Harley-Davidson Pushes for Ride in China

Motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson wants China to relax its restrictions on motorcycle use in big cities. The company says that’s the only way its new dealership will be successful in the country long-term. The GLRC’s Christina Shockley reports:

Transcript

Motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson wants China to relax its restrictions
on motorcycle use in big cities. The company says that’s the only way its
new dealership will be successful in the country long-term. The GLRC’s
Christina Shockley reports:


Sound of motorcycle)


Harley-Davidson has opened a new dealership in Beijing hoping to sell
its motorcycles in China, but China limits motorcycle use and ownership
in big cities because of safety concerns and environmental issues.


Tim Hoelter is a vice-president with Harley-Davidson. He says the
company hopes the restrictions will change, over time.


“We of course are hopeful that working with our government partners in
Washington, and working cooperatively with the Chinese ministries to
understand the basis for these bans that over time we can overcome
them.”


Hoelter says the company has been successful in changing bans in other
countries, including Japan… by working with the foreign and U.S
governments.


For the GLRC, I’m Christina Shockley.

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Rocking Out for the Great Lakes

  • In the tradition of Live Aid and Farm Aid comes Great Lakes Aid, which will be a concert series to raise money for environmental issues concerning the Great Lakes. (Photo by Jenny W.)

A group of Great Lakes conservationists say
they’ll use a concert series to raise money for the
Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Jenny Lawton has more:

Transcript

A group of Great Lakes conservationists say they’ll use a concert series to raise money for the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jenny Lawton has more:


Like “Live Aid,” and “Farm Aid” after that, organizers hope a concert series on behalf of the Great Lakes will be a hit. “Great Lakes Aid,” as it will be called, hopes to feature big-name headliners and local groups, all raising millions of dollars for environmental issues. Tom Fuhrman is President of the Lake Erie Regional Conservancy and organizer of the event. He says supporting a good cause isn’t the only thing that will attract artists to participate.


“They look at things like this as exposure furthering their careers – I mean, there’s 40 million people who live in the Great Lakes basin so these events are going to touch a lot of people.”


Fuhrman says the group is still looking for a headliner to encourage other artists to get on board.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is already a committed partner in the project. As is the George Gund Foundation.


Fuhrman says he expects the event to generate at least two-million dollars in its first performance slated for the summer of 2006.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jenny Lawton.

Environmental Practices Affect Stock Values

A new report has found that utilities with the best environmental practices have higher values on the stock market. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:

Transcript

A new report has found that utilities with the best environmental practices have higher values on
the stock market. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:


The New York-based financial research firm Innovest found a correlation between sound
environmental management and strong financial performance among companies.


The firm compared 26 utilities on environmental factors such as toxic releases.


Researcher Carla Tabossi says they found the companies with the highest environmental scores
outperformed others on the market.


“The environmental quality of corporations turns out to be a very good proxy for the overall
management quality of firms, which happens to be the primary determinant of stock market
performance.”


Tabossi has also found that a growing number of asset managers are considering environmental
issues when constructing investment portfolios.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.

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President’s Address Neglects Environment

President George W. Bush’s recent State of the Union address was noted for not saying much about the environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

President George W. Bush’s recent State of the Union address was noted for not saying much
about the environment. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


After President Bush’s speech, environmental groups and others noticed the President barely
made a reference to the environment. Wayne Fields is a professor at Washington University who
studies State of the Union speeches. He says that’s not typical.


“Well, especially in the last 30 years, issues of air quality, water quality have been very high in
the State of the Union agendas for both parties.


Fields says since the State of the Union speech highlights a president’s accomplishments and
plans, no mention of the environment says a lot about President Bush’s priorities.


“The fact that it wasn’t there suggests that it’s not an issue that he thinks is terribly important to
his constituency nor terribly important to his reelection since this is an election year speech.”


The Democrats’ response to the President’s State of the Union address also failed to mention the
environment.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

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Report Says Water Worries Overstated

The international commission that keeps an eye on the environmental health of the Great Lakes will hold public hearings later this month on a report that looks at water use in the basin. And as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports, the findings are not pleasing to some environmentalists:

Transcript

The international commission that keeps an eye on the environmental health of the Great Lakes
will hold public hearings later this month on a report that looks at water use in the basin. And as
the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports, the findings are not pleasing
environmentalists:


The International Joint Commission asked a team of experts to examine water issues including
use and diversion, climate change, and conservation. The report says the problem of water
overuse in the Great Lakes has been overstated in the past three decades, while conservation has
been underestimated. It also calls the prospect of diverting water to arid southwest states “a dead
issue.”


Cameron Davis is with the Lake Michigan Federation. He says the report fails to recognize the
issues that will face the Great Lakes in the long term.


“One of the concerns that I have is that, in saying we’re not using that much water, that the
hidden message is don’t worry. We don’t have a problem.”


But the U.S. chair of the IJC, Dennis Schornack, says recognizing the pitfalls of faulty
projections is important to shaping future water policy.


The Commission will hear public comment on the report before drafting its own plan to present
to the governments of Canada and the U.S.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Sarah Hulett.

Survey Says Residents Want Lake Preservation

The results of a survey released this week by the Joyce Foundation show people in the Great Lakes region have strong feelings about the importance of the lakes and the need to protect them. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Gretchen Millich has more:

Transcript

The results of a survey released this week by the Joyce Foundation show people in the Great
Lakes region have strong feelings about the importance of the lakes and the need to protect them.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Gretchen Millich has more:


In it’s opinion polls over the past year, the Joyce Foundation found people have deep concerns
about the Great Lakes, including lower water levels and talk of exporting water to other regions.
Most people who were polled assumed the lakes were polluted, but were unsure of the causes of
that pollution. Spokesperson Mary O’Connell says the foundation will give out 16-million
dollars over the next three years to groups working to protect the lakes. She says the money will
also be used to improve policies on land use, agriculture and transportation, all of which affect
water quality.


“There is very strong popular support for preserving the lakes and we would hope that through
our funding we could translate some of that support to our public policies that will protect the
lakes for future generations.”


The Joyce Foundation, which also contributes funding to the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, is
based in Chicago and has financed many efforts to clean up the lakes.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Gretchen Millich.

Companies Pledge to Curb Cell Phone Waste

Cell phones were a popular holiday gift this year. That means old phones will wind up in the garbage. A cell phone company from the Midwest is one of several firms that are pledging to reduce the number of old wireless phones that wind up in landfills. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

Cell phones will be a popular holiday gift this year. A cell phone company from the Midwest is
one of several firms that are pledging to reduce the number of old wireless phones that wind up in
landfills. Chuck Quirmbach reports:


By some estimates, U.S. consumers discard more than 100-million cell phones a year. The
phones are small, but usually contain toxic chemicals like lead and cadmium that can leak in
landfills. Illinois-based Motorola and nine other cell phone manufacturers have pledged to the
United Nations to address the environmental issues linked to cell phone disposal. Motorola
official Craig Liska says the companies wanted to keep some control over the process:


“We wanted to make sure there wasn’t a global regulation that came out that kind of limited the
solutions because we wanted to have the flexibility to have the proper solutions in place in the
proper place of the world.”


If you want to get rid of an old cell phone now, you may be able to take it to a dealer for
reprogramming or perhaps have the toxic metals removed before dumping. The cell phone
makers are pledging to work on more options. They say they’ll also try to design phones that are
more eco-friendly.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chuck Quirmbach reporting.

Car Enthusiast Struggles to Change

With another Mideastern conflict looming, many Americans are worried about the possibility of rising gas prices. But as Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Tom Springer points out, using less gas may be difficult for a generation that grew up admiring gas-guzzlers:

Transcript

With another Mideastern conflict looming, many Americans are worried about the
possibility of rising gas prices. But as Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Tom
Springer points out, using less gas may be difficult for a generation that grew up admiring
gas-guzzlers:


It’s been 20 years since I rumbled through town in a fast car with wide tires and a big
hood scoop. But there, parked in front of me, was the mag-wheeled embodiment of a
teenage fantasy. Its electric blue paint job was flashing in the sun. It was more temptation
then a recovering car freak could resist.


The object of my affection was a 1970 Plymouth GTX. For two years, my brother-in-law
had worked nights and weekends to restore the old muscle car. Under the hood was a
gleaming V-8 engine, with enough horsepower to pull out tree stumps. And now, on a flat stretch
of country road, he casually asked the question: “Do you want to see what it can do?”


Did I want to see what it could do? It was an act of hypocrisy that no self-respecting
environmentalist should ever commit. Since my drag racing days, I’ve learned the truth
about the evils of fossil fuel. I know that America’s car culture is the driving force behind
urban sprawl, acid rain and the ongoing rift with a certain mustachioed Mideastern
dictator.


But after about three seconds behind the wheel, my environmentalist notions flew out the
window. I stomped the accelerator, and the tires squealed. The engine roared. The
carburetors gulped down an ocean of high-octane racing fuel. Then, for a glorious
moment, the long-forgotten thrill of intense acceleration. The hormone rush was almost
enough to bring my adolescent acne out of remission.


We later drove the GTX to a car show. The hot rods on display were mainly pre-1971
gas-guzzlers. They get about 12 miles per gallon in city driving. Oddly enough, that’s
about the same mileage as a monster sports utility vehicle. The difference is, most
collector cars are driven only on sunny weekends.


And 35 years from now, we may be doing the same thing with SUVs. I can picture the
scene on a fall day in 2037. I’m with my grandchildren at an SUV collectors meet. The
kids are staring in disbelief at these mammoth, 8-passenger vehicles, which rarely carried
more than two or three passengers. And the only thing they can think to say is… “Why?”
The world’s not making any more oil, so our day of reckoning is coming. Some
Americans may think that dollar-fifty per gallon gasoline is their birthright. Yet it won’t
last forever. Fuel cells, electric cars and hybrids are the future of human mobility.
Americans like me, who neither car pool nor take the train, will have to change.


But change may be difficult. Because for my generation, the rich exhaust of an untamed
V-8 will always be like a rare perfume. And our memories of cheap gasoline, and the
freedom of an open road, will only grow fonder with age.


Tom Springer is a freelance writer from Three Rivers, Michigan.

New Sprawl Study Ranks Region

A new study on urban sprawl suggests the Midwest is doing better than some parts of the country, but there are still some trouble spots in the region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

A new study on urban sprawl suggests the Midwest is doing better than some parts of the
country. But there are still some trouble spots in the region. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:


A study released by Smart Growth America says California and the south are having the
worst problems with sprawl. But Detroit, Rochester and Syracuse, New York, and the
Gary-Hammond area of Indiana just missed being in the top ten. Researcher Rolf
Rendahl of Cornell University in New York says those are areas where sprawl partly
occurs because of economic distress.


“With very little demand for new development, land is cheaper and people can build
almost anywhere.’


Rendahl also says the suburbs in those areas generally have relatively permissive land use
policies. The study says sprawl can trigger ozone pollution and various traffic problems.
The group recommends more rehabilitation of urban properties and transportation
planning that doesn’t promote sprawl. The National Association of Homebuilders
contends the Smart Growth report ignores housing affordability and consumer choice.


For the Great Lakes Radio consortium, this is Chuck Quirmbach.

Invasive Insect Laying Waste to Area Trees

Scientists are working to control a new non-native beetle that’s destroying hundreds of thousands of ash trees in the Midwest. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:

Transcript

Scientists are working to control a new non-native beetle that’s destroying hundreds of
thousands of ash trees in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Erin Toner reports:


The Emerald Ash Borer is native to Asia, and probably made its way to the United States
through wood packing materials. Therese Poland is an entomologist with the
USDA. She says so far, the beetles have destroyed 100 thousand ash trees in southeastern
Michigan and southern Ontario.


“We think it’s been here for at least five years and even with some of the other exotic
beetles that have been discovered in recent years, when they were first discovered they
weren’t as widespread as this.”


Poland says there’s a quarantine over the infested areas to keep the beetles from moving
to new areas. Officials are inspecting nurseries to make sure they’re not selling infested
trees. They’re also checking whether tree care companies are disposing of trees properly.
But officials admit they probably won’t be able to stop people who unknowingly transport
infested firewood or yard waste.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Erin Toner.