GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TACKLE GLOBAL WARMING WITHOUT KYOTO
by Sarah Morgan

With the Kyoto Protocol going into effect this week without the United States, climate change has taken the spotlight as government officials at all levels try to assure the public that the country is not ignoring the challenge.

Though the United States produces about one-fourth of the world’s greenhouse gases -- the gases that Kyoto aims to reduce based on scientists’ belief that they cause global warming -- President Bush withdrew from the Kyoto process in 2001.

The Kyoto Protocol took about eight years to negotiate, and a total of 141 countries have signed on to the agreement. Australia and the United States are the only large developed countries not participating.

According to the Los Angeles Times, though the United States signed the Kyoto treaty in 1997, "the US Senate refused to ratify it, however, arguing that it would harm the American economy."

On Tuesday, Feb 15, the day before Kyoto went into effect, the United States said it will spend nearly $5.8 billion in 2005 on research and programs to address climate change, Reuters reported.

The budget will include $5 billion for research into climate change and potential technology to combat it, about $700 million in tax incentives for renewable and energy efficient programs, and $200 million in foreign aid for climate change programs, according to Reuters.

As for Houston, "global warming" seems to be a taboo phrase.

At a conference on climate change at Rice University last week, Elena Marks, the city’s director of health policy, spoke about climate change on behalf of the mayor, Bill White.

"We speak of it in terms of sustainable development," Marks said. "We try to use language that doesn’t put people off."

Marks did speak at some length about air quality, promising to increase monitoring and pursue more stringent enforcement.

"What we really want to do is find long-term solutions to the problem," she said. Such solutions include filing lawsuits against polluters, should it come to that, she said, as well as creating a multi-jurisdictional enforcement team that involves county, state, and city officials.

The effects of global warming are already having an impact on Houston and the world, experts said at the climate change conference.

Phil Bedient, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Rice University, addressed flood prediction in urban areas as related to climate change and said, "Flood frequency has increased… we are seeing more of these 10-year (floods and storms)."

David Crichton, who works with the Benfield Hazard Research Center at the University College of London, specializing in insurance issues relating to climate change, also spoke at the conference, outlining possible future effects of global warming around the world.

He said that one issue that is rarely addressed is the possibility of dam failures due to climate change.

"We’ve been seeing a rash of dam failures," Crichton said, pointing out that at least 2,000 communities in the United States are built in dam pathways, were the dams to break. "The possibility of their breaking is compounded by the fact that more than 50 percent of dams are more than 50 years old," he said.

Additionally, NASA announced last week that the world should gear up for another hot year, predicting that 2005 could be the warmest year on record, Reuters reported.

"There has been a strong warming trend over the past 30 years, a trend that has been shown to be due primarily to increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies told Reuters.

The warmest year currently on record is 1998, which scientists attribute to both a strong El Nino and greenhouse gases. Last year was the fourth warmest year, while 2002 and 2003 came in second and third, respectively, according to Reuters.

RESIDENTS SAY MORE PROTECTION FROM TOLL ROADS NEEDED
by Sarah Morgan

Local residents and grassroots organizations are pushing for new state legislation that would place restrictions on the Harris County Toll Road Authority’s right to build new roads, including a requirement to hold public hearings, notices, and environmental reviews, all of which are currently not required.

"We have a really lousy system to inform and protect citizens," said Polly Ledvina, a member of the Citizens’ Transportation Coalition, a group of residents concerned with how transportation issues affect quality of life.

Under current state laws, local municipalities such as the City of Houston do not have the legal power to stop or require any change to Harris County toll-road-funded projects within city borders. Further, the Harris County Toll Road Authority is not required to notify area residents or to hold public meetings or comment sessions concerning proposed projects that could end up in residents’ backyards.

According to an article in the West University Examiner, that’s exactly what happened to some area residents when the construction of the Westpark tollway caught many by surprise.

"We blinked and we had a toll road," resident Dana Stevenson told the Examiner.

Currently, the Harris County Toll Road system covers approximately 83 miles of roadway in the Houston and Harris County. There are a total of nine "mainline plazas," seven of which are along the Sam Houston Tollway and two on the Hardy Toll Road, according to the HCTRA Web site.

But, according to the CTC, the Harris County Toll Road Authority has more than a dozen proposals for new toll roads that have had little or no review by the public or city officials.

"TXDOT has comprehensive meeting and environmental rules, and every type of tolling authority is subject to them -- except county toll authorities like HCTRA," said Robin Holzer in a press release. Holzer is a resident and member of the Citizens' Transportation Coalition. "In other words, most of the standard environmental and public outreach requirements do not apply to HCTRA."

The proposed legislation that the CTC is advocating would require all toll-funded projects be subject to the same public notice, public meeting, and environmental assessment requirements as federally funded highway projects.

"We’re not saying that all toll roads are bad," said Ledvina. "But there’s not proper regulation to protect the public."

The CTC is urging concerned residents to contact their state representatives about the matter.

"Maybe it is too late for some of those residents," Ledvina said, "but what about the ones up the way? Where’s it going next?"

For more information, visit the Citizens' Transportation Coalition Web site at:
http://www.citizenstransportationcoalition.org.

CLEAN PRESENTS SERIES ON BUILDING A BETTER WORLD

CLEAN is presenting a series of articles, through the CLEAN Web site, as part of its Building a Better World Project. The project is offering education and information that can bring a perspective of hope and inspire action employing solutions to environmental problems available today. The project also offers ideas for sustainable living in an area in dire need of protection and care.

Topics to be included are green building, permaculture, biomimicry; the art of recycling, and creating healthy spaces for children to learn, live, and play.

Presentations for the community, based on the series, will be given by speakers who include scientists, activists, and other professionals from CLEAN’s executive board and board of advisers, as well as experts interviewed for the series.

The following is an excerpt from the first article in the series, "Better safe than sorry: using the precautionary principle to prevent harm," by Vicki Wolf.

Concerned about the increase in disease, declining natural resources and the rate at which some species are becoming extinct, a group of environmentalists, farmers, industry leaders and health care professionals explored solutions. In 1998, they gathered at Wingspread conference in Racine, Wisconsin and developed the precautionary principle as a guide toward preventing harm to the planet and to human health (http://www.gdrc.org/u-gov/precaution-3.html). The precautionary principle states: "When an activity raises threats of harm to the environment or human health, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically." In other words, better safe than sorry -- avoid exposing people and the environment to a chemical, product or process until it is proven to be safe. Throughout the history of industry, it has been the other way around -- preventing exposure of people and the environment to possible harm required scientific proof of danger.

Considering that there are 85,000 registered synthetic chemicals in the environment, precaution is overdue. Few have been tested for safety, and combinations of these chemicals have not been tested.

To read the full article and for more information, visit:
http://www.cleanhouston.org

FLOOD CONTROL BEGINS AT HOME WORKSHOP

Area residents and urban planners can learn how to be a part of the solution to area flooding problems by attending the Flood Control Begins at Home workshop on February 26, 9 am to 3 pm, at the Bellaire Civic Center, 7008 South Rice Avenue. This event is free and open to the public. The Flood Control Begins at Home workshop will feature practical presentations and demonstrations by land-use design professionals Mindy Vanderford, PhD, J. Kolenovsky, Kevin Topek, and Mark Bowen. For more information, contact Hana Ginzberg at (713) 664-4320, or ginzbarg@hal-pc.org

LIVABLE HOUSTON INITIATIVE: FRAMING GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Wednesday, Feb 23, from noon to1:30 pm, the Livable Houston Initiative will host a bring-your-own-lunch meeting at Houston-Galveston Area Council, 3555 Timmons, second floor. This month’s topic will be the language and values that drive support for or create opposition to development and growth. What are the underlying ideas behind the messages that people are responding to? What are the significant values that nearly all Americans hold? How do you sell a better future? Using work developed by the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities and Smart Growth America, the meeting will explore successful strategies for thinking about development. A copy of the paper "Talking in Public about Growth and Development" will be available to participants. For more information, call (713) 523-5757.

GREEN MOUNTAIN ENERGY SEEKS CANDIDATES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DIVISION

Green Mountain Energy Company is the nation's largest retail provider of cleaner electricity; selling electricity generated from sources such as wind, solar, water, geothermal, biomass, and natural gas to residential, business, institutional, and governmental customers. Green Mountain Energy Company is currently looking for two people to join their Environmental Division. Both positions report to the Chief Environmental Officer. Manager of environmental affairs: This position requires an uncommon individual: one who has strong quantitative and analytical skills; who is able to do solitary research and who is adept in working collaboratively under pressure; who is passionate and idealistic about a healthy environment and who is practical in approach. Environmental markets team lead: This position will be responsible for leading the company's product substantiation and product supply through implementation of effective internal controls and processes, as well as understanding evolving external tag registries. To get the full job description for each of these openings, please go to:
http://www.greenmountain.com/about/employment. All resumes and cover letters should be sent to bestjobs@greenmountain.com with the desired job title in the subject field.

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