 Stories from November 20, 2008
Wii Can All Do Our Part
NRDC says video games' huge energy suckage easily cut
Video game consoles in the United States consumed some 16 billion kilowatt-hours last year, or about enough juice to power the city of San Diego for a year, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council. However, cutting down video games' impact is relatively easy since the three most popular video game consoles -- Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft XBox360, and Nintendo's Wii -- can significantly reduce their power suckage if players simply switch them off after use and activate their already-existing power-saving features.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
Show Intel
Intelligence report stresses climate change a security threat
A new intelligence report released Thursday that's intended to brief President-elect Barack Obama on future security threats mentions climate change as a major barrier to national security and international stability. The report echoes climate scientists' predictions of increased drought and flooding, while also focusing on climate change's impacts on world food supplies, U.S. military installations, and nuclear power plants.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
Piscean on the Organic Standards
USDA close to approving relatively weak organic standards for fish
The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week inched closer to approving organic rules for fish for the first time that would let "organic" fish eat up to 25 percent of their diet from non-organic sources, a move which has irked organic advocates worried about sullying otherwise relatively strict standards for organic meat products.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
They Know How to Cell It
Cell-phone chargers rated on energy efficiency
How energy-efficient is your cell-phone charger? (And why have you never thought to ask?) The world's five biggest cell-phone manufacturers have rated the chargers they sell, from an energy-sucking one star to an eco-friendly five stars. If everyone with a cell phone "switched to a four- or five-star charger," declares Nokia, "this could save the same amount of energy each year as produced by two medium-sized power plants."
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
To Cap It All Off
Canada government flip-flops on cap-and-trade
In an apparent policy shift, Canada's Conservative government declared Wednesday, "We will work with the provincial governments and our partners to develop and implement a North America-wide cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases." Prime Minister Stephen Harper has to date favored reductions in greenhouse-gas "intensity" over hard caps on emissions.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
A Ruminant With a View
USDA has crazy idea that organic cows should get time in pasture
Only cows that have gobbled grass in pasture for at least 120 days per year can produce milk labeled "organic," according to draft rules issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Activists have long criticized a loophole that allowed organic-milk producers to keep their cows in giant feedlots, as long as they were fed organic grain.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
The Long, Weak End
EPA pushes ahead with weaker clean-air rules near national parks
The U.S. EPA is continuing its push to weaken clean-air rules near national parks before President Bush leaves office, despite the objection of national-park advocates and many of the agency's own administrators, according to The Washington Post. The rule revision would change the way air pollution is measured near national parks, allowing large pollution spikes throughout the year as long as a source's average annual emissions were below a certain threshold.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
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