A Gallup poll finds people feel the economy should be given priority over the environment (Photo by Rebecca Williams)
A new poll shows Americans put money over Mother Nature. Lester Graham reports it amounts to a real shift in attitudes:
Transcript
A new poll shows Americans put money over Mother Nature. Lester Graham reports it amounts to a real shift in attitudes:
A Gallup poll finds people feel the economy should be given priority over the environment.
51% think so. 42% still think the environment is more important.
Frank Newport, Gallup Poll Editor-in-Chief, says Gallup has been asking this same question every year for 25 years.
“This is the first time that we have had more Americans say growth should be given the priority not the environment. So, it’s a fairly dramatic and significant change this year.”
Newport says the results reflect people’s concerns about keeping their jobs and keeping their homes in this economy.
He concedes the issue is not just black and white – the environment versus the economy.
Jobs are being created in a shift to greener fuels and energy efficiency. But apparently that’s not clear to the American public. Newport suggests that might be the challenge facing people in the environmental movement.
Tomatoes are posing a problem for a BPA-free lining - they are so acidic they can eat through it (Photo by Scott Bauer, courtesy of the USDA)
More than a hundred studies have linked a chemical in plastic to health problems. Things like breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes, and early puberty. This chemical, bisphenol-A or BPA, is used to coat the inside of baby formula cans and almost all food and soda cans. Rebecca Williams visits one company that’s found a safer can:
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More than a hundred studies have linked a chemical in plastic to health problems. Things like breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes, and early puberty. This chemical, bisphenol-A or BPA, is used to coat the inside of baby formula cans and almost all food and soda cans. Rebecca Williams visits one company that’s found a safer can:
(sound of forklift backing up, pumpkin seeds pouring out of roaster)
It’s pumpkin seed roasting day at Eden Foods. It’s a natural foods company based in Michigan. It sells things like rice, canned beans, and all kinds of packaged fruits and sauces.
Michael Potter is the company’s president. More than a decade ago, he came across some news reports out of Europe.
“And I learned all the can linings in the USA were lined with this lining that leaches BPA into foods from the can.”
That got him thinking, and researching. Then he started badgering his can manufacturers.
“We virtually begged them to provide us an alternative. We persisted in hounding them and eventually the Ball Corporation said they’d make a can with an old lining they used to make.”
The lining’s made from a plant resin instead of the epoxy resin with BPA. The thing was, it would cost Eden Foods 14 percent more – that’s about 2 cents a can.
But Michael Potter says he had to make the switch.
“We’re selling this not only to people that we don’t know, in the market, we’re feeding it to our children, our grandchildren and ourselves – we didn’t want to eat bisphenol A.”
But there was one problem. He couldn’t make the switch for canned tomatoes.
Tomatoes are acidic, and they can eat through the plant resin can lining. That could lead to bacteria or rust getting into the food.
“There is no alternative for high acid foods other than bisphenol-A lining at this point. We are urging, nudging, demanding a bisphenol-A free alternative. And we’re optimistic we’ll end up with one.”
But the metal can industry says those alternatives just don’t exist right now.
John Rost is with the North American Metal Packaging Alliance. He says the industry is trying to find new materials. But he says shoppers shouldn’t worry about eating canned food.
“The levels of BPA that are coming from epoxy can linings are exceedingly low. We’re talking low parts per billion. That level has been deemed safe by the European Food Safety Authority, Health Canada and the US FDA.”
That’s true, but Health Canada has declared BPA toxic. It’s making moves to limit its use.
A number of independent scientists debate that there’s any safe level of BPA.
Maricel Maffini studies BPA at Tufts University School of Medicine. She says they’ve seen harmful effects on lab animals at the same very low levels of BPA that are leaching into our food from cans.
She says that’s because BPA acts like the hormone estrogen.
“You just need a tiny little signal to trigger an effect. So I think it’s unfair to say there is a safe dose because as scientists we cannot say that yet. We have not found a dose that is low enough where we don’t see effects.”
She says babies and kids are the most at risk. She says BPA has caused lasting damage in lab animals when the animals were exposed to the chemical both before and after birth.
“I think we should be concerned, I think we should limit our consumption of canned foods especially if you are pregnant or if you have babies.”
It’s possible that US can makers will be forced to stop using BPA. Leaders in Congress have introduced bills that could soon ban BPA in all food and beverage containers.
The Hawaii Superferry service has been suspended until an environmental impact study can be completed. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
It’s been rough sailing for a Superferry that transports passengers and vehicles around the Hawaiian Islands. A lot of people who live in Hawaii, as well as businesses and tourists, depend on the Superferry. But there’s been a lot of concern about the ferry’s impact on the environment. Heidi Chang reports the Superferry is now suspending its service. The last voyage will take place today:
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It’s been rough sailing for a Superferry that transports passengers and vehicles around the Hawaiian Islands. A lot of people who live in Hawaii, as well as businesses and tourists, depend on the Superferry. But there’s been a lot of concern about the ferry’s impact on the environment. Heidi Chang reports the Superferry is now suspending its service. The last voyage will take place today:
Back in 2007, Hawaii legislators passed a special law that allowed the Superferry to sail between Oahu and Maui, before an environmental study was completed. The Hawaii Supreme Court has ruled that’s against the law.
Robert Harris is the director of the Sierra Club. It’s one of the groups that challenged the Superferry and the state in court. He’s worried about the impact it might have on traffic and that natural resources could be taken without better oversight.
“One of the first days of operation, some people on Oahu drove a truck over to Maui and loaded up on a bunch of river rocks, and were transporting it back to Oahu, and they were fined, I think significantly for that.”
Harris says the environmental review will also look at whether the ferry might be disturbing whales or transporting invasive species that could endanger native plants and animals.
Reporter Sadie Babits is tracking the blooming of a lilac tree, as part of a "citizen scientist" project that will document climate change. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Scientists are asking citizens to pay attention to plants this spring. They want you to report everything from leaf buds to blossoms. Scientists want those observations from right in your backyard to better understand how climate change is affecting plants and trees. Sadie Babits liked the idea and signed up:
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Scientists are asking citizens to pay attention to plants this spring. They want you to report everything from leaf buds to blossoms. Scientists want those observations from right in your backyard to better understand how climate change is affecting plants and trees. Sadie Babits liked the idea and signed up:
You know, I found it really isn’t hard to be a citizen scientist.
I’m on the website for Project Budburst. It’s a nationwide effort to get people out into their backyards to track spring flowers. All I have to do is to pick a plant or tree to keep an eye on and then report my findings.
I’m thinking I’ll check out the lilac trees in my neighborhood here in Portland. But before I head out, I need some advice.
So I called Sandra Henderson. She’s busy these days directing Project Budburst at the University Corporation of Atmospheric Research.
“Hey Sadie.”
I reach Henderson at her office in Boulder, Colorado.
What advice do you have for me, a first citizen scientists observing phenology?
“The ideal thing to do is get a sense of when lilacs in your case in Portland, Oregon are expected to have different pheno events.”
Good thing I looked up phenology before calling Henderson. Basically it means nature’s calendar – the timing of when cherry blossoms bloom or a robin builds a nest.
And these life cycles of plants and animals are sensitive to changes in climate.
“Plants provide a wonderful context for understanding changes to the environment and they certainly respond to changes in temperature and precipitation, things that climate scientists are very interested in.”
Scientists can’t be in everyone’s backyard. That’s where volunteers come in. Last year some five thousand people across the country reported their observations to Project Budburst. That information now is the foundation for an online database that includes everything from dandelions to ponderosa pines.
So after walking through our neighborhood and seeing a lot of trees that have already flowered, I’ve decided that these lilac trees outside of our house are perfect for watching because they haven’t flowered yet and there are leaf buds all over the branches. And here’s a branch and the leaf buds are huge and they are just starting to unfurl.
Now that I’ve found my lilac tree to watch, I can report today’s findings.
Really that’s it. Scientists are finding out a lot of interesting things. For example, forsythia in Chicago are blooming a week earlier. These simple observations will eventually create a snapshot of how climate change is affecting plants across the U.S.
The government is trying to reel in the red tape that is keeping offshore wind farms, like this one, from being built in the US. (Photo by Les Salty, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
The biggest obstacle to putting wind turbines offshore – out of sight of the shoreline – is not technology. It’s not money. It’s government red tape.
Now, the federal government says it wants to streamline the permitting process. Mark Brush reports the goal is to get offshore wind turbines off the drawing boards and into the oceans:
Transcript
The biggest obstacle to putting wind turbines offshore – out of sight of the shoreline – is not technology. It’s not money. It’s government red tape.
Now, the federal government says it wants to streamline the permitting process. Mark Brush reports the goal is to get offshore wind turbines off the drawing boards and into the oceans:
There are several states that are hoping to build the country’s first big offshore wind farm.
The government says sighting wind farms in the ocean is a great idea. It’s windy. And the giant wind turbines could provide power in places where it’s needed most – to the big cities off the nation’s coasts.
But there’s some fighting going on between government agencies. And that’s been tripping up permits for these wind farms.
Ken Salazar is the Secretary of the Interior. He recently spoke to a Senate committee about the infighting:
“There has been a jurisdictional feud that has gone on for quite awhile – unresolved – between FERC and the Department of Interior relative to the sighting of renewable energy facilities in the Outer Continental Shelf.”
Salazar says the agencies have now reached an agreement. So there shouldn’t be any more delays at the federal level.
But offshore wind farms face a lot of hoops at the state level as well. So it still could be awhile before the country’s first big offshore wind farm goes up.
Insulating your home is one of the things the Alliance to Save Energy says you can do to save energy and earn up to 1,500 dollars in tax credits. (Photo courtesy of the EPA)
Tax credits have been extended and expanded for people who want to make their homes more energy efficient. Lester Graham spoke with Ronnie Kweller about that. She’s with the Alliance to Save Energy:
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Tax credits have been extended and expanded for people who want to make their homes more energy efficient. Lester Graham spoke with Ronnie Kweller about that. She’s with the Alliance to Save Energy:
Lester Graham: Ronnie, this stimulus package offers people a chance to save some money if they decide to insulate their home, or replace their heating or cooling system. How much is available?
Ronnie Kweller: Right now, up to $1500 – which is three times the amount that was available under earlier legislation. They also expand the percentage of the cost that can be covered, from 10% in the case of some of the items under the old law to 30%. The other good thing is that the tax credits have been extended through 2010. Originally, they were only for this calendar year. So I think that gives folks some opportunity to save and budget for some of these higher-ticket items, and get them in place between now and 2010, and still get that $1500 off their taxes.
Graham: Now, let’s say I want to replace my old water heater. How much could I get back in tax credit next year?
Kweller: 30%, up to $1500 – that’s if the water heater cost $5000, which probably it’s not that expensive.
Graham: This is a tax credit, not a tax deduction. What’s the difference?
Kweller: That is correct. A tax deduction means you take the amount off your taxable income and then you’re taxed on a lower amount of income. A tax credit is worth more, because once you have calculated the tax that you owe, it’s a dollar for dollar reduction in that tax bill.
Graham: What kind of energy efficiencies make the most sense for a home? If I’m looking at my house, where should I start making changes first?
Kweller: The thing that we usually recommend as the first step is to seal and tighten up the house with sufficient insulation for your climate region. And then sealing leaks and cracks around doors and windows with sealing product, such as caulking, weather-stripping, and foam sealants. And the good news is that all those types of products are now eligible for these tax credits. Again, assuming that they meet the standards that are in the law.
Graham: We tend to think of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program as an assurance we’re buying an energy efficient product, but I understand not all Energy Star labeled products qualify for these tax credits.
Kweller: That’s correct. The one change that makes life a little bit more complicated for consumers is that under the old law, all energy star windows qualified for a tax credit. Now, there are certain additional requirements for the windows, as well as for the heating and cooling equipment. So, you can’t just go buy the Energy Star label, you really have to look at the very specific energy efficiency levels that these products must meet.
Graham: So, if I need details on that kind of requirement, where’s the best place to find them?
Kweller: One of the best places would be the Alliance Energy’s website at ase.org/taxcredits. We’ve made a great effort to have a user-friendly website that spells out the criteria in very clear language. The Energy Star website at energystar.gov is always very helpful in general on energy efficiency, as is the Department of Energy’s Energy Saver’s Booklet, which is at energysavers.gov.
Graham: Alright, thanks for joining us.
Kweller: Thank you.
Graham: Ronnie Kweller is with the Alliance to Save Energy. I’m Lester Graham.
This rule requires stores to tell you what country some of your food comes from Photo by Ken Hammond, courtesy of the USDA)
Starting this week, supermarkets are officially required to tell you where some of your meat and produce comes from. But as Rebecca Williams reports it can get confusing at the store:
Transcript
Starting this week, supermarkets are officially required to tell you where some of your meat and produce comes from. But as Rebecca Williams reports it can get confusing at the store:
This rule requires stores to tell you what country some of your food comes from.
The rule covers things like beef and pork, chicken, and vegetables.
Supermarkets have already been adding these labels over the past few months.
Deborah White is with the Food Marketing Institute. The group represents supermarkets. She says they don’t like being forced to label specific products – and the law is quirky.
“The law applies, for example, to chicken but not turkey. It applies to peanuts and pecans but not almonds and walnuts and those were decisions that Congress made.”
And there are other quirks. Frozen peas have to be labeled and so do frozen carrots. But a bag of peas and carrots mixed together doesn’t have to be labeled.
The new agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, says he wants to fix these quirks. He’s asking the food industry to voluntarily add more information to labels than the rule now requires.
Nationally, we go through more than 30 billion non-carbonated drinks every year (Photo by Lester Graham)
Most states don’t have bottle deposit laws to encourage people to return their empties. Only eleven states do. Now, some are expanding their recycling programs to include bottled water. Sadie Babits reports the states know requiring a deposit for the bottles will keep them from ending up in landfills:
Transcript
Most states don’t have bottle deposit laws to encourage people to return their empties. Only eleven states do. Now, some are expanding their recycling programs to include bottled water. Sadie Babits reports the states know requiring a deposit for the bottles will keep them from ending up in landfills:
Every time Mary Nemmers buys a bottled beverage, she’s pays a five cent deposit at the register.
She wants to get that money back eventually. So she saves up her bottles and once a month brings them here to New Seasons Market in Portland, Oregon.
(sound of bottles being sorted)
Nemmers thinks this is a pretty convenient system. She gets to shop while a store employee sorts and hand counts her bottles.
Today Nemmers is getting nine dollars and change for her empties. While she’s glad to get that money back, she’s excited to learn that Oregon’s bottle deposit program has expanded.
“I just got some news that they’ll take back all the cans for deposits. Not just the ones that they sell. That started in January and that saves me an extra trip.”
That’s only part of the change. People in Oregon now also get five cents for every water and flavored water bottle they return to stores. That ends up being a lot of bottles.
Nationally, we go through more than 30 billion non-carbonated drinks every year. And that number is growing. Most of them end up in a landfill.
For Heather Schmidt, it makes sense to require a deposit for these bottles. She runs the sustainability program at New Seasons.
“We’re getting more back from our customers and that’s a good thing (chuckles). And we know that there’s quite a bit of water purchased, you know, and we’re selling it we want to take it back.”
Out of the eleven states that have bottle deposit programs, Oregon is one of the first to include bottles for water and other non-carbonated drinks.
Maine includes just about every beverage bottle. Connecticut adds bottled water to its program in April. New York and Massachusetts are debating similar expansions.
Mary Nemmers says it was about time that her state recognize that something needed to be done to make sure water bottles stay out of landfills.
“Because I do a lot of walking and I’ve seen lots and lots of water bottles thrown around and in trash cans. I assume that the expansion will reduce that and I’d like to see Oregon stay on the cutting edge of recycling.”
Not everyone is thrilled.
I spoke with the president of the Northwest Grocery Alliance who told me stores want recycling off their property.
A spokesman for the major food outlet Winco said the same thing. Stores say it’s messy to deal with “garbage” and stores have to dedicate staff time to recycling.
Heather Schmidt says at New Seasons Market, they don’t mind.
“Operationally, because we’ve increased the volume, it does mean we’ve had to add some staff labor to that to process but it’s something that we’re committed to.”
While most of the bottles are hand counted at New Seasons Market stores, large chain grocery stores use reverse vending machines.
I can stick a redeemable bottle into the machine. The machine checks to make sure it’s the right kind of bottle. Once it’s accepted, the bottle gets crushed and I get my five cents. Those crushed bottles, along with the plastic ones, end up here.
(sound of recycling plant)
We’re inside a glass and plastic bottle recycling plant. It’s a labyrinth of conveyer belts and equipment. The last drops of stale beer and old soda pop in the bottles make it smell sort of like your gym shoes meet the town dump.
Sadie: “Can we check out where the plastic bottles go?”
John: “Yes, We’ll go back this way.”
That’s John Anderson. He’s the President of the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative.
“Now, the plastic, we have seen an increase, but we’re only two months into this expansion at this point and it’s a slower time of year for water and flavored water.”
We stop in front of three bales of recycled plastic that remind me of massive hay bales.
I can pick out the water bottles scrunched together with a lot of soda bottles. These plastic bales will be sold to manufacturers – mostly overseas – who will turn this plastic back into something useable.
Anderson says all of the glass though, stays local and gets turned back into beer bottles.
Bottle deposits work.
The states that have bottle deposit laws have dramatically high bottle recycling rates – as high as Michigan’s 97%.
But the U.S. average is below 40%. The rest of those bottles spend forever in a landfill.
According to the EPA, US homes waste 1 trillion gallons each year from leaks (Photo courtesy of the EPA)
Today begins “Fix a Leak Week.” It’s probably not in your calendar. It’s a new effort from the US EPA to encourage people to take a closer look at their plumbing. Tamara Keith reports:
Transcript
Today begins “Fix a Leak Week.” It’s probably not in your calendar. It’s a new effort from the US EPA to encourage people to take a closer look at their plumbing. Tamara Keith reports:
(sound of dripping)
It turns out that drip drip drip of a leaky faucet can really add up.
(sound of toilet running)
A running toilet can waste up to 200 gallons a day.
Michael Shapiro heads the water division at the EPA.
“A typical home will leak up to 11,000 gallons a year. About the amount of water that will fit into a home swimming pool, for example.”
Most people can handle doing the repairs themselves. Jim Loviss is the plumbing manager at Strosneiders Hardware in Bethesda, Maryland.
“Sometimes it’s a washer, sometimes it’s a hose or a supply tube. Most times it’s simple. It’s being able to shut the water off and find out where the problem is and solve it.”
But, he’s not expecting a rush on washers and toilet flappers just because the EPA has declared it “Fix A Leak Week.”
Tesla's Roadster Sport - a 2-seat sports car priced at $100,000 (Photo courtesy of Tesla Motors)
If you want a clean electric vehicle to cruise the highway today, you really only have one option – a small, Silicon Valley company named Tesla. Tesla has plans to be a big player in the auto industry, but so far the company has only built a few hundred cars. Dustin Dwyer looks at whether Tesla can make it in one of the toughest industries around:
Transcript
If you want a clean electric vehicle to cruise the highway today, you really only have one option – a small, Silicon Valley company named Tesla. Tesla has plans to be a big player in the auto industry, but so far the company has only built a few hundred cars. Dustin Dwyer looks at whether Tesla can make it in one of the toughest industries around:
If you’re trying to get attention for a new vehicle, a big auto show is one of the best places to get it.
And even this year, as GM and Chrysler hobbled into the Detroit auto show on federal life support, and all carmakers scaled back, there was still a lot of hype.
Here’s GM’s introduction for the Chevy Volt.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the future of automotive transportation has entered the building.”
That’s how the big players make their announcements.
Tesla is not a big player.
CEO Elon Musk made his big announcement in a hotel conference room in front of a bunch of geeky auto analysts.
“A big announcement that I’ve just gotten this morning permission this morning to make is, um” (takes drink)
Here he takes a drink of his water.
“…that Daimler has given us permission to acknowledge that they are the automotive partner that we’re working with.”
That means Tesla is going to help make an electric version of Daimler’s tiny Smart Car.
Musk is not much of a salesman. But maybe he doesn’t have to be. While all the big carmakers are seeing huge sales drops, Musk says Tesla sales keep going up.
“And, well, actually we can’t produce them fast enough and we’re sold out through November of this year.”
Now, Tesla – at most – makes 30 vehicles a week. And its only car, a sporty roadster, sells for more than $100,000.
A company like GM sells thousands of cars a week, and people who aren’t movie stars can actually afford some of them.
But Musk says he wants Tesla to be more than just a small time player.
So now the company is working on a four-door sedan that will sell for about $50,000 – still pricey for most of us, but half the price of its two-seat roadster.
Here’s the thing though, right now, Tesla has the electric vehicle market all to itself. But all the big companies are working on their own electric cars.
So when Tesla comes out with its four-door sedan, the competition will be much tougher.
Michael Robinet is an auto industry analyst with the firm CSM Worldwide. He says Tesla’s small size is a problem.
“Economies of scale is one of the main drivers of this industry to get cost out of the vehicle and be competitive. And that’s where the major vehicle manufacturers are going to have a leg up in the future.”
Some who follow the auto industry think Tesla’s future could be as more of a partner to existing companies, like what Tesla is doing with Daimler.
But Elon Musk insists Tesla will continue to make its own cars. And it can succeed.
“You go through sort of stages of denial, I guess. You know, when we first said we’d make this car, people said you can’t make this car. It’s not going to work, the technology’s not going to work, and even if the technology works, nobody’s gonna buy the damn thing. And we’ve shown, hey, we can make the technology work and people really want to buy it. So, okay, then they go to the next stage, ‘Oh, well, sure, okay, people will buy that car, but they won’t buy a sedan.’”
Tesla plans to unveil the new sedan later this month (March 26). The car is expected to go on sale in 2011.
In the meantime, Tesla has not been completely immune to all the problems facing the auto industry. Tesla had trouble raising money last year to finance the new sedan. So it turned to the federal government for a 350 million dollar loan.
At least in that one sense, Tesla is already acting like a major player.
A Gallup poll finds people feel the economy should be given priority over the environment (Photo by Rebecca Williams)
