Global Warming in the News Compiled by Hedvah Shuchman, BCAS U.S. Supreme Court Gets Arguments for EPA to Regulate CO2. Science, September 8,2006 The Supreme Court will consider the question this term whether greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide should be regulated as pollutants. EPA has used the Clean Air act of 1970 to regulate smog and other pollution from cars ---not greenhouse gasses. In 1999 a nonprofit organization petitioned EPA to change its mind. EPA declined and in 2003 a number of states and nonprofit groups sued. That case, Massachusetts v.EPA, is now before the Supreme Court and last month 12 states and a number of cities and nonprofit groups filed Arctic Research Hints at Future Warming by Patrick Tucker, The Futurist, Sept-Oct 2006 p 8 The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program has succeeded in taking core samples from the floor of the Arctic Ocean, a first for science. The samples contain the remains of animal and plant life several million years old. By analyzing the fatty substances in the cells’ membranes, researchers can determine the average temperature that prevailed during the organisms’ life. At some time during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum period (PETM) the earth released a great abundance of greenhouse gas (possibly methane or carbon dioxide.) into the atmosphere, resulting in a greenhouse effect and accompanying global temperature rise of 5 degrees C. This shows that if you pump a bunch of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, the planet warms. This is a good analog for today’s greenhouse gas emissions. Climate Change May Destroy Coast Fishing National Wildlife Federation Fishing as we know it could disappear in a few decades. Flooding of bays and estuaries on Florida coasts as a result of global warming. Predicted fallout of global warming will be increased disease among marine life, more outbreaks of harmful algal blooms, fiercer hurricanes and more extreme rainfall patterns. In addition to the effect on commercial fisheries, sport fishing will be affected and that could mean a big dent on the state’s economy. In 2005 recreational fishers spent $3.3 million and supported nearly 60,000 job. Among the game fish species most likely to be affected are flounder, gray snapper, tarpon, bonefish , redfish and snook. Feds Say Yes to Bio-based Products by Kimberly Palmer, Plenty August/September 2006 In April 2006, Congress requested the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to start a program requiring federal agencies to buy bio-based products, which are made from renewal sources such as soybean oil instead of petroleum. The department says the program will help boost the industry and encourage the creation of more bio-based products. The USDA has a compiled a list of petroleum-based products that should be replaced with bio-based counterparts, including hydraulic fluids, roog and water tank coatings, diesel fuel additives, lubricants and linens. Hand-cleaners, sanitizers and germ-killers will probably be phased in. The USDA’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland, one of the first places to embrace bio-based products, already uses bio diesel fuel in its tractors, soybean oil as a lubricant for machinery and bio-based soap in its bathrooms.