In a sobering report today, the Associated Press released the findings of a four-month study of the water supplies of 28 US metropolitan areas. Of the 28 cities' water supplies, 24 were found to hold traces of popular over-the-counter and prescription drugs. These drugs include including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones.

From the article:

How do the drugs get into the water?

People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.

And while researchers do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals, recent studies--which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public--have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife.

 

At a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco last month, a group of experts from the University of California, Irvine, put forth an idea to reduce the planet's albedo (the amount of sunlight that the surface absorbs): plant millions of "shiny plants" around the world. The leaves of these reflective plants "could send more of the sun's heat back into space, and even reverse temperature rises in parts of the world. Encouraging farmers to grow shinier crops could reduce maximum daytime temperatures in agricultural regions by as much as 1.9C....Plant breeders have already created an extra-hairy variety of soya bean to fight pests, which reflects about 5% more sunlight than normal, they said." The UK's Guardian article is available here.

At this same meeting other experts suggested a series of terraforming and geoengineering plans to cool the planet, from seeding the oceans with iron to increase plankton growth to vast orbiting reflectors and sunshades.

 

Architectural Record has an interesting piece out this week, coinciding with Major League Baseball's World Series. Famed Fenway Park in Boston, the oldest stadium in baseball, is getting a green upgrade in time for its centennial in 2012. From the article:

The Red Sox are planning to add photovoltaic panels and make additional green improvements with advice from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Although there is not yet a standardized way of greening a stadium, the Sox join a host of other ball clubs pursuing LEED-inspired, or LEED-aspiring projects including the Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, and New York Mets. The NRDC is consulting with many of these teams, as well as Major League officials and NBA and NHL franchises.

“It’s enlightened self-interest (for sports teams),” says Mark Rosentraub, a sports economist and dean of the Cleveland State University School of Urban Affairs. “It’s a prudent response to the high cost of energy and there’s PR value, since everything they do is much more visible.”

The article goes on to say that the team has already upgraded their playing field with "a sand filtration layer that moderates runoff into the city storm drains, and the grounds crews using less-toxic chemicals to maintain the field."

A thought-provoking article in the New York Times today on a Vietnamese forester's attempts to clean up environmental pollution left over from the Vietnam Conflict. Phung Tuu Boi, a forester and director of the Center for Assistance in Nature Conservation and Community Development in Hanoi, uses Australian acacia tree to help cleanse denuded forest land on which "Agent Orange" dioxin defoliant had been sprayed. Boi also attempts to seal off "hot spots" of pollution using green fences made of trees covered with cactus-sharp needles. The entire piece serves as a study of how to clean up the environment with almost no funding whatsoever.

From Sunday's Washington Post: The Wetlands Initiative has turned 2,600 acres of corn and soybean farmland by the Illinois River back into a wetland. This new experimental wetland's main purpose is to filter out harmful nutrient runoff from farming. According the the article, the wetland is "grounded in science that shows wetland plants capture phosphorous and turn nitrogen into a gas that escapes into the air. They also can remove carbon dioxide from the air, thus reducing the greenhouse gases that many scientists say cause global warming." "It's like dialysis for water systems," said Jim Nelson, the Nature Conservancy's vice president for public affairs. The Nature Conservancy is one of the supporting organizations of the Chicago-based Wetlands Initiative.

The whole article is worth a read, and goes into detail on the plans for creating a "nutrient credit" system much like the carbon credit economy that some environmental groups are advocating.

Interesting sustainability news from an unlikely source: The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) conducted a survey earlier this year and found that  85 percent of U.S. consumer business companies have active sustainability initiatives in place. The most common types of sustainability initiatives are recycling and energy conservation programs, both of which strike The Dirt as, well, the easiest thing to do. However, the co-author of the study has an interesting quote about consumers' and shareholders' expectations for businesses now:

"While the issues associated with sustainability -- such as waste management, commodity shortages and energy usage -- are nothing new, the expectations of shareholders, consumers, regulators, and other constituencies have changed, pushing sustainability to the top of the agenda for many consumer products companies," said Peter Capozucca, a principal with Deloitte Consulting and co-author of the study. "It is unlike any business issue consumer businesses have encountered in the past...."

Nice to see that businesses are at least starting to pay attention to their customers on this issue. Now let's see if they follow through.

AFP has a fascinating article about a new "green wall" that has been planted in Inner Mongolia. The wall, consisting of pine trees, grasses, and apricot bushes, aims to hold back the growing Gobi Desert. Chinese officials already see positive results from the new barrier, citing a decrease in the number of large sandstorms affecting the area. The wall also aims to protect Beijing from blowing sand during the upcoming Olympic Games.

Skeptics, however, note that

the root of the problem, overpopulation and unsustainable development, has not been addressed by a narrow corridor of grass and trees.

Jiang Gaoming, of the Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Science, said that 60 billion yuan (7.6 billion dollars) spent on projects to control sandstorms hitting Beijing had been largely wasted. "Do not get too excited by those recovered grasslands and forests you see alongside the highways. They only cover 10 percent of the total affected area. The other 90 percent causes the continuing sandstorms," said Jiang.

So what do you think, Dirt readers? Will the Gobi be reined in by a living wall? Or is this pre-Olympic Games "greenwashing"?

[photo of Mongolia by tiarescott]

Today's New York Times has a piece on Tennessee's attempts to control kudzu, an extremely invasive plant, using a "four-legged alternative to herbicide," that is, goats. The Chattanooga Public Works Department has had great success clearing public land of kudzu using goats, especially on steep, hard-to-reach slopes and hillsides. The project, however, has not been without a few chuckles:

“Usually, in dealing with this, you’ve got to get people past the laugh factor,” said Jerry Jeansonne, a city forestry inspector and the program’s self-described “goat dude.”

Despite the humorous overtones to the city’s methods, the program represents an environmentally friendly effort to grapple with a real problem in Chattanooga and the South.

The article also drops great kudzu trivia: Did you know that kudzu was once called "the miracle vine" and during the Depression the federal government paid farmers to plant it? Amazing.

The Dirt certainly hopes that your Earth Day weekend was lovely and that you got to contribute to an environmentally friendly activity, a green charity, or that you at least went outside!

Earth Day got its start in 1970 and has developed and grown in the last 30-plus years to be a global event. Groups of all sizes, from single Boy Scout troops to the members of the US Congress, pitch in each year to help clean up rivers, reclaim parks, and educate others on living a green lifestyle. However, not everyone is so happy with Earth Day; in a wide-ranging essay, World Changing's Alex Steffen and Sarah Rich write that this year's Earth Day should be the last we ever have. Click through to read "Make This Earth Day Your Last!"

We'd love to hear what you did for Earth Day--let us know in the comments!

After yesterday's troubling post on the Colorado River's diminishing flow, here's a positive story of river rehabilitation from New York City. The NY Times reports that, yes, a beaver has been sighted building a lodge in the Bronx River.

From the article:

For the first time in two centuries, the North American beaver, forced out of town by agricultural development and overeager fur traders, has returned to New York City. The discovery of a beaver setting up camp in the Bronx is a testament to both the animal’s versatility and to an increasingly healthy Bronx River.

The article outlines the $15mil+ rehabilitation efforts to clean up the river that started in the late 1990s. The beaver, apparently a male in search of a mate, has been named José in honor of United States Representative José E. Serrano of the Bronx, who has been instrumental in directing federal funds to the river clean-up.