TOP STORY
Critical Mass
Pope urges youth to care for the planet
Pope Benedict XVI preached the gospel of green to hundreds of thousands of young Catholics in Loreto, Italy, on Sunday, one day after the Italian church's designated Save Creation Day. While the church gave out recycled-material backpacks filled with biodegradable plates, hand-cranked cell-phone chargers, and prayer books printed on recycled paper, the pontiff implored young people to care for the earth. "New generations will be entrusted with the future of the planet, which bears clear signs of a type of development that has not always protected nature's delicate equilibriums," said the Pope, who was decked out in vestments of green, the liturgical color of hope. "Before it is too late one must make courageous choices that can recreate a strong alliance between mankind and the earth."
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TODAY'S NEWS
Can't Hit the Broad Side of a Barnacle
Barnacle-killing chemical will be banned
Nasty chemical tributyltin, used to rid ship hulls of barnacles and algae, will be banned under an international treaty expected to be ratified within the next few days. TBT is cheap, effective, used on nearly all of the world's 30,000 commercial vessels -- and deemed by the U.S. EPA to be the most toxic chemical ever deliberately released into the world's waters. And that's saying something. The chemical has "profound reproductive effects" and kills off not only barnacles and algae, but other marine life. Says a representative of WWF, "It's a tremendous victory for the marine environment."
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Greenie, Get Your Gun
Number of hunters and fishers in U.S. has declined since 1996
Wildlife agencies have been scrambling to make up funding shortfalls in the last few years due at least in part to a drop in the number of hunters and fishers and the revenue-generating licenses they buy. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, hunter numbers have declined about 10 percent between 1996 and 2006, down to about 12.5 million from 14 million, due in part to the loss of hunting land to urbanization. Fishing has also taken a 15 percent dive since 1996. Hunting groups and state agencies have been trying to reverse the decline in sportsfolk by attracting new recruits, including kids, at pro-hunting events. But it takes more than a license to get people out in the woods. "You don't just get up and go hunting one day -- your father or father-type figure has to have hunted," said national hunting expert Mark Damian Duda. Maybe that explains the decline: a conspicuous lack of gun-toting father figures. Wherefore art thou, Charlton Heston?
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Perchance Meeting
U.N. climate meeting ends with a whole lotta nothin'
Last week, leaders from 158 countries wrapped up a U.N.-convened meeting at which they discussed post-Kyoto Protocol climate targets. Predictably, deadlock and vagueness abounded. The European Union and developing nations pushed for an indication that industrialized countries should be guided by a goal of reducing emissions 25 to 40 percent of 1990 levels by 2020; countries including Canada, Japan, and Russia opposed such approaching-strong language, and the final version of negotiations stated that such numbers provide "useful initial parameters for the overall level of ambition of further emissions reductions." Also, it was generally agreed that emissions should be reduced to "very low levels." The U.S., not having ratified the Kyoto Protocol, was not invited to the party. Nations will come together again in December in Indonesia to try to hammer out an actual post-Kyoto agreement.
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Show Us Your Tots!
Got an adorable kid? Got a tip for fellow parents trying to live green? Share your pictures and advice with Grist for possible inclusion in our upcoming Parenting and Health series. Send 'em to kwroth@grist.org by Sept. 10.
GRIST FEATURES AND COLUMNS
Consider Using the N-Word Less
Voluntary actions didn't get us civil rights, and they won't fix the climate
You've heard the message a million times: if we all changed just a light bulb or two, the world would be on a safer course. It's true that efficient light bulbs do save energy (and save you money, cough cough), but is all this emphasis on personal action giving polluting industries a free pass? Activist and author Mike Tidwell says yes -- and imagines what would have happened if the voluntary approach had been used in other historic struggles.
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Import-Export Business. How globalization is smothering U.S. fruit and vegetable farms.
From DIY to Dirty. A new Grist List by Sarah van Schagen and Sarah K. Burkhalter.
A Shareable Feast. Umbra advises on community-supported agriculture for singles.
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OPINION & ANALYSIS
Teaching green. Lessons from Burning Man 2007.
by Judith Lewis
Local yokel. "Extreme localism" in the New Yorker.
by Tom Philpott
Hunting the white whale. Flawed new analysis purports to show that there's no scientific consensus on climate change.
by Andrew Dessler
The Architect speaks. Karl Rove says history to view Bush as "far-sighted leader."
by Chip Giller
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