Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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Eco-Freaks: A New Book by John Berlau (Part 1, DDT)

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I occasionally get emails from the other side of the world with a query about something environmental that is uniquely Australian.

It was not so many years ago that John Berlau emailed me about the Murray River and also bushfires. He was writing a book. It’s now published. Called ‘Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism is Hazardous to Your Health’ the book includes chapters on DDT, Asbestos and Hurricane Katrina.

I’ve only read the first three chapters. There could be something in the following few about the Murray River and Australia or he may be saving that for another book.

Anyway, while the focus in ‘Eco-Freaks’ is on America, the issues Berlau chooses to explore are relevant to the whole world.

The second chapter on DDT, and entitled ‘Rachel Carson Kills Birds’, will have Tim Lambert in a spin. In fact Berlau references Lambert’s blog ‘Deltoid’ (footnote number 128). But it’s not complementary.

I have read a lot about DDT, Rachel Carson and environmentalism, but I still learnt a lot from that chapter.

And I was amused by the anecdotal. In particular, that Joseph Jacobs, a chemist who worked to mass-produce DDT to protect American troops during World War II, ended up with DDT poured over him when the valve at the bottom of a large vessel was accidentally opened. In his autobiography, Jacobs wrote:

“When it dried, I had DDT an inch thick all over me. In my hair, in my ears, and in my mouth and nose. I took off my clothes, showered, and scrubbed, but probably ingested more DDT during that one incident than is today considered safe to absorb over any years.”

Berlau goes on to comment about the fate of Joseph Jacobs:

“After all, in the years after Silent Spring, DDT was called ‘double death twice’. One touch could kill you. And sadly, after being exposed, Jacobs did die – more than sixty years later in 2004, at the tender young age of eighty-eight.”

‘Eco-Freaks’ is available from Amazons.com.

Mars and Pluto Also Warming, But What About Venus?

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“Earth is heating up lately, but so are Mars, Pluto and other worlds in our solar system, leading some scientists to speculate that a change in the sun’s activity is the common thread linking all these baking events,” writes Ker Than in LiveScience.com.

In the same article entitled ‘Sun Blamed for Warming of Earth and Other Worlds’ Benny Peiser, Liverpool John Moores University, is quoted commenting that, “I think it is an intriguing coincidence that warming trends have been observed on a number of very diverse planetary bodies in our solar system. Perhaps this is just a fluke.”

Read the complete article, including the various different phenomena thought to be driving warming on the different planets, here:http://www.livescience.com/environment/070312_solarsys_warming.html

Ethanol Pushes Up Price of Tortillas?

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The price of tortillas in Mexico has tripled in recent months and Ruth Gidley in a piece entitled ‘As biofuels boom, will more go hungry’ is blaming ethanol.

With US government greenhouse policy and the price of oil favoring a shift to ethanol, the price of corn is climbing. The US produced 24percent more ethanol in 2006 than in 2005.

Corn is a main ingredient of tortillas as well as ethanol.

The Mexican government responded to rioting in January by capping the price of corn.

Is concern over global warming or the price of oil, or both, driving the demand for ethanol which is making food more expensive in places like Mexico?

The Defining Moral and Political Cause of Our Age (Global Warming) Dominates British Politics

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“A frantic race to play the winning ‘green card’ will take place in Westminster this week, as Britain’s three main political parties focus on the environment and global warming as the main battleground of the next general election,” according to Nigel Morris in an article ‘Politicians step up the battle to secure the green vote’ published yesterday in The Independent Online.

“Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Miliband and David Cameron are all placing unprecedented emphasis on the environment as they set out their plans to combat global warming.

“The manoeuvring over green issues suggests the political elite believes success or failure in the ballot box depends on their ability to convince a sceptical electorate they can tackle the biggest issue of the day.

Read the complete article here: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2350048.ece

Romanian Farmers Get Premium for GM Canola?

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The campaign to lift the current ban on GM food crops, in place in most Australian states, appears to be gathering momentum with various pro-GM articles in the rural press over recent weeks.

One reason for the ban was a claim that Australian farmers woud get a premium for GM-free product, in particular GM-free canola.

I was interested to read University of Melbourne’s Dean of Land and Food Resources, Professor Rick Roush, quoted in the Border Mail (Aussie Farmers Need GM Crop Advantage, 24 February 2007) disputing the claim that Australian farmers get a premium for GM-free canola and stating:

“Ironically, there are some places where GM-crops are getting premiums, for example, in Romania farmers are being paid extra because their canola is weed-free.”

The article also included the following information under the heading ‘Fast Facts’:

“Since 1996, the global use of pesticides In GM crops was reduced by 224 million kilograms. In 2005 the C02 savings from reduced fuel use in GM crops was close to one billion kilograms. The increase in the amount of carbon stored in the soil due to reduction in tillage was more than eight billion kilograms. This combined reduction of C02 emissions in 2005 equates to removing almost four million cars from the road. Farmers earn higher incomes in every country where GM crops are grown.
Source: Global Impact of Biotech Crops which can be found at www.agbioforum.org”

And Professor Roush was reported saying he didn’t believe the bans would be lifted any time soon.