Category: Health & Environment

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How to give up cycling

by Bob Williams
Following the shocking revelation that heat generated by vigorous exercise is a major contributor to global warming, we are all having to reassess our own activities. It comes as a major surprise to many of us that storing energy in human fat is actually a valuable way of reducing our impact on the environment. Government may be introducing plans to extract this fat by large-scale liposuction programmes and storing it underground, but we all have a responsibility to reduce our participation in ecologically hazardous physical activity.
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Environmentalists Hope for Gains Under Next Md. Governor

By KRISTEN WYATT
Associated Press Writer
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Environmental groups poured thousands of dollars and worked the phones to help get Democrat Martin O’Malley elected governor. Now they’re looking for Maryland’s next governor to steer changes in how the state approaches growth, Chesapeake Bay restoration and other environmental concerns.
Betsy Johnson, chairwoman of the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club, said her group sent 17,000 newsletters to state members backing O’Malley, who defeated incumbent Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich. Sierra Club volunteers canvassed the state rallying support for O’Malley and helped staff phone banks for the Democrat. So, as the Baltimore mayor prepares a course for the next four years, Johnson said, he’d be wise to consider the help he got from environmental activists.
"We would like a governor who actually supports us," Johnson said.
The wish list for environmentalists is long, and not all agree what the priorities should be. But there was consensus from environmental activists and an O’Malley spokesman that the next four years will likely see a new emphasis on reducing sprawl, preserving undeveloped land and reducing carbon emissions in an attempt to address global warming.
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New Particulate Matter Standards

On September 21, 2006, EPA announced some changes to the federal standards for particulate matter emissions. The standard for 24-hour PM2.5 emissions will become stricter, decreasing from 65 to 35 micrograms per cubic meter. The annual PM2.5 standard, which the Baltimore region is currently not reaching, will remain at 15 micrograms per cubic meter. States will be asked to make designation recommendations to EPA by December 2007. These recommendations will be based on monitoring data from 2004-2006. EPA designations will be based on data from 2007-2009, and will most likely become effective in April 2010. States will need to meet the 2006 standards by 2015.
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