Some environmentalists believe President Bush’s Homeland Security Act could have some harmful effects on the environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Some environmentalists believe President Bush’s Homeland Security Act could have some harmful effects on the environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
The National Strategy for Homeland Security is the White House plan to deal with threats of terrorism. Among a number of proposals, the Bush Administration wants to limit access to information about hazardous chemicals at company plants. Alys Campaigne is with the environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council. The NRDC notes that industry has long wanted to get rid of laws that required disclosing to the public what chemicals they might handle…
“We’re concerned that the Bush Administration is using the guise of Homeland Security to legislate very sweeping exemptions to corporations under public disclosure laws and to give them unprecedented immunity from laws that are on the books now.”
The NRDC says instead of letting companies keep secrets about chemicals at their sites, the government should conduct vulnerability assessments and work with companies to reduce the hazards at a site. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
It’s hard for non-profits to raise money. And it’s hard for big business to gain public trust and admiration. But when the two are put together – struggling non-profits and wealthy businesses – it appears to be a win, win situation. Or is it? Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Julia King looks at one summertime case where the environment is the loser:
Transcript
It’s hard for non-profits to raise money. And it’s hard for big business to gain public
trust and admiration. But when the two are put together – struggling non-profits and wealthy businesses – it appears to be a win, win situation. Or is it? Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Julia King looks at one summertime case where the environment is the loser:
How many times have you heard these words: Come on: it’s for a good cause!
You know, like the elementary school teacher who takes a water balloon in
the face for literacy. “That’s the spirit!” we cheer. Because sometimes
you’ve got to go out on a limb to inspire people to action, to get things
done.
But what if someone asked you to smoke cigarettes… to fight world hunger?
Or toss motor oil in a lake… to help cure diabetes? So, there are bad ways
to call attention (and funding) to a cause. Water in face: good. Motor
oil in lake: bad.
Yet more and more these days, our “causes” are tangled up in elaborate
marketing schemes that muddy the moral waters of both charity and activism.
Recently on a 95-degree Ozone Alert Day, my local news reported that area
residents could brave the hot weather (not to mention the respiratory
damage) and test drive a BMW… for a good cause. Without the slightest bit
of irony in her voice, the anchor segued from a story about the dangers of
ozone, to a story about the joys of driving (the very thing that leads to
ozone on a hot day).
With what they call “The Ultimate Drive” campaign, BMW has helped the Susan
G. Komen Foundation raise over three million dollars (a dollar a mile) for
the fight against breast cancer. That’s a lot of carbon monoxide for
breast cancer.
Collaboration. Cooperation. Call it what you will, but the you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours-fundraiser is hot. Big corporations draw big money for worthy causes, and worthy causes draw favorable publicity for big corporations. But what if those big names are at cross-purposes with the fundraiser’s end goal? Or even at cross-purposes with other worthy efforts?
If good health is a goal, for instance, it hardly makes good sense to ask
people to drive on ozone alert days – even if the car IS a BMW. The Komen
Foundation also sponsors walks and runs – far more appropriate activities
considering the cause.
Nobody wants to see environmentalists (or asthmatics) duke it out with
breast cancer patients, but it’s time for organizations to fundraise with an
eye toward more than just money. Innovation and creativity is great, but
when the public is asked to participate in an activity, it ought to be a
positive one.
Now, I’m waiting for someone to ask me to drink margaritas… for world peace,
of course.
Zebra mussels have been colonizing North American lakes and rivers since 1991. Scientists have looked at many of the ways mussels affect those ecosystems. But a new study underway shows how those effects are moving up the food web…and are having two very different results. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brodie reports:
Transcript
Zebra mussels have been colonizing North American lakes and rivers since 1991. Scientists have looked at many of the ways mussels affect those ecosystems. But a new study underway shows how those effects are moving up the food web…and are having two very different results. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brodie reports:
Between 50 and 5-hundred billion zebra mussels now live in New York’s Hudson River. That’s a lot of hungry mouths to feed on the river’s zooplankton and phytoplankton. The problem is the mussels are not the only ones that like to dine on the microscopic plants and animals. A new report suggests the mussels are stealing food from some of the river’s fish.
That’s forcing those fish to look elsewhere for their meals. Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer is the director of the Darrin Freshwater Institute, and a biology professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. She says the zebra mussels can dramatically alter an ecosystem.
“They’re very rapid filter feeders, and as such, they’re able to remove tremendous amounts of phytoplankton, algae, bacteria in the water column. As such, the phytoplankton serves as food sources for other organisms so you really are impacting the entire food web.”
Nierzwicki-Bauer says those impacts go all the way up to fish. David Strayer is a freshwater ecologist at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, and a lead author of the report on the Hudson River. He says his team studied fish populations in the Hudson both before and since zebra mussels colonized there.
“In open water fish species, we saw a decline in abundance, we saw declines in growth rates, and we saw that the populations of those fish tended to shift downriver compared to the period before the zebra mussel invasion.”
That means some of the most common and popular fish in the Hudson are no longer where they used to be…among them American shad, herring, and white perch. That’s because the zebra mussels are eating those fish’s food…forcing the fish to go elsewhere.
But Strayer says while some fish have had to move away from the mussels…some species have welcomed their new neighbors.
“In the same period of time, we saw populations of fish that live in the weed beds…we saw those populations increase, we saw growth rates of those fish increase, and we saw the populations of those weed bed fish shift upriver into the area where the zebra mussels lived.”
These forage fish have more to eat because the plants at the river’s bottom are growing more. That’s because the zebra mussels clear up the water, which allows more sunlight to reach the plants. Strayer says the zebra mussels have changed almost everything about the Hudson’s ecology.
But he says some of those changes have been difficult to predict, and the changes may not apply to all bodies of water where the mussels have colonized. This is one of the first studies using long term data that looks at the zebra mussels’ affect on fish populations…but there is some evidence that other bodies of water are dealing with similar situations. There have been reports that zebra mussels may be affecting smelt and chub in Lake Michigan…these smaller fish are food for larger species, such as trout and salmon. But while the results are comparable, David Strayer says the changes in the Hudson River are more pronounced than changes elsewhere.
“This isn’t because we have more zebra mussels in the Hudson than in the other places, but it’s because there are differences in the structure of the ecosystem between the Hudson River and the Great Lakes and other places that have been invaded. So, you have to be a little cautious extrapolating from one body of water to the next.”
That sentiment is shared by Andy Kahnly. He’s a fishery scientist with the Hudson River fishery unit of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. He also worked on the new study. Kahnly warns for now, the results only apply to young fish…and not adults. That’s because fish can live up to 30 years, and the data don’t go that far back.
“Quite often, changes in early lifestages will take some time to translate into changes in fish populations and then to changes in fish communities. So it takes a lot of data, a lot of years of data to see a change.”
Kahnly says that means anglers in the Hudson might begin to notice some changes over the next few years… and he says the study did find a dramatic decrease in many of the species that people catch.
“If these changes in production of young persist into the future, then definitely there will be a decrease in the abundance of the adults which people are fishing for.”
But that depends on what you’re fishing for. The Institute of Ecosystem Studies’ David Strayer says your perspective might change depending on that you’re trying to catch.
“If you’re concerned about shad populations, if you’re a shad fisherman, then you might be concerned with the zebra mussel invasion and think it’s a bad thing. If you like the weed beds, if you’re a duck hunter or a large mouth bass fisherman this might be regarded as a positive thing.”
Strayer says the study shows zebra mussels are capable of having a tremendous impact on an ecosystem. He says it also shows the importance of being careful to prevent the introduction of invasive species…like zebra mussels…into an ecosystem.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark Brodie.
A freighter navigates the American Narrows in the St. Lawrence River. Expanding the system’s locks and channels would mean even bigger ships could enter the Great Lakes.
A new study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says Midwest ports and shippers – and the businesses they work with – stand to gain billions of dollars from an expansion of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system. Building wider locks and deeper channels from Minnesota to Montreal would make way for bigger “container” ships that have become the norm of international trade. But critics say expansion would have dire environmental consequences, and they say the Corps’ study is full of flaws. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:
Transcript
A new study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says Midwest ports and shippers – and the businesses they work with – stand to gain billions of dollars from an expansion of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system. Building wider locks and deeper channels from Minnesota to Montreal would make way for bigger “container” ships that have become the norm of international trade. But critics say expansion would have dire environmental consequences… and they say the Corps’ study is full of flaws. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein reports:
The St. Lawrence Seaway began as a dream – to make the Great Lakes as important a shipping destination as the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico seaboards. In fact, Seaway boosters used to call the Great Lakes the “Fourth Coast” of the United States. But when the array of locks and channels was built in the 1950s, Congress assured East Coast interests that a shipping route between the Atlantic Ocean and America’s heartland wouldn’t hurt their business. Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar:
“The Seaway locks would be built to no greater dimension than the largest inland waterway locks of the 1930’s.”
In other words, the Seaway was outdated before it was built. Today less than thirty percent of the world’s cargo ships can squeeze into the Seaway.
The Army Corps of Engineers’ study is a first step to change that. It says the Seaway could generate up to one and half billion dollars a year more than it is now if larger ships – the ones that carry containers that fit right onto trucks and trains – could reach ports in the Midwest. Oberstar says that would mean an economic boon for Great Lakes states.
“Those are good jobs. Those are longshoreman jobs. And that economic activity means significant business for Great Lakes port cities.”
So along with other politicians and shippers in the Midwest, Oberstar wants the Corps to take the next step – a more detailed study, called a feasibility study – that would look at the nuts and bolts of expansion. It would cost some 20 million dollars.
But downstream, on the St. Lawrence River in northern New York, critics say any plans for expansion have a fatal flaw.
(sounds of water and fueling a boat)
Under a blazing sun in the part of the St. Lawrence River known as the Thousand Islands, Stephanie Weiss fuels up her boat at a gas dock.
(gas filling, and motor starting)
She pushes off and weaves among literally thousands of pine-covered islands that give the region its name.
“You can see how narrow things are and how close the islands are to each other.”
Weiss directs the environmental group Save The River that’s trying to stop Seaway expansion.
(motor slows and stops)
We stop in the part of the river channel called the American Narrows. It’s like the Seaway’s bottleneck. Ocean-going freighters the length of two football fields thread through here. To make room for anything bigger, Weiss says, might mean blasting away some of these islands and the homes perched on them.
“I can’t help noticing that there’s this enormous rock in between the Great Lakes and the Ocean. It’s the Laurentian Shield and it is what makes these islands. To pretend that this is just a coast that needs to be developed is unrealistic.”
Weiss says the idea of a Fourth Coast, with ports like Chicago and Duluth rivaling those of New York and San Francisco, is ridiculous.
Environmental groups in the U.S. and Canada, like Great Lakes United and Great Lakes Water Keepers, are also opposing expansion. And they say the Corps’ study frames the debate unfairly. It doesn’t factor in environmental and social effects the groups say would make the project seem less attractive: things like rising pollution, sensitive wildlife habitat, plummeting water levels. The Corps’ project manager Wayne Shloop says those things would be addressed in the feasibility study. Stopping before that, he says, means letting the system’s locks and channels waste away.
“So somebody needs to make a decision… is it in the federal interest to let the system degrade or is it in the federal interest between the United States and Canada to make some improvements?”
In the U.S., that somebody is Congress. Congress would need to appropriate half of the 20 million dollars for the study. Lawmakers could take up the issue in September.
New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton recently took a boatride down the American Narrows to learn more. She disembarked with questions, about oil spills, accidents, and the hazards of winter navigation.
“This isn’t by any means an easy decision, a cost-free decision, that there are tremendous consequences associated with it, so give me your pictures, give me your information, because I’ll use it to be in conversations with people who think it’s just an open and shut issue.”
The issue will be shut rather quickly if the Corps’ study can’t persuade Canada to join in. Canada would have to foot the other half of the bill for the feasibility study. But officials from Transport Canada say they’re in the “very preliminary stages” of studying the issue. And they’re listening to everyone from shippers to environmentalists to recreational boaters before they make a decision.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m David Sommerstein.
Biologists say the invasive Asian carp is knocking on the door of the Great Lakes as populations of the imported fish make their way up the Mississippi River system. And while officials are seeking funding to construct and maintain an electric barrier to keep the fish out, the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush reports that the fish has another way of getting into the lakes:
Transcript
Biologists say the invasive Asian carp is knocking on the door of the Great Lakes as populations of the imported fish make their way up the Mississippi River system. And while officials are seeking funding to construct and maintain an electric barrier to keep the fish out, the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush reports that the fish has another way of getting into the Lakes:
Two years ago an Asian carp was netted in Lake Erie. And another was found
in a fountain in downtown Toronto. These fish were more than likely released
by humans. And while biologists have not yet found evidence of an
established population of Asian carp… they fear more releases like these
could lead to the spread of this harmful fish.
Dennis Schornack is the U.S. Chair of the International Joint Commission, a
governmental body which monitors the waters between Canada and the U.S. He
says that certain traditions of Asian immigrants may be unknowingly contributing to the problem:
“We are advised that there are certain customs in the Asian community which
involve not only eating the fish, but giving the fish back to the source, so
that it’s sort of, ‘buy two, eat one, return one.'”
Schornack says that the governments of Canada and the U.S. should educate
those who buy Asian carp for food about the threat the fish pose to the
Great Lakes ecosystem. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark
Brush.
A new poll indicates most Americans don’t like the Bush administration’s approach to global warming. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
A new poll indicates most Americans don’t like the Bush administration’s approach to global warming. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
The poll was commissioned by the Union of Concerned Scientists. It found that 75-percent of those polled disagreed with the President’s approach asking power plants and others to voluntarily reduce emissions such as carbon dioxide believed to cause global warming… and they rejected the Bush administration’s proposal that we simply
adapt to the changes global warming will cause. Alden Meyer is the Director of Government Relations for the Union of Concerned Scientists…
“This is true not only for three-quarters of the public as a whole, but for around two-thirds of those who voted for President Bush. So, as the leader of the Republican party he is greatly out of step with the rank and file base of his own party on the issue of global warming.”
The Union of Concerned Scientists says the Bush administration paid too close attention to energy industry officials and ignored the public when putting together its energy plan.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
New testing has found some of the most common cosmetic and beauty products contain chemicals linked to birth defects. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has more:
Transcript
New testing found some of the most common cosmetic and beauty products contain chemicals linked to birth defects. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has more:
Three environmental groups hired a major national laboratory to test 72 name-brand off-the-shelf beauty products for chemicals called phthalates. Of the 72, 52 of them contained phthalates. Jane Houlihan is with Environmental Working Group and one of the authors of the report on the testing…
“What this means for women is as they use cosmetics, they’re likely getting exposed to phthalates and it’s a potential concern for a baby in the womb, a male baby, since many of these chemicals are really strongly linked in animal studies to birth defects of the male
reproductive system.”
There is not yet a direct link between phthalates in cosmetics and reproductive birth defects in humans. The environmental groups found products on the market that don’t use the chemicals. So, they’re calling for elimination of the use of phthalates in beauty products.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
The worldwide population decline in frogs and other amphibians has concerned scientists for many years, in part because when amphibians are threatened, other species are as well. A current study provides new insights into the factors that can make frogs more susceptible to disease. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Cindi Deutschman-Ruiz reports:
Transcript
The worldwide population decline in frogs and other amphibians has concerned
scientists for many years, in part because when amphibians are threatened, other
species are as well. A current study provides new insights into the factors that can
make frogs more susceptible to disease. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Cindi
Deutschman-Ruiz reports:
New research conducted by Penn State Ecologist Joseph Wiesecker indicates that
frogs face a much higher risk of developing severe limb deformities when exposed to
currently acceptable levels of two common farm chemicals… the weedkiller atrazine
and the insecticide malathion.
These chemicals lowered the immune response of frogs, which is why they became
more susceptible to disease. Wiesecker says understanding this susceptibility is key
to safeguarding not only amphibians but humans as well.
“The apparent increase in limb deformities over the last decade is part of a larger
issue, one that involves amphibians but also humans and other animals. And that is
the increase or prevalence of infectious disease.”
Wiesecker is now conducting a five-year regional study that will artificially create
environmental changes associated with human development, and chart their impact
on frogs and other wetland animals.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Cindi Deutschman-Ruiz.
We don’t have to travel far to experience nature. Many of us have special places that connect us to the natural world. Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Bob Hamma reflects on the lasting impact those places can have on us:
Transcript
We don’t have to travel far to experience nature. We all have special places that connect us to the natural world. Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Bob Hamma reflects on the lasting impact those places can have on us:
One day in early September, my son and I rented a canoe and took a trip down the St. Joseph River where it crosses from Indiana into Michigan. The cloudless sky was a rich, deep blue and the light breeze created just a soft ripple on the river’s surface. Young turtles sunning themselves on logs plopped in the water as we glided by. We spied an occasional blue heron perched on the bank and a few swans moving gracefully through a pool.
The river was surprisingly empty of human presence. There were a few boys fishing under a highway bridge and a single pontoon boat. But they did not rob us of the sense that the river was ours, that on this river so close to home, there was a quiet, peaceful world without the pressures and demands of our everyday life. I like to remember that day, not only for its quiet beauty, but to create a peaceful space within myself. I want to carry that day, that river, within me.
I close my eyes and I am there. The river becomes part of me and part of the bond between my son Peter and me. It flows through my mind, carving a path through my psyche, laying bare the texture of memory. I travel upstream and remember the joys and sorrows that have formed the course of my life. I am carried downstream as I recall the people, places, and things that I cherish, moving always toward the great sea to which every river flows.
As the river becomes a part of me, I sense my life as a whole rather than as scattered fragments. There is a peaceful center, which I need only take the time to connect with. I know that just like this river I come from somewhere and am going somewhere; that I am a part of something greater; that I belong to people and to places.
When you are bruised or troubled, go to that place where you connect deeply with nature. Go to that river, that woodland, that mountain. Let the river carry you, the forest shelter you, the mountain bear you up. Close your eyes and go to that place which is for you a source of life.
Host Tag: Bob Hamma is a writer who lives in South Bend, Indiana.
The cost of building a home is soaring. Materials are expensive, and skilled labor is scarce. The high costs are contributing to a crisis in affordable housing, in the Great Lakes region and around the country. A new technology from Japan could be part of the solution. The structural pieces of a custom-designed home are cut out in a factory, using wood manufactured from small-diameter trees. Even unskilled workers can assemble the house on site in about a day. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill watched a home as it was being built:
Transcript
The cost of building a home is soaring. Materials are expensive, and skilled labor is scarce. The high costs are contributing to a crisis in affordable housing, in the Great Lakes region and around the country. A new technology from Japan could be part of the solution. The structural pieces of a custom-designed home are cut out in a factory, using wood manufactured from small-diameter trees. Even unskilled workers can assemble the house on site in about a day. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill watched a home going up:
Five East 5th Street is a narrow lot a few blocks above downtown in Duluth, Minnesota. A new basement juts out of a hole in the hillside. From the front yard, there’s a spectacular view of Lake Superior.
Most of the houses in this neighborhood are at least 80 years old. They’re small houses built for working families. A few vacant lots show where dilapidated houses were torn down.
One day last month, the new house arrived on a truck.
(sound of Martin listing parts)
Santos Martin works for Kato Sangyo, the Japanese company that invented this system of homebuilding. He calls out the part numbers as half a dozen apprentice carpenters carry the pieces off the truck. Soon the lot is covered with stacks of house parts – corner posts sixteen feet long, and insulated wall panels in various sizes, as big as 4 feet by 9 feet.
Then the workers start to put the pieces together.
“Every component is numbered, every component has a specific place and an internal metal connector that allows you to put it together like you would a TV entertainment center or a bed frame.”
James Brew is the architect who had the dream for this house.
Brew was fascinated by Japanese culture since he was a kid. He’s traveled to Japan several times, and hosted exchange students in his home. Two years ago he learned about a Japanese company that created a home-building system that allows even inexperienced workers to frame up a custom-designed house in a day,
“People who haven’t built with this system, there they are pounding together a beam and a post and with a little bit of weather cooperation they will probably have this entire house framed today.”
The beams are made of laminated strand lumber. Instead of cutting big trees into 2 by 4s, laminated strand lumber uses smaller trees and even waste wood, glued together like plywood.
This type of “engineered wood” is being used more and more in homebuilding. What sets the Kato Sangyo system apart is the way the framing pieces are locked together with metal connectors.
The beams for this house are four inches square, and either eight or sixteen feet long. At the end of each beam there’s a slot for a metal connector. It’s like a large hinge. Workers slide one end of the hinge into the beam, and match the other end to a slot in the floor.
Then they raise the beam until it’s standing upright. They slide the insulated wall panels into the spaces between the beams. Everything is supposed to fit precisely because it was cut to order in a factory. Once the framing is up, workers will add siding, and the house will look just like the other ones on the block.
The assembly is mostly a matter of matching the right parts. So it’s an ideal project for people who are just learning how to build. Lisa Lyons is one of the crew members. She and her co-workers are part of a job training program for battered women. After a year of learning standard construction techniques, Lyons says this job is fun.
“Before it’s a lot of framing, a lot of measuring, and this here you just pound in some pegs and stand it up and it’s just like lego blocks, it’s really cool.”
The Japanese system offers not only speedy construction, but the potential for more affordable housing. The parts for this house were made at a factory in Minnesota. They were cut by hand, which took a couple of days. Architect James Brew says they could be cut in a couple of hours in a fully automated factory.
As the house takes shape, visitors stop by to watch. They include businesses thinking about the Japanese system as a possible new industry for Minnesota. James Brew says it would cost about a million dollars to buy the equipment to make the house parts. And he’s talked with a lot of lumber and construction firms that are intrigued with the idea.
“So there’s many interests in the system and the idea, the technology, but it’s again chicken and egg. Which is first, sales without a factory, or factory with no sales, or together. It’s very difficult.”
Brew is hoping the house in Duluth will provide the demo that will spur some business to decide there’s a future for the Japanese system in the United States. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Stephanie Hemphill in Duluth.
