Welcome aboard to our latest network affiliate - Roots Up Radio.com, where the Green News Report is heard on Action Point with Cynthia Black!

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Mmmmmm...mercury in tuna --- Sorry, Charlie!; Idaho gunning for wolves, but Wyoming gets shut out; PLUS: Size matters --- the world's largest, and smallest, in solar power .... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail, delicious fishes? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): Is China really going green?; Corroded pipes discovered at New York nuclear power plant; The UK gets an all-electric family car, so why not the U.S.?; Philly is Goin' Green by 2015, and how they'll do it; PLUS: "Water is the oil of the 21st century" --- are we headed for Resource Wars? ...See below for more!

Info/links on stuff we talked about on today's episode, plus MORE green news, all follows below...

• Study shows link between air pollution, contaminated seafood [emphasis added]
  
  USGS showed that methylmercury is produced in mid-depth ocean waters by processes linked to "ocean rain." Algae, which are produced in sunlit waters near the surface, die quickly and "rain" downward to greater water depths. The settling algae are decomposed by bacteria and the interaction of this decomposition process in the presence of mercury results in the formation of methylmercury.

  Many steps up the food chain later, predators like tuna receive methylmercury from the fish they consume, the study shows.
  ...
  "In this study, however, the pathway of the mercury was a little different. Instead, it appears the recent mercury enrichment of the sampled Pacific Ocean waters is caused by emissions originating from fallout near the Asian coasts. The mercury-enriched waters then enter a long-range eastward transport by large ocean circulation currents."

• Smackdown! EPA, FDA and Mercury in Fish
  
  It isn’t every day that one federal agency says the work of another has such “serious scientific flaws” that the work is “not a product [we] should endorse as it does not reach the level of scientific rigor.”
• Wolves no longer protected in Northern Rockies
• The wolf and the polar bear
  
  The wolf story is a chapter in the environmental movement’s decades-long efforts to protect specific species and eco-systems—a campaign descended directly from “save the whales” and “stop the logging.” Protecting the polar bear, however, is all about confronting the existential threat of global warming.

  Wolf, meet bear. When it comes to saving the planet, you’re just a sideshow.

• Solar Tech: Not Just on the Roof Anymore --- Miniaturizing Solar Technology with Flexible Solar Voltaic Cells
  
  The new technology is the work of a researcher and his colleagues who developed a way to print ultra-thin, semitransparent and flexible cells on plastic, cloth and other materials. If the technology succeeds, it may provide the solar industry with alternatives to the fixed installations that are common today: cells may be printed on plastic rolls that could be unfurled for dozens of uses, or stamped onto fabric for T-shirts or other clothes that collect energy while worn.
• World's largest Solar Power Tower Plant now on-line
• A Day In the Life of a Solar Installer

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': More green news not covered in today's audio report... See below!

• Is China really going green?
  
  Camels still plod the arid plains outside the ancient Silk Road city of Urumqi, their heads bowed into the gritty winds that funnel down the through the valleys of China's Tian Shan, or 'celestial' mountains.

  But today the same winds that struck fear into the traders of the Silk Road, swallowing whole caravans in blinding storms of dust, are being used to power plans for a new, green revolution for China's energy-hungry economy.
  ...
  "The pace of change is unimaginable from just three or four years ago," shouts Yan Weijiang, a director of the Xinjiang Wind Energy Company over the roar of the wind. "If you had talked to me in 2003 or 2004 I would not have believed this was possible."

• Blue Gold: Have the Next Resource Wars Begun?
  
  It has often been said that water is "blue gold" and the next resource wars will be fought, not over oil, but over water. Maude Barlow, senior advisor to the United Nations on water issues, wrote that the way in which we view water "will in large part determine whether our future is peaceful or perilous."
  ...
  Future predictions about climate change are worrisome, and they're compounded by the fact that things are already bad in China. Industrialization has left water either too polluted to drink or hard to come by in many areas. To make matters worse, the country has been gripped by drought. In February, the Guardian reported that 3.7 million people and 1.85 million livestock were without water.
• At the Indian Point Nuclear Plant, a Pipe Leak Raises Concerns
  
  More broadly, it has raised concerns about the monitoring of decades-old buried pipes at the nation’s nuclear plants, many of which are applying for renewal of their operating licenses. Indian Point 2, whose 40-year operating license expires in 2013, already faces harsh criticism from New York State and county officials who want it shut down.
  ...
  A one-and-a-half-inch hole caused by corrosion allowed about 100,000 gallons of water to escape from the main system that keeps the reactor cool immediately after any shutdown, according to nuclear experts. The leak was discovered on Feb. 16, according to the plant’s owner, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, a subsidiary of the Entergy Corporation.
• The UK's first four-seat, all-electric production car goes on sale
  
  The first all-electric family car went on sale in the United Kingdom over the weekend. Electric Car Corporation Plc(EEC) has launched a lithium ion battery-powered, all-electric version of the Citroen C1, called the C1 ev'ie.
  ...
  A full charge takes six hours from a domestic 13 amp socket at a cost of about 90p (USD$1.34), which results in a fuel cost of less than 2p per mile. London is one of the most pro-electrical vehicle (EV) cities in the world, with more than 300 dedicated EV charging points already installed and plans to introduce more than 25,000. Other EV incentives include no road tax, no London congestion charge and free parking on top of the already significant fuel savings from running an electric vehicle.
• Philly Goes Green: Jobs are the heart of Nutter's sustainability plan
  
  >Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter announced today their comprehensive Greenworks Philadelphia plan – which highlights their environmental efforts and strategy towards sustainability – with the goal to make Philadelphia “The Greenest City in America” by 2015.

  Greenworks Philadelphia is the culmination of 10 months of work with contributions from city employees, nonprofit organizations, civic and business leaders. The plan is broken down into 15 key targets in five focus areas - energy, environment, equity, economy and engagement.

• READ THE PLAN: Greenworks Philadelphia: The Greenest City in America
• Philly Targets:Sustainability plan is goal-oriented
  
  Target 9: To provide green open space within a 10-minute walk of 75 percent of residents.

  Current: There are 10,300 acres of green space.

  2015 Goal: To increase that to 10,800 acres.

  Target 10: Bring local food within a 10-minute walk of 75 percent of residents.

  Current: There are 230 gardens and food markets in the city.

  2015 goal: To have 316 gardens, farms and markets.

                 

Article Categories: Green News