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TODAY Tuesday 16 December 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site.

 

TODAY IN THE WORLD: Big News on the Margins

Sometimes important current events illuminate quiet long-term trends that may be more important than the prominent news. Here are three recent nominees:

1. Good Word from the Farms. Yesterday's and today's papers were full of the (generally) welcome news that the federal government was finally going to issue proposed standards for the use of the word "organic" on fresh and processed foods. But you could argue that the most significant announcement from the US Department of Agriculture this week is that the Conservation Reserve Program is flooded with farmer applicants. CRP was started in 1985 as a strategy to combat soil erosion and keep up commodity prices at the same time; farmers who agreed to not plow especially erodable parcels were rewarded with cash payments. It worked very well, and yesterday the USDA released figures that show the breadth of the program's popularity. 125,000 farmers from around the country applied to the program during the most recent sign-up period, offering to put a total of 9.5 million acres in reserve. Selections will be announced in February, "based on new criteria with more emphasis on environmental protection." A huge success story (though not inexpensive).

2. Glum Hypothesis from the Oceans. While the talk in Kyoto was of global warming and the spread of tropical disease, a professor from Columbia published an article in the 28 November edition of Science that says that the most important consequence of human-induced climate change might be the wholesale transformation of the patterns of ocean currents with literally chilling consequences for northern latitudes. Professor Wallace Broecker writes that the planet's major currents are part of an interconnected system called the Conveyor, which brings heat and moisture around the globe. The Conveyor is susceptible to massive shifts in direction, and Professor Broecker speculates that greenhouse gas buildup could trigger a change to the Conveyor that would bring quick and dramatic consequences to the world's weather that would dwarf most of the effects currently discussed. The Gulfstream, for example, could migrate and drive down winter temperatures in northern Europe by 20 degrees Fahrenheit within 10 years. In an appalling scenario for any Irishman, Dublin would suddenly have the winter weather now associated with the northernmost portion of Norway.

3. The Unending Glut. With much talk about energy efficiency and new technologies prompted by concern for carbon dioxide emissions, it has to be said that the price of oil keeps going down, along with the political will to impose a tax on it. Crude oil fell to its lowest price in two years, $18.14 a barrel. Markets were responding to an anticipated resumption of Iraqi operations as well as increased outputs among the OPEC countries. Gasoline also hit a two-year low, 54 cents per gallon. That's wholesale, sure, but still, 54 cents a gallon! Absent new taxes or new fuel-efficiency regulations on automobiles, it'll be tough to compete with oil to power the New Age.

 

TODAY ON THE SITE

Tom Turner went to the first big UN conference on the environment: Stockholm 1972. There he and his friends started up the first ECO, a lively little publication given to behind-the-scenes news and views. Since then, his enviro descendants have kept up ECO, most recently in a Kyoto Edition. Read about it in this week's version of " In Other News..."

 

Recent "Today" columns:

12/15: The Hybrid As Savior
12/12: Good Week for the Dragon
12/11: Help Wanted: Unreasonable Extremists
12/10: Oh Boy! A Fight!
12/9: Running Away From It All
12/8: "What I Wouldn't Give for This War to End."
12/5: Feisty Euros at Kyoto
12/4: Beauty in the Bronx
12/3: God from Machine
12/2: Gentlemen's Bet
12/1: Public Opinion
11/26: Sperm
11/25: Sound Sound-Bite Science
11/24: Home Sweet Storage Locker
11/21: Tim Wirth's Inscrutable Adventure
11/20: Better to Receive than to Give
11/19: Wes Jackson's Problem with Agriculture
11/18: "Stay Home and Be Decent"

To access more "Today" columns, click "Archives" below.