Initiative
EcoWatch

EcoWatch .. navigation to a collection of articles by EcoWatch - 2016

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

By Katie Pohlman | Business | Jul 20 San Diego Bans Plastic Bags http://www.ecowatch.com/san-diego-bans-plastic-bags-1934020076.html The San Diego City Council voted Tuesday to ban single-use plastic bags at grocery stores, pharmacies and corner markets. The goal of the new ordinance is to encourage shoppers to use reusable bags, decreasing the number of plastic checkout bags used every year. San Diego goest through roughly 700 million plastic bags a year, with only 3 percent of them being recycled, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. 'The vast majority of plastic bags we see are entangled in the brushes next to our rivers and streams,' said Kristin Kuhn, community engagement manager for San Diego Coastkeeper. 'After every rain event, these bags clog and choke our city's already damaged waterways.' The city's ban would require grocery stores and other food retailers to charge at least 10 cents for each paper bag or for a sturdier bag, which often cost more. 'Stakeholders have worked tirelessly with local jurisdictions throughout the state to find a solution that makes sense for both the environment and businesses,' said Sophie Barnhorst, policy coordinator for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. 'A ban on plastic and a charge for paper has the potential to achieve maximal environment gain with minimal business disruption.' San Diego's ban—which drew wide support from advocacy organizations such as the Surfrider Foundation's San Diego County chapter and San Diego Coastkeeper as well as the chamber of commerce—makes it the 150th municipality in the Golden State. A second reading of the ordinance will happen in a few weeks. Large food stores will have six months to comply with the ordinance while smaller drug and convenience stores will have approximately a year. San Diego has distributed about 40,000 reusable shopping bags to mainly low-income neighborhoods, food banks, schools and libraries to help prepare residents for the ordinance. ...

By Lorraine Chow | Animals | Aug 2 'Fantastic News': England's Plastic Bag Usage Drops by 85% http://www.ecowatch.com/england-plastic-bag-usage-drops-85-1956159456.html England has cut its plastic bag use by 85 percent ever since a 5 pence (7 cent) charge was introduced last October, according to government figures. England's plastic bag usage has dropped significantly ever since a 5p levy was introduced last year. Flickr The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced that 6 billion fewer plastic bags were taken home by shoppers in England. The levy also resulted in a £29 million ($38 million) donated to charity and other good causes thanks to the charge. 'This is the equivalent to the weight of roughly 300 blue whales, 300,000 sea turtles or three million pelicans,' DEFRA said about the eliminated bags. To arrive at the 6 billion figure, officials calculated that the seven main retailers in England (Asda, Co-operative Group, Marks & Spencer, Morrison's, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose) passed out 7.6 billion bags in 2014. However, after the 5 pence charge was enacted, the retailers handed out just over half a billion bags in the first six months. According to the Guardian, the bag fee was introduced to help reduce litter and protect wildlife. The idea also came about because English consumers were steadily using more and more bags every year, as you can see in the chart below. Environment Minister Therese Coffey said taking 6 billion plastic bags out of circulation is 'fantastic news for all of us.' 'It will mean our precious marine life is safer, our communities are cleaner and future generations won't be saddled with mountains of plastic,' she added. Incidentally, England is the last member of the UK to adopt the scheme—Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had already been charging for bags for years. Wales, for instance, stopped giving out free plastic bags back in 2011, cutting usage by 71 percent between 2011 and 2014, WalesOnline reported. The publication noted that Northern Ireland has had a bag tax since April 2013 with the the number of bags issued by supermarkets falling from 190 million to 30 million in 2014. Scotland's similar legislation in 2014 slashed plastic bag usage by 80 percent. Government bans or fees on these single-use items are clearly working, and they come at a crucial time for our oceans. A startling report from earlier this year warned that if plastic pollution continues at the current rate, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. 'Around eight million tonnes of plastic makes its way into oceans each year, posing a serious threat to our natural and marine environment—experts estimate that plastic is ingested by 31 species of marine mammals and more than 100 species of sea birds,' DEFRA said. 'It shows small actions can make the biggest difference, but we must not be complacent as there is always more we can all do to reduce waste and recycle what we use,' Coffey noted. We can all do our part in slashing or eliminating our plastic footprint. 'The plummeting plastic bag use demonstrates the huge benefits just a small change in our everyday habits can make. It means less damaging plastic finding its inevitable way into our waterways and countryside. This is a massive boon for nature and wildlife,' Andrew Pendleton of Friends of the Earth told the Guardian. 'With attention now turning to the millions of non-recyclable coffee cups that go to landfill and to oversized boxes and excess packaging as a by-product of online shopping, the government and forward-thinking businesses have a golden chance to cut waste and reduce resource use in a sensible way that consumers welcome,' he added. ...

By Katie Pohlman | Business | Jul 27 Morocco Bans Plastic Bags http://www.ecowatch.com/morocco-bans-plastic-bags-1946455924.html A plastic bag ban went into effect this month in Morocco, the second-largest plastic bag consumer after the U.S. But, officials say, its going to take some time for shops and retailers to get used to the new law. Morocco's ban on the production and use of plastic bags went into effect July 1 after the plastic ban bill was passed by parliament in October 2015. As the July 1 deadline approached, shop owners scrambled to find and collect reusable bags. Green campaigners, AlJazeera reported, say consumers may need years to fully comply with the ban. 'It's a big cultural shift with that type of broader law,' Jennie Romer, a New York-based lawyer,' told AlJazeera. 'As long as the government has the motivation to really enforce that. There is a lot of potential. The government entity that is implementing it has to be completely on board in order to make that really happen in practice.' Morocco uses about 3 billion plastic bags a year, according to the Moroccan Industry Ministry. The U.S. uses about 100 billion a year, according to the Earth Policy Institute, and 1 trillion are used globally per year. The North African country has been working on banning plastic bags for years. A ban of the production and use of black plastic bags was put in place in 2009, but the bags were still being produced. This time around, officials hope to prevent that situation by providing alternate solutions. Moulay Hafid Elalamy, industry minister and initiator of the bill, tweeted that bags made of paper and fabric will be made widely available. Yassine Zegzouti, president of Mawarid, said changing consumer habits will be the toughest part. 'The formal sector will need four to five years to comply with the new law,' Zegzouti said. 'But the use of plastic bags is anchored in [consumer] habit. All actors need to change these habits to not have any damage in the future.' Morocco is ranked one of the world's greenest countries, along with Costa Rica, Bhutan and Ethiopia. The country's biggest achievements come in cracking down on carbon emissions and production of solar power. It is considered a green leader among developing nations. ...

By Lorraine Chow | Jul 12 Hong Kong's Beaches Teeming With Plastic Trash, Can Even Be Seen From Space Who is to blame for the sudden deluge? http://www.ecowatch.com/hong-kongs-beaches-teeming-with-plastic-trash-1917515523.html

By Katie Pohlman | Animals | Jun 17 Viral Video: Fisherman Saves Turtle Entangled in Plastic Bag A video of a Pakistan fisherman is going viral after saving a sea turtle entangled in a plastic... http://www.ecowatch.com/viral-video-fisherman-saves-turtle-entangled-in-plastic-bag-1891176641.html

By Laura Beans | Jun 19, 2013 Los Angeles Enacts Plastic Bag Ban, Strengthens Statewide Movement Environment California [Editor's note: UPDATE—On June 26, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed LA’s historic ban on single-use... http://www.ecowatch.com/los-angeles-enacts-plastic-bag-ban-strengthens-statewide-movement-1881763354.html

By Lorraine Chow | Mar 30 These 6 States Want to Ban Plastic Bag Bans (Yes, You Read That Right) Plastic bags—those non-biodegradable menaces that clog up our drawers, waterways and roadways alike—have been public... http://www.ecowatch.com/these-6-states-want-to-ban-plastic-bag-bans-yes-you-read-that-right-1882200126.html

By Lorraine Chow | Business | Jul 21 4 Billion Starbucks To-Go Cups Thrown Away Each Year ... Will Recyclable Cup Reduce This Waste? http://www.ecowatch.com/4-billion-starbucks-to-go-cups-thrown-away-each-year-recyclable-cup-1935687814.html Starbucks goes through 4 billion to-go cups annually but most of them end up in the landfill. Why? Even though these cups are mostly made of paper, these single-use items are almost never recycled or composted because they are lined with plastic. Ninety-nine percent of paper cups in the UK do not get recycled. Flickr Now, in somewhat of a no-brainer, the world's largest coffee chain is testing recyclable coffee cups in UK stores, the Guardian reported. Frugalpac, the England-based company behind the cups, explains on its website that its product is made of 100 percent recycled, chemical-free paper and lined with a plastic film that can easily be removed by standard recycling facilities. These cups, which can be recycled up to seven times, can be placed in any newspaper or cardboard recycling bin. The company says the cups look and feel the same as the standard varieties. 'We are very interested in finding out more about the Frugalpac cup and we will be testing it to see if it meets our standards for safety and quality, with a view to trialling its recyclability,' a Starbucks spokesman said, according to the Guardian. No word yet on when, or if, they will be implemented stateside. According to the Guardian, Martin Myerscough, the inventor of the Frugalpac cup, wants to help curb the 2.5 billion cups used in the UK each year of which only one in 400 are recycled. The dismal coffee cup recycling rate led to calls for a ban or tax on disposable coffee cups in March. While the two initiatives ultimately failed, campaigners are still taking action on these environmental pesks. British chef and environmental activist Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall will feature Frugalpac in his next War on Waste documentary on the BBC. In the documentary, Fearnley-Whittingstall explores why Britain's largest coffee chains—Starbucks, Costa and Caffe Nero—almost never recycle their mountains of discarded cups. One reason, he discovered, is that most people do not realize these cups do not get recycled or do not even recognize the problem. Another reason, as Starbucks said in a 2014 statement, is that despite years of efforts, implementing a successful recycling program at its 24,000 stores around the world is harder than one might think: Recycling seems like a simple, straightforward initiative but it's actually quite challenging. Our customers' ability to recycle our cups, whether at home, at work, in public spaces or in our stores, is dependent upon multiple factors, including local government policies and access to recycling markets such as paper mills and plastic processors. Some communities readily recycle our paper and plastic cups, but with operations in 70 countries, Starbucks faces a patchwork of recycling infrastructure and market conditions. Additionally, in many of our stores landlords control the waste collection and decide whether or not they want to provide recycling. These challenges require recycling programs be customized to each store and market and may limit our ability to offer recycling in some stores. Not only are there municipal barriers to successful recycling in many cities, but it takes significant changes in behavior to get it right. A few non-recyclable items in a recycle bin can render the entire bag unrecyclable to the hauler. For recycling to be successful, local municipalities, landlords, customers, baristas, and even adjacent businesses all have to work together to keep recyclable materials out of the landfill and non-recyclable materials out of recycling bins. As coffee companies like Starbucks figure out how to slash their enormous coffee cup footprint, there's an easy thing you can do to help—bring your own mug. ...

By Katie Pohlman | Jul 15 This Is What 200 Tons of Marine Debris Looks Like ... From Just 12 Miles of Alaska's Coastline A cleanup crew recovered 200 tons of trash from just 12 miles of Alaska's coastline around Prince William Sound. Gulf of Alaska Keeper (GoAK), a nonprofit dedicated to picking up debris around the state, filled 1,200 'super sacks' and collected thousands of buoys, marine debris specialist Scott Groves said. The group spent a month at Montague Island and two weeks at Kayak Island to collect the trash, KTVA Alaska reported. Groves, who was interviewed by KTVA after they were done collecting the trash, said, 'It's such a pristine place out there also, so being able to fly over where we've cleaned and to see what we have done is a good feeling.' The 200 tons of trash was shipped to Anchorage on a barge. It took an entire day to unload the trash. Now, GoAK will spend at least 10 full days sorting the trash, enlisting more than 100 volunteers. Groves hopes to pick out everything that can be recycled. He said as much as 80 percent of the total debris might be recyclable. 'With the amount of plastic everyone uses in today's age, a lot of what we find is single-use plastics,' Groves said. 'So just taking one water bottle and being able to reuse that again is huge.' The presence of plastics in the ocean is plaguing the world. A report completed by UK-based Eunomia Research & Consulting found 80 percent of the annual input of plastic litter comes from land-based sources. The remaining 20 percent are plastics released at sea, such as fishing gear. Even worse, 94 percent of the plastic that enters the oceans ends up on the sea floor. Alaska's coastline isn't the only one covered with debris. In recent weeks a 'glacier of trash,' as local authorities described it, is inundating beaches in Hong Kong. The situation is so bad that trash on one of the affected islands can be seen from space. Between July 1 and 9 alone, about 172,000 pounds—or 8 tons—of trash were collected from Hong Kong beaches. That's 40 percent of the amount collected in Alaska. ...

By People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals | Animals | Jul 5 Baby Seal Euthanized After Woman Stuffs Him in Her Shopping Bag By Danny Prater A seal pup was euthanized by authorities after a woman spotted the lone animal on a Washington state beach, stuffed him into a shopping bag and took him back to her home, multiple outlets are reporting. The woman eventually contacted a local aquarium because she, unsurprisingly, did not know what to do with the young animal after carrying him away from the beach, his ocean home and possibly his mother. Alerted to the incident, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife stepped in and determined that the most humane course of action was to euthanize the baby seal, who was reportedly lethargic and unresponsive by the time authorities arrived at the woman's home. Leave wild animals in peace. In the midst of a year already overflowing with stories of beachgoers harassing–and killing—ocean animals for selfies and tales of well-meaning (but misguided) people needlessly attempting to 'rescue' young wild animals, this baby seal's story is just another drop in a very tragic bucket. If you spot a wild animal on a beach (or anywhere else), the best course of action is to keep your distance. Whenever possible, aim to keep yourself about 100 yards away—the length of a football field. Don't disturb, feed or attempt to move wild marine mammals because this can disturb them and interfere with their natural behavior—as well as the behavior of other animals nearby. Observing animals you encounter through binoculars or a camera lens can keep you in touch with nature while keeping animals safe. If you come across an animal who is clearly injured or sick, contact local authorities or a wildlife rehabilitator, rather than taking matters into your own hands. You don't want to make the situation worse. If no one is willing or able to help, contact the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Help us spread awareness by sharing this story. A harbor seal pup. Let's make this the last time we see another story like this one. Tell everyone you know that if their actions, whether taking a selfie with a wild animal or attempting a misguided 'rescue,' could risk hurting or endangering the animal, then it's not worth it. Animals need your help and your voice, to spread this message. Share this post with your friends, family and social media followers. Let them know that enough is enough and animals should be left alone to live their lives in peace. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE If You Love Sharks, You Should Think Twice Before Buying Tuna 5 Shark Species That Should Be Revered, Not Feared Endangered Sea Turtle Recovering After Being Trampled, Beaten by Selfie-Taking Tourists Buenos Aires to Close 140-Year-Old Zoo, Saying 'Captivity Is Degrading' ...

By Lorraine Chow | Jun 15 80% of Ocean Plastic Comes From Land-Based Sources, New Report Finds Ocean plastic pollution is an increasingly devastating crisis, and this new infographic shows exactly where...

By Cole Mellino | Feb 6 Find Out How These Two Sisters Convinced Bali to Ban Plastic Bags by 2018 Many people probably think of Bali as a care-free, tropical oasis, but according to teen...

By Lorraine Chow | Business | Apr 1 World's First Plastic Fishing Company Wants to Rid the Oceans of Plastic Pollution The premise behind the Amsterdam-based venture Plastic Whale is beautifully simple. First, the company fishes out plastic...

By Sierra Club | Business | Jun 4 5 Companies Leading the Charge in Using Ocean Plastic in Their Products Scientists estimate that more than 5 million pieces of plastic are floating in the world’s...

By Lorraine Chow | Adventure | May 13 Paddleboarder Sets Out on Epic Journey to Fight Plastic Pollution Lizzie Carr, an adventurer and environmentalist based in the UK, has set off on a...

By Katie Pohlman | Business | May 23 This Eco-Village Is Being Built From More Than 1 Million Recycled Plastic Bottles Recyclable plastic bottles now have a new purpose: to create homes. The Plastic Bottle Village is... By Lorraine Chow | Animals | May 3 60% of Loggerhead Turtles Stranded on Beaches in South Africa Had Ingested Plastic We know that ocean plastic can have a devastating impact on aquatic life such as... By Lorraine Chow | Energy | Apr 25 Solar Impulse Pilot: 'I Flew Over Plastic Waste As Big As a Continent' As the Solar Impulse 2 made its historic 62-hour flight from Hawaii to California without fuel,... By EWContributor | Animals | Mar 30 Jeff Bridges: Plastic Is a Substance the Earth Cannot Digest Jeff Bridges knows that plastic is a substance the Earth cannot digest. Worldwide reliance on disposable plastic... By AlterNet | Health | Mar 23 7 Types of Plastic Wreaking Havoc on Our Health It’s all around us—in our houses, walls, plumbing pipes, bottles and cans, rugs, dental fillings,... By Common Dreams | Business | Aug 2 The Rio Olympics: Superbugs, Sewage and Scandal By Nika Knight A biology professor has simple advice for athletes and tourists descending on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the Olympics' start on Friday: 'Don't put your head underwater.' Dr. Valerie Harwood, chair of the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of South Florida, remarked on the dangers posed by Rio's water to AP, which reported Monday that a 16-months-long study revealed that 'the waterways of Rio de Janeiro are as filthy as ever, contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria.' Thousands of dead fish float in the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, where the Olympics rowing and canoeing competitions will take place, in 2016.Marcelo Sayao / EPA The wire service adds that superbugs—bacteria resistant to most forms of antibiotics—were not the only cause for great concern. Shockingly high levels of viruses have alarmed scientists: [T]he AP investigation found that infectious adenovirus readings—tested with cell cultures and verified with molecular biology protocols—turned up at nearly 90 percent of the test sites over 16 months of testing. 'That's a very, very, very high percentage,' said [Dr. Harwood]. 'Seeing that level of human pathogenic virus is pretty much unheard of in surface waters in the U.S. You would never, ever see these levels because we treat our waste water. You just would not see this.' Swimmers risk serious illness by competing, experts say. 'According to a study by the University of Texas School of Public Health, athletes who ingest just three teaspoons of water from the contaminated bay in Brazil have a 99 percent chance of being infected,' the National Observer noted. 'Dead animals, plastic, garbage and furniture are only a sample of the vile items reported to pollute its waters,' the newspaper added 'and the athletes competing this August have been told to swim with their mouths closed to avoid contracting serious illness from the water.' The National Post reported: 'Untreated hospital waste is the probable cause of waterborne superbacteria, but chemical waste from factories is another culprit. However, the chief reason that Rio's waterways are such a petri dish of contaminants is the torrent of untreated human feces that spews out of open sewers such as one located at the east end of the Guanabara Bay, where it is hemmed in by apartments where many of the city's wealthiest citizens live.' And it is those wealthy denizens who stand to benefit the most from the Olympics, while the region's poorest have been displaced by the tens of thousands, their homes demolished to make room for massive sports stadiums. An investigation published Monday in The Atlantic by Alex Cuadros detailed the schemes, grafts and bribes that have gone on behind the scenes to construct the Olympics infrastructure, while many of the city's impoverished favela residents are rendered homeless and the region's battered ecosystem is further degraded. Cuadros wrote, 'Contracts for everything from stadium and train-line construction to port renovations have funneled billions of dollars in taxpayer-subsidized revenues to a handful of Brazil's most powerful, well-connected families and their companies.' He continued: [M]ost of the government's Olympic budget has been poured into the wealthy suburb of Barra da Tijuca, home to only 300,000 people. [...] [A] flood of public money is benefiting the coterie of men who own most of Barra's land. One of them, a 92-year-old billionaire named Carlos Carvalho, controls some 65 million square feet of property in the area. His most famous project for the Olympics is the so-called Athletes' Village. After the games are over, all 31 of the Village's 17-story towers will be transformed into luxury condos featuring multiple swimming pools, tropical gardens and an unobstructed view of Jacarepaguá Lake. [...] Carvalho is also a partner in construction of the nearby Olympic Park, a sprawling spit of concrete sprinkled with a billion dollars' worth of sporting facilities. Here, the city handed over lakeside land that Carvalho is expected to develop into a whole new neighborhood, once the economy rebounds and demand picks up again. As scarce as resources are in Brazil, such subsidies are common for well-connected businessmen. But they are no guarantee of quality. For Olympic athletes arriving this month, Carvalho delivered apartments with blocked toilets, leaky pipes, and exposed wiring. Of all the contradictions between Olympic vision and reality, perhaps the most glaring is in Carvalho's choice of partners, the construction firms Odebrecht and Andrade Gutierrez. These companies are at the center of the multibillion-dollar corruption scandal that has plunged Brazil into political chaos, and investigators now believe they skimmed bribes from Olympic projects, too. Both companies are cooperating with investigators. As recently as May, Paes surreally claimedthe Olympics were free of corruption, even though his own party is deeply implicated in the wide-ranging bribery scheme. And the Olympics golf course, Cuadros discovered, was constructed by a wealthy businessman on stolen public lands and in what had formerly been an environmental protection zone where construction was forbidden. The area was deemed no longer a protected zone when a nearby sand-mining operation was found to have 'degraded' the ecosystem. The sand-mining operation was owned by the same businessman who built the golf course. Cuadros also reported that more than 20,000 residents of the city's favelas have been removed, their homes demolished, to make way for roads and Olympics stadiums. Meanwhile, the weekend before the Olympics' start saw competing protests sweep Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, underscoring the political turmoil gripping the nation. In Rio de Janeiro, protesters ostensibly demonstrated against corruption—but also voiced support for the ruling neoliberal, pro-business elite and called for the impeachment of embattled Workers' Party president Dilma Rousseff. In São Paulo, a competing rally drew crowds calling for workers' rights and an end to the right-wing takeover of Brazil's federal government. The Senate is expected to vote on whether to impeach Rousseff in late August. Last week, protests in Rio were more locally focused: the Brazil chapter of rights group Amnesty International displayed 40 body bags in front of the office of the Local Organizing Committee for the Olympics to draw attention to the city's fatal police shootings, which have increased significantly in the months leading up to the games. 'Since April, Amnesty International has been raising concerns around the increased risk of human rights violations in the context of Rio 2016 Olympics, as it happened before in other mega sporting events such as the 2014 World Cup and the 2007 Panamerican Games,' the organization noted. 'Since 2009, when Rio won the bid to host the Olympics, more than 2,600 people were killed by the police in the city.' Renata Neder, human rights advisor at Amnesty International, commented: 'Brazil failed to learn from past mistakes. In the month of May alone, 40 people were victims of homicides committed by the police, a 135 percent increase in comparison to the same period in 2015. These numbers are unacceptable and compromise the Olympic legacy.' Indeed, as political and environmental turmoil threatens the Rio Olympics, Cuadros observed in The Atlantic that 'perhaps the best Olympic legacy that Brazilians can hope for is that the event will serve as a cautionary tale to future generations.' This article was reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams. ... By Environmental Working Group | Health | Jul 21 10 Toxic Chemicals EPA Should Reconsider Now The nation's new chemical safety law promises to give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expanded authority to regulate hazardous chemicals in consumer products. But of the tens of thousands of chemicals on the market, most never tested for safety, which should the EPA tackle first? Today, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a list of high priority chemicals the EPA should act on quickly. It includes chemicals in products Americans use every day—detergents and household cleaners, clothes, mattresses, furniture, toys and even kids' jewelry. The Environmental Working Group released a list of high priority chemicals the EPA should act on quickly. 'After decades of stagnation, EPA can now ban or restrict the use of toxic chemicals and order companies to conduct safety testing when more information is needed,' EWG senior scientist David Andrews said. 'It's important that the agency act promptly to eliminate or reduce Americans' exposure to industrial compounds linked to cancer, birth defects, hormone disruption and other health problems.' For many chemicals on the list, action is long overdue. For example, many Americans believe asbestos—a carcinogen that claims 12,000 to 15,000 lives each year—was banned decades ago, as it has been in 55 other nations. But U.S. industry still imports, uses and sells asbestos and asbestos products, including automobile brake pads and clutches, vinyl tile and roofing materials. With so many hazardous chemicals in use, any list of those posing the greatest risks would be subjective and incomplete. But the vast catalogue of chemicals that have never been evaluated for safety make it urgent for the EPA to move quickly to tackle the backlog. The agency put 90 chemicals known to pose health risks on a list called the TSCA [Toxic Substances Control Act] Work Plan. 'The work plan list represents opportunities for assessment and regulation where EPA action is overdue,' EWG senior scientist Johanna Congleton said. 'In some cases, such as with some kinds of flame retardants, the initial EPA review was hindered by the lack of safety and exposure data. EPA must now use its expanded authority to fill in these critical information gaps.' EWG scientists scrutinized the chemicals on the work plan, analyzed studies by U.S. and international researchers and consulted fellow experts in environmental health. They considered each chemical's health risks, how widely Americans are exposed to it and the likelihood of EPA action under the new law. Here are the 10 chemicals EWG urges the EPA to thoroughly review and regulate as soon as possible: 1. Asbestos The cancer-causing substance is still found in automobile brake pads and clutches, vinyl tiles and roofing materials. While some uses have been banned since 1989, no new risk assessment is scheduled. 2. PERC This probably carcinogen appears in dry-cleaning fluid, spot removers and water repellents. 3. Phthalates These chemicals are linked to early puberty in girls and other reproductive harm. They show up in PVC plastic, toys and plastic wrap. 4. BPA This carcinogen is also linked to infertility, developmental harm and diabetes. BPA is used in food cans and other food containers and cash register receipts. 5. Chlorinated phosphate fire retardants These chemicals turn up in upholstered furniture, foam cushions, baby car seats and insulation. They are linked to possible nerve and brain damage. 6. TBBPA and related chemicals This potential carcinogen and endocrine disruptor is seen in electronics, auto parts and appliances. 7. Brominated phthalate fire retardants These chemicals are linked to developmental toxicity and appear in polyurethane foam for furniture and baby products. 8. 1-Bromopropane This probable carcinogen is used in aerosol cleaners and adhesives and linked to reproductive harm. 9. DEHA This probable carcinogen is found in plastic wrap and PVC plastic. It is also linked to developmental toxicity. 10. P-dichlorobenzene This probable carcinogen is detected in moth balls and deodorant blocks. It is linked to liver and nerve damage. EWG, from EPA's 2014 TSCA Work Plan ... By Katie Pohlman | Animals | Jul 29 Pokémon Go Players Become Unusual Heroes for Animals Pokémon Go—the app that has hoards of people roaming streets, parks and public spaces looking for imaginary Pokémon—turns out to be beneficial for animals. This is what Pokémon Go players see when their eyes are glued to their phones.Photo credit: brar_j, Flickr While playing the app several users have stumbled upon abandoned or injured animals and offered help. Cornell University Animal Hospital in Ithaca, New York, is just one of the organizations receiving these injured and abandoned animals, Inhabitat reported. Since July 6, when the app was released, the hospital has been the recipient of a screech owl, rabbits, opossum and a baby squirrel. People wandering around with their eyes glued to their phones is often seen as a nuisance, but some animal lovers are praising the habit. 'The whole 'Gotta Catch 'Em All,' it's great!' Victoria Campbell, owner of WildThings Sanctuary, said. Campbell was part of a bat rescue. Pokémon Go player Olivia Case rescued a juvenile bat while she was in the pursuit of Pokémon in Ithaca. She called Campbell to tell her about the bat and Campbell directed her to Cornell University Animal Hospital. 'They showed up at almost midnight with this baby bat,' Campbell said. 'I was like 'Wow, where did you find it?' and they were like, 'We were out playing Pokémon Go.'' Case isn't the only Pokémon Go player/animal rescuer out there. In Rochester, New York, a man found eight ducklings stuck in a storm drain and got them help. In South Houston two players saved 20 hamsters and seven baby mice that were found in a cage abandoned in a park. Also in Texas, in the town of Lufkin, two players found an injured puppy. 'The puppy was laying by the tree and a trash bag and could not move,' Kaitlin Kouts told KTRE 9 News. 'His mouth was bleeding, he wasn't moving very much. He looked like he was in pain. We found out his back leg was broken. His gums were pale and blue and so were his ears.' Kouts and her fellow Pokémon Go player were helped by Skyler Jerke, a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and pizza delivery man. Jerke stabilized the puppy and helped take it to a local veterinary clinic to undergo surgery for its broken bones. Photo credit: Kaitlin Kouts Pokémon Go doesn't only provide rescue services to animals, but exercise opportunities as well. Some animal shelters, such as Muncie Animal Shelter in Indiana, are using Pokémon Go players to walk their dogs. 'The idea is that they take the dog on kind of an adventure for the day,' Phil Peckinpaugh, shelter director, told The Huffington Post. So next time you come in contact with a Pokémon Go player, just think, they could be on their way to rescue an animal in need. ... By EWContributor | Energy | Jul 28 Fracking Pipeline Puts Tim Kaine’s Fossil Fuel Industry Ties to the Test By Alleen Brown, The Intercept Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine is facing pressure from landowners in his home state of Virginia to stand against the planned Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would carry fracked gas from Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to mid-Atlantic markets. He's made some moves in that direction: he's held private meetings with landowners in the pipeline's pathway; he's asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to strengthen the consultation process for residents; and he introduced an amendment to a federal energy bill that would encourage regulators to carry out a review of the cumulative impact of the region's four planned pipelines. But he hasn't ruled the pipeline out, making environmentalists worry that he ultimately shares the quietly fossil-fuel friendly politics of the Democratic Party. Sen. Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign pushed the debate over banning hydraulic fracturing onto primetime and into the Democratic Party's platform committee. But the Sanders view did not prevail in the end. The platform calls for stronger regulation of fracking—while affirming that it will continue. Kaine's record on energy is mixed. He's been supportive of offshore drilling in the Atlantic and introduced legislation to speed up liquid natural gas exports. In 2012 he pushed for the construction of one of the nation's last new coal plants. And he helped pressure the federal government to lower Virginia's greenhouse gas emissions goals under the Clean Power Plan. In Virginia, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline's biggest investor, Dominion, was the largest single corporate contributor to local politicians between 1997 and 2016 and Kaine has accepted his share of the company's cash and gifts: more than $300,000 in total since 2001. When asked what he thought of Kaine, senior American Petroleum Institute lobbyist Louis Finkel told Intercept reporter Zaid Jilani, 'He's the best we could have hoped for.' Virginia's governor and longtime friend of the Clintons Terry McAuliffe supports the pipeline. Still, many environmentalists consider Kaine someone who can be swayed. After all, he was one of the earliest legislators to declare opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have transported carbon-intensive tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast. Obama eventually cancelled the pipeline in order to demonstrate to global policymakers his dedication to fighting climate change. Nancy Sorrells, who sits on the steering committee of the Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance, which is organizing against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, said she believes that Kaine will come around to rejecting it. 'He has a strong moral sense,' she said. 'I think he can look at it and it will be the logical thing.' 'We feel like the heart side of Kaine is here with the landowners and that's the way that we fight these pipelines,' said Jane Kleeb, a key organizer behind the defeat of the Keystone XL, whose organization Bold Alliance is working with the Atlantic Coast Pipeline activists. 'Tim Kaine has to be the number one focus right now of the landowners: get him to be their champion.' Kaine did not respond to a request for comment from The Intercept. In Keystone's wake, natural gas pipelines are emerging as a gauge of Democrats' environmental seriousness. In the Appalachian basin alone, 19 major natural gas pipeline projects, including the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, have been proposed to carry fracked gas from production sites to markets, making them a focal point of the environmental movement. The pipeline protesters have seen victories. On Earth Day, construction of the Constitution pipeline in New York halted when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo denied a key permit under the Clean Water Act. Only days earlier, pipeline company Kinder Morgan announced that it would cancel its Northeast Energy Direct pipeline because it lacked purchasing commitments from customers. Organizers have not yet succeeded, however, in forcing regulators to link the infrastructure projects to one of Democrats' most pressing goals. The party's platform committed Democrats to 'meeting the pledge President Obama put forward in the landmark Paris agreement, which aims to keep global temperature increases to 'well below' two degrees Celsius.' It goes on to call for a 'comprehensive approach that ensures all federal decisions going forward contribute to solving, not significantly exacerbating, climate change.' But for now, the impact of new fossil fuel projects is not routinely measured against national and international climate goals. Last week, Oil Change International, which is dedicated to revealing the societal costs of fossil fuels, released a report that shows how the 19 proposed Appalachian Basin pipeline projects could fail such a climate test. According to the study, the Energy Information Administration projections of fossil fuel consumption suggest that 'even if the U.S. reduced all coal and petroleum use to zero by 2040, the U.S. would still exceed its climate goals based on natural gas emissions alone.' Since pipeline investments would incentivize the production and shipment of natural gas for decades, the report says, the pipelines are inconsistent with the 2-degree climate goal. And yet, Democratic Party power players continue to push natural gas as part of a climate change solution. At a Politico-hosted panel event Wednesday, sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, former Obama energy advisor Heather Zichal, who sits on the board of Cheniere Energy, said she is in favor of developing a climate test for infrastructure—but she also supports fracking. Another panelist was one of Kaine's companions on Clinton's short list of potential running mates, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, whose memoir, published this spring, states that 'fracking is good for the country's energy supply, our national security, our economy and our environment.' 'I think that there's a cognitive dissonance,' said Oil Change International director Steve Kretzmann, 'There's not really a way to do fossil fuels right anymore.' Kleeb, the anti-Keystone organizer, believes post-Bernie Democratic politics will require inviting more 'keep it in the ground' organizers into positions of party power, starting within the Clinton campaign. 'We need at the very least a stable of advisors of people like me—Josh Fox, Bill McKibben—that know the science, know the movement fighters,' said Kleeb, who was recently elected chair of Nebraska's Democratic Party. Of course, for many of those fighting the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, climate is not the motivating factor. It's one of the distinctive features of the anti-pipeline movement that no two activists are fighting for quite the same thing. Lewis Freeman, a former plastics industry lobbyist who briefly worked for the American Petroleum Institute and describes his politics as moderate, said his motivation is to preserve the harsh Appalachian landscape. In mountainous Highland County, where he's from, the line would pass through 'karst' terrain, made of limestone caves with connecting fissures through which seeping contaminants easily impact the water supply. 'I have respect for the industry, but I don't believe that that means that the energy industry should have the right to build a pipeline or an energy property anywhere they want,' Freeman said. 'I do not believe that it is prudent on any measure, for safety or environmental reasons, to build a pipeline through the area where they want to build it.' The activists are asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which must approve the pipeline for it to go forward, to conduct a study that would examine the cumulative impact of four pipelines that have been proposed for the area. They've also raised questions about the necessity of the pipeline to state and national power needs and the impact on ratepayers. Sierra Club has filed an anti-trust complaint against Dominion with the Federal Trade Commission. Tea Partier Travis Geary, who co-chairs the anti-pipeline Augusta County Alliance with Nancy Sorrells, believes the pipelines could serve as a very different kind of litmus test for the Republican Party, whose platform would eliminate support for the Paris climate agreement. 'Developing energy independence or infrastructure cannot [take priority over] protecting individual landowners who have purchased land with blood, sweat, and tears, and passed it on to family through the generations,' said Geary, whose parents' cattle farm would be crossed by the pipeline. 'If we lose our property rights, that's the right that everything else is based on. I would like to see more of that in the Republican platform.' This article was reposted with permission from our media associate The Intercept. ... By Marcus Eriksen | Insights | Nov 11, 2015 Why We Must Ban Plastic Bags and Support a Circular Economy 'There's your product. It's all plastic bags,' I said to Phil Rozenski, director of sustainability... By Kick Kennedy | Climate | Jul 21 Kurt Vonnegut's 1988 Letter to the Future More Relevant Today Than Ever Before In 1988, my then Hyannis Port neighbor the late Kurt Vonnegut wrote a prescient letter to the Earth's planetary citizens of 2088 for Volkswagen's TIME magazine ad campaign. His seven points of advice are perhaps more relevant today than at any time in human history. We should keep this advice in mind this election year and adopt Vonnegut's recommendations while we still can. Kurt VonnegutDaniele Prati, via Flickr Commons Here's his letter: Ladies & Gentlemen of A.D. 2088: It has been suggested that you might welcome words of wisdom from the past, and that several of us in the twentieth century should send you some. Do you know this advice from Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet: 'This above all: to thine own self be true'? Or what about these instructions from St. John the Divine: 'Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment has come'? The best advice from my own era for you or for just about anybody anytime, I guess, is a prayer first used by alcoholics who hoped to never take a drink again: 'God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.' Our century hasn't been as free with words of wisdom as some others, I think, because we were the first to get reliable information about the human situation: how many of us there were, how much food we could raise or gather, how fast we were reproducing, what made us sick, what made us die, how much damage we were doing to the air and water and topsoil on which most life forms depended, how violent and heartless nature can be, and on and on. Who could wax wise with so much bad news pouring in? For me, the most paralyzing news was that Nature was no conservationist. It needed no help from us in taking the planet apart and putting it back together some different way, not necessarily improving it from the viewpoint of living things. It set fire to forests with lightning bolts. It paved vast tracts of arable land with lava, which could no more support life than big-city parking lots. It had in the past sent glaciers down from the North Pole to grind up major portions of Asia, Europe, and North America. Nor was there any reason to think that it wouldn't do that again someday. At this very moment it is turning African farms to deserts, and can be expected to heave up tidal waves or shower down white-hot boulders from outer space at any time. It has not only exterminated exquisitely evolved species in a twinkling, but drained oceans and drowned continents as well. If people think Nature is their friend, then they sure don't need an enemy. Yes, and as you people a hundred years from now must know full well, and as your grandchildren will know even better: Nature is ruthless when it comes to matching the quantity of life in any given place at any given time to the quantity of nourishment available. So what have you and Nature done about overpopulation? Back here in 1988, we were seeing ourselves as a new sort of glacier, warm-blooded and clever, unstoppable, about to gobble up everything and then make love—and then double in size again. On second thought, I am not sure I could bear to hear what you and Nature may have done about too many people for too small a food supply. And here is a crazy idea I would like to try on you: Is it possible that we aimed rockets with hydrogen bomb warheads at each other, all set to go, in order to take our minds off the deeper problem—how cruelly Nature can be expected to treat us, Nature being Nature, in the by-and-by? Now that we can discuss the mess we are in with some precision, I hope you have stopped choosing abysmally ignorant optimists for positions of leadership. They were useful only so long as nobody had a clue as to what was really going on—during the past seven million years or so. In my time they have been catastrophic as heads of sophisticated institutions with real work to do. The sort of leaders we need now are not those who promise ultimate victory over Nature through perseverance in living as we do right now, but those with the courage and intelligence to present to the world what appears to be Nature's stern but reasonable surrender terms: Reduce and stabilize your population. Stop poisoning the air, the water, and the topsoil. Stop preparing for war and start dealing with your real problems. Teach your kids, and yourselves, too, while you're at it, how to inhabit a small planet without helping to kill it. Stop thinking science can fix anything if you give it a trillion dollars. Stop thinking your grandchildren will be OK no matter how wasteful or destructive you may be, since they can go to a nice new planet on a spaceship. That is really mean, and stupid. And so on. Or else. Am I too pessimistic about life a hundred years from now? Maybe I have spent too much time with scientists and not enough time with speechwriters for politicians. For all I know, even bag ladies and bag gentlemen will have their own personal helicopters or rocket belts in A.D. 2088. Nobody will have to leave home to go to work or school, or even stop watching television. Everybody will sit around all day punching the keys of computer terminals connected to everything there is, and sip orange drink through straws like the astronauts. Cheers, Kurt Vonnegut ... By Katie Pohlman | Energy | Jul 26 Solar-Powered Plane Completes Historic Trip Around the World Solar Impulse 2, a solar-powered airplane, finished its historic trip around the world, which started back in March 2015. The plane landed in Abu Dhabi early Tuesday. André Borschberg (left) and Bertrand Piccard (right) celebrate after Solar Impulse 2 landed in Abu Dhabi, completing an historic trip around the world.Photo credit: Solar Impulse, Flickr Solar Impulse traveled around the world, breaking the journey down into 17 legs, spending a total of 23 days in the air. The plane, powered by 17,000 solar cells, traveled 42,000 kilometers (about 26,100 miles) in a little more than a year. Its trip across the Atlantic Ocean from New York City to Seville, Spain, alone took approximately 90 hours to complete, traveling at 140 km/h (about 87 mph). The plane's longest trip was from Japan to Hawaii, which lasted almost five days. Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg alternated piloting the solar-powered plane. On the ground, they were helped by a team of 30 engineers, 25 technicians and 22 navigation controllers. After landing in Abu Dhabi, Piccard called the journey not only an achievement for the history of aviation, but a success for the history of energy. The pilots hope their journey promotes investment in clean energy. 'If we want a good quality of life today, we have to turn to clean technology and renewable energies,' Piccard said. 'If governments had the courage to promote clean technologies on a massive scale, our society could simultaneously reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, create jobs and stimulate sustainable growth.' Piccard and Borschberg never had a shortage of views during their trip. Solar Impulse 2 was subject to amazing views, clean energy innovations and some of the world's most challenging problems, including the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It took 13 years to achieve Solar Impulse's historic journey, but now the group is moving on to other projects such as establishing the International Committee of Clean Technology (ICCT). Piccard and Borschberg created the ICCT to 'continue the legacy Solar Impulse started, promoting concrete energy efficient solutions in order to solve many of the challenges facing society today.' Already 400 organizations have joined forces to help the ICCT achieve its goals. Notable patrons include H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, Richard Branson and Kofi Annan, who have already dedicated their work to the environment and clean energy sources. Patrons will advise governments and corporations on how to use clean technology. 'The International Committee of Clean Technologies is a fantastic opportunity to bring together a group of experts, with diverse experiences and backgrounds, to speak in one voice and leverage the efforts needed to bring change and influence global decision makers in the areas of clean technologies and renewable energy,' Borschberg said. Solar Impulse successfully lands in Abu Dhabi with Bertrand Piccard at the controls.Photo credit: Solar Impulse, Flickr On July 11, Borschberg also predicted the world will soon see solar drones in the stratosphere, inspired by Solar Impulse's achievements. 'Solar Impulse is of course very well positioned to contribute to the next generation of unmanned solar airplanes,' he said. 'When considering technological progress today, these unmanned aircrafts will be able to fly much higher than they can today, avoiding air traffic and bad weather. They will be able to fly in extremely low air density and remain in the air both day and night, essentially taking over the need for satellites in a cheaper and more sustainable way. Parallel to SpaceX and Blue Origin, they could be brought down from the stratosphere to perform repairs and upgrades.' Borschberg mentioned that Solar Impulse may take flight again in different parts of the world to spread its message about clean technology. The Solar Impulse team in Abu Dhabi after a successful landing, ending an historic trip around the world.Photo credit: Solar Impulse, Flickr But for now, the pilots can revel in their completion of an historic trip around the world. Watch here: ... By Lorraine Chow | Animals | Mar 28 Car Engine Cover, Fishing Net and Plastic Bucket Found in Stomachs of Dead Sperm Whales Large quantities of marine debris were found in the stomachs of sperm whales that washed... By Katie Pohlman | Animals | Jul 7 Florida Man Arrested for Stealing 107 Loggerhead Turtle Eggs A Florida man was caught stealing loggerhead turtle eggs last weekend. Glenn Robert Shaw, 49, was caught with 107 loggerhead eggs, which he had stolen from a turtle as she was laying them, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Facebook post. Shaw faces third-degree felony charges for destroying, selling or molesting turtles or eggs or nests. Caretta caretta, Loggerhead turtle hatchling on the Cirali beach in the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey.Photo credit: World Wildlife Fund Shaw was arrested a few days after Florida officials received reports of a man poaching sea turtle eggs, according to the Miami Herald. 'Our biologists contacted law enforcement after receiving information about someone poaching sea turtle eggs from a beach behind a residence,' the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's post explained. 'Our officers began increasing patrols in the area to monitor for illegal activity. After a few days of additional patrols, officers saw a man taking eggs from a female loggerhead sea turtle as she was laying them.' Fifteen of the stolen eggs were kept for DNA testing, the commission said, but the remaining 92 were buried with hopes that they will hatch later this year. Loggerhead turtles mate every two to three years. During mating years, females nest between April and September, with the peak of nesting season occurring in June, according to the National Wildlife Federation. Female loggerheads emerge on the beach at night every 14 days, laying an average of four clutches of eggs, which contain between 100 and 120 eggs each. Eighty percent of loggerhead nesting in America occurs in Florida. Loggerhead turtle swimming in open sea in Greece.Photo credit: World Wildlife Fund Loggerheads, which have been listed as threatened since 1978 under the Endangered Species Act, have been hunted in the past for their eggs and leather. But the main threats to the species include entrapment as bycatch from industrial fishing, plastic pollution, loss or degradation of habit, disorientation of hatchlings by beachfront lighting, marine pollution and disease to name a few. Last month, a loggerhead turtle was rescued after being trampled by tourists. ... By EWContributor | Animals | Oct 30, 2015 Another Whale Dead From Ingesting a Plastic Bag [Editor's note: Yesterday EcoWatch reported that a mature sperm whale was found dead in Taiwan. Local... By EWContributor | Food | Jul 12 How Your Choice of Chocolate Can Help Reforest Haiti By Meg Wilcox Read any article about Haiti's environment and you'll encounter the same grim statistic, that 98 percent of the country is deforested. That's hard to fathom. How could a country possibly have only two percent tree cover? Death by a Thousand Cuts, a 2016 film that tells the tale of a brutal murder related to Haiti's charcoal trade, shines a light on the forces behind the nation's dismal environmental state. Trucks carrying bags of wood charcoal, the major cooking fuel source for Haitians and a key driver of deforestation.Patrick Dessources Beyond the legacy left by the French, grinding poverty is a root cause, with per capita income in Haiti just $828 in 2014. Two-thirds of Haitians are subsistence farmers and the vast majority cook their food with wood charcoal. Charcoal production fuels deforestation, which leads to soil erosion, loss of productive agricultural land and a vicious cycle of poverty. An estimated 50 percent of Haitian topsoil in fact has been washed away, irreparably damaging farmland and contributing to crop losses of up to 70 percent in recent years. But, wait, what does this have to do with your chocolate bar? Chocolate, of course, comes from cocoa, which grows on trees. It needs shade and that means cocoa farms are often found in forests, at the base of mountains. Cocoa is, surprisingly, Haiti's third largest export crop. In fact, if you visit Haiti's verdant cocoa region in the north, near Cap-Haïtien, that 98 percent deforestation statistic belies what you'll see. Cocoa grows in Creole Gardens, rare forested areas in Haiti. Pictured are Nocelyn Preval aka 'Chiquito,' a worker at a cocoa processing facility and cocoa farmer Merviel Chilmise. In northern Haiti, some 4,000 smallholder farmers harvest cocoa in agroforestry systems called creole gardens. Garden is an understatement, as these dense tangles of vegetation are forests with larger coconut, breadfruit, mango and avocado trees that tower over and offer shade to the smaller cocoa trees, as well as food for the farmers. Smaller banana trees are also intercropped into the system. Cocoa farms are one of the few places in Haiti with standing trees and cocoa farmers have incentive to protect that greenery. Pierre Daniel Phelizor, for example, a cocoa farmer of 15 years, told me that his favorite pastime is planting new trees and that he runs a small nursery, selling cocoa, breadnut and mango trees to other farmers. Phelizor does not sell his trees to the ubiquitous charcoal traders. Pierre Daniel Phelizor, Haitian cocoa farmer says he's 'doing real business with his cocoa trees' now that he's selling into the specialty chocolate market. So what does this have to do with your choice of chocolate bar? Bear with me. One way to fight deforestation is to expand the production of cocoa and other tree crops in Haiti, like mango and avocado—and at the same time also help improve Haitian's lives and keep them from turning to the lucrative charcoal trade in the first place. Fermented cocoa beans drying at Produits de Iles S.A.(PISA), a private cocoa processing company in the north of Haiti. 'In terms of reforesting the country, cocoa is one of the best crops you can use,' said Ralph Denize, of FOMIN (Multilateral Investment Fund) in a phone call. FOMIN is partnering with Catholic Relief Services, a financier Root Capital and the Swiss Government to help expand and strengthen Haiti's cocoa industry. Haiti currently exports only 4,000 metric tons of cocoa per year, a big drop from its peak of 20,000 metric tons in the 1960s and far less than neighboring Dominican Republic, which exported 70,000 metric tons in 2014. Gilbert Gonzales, inside the cocoa fermentation facility at the company he founded Produits de Iles S.A. (PISA), in the north of Haiti. Revitalizing the industry is one way to help expand Haiti's forest cover. And here is where your choice of chocolate bar comes in. The vast majority of Haiti's cocoa beans are sold and exported in their raw, unprocessed state for mass-produced chocolate. Farmers earn very little for that and it's one of the reasons why cocoa production has dropped in Haiti. A quasi-monopoly buyer has also kept prices paid to Haitian farmers low. Fermented or processed, beans are what dark chocolate and specialty chocolate bars are made from and they can earn farmers up to twice as much. To date, however, there are scant few fermentation processing facilities in the country where Haitian farmers can bring their beans. Now different players in the cocoa industry are working to expand that fermentation capacity, from private companies and farmer cooperative associations to specialty chocolate manufacturers and financiers. They aim to rebuild Haiti's cocoa industry while providing farmers with a better life. Taza Chocolate's single origin Haitian chocolate bar. 'Moving from unfermented to fermented cocoa is about keeping the value added in the country,' Denize told me. And that in turn motivates farmers like Phelizor to take good care of their trees. Phelizor says in fact that he is 'doing real business with his cocoa trees' now that he's selling into the specialty market. If you buy a standard issue milk chocolate bar, you're likely eating a blend of cocoa beans from different countries, with a lot of sugar and fillers to boot. If you buy what's known as a 'single origin,' specialty chocolate bar you can actually select where the cocoa beans were grown. And if you're a chocolate connoisseur, you can pick the flavor, as each origin has distinctive notes, much like wine and coffee. You can do that now for Haiti, which happens to produce an exquisite chocolate flavor, with fruity notes, owing to its prized cocoa varietals. The first chocolate manufacturer in the U.S. to produce and market a single origin bar, with 84 percent Haitian cocoa beans, is Taza Chocolate. Taza is the pioneer, but we can expect to see more chocolate bars marketed with Haitian cocoa, as Uncommon Cacao, a broker that sells to many specialty chocolate manufacturers, has recently entered Haiti's market. So the next time you buy a chocolate bar, think about choosing one made with Haitian cocoa and make a small contribution toward helping to reforest the country while improving impoverished farmers lives. ... By Katie Pohlman | Business | Jul 5 Zero-Waste Markets Hit the U.S. Zero-waste markets are coming to the U.S. While very popular in Europe, this trend in grocery shopping isn't as well known in North America. Sarah Metz drew a lot of inspiration for her shop from similar European ones, like this, in Berlin.The Fillery via Instagram The Fillery, brainchild of Sarah Metz, is 'a place where one fills empty containers with goods, such as grains, nuts, seeds, coffee, tea