A new study finds that as plant species go extinct around the world,
ecosystems could become a lot less productive. Rebecca Williams
reports, this could be bad news for the services people depend on from
nature:
Transcript
A new study finds that as plant species go extinct around the world,
ecosystems could become a lot less productive. Rebecca Williams
reports, this could be bad news for the services people depend on from
nature:
Plants work overtime for us. They produce oxygen and food, among a lot
of other things. But many plant species are going extinct.
A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says as
we lose plant species, ecosystems could become half as productive as
they are now.
Brad Cardinale is the study’s lead author. He says preserving habitats
could slow the loss of species:
“For every place we build, every place we put a house, every place we
put a mall, we set aside another tract of equal size for the other 10 million
species on the planet to persist.”
Cardinale says we should start setting aside more land soon. Some
estimates suggest as much as half of all known species on Earth could
be extinct by the end of this century.
Gas station pumps and underground storage tanks are not yet UL certified to handle E-85. (Photo by Lester Graham)
With thousands of flex-fuel vehicles hitting the road, gas stations are adding E-85 to
their fuels. E-85 is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. But, as Lester
Graham reports, storing and pumping E-85 fuel is a major concern because, so far,
no equipment has been certified as safe to handle it:
Transcript
With thousands of flex-fuel vehicles hitting the road, gas stations are adding E-85 to
their fuels. E-85 is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. But, as Lester
Graham reports, storing and pumping E-85 fuel is a major concern because, so far,
no equipment has been certified as safe to handle it:
The Department of Energy’s Handbook for Handling, Storing, and Dispensing E-85
warns, “certain materials commonly used with gasoline are totally incompatible with
alcohols.” Other government guidelines give detailed instructions about storing E-85
in underground storage tanks and the pumps people use to fill their vehicles. But,
with more and more filling stations adding E-85 pumps, not everyone is following the
instructions and warnings.
Brad Hoffman is with the nation’s largest underground storage tank service
company, Tanknology. The company inspects gas station distribution systems:
“I think they pretty much just took for granted that their tank could store whatever
fuel they put into it and they didn’t really check the compatibility of the tank and the
other piping and dispensing equipment. They didn’t really confirm that it was
compatible with the E-85 that was being delivered.”
And some of the fiberglass underground storage tanks are not compatible. Ethanol
can soften the polymers in certain tanks. That can make them weaker and might
cause them to leak. There’s also concern that leak detection equipment might also
be damaged by ethanol. So if a tank is leaking, it might go undetected. And it’s not
just the tanks. There are questions about compatibility with the pumps filling flex-fuel
vehicles.
The ethanol industry says there have been no major problems with tanks or pumps
so far. Matt Hartwig is with the Renewable Fuels Association:
“Most gas station operators will use tanks that are appropriate. They will clean the
tanks. They would do the proper maintenance and the proper preparation required
to install E-85 infrastructure. Because of the nature of ethanol, you do need a
dedicated tank and pump system to dispense the fuel. I don’t think consumers and
the American driver have anything to fear.”
But fuel tank and gas pump inspectors are not as sure. Brad Hoffman with
Tanknology says government guidelines give checklists of recommendations on how
to prepare tanks and pumping systems:
“Being realistic, I think there’s a chance that some marketers may, you know, for
whatever reason, may not thoroughly check each of those items. And there could be
some problems, either with the tanks or the dispensing systems.”
Problems that could cause leaks.
Underwriters Laboratories is the safety testing organization that certifies the safety of equipment storing and pumping fuels. John Drengenberg is with
UL. He says it was only last year that a manufacturer asked for requirements for equipment handling E-85. Drengenberg says old gasoline equipment might not
be safe to pump E-85:
“The alcohol is different in that it’s much more corrosive. We know for a fact that
alcohol will attack soft metals, in particular aluminum and copper, things of that type,
and even plastics. So, therefore, what worked for gasoline dispensers, may not work
for ethanol dispensers.”
Drengenberg says gaskets, seals, and o-rings in the pump, hose or handle could
deteriorate and mean leaking fuel at the pump:
“With this type of fuel, ethanol, we’re mostly worried about fire hazards. If there is a
leak – let’s say for some reason ethanol attacked a gasket or a seal on a dispenser,
you could have a fuel leak – the fuel leak could be very dangerous in that any spark
could set it off. You could have a fire or possibly an explosion. So, that is the
concern that we have, certainly. And that is why we’re developing requirements for
these ethanol dispensers.”
UL expects to issue requirements for equipment by the end of the year. In the
meantime, whether the tanks and pumps offering E-85 at your gas station are safe is
up to the judgment of the local fire chief, fire marshal, or other local official.
For the Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.
Activists want Target to stop carrying PVC plastic products because of potential links with toxins. (photo by Lester Graham)
Polyvinyl chloride and the chemicals used to make it are thought to be
linked to birth defects and cancers. So activists are urging companies
to stop using the plastic. America’s 6th largest retailer Target was
recently handed 10,000 signatures at its annual shareholders
meeting. The petition urges the company to phase out the use of PVC
plastic in the products it sells. Lisa Ann Pinkerton reports:
Transcript
Polyvinyl chloride and the chemicals used
to make it are thought by some to be linked to
birth defects and cancers. The petition was
delivered to the annual shareholders meeting.
Lisa Ann Pinkerton has more:
In white hazmat suits and dust masks, about 30 protesters chant on the street in front of the new Target store.
It’s the site of this year’s shareholder meeting
and one of those protesters is Brad Melzer, a biology professor at Lake Erie
College in Ohio. But Melzer’s not shaking a protest sign right now. Instead, he’s trying to keep his infant
son shaded and cool in the noon-day sun. As little Winston lounges in a stroller, sucking on a bottle, Melzer says he’s
here today because he’s read about PVC plastic and its possible toxicity to
children:
“To be honest, I don’t even know if this nipple has PVC in it. He could already be
ingesting these things.”
Protests like this one are happening simultaneously in 200 locations across the country,
but in Cleveland, protesters have turned in a petition with 10,000 signatures urging Target
to stop stocking its shelvesproducts containing polyvinyl chloride, or PVC.
Not too far away from the Melzers, is Doctor Cynthia Bearer of Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, and she chats with a
woman holding a protest sign reading “Way off Target with Toxic Toys.”
Bearer’s main concern is chemicals called pthalates, which help soften PVC plastic. The
most common is known as DEHP. Bearer says the chemicals may leach from teething
rings, shower curtains and packaging, and put young children at risk:
“Pthalates are known to be endocrine disrupters. They interact with the thyroid
hormone.”
And they can cause abnormalities in infants, she says, including reproductive
difficulties:
“So we can actually measure health effects, particularly on male infants in terms of their
sexual development at the time of birth from exposure to pthalates.”
Like Dr. Bearer and Brad Melzer, some of the protesters are science professionals.
Some are just concerned parents and others are advocates for children. Maureen Swanson is with the Learning Disabilities Association of America. She says the development of children’s brains might be impaired by exposure
to chemicals in PVC. She says even if science can’t pinpoint right now why 1 in 6
children suffer from learning disabilities, something needs to be done. She says the burden on America’s schools is growing:
“The percentage of school funding that has to go to help these kids who have learning
and developmental disabilities, then that impacts the school’s ability to fund other
educational needs.”
Some precautions have been made to reduce exposure to some of the PVC-related chemicals.
The US Food and Drug Administration has advised against using DEHP in medical
devices, and the Environmental Protection Agency has listed it as a probable carcinogen,
but the government doesn’t bar the use of DEHP in any product.
Even without the ban on the chemicals, 53 companies, including Target’s largest competitor, Wal-Mart, have begun phasing
out the products that contain PVC. Target Spokeswoman Carolyn Brookter says her company has some options it’s working on,
but it’s reluctant to set a time table for phasing out PVC. But she says that doesn’t mean that Target isn’t taking the
issue seriously:
“We’re talking to out buyers, we’re talking to our venders and we’re asking them to look
into some alternatives that we have.”
If Target doesn’t move on the PVC issue, new dad Brian Melzer
says he’ll be left with a difficult shopping dilemma:
“I don’t like shopping at Wal-Mart at all. But… if Target continues its practices of not phasing
out PVCs. Yeah, then definitely I would choose one of their competitors, and if it had to
be Wal-Mart, I guess it would have to be Wal-Mart.”
However, at this point, Target Spokeswoman Brookter doesn’t think the company will
lose business on this single issue.
For the Environment Report, I’m Lisa Ann Pinkerton.
Pull out a map and you’ll find the Great Lakes area holds resources that no other place can claim. The region is rich in lakes and forests and scenic views. But a road map just covers the surface. We know much less about what’s under the earth. Now, a team of geologists is working to map the resources under the ground. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
Transcript
Pull out a map and you’ll find the Great Lakes area holds resources that no other
place can claim.
The region is rich in lakes and forests and scenic views. But a road map just
covers the surface.
We know much less about what’s under the earth. Now, a team of geologists from the
Great
Lakes states is working to map the resources under the ground. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Erin Toner reports:
Look outside – look out your car window or into your backyard and try to erase
everything you
see. Take away the playgrounds and the concrete parking lots. Strip away the trees
and the grass
and the topsoil in your garden.
This is the way Kevin Kincare imagines the world. A picture of nothing except naked
landforms
– massive hills and cavernous valleys. All created by gigantic pieces of ice that
gouged and
ground their way down the globe from Canada. This would be the picture of Great
Lakes states
about 15-thousand years ago. It’s the picture Kincare is slowly putting down on paper.
“This is a big chunk of granite and you can see this one side is flat and looks
polished. The
glacier was moving across. There’s grooves right here. So this is the direction
the ice was
moving.”
Kincare is a glacial geologist with the Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality. Six years
ago, he helped start the Central Great Lakes Geologic Mapping Coalition. It’s a
group of
geologists from four states – Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio – and the U.S.
Geological
Survey. They’re working to put together a 3-D digital map of the region’s glacial
geology.
They’ll map everything down to the bedrock, which can be hundreds of feet below the
Earth’s
surface.
The first step in geologic mapping is compiling information from local maps. After
that it’s out
to the field.
At Tacy Brother’s Gravel Pit, a massive machine is sorting big scoops of earth into
piles of sand,
gravel and rocks.
Kincare is now working on mapping a small county on Lake Michigan. He says looking
at a
gravel pit is like looking at nature’s record of thousands of years of changes to
the planet’s
surface.
“That starts to pull the whole story together. How the ice retreated across the
county from east to
west and where all the rivers that were carrying the melting glacier ice and
depositing thick
sections of sand, and where the glacial lakes were, where all the silt and clay was
dropping out.”
Geologists say one of the most important uses for the maps is locating water
resources.
Nationally, Michigan ranks first in the number of people who use household wells to
get their
drinking water. Illinois, Ohio and Indiana rank among the top 15 in the nation for
household
water well use.
Gary Witkowski’s job is to protect the environment in his county in southwest
Michigan. He says
the first step in protecting groundwater is knowing exactly where it is.
“It’d be a tremendous help for us if we could just go to a resource like this and
pull that
information. Not only to us, but, I mean, even to the developer, it would be a
major plus that they
could look at.”
Knowing exactly what’s under the ground also helps planners build in the right
places. And it
helps them avoid building in the wrong places. For example, planners can put
neighborhoods
close to supplies of groundwater. They can discourage development on land rich in
minerals and
construction materials, such as sand and gravel. And they can make sure they don’t
build
industrial plants in places that are especially vulnerable to pollution.
Dennis O’Leary is with the U.S. Geological Survey. He’s helping Kevin Kincare with
the map.
“Those kinds of decisions that involve competing interests really can’t be made
rationally unless
there’s a body of knowledge, of fact, that relates to just what the question’s all
about and that’s
what these maps provide.”
But it could be awhile before people have access to maps this detailed. The four
states in the
mapping coalition and the Geological Survey all have to share 500-thousand dollars a
year for the
project. That means Kevin Kincare can map only one county every three years. It
would take
two centuries just to finish his state.
“We’d have to have a lot of medical breakthroughs for me to finish this project.”
Kincare says the maps are too important to wait that long. He says they need
20-million-dollars a
year from Congress. With that money, they could put together a complete geologic
map of the
Great Lakes region in about 16 years. Kincare says he’s not optimistic they’ll get
that kind of
money.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Erin Toner.
