While the press coverage of the annual Chesapeake Bay summit this week focused on President Obama promising a stronger federal role in the cleanup effort, and state officials pledging to accelerate their pollution reductions, Howard Ernst isn't buying any of it.

The associate professor of political science at the Naval Academy has written one critical book on the shortcomings of the restoration effort, Chesapeake Bay Blues.  He's got a new, updated account heading to the printer now.

"It certainly doesn't seem like a new direction for the bay restoration effort," Ernst said in a telephone interview Wednesday.  "There's nothing new about more deadlines, more promises. What's missing .... is the funding and statutory powers that would make those deadlines accomplishable, make those goals attainable. "

Ernst was similarly dismissive of the new 2025 long-term cleanup "end date." He noted that officials were careful to say that would not be the year when the bay is actually restored but when all the policies and reductions are in place that they believe should restore it.

"It's back to business as usual," he says, "creating a deadline (when) none of these elected officials will hold their positions.  So much for accountability."

As for the executive order issued by Obama, Ernst says it does nothing except delay action by another four months.  It gives the Environmental Protection Agency 120 days to determine what regulatory powers it has or needs to require the bay cleanup, he contends, even though the Clean Water Act outlining those powers was enacted in 1972. The order also sets up a "federal leadership committee" to coordinate the bay cleanup efforts of the various federal agencies and departments - "another layer of bureaucracy," the critic says.

"There's never been a better opportunity for doing something tangible and big right now," Ernst concluded, "and the EPA and the bay states missed that opportunity."

Anyone share Ernst's criticism, or maybe have a different view?  Is this about the best that can be done, perhaps, given our lousy economy and traditional resistance by many to being regulated or taxed to pay for cleanup?  Will new deadlines every two years prod the politicians to do more now, instead of putting off the tough decisions to their successors?

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:50 AM in Environmental advocacy | Permalink | Comments (5)
                       

Happy Earth Day!  On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans thronged the streets and public places across the country to demonstrate their concern about the degradation of the environment around them.  Their protest was fueled by widespread publicity about the Cuyahoga River in Ohio catching fire and by a massive oil spill off the California coast.  In Baltimore, as pictured above, Patterson High School students picketed garbage dumps on Kane Street and North Point Boulevard.

The state of the environment has changed since then - much of the more visible pollution has been cleaned up.  Concerns have shifted now to less obvious and more difficult issues like climate change, declining diversity of plants and animals and our exposure to the residues of thousands of chemicals used in making our food and consumer products.

Earth Day has shifted, too.  For many marketing folks, this is a perfect opportunity to try to sell green, greenish or green-looking products.  My inbox has been peppered in the past few weeks with pitches for various types of water bottles, clothing, motor vehicles and green travel, if there is such a thing.

But others are marking the day in a spirit more akin to the original Earth Day.  The city is putting recycling bins in the Inner Harbor for tourists to use, and kicking off the production of energy from methane generated by all the refuse disposed of in the city's landfill.   In schools, students are studying environmental issues or planting trees. 

And some activists are demonstrating their concern in an old-fashioned way, vowing to eat no solid food until Congress acts on legislation to reduce the nation's output of climate-warming greenhouse gases.  Hearings started on the topic this week, and House leaders have pledged to send a bill to the floor by Memorial Day.  That could be a long fast.

How are you marking Earth Day?  I'm speaking at an environmental symposium shortly at St. Paul's School for Girls in Brooklandville.  Then it's back to the business of covering the bay and environment.

(Photo by William H. Mortimer of The Baltimore Sun).

UPDATE:  I spoke to group of students at St. Paul's School for Girls as part of the school's inaugural Earth Day symposium - quite an undertaking.  Besides the 462 students in grades 5 through 12 at the school, there were about 181 students and faculty from about 10 other private schools in the area.  They heard from 40 speakers and had more than 70 hands-on presentations, including recyclable art and "mad science."

"Our goal is to get students excited about the environment and conserving resources," said Janet Wolfe, academic dean for the school.  Students were asked to sign Earth Day pledges listing three things they personally would work on in the coming year.  The school hopes to produce a YouTube video of the symposium highlights, but until then you can see the program here.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                       

Despite our lousy economic conditions, Marylanders overwhelmingly care about the bay and want to see it cleaned up - by regulation, if need be, and with more government spending, even if it means raising their taxes.

Those are some of the highlights of a new public opinion poll released Friday by the Chesapeake Bay Trust.   The telephone survey of 1,015 residents last November found that Marylanders still care deeply about the bay. "Making the Chesapeake Bay clean and healthy" is their overwhelming concern, with 36 percent ranking it "extremely important" while another 50 percent considered it "very important."

As someone who writes a lot about the bay, the poll had some encouragement -- more than half of those polled say they are "more interested ..... in hearing about the health of the Chesapeake Bay" today than they were just a few years ago.  Only 10 percent say they are less interested. 

The Chesapeake Bay Trust says that particular finding demonstrates that there is no flagging of public interest in restoring the bay.   Maybe so, but is the public any more ready to do something about it?

The poll found that nearly half, 49 percent, think the health of the bay and its rivers and streams is getting worse.  Given all the publicity about the bad grades the bay and its tributaries have received from EPA, the University of Maryland and environmental groups like the Riverkeepers and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, you've got to wonder why a strong majority don't think the bay is getting worse.

Continue reading "Poll puzzler: Marylanders love bay, but don't have much to do with it" »

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 7:49 PM in Environmental advocacy | Permalink | Comments (4)
                       

Saturday's looking to be a sunny day, so if you're looking for something to get you out of the house, why not do a little spring cleaning in your neigbhorhood stream?

Groups all across Maryland have organized stream and park cleanups this weekend.  There's Project Clean Stream, in which volunteers will tackle some 100 sites across the state.  Last year, more than 3,000 people and three dogs turned out to collect a record 186,000 pounds of trahs, including  "an LP album, a container of lead paint, wigs, a toilet, a $1 bill, two credit cards, a toaster, three sinks, a Mariah Carey poster, over a dozen bicycles, and tires galore."

So far this year, they've got 2,500 volunteers signed up, so there's plenty of room and time to get in on it. Check the Web site for a stream near you. or contact the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay at (410) 377-6270 ext. 27, or email vstinson@acb-online.org 

For folks who live along the Patuxent River, there are cleanup teams being put together for you as well; look here for locations and how to help. 

Finally, those living in northern Maryland may want to join in the lower Susquehanna River Sweep.  Check out the "Additional Cleanups" section here for contact info.

Who knows, maybe you'll be the lucky one to find some lost cash this year while cleaning up along your local waterway.  At the least, you'll get to know it better, and get some good exercise in the process. 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:22 AM in Environmental advocacy | Permalink
                       

Jack Bauer wants you to join him in fighting global warming - or else.  At the end of last week's episode of 24, the terror-fighting Fox TV series, star Kiefer Sutherland popped up just minutes after Tasering a suspect he was questioning to urge viewers to join him and the Fox network in "helping solve the climate problem."  

This week, his co-star Cherry Jones, who plays the President, made a similar appeal after a harrowing hour in which she narrowly survived an invasion of the White House by a squad of terrorists.

I shouldn't have been surprised.  The 24 PSAs are just the latest manifestation of media mogul Rupert Murdoch's sweeping campaign to instill green messages into his newspapers, TV shows, movies and online entities.  Two years ago, he announced his intent to raise climate action in all his outlets and make parent News Corp. carbon neutral by 2010.

By many accounts, it seems he's been following through.   Fox announced just before last week's episode aired that 24 had reduced the carbon emissions of filming the series by 43 percent.  The show was on the way to becoming the first TV production to achieve carbon neutrality, the network said.

Environmental activists, who've been highly critical of Fox News and the network's conservative talk show hosts for casting doubt on climate science, nevertheless praise Murdoch for what he's done in other provinces of his media empire.  Climate Progress blogger Joseph Romm says 24 has "done carbon neutral right" and the steps the series crew have taken show they are "clearly very serious about going green."

I enjoy watching the show, though I'm drawn in part just to see how far out it will go.  Still, I can't help but agree with Romm that I find it a tad jarring to have actors in a series that sympathetically portrays torture step out of character at the end of the fictional mayhem and appeal to everyone to come together to green the planet.

Does anyone else think the effectiveness of Fox's climate campaign is undermined by 24's  violent action and political subtext?  Or is it a savvy use of the series' popularity to reach an audience who might not otherwise hear the message?

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:07 AM in Environmental advocacy | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

The protest must go on, even if congressional leaders stole some of the activists' symbolic thunder.

Climate activists apparently plan to go ahead with a "civil act of civil disobedience" Monday outside a power plant near Capitol Hill, even though congressional leaders declared they want the facility to stop burning coal in a bid to "green the Capitol."

The Washington Post reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a letter days before the protest calling for the old power plant, built in 1910, to be converted to burning only natural gas.  Climate activists had planned to gather there to put pressure on the politicians to take action to curb climate-warming pollution.

Undeterred, the demonstration is still on, starting with a prayer vigil and rally before marching to the power plant.  Chesapeake Climate Action Network is among the groups organizing the protest.  

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 7:09 AM in Environmental advocacy | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

The growing prospect that there may be federal action on climate change apparently has spawned a wave of lobbyists in Washington.  The Center for Public Integrity reports that in the past year, as climate legislation finally came to a vote on Capitol Hill, more than 770 companies and interest groups hired an estimated 2,340 lobbyists to influence federal policy.

That's a lot of buttonholing - as the center noted, that comes to more than four lobbyists for every member of Congress.  Environmental advocacy groups have ramped up their Washington presence, but so have all the industries that see themselve being affected.  The center's put together an analysis of the lobbying corps, profiled some of the more prominent ones and provides a listing. Check it out here.

Advocates of curbing greenhouse gases have argued that the push will generate "green" jobs and actually boost rather than kill the economy, as skeptics contend.  Looks like the job growth is already happening, though maybe not the kind of jobs environmentalists had in mind, and certainly not the kind of green they were thinking of.

(Photo by Brendan Hoffman, Getty Images)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:17 AM | Permalink
                       

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which is suing the federal government over its failure to do more to clean up the bay, may file a lawsuit in Maryland targeting pollution it believes the state government is not doing enough to curb.

William C. Baker, president of the Annapolis-based environmental group, dropped that cryptic warning while testifying Thursday before the House Environmental Matters Committee on the status of the bay restoration effort.  Baker and other witnesses generally portrayed the cleanup effort as lagging badly.

With its lawsuit against EPA, the bay foundation has made it clear it holds the federal government most responsible for the lack of cleanup.  Baker told lawmakers that generally he thought all bay states were trying, which was more than he could say for the EPA the past eight years under the Bush administration.

But then Baker recalled that his group had sued Philip Morris accusing the company of polluting the James River with excessive nutrients from its cigarette plant near Richmond.  The Virginia state government came to the company's defense, but the company and state settled the case last year by agreeing to reduce and cap its nutrient discharge.

Baker told lawmakers that while he lamented the need for the environmental group to spend its money enforcing laws the government ought to be taking care of, it was prepared to do so again in Maryland.

Baker declined to elaborate later, though he said the foundation staff had been meeting with Maryland environmental regulators to discuss their concerns.  

"That's all I'm going to say," he added. "But hopefully in the next few weeks we won't announce anything - because that means the state did something."

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 7:27 PM in Environmental advocacy | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

Environmentalists protest slow bay cleanup in Washington - photo by Doug Kapustin 

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation sued the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday, accusing it of shirking its legal obligations to clean up the bay. But what are the chances that the suit, which could take years to litigate, will do what 25 years of "partnering" among the states and federal government have not?  Some think it's an iffy legal case, but a smart political move - and more likely to produce results outside the courtroom than in.

As I reported in The Baltimore Sun yesterday, some legal experts think the Annapolis-based environmental group has an uphill fight to win its lawsuit against the EPA.   The legal issue boils down to whether EPA violated the Clean Water Act and other federal laws in not doing or requiring more for the bay.   Courts tradtiionally are reluctant to second-guess executive-branch agencies in how they carry out the law, even if those actions fail to produce the desired results.

"It's a question of the ability of litigating to require the agency to do something which seems to be farily discretionary," said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who reviewed CBF's lawsuit. "I think that will be central to the resolution of this case, if it gets that far."

Continue reading "Bay lawsuit - more political than legal ploy?" »

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:40 PM in Environmental advocacy | Permalink
                       

                                     Yellow tang near Maug Island in Mariana Archipelago - Robert Schroeder, NOAA

In a move generating rare praise from environmentalists, President Bush is to announce today that he is creating three huge new marine reserves in the Pacific Ocean spanning 195,000 square miles - an area the size of Oregon and Washington combined.  

Using his authority under the federal Antiquities Act, the president is designating the areas - one of them spanning the Mariana Trench, the deepest canyon in the Pacific - as Marine National Monuments.  As such, they would be off-limits to deep-sea mining and most fishing.

With this action, Bush has set aside more ocean for conservation than any other president. Environmental groups, which have been critical of other last-minute moves by the administration to relax federal endangered species, forest and pollution laws, hailed the president's move.

Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group, said in a statement that the White House's "historic action ... protects some of the world's most unique and biologically significant ocean habitat."

The largest of the new marine reserves surrounds the northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. protectorate.  Its 95,000 square miles encompass a boiling deep-ocean pool of liquid sulfur, active mud volcanoes and hydrothermal vents. According to Pew, the waters harbor 19 marine mammal species, including rare beaked whales. The islands are home to many migratory seabirds, as well as giant coconut crabs, threatened fruit bats and an endangered bird that uses the heat from volcanoes to incubate its eggs.

The remote and exotic islands also have a place in US history. Wake and Saipan islands were  bloody battlegrounds during the second World War.

It wasn't a total victory for conservationists, though.  The Los Angeles Times reports that the administration made a concession to commercial fishermen and did not restrict fishing above the Mariana Trench.  It also shrank the size of the reserve and eased the degree of regulation being sought by proponents of the monument.
 

You can find out more about the reserves and see more spectacular photos here.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:21 AM in Environmental advocacy | Permalink | Comments (2)
                       

I stopped by the Bioneers conference at the Maryland Institute College of Art today to see what it was all about.  You'll recall I previewed the event here a couple days ago. 

What I found was some very green and enthusiastic people - the "point of the spear," one organizer put it, in a drive for environmental change.  When I dropped in, they were being urged to get involved in fighting global warming and to push for healthier, more sustainable nutritition for young people.

Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, was wrapping up his pep talk when I got there.  Afterward, he told me he's optimistic about the revival of climate-change legislation next year.  Gov. Martin O'Malley endorsed a bill that initially would have committed the state to reducing greenhouse gases 25 percent by 2020, with a goal of cutting 90 percent by 2050.  The bill died in the waning hours of the General Assembly, opposed by manufacturers and by labor unions, which feared it could cost jobs at Sparrows Point and other industrial plants.

Tidwell said O'Malley administration officials have signaled their desire to sponsor the bill next year, and they plan to meet soon with labor and industry leaders to try to work out their concerns. 

Just before lunch, the bioneers heard how Baltimore city's school system is blazing a trail toward more sustainable school nutrition.   Several city schools are participating in a program that encourages youngsters to eat healthier foods.  The "Food Is Elementary" curriculum, developed by the Food Studies Institute in New York, teaches kids to prepare and appreciate whole, fresh foods rather than the processed fare so common at home and school.

"Baltimore is a wonderful example to do a case study for sustainable change," said Antonia Demas, director of the Institute and a visiting scholar at the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health.  She cited a recent federal study projecting that one-third of children born in 2000 would develop diabetes as evidence that the high-calorie, high-fat, processed foods many kids consume could shorten their lives.

She was followed by an effusive Tony Geraci, the new food service director for Baltimore city schools, who regaled the audience with tales of how he's trying to get healthier foods in the cafeterias - and get the kids to eat them. 

Shortly after arriving in Baltimore in late July from New Hampshire, he said he arranged to buy peaches from a Carroll County orchard.  "I ate peaches with children who had never eaten a peach before off of a tree, and it knocked me down," he said. What's more, he contended that the fresh local produce cost less than the canned peaches that are the usual cafeteria fare.

"It's about changing the paradigm," he said, adding that he shares Demas' belief that the calorie-laden, processed -food diet of most youngsters these days is slowly killing them.

To hammer home the healthier food theme, an odd-looking school bus (picturted above) had been parked outside the Maryland Institute's Brown Center, where the bioneers are meeting.  It was driven there by folks petitioning President-elect Obama to plant an organic garden at the White House.

Organizers said that the three-day conference, which runs through Sunday, has drawn about 450 participants so far.  There's a fee to attend, but walk-ins are welcome.   Go to www.cultivatingchange.org for details. 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:08 PM in Environmental advocacy | Permalink
                       

No, they're not Mousketeers gone bionic. "Bioneers" is actually the name of a national nonprofit group founded 18 years ago in California that seeks to promote breakthrough solutions to the world's pressing environmental and social problems.

This week, for the second year in a row, Baltimore will be the setting for a weekend-long Bioneers conference at the Maryland Institute College of Art, with a bevy of intriguing speakers, workshops and panel discussions.

Among the keynoters slated are Antonia Demas, founder and director of the Food Studies Institute, marine conservation expert Wallace "J" Nichols, fungus guru Paul Stamets and Mike Tidwell, founder and director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.   Plus,  there'll be playbacks of recorded events at the big national session in California a few weeks ago, which drew luminaries such as environmental advocate Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of the famed undersea explorer.

The confab begins Thursday, Nov. 6, with an art reception and party at MICA.  The bioneering begins in earnest on Friday, and lasts into Sunday.  There's a registration fee to attend, but it's open to the public.  For registration and other information, go to www.cultivatingchange.org  So sharpen your wits and idealism, and leave the mouse ears at home.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 5:30 AM in Environmental advocacy | Permalink
                       

Hoping to push through legislation in Annapolis tackling global warming and curtailing suburban sprawl, the Maryland Leaguge of Conservation Voters Education Fund is holding a reception and discussion on the issues at Goucher College on Wednesday, Sept. 24.

Environmental activists, policy experts and some elected officials are expected to be on hand to discuss warming and growth and prospects for legislation in the General Assembly session that starts in January.

The event will be in the Kelley lecture hall of the college's Hoffberger Science Building, 1021 Dulaney Valley Road. The reception begins at 6:30, while serious discussion starts at 7:15 p.m.  For more information, go to www.marylandconservation.org or telephone 410-280-9855.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 1:15 PM in Environmental advocacy | Permalink | Comments (2)
                       

Probably no surprise to many Marylanders, but an article just published on Forbes.com ranks our state as among the "greenest" in the country.  The piece, "America's Greenest States," which you can read here, rates the states according to various environmental measures, including consumption patterns, air and water quality, and waste, as well as government policy.

"America in Miniature" weighs in at No. 5 on the business publication's ranking, after such environmental meccas as Vermont, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.  Though Maryland was the highest-ranking Eastern state, it was followed closely by Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island and New York.

California, often considered a leader in environmental policy and advocacy, only came in 14th.  In fact, the West, with its wide-open spaces, didn't do as well as a region.  The worst five, by Forbes' reckoning, were Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Indiana and West Virginia (ouch! my home state!)

The writers, Brian Wingfield and Miriam Marcus, said Maryland's high ranking on their green-o-meter might seem surprising, since the state has some of the worst smog and ozone pollution in the country. But, they added:

Only 10 states have a lower carbon footprint per capita than Maryland, and the state has a relatively low instance of water facilities exceeding their Clean Water Act permits, according to PIRG. In addition, Maryland ranks 40th in total energy consumption nationwide, and it managed less toxic waste per capita than all but six states in 2005. And earlier this year it joined a group of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states to cap greenhouse gas emissions and trade emissions credits.

What do you think?  Is Maryland greener than most, including California? Too green, or not green enough? 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 11:19 PM in Environmental advocacy | Permalink | Comments (1)