CEC Notes
Roundtable, Sept 20
John S. Jacob, Environmental Quality Specialist with Texas Sea Grant and Texas Agricultural Extension Service, will lead an evening discussion of the state of wetland protection in our region. Houston Environmental Center, Wed., Sept. 20, 6:30 pm. Please RSVP to Marcia Carter (713-524-4232) so she can plan refreshments. ROUNDTABLE DATE HAS CHANGED! NOW SEPTEMBER 21ST.

Eco Notes
Democrats Hold Green Convention
As part of the Democratic Party’s pledge to “walk the talk,” their August 14-17 convention, incorporating alternative fuel vehicles, green power, and recycling, was billed by Party leaders as “the most environmentally sound convention in history.”

Energy for the Democratic National Convention 2000 was generated from wind purchased from Green Power Partners’ windmill farm in the San Gorgino Pass near Palm Springs, California. An estimated 15% of the power needed to run the Los Angeles Convention Center itself came from newly installed photovoltaic cells. (ESN 07/31/00)

Global Task Force on Renewable Energy
The chair of Shell Oil, one of the world’s largest oil companies, will co-chair a task force on renewable energy created by the G8 nations when they met in Okinawa in July. The task force was given a mandate to report to next year’s summit in Genoa, Italy. (ESN 8/1/00)

Sprawl Threatens Chesapeake Watershed
In 25 years, more than 3,500 square miles of forests, wetlands, and farms - an area 50 times greater than Washington, DC - will be converted to urban land in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Rapid development threatens to overwhelm progress made to date to improve the health of the Chesapeake. Sprawl has increasingly reduced the open spaces that are vital both for people and the Bay. In the metropolitan DC area, the rate at which land is being consumed exceeds the population growth rate by almost 2.5 times. Sprawl has helped increase traffic and air pollution by distancing people from jobs, shopping, and travel.

From 1970 to 1994, the population in the Chesapeake Bay watershed grew 26%, while vehicle miles of travel in the watershed increased by 105%. Sprawl also hurts local economies and increases taxes by exponentially increasing demands for fundamental public services like roads, classrooms, firefighters, and police. Each new sprawl-designed home costs Virginia’s Prince William County $1,600 more than is returned in taxes and other revenues. (CBF News 7/12/00)

How to Grow Old Fast
Research coming out of Penn State shows for the first time that ozone - a major smog constituent - has a direct effect on the genes associated with aging in plants. This information may help scientists find ways to cut some of the yearly $3 billion in agricultural loses due to smog. (http://www.gnet.org/Coldfusion/News_Page2.cfm?NewsID=11693)

Extinction Traced to Big Burp
New research reveals that the rapid escape of huge reservoirs of methane trapped beneath the ocean floor was responsible for a mass extinction event 183 million years ago. The big burp occurred during prehistoric global warming and scientists now wonder about the stability of “methane hydrate reservoirs” on the sea floor and whether current global warming could trigger another big burp extinction event. (GREEN/Defenders of Wildlife 8/00)

Let Them Drink Pepsi
John Briscoe, senior water adviser at the World Bank, is blunt when he describes the looming world water shortage: Unless people learn to use water more efficiently, there won’t be enough fresh water to sustain the Earth’s population.

The coming water crisis is partly driven by population growth. But even more, it stems from a spirited overuse of the Earth’s fresh water for agriculture, industry, and other uses that turn good water bad. The Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute projected earlier this year that by 2025, only about a quarter of the world’s population will have enough fresh water. Roughly a third of the world’s population will have too little water to meet their needs. (The Globe and Mail 8/5/00)

In China, the Drought is Now
Four hundred of China’s 668 cities have now declared water shortages - meaning the taps may function only a few hours a day, or not at all. At least 20 million Chinese don’t have access to running water. Another 200 million experience serious water shortages or some form of rationing.

The water shortages are the result of a century’s worth of environmental sins, what might be called China’s three O’s: overgrazing, overlogging, and overpopulation. With each passing year, China – 40% of which is already a desert - sees about 2,500 square kilometers turn into desert. In addition, more than one half of China’s 700 major rivers are polluted. Around urban areas, about 90% of lakes, rivers and reservoirs are unfit to drink from. (The Globe and Mail 7/31/00)