opportunities for expansion; croplands and pastures now rival forests as the largest ecosystems on the planet, occupying 35% of the ice-free land surface. The rise of human dominated landscapes has come at the expense of natural ecosystems. Human land-use activities are consuming an ever-larger share of the planet's biological productivity and altering the Earth's ecosystems. How our use of ecosystems be sustained, let alone expanded. Ultimately, we need to question how much of the biosphere's productivity we can appropriate before planetary systems begin to break down. Or have we already crossed that threshold?" As global populations swell, farmers are cultivating more and more land to keep pace with the intensifying needs of humans. Agricultural activity now dominates more than a third of the Earth's landscape and has emerged as one of the central forces of global environmental change.
Ralph says: More people more food, more pollution, more disturbance nature. Simple, reduce the population peacefully ot nature will do it much more cruelly. July 25, 2007 Mongabay.com
Zimbabwe: State Fiddles as Land Disaster Unfolds. Zimbabwe is awakening to the reality that the land reform programme has disfigured the landscape through lack of land management, planning and natural resource conservation among new landowners. During the land seizures at the behest of a ruling Zanu PF party, peasants grabbed any land available regardless of its agricultural value. Indigenous trees were burnt, fires blazed unattended leaving swathes of scorched veld. Settlers sold firewood for a living instead of agriculture. Virgin forests have vanished, replaced by patches of cleared land and pole-and-mud huts, creating fears of land degradation and desertification. Environmental and conservation experts have begun calling on resettled farmers to plant trees to rebuild the ozone layer being depleted by toxic emissions. Resettled farmers should establish plantations to replace the trees they cut for building houses and for firewood. Post-independence resettlement missed an opportunity to place on the land independent small-scale farmers who could lead the sustainability of agriculture. But the destruction of the trees, plants, shrubs and grass as more land is opened for settlement has continued despite government pleas. Land degradation has worsened a desperate situation in communal lands. In rural areas deep gullies have disfigured the landscape and the Environmental Management Act has done little to discourage deforestation. The local people were unwilling to take up offers of free land but were lured there by the prospect of free meat. They arrived with their dogs, nets and spears, doing an efficient job of decimating the wildlife. Poaching is regarded as a craft and wildlife have dwindled - also due to lack of access to water and grazing sources. Government officials admit that dryland crops have a low success rate in this area, yet will not say anything against the disastrous programme. The settlers’ livestock that rely on the major rivers for water supply threaten massive riverbank destruction. January 2005 The Independent
Ecologist Says Population, Land at Odds. by David Pimentel Nearly half the world's population of 6.3 billion is malnourished and in the next 50 years the degree of malnutrition, disease and misery is unimaginable. Grains are being harvested at a faster rate, putting greater stress on land. Also humans are more susceptible to disease as a result of malnutrition. The world's population is expected to reach 12 billion in 50 to 70 years, putting greater stress on resources for fresh water, renewable and fossil energy, fertilizers and pesticides. February 16, 2004 UPI
Food production requires several elements, the most important being water and good soil. Unfortunately, many of the soils of the world are deteriorating due to wind and water erosion, salinization, and depletion of nutrients. This happens in both developed countries and lesser developed countries. Most of the developed countries agricultural practices are not sustainable because they hasten the deterioration of the soil. Tilling practices can lead to wind erosion or compaction of the soil, irrigation can lead to salinization which makes the soil unusable for most crops. Use of chemical fertilizers will slow considerably when petroleum becomes less available. When croplands deteriorate, farmers look for other more fertile croplands. However, fewer and fewer new croplands are being found. In either situation, rich or poor countries, when fewer crops can be produced, farmers turn to increased use, and often misuse, of pesticides which contaminate the water system and cause diseases in farm workers.
WOA-gaia
Agriculture is a big subject which has its own page. Please click here for more.
Bush Drilling Plan Brings Foes Together - Ranchers, Hunters and Environmentalists Decry a Bid to Draw Natural Gas From New Mexico Wilds. The governor of New Mexico vowed to block a plan to drill for gas on desert grasslands here. This sends the strongest signal that the Rocky Mountain West is having second thoughts about oil and gas drilling. Richardson's decision to protect Otero Mesa is a sign that the Bush energy policy could be a campaign issue in the West as Democrats rail against Republican special interests. The contested area, is 1.2 million acres west of Carlsbad and northeast of El Paso, that has long been a magnet for hunters and naturalists. It is home to pronghorn, migratory songbirds and endangered Aplomado falcons. Ranchers own some of the land as does the state, but the federal government is the largest landowner. The governor described Otero Mesa's rare Chihuahuan Desert grasslands as the West's ANWR. Last week, Richardson signed an executive order to protect Otero Mesa. The governor's authority is limited but he said he would seek to prevent new energy leases, strengthen rules regarding the disposal of mine waste, and limit the issuing of crucial water permits. New Mexico is the nation's second-largest producer of natural gas from onshore wells and the fifth-largest producer of oil. Taxes and royalties from the energy industry are the largest component of the state's $12-billion fund, which is used primarily to finance education. Richardson said he supported energy exploration elsewhere in the state but federal land managers needed to be more discriminating. The Bush administration says drilling is necessary to meet growing demand. There have been natural-gas-fired power plants put into development, and the gas has to come from somewhere. If not from America's public lands, it will come from foreign sources. Concerns over the loss of wildlife habitat as well as contamination of forage and groundwater, have worried hunting and fishing groups and some ranchers have locked their gates to energy crews. Richardson intervened after Interior's Bureau of Land Management announced a plan to open up nearly 90% of 650,000 acres of Otero Mesa to energy development. Many locals are angry about the plan and have joined forces with traditional adversaries. The campaign to save Otero Mesa includes a conservation organization, and members of a private-property-rights advocacy group of conservative businessmen and ranchers. A sixth-generation rancher from northwest New Mexico, said his ranch has been devastated by drillers, water is poisoned and so are othe cows. John Kerry, Wesley Clark, Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich have announced their opposition to drilling in Otero Mesa. The largest leaseholders at Otero Mesa are Yates Petroleum Co. and Harvey E. Yates Co., owned by members of a family with deep roots in southeastern New Mexico. Estimates of natural gas beneath Otero Mesa vary from low to moderate. The vision for Otero Mesa has shifted since 1998. An early draft placed twice as much land off limits to drilling. More than 85% of the public comments supported protection of the area. February 11, 2004 Los Angeles Times
Today energy is produced mostly from oil, natural gas, coal, and wood. In the developed world agriculture, transportation, communications, heating and lighting of homes and workplaces, pumping of waste and water, and military defense all depend on some form of energy, particularly oil-based. However, oil is on the peak of productivity, headed soon for a decline that will not be alleviated entirely by alternative energy sources. Natural gas availability in the Americas will also peak. Coal, the dirtier alternative, will last longer, perhaps 40 years before peaking.
WOA-gaia
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Australia's Mining Future is Limited. Dr Gavin Mudd of Monash University says that while demand for Australia's minerals is going up, the quality of ore is going down. The mining industry is not sustainable in the long-term, and the problem is international. At the standard of living in Australia, the amount of steel that is consumed, per person - or the amount of copper -and if we extrapolate those same standards across the whole of the global population, that's a challenge for sustainability of the world's mineral resources. Fifty years into the future, with everyone in the world at the same standard of living, there won't be any mineral resources left. We know that ore grades will decline, and that has important implications in terms of the amount of rock to dig up, and to dig up more rock means more energy, more CO2 emissions and so on. The mining industry has moved to improve its environmental management. The nature of rehabilitation bonding can be improved, and that way the liability and the risks and so on are not just borne by government if the company goes bankrupt. If we extrapolate 100 years into the future it's hard to believe that we'd actually have anywhere near the same scale of the iron ore industry that we do now. October 26, 2007 ABC Online
Jakarta Says to Sue If Freeport Snubs Complaints. Indonesia will sue U.S. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold if it fails to follow recommendations to stop pollution from its Papua operations. Critics say the mine creates environmental damage by polluting streams and killing wildlife. The report said tailings, had flowed through the nearby Ajkwa river and recommended the firm better manage its tailings, for example by using them for building construction. The firm might have up to three years to follow the recommendations. Freeport said it had implemented some of the recommendations and would follow through on the rest. The Grasberg mine is believed to hold the world's third-largest copper reserves and one of the biggest gold deposits. Indonesia needs foreign investment to speed up the recovery of an economy that verged on collapse in late 1990s. "If they look at it in a reasonable way they will know that it is for the long run," said a key member of President Yudhoyono's campaign team. He also said that haze from Indonesian forest fires could cloud skies again this year. That is bad news for neighbours Malaysia and Singapore where the smoke has caused health problems and shut down airports, close schools, and businesses. The haze, much of it caused by slash-and-burn at palm oil plantations, tends to be an annual problem but its intensity varies with the severity of the dry season. The problem has persisted and interest in resolving the issue tends to fade when rain comes. The government has been trying to litigate against plantation firms, many owned by Malaysians, whose practices cause haze, but could do nothing if courts fail to severely punish them. The government plans to open palm oil plantations near the Indonesian border on Borneo island. They will start by making use of the areas ready for planting and strongly oppose cutting down forest for the replanting of palm oil plantations. March 24, 2006 Forbes
Yale Study: Not Enough Metals in Earth to Meet Global Demand. According to a study, even the full extraction of metals from the Earth's crust and extensive recycling programs may not meet future demand if all nations begin to use the same services enjoyed in developed nations. The environmental and social consequences of metals depletion became clear from studies of metal stocks, in the Earth, in use by people and lost in landfills. Using copper stocks in North America, the researchers tracked the evolution of copper mining, use and loss during the 20th century. Then they applied their findings to an estimate of global demand for metals if all nations were fully developed and used modern technologies. All of the copper would be required to bring the world to the level of the developed nations for services and products that depend on copper. Researchers estimate that 26% of extractable copper in the Earth's crust is now lost in non-recycled wastes; for zinc, 19%. The study suggests these metals are not at risk of depletion in the immediate future but scarce metals, such as platinum, there will be risk depletion in this century because there is no substitute for use in devices such as catalytic converters and hydrogen fuel cells. For many metals, the average rate of use continues to rise. Even the more plentiful metals may face depletion risks in the future. January 15, 2006 Science Daily
Behind Gold's Glitter: Torn Lands and Pointed Questions. In a long and tortuous history, gold has arrived at a moment of opportunity and peril. The price of gold is pushing $500 an ounce. But much of the gold left to be mined is microscopic and is being wrung from the earth at environmental cost and is almost all about the soaring demand for jewelry. This is provoking a storm among environmental groups and communities near the mines. The biggest challenge is the absence of clearly defined and accepted standards for environmentally and socially responsible mining. For an ounce of gold, miners haul away 30 tons of rock and use diluted cyanide to separate the gold from the rock. Some metal mines, including gold mines, have become the near-equivalent of nuclear waste dumps. Hard-rock mining generates more toxic waste than any other industry. The cost of cleaning up metal mines could reach $54 billion. With the costs and scrutiny of mining on the rise in rich countries, 70% of gold is mined in developing countries and it is there that the battle over gold's future is being waged. Gold companies say they are bringing good jobs, tighter environmental rules and time-tested technologies and with the help of the World Bank, have opened mines promising development that governments have welcomed. Environmental groups say companies are mining in ways such as dumping tons of waste into rivers, bays and oceans. People who live closest to the mines say they see too few of mining's benefits and bear too much of its burden. This month a Philippine province sued Canada-based Placer Dome, charging that it had ruined a river, bay and coral reef by dumping waste. Placer Dome answered that it had "contained the problem" and spent $70 million in remediation and another $1.5 million in compensation. Some in the industry have paused to consider whether it is worth the cost and the world's biggest mining company, Australia-based BHP Billiton, sold its profitable Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea in 2001 after having destroyed more than 2,400 acres of rainforest. The company said the mine was not compatible with environmental values. Other companies are paying for more schools and housing, trying to ease social problems around its mines. Critics say corporate miners have been cloistered from scrutiny because of their anonymity to consumers. Tiffany's chairman has broken new ground by buying Tiffany's gold from a mine in Utah that does not use cyanide. But the largest sellers of gold are Wal-Mart stores, and Mr. Kowalski, a trustee of the Wildlife Conservation Society, hesitated to call any gold entirely "clean." The newly moneyed consumers who line the malls of Shanghai and the bazaars of Mumbai sent jewelry sales shooting to a record $38 billion this year. That kind of demand leads many to argue that gold's value is cultural and should not be questioned. The US is the world's largest holder of gold reserves with 8,134 tons in vaults, about $122 billion worth. Gold is bought by investors when the economy is uncertain. You can mine gold ore at a lower grade than any other metal, but that means big open pits and cyanide. At some mines in Nevada, 100 tons or more of earth have to be excavated for a single ounce of gold. Mining companies say this kind of gold mining, called cyanide heap leaching, is as good a use of the land as any. Cyanide is considered the most cost-effective way to retrieve microscopic bits of "invisible gold." Profit margins are too thin, to mine it any other way. But much of that disturbed rock, exposed to the rain and air for the first time, are the source of mining's multibillion-dollar environmental time bomb. Sulfides in that rock will react with oxygen, making sulfuric acid that pollutes and frees heavy metals like cadmium, lead and mercury, which are harmful even at low concentrations. The reaction can go on for centuries. Stopping pollution forever is difficult. Even rock piles that are capped can release pollutants, particularly in wet climates. Cyanide decomposes in sunlight and is not dangerous if greatly diluted. But a study said that cyanide can convert to other toxic forms and persist, particularly in cold climates. From 1985 to 2000, more than a dozen reservoirs containing cyanide-laden mine waste collapsed. The most severe disaster occurred in Romania in 2000, when mine waste spilled into a tributary of the Danube, killing tons of fish and issuing a plume of cyanide that reached 1,600 miles to the Black Sea. A new code sets standards for transporting and storing cyanide and calls on companies to submit to inspections by a new industry body. But the code is voluntary and not enforced. It does not deal with one of mining's most important questions: What happens when the mine closes? Environmental risks from hard-rock mines often turn out to be understated and underreported. Of 10 mines in the US and abroad run by publicly traded companies all but one failed to fully disclose risks and liabilities to investors. Of 22 mines almost all had water problems, concluding that "water quality impacts are almost always underestimated". Today gold companies are striking out to remote corners of the globe led by the World Bank that argued that mining companies would bring investment, as well as roads, schools and jobs. A mine in Guyana insured by the bank spilled more than 790,000 gallons of cyanide-laced mine waste into a tributary of the Essequibo River. October 26, 2005 New York Times*
Andean Villagers Seek American Justice; Mercury Contamination Near Peru Mine Leads to Legal Showdown in Denver Court. Four and a half years after the mercury spill contaminated Choropampa and two neighboring towns, Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp., and lawyers for 1,100 Peruvian peasants appear headed for a legal showdown that could involve millions of dollars. If the plaintifs win, it would be the first time a U.S. firm has been held accountable in a U.S. court for environmental contamination committed outside the country. The lawsuit accuses Newmont of "fraudulently concealing the true hazard to human health and safety of the spilled mercury." Newmont blames the Peruvian trucking contractor. After a three-year fight Newmont agreed to settlement talks before two retired Colorado judges after a state appellate court ruled that the lawsuit could proceed. But mediation talks in Denver Jan. 19-20 failed to produce a settlement. The plaintiffs announced that they will go ahead before Denver District Judge Robert Hyatt. Newmont spokesman said the mining company hopes to avoid a trial, even though the plaintiffs have disparate views over a financial settlement. An environmental law professor said Newmont's attempt to negotiate a settlement doesn't mean the company fears losing in court, but reflects a strategy of appearing socially responsible. Indonesian police detained six Newmont officials over allegations of pollution from a mine in Sulawesi province where villagers charged that they had suffered illnesses and their economic livelihoods, which depend on catching fish, had been damaged by mine waste. Meanwhile, the Peru mercury spill has become a rallying cry for protests against mining firms over alleged environmental damage and political corruption. Mining accounts for half of Peru's annual exports and makes the largest contribution to the national economy. Yanacocha mine's environmental director told a visiting group that protective seals are now required on all mercury containers and trucking firms cannot transport such material in uncovered vehicles. After protests Newmont backed off from a planned expansion of Yanacocha near the northern city of Cajamarca where residents have protested against Yanacocha officials who they say endangered them by offering as much as $30 a kilo (2.2 pounds) to recover the mercury after the spill. Local residents were later hired without protective gear. But a company report said the decision was intended to get residents to hand over mercury in their possession. The company also said it asked local authorities to send an ambulance with a loud speaker to warn of the toxic nature of the chemical the day after the accident. Newmont spokesman said even though no cases injuries related to the spill have been diagnosed, Yanacocha mine has spent $10 million to treat villagers, clean up the spill and monitor the environment, and cash settlements of up to $6,000 each to more than 700 residents who are not part of the lawsuit. For the hundreds who tested positive for mercury exposure, Yanacocha agreed to provide medical insurance until the end of 2005. But the end of the medical coverage worries those who still suffer from blindness, neurological damage, memory loss and muscular pain. March 14, 2005 San Francisco Chronicle
Latin America: Commodity Prices Climb to 24-Year High on Global Demand Growth. Commodity prices surged to a 24-year high, on concern that global growth is eroding inventories of raw materials. Copper reached a 16-year high, and oil rose near a record in New York, extending the rally in the Reuters-CRB Index to the highest since January 1981 and the index gained 7.1% in February, the most since August 1983. Commodity prices are up 15% in the past year, because of rising demand and a decline in the dollar, which makes commodities priced in the US$ cheaper for buyers using the euro or yen. Copper futures for May delivery rose to $1.4995 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since March 1989. Prices are up 16% in the past year and reached a record in London. The commodity rally spurred gains in the currencies of countries that produce raw materials. The Australian and South African currencies surged against the US$, and New Zealand's $ climbed to a record. Canada's $ rose the most in eight weeks. Commodities comprise 35% of Canada's exports and 60% of Australia's overseas sales. Large speculators have increased their holdings of 20 commodities in the U.S. to their highest in nine months. Energy and metals prices are moving higher on the concerns regarding global consumption and the ability of supply to keep up. There is no doubt that copper is tight in the first half of the year. China surpassed the US in 2002 as the world's largest copper consumer. Copper prices have almost doubled in the past two years as demand surged in China, the U.S. and Japan, the top three users. March 08, 2005 Bloomberg.com
The High Cost of Gold. From each 200-ton load