Brazil to crack down on deforestation

Brazil will combat rising deforestation in the Amazon by sending extra federal police and environmental agents to areas where illegal clearing of the rain forest jumped dramatically last year, officials said Thursday.

Authorities will monitor the areas in an attempt to prevent anyone from trying to plant crops or raise cattle there, Environment Minister Marina Silva said.

The new measures were announced after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called an emergency meeting of Cabinet ministers because new data showed an apparent reversal of a three-year slowdown in the Amazon deforestation rate.

The clearing of Brazil's Amazon rain forest jumped in the final months of 2007, spurred by high prices for corn, soy and cattle.

Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes said Latin America's largest nation has plenty of available land for farming and cattle that has already been deforested. Environmentalists fear sugarcane, used here to produce ethanol, could spread through the rain forest, but most ethanol operations are in southern Brazil far from the Amazon.

"It's not necessary to cut a single tree to produce soy or raise cattle," Stephanes said. "There's plenty of land outside of the Amazon to increase the production of soy and beef."

The government says its new push to stop deforestation is different than previous efforts because farmers will now be targeted as well as loggers.

The government will target 36 areas that registered the highest rates of deforestation, environmental officials said. Officials will try to fine people or businesses who buy anything produced on illegally deforested land, the environment minister said.

The plan means a 25 percent increase in the police force assigned to the region, though Justice Minister Tarso Genro did not say how many officers will take part.

Farmers working deforested land in the targeted area will also be forced to reregister holdings with government officials to prove their holdings were not illegally cleared, and there will be no new permits for logging.

On Wednesday, the environment ministry announced that up to 2,700 square miles of rain forest was cleared from August through December.

That puts Brazil on course to lose 5,791 square miles for the year ending in August — a 34 percent increase from the previous 12-month period.

Although preliminary calculations can only prove that 1,287 square miles of rain forest were cleared from August through December, ministry executive secretary Joao Paulo Capobianco said officials are working under the assumption that the higher amount of jungle was cleared as they continue analyzing satellite data.

Environmentalists say an immediate crackdown could be well timed.

Paulo Adario, coordinator of Greenpeace's Amazon campaign, said it's important for the government to act now because slash-and-burn deforestation typically ramps up this time of year at the start of the rainy season.

Jungle is typically cleared in the Amazon to provide pasture for cattle, then soy farmers move in later and cultivate their crops. Brazil also has a booming beef export industry, and cattle ranchers have been expanding operations in the Amazon.

N.J. beach town scraps rain forest deal

A plan to buy $1.1 million worth of tropical rain forest wood to fix the boardwalk was scrapped Thursday following a year of delays and protests from local residents and environmentalists around the globe.

"This has become a big embarrassment for the city of Ocean City," said Councilman Scott Ping.

The wood carried a hefty price tag because it was certified as having been harvested responsibly. But environmentalists say such harvesting is still denuding the rain forests and said the city should use domestic wood or synthetic alternatives.

Several council members said they now prefer using domestic yellow pine to cover a block-long section of the boardwalk that has been ripped up in anticipation of the wood being delivered.

"This is amazing, fantastic news," said Rhonda Van Wingerden, head of a local environmental group, Friends of the Rain Forest, which has been fighting the plan for the past year.

In a 6-0 vote, the council passed a resolution declaring the Louis J. Grasmick Lumber Co. of Baltimore in default of its contract with the city. The company said Monday the delays in shipping the wood were due to unavoidable factors, including record low water levels in the Amazon jungle that made it hard to float the logs to mills.

The council does not intend to pay for any of the wood, including the 3 percent of the order it has already received and another 15 percent that is supposedly on its way, Councilman Keith Hartzell said after the meeting.

"Our preference is to send it back," he said.

The only way the city would pay for the wood it has already received is if it were ordered to do so by a judge, he said.

City Attorney Gerald Corcoran, said the council's refusal to pay the bill could lead the lumber company to sue, but said he doubted that would happen.

Greenpeace: Japan's whale kill halted

Greenpeace said Monday it has disrupted the Japanese whale hunt off Antarctica by chasing the fleet's whale processing factory ship out of the whaling zone.

The six-vessel fleet "scattered and ran" early Saturday when it realized the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza was "heading toward them at high speed," Greenpeace expedition leader Karli Thomas told New Zealand's National Radio.

The fleet's three whale hunter vessels "can't operate without the (factory ship) Nisshin Maru there to process the kill," she added.

Greenpeace has pledged to take nonviolent action to try to stop the ships from killing whales, which in the past has led to activists in speed boats trying to put themselves between whales and Japanese harpoons, and once led to a ship collision.

A spokesman for Japan's whale hunt called Greenpeace's actions illegal and demanded it stop its disruptive actions.

"Greenpeace actions are illegal under international law (and) it's time the public stopped treating Greenpeace as heroes," Glenn Inwood, spokesman for the Institute of Cetacean Research, in Tokyo, Japan, said Monday. "It's time the public saw this fringe group for what they really are: environmental imperialists who are trying to dictate their morals to the world."

Japan dispatched its whaling fleet to the icy waters of Antarctica in November to kill about 1,000 whales under a program that Tokyo says is for scientific purposes, but which anti-whaling nations and activists say is a front for commercial whaling.

Under worldwide pressure, Japan last month abandoned its plan to include 50 humpback whales in this season's hunt — the first major hunt of humpback whales since the 1960s. It still plans to kill 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales.

Calif leaders voice EPA frustrations

A panel of outraged state and environmental leaders met Thursday to examine why the federal government won't let California and 16 other states regulate emissions from cars, trucks and SUVs.

The denial was the first time the Enivronmental Protection Agency had refused California a waiver under the Clean Air Act since Congress gave the state the right to such waivers in 1967. In response, California sued the federal government.

"I think it is fair to say that in the intervening ... years, no administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency has issued a decision which more flagrantly violated the clear language and intent of the Clean Air Act, or more fundamentally threatened the American people," Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club, told the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works at a field briefing.

EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson last month rejected the state's arguments that it faced unique threats from climate change. The federal government has a national plan to raise fuel economy standards that would be more effective than a patchwork of state regulations, Johnson said then.

The EPA's denial angered members of Congress, including Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Henry Waxman, California Democrats who lead the committees that oversee the EPA.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, also a California Democrat, called on the agency's inspector general to investigate allegations that Johnson acted against recommendations from his technical and legal staff in denying the waiver.

The EPA said it would turn over all documents about its decision, but Boxer's committee was unable to get the paperwork in time for Thursday's hearing.

"Where's the work? Where's the beef behind this decision?" Boxer asked as she waved an empty cardboard box with the label "EPA Documents."

Before her was an empty chair reserved for Johnson, who did not attend. EPA spokesman Jonathan Shradar said Johnson had a busy schedule and was preparing to address the waiver issue before a full hearing of Boxer's committee in Washington on Jan. 24.

On either side of that chair sat Pope; Edmund G. Brown Jr., California's attorney general; Mary Nichols, the state Air Resources Board chairwoman; and Fran Pavley, Natural Resources Defense Council senior climate adviser.

California officials have argued that their aggressive law would require the auto industry to cut emissions by a third in new vehicles by 2016, while boosting efficiency to about 36.8 miles per gallon.

An analysis released by state air regulators showed their 2004 tailpipe regulation would be faster and tougher than the federal fuel economy rules.

Twelve other states — Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington — have adopted California's emissions standards, and others have said they plan to do so. Those states, along with Arizona, Delaware and Illinois, said Wednesday that they plan to intervene in support of California.

The EPA's Dec. 19 decision was a victory for automakers, which argued that they would be forced to reduce their selection of vehicles and raise prices in states that adopted California's standards.

Brown railed against the EPA and the Bush administration, calling the refusal a "backroom deal" with automakers.

"Sooner or later we're going to uncover real corruption," he said.

Baby mammoth could shed light on warming

Frozen in much the state it died some 37,500 years ago, a Siberian baby mammoth undergoing tests in Japan could finally explain why the beasts were driven to extinction — and shed light on climate change, scientists said Friday.

The 6-month-old calf, unearthed in May by a reindeer herder in northern Siberia's remote Yamal-Nenets autonomous region, is virtually intact and even has some fur, though the tail and ear of the animal dubbed "Lyuba" were apparently bitten off.

"Lyuba's discovery is an historic event," said Bernard Buigues, vice president of the Geneva-based International Mammoth Committee. "It could tell us why this species didn't survive ... and shed light on the fate of human beings."

The last of the ancient beasts are thought to have roamed the earth from about 4.8 million years ago to 4,000 years ago, and researchers have debated whether their demise was due to climate change or over-hunting by humans.

"This is what we've all been waiting for — the chance to explain everything about the mammoth," said Naoki Suzuki of the Jikei University School of Medicine, who is leading the first phase of an international study of the carcass's structure.

"Our findings will be a big step toward resolving the mystery of their extinction," Suzuki told a press conference in Tokyo.

The 4-foot gray-and-brown mammoth underwent a computed tomography scan that produced 3-D pictures with an almost surgical view, Suzuki said.

Lyuba, which appeared to have died with no external wounds and was discovered still frozen, is the best preserved mammoth yet unearthed, according to Sergey Grishin, director of the Shemanovsky Yamal-Nenets Museum.

Scientists hope to analyze the 3-D data to get a better picture of the mammoth's internal organs and structure, as well as for clues on the baby's diet and why it died, Grishin said. They will also analyze tiny air samples left in Lyuba's lungs for clues to the earth's atmosphere during the last Ice Age.

Meanwhile, at a display in central Tokyo, children peered into a freezer displaying Lyuba's shriveled body. The mammoth is on display until late February.

"It looked amazing, almost like it was alive," said 10-year-old Chikara Shimizu.

"Maybe they found Lyuba because the ice in Siberia is melting from global warming," said Chikara's father, Misao Shimizu. "I find that very worrying."

Akito Arima, head of the Science Museum in Tokyo where Lyuba is on display, said global warming may be a reason the mammoth was discovered now, but he gave no details.

Permafrost — earth that remains frozen year-round — lies under much of Siberia but scientists fear that global warming will cause it to melt and could accelerate climate change by releasing large amounts of warming carbon dioxide gases into the atmosphere.

Gadgets to go green at electronics show

Consumer electronics aren't exactly easy on the environment — they consume electricity that contributes to global warming, and toxins leach out of them when they end up in landfills.

But the industry that's inviting us to get a new cell phone every year and toss out that old TV in favor of a great new flat panel is also trying to show that it cares.

At the world's largest trade show for consumer electronics, starting Monday in Las Vegas, manufacturers will be talking not just about megapixels, megahertz and megabytes, but about smart power adapters that don't waste as much electricity, batteries that are easier to recycle, and components made from plants.

Many of the products on display will be striking rather small blows for the environment, but the industry is realizing that even in electronics, going "green" can be a powerful marketing tool.

"Everything I've heard from folks out there is that there is going to be a lot of emphasis on green this year," said Scot Case, a vice president at consultancy TerraChoice Environmental Marketing Inc.

One of the 2,700 exhibitors at the International Consumer Electronics Show will be Japan's Fujitsu Ltd., which will show off a laptop with a plastic case made from corn rather than petroleum products. The company has sold such a model in Japan since 2006, but is now considering taking it to the North American market.

Environmental awareness among consumers and corporations has now reached the point where manufacturers really are taking notice, said Richard McCormack, senior vice president of marketing at Fujitsu's U.S. arm.

"They're driving manufacturers like us with their pocket book," McCormack said.

The catch with the corn-based laptop is that the material isn't biodegradable, meaning it doesn't decompose any faster than regular plastic. That's because it still contains some petroleum-based plastic in the mix for rigidity. The plastic still needs to be processed for recycling, after which the corn-based component can biodegrade.

Another company attacking the recycling angle is Z-Power, which has developed a battery technology that it hopes will replace the lithium-ion batteries that power today's laptops and cell phones. Its silver-zinc batteries will show up in laptops from a "major" manufacturer in the summer, according to the Camarillo, Calif., company's chief executive, Ross Dueber.

Lithium-ion batteries are recyclable but contain little recoverable material. The metals in Z-Power's batteries will be recoverable, Dueber said, and with a precious metal like silver in them, there will be a strong incentive to do so. The capacity should be 20-30 percent higher than lithium-ion laptop batteries. The company is also in discussions with cell-phone manufacturers.

PC makers have already come a long way toward making their products recyclable, said Jeff Ziegler, chief executive of Austin-based TechTurn Inc., which processes millions of used computers and other gadgets every year for recycling or reuse. Manufacturers have cut down on the number of different materials that go into their products, simplifying recycling a great deal. They've also cut back on lead solder and other poisonous components.

But as yet, only a few manufacturers, like Sony Corp., take responsibility for recycling their products. Just 12.5 percent of U.S. electronics waste is offered for recycling each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and much of that is dumped rather than recycled.

At the show, the EPA will be announcing a campaign to provide consumers with more places to turn in cell phones for recycling, in partnership with manufacturers and retailers. The agency puts the number of unused cell phones lingering in drawers at 100 million.

Also at the show, manufacturers are expected to trot out computers, especially laptops, that meet the EPA's new, tougher Energy Star 4.0 power consumption requirements, which went into effect in July. The specification now sets maximum levels for power consumption when the computer is on but idle — previously, Energy Star dealt only with the ability to enter "sleep" mode.

There won't be many desktop computers qualifying for the Energy Star rating — their power consumption is growing, with many now hitting 400 watts. Marvell Technology Group Ltd. will be demonstrating chips for power adapters that it says can curb that trend, by convert alternating current into the direct current in a more efficient way, potentially power consumption by half.

The Consumer Electronics Association, the organization that also puts on CES, estimated last year that consumer electronics, including home computers, consume 11 percent of residential electricity in the U.S., more than doubling its share in 10 years.

Television sets are another big power draw, and will become more so as analog TVs are replaced with high-definition sets. Though more energy efficient per inch of screen size, their larger size more than makes up for any gain in efficiency. Plasma sets in particular easily draw 400 watts, or as much as four older tube-type TVs.

A much more power-efficient screen technology will be on display at CES: Samsung Electronics Co. will be bringing a 31-inch TV made of organic light emitting diodes, or OLEDs. For now, however, the technology is much too expensive for the mass market, and there's no word on when or if Samsung plans to sell the screen. Sony has announced an 11-inch OLED display for $1,700.

Cell phones, while hardly power-hungry, are quite wasteful: Nokia says two-thirds of the energy a charger uses is drawn when the connected phone is already fully charged. GreenPlug of San Ramon, Calif., will be previewing a solution to that problem, a universal power adapter that "talks" to gadgets to determine their energy need. Apart from cutting wasted electricity, GreenPlug aims to eliminate the need for a different adapter for every phone, MP3 player, and other portable gadget.

Getting other manufacturers to make their products compatible with the GreenPlug hub looks difficult, however. That points to part of the problem with the consumer electronics industry: innovation is happening in a lot of corners, but no one player is big enough to solve all the problems.

Global warming to alter Calif. landscape

California is defined by its scenery, from the mountains that enchanted John Muir to the wine country and beaches that define its culture around the world.

But as scientists try to forecast how global warming might affect the nation's most geographically diverse state, they envision a landscape that could look quite different by the end of this century, if not sooner.

Where celebrities, surfers and wannabes mingle on Malibu's world-famous beaches, there may be only sea walls defending fading mansions from the encroaching Pacific. In Northern California, tourists could have to drive farther north or to the cool edge of the Pacific to find what is left of the region's signature wine country.

Abandoned ski lifts might dangle above snowless trails more suitable for mountain biking even during much of the winter. In the deserts, Joshua trees that once extended their tangled, shaggy arms into the sky by the thousands may have all but disappeared.

"We need to be attentive to the fact that changes are going to occur, whether it's sea level rising or increased temperatures, droughts and potentially increased fires," said Lisa Sloan, a scientist who directs the Climate Change and Impacts Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "These things are going to be happening."

Among the earliest and most noticeable casualties is expected to be California's ski season.

Snow is expected to fall for a shorter period and melt more quickly. That could shorten the ski season by a month even in wetter areas and perhaps end it in others.

Whether from short-term drought or long-term changes, the ski season already has begun to shrivel in Southern California, ringed by mountain ranges that cradle several winter resorts.

"There's always plenty of snow, but you may just have to go out of state for it," said Rinda Wohlwend, 62, who belongs to two ski clubs in Southern California. "I'm a very avid tennis player, so I'd probably play more tennis."