Number of photos in the January/February issue of Coastal Living that showed coastal wildlife (seabirds, crustaceans, turtles, or other fauna) 1
Number of photos in the same issue showing golf courses 61
Amount of water it would take, per day, to support 4.7 billion people at the UN daily minimum
2.5 billion gallons
Amount of water used, per day, to irrigate the world’s golf courses
2.5 billion gallons
Number of golf courses in Japan before World War II 23
Number in operation or soon to open in 2004 3,030
Average amount of pesticides used per acre, per year, on golf courses
18.0 pounds
Average amount of pesticides used, per acre, per year, in agriculture
2.7 pounds
Amount of water used by 60,000 villagers in Thailand, on average, per day
6,500 cubic meters
Amount of water used by one golf course in Thailand, on average, per day
6,500 cubic meters
Current area of the wetlands of the Colorado River Delta, which now receives just 0.1 percent of the river water that once flowed through it 150,000 acres
Area that could be covered to a depth of 2 feet with water drawn from the Colorado River by the city of Las Vegas, which uses much of that allotment to water its more than 60 golf courses 150,000 acres
Sources: Photos: Coastal Living, January/February 2004; Water usage: Chris Reuther, Know Your Environment, Academy of Natural Sciences, 1999; National Golf Foundation; State of the World 2004; Japan: “Japan Golfcourses and Deforestation,” TED Case #282, 2003; Pesticides: “EcoMall: A Greener Golf Course, 2004;” Thailand: U.K. Sports Turf Research Institute; Colorado River: Environmental Defense; Las Vegas: Associated Press.
World Watch Institute in our Links section and/or: http://www.worldwatch.org/
World Watch Magazine: March/ April 2004
WOMEN’S HEALTH SUFFERS AS “PRO-LIFE” GROUPS REDIRECT U.S. FAMILY PLANNING POLICY
Commenting on the losses of life resulting from misguided pro-life policies, Hinrichsen quotes Steve Sinding of International Planned Parenthood. “We are dealing with real people and their unmet needs, not statistics,” says Sinding. “These acts are a testament to the Bush administration’s war against women and his overall contempt for their fundamental civil and human rights.”
ENVIRONMENT SUFFERS IN POST-WAR BOSNIA
The ethnic war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) ended officially in 1995, leaving in its wake shattered lives and communities. Yet while people have begun to rebuild, the natural landscapes of this beautiful Balkan country continue to suffer.60 golf courses 150,000 acres
LIFE-CYCLE STUDIES: BOTTLED WATER
Contrary to popular consumer belief, bottled water is not necessarily safer or healthier than tap water; nor is bottled spring water better than water from other sources. Bottled water may also pose a threat from toxic chemicals that have leached into the water from the plastic.
Antarctic Melting Goes Deep: New research finds that rising temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula are accelerating not only surface melting on sections of the Larsen Ice Shelf, but also ice loss from the shelf’s base. According to a report published in Science, warm ocean waters are thinning the shelf by as much as 78 centimeters annually. Satellite imagery indicates that the Antarctic Peninsula’s ice shelves have retreated by roughly 300 square kilometres a year since 1980.
World Bank Report: Bank Should Stop Supporting Coal, Oil Projects: A new study commissioned by World Bank president James Wolfensohn of the bank’s oil, gas, and mining projects concludes that the World Bank Group should continue to deny funding to coal projects, and should phase out support of oil production projects by 2008. The Extractive Industries Review (EIR) said the Bank should instead “devote its scarce resources to investments in renewable energy resource development, emissions-reducing projects, clean energy technology, energy efficiency, and conservation.” Currently, fossil fuel projects represent 94 percent of the World Bank Group’s energy portfolio.
Global Warming Now Threatens Millions of Species: As many as a quarter of the planet’s species could disappear within the next half-century. Conservation biologist Chris Thomas of the University of Leeds and Lee Hannah of Conservation International calculate that if global temperature rises between 2 and 6 degrees F during the next century, as predicted by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), between 18 and 37 percent of the planet’s species could be extinguished by the year 2050. Thomas and Hannah note that human-caused releases of climate-warming gases appear to have triggered a more sudden change in the planet’s temperature that many species will be able to adapt to.
Institutional Investors Demand Corporate Climate-Change Risk Disclosure: A study of the 20 heaviest corporate carbon emitters in the U.S. finds that while all companies are responding to climate change through some governance actions, few are treating the issue as an imminent environmental and financial threat. A number of institutional investors feel this isn’t enough and have formed the Institutional Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR). Citing climate change as one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century, the INCR is urging broader corporate reporting on climate change risks and stronger enforcement of this reporting by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Russia Agonizes Over the Kyoto Protocol: For 18 months, Russia has been sending the world mixed signals regarding its intent to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Although more than 120 countries have passed the treaty, Russia’s support is necessary for the protocol to go into effect. Europe and the U.S. have each worked relentlessly to influence Russia’s position, which some speculate will not be known until after the November U.S. presidential elections. With or without Russia, the Kyoto Protocol has already been successful in raising awareness about climate change and has helped spur a takeoff in renewable energy development and innovative solutions such as international carbon trading. At the same time, if Kyoto collapses, many of these gains will likely disintegrate as well.
World Watch Institute in our Links section and/or: http://www.worldwatch.org/
Number of photos in the same issue showing golf courses 61
Amount of water it would take, per day, to support 4.7 billion people at the UN daily minimum
2.5 billion gallons
Amount of water used, per day, to irrigate the world’s golf courses
2.5 billion gallons
Number of golf courses in Japan before World War II 23
Number in operation or soon to open in 2004 3,030
Average amount of pesticides used per acre, per year, on golf courses
18.0 pounds
Average amount of pesticides used, per acre, per year, in agriculture
2.7 pounds
Amount of water used by 60,000 villagers in Thailand, on average, per day
6,500 cubic meters
Amount of water used by one golf course in Thailand, on average, per day
6,500 cubic meters
Current area of the wetlands of the Colorado River Delta, which now receives just 0.1 percent of the river water that once flowed through it 150,000 acres
Area that could be covered to a depth of 2 feet with water drawn from the Colorado River by the city of Las Vegas, which uses much of that allotment to water its more than 60 golf courses 150,000 acres
Sources: Photos: Coastal Living, January/February 2004; Water usage: Chris Reuther, Know Your Environment, Academy of Natural Sciences, 1999; National Golf Foundation; State of the World 2004; Japan: “Japan Golfcourses and Deforestation,” TED Case #282, 2003; Pesticides: “EcoMall: A Greener Golf Course, 2004;” Thailand: U.K. Sports Turf Research Institute; Colorado River: Environmental Defense; Las Vegas: Associated Press.
World Watch Institute in our Links section and/or: http://www.worldwatch.org/
World Watch Magazine: March/ April 2004
WOMEN’S HEALTH SUFFERS AS “PRO-LIFE” GROUPS REDIRECT U.S. FAMILY PLANNING POLICY
Commenting on the losses of life resulting from misguided pro-life policies, Hinrichsen quotes Steve Sinding of International Planned Parenthood. “We are dealing with real people and their unmet needs, not statistics,” says Sinding. “These acts are a testament to the Bush administration’s war against women and his overall contempt for their fundamental civil and human rights.”
ENVIRONMENT SUFFERS IN POST-WAR BOSNIA
The ethnic war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) ended officially in 1995, leaving in its wake shattered lives and communities. Yet while people have begun to rebuild, the natural landscapes of this beautiful Balkan country continue to suffer.60 golf courses 150,000 acres
LIFE-CYCLE STUDIES: BOTTLED WATER
Contrary to popular consumer belief, bottled water is not necessarily safer or healthier than tap water; nor is bottled spring water better than water from other sources. Bottled water may also pose a threat from toxic chemicals that have leached into the water from the plastic.
Antarctic Melting Goes Deep: New research finds that rising temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula are accelerating not only surface melting on sections of the Larsen Ice Shelf, but also ice loss from the shelf’s base. According to a report published in Science, warm ocean waters are thinning the shelf by as much as 78 centimeters annually. Satellite imagery indicates that the Antarctic Peninsula’s ice shelves have retreated by roughly 300 square kilometres a year since 1980.
World Bank Report: Bank Should Stop Supporting Coal, Oil Projects: A new study commissioned by World Bank president James Wolfensohn of the bank’s oil, gas, and mining projects concludes that the World Bank Group should continue to deny funding to coal projects, and should phase out support of oil production projects by 2008. The Extractive Industries Review (EIR) said the Bank should instead “devote its scarce resources to investments in renewable energy resource development, emissions-reducing projects, clean energy technology, energy efficiency, and conservation.” Currently, fossil fuel projects represent 94 percent of the World Bank Group’s energy portfolio.
Global Warming Now Threatens Millions of Species: As many as a quarter of the planet’s species could disappear within the next half-century. Conservation biologist Chris Thomas of the University of Leeds and Lee Hannah of Conservation International calculate that if global temperature rises between 2 and 6 degrees F during the next century, as predicted by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), between 18 and 37 percent of the planet’s species could be extinguished by the year 2050. Thomas and Hannah note that human-caused releases of climate-warming gases appear to have triggered a more sudden change in the planet’s temperature that many species will be able to adapt to.
Institutional Investors Demand Corporate Climate-Change Risk Disclosure: A study of the 20 heaviest corporate carbon emitters in the U.S. finds that while all companies are responding to climate change through some governance actions, few are treating the issue as an imminent environmental and financial threat. A number of institutional investors feel this isn’t enough and have formed the Institutional Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR). Citing climate change as one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century, the INCR is urging broader corporate reporting on climate change risks and stronger enforcement of this reporting by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Russia Agonizes Over the Kyoto Protocol: For 18 months, Russia has been sending the world mixed signals regarding its intent to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Although more than 120 countries have passed the treaty, Russia’s support is necessary for the protocol to go into effect. Europe and the U.S. have each worked relentlessly to influence Russia’s position, which some speculate will not be known until after the November U.S. presidential elections. With or without Russia, the Kyoto Protocol has already been successful in raising awareness about climate change and has helped spur a takeoff in renewable energy development and innovative solutions such as international carbon trading. At the same time, if Kyoto collapses, many of these gains will likely disintegrate as well.
World Watch Institute in our Links section and/or: http://www.worldwatch.org/