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Associated Press
By ARTHUR MAX
11.29.09, 12:43 PM EST
DNIPRODZERZHYNSK, Ukraine — Twenty years ago, when the Iron Curtain came down, the world gagged in horror as it witnessed firsthand the ravages inflicted on nature by the Soviet industrial machine.Throughout the crumbling communist empire, sewage and chemicals clogged rivers; industrial smog choked cities; radiation seeped through the soil; open pit mines scarred green valleys. It was hard to measure how bad it was and still is: The focus was more on production quotas than environmental data.Today, Europe has two easts – one that has been largely cleaned up with the help of a massive infusion of Western funds and the prospect of membership in the prosperous European Union; another that still looks as though the commissars never left.
The contrasting story lines are written in the ripple and flow of two rivers.
Drifting along Ukraine’s Dnieper River, past this one-time powerhouse of Soviet rule, requires slicing through clouds of black and orange exhaust from a metallurgical plant.
Over a hill, passengers may catch a whiff of a burning garbage dump. Nearby fields are fenced off by barbed wire with signs warning of radioactivity. Farther along, the cruise passes the world’s third largest nuclear power station.
Upstream from Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, the Dnieper picks up water from the Pripyat River, whose sediment is still laced with radioactive caesium-137 from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
To the southwest, in countries that have joined the EU, another river, the Danube, is bouncing back. Pleasure boats sail past public bathing areas and people of dozens of nationalities stroll down esplanades alongside a glittering waterway that inspired the music of Johann Strauss. Protected woods and wetlands are being extended along its meandering course.
In 1989 the stretch of Danube that flowed through the communist countries was like the Dnieper – an ecological disaster of epic proportions. Oil slicks glistened in rainbow colors on the water’s surface. Long stretches were empty of fish, and stinking algae proliferated along the banks. Worse than the visible pollution was the insidious invasion of microcontaminants that poisoned the ecosystem.
But at the intersection of geography and history lie insights into the rivers’ contrasting fates.
Originating in Russia and ending in the Black Sea, the Dnieper flows south through Belarus, cutting southeast across Ukraine, countries that have remained, in varying degrees, almost umbilically tethered over the past 20 years to the might of the Kremlin.
The Danube, on the other hand, traces a triumphant march through the European Union’s eastward expansion, starting in traditional EU heavyweight Germany and flowing through or forming the border of new member states – Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria.
The river ambles 2,857 kilometers (1,775 miles) from the Black Forest to the Black Sea. Some 83 million people in 19 countries live in its basin.
Five years after the Berlin Wall fell on Nov. 9, 1989, most of the countries sharing the Danube signed a convention to manage the river, its tributaries, the basin and the ground sources. It was one of the iconic projects in a broader mission among Western powers to make billions of dollars available for a massive cleanup of eastern Europe.
In five years of peak action from 2000, the Danube countries spent $3.5 billion building wastewater treatment plants in hundreds of towns and villages along the river and its 26 major tributaries. They spent $500 million more restoring wetlands and cleaning industrial spillage and agricultural runoff befouling the water.
Chemicals that feed plant-choking algae and threaten human health have dramatically declined since 1989, although their levels remain far higher than in 1950, before the industrial buildup and growth of riverside cities.
Along with direct Western aid, many poor ex-Soviet-bloc countries had a huge incentive to throw themselves into the region’s cleanup: EU membership. Racing to meet the bloc’s environmental standards, they put scrubbers into coal-fired plants, built water purification stations and capped emissions that had been returning to Earth as acid rain.
It was a monumental task.
One area known as the Black Triangle at the junction of Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic was notorious. A concentration of coal mines and heavy industry suffocated the region under industrial ash and gas. Some 80 million tons of lignite, or brown coal, were burned annually, pouring 3 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the air that caused chronic breathing ailments, higher cancer rates, and heart and immunity problems. Satellite images showed half the pine forests in the surrounding hills disappeared between 1972 and 1989.
With help from the EU, the three countries mothballed factories, switched to cleaner fuels, and installed new technologies in the area, about the size of Maryland or Belgium. Within a decade, sulfur dioxide emissions fell 91 percent, nitrogen oxide fell 78 percent and solid particles dropped 96 percent, according to the UN Environment Program.
For the Danube, the cleanup was more than just an environmental project. The Danube Convention changed mindsets, breaking down barriers between former enemies, forcing countries and riverside populations to work together across previously hostile borders.
“The Danube is a living river that is bound up with the culture and the peoples who live there,” says Philip Weller, the commission’s executive secretary.
“It is not a wild river, in the sense of salmon jumping or white water,” Weller said. “It is the lifeblood, the circulation system” that connects the richest part of Europe in western Germany to the poorest in Ukraine and Moldova.
The river is still not pristine, but “over the past 20 years much has changed for the better,” said Andreas Beckmann of the World Wildlife Fund. After 150 years of abuse and the loss of 80 percent of the river’s wetlands, “the Danube has significantly recovered.”
With the fund’s support, dikes were torn down and severed river systems were reconnected, restoring 50,000 hectares (123,000 acres) or one-fifth of the retrievable wetlands, Beckmann says.
Still, the river bears irreparable scars from the Soviet era.
Romania’s Iron Gate dams and hydroelectric stations cannot be dismantled, forever blocking the migration route of the majestic sturgeon. Two of the five sturgeon species native to the Danube have virtually disappeared, though efforts are on to revive stocks in the lower Danube.
Economic progress brings modern threats: more packaging, more waste, more household detergents containing phosphorous that stimulate river-choking algae.
Sergei Rudenko, a teacher at a vocational school in Dniprodzerzhynsk, has been throwing a fishing line into the Dnieper for 50 years. Springing from the mountains of central Russia, the 2,285-km (1,420-mile) river was once rich at this spot in eastern Ukraine with perch, carp and bream.
Now its yield is miserly, he says.
“The Dnieper is destroyed,” Rudenko said, casting his line from a highway bridge, from which the horizon is obscured by smoke from the metallurgical plant. “The fishing is not like in earlier times. My father always brought home many fish, many bream, and now there is none.”
Dniprodzerzhynsk, a name that combines the river with that of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Bolshevik secret police, once was so crucial to the Soviet economy that it was closed to outsiders. With 250,000 people, it has 60 factories, some looming over the city in a permanent haze.
On the outskirts of town eight fields are fenced off with barbed wire, hung with yellow triangles warning of radioactivity. Nuclear waste was dumped here many years ago. Uniformed officers patrol the area, and stopped two Associated Press journalists to ask why they were there.
Next to a chemical plant is the city dump, where three decades worth of garbage is now a steaming landfill 30 meters (100 feet) deep. Dozens of trucks arrive daily, dropping more refuse into the ravine, cut through by a stinking scum-filled stream.
“When the wind is from there, I can’t breathe,” said Gregori Timoshenko, a 72-year-old waste site employee, nodding toward the fresh garbage. He shrugs when asked if working in such a polluted place affects his health. “I have lived my life, I have nothing to lose.”
Not far away, Evgen Kolishevsky of the Voice of Nature, a local environmental group, takes a reporter to the foot a mountainous slag heap, below which runs the Konoplyanka river that feeds into the Dnieper. “This is the waste from chemical enterprises and of processing and enrichment of uranium,” he said.
“Dniprodzerzhynsk is one of the most contaminated cities in Europe,” he said, shaking his head.
As world attention increasingly focuses on climate change, a visit to Ukraine is a jolting reminder that the old environmental problems of air pollution, dirty water and untreated waste still exact a devastating toll.
The Ukrainian steppe, once the industrial engine for the Soviet empire, reveals a skyline of artificial landmarks: a picket fence of smokestacks and huge slag heaps looking like flat-topped volcanic hills in the distance.
At the end of its journey, the Dnieper enters the only part of the Black Sea that suffers from “anthropogenic hypoxia,” a chronic lack of oxygen caused by man-made pollution afflicting 50,000 square kilometers (20,000 square miles) of water – strangling fish and plant life.
Irina Schevchenko, a journalist and director of the local voluntary organization Vita, stands at the foot of one mountain of chemical ash, taller than any building in the eastern town of Gorlovka. In the 1970s, the state-owned chemical plant began dumping its waste at the edge of a nature reserve. Now, burned out tree stumps and a layer of steel-gray mud separate the dump from the woods.
In summer, smoke from chemical evaporation rises from the mound, said Schevchenko. “The wind takes it to the fields, to the houses of the people. When it rains … it goes into these streams and gets into the underground currents. As a result, the concentration of chemicals in the soil and in the air of Gorlovka is twice as high as normal.”
Victor Lyapin, a local health official, acknowledges the damaging effects.
“The first mistake of the Soviet Union,” he said, “was to put factories and people shoulder to shoulder.”
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
Source: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/11/29/science-eu-the-polluted-east_7165524.html?partner=alerts
PREMIER TO GO TO COPENHAGEN
Moves could signal progress in climate talks
By Juliet Eilperin
Friday, November 27, 2009
China announced Thursday that it will lower its carbon emissions relative to the size of its economy by as much as 45 percent by 2020, the official New China News Agency reported, and that Premier Wen Jiabao will participate in international climate negotiations in Copenhagen next month.
The move by the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter to announce a near-term target of a 40 to 45 percent reduction, coming a day after President Obama set U.S. climate goals for the talks, suggests a possible breakthrough in Denmark next month in the long-stalled climate negotiations. But the State Council’s announcement that China will cut its carbon output relative to economic growth, using 2005 as a baseline, fell short of the 50 or 55 percent cut many world leaders had hoped Beijing would make.
Michael Levi, a senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations, called the announcement “disappointing,” because the Energy Information Administration estimates that existing Chinese policies will already cut the nation’s carbon intensity by 45 to 46 percent. Carbon intensity is a measure that captures the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of gross domestic product.
“It does not move them beyond business as usual,” Levi said. “The United States has put an ambitious path for emissions cuts through 2050 on the table. China needs to raise its level of ambition if it is going to match that. One can only hope that, now that China has made a proposal, negotiators are able to work out something better.”
The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, welcomed “the leadership China is bringing to this negotiation,” while noting that it will be “disappointing to some” that the cuts did not go further.
Others, however, hailed China’s commitment as a step the country had not been willing to take before.
China is not obligated to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions under the current framework for the U.N.-sponsored negotiations. But it is expected to account for 50 percent of the growth in global emissions over the next 20 years, making its output nearly 60 percent higher than U.S. output by 2020.
Any future climate treaty will be ineffective unless China agrees to make deep cuts.
Given China’s projected growth rates, its emission levels are expected to rise even under the plan the New China News Agency outlined on Thursday. Still, any effort China makes to curb its carbon footprint will have an enormous impact.
According to the D.C.-based Center for Clean Air Policy, China’s goal to cut its carbon intensity by 20 percent by 2010 would result in a 1.6 billion ton cut in emissions.
Levi, using data from the Energy Information Administration, said that under this plan, China’s overall emission levels would still grow 72 to 88 percent by 2020, about the same amount they would have increased anyway, given efficiencies expected as the country’s economy becomes more advanced.
“The big unknown is how fast China’s going to grow,” said Joe Romm, who edits the blog ClimateProgress.org for the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund. He noted, however, that the government may make deeper cuts because it tends to ratchet up its energy goals. Just recently, he said, China tripled its target for wind energy production. “China has a history of strengthening these targets,” he said.
Yvo de Boer, who will run the Copenhagen talks as executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, welcomed both the recent U.S. and Chinese policy proposals. The White House said the United States will cut its emissions “in the range of 17 percent” by 2020, relative to 2005 levels.
“The U.S. commitment to specific midterm emission cut targets and China’s commitment to specific action on energy efficiency can unlock two of the last doors to a comprehensive agreement,” de Boer said.
At the same time, he said, “we need continued strong ambition and leadership. In particular, we still await clarity from industrialized nations on the provision of large-scale finance to developing countries for immediate and long-term climate action.”
The European Commission voiced a mixed reaction to the U.S. climate targets, which would reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. The commission said the targets have “positive elements” but are “lower than we would like.” European leaders have called on industrialized nations to collectively cut their emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020, using 1990 emission levels as a reference point.
In an interview Wednesday, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) said he had urged Obama to attend the Copenhagen talks and set international climate goals to get “China and India and others to step up” and set emission targets. “It seemed to me fairly straightforward the president ought to lead on this,” Kerry said. Obama will spend one day at the talks, which run Dec. 7 to 18.
Connie Hedegaard, Danish minister for the climate conference, said Thursday that while “we must analyze more carefully” the Chinese proposal and that the U.S. target for 2020 “might not be what the world has been hoping for,” both initiatives prove that “the Copenhagen deadline works.”
“One by one, governments from all over the world are delivering before the climate conference next month. Last week, we saw concrete targets from Brazil and South Korea, and Russia improved its bid,” Hedegaard said. “All across the globe, things are moving.”
Staff writer Steven Mufson contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/26/AR2009112600519.html?wprss=rss_politics
Associated Press
By ELIANE ENGELER
11.23.09, 12:01 PM EST
GENEVA — Greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere reached record highs in 2008, with carbon dioxide levels increasing faster than previously, the U.N. weather agency said Friday.
Levels of greenhouse gases, believed to be responsible for global warming, have been rising every year since detailed records started being kept in 1998, the World Meteorological Organization said.
It follows a trend of rising emissions that began with the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century, the agency said.
The report by the World Meteorological Organization comes as the European Union urged the United States and China on Monday to set targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions at next month’s climate conference in Copenhagen. The organization said delays by those countries were hindering global efforts to curb climate change.
The gases – carbon dioxide, or CO2; nitrous oxide, N2O; and methane, CH4 – are produced partly by natural sources, such as wetlands, and partly by human activities such as fertilizer use or fuel combustion.
“Concentration of greenhouse gases continued to increase, even a bit faster,” the organization’s chief, Michel Jarraud, told reporters in Geneva.
Carbon dioxide – the main greenhouse gas in the atmosphere – was 385.2 parts per million in 2008, up 2 parts per million from 2007, the World Meteorological Organization said.
The CO2 content in the atmosphere rose slightly faster in 2008 than over the last decade when the growth rate was 1.9 parts per million, Jarraud said.
“It’s significant because what we would like is to see a decrease in the increase,” he said.
Nitrous oxide increased by 0.9 parts per billion over the previous year to 321.8 parts per billion.
Methane concentration in the atmosphere was 1,797 parts per billion, up 7 parts per billion from the previous year.
The year-to-year increase may appear small. But compared to the time before the Industrial Revolution, the levels have increased massively, the World Meteorological Organization said.
Since 1750, CO2 has increased 38 percent, nitrous oxide 19 percent and methane 157 percent, according to WMO.
The agency’s annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin provides widely accepted worldwide data on the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
It takes time to see the impact of greenhouse gas emissions because of the long time they remain in the atmosphere, said Oksana Tarasova, a specialist with the organization.
“Even if we stop all the emissions right now, after 100 years, 30 percent of the amount added to preindustrial level will remain in the atmosphere,” she told reporters.
Jarraud said if emissions continue to grow, the world is likely to face the more pessimistic scenarios laid out by climate experts.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said if nothing is done to stop emissions, global temperatures could rise as much as 6 degrees Celsius (11 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100, triggering droughts, floods and other disasters.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
Source: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/11/23/science-un-un-greenhouse-gases_7150991.html?partner=alerts
The Canadian Press
Date: Wednesday Oct. 14, 2009 11:45 AM ET
OTTAWA — A prominent environmental scientist and author says Canada has been a laggard in talks to forge a new deal to fight climate change.
Australian Tim Flannery says the world faces a watershed moment at the United Nations climate-change conference in Copenhagen in December.
The best-selling author of The Weather Makers says Canada has been “singularly unhelpful” at negotiations to broker a draft deal in time for Copenhagen.
He took the government to task for “not engaging at the sort of level that you would expect of a developed country of this influence and this economic heft.”
However, Canada’s top climate-change envoy says recent talks in Thailand — where many developing countries walked out after Canada’s address — were actually constructive.
Michael Martin says he’s optimistic countries will hammer out a deal by the end of the Copenhagen talks.
Source: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091014/canada_climate_091014?hub=World
Associated Press, 11.12.09, 12:38 PM EST
WASHINGTON — Record high temperatures are occurring more than twice as often as record lows.
According to a new study, between Jan. 1, 2000 and Sept. 30, this year the continental United States set 291,237 record highs and 142,420 record lows at various locations.
“Climate change is making itself felt in terms of day-to-day weather in the United States,” said Gerald Meehl, a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the lead author of the study.
In addition to NCAR, the research was done by scientists at the Weather Channel and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is being published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
Source: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/11/12/science-us-sci-highs-and-lows_7116340.html?partner=alerts
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