Editor's Take: May 30, 2008
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It's About Time: Bush Administration Admits Climate Change Human-Caused
After four years, the White House has finally released a report on climate change that says it is a human-induced problem. "For the first time, [the administration] has had to admit that global warming is already having clear impacts in the United States," said Philip Clapp of the Pew Environment Group. It's about time because the nation's poor are suffering.
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White House Finally Backs Climate Change Science
Los Angeles Times
05/30/2008
President Bush's top science advisors issued a comprehensive report Thursday that for the first time endorses what most scientific experts have long asserted: that greenhouse gases from fossil fuel combustion "are very likely the single largest cause" of Earth's warming.
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America's Poor Facing Most Risks from Warming
New York Times
05/29/2008
The Bush administration, bowing to a court order, released a fresh summary of federal and independent research pointing to large, and mainly harmful, impacts in the United States from human-caused global warming. The report is online at climatescience.gov, and included new projections of how the poor, elderly, and communities with lagging public health and public-works systems will face outsize health risks from warming.
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Bus Ridership Up, but Fuel Costs Strain Agencies
USA Today
05/30/2008
High gas prices are pushing more people onto buses and subways, straining transit agencies trying to meet the demand.
Like other consumers, the agencies are also paying more for fuel, 44% more this year than last, according to a survey of 96 transit agencies to be released Friday by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).
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Mounting Costs Slow the Push for Clean Coal
New York Times
05/30/2008
For years, scientists have had a straightforward idea for taming global warming. They want to take the carbon dioxide that spews from coal-burning power plants and pump it back into the ground.
But it has become clear in recent months that the nation's effort to develop the technique is lagging badly.
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Number of Uninsured U.S. Young Adults Grows
KPLU
05/30/2008
The number of uninsured U.S. young adults, who already represent a major chunk of the American population without health coverage, rose again in 2006, according to a study released on Friday.
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Factory Cutbacks Drive Canada's Economy Down
Toronto Globe and Mail
05/30/2008
Canada's economy contracted in the first quarter of the year, the first time in five years that the country's output shrank outright.
Major cutbacks in manufacturing activity, especially in the auto sector, were behind much of the poor performance, Statistics Canada said Friday, but bad weather was also to blame.
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Biodegradable Hype is Misleading Rubbish
Oregonian
05/30/2008
Most of us figure that if you throw a biodegradable item in the trash, it will, someday soon, decompose on its own, according to a survey by the American Chemistry Council. Melt away. Biodegrade. Rubbish.
Problem is, most people customarily dispose of most stuff in a garbage can, even in green Oregon.
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Views: Housing Relief Shouldn't Cost the Average Joe
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
05/30/2008
Impending homelessness due to negative cash flow is one thing. Steady, positive income that finances a lifeless housing investment is something else and does not merit public relief.
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Oregon Food Bank and Governor Fight Hunger
Oregon Public Broadcasting
05/29/2008
Gov. Ted Kulongoski urged the food industry Thursday to help address hunger in Oregon. Kulongoski appeared at Pacific Coast Fruit, which is among local companies donating food to the Oregon Food Bank.
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Interest in Wind Farms Blows Into Washington
Vancouver Columbian
05/29/2008
Southwest Washington is likely to see wind turbines on the horizon thanks to burgeoning demand for renewable energy in the region, according to developers of Clark County's first wind farm proposal.
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