Year: 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2008  11:27 AM

CONTACT: Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
Aaron Huertas, 202-331-5458

Biofuels Industry Pressures EPA To Ignore Rainforest Destruction

WASHINGTON – November 10 – The Environmental Protection Agency must accurately account for global warming emissions from biofuels when implementing the new renewable fuel standard, leading environmental and science groups said in a letter they sent today to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

In last year’s energy bill, Congress explicitly required the EPA to accurately measure global warming emissions from renewable fuels based on their entire lifecycle, from cultivation to fuel production to vehicle exhaust. However, industry trade groups and others are pressuring EPA to omit or delay accounting for greenhouse gas emissions from land use change, such as tropical deforestation, tied to expanding biofuels production.

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“It begins with a mosquito that is transported during
an international flight from a malaria-endemic region.”
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American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Public release date: 11-Nov-2008

Contact: jbender@environics-usa.com
jbender@environics-usa.com
203-325-8772 x18

‘Airport malaria’ — cause for concern in the US

In a global world, significant factors affect the spread of
infectious diseases, including international trade, air travel and
globalized food production. “Airport malaria” is a term coined by
researchers to explain the more recent spread of malaria to areas
such as the United States and Europe, which some scientists credit to
warmer climate changes.

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Yale University
Public release date: 7-Nov-2008

Contact: Janet Rettig Emanuel
janet.emanuel@yale.edu
203-432-2157

Revised theory suggests carbon dioxide
levels already in danger zone

New Haven, Conn. – If climate disasters are to be averted,
atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) must be reduced below the levels
that already exist today, according to a study published in Open
Atmospheric Science Journal by a group of 10 scientists from the
United States, the United Kingdom and France.

The authors, who include two Yale scientists, assert that to maintain
a planet similar to that on which civilization developed, an optimum
CO2 level would be less than 350 ppm – a dramatic change from most
previous studies, which suggested a danger level for CO2 is likely to
be 450 ppm or higher. Atmospheric CO2 is currently 385 parts per
million (ppm) and is increasing by about 2 ppm each year from the
burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) and from the burning of
forests.

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