Public Health Achievement
The value of family planning as a public health measure was highlighted recently by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which announced its “top ten” list of greatest public health achievements in this century and included family planning, according to an article in the January/February 2000 issue of Population and Habitat, a publication of the National Audubon Society.

According to the Society, access to family planning has improved social and economic roles of women, enhanced the health of women and children by allowing women to achieve desired birth spacing and family size, and eased our impacts on the environment. Family planning has provided increased opportunities for pre-pregnancy counseling and screening leading to fewer infant, child and maternal deaths.

But the benefits of these developments have not been spread evenly among American women. Access to services for low-income women has not kept pace with the increased need and demand. The rising cost of health care generally and the new range of contraceptive options specifically, stretch the already tight resources of the country’s

Title X clinics struggling to provide quality reproductive health care to low-income women. The rising number of uninsured and underinsured Americans further strains the country’s family planning program, a program that is often the only source of health care for this population.

The significant increase in the Title X budget is a solid step and an appropriate acknowledgment that family planning is a major public health achievement. However, if the progress is to be sustained, and shared evenly by all Americans, boosting our national financial commitment is critical.

China and Solar Energy
Hana Ginzbarg, of the Nature Discovery Center in Bellaire, recently returned from a trip to China and reports that she saw solar cells on many houses in China. The accompanying photographs are of a parabolic solar heater used to heat a pot of water for tea. According to a local (Chinese) article, solar boilers, stoves, greenhouses and other facilities were designed in 1976 by a scientific research organization in Lhasa, Tibet.

Eco Notes

Race for the Rain Forest
A visit to the web site, http://rainforest.care2.com/, hosted by Care2.com, will automatically trigger a donation that will be used to purchase rain forest lands. The donation will be paid for by sponsor organizations, and it’s 100 percent free.

Environmental Planner
Carter & Burgess, Inc. is looking for an Environmental Planner with three or more years of experience performing environmental studies, analysis, investigations and document preparation for transportation projects.

Contact Jeff Anderson, Senior Environmental Planner, at 713-803-2169 or fax resumes to 713-869-5502.

Recycle Cartridges
Our Earth Group will pick up used ink-jet cartridges for $1 each on a monthly basis from offices. If you prefer you can drop off used cartridges at the Central Branch Library on weekends. If you are interested call 281-933-3287 or visit the website www.freeyellow.com/members6/ourearth/.

Healthy Kids
The YMCA is sponsoring a “Healthy Kids Day” this year and inviting all CEC member organizations. If your organization is interested contact the location nearest you for more information: Jane Saladino, Post Oak YMCA (Galleria area), 713-781-1061; Linda Williams, Northwest YMCA (Heights/Garden Oaks/Acres Homes), 713-869-3378; Jessica Watson, San Jacinto YMCA (Pasadena), 713-473-9442; Roxanne Davis (Woodlands), 281-367-9622; Jesse Harrison, Southwest YMCA (Bellaire), 713-664-9622.

Ozone Problems
The ozone hole over northern Europe and the Arctic has been getting thinner, allowing ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth in the same way as the better known ozone hole over the South Pole, according to European Union Research Commissioner, Philippe Busquin of Belgium. (ENS)

Canada Air
Canada environment minister David Anderson announced the commitment of more than C$1.8 million in funding for one environmental project by community groups from across Canada. Meanwhile, the government of Ontario unveiled tough new actions to improve air quality in the province. (ENS)

Renewable Energy
Residents of the City of Austin can now buy green power generated from renewable energy sources. The municipal utility, Austin Energy, is inviting its 350,000 customers to sign up for Green Choice, a program that provides electricity from wind, sun and biomass technologies. (ENS)

Budget
President Bill Clinton outlined a record $42.5 billion in environmental spending as part of his fiscal year 2001 budget, which conservation groups are hailing as one of the most aggressive environmental budgets in years. But the plan will face significant opposition from a Republican controlled Congress determined not to give vice president Al Gore an environmental victory going into the November presidential elections. (ENS)

Plant Extinction
The World Conservation Union reports that “one in three” of the United States’ 16,000 known plants is in danger of extinction, according to a 1/6 article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Most of the plants at risk are not currently protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Green Corps Training
In 1992, Green Corps, a Boston based non-profit, created a year long, full-time, paid environmental leadership training program. Each year twenty-five recent college graduates are invited to launch their organizing and advocacy careers with Green Corps.

Through the program, participants gain the hands-on training and experience needed to put ideas into action and win important victories for public health and the environment.

Applications can be found at www.greencorps.org. For more information, contact Justin Ruben at 559-486-0165 or at rubenja@aol.com.

Climate Change
To learn about climate change, check out the EPA’s website at www.epa.gov/globalwarming. The site has a wealth of information on the climate system; greenhouse gas emissions; impacts of climate change; and actions that can be taken at the national, state, local, business and individual levels.

Dredging
Every year, 100 ocean dumpsites receive 60 million tons of harbor mud, the equivalent of six million dump truck loads, dredged to deepen shipping channels or keep them open, according to an article in the December 1999 issue of Ocean Update, a publication of SeaWeb. Rivers, lakes and estuaries receive another 400 million tons.

Scientists are concerned that mud dredged from industrial regions may be laced with a variety of persistent chemicals, such as PCBs, dioxin, mercury and lead.

Scientists and environmental leaders from 15 states met in Washington, D.C., in November 1999 to share their knowledge and experience with the issue and to discuss alternatives. A new book on the subject, Muddy Waters by Beth Millemann, was released at the meeting.

A related Congressional hearing on November 5 concerned the EPA’s failure to uphold a ban on dumping contaminated sediments from the NY/NJ harbor area at an offshore dumpsite.

Web Contest
The Alliance to Save Energy has launched an Earth Day 2000 web contest featuring a host of home energy-efficiency prizes. To enter, as often as once a day until April 28, go to the new Earth Day 2000 page on the Alliance web site at www.ase.org/earthday, click on Earth Day Contest, answer a quick four-question quiz about energy and the environment.

More Budget
The President’s FY 2001 budget reiterated support for tax credits to promote more energy-efficient investments and behavior. The budget proposes $4 billion worth of tax credits over five years promoting energy-efficient homes and building equipment, vehicles powered by fuel cells, electricity, or gasoline hybrid engines and a variety of renewable energy technologies. (EN)

AC Standards
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing tougher efficiency rules for new air conditioners, saying the new standards will save individual consumers hundreds of dollars in electricity costs and ease summer power problems. DOE is aiming to have the new standards in place by the end of the year. You can read the rule at www.eren.doe.gov/buildings/codes_standards/rules/central_air/indes.htm. (EN)

Earth Day 2000
Coordinating plans for Earth Day 2000 around the world, Earth Day Network is bringing together citizen groups, schools, businesses, government agencies and others to create the largest environmental event in human history on April 22.

To endorse the Earth Day Network’s Clean Energy Agenda visit them online at www.earthday.net/signup/endorse.asp. (EN)

Presidential Candidates
For an overview of how the presidential candidates stand on all environmental issues, visit the League of Conservation Voters’ 2000 Presidential Profiles web site at http://www.lcv.org/presidential/. (EN)

Clean Energy Initiative
The President introduced details of a $200 million multi-agency Clean Energy Initiative, led by U.S. AID and DOE, to increase the export of energy-efficient and other clean energy technologies to developing and transitional nations. It will target exports to emerging economies with the goal of reducing future carbon emissions and spurring international economic development. (EN)

Advanced Energy
The U.S. Department of Energy, the California Energy Commission, the World Bank and the Pacific Rim Consortium are presenting the Second Annual International Colloquium and Exhibit on Environmentally Preferred Advanced Energy Generation (ICEPAG) to be held from April 3-6, 2000, at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Tennis Club in Newport Beach, California. Visit www.parcon.uci.edu/colloquium/. (EN)

Flower Garden Report
The Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, announces the availability of a new study report, Long-Term Monitoring at the East and West Flower Garden Banks, 1996-1997. This study represents the continuation of the ongoing ecological monitoring which begun in 1989 and was first reported in 1992. It represents an ongoing effort to understand reef dynamics of the Flower Garden Banks coral reefs and to protect this unique and valuable natural resource.

This report assessed the growth, diversity, percent cover, incidence of disease, and bleaching of scleractinian hermatypic corals. The total percent coral cover did not vary significantly between the East and West Banks or between years. Analysis of species diversity and evenness showed no significant difference among previous studies, banks, or during the subject study.

Copies of the report can be obtained from the Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region for $10.00 by referencing OCS Study MMS 99-0005.

For more information contact the Environmental Sciences Section at 504-736-2789 or http://www.mms.gov.