RoundUp: Cellphone recycling, the 50 best environmentalists, and big oil
Latest green news for the week 01.08.08
The E.P.A. is rolling out a campaign for recycling cellphones, giving retailers a major green PR opportunity. According to the NY Times:
The $175,000 campaign — “Recycle Your Cellphone. It’s an Easy Call” — will rely heavily on public service announcements, particularly in lifestyle and technology magazines read by the 18- to 34-year-olds who trade up to new cellphones most often. The ads will stress environmental and social reasons for recycling. The agency also plans to release a podcast in which recycling specialists elaborate on their methodologies.
50 People Who Could Save the Planet (The Guardian)
Dot Earth’s Andrew Revkin responds to the list that includes movie star Leonardo DiCaprio, Nobel prize winners Al Gore and Wangari Maathai, NASA scientists, farmers, and peasants. Surprisingly, according to Revkin, Gore barely landed on the final list:
[John Vidal, the paper’s environment editor,] said Mr. Gore, despite his high profile, was a close call: “He may have put climate change on the rich countries’ agenda, but some felt his solution of trading emissions is not enough and no more than what all major businesses and western governments are now saying. But in the end he squeaked through.
Mixed Week for Big Oil (Houston Chronicle and the AP)
According to the AP: “Jurors sided with oil giant BP Corp. North America Inc. on Monday in a pollution lawsuit filed by the city of Neodesha seeking to recover the costs of cleanup and damage caused by an oil refinery.”
But there are more lawsuits targeted at the industry. The Houston Chronicle reports, “Environmental activists filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Shell Oil on behalf of citizens, saying state and federal environmental officials failed to enforce the Clean Air Act at the company’s Deer Park plant.”
In other news: more on ice , rising seas, and the threat to ; taking the president’s advice and using switchgrass for fuel.
