Some think that a gas tax is the only way to get consumers to buy fuel efficient cars (Photo courtesy of the US Department of State)
Some in the auto industry are proposing a hike in the gasoline tax. The idea is this: if you want people to buy small cars, make gasoline more expensive. Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Some in the auto industry are proposing a hike in the gasoline tax. The idea is this: if you want people to buy small cars, make gasoline more expensive. Lester Graham reports:
Car dealers and manufacturers say a higher gas price is the only thing that gets people buying more fuel efficient cars. So, a tax hike makes sense.
But, a guy who has a lot of sway on the idea of a gas tax hike is not going there.
Congressman Ed Markey chairs a House subcommittee on Energy and the Environment.
At a forum at MIT he said the plan is to stick with CAFÉ — the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards – to get better mileage cars.
“That’s the route that we’re taking rather and an increase in the gasoline tax. We’re moving towards a mandate and 35 miles per gallon is the minimum that we intend on reaching by 2020.”
And under the stimulus package, new tax credits amounting to thousands of dollars get kicked-back to anyone buying a fuel efficient car.
These Suzukis at Ken Butman's dealership, which were in high demand last year, are now sitting unsold (Photo by Samara Freemark)
Chances are, you haven’t bought a new car this year. Auto sales are down across the board – including in the small car and electric-gas hybrid markets. Now some dealers and automakers are proposing a way to move some of those cars: increase the gas tax. Samara Freemark explains why the same people who sell cars might want to make driving them more expensive:
Transcript
Chances are, you haven’t bought a new car this year. Auto sales are down across the board – including in the small car and electric-gas hybrid markets. Now some dealers and automakers are proposing a way to move some of those cars: increase the gas tax. Samara Freemark explains why the same people who sell cars might want to make driving them more expensive:
It was almost exactly this time last year that Ford dealer Ken Butman
traded in his pickup for a Suzuki hatchback.
His Ann Arbor, Michigan
dealership had been selling Suzukis for a couple of years. But they got
really popular last spring when gas prices jumped. Butman ordered a big
shipment to keep up with the demand.
“These are the Suzukis. These little cars get good gas mileage. And
they’re so cute. Look at them. Look at this one here. It’s got a little
rack for your skis. Look at
that.”
But those cars – the ones Butman ordered a year ago – most of them are
still here. They’re still sitting on his lot. Not moving.
“It was strange because they were so hot. For awhile there you couldn’t
give a big car away. And everybody was rushing to the small cars. And then
just as quickly, about when the price of gas came down again, we saw a
complete reversal. Like a light switch. That’s how fast it cut off.”
It’s been like that all over the country. Dealers who last year had
waiting lists for hybrids and small cars suddenly have a lot of extra
inventory. Sales of hybrids are way down from last April, mostly because
gas costs about half what it did last year.
Brett Smith is an auto analyst with the Center for Automotive Research. He
says consumers only really care about fuel economy when gas prices are
high. When gas hits about 4 dollars a gallon, consumers switch to fuel
efficient cars. When prices drop again, so do sales of efficient cars.
“Look at what’s happened every time we’ve had an energy crisis. We’ve
gone to smaller cars for a couple of years, and then the consumer has gone
back to larger cars. Why? Because at that fuel price they can get away with
it, they can justify it.”
It’s a real problem for dealers. It also worries auto manufacturers who
have poured money into developing hybrids and have a lot of new models due
to come out this year.
And that’s why some people who sell cars have begun to push for
increasing the gas tax.
Dealers and auto executives might not seem like the first bunch to line up
behind a tax hike. Traditionally they’ve lobbied hard against anything
that makes driving more expensive.
But a high tax – and therefore, higher gas prices – could get all those extra
hybrids moving again.
Michael Jackson is the CEO at AutoNation. That’s the
nation’s largest chain of dealership.
Jackson wants to see gas at four
dollars a gallon – the figure at which many analysts say consumer behavior
changes. And he thinks the government can keep prices at that magic number
with a floating tax.
Auto makers have been a little more cautious. But some top executives at
American companies have called Jackson’s ideas ‘smart’ and ‘worth
looking into’.
Smith says they believe that higher gas taxes could
stabilize the market for fuel efficient cars – making investment in new
technologies a safer bet.
“The car companies will rarely come out and loudly say, things like, ‘we
think there needs to be a gas tax.’ But almost all of them will say on the
side, if you want people to drive more fuel efficient cars, the best way to
do it is a gas tax.”
For now, though, it might not take a big tax to bring gas prices back up.
Oil trader Anthony Grisanti is the president of GRZ Energy. He says an
economic recovery would do pretty much the same thing.
“Shouldn’t be any doubt about it, once the economy picks up, say,
beginning of next year or year after that, you’re going to start to see oil
prices go higher.”
And that means prices at the pump would go up too.
Proposing higher gas taxes – especially of a couple of dollars a gallon – can
mean career suicide for politicians. So a big hike in the gas tax seems
iffy. But if gas prices rise as the economy recovers, dealers might see
those fuel efficient cars move off the lot again.
Wilson City Farm is part of Chicago's Resource Center, and Tim Wilson is the garden manager. The 1.25 acre plot produces eighty varieties of eleven crops. (Photo by Shawn Allee)
City Farm occupies a vacant lot owned by the City of Chicago. It lies at the heart of a fast-changing neighborhood. There are new condo buildings and non-profit housing centers cropping up alongside the Cabrini Green Housing Project. (Photo by Shawn Allee)
City Farm's greenhouse uses light-weight replaceable materials because the managers plan on moving every few years. (Photo by Shawn Allee)
Urban farming is supposed to be a solution to getting fresh, locally-produced food to city folk.
The movement’s taking off because a lot of cities have empty, vacant lots to plant on, but there’s a problem: city governments or developers won’t let growers stay on those lots forever.
Shawn Allee met one urban farmer who’s not worried about losing the farm:
Transcript
Urban farming is supposed to be a solution to getting fresh, locally-produced food to city folk.
The movement’s taking off because a lot of cities have empty, vacant lots to plant on, but there’s a problem: city governments or developers won’t let growers stay on those lots forever.
Shawn Allee met one urban farmer who’s not worried about losing the farm:
Ken Dunn’s City Farm looks less like a traditional farm than a construction site.
There’s fence around an acre or so of soil. There are two small sheds.
And there’s a greenhouse – but it’s not glass or anything – its plastic strung over a bunch of metal tubes.
These are available commercially for about 1,500 dollars and will last for many years. This is the third year this one’s been up.
Dunn makes no apology for the make-shift feel.
“This is a mobile farmstead. Our fence that surrounds this property has been in three locations in the past twenty years as have the tool shed, and office trailer. So, everything here can be picked up and moved within a week or, if necessary, within a couple days.”
In fact, Dunn’s planning on it. He’s on land owned by the City of Chicago, and he has to move next year.
“Our deal with them is that we are occupying it until they sell the property. I think it will be having luxury condominiums. I think they have a price tag of 6 million dollars on this acre. As tax payers we have to take the six million.”
But Dunn’s not worried – he’s lined up another lot to plant on.
Dunn thinks more urban farmers should be just as mobile as he is by keeping their equipment light and scouting for the next available growing space.
Here’s his argument: City governments or developers might let you squat on vacant land for a while, but you can’t count on them selling it to you at an affordable price – or just giving it you.
Seems reasonable enough, but I thought I’d ask urban farming groups how they take this mobile farm idea.
“In my opinion, it should be permanent.”
This is Erika Allen.
She heads the Chicago branch of a group called Growing Power.
“It shouldn’t be something that you have access to some land for a few years and then have to move. In my mind, that’s not agriculture.”
Allen says across the country, urban farms have provided fresh food and even jobs.
She says mobile farming kind of let’s city governments off easy; if urban farms are so useful, cities should help them own farmland.
“I think once we were able to prove you can grow food in the city and it can be productive and beautiful, then it’s an issue of policy. What’s the priority? Why aren’t we relegating some of this space just for urban agriculture?”
Ken Dunn says he’s heard this criticism before. He calls his mobile farming approach a little more realistic.
Dunn says rural farmers can’t grow everything they want, however they want; they have to adjust to the landscape, soil conditions, and weather.
He says he’s just adjusting to an urban reality: real-estate markets value commercial and residential property more than farmland.
“We have to operate this sustainably. That is, working within the forces that are operating instead of hoping to always get 15 years in some hidden corner or somewhere and it might turn into less because someone comes in overnight and bulldozes your project. So, sustainability means keeping operative from year to year with no setbacks. A planned move is no set-back at all.”
With that, Dunn has to leave.
It’s planting season and he and his staff have a lot of work. They want this crop to be special, since it could be their last growing season on this vacant lot.
Carol Browner is the President's Assistant on Energy and Climate Change. (Photo courtesy of cdc.gov)
The White House climate change chief is laying the groundwork to get an energy bill through Congress. Lester Graham reports it includes a controversial plan to reduce the use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil:
Transcript
The White House climate change chief is laying the groundwork to get an energy bill through Congress. Lester Graham reports it includes a controversial plan to reduce the use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil:
Carol Browner is President Obama’s assistant for Energy and Climate Change.
MIT posted video from an energy conference at the college. In it, Browner indicated we’ve got an opportunity to get the nation off its fossil fuel addiction, become more energy independent and create jobs in green energy.
“Let us dare to dream of a nation where the excess solar energy of our deserts, the wind potential of our Great Plains fuel our homes, our cars, and our businesses. Let us commit ourselves to a future where the businesses that sustain our planet are rewarded and those that endanger our Earth are held accountable.”
Next week Congress begins hearings on an energy bill that includes a carbon cap-and-trade plan that makes fossil fuels more expensive and renewable energy a better option all in an effort to lessen reliance on foreign oil and to reduce greenhouse gases causing global warming.
Beekeepers are continuing to lose their honeybees. About a third of many beekeepers’ colonies have been dying mysteriously each year for the past several years. Rebecca Williams reports researchers think they’re getting closer to an answer:
Transcript
Beekeepers are continuing to lose their honeybees. About a third of many beekeepers’ colonies have been dying mysteriously each year for the past several years. Rebecca Williams reports researchers think they’re getting closer to an answer:
Honeybees have had some bad luck.
Researchers think there are a couple of things hurting the bees all at once.
They think bees’ immune systems are being weakened.
Maybe because of pesticides. And maybe because bees aren’t getting the variety of food sources they need.
Bees normally collect pollen and nectar from many different plants. But when they’re used on farms, they’re just visiting one kind of plant.
And then on top of that, bees appear to be getting hit by a virus.
Maryann Frazier is a honeybee expert at Penn State University.
She says, until researchers can figure out exactly what’s going on, she expects beekeepers to keep losing a lot of their bees.
“I think what we’re at risk of, more so than the bees dying out, is the beekeepers giving up and not continuing to truck their bees all over the country.”
Beekeepers use honeybees to pollinate about a third of our food supply.
Stores in Alandejani's hometown of Ottawa have had an increase in sales of manuka honey after the study was reported (Photo by Karen Kelly)
According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 90,000 Americans are diagnosed with an antibiotic-resistant infection each year. Doctors and patients are desperate to find an alternative treatment for these infections. Karen Kelly reports on the possibility of a new approach using a common household ingredient:
Transcript
According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 90,000 Americans are diagnosed with an antibiotic-resistant infection each year. Doctors and patients are desperate to find an alternative treatment for these infections. Karen Kelly reports on the possibility of a new approach using a common household ingredient:
(sound of teapot and pouring)
A lot of us like to pour a cup of tea with honey when we’re feeling achy and stuffed up.
But researcher Talal Alandejani wondered if honey might be good for more than just soothing a sore throat.
He’s an ear, nose and throat doctor at the University of Ottawa in Canada.
He knew honey had been used on the skin for centuries to kill bacteria in wounds.
And he wondered if there might be a way to use it with his patients.
He treats people with chronic sinus infections that are resistant to antibiotics.
“I thought, what if I could use it in the sinus where we use antibiotics, but we still can’t get rid of the infection. It’s a natural product, it has less side effects and it’s less expensive.”
So, Alandejani chose four different types of honey:
clover and buckwheat honeys, which are common in North America,
Manuka honey, which is grown in New Zealand and sold mostly in health food stores,
and sidr honey from Yemen, which is hard for Americans to find.
He then grew bacteria in petri dishes.
Some were free-floating – the kind killed by antibiotics.
The others are called biofilms – they have a coating that resists medications, and they’re the cause of chronic sinus infections and other diseases.
Alandejani squirted the bacteria with antibiotics in one dish, and honey in the other.
The manuka and sidr honey -along with the medications – killed the free-floating bacteria.
The biofilms, though, were a different story.
The antibiotics didn’t kill them, but the honey did.
In fact, the two foreign honeys killed about 90% of the pseudomonas and 60 to 70% of MRSA bacteria. Both can cause deadly infections.
Alandejani presented his findings at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Oto-laryn-gology, Head and Neck Surgery.
And he was swamped with questions from doctors and sinus patients eager to try it.
“Even the patients in our clinics want us to treat them right now, before even doing the trials or the animal studies. And they’re willing to take the harm of it, if there is any, because their disease is not treated until now.”
Alandejani says the challenge is that the honey has to come in contact with the bacteria – so it would have to be diluted and injected into the sinuses.
Dr. Murray Grossan is an ear, nose, and throat doctor in Santa Monica.
He says the treatment looks promising.
“They do use honey for stomach problems, stomach ulcers and so on, so it probably would be pretty safe to put into the sinus. But unfortunately, we have to go through all sorts of protocol there.”
In the meantime, stores in Alandejani’s hometown of Ottawa have had an increase in sales of manuka honey after the study was reported.
It’s not cheap – manuka honey can cost as much as $50 a jar.
Alandejani says he used the regular manuka honey, nothing especially strong.
And he can’t vouch for it’s effectiveness if you just eat it.
But he’s now trying it on sinuses in animal studies.
And soon, his patients with chronic sinusitus will have their chance to try it as well.
Economists say if a cap and trade plan passes, energy prices will go up no matter what (Photo courtesy of aoc.gov)
President Obama and some leaders in Congress want to take on global warming by cutting back on carbon dioxide. The big plan is called carbon cap and trade. If the plan passes, economists say there’s no doubt your bills will go up, though there’s debate about how much. Mark Brush reports on one of the biggest sticking points in these carbon cap and trade plans:
Transcript
President Obama and some leaders in Congress want to take on global warming by cutting back on carbon dioxide. The big plan is called carbon cap and trade. If the plan passes, economists say there’s no doubt your bills will go up, though there’s debate about how much. Mark Brush reports on one of the biggest sticking points in these carbon cap and trade plans:
Under some of the cap and trade plans, oil and gas companies would have to buy pollution permits.
But these companies want them for free.
They say if they’re forced to pay, they’ll have to pass the cost onto you and me.
But economists say if a cap and trade plan passes, energy prices will go up no matter what.
That’s because things like coal, oil, and natural gas will be restriced.
And they say that’s what drives prices up.
Chad Stone is the Chief Economist for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
He says if pollution permits are bought at an auction, the money can be passed onto you and me. But it’s different if they’re just given away for free.
“If you don’t auction, you don’t have any revenue and consumers only get a hit to their budgets.”
Stone says if the pollution permits are auctioned, you could be getting a check in the mail or a tax credit to help you pay for higher energy bills.
Musical instrument companies are a very small part of the demand for old-growth wood, but they can be very influential (Photo source: Arent at Wikimedia Commons)
People who make musical instruments know they have to start with a good piece of wood. Some guitar makers are worried that the woods they need for their instruments are becoming too rare. Tamara Keith has the story of how guitar makers are working with a group that fights to protect trees:
Transcript
People who make musical instruments know they have to start with a good piece of wood. Some guitar makers are worried that the woods they need for their instruments are becoming too rare. Tamara Keith has the story of how guitar makers are working with a group that fights to protect trees:
(sound of a factory)
There are people all over the Martin Guitar plant in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, doing fine detailed work. One man is chiseling out tiny pieces of wood to make the neck and the body of a guitar fit perfectly.
(sound of sanding)
Dick Boak does artist relations for Martin.
“So this is a D-35, this is what Johnny Cash played.”
He says this guitar’s deep resonant sound is all about what it’s made of. It’s a who’s who of rare and exotic species.
“Rosewood from East India, spruce from the Pacific Northwest, and mahogony probably from Peru or Bolivia. Those would be kind of the traditional woods for a guitar.”
Boak says logging is wiping out old growth forests where these types of woods are found.
“We would like it if every single supplier that we used was working in a sustainable fashion because that would ensure that our future as a guitar maker would be you know intact.”
So Martin Guitar has teamed up with the environmental group, Greenpeace.
Scott Paul is the group’s Forest Campaign Director and he’s super interested in the Sitka Spruce used in the Johnny Cash style guitar. We’re talking at the group’s office in Washington, DC. And he shows me where the spruce is used.
“This part on the top. This here is the soundboard. This is the species that really projects the sound.”
That Sitka Spruce comes from South East Alaska. Paul has been crusading to save the forests there for some time. He says Sitka Spruce has been logged as if there were no end in sight. Most of it is used for low-end construction materials. But when he found out the wood was used by the world’s leading instrument makers – he approached them.
“It was a very interesting meeting where you had the CEO of Gibson, and the CEO of Martin and Taylor and Fender all in the same room.”
The competitors said they were concerned about logging practices too. And the told Paul they’d work together on the issue.
“Let’s all go to Alaska and start talking to the logging companies that are providing you this product and figure out if we can do it better.”
So they did. This new Musicwood Coalition went to the Sealaska Corporation, which logs Sitka Spruce. And they’re now working with the company to save old growth trees for really valuable things like guitars.
Musical instrument companies are a very small part of the demand for old-growth wood. Paul says its less than 1%. But they can be very influential.
“They need the wood. They’re not the driving force. But their profile, and to be honest, their sex appeal is perfect. Not everyone likes Greenpeace, but red state, blue state, everyone loves guitars.”
(sound of guitar being tuned)
Dick Boak is tuning a guitar that’s just about ready to leave the Martin factory.
“Everybody has a song they use to tune.”
This guitar is part of Martin’s sustainable woods series. The hope is that someday all Martin guitars – and those of Gibson, Fender and Taylor too – will be made from trees grown and harvested in a way that makes sure the wood will be around for the long haul.
Foreclosed houses are being demolished, leaving open spaces that some neighborhoods are turning into gardens. (Photo by Julie Grant)
Some gardens in vacant lots left by demolished houses are providing fresh vegetables for neighborhoods far from supermarkets. (Photo by Julie Grant)
Some residents and activists feel that gardening on vacant lots could be a lesson on planning more sustainable communities. (Photo by Julie Grant)
It might be hard to think about a “silver lining” when so many people are facing foreclosure on their homes. But in some cities people are using foreclosures and the demolition of those homes to turn neighborhoods greener. Julie Grant reports that all the open space is encouraging some people to start gardening:
Transcript
It might be hard to think about a “silver lining” when so many people are facing foreclosure on their homes. But in some cities people are using foreclosures and the demolition of those homes to turn neighborhoods greener. Julie Grant reports that all the open space is encouraging some people to start gardening:
We’re watching the huge arm of a backhoe smash into the front of a house. The air is thick with dust. So many houses in this Cleveland neighborhood have wood nailed to where the windows and doors should be – it’s hard to tell which one is next for the wrecking ball.
25 year old George Hannett is NOT happy about what’s happening on his street:
“It’s not good. It’s bad for the neighborhood.”
The City of Clevelend does not want these abandoned homes left to rot or attract crime – so it plans to demolish 1,200 homes this year.
Morgan Taggart works with the Ohio State University extension office. It’s her job to help people create urban gardens.
She says tearing down so many houses is starting to leave a mark on neighborhoods in lots of cities – Pittsburgh, Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland.
“These spaces become very difficult for neighborhoods to manage because they are an attractive nuisance to all sorts of illicit and illegal activities that aren’t really great for the community.”
Taggart says lots of people want to start growing their own food. The economy is luring them back to gardening. Especially in neighborhoods that don’t have big supermarkets with fresh produce. These vacant lots
are giving them new places to plant. But they’re not sure how to go about planting a garden.
Vel Scott has lived in Cleveland 30 years, in a neighborhood with lots of unused land. She sees people on the bus struggling with shopping carts, carrying babies – doing whatever they have to do to get groceries home. But last year Scott realized – there’s another way to feed people. And she started her first garden since she was a kid.
“And I thought about, well, we have this land so why not go over and clear it and use it?”
It was a great idea. But, Vel Scott pretty quickly realized it was easier said than done.
“And after I got over there and it’s such a huge piece of land and I thought ‘My, God, where do I start?’ You know, I don’t know what to do. So we did a V– V for victory, V for Vel,whatever you wanted it to be.”
Scott says wants her land to be a place where they grow vegetables – and cook them right there. She teaches a cooking class so it made sense to her to show people in the neighborhood how to use the vegetables from the garden.
There are some concerns about gardening on vacant land. After all, the land usually belongs to the city. People don’t want to put lots of time and resources into cultivating the soil – if the city is going to turn around and sell to a developer at the first opportunity.
That’s why Cleveland has created a new zoning category to protect its urban gardens. Morgan Taggart with the extension service says this is a post-industrial vision for cities:
It’s an opportunity for us to reimagine our neighborhoods, our city, our county and how we can integrate more sustainable principles into the planning of our neighborhoods.”
Back at the house demolition, people watching the workers tear down the structure say it’s hard to imagine a vegetable garden where this house used to be. But Vel Scott says that in just one season of gardening, her neighbors and local children have seen what she’s done. They’ve started clearing more land and this spring they’re planting their own gardens.
San Francisco expects to process 10,000 gallons of the grease every day (Photo by Rainer Zenz, source: Wikimedia Commons)
One city’s new program is taking the mucky sink-clogging grease from restaurants and converting it into fuel for its fleet of vehicles. As David Gorn reports, it’s the first effort of its kind in the nation:
Transcript
One city’s new program is taking the mucky sink-clogging grease from restaurants and converting it into fuel for its fleet of vehicles. As David Gorn reports, it’s the first effort of its kind in the nation:
It’s 6 in the morning, and a San Francisco sewage treatment plant is already in full gear.
(sound of a truck motor)
Workers are unloading a tankful of used cooking oil from local restaurants.
(sound of a man shouting)
But soon they’ll also be picking up something a little nastier from restaurants.
“Brown grease is culled out, pumped out by grease haulers and taken out of the city, often to landfills.”
That’s Karri Ving, biofuels coordinator for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. She says, instead of carting that grease off to a garbage dump, it will now be converted into biofuel.
“That material, that food material, is what we’re going to condense into a putty that gets converted into road-worthy biodiesel.”
Ving says San Francisco expects to process about 10,000 gallons of the
stuff every day.
Some think that a gas tax is the only way to get consumers to buy fuel efficient cars (Photo courtesy of the US Department of State)
