Year: 2007

Auto Show Shows More Green

This week, the North American International Auto Show in Detroit opens to the public. Every year, the event is a showcase for the newest trends for tomorrow’s cars and trucks, and this year, the big trend is fuel-efficient vehicles. Cleaner cars have been promised before, but Dustin Dwyer reports that this year’s green car concepts could be more than just an attempt to polish up a dirty image for the auto industry:

Transcript

This week, the North American International Auto Show in Detroit opens to the public.
Every year, the event is a showcase for the newest trends for tomorrow’s cars and trucks,
and this year, the big trend is fuel-efficient vehicles. Cleaner cars have been promised
before, but Dustin Dwyer reports that this year’s green car concepts could be more than
just an attempt to polish up a dirty image for the auto industry:


The press previews for this year’s Detroit auto show were made up of three straight days
of back-to-back new product launches. Dozens of new vehicles were unveiled. Hundreds
of glossy brochures were offered to reporters, and nothing generated as much interest as
the new Chevrolet Volt concept vehicle:


(Sound of buzzing)


A packed crowd gathered for the flashy and noisy unveiling. GM executives announced
that the concept car could run up to 40 miles without using a single drop of fuel. It runs
instead on electricity cranked out by its next-generation lithium-ion batteries. When the
liquid fuel system eventually does kick in, it recharges the battery for better fuel
economy, getting up to 150 miles per gallon.


And as GM CEO Rick Wagoner told the audience, the Chevy Volt represents a new way
of thinking for the world’s largest automaker. It comes from a realization that oil alone is
highly unlikely to supply enough energy for all of tomorrow’s vehicles:


“For the global auto industry, this means that we must as a business necessity, develop
alternative sources of propulsion based on alternative sources of energy in order to meet the
world’s growing demand for our products.”


GM wasn’t the only automaker to unveil a fuel conscious vehicle at this year’s auto show.
Ford’s Airstream concept, and Toyota’s FT-HS sports car concept both featured hybrid
style powertrain systems, backed by a lithium-ion battery.


It might not be all that surprising for automakers to release such vehicles after a year in
which gas prices surged beyond three dollars a gallon, but analyst Jim Hall of Auto
Pacific says gas prices aren’t the reason for automakers to get into low or no emission
vehicles.


“You do it for two reasons, one, the potential of getting out of the business of making a
mechanical engine that has to be machined and made of multiple pieces and assembled,
and the other part of it is, you never have to spend another penny on emissions controls,
and emissions research, and emissions development and emissions engineering, which, at
every major car company is billions of dollars.”


So, basically, greener technology will eventually be cheaper technology. That means that
for perhaps the first time in the history of the auto industry, the interests of
environmentalists and the interest of business-minded bean counters are finally in line.


The big question now is how to get to that greener future. The concepts at this year’s
Detroit auto show all point to lithium-ion batteries as the next frontier. These batteries
are more powerful, and potentially cheaper than the batteries in today’s hybrids, but
they’re also less stable, and don’t last as long.


GM executives say they think they can resolve those issues and have a lithium-ion
powered vehicle by the end of the decade, but Jim Hall says no way:


“I worked on an electric vehicle program when I was employed in the auto industry
directly, and I learned that there are three kinds of liars in the world. There are liars,
damn liars and battery engineers.”


Of course, not everyone agrees with Hall’s assessment. Some lithium-ion proponents
even argue that the technology could be ready to go right now. Ford, General Motors and
the Chrysler Group have asked the federal government for more funding to speed-
development of lithium-ion batteries.


They say the Japanese government is giving its car companies several hundred million
dollars for battery development, and they want a comparable effort from the US
government. But even if Detroit automakers don’t get the money, almost everyone agrees
that big changes are coming for the auto industry, and that decades-long battle between
the good of the environment and the good of carmakers could be coming to a close.


For the Environment Report, I’m Dustin Dwyer.

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Tree Pest Spreads From East to Northwoods

An invasive insect that has hurt forests in eastern states for more than 50 years is spreading to northern forests. Richie Duchon reports officials think it came by way of out-of-state nurseries:

Transcript

An invasive insect that has hurt forests in eastern states for more than 50 years is spreading to
northern forests. Richie Duchon reports officials think it came by way of out of state nurseries:


The tiny bug kills hemlock trees. The Hemlock Wooly Adelgid makes the trees weak and
vulnerable to droughts. Most of them die within ten years.


Mike Phillip is with the Michigan Department of Agriculture. He says this is an important time
of year for finding the adelgid.


“It begins to become active and will develop a white cottony, fluffy surrounding for its body. It’s
called an ova sac. And that is where it gets its name Wooly Adelgid. And that is an important
stage for us, because that’s where it becomes visible to us, and we can really get an idea of the
size of an infestation and what we’re really facing.”


Hemlocks are an important tree in forests, because they make good habitat for birds and animals.


For the Environment Report, I’m Richie Duchon.

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Gardeners Bats for Guano

A dealer in plant fertilizers is getting top dollar for product that he gathers close to home. Fred Kight reports some gardeners are just bats for the nutrient:

Transcript

A dealer in plant fertilizers is getting top dollar for product that he gathers close to home. Fred
Kight reports some gardeners are just bats for the nutrient:


What sells for 14 dollars a pound, comes from church steeples and is a fantastic plant fertilizer?
It’s bat poop. Or, more properly, bat guano.


Matt Peters says he already was selling worm dung as a plant food.


When nearby church leaders called him about their bat dropping problems, he added the guano to
the fertilizer inventory of his Ohio business. Peters says some customers are attracted by the
novelty… while others just want healthy plants:


“Definitely in my own personal trials I’ve been amazed at the power of bat guano. I never knew
green could be so green.”


Peters says the original manufacturers, so to speak, of his guano eat mosquitoes.


Since mosquitoes are nitrogen-rich, so is the bat guano… and plants love nitrogen.


For the Environment Report, I’m Fred Kight.

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Hitchhiking Invaders Keep Coming

The recent appearance of a new invasive species shows just how easily an even worse invader could make its way into the Great Lakes. Rebecca Williams reports the invaders are hitching a ride in the ballast water of foreign ships:

Transcript

The recent appearance of a new invasive species shows just how easily an
even worse invader could make its way into the Great Lakes. Rebecca
Williams reports the invaders are hitching a ride in the ballast water of
foreign ships:


The new shrimp that’s here is called the bloody red mysid. Scientists say
the shrimp eat tiny organisms at the bottom of the food web… and could
compete with fish for food.


Steve Pothoven is a fisheries biologist with the Great Lakes Environmental
Research Lab. He discovered thousands of the shrimp near Lake Michigan.


“They’re originally from the Ponto-Caspian region, which is the Black and
Caspian Seas. The Ponto-Caspian is the same region that zebra mussels,
quaggas mussels are from, gobies, so that’s the region we’ve got a lot of
the more recent well known invaders.”


Scientists have an eye out for another invader from that same region. It’s
called the killer shrimp. It’s known for biting and shredding its victims…
and doesn’t always eat what it kills. Some scientists are worried if it
gets in, the killer shrimp could cause even more devastation to the Great
Lakes food web.


For the Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.

Shocking Ships Keeps Pests at Bay

Some scientists say they’ve got a new answer to a centuries-old problem with ships. The problem is called “bio-fouling.”
That’s when ships pick up unwanted marine life on their hulls, such as mollusks and barnacles. Brian Bull reports on a shocking solution:

Transcript

Some scientists say they’ve got a new answer to a centuries-old problem with
ships. The problem is called “bio-fouling.” That’s when ships pick up unwanted
marine life on their hulls, such as mollusks and barnacles. Brian Bull reports on
a shocking solution:


Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say coating boat hulls with
thousands of tiny, titanium electrodes will help stop marine organisms from
sticking onto watercraft. Initial tests show that electrodes slow build-up of
marine life by up to 50 percent. They gently zap any critters that come close to
the hull.


Scientist Dan Noguera says not only can this help curb the spread of invasive
species such as zebra mussels, but it can also help maintain a ship’s fuel
efficiency:


“If you have a surface that has a lot of bio-organisms attached, it’s going to slow
down the boat. You need to put a lot more fuel into it. So there are economic
impacts of these fouling agents.”


Besides wasting fuel, some of the hitch-hiking invasive organisms are causing
environmental damage.


For the Environment Report, I’m Brian Bull.

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Ethanol Production Drives Up Food Prices

  • Ethanol distillation plants are being built all over the corn belt. An environmental think tank predicts food prices will rise because corn is used for meat and many other food products. (Photo by Lester Graham)

There are new questions about how much grain it will take to supply all the ethanol plants being built around the U.S.
One group says more ethanol production will boost grain prices further. Chuck Quirmbach reports:

Transcript

There are new questions about how much grain it will take to supply all the ethanol plants being
built around the U.S. One group says more ethanol production will boost grain prices further.
Chuck Quirmbach reports:


The U.S. Ag department estimates the nearly 200 ethanol plants that are in production, being
expanded or being built will require 60 million tons of corn by the end of next year. But the
Earth Policy Institute says the actual need for corn will be more than twice that much.


Institute President Lester Brown says the surging demand for grain will drive up food prices.


“In a sense, our refrigerators are stuffed with corn that’s been converted into livestock products of
one sort or another, so what happens to corn prices will very much affect prices at the
supermarket checkout counter. ”


Brown says he’d like to see a moratorium on licensing new ethanol plants. But some farmers
contend they’ll be able to expand production to meet the additional demand for corn.


For the Environment Report, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.

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State Bans Invaders Where Feds Fail

  • Biologists worry that ships from foreign ports will bring in an even more damaging invasive species called the ‘killer shrimp.’ (Photo by Lester Graham)

One state has a new law in effect to stop ocean-going ships from bringing in foreign pests that can harm the environment.
Rebecca Williams reports neighboring states are watching to see what happens next:

Transcript

One state has a new law in effect to stop ocean-going ships from
bringing in foreign pests that can harm the environment. Rebecca
Williams reports neighboring states are watching to see what happens next:


States are frustrated that the federal government has not stopped pollution
from ballast water.


Michigan is the first state to require all ocean-going ships to have a
ballast water permit to dock at its ports. Shippers can only buy a permit
if they show that they won’t release invasive species into state waters.


Stephanie Showalter directs the National Sea Grant Law Center. She says
it’ll be at least a few months before it’s clear whether the Michigan law
will work.


“Most likely if Michigan’s laws are working and seem easy to implement I’d
suspect the other Great Lakes states would model their legislation very
closely to the Michigan legislation.”


California recently passed its own ballast water law, but it’s not as
restrictive as the Michigan law.


Showalter says the shipping industry could sue Michigan on the grounds that
the law restricts interstate commerce.


For the Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.

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Phased-Out Pesticide Needed for Orchards?

  • Apple and cherry farmers are concerned phasing out an effective pesticide will affect production and leave more pesticide residue. (Photo by Lester Graham)

The EPA has granted a six-year reprieve for fruit growers to continue to use a highly toxic pesticide. But the decision to eventually phase it out is an uneasy compromise. Environmental health advocates say the delay continues to put farm workers and their families at risk. But growers say they haven’t yet found an effective replacement. Bob Allen reports:

Transcript

The EPA has granted a six-year reprieve for fruit growers to continue to use a
highly toxic pesticide. But the decision to eventually phase it out is an uneasy
compromise. Environmental health advocates say the delay continues to put
farm workers and their families at risk. But growers say they haven’t yet found
an effective replacement. Bob Allen reports:


No one wants Gramma to find a worm when she opens a can of cherries to make
a holiday pie.


According to regulations, inspectors have to make sure cherries coming to market
are worm free. And that puts big pressure on growers when they bring fruit out
of the orchard.


“And you know there’s a zero tolerance for worms. And if they find one worm
they can reject, not just that load, they can reject your whole crop for that
season.”


Francis Otto oversees pesticide spraying for one of the largest cherry orchards
along the west side of Michigan.


For decades those who grow cherries and apples have relied mostly on one
chemical to keep their fruit worm-free. Some call it the hammer. It knocks
down every insect in the orchard for several days. Then it degrades quickly
under sunlight and rain. It’s called azinphos methyl or AZM.


A generation ago workers were directly exposed when they mixed the chemical.
But things have improved since then.


Francis Otto fingers a safer pre-measured packet of AZM.


“It’s called a water soluble packet inside of an overwrap so I can pick this bag up
of azinphos and this plastic bag that it’s actually in dissolves in the water. And so
workers are not exposed to the actual materials.”


That kind of protection is not enough to satisfy groups that sued the EPA on
behalf of farm workers and their families.


Shelly Davis is an attorney with Farmworker Justice. She thinks AZM is just too
toxic to use at all and it ought to be phased-out right away.


“It’s so toxic that if you make the slightest error people are going to get hurt.
>From moderate senses of nausea, vomiting, weakness to convulsions or death.”


There’s no record of anyone dying from AZM. And incidents of serious
poisoning are fairly rare.


But Shelly Davis is mainly worried about effects from low-level exposure to
workers over a long time.


Studies show workers bring pesticides home on their shoes and clothing. It’s in
the dust in their houses where children play.


In Oregon, migrant workers exposed to AZM showed slower reaction times on
tests of how quickly their brains respond than those who don’t work in the
orchards.


“This is a ticking time bomb. Because when children get exposed it gets to the
effect that it can affect their intellectual functioning over time.”


But health researchers are careful to point out there’s no direct link established
between AZM exposure and learning deficits.


As a precaution, they recommend reducing children’s exposure as much as
possible.


EPA is cutting in half the amount of AZM that can be sprayed over the next six
years until it’s phased out. And workers will have to wait 14 days to re-enter a
sprayed orchard instead of 48 hours.


Mark Whalon runs the pesticide alternative lab at Michigan State University.


He’s experimenting with less toxic materials. He says they have to be sprayed
more often and much closer to harvest than AZM to be effective.


Whalon also has spent 25 years developing ways for growers to keep insects in
check other than using chemicals.


“And now we’re going to have to start over again with these new reduced
compounds because they have a whole different set of impacts that we’ve got to
learn all over again.”


Whalon says EPA doesn’t have good data on what the long-term health effects
might be from exposure to the alternative pesticides.


But Shelly Davis with Farmworker Justice says she’d prefer the unknown effects
from much less toxic materials than the sure danger of AZM.


Either way, Francis Otto at Cherry Bay Orchards says something’s got to give.
The alternative pesticides he’s tried are way more expensive but not as effective
as AZM.


Yet he’s still expected to deliver apples and cherries to the buying public free of
insect damage for the same price.


For the Environment Report, I’m Bob Allen.

Related Links

Church Boycotts Bottled Water

  • Coffee hour at Knox United Church in Ottawa, Ontario. The church no longer serves bottled water. (Photo by Karen Kelly)

The latest census found the average American drank more than 23 gallons of bottled water a year. For a lot of people, bottled water is just a part of everyday life. But members of one church are arguing it shouldn’t be. Karen Kelly talked to a minister who’s helping to spread his church’s message:

Transcript

The latest census found the average American drank more than 23 gallons of bottled water a year.
For a lot of people, bottled water is just a part of everyday life.
But members of one church are arguing it shouldn’t be.
Karen Kelly talked to a minister who’s helping to spread his church’s message.

When he was growing up, Reverend Andrew Jensen lived just two blocks from a sandy beach on a
large river. But on a lot of hot days, the beach was closed because of pollution. And when it was
open, his parents were afraid to let him swim there. He says that early experience really made
him appreciate water.


“To have all of that there, to have your parents worry you can’t really touch it too much because
you might get sick… It was really disappointing. You know, you grow up on an island and you
can’t go in the water!”


Now, Reverend Jensen preaches about water. He’s the minister at Knox United Church, a
Protestant church in Ottawa, Canada.


(Fade in sounds of sermon)


“Again and again you have shown your grace to us through water… cleansing of the earth through
the flood… the exodus of the Red Sea, flowing from the rock of the wilderness…”


It’s Baptism Sunday, and Jensen is standing in front of the congregation. He’s extending his arms
over the baptismal font. The service is about the sacredness of water, the idea that it’s a gift from
God meant for everyone. Which is why the idea of bottling and selling water really bothers
Jensen.


“Water really is something we believe is a shared resource and we have to keep on sharing it. And
the more we chop it up into little bits and try to make a profit off of it, the farther we are getting
away from that basic human connectedness and from a religious perspective, that basic sense that
this is something that God has given us that’s for all of us and not just for people.”


A few months ago, the United Church of Canada officially called on its members to avoid drinking
bottled water. The campaign is part of a growing grassroots movement among churches to tackle
some of these issues on their own – in part because the federal government is backing away from
them.


For Jensen, preaching about water means talking about the dangers of it becoming a product.
The more people buy it in bottles, he says, the less attention might be paid to the public drinking
water system.


Plus, church leaders point out that the water in the bottles is often taken right from the tap – for
free – by the companies that sell it. And of course, there’s the issue of where all those bottles go
when we’re done with them.


Not surprisingly, the bottled water industry is not too happy about this campaign.


Elizabeth Griswold is executive director of the Canadian Bottled Water Association. She says the
United Church should focus its energies elsewhere.


“We don’t understand why any church would single out an industry that uses comparatively so
little water – our members use two-tenths of one percent of all groundwater taken in Canada, and
by focusing on the bottled water industry, we are missing a chance to develop long term
sustainable solutions.”


(Clinking cups)


(Congregant: “Coffee or tea, Ma’am?”)


Back at Knox United Church, members help themselves to coffee, tea and pastries. The church no
longer hands out bottled water at events. But it’s hard to tell how much of an effect the boycott is
really having.


The people who say they still drink bottled water refuse to go on tape.


But Sophia Doole and others say the church’s action has changed their behavior.


“Motivation-wise, I think it’s respect for the environment, respect for our own bodies and what
we’re putting into it and also respect for our own church and what they believe and to do to our
best to be guided by them.”


Reverend Andrew Jensen says he’s had calls from people, saying, ‘The church is against bottled
water? What kind of stupid stand is that?'”


That’s when Jensen explains that it’s really not about bottled water. It’s about clean water for
everyone – to drink, to share, and even to swim in.


For The Environment Report, I’m Karen Kelly.

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Dog Doo a Delicacy for Rats

Nature is a big buffet table. One thing eats another – that eats another –
and so on. That’s a fundamental concept of ecology called the food chain.
One city is giving everyone a lesson about a dog’s place in the food chain.
And as Shawn Allee explains, it’s a lesson some would rather not hear:

Transcript

Nature is a big buffet table. One thing eats another – that eats
another – and so on. That’s a fundamental concept of ecology called
the food chain. One city is giving everyone a lesson about a dog’s place
in the food chain. And as Shawn Allee explains, it’s a lesson some would
rather not hear.


Katherine Raz takes up the leash of a slow-moving, black dog. But she’s not
walking her dog through snow. Raz is a professional dog walker.


Allee: “This is one quiet dog.”


“Oh yeah, she’s pretty mellow. Velvet. Velvet. See, she doesn’t even respond
when I call her.”


Velvet is in no hurry to walk, but Raz has got to hustle. She walks dozens of
dogs each week. And business is growing.


“Since I’ve been up here, we’ve had to hire three other people to cover all the
people who’ve called for walks.”


Some residents say all the new dogs are making a big mess. Velvet stops to
prove the point.


“I’ll use the produce bags to capture this. This is a fine specimen here. As
far as picking up the feces, I always thought it was just a cosmetic thing.”


But a sign informed her otherwise.


“I was walking a dog late at night and I was actually stopping to read the sign
because I was so bored. And it’s like, please, pick up the dog droppings because
rats use them as a primary source of food. I was like, Oh, God that’s horrible.
That just gives an image that’s not pretty.”


Indeed, Chicago’s putting dog owners on notice. The city put up that sign
Raz found. It came from the Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation.


Fliers at City Hall say the same thing.


I read one of those fliers to Jose Cruz, Chicago’s rat control Czar.


“They prefer fresh food but will eat many things, such as pet food, dog
droppings, quote – a rat favorite.”


Allee: How do we know that’s the case, that dog droppings are a rat favorite?


“Because we’ve actually come across locations that we don’t see that there’s
not a huge problem with people not containing their garbage.”


The problem is that people are not picking up after their dogs.


Allee: And if I live in a neighborhood where people aren’t picking up after their dogs?
Am I in trouble for a rat problem in the future?


“No, you’re not. Just because there’re lots of dogs, doesn’t mean you’re going to
have a rodent problem.”


Cruz says it all turns on whether people actually clean up. But will enough dog
owners really do that?


Katherine Raz isn’t sure.


“See, there’s a dropping someone didn’t pick up.”


Allee: How often do you see that?


“Oh, all the time.”


Maybe the owners don’t read the signs. Or…maybe they just don’t buy the
dog – feces – rat connection.


I don’t either.


So, one night I meet up with an urban ecologist. Joel Brown is with the
University of Illinois at Chicago university.


Allee: Where are we?


“Right now we’re on the grounds of the UIC greenhouse. It’s a small green patch
that’s bordered by the Kennedy, a large parking garage, and one of the science and
engineering buildings.”


But it’s enough space to let nature run its course. Brown points to a darkened
patch of weeds and trees. He swears I just missed a rabbit.


“You can hear a cottontail running right through the underbrush right here.”


There’s more to observe, though. A falcon dines on pigeons that land here.
Dogs eat the rabbits. And there’s a raccoon that snatches food from the student
parking lot.


Brown says all of these have found a niche in Chicago.


“So what you see is a very dynamic process. Nature is not an art gallery; it works
around us and works in response to us.”


But could rats really take advantage of that neighborhood’s growing dog population?


Brown says, maybe. But perhaps not in the way the city claims.


“It is more likely that a single French fry, or a dog biscuit, pet food left
outside, a
sandwich left on a park bench … all of the incidental bits of food that we leave
behind
without even thinking about it. Those are much more likely to be feeding and breeding
the rat population than dog poop.”


He says it’s a minor link, but the city makes a good point nonetheless.


“That’s the part that, to me, is exciting. The fact that they’re even thinking about
these connections, shows they’re thinking smart.”


Ultimately, signs with dire warnings can’t control dogs’ impact on the neighborhood.
Brown says the behavior that matters most comes from a peculiar animal.


That’s the one that walks on two legs, has a big brain, and can recognize its own
connections to
the natural world.


For the Environment Report, I’m Shawn Allee.

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