Americans Pay More to Die Earlier

Americans Pay More to Die Earlier

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Americans Pay More to Die Earlier

Americans Pay More to Die Earlier

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Four Years Later, New Orleans' Green Makeover

From Time

By Bryan Walsh

After Hurricane Katrina flattened New Orleans exactly four years ago, on Aug. 29, 2005, the city emerged as an inadvertent symbol of global warming, the first American victim of climate change. More than 200,000 homes were destroyed during the Category 5 hurricane. But in the years since, the Crescent City has quietly embraced a new and unexpected role as a laboratory for green building. Sustainable-development groups like the international nonprofit Global Green as well as earth-friendly celebrities like Brad Pitt descended on New Orleans, determined not just to build the city back but to build it back green. "It's going to come back," says Matt Petersen, the president of Global Green USA. "But we want to build it better than it was before." (See a TIME special report on the environment.)

No organization is doing more to green New Orleans than Global Green USA, the American arm of the international environmental organization that was founded by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. That begins with the Holy Cross project, an entire sustainable village being built in the city's flood-damaged Lower Ninth Ward with the help of Home Depot's corporate foundation. Eventually the village will include five sustainable homes along with an 18-unit green apartment building and a community center. Three homes have been completed so far, including one that is serving as a de facto visitors center. The point of the project is not just to create greener homes for New Orleans' returning residents but also to provide training for the local building community in green standards. "That's one of the ways to make this kind of building more common and more affordable," says Petersen.

That's the motivation behind Global Green's sustainable-schools program, which will both retrofit existing schools to make them more energy-efficient and build entirely new classrooms from the ground up. The new schools will have solar panels, wetland habitats (which can act as a buffer for future storms) and rainwater cisterns. At Gentilly Terrace Elementary School, which is getting an energy overhaul, power bills should fall some $22,000 a year. In a city that is struggling to get back on its feet, those energy savings make a difference — as does the fact that some research has shown that students actually learn better in greener schools. (It's not exactly clear why that's the case — one possibility is that absenteeism and sick days both decrease when the indoor environment is healthier.) (See pictures of the effects of global warming.)

Beyond model projects like the ones Global Green is implementing, there are broader policy-based actions that seek to green New Orleans from the top down. The city is receiving millions in federal stimulus funds, some of which will be going toward initiatives that will re-establish a citywide recycling program and improve mass transit. About $1.1 million is being slated to help green five of the city's libraries, and more will pay for the installation of solar-powered, ultra-efficient LED streetlights. The Department of Energy — with funds matched by Global Green — is underwriting new solar-power projects in New Orleans as well, hoping to expand the tiny slice of the city's electricity that comes from renewable sources. "The hope is that you can help create green jobs for the city in this way as well," says Petersen. "There can be a silver lining to all of this — the creation of a more robust and vibrant community and economy."

Of course, the work of greening New Orleans has been as complex and intermittent as other parts of the reconstruction process, with delays and bureaucratic obstacles. And there's a legitimate question here: Given the increased risk of hurricanes and rising oceans in a warmer future, should a city that exists under sea level be built back at all? Green or not, will New Orleans ever be safe from global warming?

The truth is, none of us will be safe from global warming unless we can change the way we build and the way we use energy — and New Orleans just happens to provide an excellent opportunity to try that in an urban environment that needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. Nor will it be the last major city to be menaced by rising seas — from New York to London to Shanghai, most of our major metropolises are built next to an ocean, and it's only a matter of time before the next superstorm hits. If we can build back New Orleans in a way that is both sustainable and resilient, capable of surviving another Katrina, we all might be better prepared for the hot and unstable days to come.

See the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2008.

See the top 10 green ideas of 2008.

Coal Plant Suspended

Coal Plant Suspended

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Official Lucky Rooster Merchandise Available

Official Lucky Rooster Merchandise Available

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Use of Lead Based Consumer Paints Remains A Global Concern

In a new study conducted by the University of Cincinnati (UC), environmental health researchers found that major countries in three continents fail to acknowledge the hazards of lead based paint, allowing manufacturers to continue selling consumer paints containing dangerously high levels of lead. According to study, 73 percent of consumer paint
brands tested from 12 countries representing 46 percent of the world’s population exceeded current U.S. standard of 600 parts per million (ppm). Additionally, 69 percent of the brands had at least one sample exceeding 10,000 ppm. Scott Clark, a professor of environmental health at UC, stated that "lead paint exposure remains a serious global health threat" considering the majority of American consumer goods are being produced overseas.

The study was published today in the journal Environmental Research online. According to a press release issued by UC, "the report comes on the tail of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s enforcement of heightened restrictions on lead in American consumer paints, which will take effect Aug. 9, 2009, and will lower the allowable lead limit from 600 ppm to 90 ppm."



Professor Clark’s research team has been studying the global use of lead-based consumer paints for several years, publishing one of the first scientific reports in September 2006 showing that unregulated Asian countries produced and sold new consumer paints that greatly exceeded U.S. lead safety levels. According to the earlier study, "75 percent of the consumer paint samples tested from countries without controls— including India, Malaysia and China—had levels exceeding U.S. regulations."

Lead poisoning in children is a widely recognized health concern, yet lead based paints remain widely used. Why? Is the cost of lead based paint cheaper and therefore more essential in these developing nations? Apparently no. According to the UC press release, Clark states "our studies have shown that when comparing the prices of the same size can of paint produced by several companies within India with a wide range of lead concentrations, there is no significant consumer price difference between leaded and unleaded consumer paint."

Maybe the technology needed to create high-quality unleaded consumer paint is not available? Not according to the study. During the course of the UC study, one large multi-national company produced low lead paint in each country studied and another manufacturer
was found to cease the use of lead in paints in at least one of the countries studied. Clark further states that the "technology is available to manufacturers, which do not need to use lead to produce high-quality paint...there is no legitimate reason paint manufacturers should knowingly distribute a product that has long been known to be dangerous to people."

For more information visit http://www.healthnews.uc.edu/ and
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/622821/description#description

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USDA Proposes Label for Bio-based Products

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a labeling system to identify products made with renewable plant, animal and other bio-based materials.

The BioPreferred labeling proposal is an outgrowth of the federal government's BioPreferred purchasing program, which was created in the 2002 Farm Bill. The 2008 Farm Bill expanded the program to also promote the sale of bio-based products outside of the government.



The proposal would set up a system in which companies could voluntarily apply the BioPreferred label to their products. The USDA has already identified more than 15,000 bio-based products in about 200 categories.