5/6/01
8:08:01 PM
Cinema Inspiration Agency
By Caroline Benner
The Washington Post leads with a report from Syria on day two of the pope's six-day journey to retrace a route taken by Paul the apostle. The New York Times leads with findings by scientists at national laboratories that the government could produce significant energy savings if it encouraged Americans to conserve. The Los Angeles Times lead reports that hospitals are running out of some common drugs because pharmaceutical companies don't want to manufacture these less profitable drugs anymore.
According to the WP lead and stories inside the other papers, the pope arrived to a warm welcome from the people of Damascus where he spoke of religious tolerance and prayed for Middle East peace. But the pope's host, the Syrian president, wasn't listening to his message. According to NYT reporting, he greeted the pope with a speech about how Israel is torturing and killing Palestinians and suggested that Christians and Muslims band together against "those who try to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality with which they betrayed Jesus Christ." The pope took the president's remarks in stride and, according to the LAT, reemphasized his hope that the region might find peace.
Scientists at five national laboratories have found that growth in electricity demand could be reduced by up to 47 percent if the government can get offices, homes, factories, cars, appliances and power plants to use less energy, reports the NYT lead. That means we would need up to 610 fewer new power plants than the 1300 the Bush administration believes we will require in the next 20 years. Some ways to conserve energy, the paper reports, include using fluorescent lights, low-flow shower heads, and new home heating and cooling systems. The paper observes that the administration has not publicized the scientists' findings. Instead, it prefers to use research by economists at the Energy Department who think that some of the scientists' ideas work in theory but do not make for practical policy.
The LAT lead notes that pharmaceutical companies have greater economic incentive to produce drugs that millions of outpatients take rather than drugs used exclusively in hospitals. Therefore, hospitals are being forced to ration certain drugs. While there have been no reported deaths as a result of drug shortages, hospitals say that running out of some drugs endangers patients. The government currently doesn't force pharmaceutical companies to continue manufacturing drugs, nor does it require that companies warn hospitals when they plan to discontinue a certain drug, except in rare circumstances. Frustrated doctors want the government to better regulate the companies' policies.
The WP off-leads a look at the adjustments the Senate Finance Committee will likely recommend for the Bush tax plan. The committee thinks that the majority of Americans who are in the lowest income tax bracket should get a bigger portion of the tax cut than the wealthy. The committee also wants to reduce the burden that payroll taxes put on most American workers, though Bush's plan doesn't recommend changes in these taxes. The paper calls the Finance Committee, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, a microcosm of the Senate as a whole. It speculates therefore, that the Senate's final version of the tax plan will reflect the committee's recommendations.
The WP front reminds readers that major policies the Bush administration now plans to muscle into place--private savings accounts for Social Security, using nuclear power to make electricity for the U.S., and constructing a national missile defense which could mean dumping the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty--mean significant changes in America's decades-old policies. Bush has gumption. For a president who barely won the election, the Post says, such an ambitious agenda is very politically risky.
Bad sports on the bleachers at children's sporting events have become so obnoxious that cities nation-wide are taking steps to teach these adults to behave, says the NYT front. In some places, such measures include requiring parents to take classes on proper fan behavior and banning inappropriate screaming from coaches and parents during a game. Two dozen states are working on legislation to create tougher punishments for attacking referees.
The secretive CIA has become more willing to work with Hollywood on film and television projects in recent years, reports the NYT front. A few years back, "The Agency," which receives a dozen scripts a month, assigned one of its operatives a new mission: to serve as a liaison between the CIA and Hollywood. Since then, the CIA, hoping to convince the American public that it really does need a $30 billion yearly budget even though it has no major enemy to spy on, has worked on projects it deems sympathetic. The CIA's new cooperative attitude toward movie-making isn't the only recent change at the agency. According to the Hollywood liaison: "We've got a store and a fine arts commission and a museum. We've really become more, well, normal in our daily course of events."
5/5/01
4:56:08 PM
Greetings from the Sarasota County Green Party
The Sarasota County Green Party is alive and well ! Our protracted silence can be best explained thus: we have been organizing our house !
We, however, have not been completely internalized. Just recently, our Election Reform Now ! campaign informed local citizens about Gov. Bush\'s Select Task Force on Election Reform. We provided background and contact info in a two day theatrical canvassing event staged in downtown Sarasota. We cannot know how many phone calls and emails our reps received, but judging from the Florida legislature\'s overwhelming support for election reform, our efforts were worthwhile. New voting machines and consistent standards are on the way !
Mark your calendars: the next SCGP general meeting will be held on May 24 from 7:30 - 9:30 pm at Sudakoff Center at New College. This event will be a VISIONING SESSION to begin to focus the course of the SCGP. Bring your issue, your voice, and your energy!
The SCGP general membership now meets each 4th Thursday at Sudakoff Center on the New College campus. It is located one traffic light North of University and US41. Turn East on Gen. Spaatz drive and follow the signs to Sudakoff Center.
The First 100 Days: An Alternative Public Forum
PRESS RELEASE FOUR POLITICAL PARTIES TO HOLD SYMPOSIUM ON THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
http://sarasotagreenparty.org/article.php3?story_id=141
5/5/01
4:43:28 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
BUSH RETAINS ROADLESS RULE, BUT PLANS REVISIONS
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, May 4, 2001 (ENS) - The Bush Administration announced today that it is not overturning the Clinton era roadless protection rule for national forests. However, the administration opened up the possibility for future decisions that could open the nation's last unbroken forest tracts to logging and mining.
For full text and graphics, visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-04-06.html
HERBICIDE RESISTANT WEEDS SPRING UP IN BIOENGINEERED SOY FIELDS
ST. LOUIS, Missouri, May 4, 2001 (ENS) - Reliance on the Monsanto herbicide Roundup to kill weeds in fields of genetically engineered Roundup Ready soybeans has led to increased herbicide use because the weeds have become herbicide resistant, according to a new study.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-04-04.html
SWEDEN LEGISLATES FOR SUSTAINABILITY
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, May 4, 2001 (ENS) - The Swedish government today underlined its determination to make Sweden the world's most environmentally sustainable nation by proposing a series of legal targets and deadlines for implementing 15 over-arching environmental quality objectives adopted in 1999.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-04-01.html
ARGENTINA TO ELIMINATE PCBs
By Alejandra Herranz
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, May 4, 2001 (ENS) - Argentina has taken the first steps down the long road to elimination of polychorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the country.
Argentine Minister of Social Development and Environment Juan Pablo Cafiero and National Secretary of Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy Dr. Oscar Massei, today announced the start of a National Plan for the Elimination of Polyclorinated Biphenyls.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-04-02.html
AUSTRALIA ORDERS DINGO CULL AFTER FATAL MAULING
BRISBANE, Australia, May 4, 2001 (ENS) - Australian Aborigines and environmental groups are seeking an injunction to stop the cull of dingoes on Fraser Island, off the Queensland coast. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie ordered the cull after the animals mauled nine year old Clinton Gage to death on Monday.
For full text and graphics, visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-04-10.html
United States Voted Off UN Human Rights Commission
Entergy, Environmental Defense Team to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
Environmental Coalition Sues Over Salmon
Report Finds No Support for Dam Licensing Claims
Navy Transfers 3,100 Acres on Vieques for New Refuge
Suspects Charged in Massive Illegal Ivory Haul
Critical Habitat Designated for Great Lakes Piping Plovers
New Resource Centers Opening for Energy Workers
Acid Rain Conference Concludes More Action is Needed
Rainforest Alliance Supports Sustainable Tequila Research
For full text and graphics, visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-04-09.html
5/5/01
4:36:12 PM
Bush Keeps National Forest Road Building Ban in Place
http://capitolhillblue.com/Article.asp?ID=1684
The Bush administration will keep in place a contentious ban on road building in much of the nation's federal forest lands while it revises the regulations to give more say to local officials on what forests should be affected, according to government sources.
The road ban, a pivotal part of former President Clinton's environmental legacy, ropes off 58.5 million acres - about a third of the federal forest land - from developers, loggers and mining companies. These industries are lobbying to have the measure reversed.
While the road ban could still be scrapped, congressional and administration officials said Thursday the White House has decided to keep the ban in place while new rules are developed. This process could be lengthy since it would require formal rule making, including public comment periods.
The revised regulations, about which additional details may be announced Friday, are expected to give a greater say to state and local officials. Also the restrictions would likely be imposed on a forest-by-forest basis, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We are going to be reviewing it for a while, but at least we are going to be doing it on a site-specific basis where real land considerations can be made," a congressional source said.
Exactly how the new rule would be crafted was still fluid late Thursday, but more details could emerge when the Bush administration files a brief Friday in response to a lawsuit brought by the state of Idaho seeking to block the rule.
Clinton's policy, announced Jan. 5, was supposed to take effect in March. The Bush administration delayed implementation until May 12 while it conducted a review.
An announcement of the decision to revise the plan was expected Friday at a news conference with Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.
The Clinton administration began creating the rules about three years ago, but did not issue them until just weeks before President Clinton left office.
The road ban on much of the federal forest in the West was praised by environmentalists as a way to protect the nation's most pristine forest lands from developers and preserve critical wildlife habitats. Opponents, including the timber and mining industries, say the rules needlessly place valuable resources off-limits.
The state of Idaho and timber company Boise Cascade sued in federal court in Boise seeking to block the rule from taking effect. The Bush administration had until Friday to file a brief with the court outlining its analysis of the rule.
In an interim decision, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge rejected a call for an immediate blocking on the policy, but said there was "strong evidence" that the process was hurried and the Forest Service was not prepared to produce a "coherent proposal or meaningful dialogue and that the end result was predetermined."
While awaiting the judge's final decision, Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council, said he would be disappointed if the Bush administration kept the ban in place while a new rule was created. Such a move could put forests in the West at risk to insects, disease and fire because the roadless areas will be inaccessible, he said.
"What has us worried is what they are going to be doing in the interim," said West, whose Portland, Ore.-based group represents timber interests.
Jim Lyons, an agriculture undersecretary in the Clinton administration who oversaw the Forest Service, said the only way the Bush administration could legally change the rules was through the rule-making process, which could be lengthy and provides the opportunity for public comment.
"Clearly, the people close to this process have a strong philosophical problem with protecting roadless areas," said Lyons, now a professor at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Marty Hayden, legislative director for Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, said he thought the expected revisions would take the Bush administration back to where the government started three years ago - trying to maintain 380,000 miles of roads that have an $8.5 billion maintenance backlog.
"They have chosen not to suspend it because they are feeling the heat of the public support that was behind the rule in the first place," Hayden said. "But they are still heading down a path for undoing it."
The vast majority of roadless federal forests are in the West, including parts of Idaho's Bitterroot range and Alaska's Tongass, viewed by environmentalists as North America's rain forest.
Smaller sections are scattered across the country from Florida's Apalachicola National Forest and Virginia's George Washington National Forest to New Hampshire's White Mountains.
5/5/01
4:34:24 PM
From the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC) <lpdc@idir.net>
Dear Friends,
Below is a statement from Leonard Peltier in support of the Redwood Summer Justice Project. The Redwood Summer Justice Project is suing the FBI and the Oakland Police for falsely accusing Earth First! Activists, Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney of carrying explosives, after their car was bombed in 1990. The bombing crippled Judi Bari permanently and caused minor injuries to Cherney. The bomb had been placed under Judi Bari's seat. Rather than finding the perpetrator, the FBI launched a major disinformation campaign against the staunchly nonviolent activists, and blamed them for bombing themselves. Since then, FBI materials released through discovery have proven that the FBI was infiltrating the organization and that they withheld photos illustrating the bomb's position in the car, thus discounting their allegations. Sound familiar?
In fact, Richard W. Held, who was also involved in the framing of Geronimo Ji Jaga (Pratt) and Leonard Peltier, headed this "investigation" as well. A hearing on the civil rights case is set for October 1st of this year. The trial will essentially challenge the FBI's use of COINTELPRO tactics. This is truly a case for solidarity. Check this site for more information:
Statement from Leonard Peltier in support of the Redwood Summer Justice Project
Dear Friends,
No one can return the twenty-five years I have spent in prison based on an orchestrated frame-up at the hands of the FBI.
The Redwood Summer Justice Project is struggling for all of us who have been targeted for our work in defense of our people and the land.
In May of 1990, as Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney were on their way to an organizing event, they were nearly killed in an assassination attempt. A pipe bomb wrapped in nails for a shrapnel effect and triggered by a motion device exploded under the seat of Judi's car. The force of the blast buckled the car frame and blew a hole in the floorboard. The blast crushed Judi's coccyx and pelvis and left her crippled. Darryl escaped with cuts and broken eardrums.
Within minutes of the explosion, the FBI was on the scene and orchestrated a massive disinformation campaign designed to discredit and imprison these Earth First activists. Equally sinister, the FBI never tried to find the real bomber who to this day, remains at large.
There can be no healing without truth, and the greatest love is that which is based on justice. Together we must guarantee the First Amendment rights of all activists who courageously defy corporate control of our environment.
I urge you to support Judi Bari and Darry Cherney's historic lawsuit that will finally put the FBI on trial.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier
5/5/01
4:29:16 PM
The Nation
Last February, the AFL-CIO passed an historic resolution calling for a legalization program that would allow the country's approximately 9-11 million undocumented immigrants to normalize their citizenship status. Since then a grassroots campaign has gathered strength across the nation, uniting the labor movement and immigrant communities around a common demand for amnesty for undocumented workers.
At the same time, however, the Bush administration and many U.S. employers are seeking to expand "bracero" contract labor programs, which would transform undocumented workers into an even cheaper and more vulnerable labor force of guestworkers while denying them the full rights of citizenship. The stage is set for a showdown over the fate of these workers, with the labor and immigrant movements facing off against an emboldened business community suffused with Republican support.
At this pivotal political moment, David Bacon and Julie Quiroz-Martinez report on the hopes, strengths and challenges of the campaign for immigrant legalization in the May 21 issue of The Nation. These pieces are also currently available on The Nation's website:
DAVID BACON: Labor Fights for Immigrants
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010521&s=bacon
JULIE QUIROZ-MARTINEZ: "A Fair and Just Amnesty:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010521&s=quiroz-martinez
5/4/01
5:47:32 PM
The Brief Origins of May Day
by Eric Chase
Most people living in the United States know little about the International Workers' Day of May Day. For many others there is an assumption that it is a holiday celebrated in state communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Most Americans don't realize that May Day has its origins here in this country and is as "American" as baseball and apple pie, and stemmed from the pre-Christian holiday of Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and fertility.
In the late nineteenth century, the working class was in constant struggle to gain the 8-hour work day. Working conditions were severe and it was quite common to work 10 to 16 hour days in unsafe conditions. Death and injury were commonplace at many work places and inspired such books as Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" and Jack London's "The Iron Heel". As early as the 1860's, working people agitated to shorten the workday without a cut in pay, but it wasn't until the late 1880's that organized labor was able to garner enough strength to declare the 8 hour workday. This proclamation was without consent of employers, yet demanded by many of the working class.
At this time, socialism was a new and attractive idea to working people, many of whom were drawn to its ideology of working class control over the production and distribution of all goods and services. Workers had seen first-hand that Capitalism benefited only their bosses, trading workers' lives for profit.
Thousands of men, women and children were dying needlessly every year in the workplace, with life expectancy as low as their early twenties in some industries, and little hope but death of rising out of their destitution. Socialism offered another option.
Today we see tens of thousands of activists embracing the ideals of the Haymarket Martyrs and those who established May Day as an International Workers' Day. Ironically, May Day is an official holiday in 66 countries and unofficially celebrated in many more, but rarely is it recognized in this country where it began.
Over one hundred years have passed since that first May Day. In the earlier part of the 20th century, the US government tried to curb the celebration and further wipe it from the public's memory by establishing "Law and Order Day" on May 1. We can draw many parallels between the events of 1886 and today. We still have locked out steelworkers struggling for justice. We still have voices of freedom behind bars as in the cases of Mumia Abu Jamal and Leonard Peltier.
We still had the ability to mobilize tens of thousands of people in the streets of a major city to proclaim "THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!" at the WTO and FTAA demonstrations.
Words stronger than any I could write are engraved on the Haymarket Monument:
THE DAY WILL COME WHEN OUR SILENCE WILL BE MORE POWERFUL THAN THE VOICES YOU ARE THROTTLING TODAY.
Truly, history has a lot to teach us about the roots of our radicalism. When we remember that people were shot so we could have the 8-hour day; if we acknowledge that homes with families in them were burned to the ground so we could have Saturday as part of the weekend; when we recall 8-year old victims of industrial accidents who marched in the streets protesting working conditions and child labor only to be beat down by the police and company thugs, we understand that our current condition cannot be taken for granted - people fought for the rights and dignities we enjoy today, and there is still a lot more to fight for. The sacrifices of so many people can not be forgotten or we'll end up fighting for those same gains all over again. This is why we celebrate May Day.
Eric Chase
5/4/01
5:40:27 PM
News on the National Marine Fisheries Service public hearings in Hawaii about whether the US Navy should be allowed to kill more whales and dolphins with its Low Frequency Acoustic Sonar (LFAS)
In the spring of 1998 I was living on the magical Big Island of Hawai'i. For several nights in a row I was having a dream about a humpback whale that was swimming with me eye to eye. In these unusually lucid dreams the whale continued to share with me her unconditional openness, peace and wisdom. It changed me profoundly and inspired a new relationship with these wise beings. One day I was out for a run and came to the bay near where I was living. Often there are dolphins in the bay and many of us would be down there shortly after dawn to slip into the water and go swimming with our dolphin friends. That day I was given a special greeting as a humpback whale and her calf were breaching repeatedly. Another day I was out on the ocean with friends and a whale did two swan dives right in front of us when we were swimming and deep inside I knew that the show was for me and the work I was about to do.
Shortly after the whales came to visit with me I was told that the US Navy was conducting sonar experiments in the whale's breeding ground. They were deliberately targeting four species of whales including the humpback and the grey whales to determine how loud they could blast the sonar (LFA or LFAS) before the whales showed some sign of avoidance or unusual behaviour. What deeply alarmed me was the loudness of the equipment. The US Navy Low Frequency Active Sonar is millions of times louder than a 747 taking off and causes great damage to the immune system with injuries similar to being microwaved. At the Navy testing volumes, let alone full deployment volumes, it shears tissues, collapses organs and causes adrenal and brain damage. At close range it can pulverize any living being.
The US Navy equipment can produce well in excess of 240 dB sound levels. By "blasting" the sound into the oceans they have been killing whales, these sound levels depending on the frequencies will cause internal bleeding and death and in human much lower levels around 160 dB have permanently debilitated USN divers. Anybody out on the waters saw how distressed the whales had become and one team observed a calf flipping out in the water for hours until it presumably died. All the autopsies done on the whales have not been made available for independent evaluation and the evidence has been destroyed. To this date the US Navy continues to deny this evidence despite court hearings, testimonials and the evidence that they must have seen for themselves.
As a result of these experiences I began to write emails every week to the 2000 people on my list detailing what I could find out about the tests. The emails passed around the world as many others forwarded the message to their lists and friends. I wrote protest letters to every one I could find associated with the project. I went out on the ocean and swam in the waters next to the sonar vessel so that they could not conduct the tests and I developed a web site that featured the latest information about the sonar program, and co-formed a movement called Stop LFAS Worldwide. However in the beginning, no matter how much I researched I could not find any reports showing conclusively that the sonar was damaging the whales. One day I found what I was looking for ... an article published in Nature Magazine (the author a zoologist has since been fired from the University of Athens for writing this) and widely reported in the British press that a 1996 sonar test in the Mediterranean had killed 12 Cuvier beaked whales. Finally I had the evidence that I knew had to be there ... and wondered why none of the marine mammal researchers had written anything. Then I found out that the main players in that field were employed indirectly by the US Navy!
At that time the sonar was a black operations top secret project. The press would not cover any of my stories or even listen to me. Then as we protested in the waters some of us got sick, myself included. Slowly the news teams were allowed to cover the story ABC Channel 7 http://www.dreamweaving.com/realav/index.html and most recently (April 2001) 60 Minutes II covered the recent Bahamas strandings. http://www.dreamweaving.com/lfas/av
Last week I protested, attended, spoke and video taped the National Marine Fisheries Service public hearings about US Navy application for a permit to kill more whales with the sonar devices. It was a fiery emotional meeting with the US Navy continuing their disinformation stories about it being necessary for enemy submarine detection.
I hope you understand the worldwide and even cosmic ramifications of this destructive sonar device. Its effect is not only destroying the habitat of the whales but also the very vibrations within our living oceans and coastal communities. The deeper effect is potentially even more devastating because the sonar is to be deployed in over 80% of our oceans.
Please take a look at the 60 Minutes video and my video of the hearings called Resounding Jericho - Stop LFAS - it will be our cries that will crumble the walls of our modern day establishment at http://www.dreamweaving.com/lfas/av
Please, please, please protest via the link to the National Resources Defense Council's protest form.
http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/marine/nlfa.asp
We need another 500,000 protests so pass this message onto everyone that you know.
These have to be received before May 15th in writing or fax to:
Donna Wieting, Chief;
Marine Mammal Conservation Division;
Office of Protected Resources;
National Marine Fisheries Service;
1315 East-West Highway;
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3226, USA
Fax number: 301-713-0376
Sincerely,
Benedick Howard
benedick@dreamweaving.com
Sonar Links http://www.angelfire.com/ca/fishattorney/links1.html
5/4/01
5:27:14 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
1. THINK GLOBALLY, LOG LOCALLY The Bush administration said last night that it will let stand President Clinton's rule to ban road-building and logging on 58.5 millions acres of national forestland. Sort of. It seems the White House intends to give local officials (the folks who don't like the rule) the power to modify the ban on a case-by-case basis to allow logging, mining, and drilling to occur. The administration said the planned changes would address concerns raised by a federal judge in lawsuits brought by the state of Idaho and the timber giant Boise Cascade to block the ban. But environmentalists said the changes were meant to erode the rule while giving President Bush cover -- under the pretense that the lawsuits gave him no choice but to revise the policy.
straight to the source: New York Times, Douglas Jehl, 04 May 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/04/politics/04FORE.html>
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 04 May 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/568612.asp>
do good: Take action and tell Boise Cascade to stop logging old-growth forests <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/forests.stm#boise>
2. U SEXY MOTHER NATURE **SATIRE** What if we began sexying environmentalism up a little for 2002, to the tune of, say, boy bands? Or X-vironmentalizm. It's crazy and wild! We don't hug trees -- we rock them! And no more "Save the Whales." From now on, we "Save the Extreme Whales," or we save nothing. Read 10 ways to make environmentalism phat on the Grist Magazine website.
read it only in Grist Magazine: 10 ways to make environmentalism phat -- satire in our opinions section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho050401.stm>
3. WHASSUP? ... TRUE, TRUE More than a dozen environmental groups sued the federal government yesterday, saying its plan to manage hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Northwest fails to provide adequate protections for salmon. Todd True, an attorney with the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, said, "We have a lot of ways to meet our energy needs. These salmon only have one river forever. If we do not support them, they will go extinct." Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., ruled early this week that the federal government must pay property owners when it takes water away from them to help fish listed under the Endangered Species Act.
straight to the source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Associated Press, Landon Hall, 04 May 2001 <http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/21559_salmon04.shtml>
do good: Take action and ask the feds to fund salmon recovery <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/species.stm#recovery>
4. THE 2 PERCENT SOLUTION Ford said yesterday that a team of top executives would begin looking at ways to reduce the company's greenhouse gas emissions. Ford's second-annual corporate citizenship report estimated that its vehicles and factories contribute about 2 percent of all such emissions caused by people. Still, Ford said it did not support the Kyoto treaty on climate change or tougher fuel-efficiency standards for vehicles. In other thrilling corporate news, Entergy Corp. yesterday became the first private power generator to agree voluntarily to cap its carbon-dioxide emissions, according to Environmental Defense. The company says it will keep emissions at current levels while increasing power production from its plants by 25 percent over the next four years.
straight to the source: New York Times, Keith Bradsher, 04 May 2001 <http://nytimes.com/2001/05/04/business/04FORD.html>
straight to the source: Washington Post, Frank Swoboda, 04 May 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41930-2001May3.html>
do good: Take action and ask Ford to make a gas-electric hybrid car <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/autos.stm#ford>
5. PREZ AND THE NEW POWER GENERATION President Bush launched a two-week campaign yesterday to prepare the country for the recommendations of the secretive White House energy task force. Bush said, "What people need to hear loud and clear is that we're running out of energy in America." Building on a comment made by Vice President Cheney earlier this week that conservation is little more than a "personal virtue," Bush said, "[W]e can't conserve our way to energy independence, nor can we conserve our way to having enough energy available. So we've got to do both." Got it? The Natural Resources Defense Council began an ad campaign yesterday that describes Bush's energy plans as the "more pollution solution."
straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin and Dana Milbank, 04 May 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39513-2001May3.html>
do good: Take action and ask the White House for a conservation-based energy policy <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/climate.stm#cheney>
catch it only in Grist Magazine: The Bush energy policy -- in the comic adventures of Zed, last of his species <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed041001.stm>
Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:
Oiled again! -- a day in the life of Roslyn Cameron, Charles Darwin Research Station <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/cameron050301.stm>
Barton finks -- Austin is losing the battle to protect the Barton Springs salamander -- in our Main Dish section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/oko042401.stm>
The nerds and the bees -- profile of a scientist creating a buzz -- in our Out on Limb column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/limb/limb092399.stm>
5/4/01
5:19:56 PM
The Nation
Recent allegations that former senator Bob Kerrey ordered the willful and delibrate killing of civilians in the South Vietnamese hamlet of Thanh Phong in 1969 have fostered a national debate on the nature of war crimes. Most of the media though have rushed away from judgement as Jonathan Schell notes in "War and Accountability" from the May 21 issue of The Nation.
Far from steering clear of the blame-game, Schell, a former Vietnam War correspondent, finds the disclosures a useful departure point to take up broader issues of blame and accountability. "If as a nation the United States...cannot investigate, cannot condemn, cannot assign responsibility for the killing of the women and children of Thanh Phong, then state-licensed murderers everywhere will take heart and those who are seeking to bring them to justice will be discouraged. The United States cannot condemn in others what it covers up when committed by its own."
Read Schell's powerful and instructive essay in its entirety at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010521&s=schell
You can also find many other new Nation editorials, columns, articles and reviews on a wide-range of topics currently at The Nation's website:
DAVID CORN: Colin Powell's Vietnam Fog -- WEB ONLY
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=corn20010502
BENJAMIN L. MCKEAN: Harvard's Shame
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010521&s=mckean
WILLIAM GREIDER: Strom Watch
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010521&s=greider
JULIA QUIROZ-MARTINEZ: "A Fair and Just Amnesty"
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010521&s=quiroz-martinez
AMY BACH: Justice on the Cheap
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010521&s=bach
ERIC ALTERMAN: Without Fear, Favor or Ombudsman
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010521&s=alterman
ROBERT BOYNTON: Marjorie Garber, P.I. (Review)
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010521&s=boynton
NAME THE PRESIDENT:
The 24,136 votes have been counted and the winners have been announced. Click below for details:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010521&s=editors2
ACTNOW: Just Say No -- to Abstinence-Only Education!
Later this year, Congress is likely to reauthorize an "abstinence education" bill that insists, among other things, that a "mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity" and that "sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful pyschological and physical effects." Furthermore, under this proposed law, publicly funded programs would be forbidden to discuss birth control or safe-sex techniques, except to highlight their shortcomings.
Use The Nation's online activist tool, ActNow, to blast off an informed letter of protest to U.S Senators Bill Frist (R-TN) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA), the ranking members of the Senate Subcommittee on Public Health, letting them know that "abstinence-only" education deprives youths of critical health information.
The letter is available at:
http://www.thenation.com/alert/actnow/
And read Majorie Heins's recent Nation article, "Sex, Lies and Politics," for more information. Accessible at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010507&s=heins
RECENT NATION ARTICLES:
Also still available are numerous recent articles of interest, including The Nation editors on Bush's first 100 days; Barbara Kingsolver on the new administration's assault on the environment; Bill Moyers on journalism and democracy; John Lantigua and Gregory Palast on the purging of African-American names from the Florida voter rolls; William Greider on global sweatshops and Eric Alterman, Alec Dubro and Peter Kornbluh on tainted Bush appointee Otto Reich. All accessible at:
5/4/01
5:15:11 PM
Photographer to Sue Over Julia Butterfly Hill's Book
By John Driscoll
The Eureka Times-Standard
Local photographer Doug Riley-Thron said he was stunned to find two of his photos gracing the pages of tree sitter Julia "Butterfly" Hill's best-selling book after repeatedly refusing to donate the photos.
Now, after a year of fruitless negotiation, the Arcata resident most known for his photos of the Headwaters Forest plans to sue publisher HarperSanFrancisco for alleged copyright infringement. Riley-Thron said he has not been compensated for his work, despite the best-selling status of "The Legacy of Luna."
The two photos used in the book were acquired by a third party, Riley-Thron claims.
"Nobody's quite clear where they got them," Riley-Thron said.
Riley-Thron's work has been featured in major magazines and in dozens of books. He declined Hill's publicity agents' requests to use his work for free, he said. Regardless, his work showed up in the book, which has now been translated into five languages and has sold more than 50,000 copies. It also appeared on the Amazon.com bookseller website, without Riley-Thron's copyright. The paperback sells for $11.20 on the website.
"I've donated hundreds of times to environmental groups," Riley-Thron said. But he said he draws the line at multi-billion dollar corporate publishing houses.
Harper Collins spokeswoman Lisa Herling would not comment since information from Riley-Thron strongly suggested a suit would be filed.
Hill became famous -- or infamous, depending on one's perspective -- during the two years she perched in a redwood on Pacific Lumber Co. land on a ridge above Stafford, south of Scotia. She came down after buying the old-growth tree and its surrounding grove for $50,000. Hill has since been heavily booked for appearances on talk shows and the international lecture circuit.
Times-Standard photographer Shaun Walker was paid by HarperSanFrancisco for inside and back cover photos for the book and again for the back cover on its paperback edition.
The quality of reproduction for the book could likely have been achieved without having actual photographic slides to work from.
Riley-Thron said he has supported Hill's work, but is somewhat insulted that she has put no effort into clearing up the matter.
Hill's agent, Paul Bassis, did not return the Times-Standard's phone call.
5/4/01
11:20:32 AM
EcoNet News
This Week's Headlines and Alerts from EcoNet
http://www.igc.org/igc/gateway/enindex.html
EcoNet Alerts: May 4, 2001
Demand That the Moratorium on New Rainforest Logging Be Maintained in Face of Worsening Conditions
There has been a complete breakdown in forest sector management in Papua New Guinea. It is absolutely incumbent upon the World Bank and Australia, as well as other donor participants in the structural adjustment loans, to insist that the Papua New Guinea government maintain the moratorium on new logging as a condition for further loan disbursements. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/988945035/index_html
Register for Wetland Conference in Florida
Registration for the Communities Working for Wetlands Conference and the Assessing the Health of Wetland Life Conference closes on May 9. That is next Wednesday! Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/988945254/index_html
EcoNet Headlines:
Independent Media Center in Free Speech Battle in Wake of FBI/Secret Service Visit
On the evening of Saturday, April 21, a day during which tens of thousands demonstrated against the FTAA in the streets of Quebec City, the Independent Media Center in Seattle was served with a sealed court order by two FBI agents and an agent of the US Secret Service. The terms of the sealed order prevented IMC volunteers from publicizing its terms. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/988942837/index_html
Poll Shows Americans Want Roadless Forests Protected
A new national poll of American voters discloses there is widespread bipartisan support for protecting roadless wild areas in national forests from logging, mining, and drilling. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/988943014/index_html
Genetic Contamination Issue Threatens World Organic Trade
Organic produce such as corn and canola produced in North America can no longer be guaranteed free from genetically modified (GM) organisms, according to US certifier Farm Verified Organic. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/988943278/index_html
Seed Industry Warns Corn Growers about GE-Free Claim
Corn producers in the United States are being warned to avoid swearing in writing that they are planting seed which has not been genetically engineered or that it is "non-GMO." Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/988943528/index_html
UK Government Challenged over Secret Nuclear Plans
Friends of the Earth today challenged the Government to "come clean" on secret plans by state-owned British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) to build new nuclear power stations in the UK. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/988943717/index_html
Eastern Europeans Agree to Protect Their Habitat
Eastern European countries have agreed to work together to protect their environment which is being threatened by the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/988943857/index_html
GREEN: Paper Warns of "Draconian Action" to Combat Foot and Mouth Disease
An editorial in the Denver Post 5/1 warns that an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the state "might require Draconian action, including the possibility of slaughtering wildlife herds." Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/988944262/index_html
5/4/01
11:12:55 AM
Wall Street Weak
By Scott Shuger
The NYT leads with the White House's decision, to be announced today, to modify a late Clinton administration rule (never put into effect) that would have banned all new roads and most logging throughout dozens of national forests, so as to allow local officials to authorize such activities on a case-by-case basis. USAT leads with its analysis that the Bush administration is rewarding Republican donors and loyalists with ambassadorships at an "unprecedented pace"--22 of 27 nominated so far have political or personal connections to President Bush, but no diplomatic experience. The paper notes that 21 of the first 23 Clinton ambassadorial nominees were from the foreign service. The LAT leads with House and Senate budget negotiators accepting a plan that would extend health insurance to parents of children already covered by a federal program for low- and moderate-income households. The paper notes that the White House has not objected to the plan, and that were it to go into effect alongside the Bush-favored tax credit for heath insurance expenditures made by low-income families, the result would be "the biggest boost in the government's effort to help the uninsured since Medicare was created in 1965." The WP leads with Thursday's unexpected pledge by North Korea's Kim Jong Il to continue his country's missile testing moratorium at least until 2003. The North Korean leader told Sweden's prime minister that he will see if the Bush administration wants to resume progress towards better relations before deciding whether or not to resume testing. The Post notes high in the story that fear of a missile attack by North Korea has been a factor in the U.S.'s interest in building a missile defense system. None of the leads makes any other paper's front.
The top story in the WSJ's front-page news box, also fronted by the WP and on USAT's "Money" front, is yesterday's arrest by federal agents of three Chinese-born men, two working in the U.S. for Lucent under high-tech visas and the other a U.S. citizen, on charges of stealing trade secrets from Lucent for use by their own company, which had formed a partnership with a Chinese firm controlled by the Chinese government. The papers all note the recent increased tensions between the U.S. and Chinese governments, and the WP even quotes a former Reagan DOD type noting that the source code of the voice and data networking software the three are charged with hijacking and making available at least indirectly to the Chinese government could have snooping possibilities. But everybody notes that the charges filed are industrial espionage, not espionage espionage.
The NYT's Richard Berke files a Friends-of-Bill-based (most of them unnamed) account of what former president Clinton thinks of his successor thus far. Scorecard: He assesses President Bush as a formidable politician, who is far shrewder than many Democrats think. When he met with Bush during the transition, he was impressed with Bush's saying he would not repeat his father's mistake as president of neglecting domestic issues. The story says Clinton admires the discipline of the Bush White House. But Clinton believes too much of Bush's agenda is based on undoing Clinton administration actions. Apparently Clinton was especially distressed by the Bush proposal to cut money for the program helping cities hire more police officers. Oh, and he was stunned to learn that Bush spent but five hours on his budget proposal, compared to the 75 hours Clinton aides said the ex-president put in on his first one. One FOB is quoted saying of Clinton that "how Bush gets away with stuff with the media--that could be his No. 1 issue."
The WSJ's "Washington Wire" reports that conservative Republicans are worried that President Bush might appoint White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court if a seat becomes vacant because they fear Gonzales' short judicial track record makes him a unknown quantity who could turn out moderate, like Justice David Souter. The column also reports that not every part of the nation's bidness complex feels wired in to the new administration. One big brokerage exec is quoted saying, "Wall Street is feeling shut out."
The WP and NYT front the ouster of the U.S. from the United Nations Human Rights Commission--where such rights bastions as Sudan and Pakistan serve--for the first time since the commission's 1947 founding. One key reason cited in both for the development: the Senate hasn't yet confirmed the Bush administration's nominee for UN ambassador, so there was no one in place working the halls before the vote.
The NYT fronts word that tonight New York University will honor at a dinner for the school's athletes seven students it suspended in 1941 for leading a campus protest against the school's practice of agreeing to withhold black players from intercollegiate games if the other school (usually Southern) objected to their participation. But here is the part that reminds the reader that even so, NYU still has a lot to learn: "The university is not calling the recognition an apology..." A school spokesman is quoted saying that the university decided not to apologize for actions administrators took in 1940 and 1941 because "we can't put ourselves in their shoes, and we can't turn back the hands of time."
JAPAN CALLS FOR AMUSEMENT PARK DEFENSE SHIELD Everybody goes inside with reports that a man believed to be the eldest son of North Korea's Kim Jong Il was deported from Japan today after he allegedly was caught traveling into the country under a fake name and on a fake Dominican Republic passport in the company of two women and a small child. He has widely been viewed as being groomed to eventually take over North Korea. Apparently he told Japanese authorities he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
The NYT's Gail Collins has great fun with the Army's beret problems. (First the quick decision to put all soldiers in black berets made the elite Rangers mad because they had been the only ones wearing them. Then they made everybody a little nuts because a lot of them turned out to be made in China. Now the Army has promised not to issue the 618,000 black berets of Chinese origin it bought.) But Collins also has a great point: "When you hear the president promise to have some sort of a missile shield in place by 2004, remember that there is nothing so disaster-prone as a large military organization attempting to do something really, really fast."
5/4/01
11:06:33 AM
Still MAD
"Mutually assured destruction" hasn't gone away, and neither has its logic.
By Michael Kinsley
It used to be the left that ridiculed MAD, the nuclear strategy of "mutually assured destruction." The anti-nuclear movement of the early 1980s blindsided the political establishment like the anti-global-trade movement of the past couple of years. Ronald Reagan's original Star Wars proposal was an act of political jujitsu, attempting to co-opt public fear of the nuclear standoff on behalf of military hardware instead of treaties or (worse) unilateral disarmament.
This didn't work—mainly because the hardware didn't work. But strategic defense, and ridicule of MAD, became essential elements of the American conservative theology. The flame of faith was kept alive through the cold 1990s by movement monks at Washington think tanks and devotional conferences around the world. Silent prayers were said in the offices and boardrooms of defense contractors throughout the land.
Now, the second coming. President Bush doesn't pretend or imagine, as Reagan did, that strategic defense can be an "invisible shield" that would free us from all physical danger of nuclear attack (and thus, if we wished, from all moral danger of having to threaten one). Nevertheless, in his speech Tuesday, he twice described the "grim premise" of MAD as a historical relic.
It is not. As long as we have no Reaganesque perfect shield, we still live in the world of MAD. And as long as we live in that world, MAD complicates the case for strategic defense in ways Bush does not acknowledge. MAD is underappreciated. It is not simply a matter of the nuclear powers agreeing to hold each other hostage. In fact "agreeing" has almost nothing to do with it. The 1972 ABM Treaty, which is getting so much attention, did help to make the nuclear stalemate somewhat less costly and nerve-racking. But the stalemate itself—our ability to destroy any other nation in the world, and at least one other nation's ability to destroy us—would exist without the ABM Treaty and will exist even if we walk away from it.
Furthermore, under the theory of MAD, we leave ourselves vulnerable in certain ways not because we have no choice, and not because we've agreed to do so, and not because protecting ourselves might upset the Europeans, but because it is in our own unilateral self-interest. Specifically, it is important to be vulnerable to a "second strike"—that is, a retaliatory strike by an arsenal crippled by your potential "first strike." Why? Because you don't want anybody with nukes pointed at you to think they have to use 'em or lose 'em. As long as they can rain cataclysmic damage on us by striking second, they have no more incentive than we do to strike first.
The concern in the 1980s was that strategic defense would never be good enough to protect against a massive first strike but might be good enough to protect against a crippled second strike. If America had the ability to strike first and then be invulnerable, any nuclearized enemy in a crisis would face the choice of either starting a nuclear war or accepting defeat. The approach of such American invulnerability might even cause such a crisis, as other nuclear powers faced the prospect of being effectively demoted out of the nuclear club.
It's true that the world is different now. Russia is hardly the enemy that the Soviet Union was, and there are new—or at least newly noticed—threats from so-called rogue nations and kooky dictators. But that also does not change the basic logic of MAD. President Bush says he wants to negotiate radical mutual reductions in the nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia. Good luck to him, by all means. But is he prepared to negotiate away our ability to launch a damaging first strike? If not, any defense that might work even against a crippled retaliation is a danger to the United States as well as to Russia.
And then there's China—a major unofficial target of the whole Star Wars II enterprise, and leading contender for the starring role in Cold War II, which hopeful ideologues are penciling in for later this decade. If that should happen, the perverse-but-solid safety-from-vulnerability logic of MAD will apply in full force.
So, we can't have a perfect invisible shield. And we don't, or shouldn't, want an imperfect invisible shield good enough for Round 2 against Russia or China or any other grown-up nuclear power. It would be nice to have a strategic defense system just good enough to be able to snare a nuke incoming from an Iraq or Afghanistan—and no better. But even that dream defense would only work if the bomb is delivered via ICBM, which may be less likely than BMW or UPS.
There's no good reason for theological objection to strategic defense. But when you add up all the situations where it can't or shouldn't be allowed to work, factor in the odds that it won't work at all, and start thinking about the cost, its theological enthusiasts seem to be making a leap of faith the country needn't follow.
5/4/01
10:59:46 AM
Hemp car to make record 10,000-mile trip
A hemp-fueled car, scheduled to begin a record-breaking 10,000-mile trip around North America July 4, debuted Thursday April 19th in Washington at a conference devoted primarily to legalizing marijuana.
The car is a white, modified 1983 Mercedes diesel station wagon festooned with colorful hemp-related logos and the Virginia license plate "HEMPCAR." It is the creation of Grayson and Kellie Sigler, who plan to use roughly 400 gallons of hemp biodiesel during their trip. The trip will take the Siglers through 40 cities over three months, to the West Coast and then back east through Canada. The drive should set a world distance record for a vehicle using hemp for fuel.
Hemp oil converts into a biodiesel fuel fairly simply once mixed with caustic lye dissolved in methanol, a technique which makes the oil less viscous and more combustible.
"Hemp oil can be burned directly, but this is much cleaner," explained environmental defense attorney Don Wirtshafter, proprietor of the Ohio Hempery, the Athens, Ohio-based company providing the oil. "You get fuel and glycerine from the process, and the glycerine can be used to make soap or candles. We like to use potassium hydroxide as the caustic agent, because it results in a beautiful fertilizer."
Biodiesels can be made from any vegetable oil or animal fat and burn in any unmodified diesel engine. The only modification made to the hemp car was the replacement of rubber hoses with synthetic rubber tubes of biodiesels erode rubber.
"Hemp oil has the same energy as diesel," Wirtshafter said. "Whatever your car does on diesel, it'll do on hemp. It's even possible to process hemp for a gasoline engine, but it's more complex."
When asked why one should use hemp for fuel, Wirtshafter responded, "What humanity is doing on a massive scale right now is pulling carbon out of the ground in the form of fossil fuels and spewing it out as carbon dioxide gas, adding to global warming. Biofuels, hemp included, give us the chance to grow our fuel, thereby living off the energy from the sun rather than spending our 'savings bank' of hydrocarbons. At the same time, like all plants, hemp would absorb carbon dioxide as a natural life process."
Hemp is legal in some 30 countries, including all of Europe, Canada and China. As a crop, its fiber yields textiles such as paper, cloth and rope, while its oil is used for paint, varnish, lubricants and highly nutritious food. Cultivating hemp has been illegal in the United States since 1937, because marijuana is made from hemp's flowers, buds and leaves. This ban was briefly suspended during World War II, when the United States could not import hemp fiber from the Far East for use in rope.
Hemp legalization advocates argue that the plant is ideal for biofuel use." It yields about four times more seed oil than soybeans," Greyson Sigler said. "It grows widely in all climates with little fertilizer or pesticides needed than most crops. It's cheap, drought-resistant and very easy to cultivate. Hemp is, in my opinion, the world's most prodigious renewable resource. It could help California out with its power problems and keep the U.S. from drilling for oil in Alaska."
Sigler added that biodiesel releases 80 percent less emissions on average than gas." There are no sulfur byproducts, although there are slightly increased nitrogen oxide emission, most of which can be tuned out," he said. Sulfur and nitrogen oxides are pollutants and common byproducts of combustion.
While the conference at which the hemp car debuted was more focused on legalizing marijuana for responsible adult recreational use, the meeting's director, Allen St. Pierre, stressed the hemp legalization debate should expand to include the plant's industrial applications. "It's just so hard to get beyond the giggle, the public trivialization of this," said St. Pierre, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "We call it the 'rope vs. dope debate.'"
"But I have great faith that the pragmatism of big oil companies will move legalization forward," he added. "You'll start to see a cultural eraser or it's not the hippies in the park that are asking for it to be legal, but people who will note at least six or seven of the founding fathers were prolific hemp growers, including Jefferson and Washington." The hemp oil used for the record-setting trip comes from Canada. Though hemp oil currently costs some $50 per gallon, Wirtshafter hopes legalization could drive the cost down in the United States to as low as pennies per gallon. "We're not going to be economical until we're able to produce hemp oil without our handcuffs on," he said.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws gave $1,000 to subsidize the hemp car and may sponsor more funds in the coming months. "We were very impressed. We thought they were very well-versed and serious-minded. They weren't full of hyperbole, and they weren't naive -- they knew this was going to be difficult."
The Sigler's car is not the first hemp-fueled vehicle. In fact, Gatewood Galbraith, who ran for governor of Kentucky in 1991 on a pro-hemp platform, drove around in a retrofitted Mercedes Benz during his election campaign. The Siglers expect to get a warm reception during their trip. "Most people are really happy about it," Grayson Sigler said. "We got truckers blowing their horns and people flashing their lights on the way here. We even ran into some police officers who think it's fun."
St. Pierre noted that the only distinctive side effect bystanders may experience from the car is "a funky odor. Most people who are familiar with the smell of burning seeds of marijuana will sniff and say, 'Hey, it's an odd smell.'"
Environmental News Network
5/4/01
10:56:09 AM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
ATTENTION WAL-MART WORKERS: PLEASE DO NOT REPORT INJURIES
by Mark D. Fefer, Seattle Weekly
-- America's number one employer is not number one when it comes to paying worker's compensation and has come under fire from a Washington state agency.
COMMUNITY HARVEST
by Adam Rock, Resurgence
-- City dwellers in London unite to grow their own food. Urban agriculture projects like these are a small but growing phenomena that reduce London's ecological damage.
BOMBING BIG SUR
by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, Counter Punch
--The U.S. Navy, which can't even bring a submarine to the surface of the ocean without hitting something, wants to drop test bombs on land inhabited by endangered species.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
5/4/01
10:53:06 AM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
BUSH DIRECTS FEDERAL AGENCIES IN CALIFORNIA TO SLASH ENERGY USE
WASHINGTON, DC, May 3, 2001 (ENS) - All federal agencies in California must now reduce their peak hour electricity use, President George W. Bush announced today in a press conference at the White House. As the hot weather approaches and people turn on their air conditioners, the energy starved state is bracing for more of the rolling blackouts that have been imposed from time to time since last year.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-03-04.html
FINE PARTICLES OF AIR POLLUTANTS HARMFUL AS PASSIVE SMOKING
LONDON, United Kingdom, May 3, 2001 (ENS) - Long term exposure to fine particle pollution is likely to be as dangerous as passive smoking, UK government scientists said today. They were releasing details of their first attempt to quantify effects of long term exposure on life expectancy.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-03-01.html
SCIENTISTS, INUIT STRUGGLE TO BRIDGE IQ DILEMMA
IQALUIT, Nunavut, Canada, May 3, 2001 (ENS) - The idea of uniting science and traditional Inuit knowledge is all the rage in Canada's newest territory Nunavut, but no one seems quite sure how to do it.
For full text and graphics, visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-03-11.html
TAP VERSUS BOTTLED WATER DEBATE BOILS OVER
GLAND, Switzerland, May 3, 2001 (ENS) - Is bottled water really no better than tap water? Conservation group the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) thinks so, which is why it is urging consumers to forego bottled water for the sake of the environment and their wallets.
For full text and graphics, visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-03-12.html
AUSTRALIA TACKLES TOXIC SHIP PAINT AHEAD OF BAN
BRISBANE, Australia, May 3, 2001 (ENS) - When the Iron Monarch docks in Brisbane Sunday it will be the first vessel in Australia to have new tin-free, anti-fouling paints applied to its hull. It will not be the last if a convention to outlaw toxic tributyltin (TBT), used as an anti-fouling agent in ship paints, is adopted by the International Maritime Organisation this year.
For full text and graphics, visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-03-10.html
AUSTRALIA OPENS WORLD'S FIRST TITANIUM SOLAR CELL FACTORY
CANBERRA, Australia, May 3, 2001 (ENS) - The government of Australia is committed to meeting its international climate change obligations, but is not prepared to sacrifice economic growth and Australian jobs, Minister for Industry, Science and Resources, Senator Nick Minchin said Wednesday.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-03-02.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
Ford Acknowledges Importance of Climate Change
House Votes to Allow Hunting in Idaho Monument
Bill Would Lift Restrictions on Family Planning Funds
Moratorium on Gulf Drilling Could be Lifted
Seabirds Still Not Recovered from Exxon Oil Spill
Biodiesel Fuel Earns Credits in Government Fleets
Turning Environmental Data into Knowledge
Endangered Fish Returned to the Clinch River
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-03-09.html
5/4/01
10:40:31 AM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
UPDATE - Ford seeks environmental leadership role - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10703
UPDATE - Groups sue US to protect salmon from NW power dams - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10704
Turtles safe from shrimp trawl in 43 countries - US - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10706
Californian regulators adopt steps to save electricity - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10708
California says clean air not power crisis cause - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10716
Popular birds spotted less in gardens, says RSPB - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10705
Piracy against tankers soars in Q1 - investigator - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10711
UPDATE - UK to issue final emission trading rules in July - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10712
UPDATE - Pyres, mass graves spark foot-and-mouth fears - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10717
US team prepares to clean up Ogoni oil spill - NIGERIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10713
Greenpeace finds pollution in India shipyard - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10709
Chirac targets green voters with "ecology charter" - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10714
FEATURE - Floods reach chest level in waterlogged Somme - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10715
UPDATE - Czech Temelin plant to shutdown for two months - CZECH REPUBLIC http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10707
UPDATE - China landslide kills 65, more feared dead - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10710
5/4/01
10:38:40 AM
New at TomPaine.com...
REVENGE OF THE "WEAK SISTERS"
by Steve Cobble
Republican moderates have been dubbed "weak sisters" and are being penalized by their more staunchly conservative colleagues for not toeing the GOP line. Addressing two of those moderates -- Senators Lincoln Chafee and Jim Jeffords -- our essayist suggests a way they can strike back -- switch parties!
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/05/03/4.html
DO WINDMILLS EAT BIRDS?
by David Case
Ever since wind power emerged as a viable alternative to fossil-fuel power, some very unlikely bird lovers have emerged... like Jerry Taylor at the CATO Institute.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/05/03/1.html
UPROOTING LEGAL AID
by The Brennan Center for Justice
The Farm Bureau is attacking the lawyers who protect vulnerable migrant workers from unscrupulous employers paying illegally low wages and maintaining dangerous workplaces.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/04/24/2.html
A GREEN MUGGING IN BLACK AND WHITE
by David J. Ledermann
WALL STREET JOURNAL editorialists are intent on serving up environmentalists as scapegoats for the problems ensuing from wrong-headed energy policies that the editorialists once endorsed. The proof that they're wrong comes from the news pages of... the WALL STREET JOURNAL!
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/05/03/index.html
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
by YOU, our readers.
This week: Sir Solomon ... Common Nonsense ... Free Traders Beware ... and Thomas Pained.
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/05/03/index.html
5/3/01
7:10:52 PM
A Message For Direct Action From Robert Redford
Keep The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Wild And Free
Dear Friend,
I wanted to pass along to you the following message describing my feelings about President Bush's plan to drill the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the urgent need for us to fight back. I know you've visited the SaveBioGems.org website and, most likely, already taken action on behalf of our priceless Arctic wilderness -- and I thank you. Now, please do me the great favor of forwarding my message to everyone you know -- your friends, family, co-workers, discussion groups -- encouraging them to join us in this critical battle.
I've never circulated this kind of email before. But I am so appalled by President Bush's plan to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to massive oil development that I feel I must do whatever I can to help stop it.
To me, the Arctic Refuge represents everything spectacular and everything endangered about America's natural heritage: a million years of ecological serenity . . . vast expanses of untouched wilderness . . . an irreplaceable sanctuary for polar bears, white wolves and 130,000 caribou that return here each year to give birth and rear their young. For 20,000 years -- literally hundreds of generations -- the native Gwich'in people have inhabited this sacred place, following the caribou herd and leaving the awe-inspiring landscape just as they found it. Our own presidents going back to Eisenhower have kept a bipartisan promise to safeguard this world-class natural treasure. But not THIS president.
It is a sad day indeed when our president and congressional leaders would sacrifice America's largest wildlife refuge for the sake of a possible six-month supply of national energy. A six-month supply! We could save that little oil by improving the fuel efficiency of cars and light trucks by a mere one mile per gallon.
Only one group of Americans will benefit from the destruction of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge: the oil giants. Everyone else loses. Arctic wildlife populations will decline, the Gwich'in people will see their land marred by pipelines and poisoned by oil spills, you and I will become even more dependent on oil, and the planet will suffer catastrophic global warming from the burning of even more fossil fuel.
Unless we get millions of Americans to lodge a protest right now, this nightmarish scenario may well come to pass in the next two months. The Republican energy bill, which would fulfill the president's promise to drill the Arctic Refuge, is moving through Congress today. House and Senate leaders may also try to sneak through the Arctic drilling provision by attaching it to a "must-pass" appropriations bill. These votes will be decided by the moderates in both parties. We must reach those moderates and hold them accountable.
Here's what you can do: go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/arctic
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has set up this new website to make it extremely easy for you to send messages of protest to your senators and represenative. It will take you only a minute.
I've been on NRDC's board for 25 years, so I know how effective they are at waging and winning environmental campaigns. Last year, NRDC used web activism to help generate a million messages of protest to Mitsubishi and stopped the company from destroying the last unspoiled birthing ground of the Pacific gray whale.
We'll win this time too if each of us does our part for the Arctic Refuge. Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/arctic right now. And forward my message to your family, friends and colleagues. Congress cannot ignore millions of us.
If we let them plunder our greatest wildlife refuge for the sake of oil company profits, then no piece of our natural heritage is safe from destruction.
Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/arctic and help keep the Arctic wild and free.
Sincerely yours,
Robert Redford
5/3/01
5:54:32 PM
The Nation
Watch The Nation's peace and disarmament correspondent Jonathan Schell tonight, May 3, on PBS's "Newshour with Jim Lehrer." Schell, a former Vietnam War reporter, will discuss the recent revelations of Bob Kerrey's alleged war crimes. The program airs at 7:00pm on the east coast and at other times nationally. Check local listings for broadcast and repeat times. Or check out PBS's website at:
And look at The Nation's website tonight for Schell's new article "War and Accountability," available by 8:00pm this evening at:
5/3/01
5:52:15 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
1. GREEN BERETS After spending 12 million dollars, the U.S. Army has come up with a nifty new something -- a more eco-friendly bullet (rad!) that is just as effective at killing as past lead-based ones. The "green ammunition" uses a less toxic tungsten composite that the Army says will significantly reduce the soil contamination caused each year by the millions of slugs fired at practice ranges. The Army makes all the ammo for the U.S. military and hopes the switch to lead-free bullets will be completed in 2005; this year, it is sending 50 million bullets to practice ranges in Alaska and Massachusetts.
straight to the source: ABCNews.com, Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press, 03 May 2001 <http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/greenbullets010503.html>
2. JACQUES BE NIMBLE French President Jacques Chirac was expected to woo green voters today and propose that the public be granted a constitutional right to a clean environment. In a speech released ahead of time, Chirac was planning to call on parliament to draft language for the French Constitution that would put environmental protections "on a par with civil liberties." The speech also reaffirmed Chirac's support of the Kyoto treaty on climate change and urged a country-wide debate "without taboo" on whether France should continue to rely on nuclear energy for half of its electricity. Chirac will likely face the leftist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in next spring's presidential race. Jospin's coalition includes the Green Party, but strategists for the conservative Chirac feel he can lure voters to his side by running strong on the environment.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Reuters, 03 May 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010503/tCB00a2535.html>
3. GREEN OLD PARTY? While their party's standard-bearer, George W. Bush, goes about dismantling environmental protections, some GOP governors are actually garnering praise for their efforts to protect the environment. In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Ridge (R) was named the state's Conservationist of the Year by the Audubon Society for winning support for a program to spend $650 million over the next five years to preserve open space and clean up mines. Massachusetts under Gov. Jane Swift (R) has become the first state to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions from old power plants. Gov. George Pataki in New York is known as a green-leaning Republican, and, further south, even Gov. Jeb Bush (R), the president's brother, has helped to advance some environmental causes.
straight to the source: ABCNews.com, Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press, 03 May 2001 <http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/greenbullets010503.html>
read it only in Grist Magazine: A decidedly anti-enviro Republican governor in Michigan -- by Keith Schneider in our Main Dish section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/schneider042501.stm>
4. PIONEER HYBRID Despite the five-month waiting list for Toyota Priuses in the U.S., Toyota has no plans to boost production numbers for its four-door gas-electric hybrid, which gets between 45 and 52 miles per gallon of gasoline. Toyota and Honda (its two-door Insight rates between 61 and 68 mpg) are planning to build fewer than 20,000 hybrid cars for sale this year in the U.S., where 17 million vehicles were sold last year. Although hybrid cars won't be competing with SUV sales anytime soon, some celebrities and politicians have flocked to them (Leonardo DiCaprio has two!). General Motors, Ford, and Daimler Chrysler say they will begin selling hybrid SUVs in 2003. Meanwhile, the world's first sports car running on rotting vegetables -- 220 pounds of the stuff powers the car for 62 miles -- is on tour at motor shows around the world.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Frank Swoboda, 03 May 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35041-2001May2.html>
read it only in Grist Magazine: Oh, what mixed feelings -- the Toyota Prius sounds great, but why is it so hard to get one? -- by Edward Flattau in our opinions section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho101800.stm>
read it only in Grist Magazine: Hot wheels -- politicos cruising the streets of D.C. in hybrid cars -- in our Muckraker column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/muck/muck032901.stm#hotwheels>
straight to the source: BBC News, 03 May 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1309000/1309201.stm>
5. REAL GOOD! President Bush today is ordering employees at all 500,000 federal buildings to dim lights, turn off office equipment not in use, and conserve energy in other ways to reduce the chance of energy shortages this summer. Casual dress will even be allowed on hot days, to limit the need for air-conditioning. A spokesperson for California Gov. Gray Davis (D-Calif.) urged Bush to go even further and match the state's pledge to reduce energy use in state buildings by 20 percent. Californians used 9 percent less electricity in the past two months compared to the same period last year. Solar power has a new cache in the state, and sales have doubled at Real Goods, a Northern California company that specializes in solar and energy-saving products.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Richard Simon, 03 May 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010503/t000037346.html>
straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Lynda Gledhill, 03 May 2001 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/05/03/MN202545.DTL>
straight to the source: New York Times, Evelyn Nieves, 03 May 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/03/national/03CONS.html>
6. HITTING THE BOTTLE Bottled water is no safer than tap water, but it can cost as much as 1,000 times more, according to a study released today by the World Wildlife Fund in Geneva. The group said that bottled water sales are soaring because people are concerned that tap water may be polluted. However, the study found that the only significant difference between the two types of water is that bottled water is not distributed by pipes but instead sold in, yep, bottles. In fact, WWF said regulatory standards for tap water in the U.S. and Europe are tougher than those for bottled water, and that low-income families would be better off boiling or filtering any contaminated tap water rather than ponying up the bucks for bottled water. And the group had this fun fact to share: About 1.5 millions tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year.
straight to the source: Tacoma Tribune, Associated Press, Jonathan Fowler, 03 May 2001 <http://www.tribnet.com/frame.asp?/news/health_science/0503a53.html>
Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:
When is a caribou an albatross? -- the Arctic Refuge could become Bush's gays-in-the-military -- by David Helvarg <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho030901.stm>
Lonesome George, last of his species -- a day in the life of Roslyn Cameron, Charles Darwin Research Station <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/cameron050201.stm>
This just in -- the latest climate change news -- in our Heat Beat section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/heatbeat/thisjustin042701.stm>
5/3/01
5:40:19 PM
MORE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS STORIES:
ECOLOGYFUND.COM ANNOUNCES NEW CLICK TO DONATE POLLUTION REDUCTION PAGE
EcologyFund.com, the largest wilderness protection click-to-donate website, has announced the addition of a new section to extend EarthDay throughout the year. This 'Reduce Pollution' section allows each visitor to click and donate emission reduction credits to remove pollution contributing to global warming and acid rain.
Donations will come in the form of credits provided by the Natsource Environmental Action Desk, which sells CO2, SO2, and NOx credits to the public. Each day a visitor to EcologyFund.com arrives on the 'Reduce Pollution' page and views banners of EcologyFund.com sponsors, credits for removing two pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the Earth's atmosphere will be provided for free, by the Environmental Action Desk. Contact: Tim Kunin, CEO, EcologyFund.com, 781-461-6161,
NEW INSTRUMENT WILL HELP PUBLIC TRACK PROGRESS TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The prototype of a new tool to help policy makers and the public visualize and track progress towards sustainable development will be unveiled today at United Nations headquarters. "The Dashboard of Sustainability" is a unique new way to present indicators of sustainable development - as gauges similar to the control panel of an aircraft or car. The instrument turns a complex array of economic, social and environmental performance indicators into a simple graphic representation of a country's current position relative to an agreed consensus about sustainability.
JOHN F. KENNEDY UNIVERSITY WILL BE GREEN TOP TO BOTTOM
This California university is constructing its entire campus using green principles, its buildings and academic curriculum.
MORE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS STORIES:
GREENPEACE USA'S NEW OFFICES ARE A GREEN BUILDER'S DELIGHT
This innovative renovation showcases many outstanding green features. For details on the above four stories, click here.
WHITE HOUSE POSES GREATEST THREAT TO WILDLANDS
The current administration in the White House poses the biggest threat to the nation's national parks, national forests, national monuments and other public lands, according to an annual report released on Friday by The Wilderness Society. Click here.
HEMP CAR TO MAKE RECORD 10,000-MILE TRIP
A hemp-fueled car scheduled to begin a record-breaking 10,000-mile trip around North America July 4 debuted Thursday in Washington at a conference devoted primarily to legalizing marijuana. Click here.
NEW THREATS TO EASTERN FORESTS OF THE U.S.
After having been severally depleted, Eastern forests have had several decades - and in some cases over a century - to partially recover. Many forests are now becoming mature and are achieving late-successional characteristics. However, the marauding and rapacious industrial timber industry is returning to clear out these forests yet again, as supplies from old-growth forests in the US are exhausted. Read More.
COLORADO FRONT RANGE TREES PROVIDE MILLIONS IN BENEFITS
Trees in Denver and seven other Northern Front Range cities of Colorado are providing services equivalent to a $44 million stormwater management system and removing 2.2 million pounds of air pollutants (such as particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone) valued at $5.3 million per year. Read More.
ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
Eight environmental activists will receive the world's most prestigious environmental award, the Goldman Environmental Prize. Awards of $125,000 will be given to Oscar Olivera, a Bolivian labor leader working for clean and affordable water. Yosepha Alomang, an Indonesian activist trying to preserve land and culture in West Papua. Giorgos Catsadorakis and Myrsini Malakou, two Greek biologists who have helped to save wetlands in the Balkans. Bruno Van Peteghem, a New Caledonian enviro campaigning to protect one of the world's largest coral reefs. Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, two U.S. journalists who have called attention to the possible health dangers of genetically altered milk. Eugene Rutagarama, a Rwandan who saved 355 mountain gorillas during a genocidal war in the country.
Counting this year's recipients, the Goldman Prize has been awarded to 80 recipients from 51 countries over 12 years. straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Glen Martin, 23 Apr 2001 straight to the source: BBC News, Alex Kirby, 23 Apr 2001
5/3/01
5:36:45 PM
ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS STORIES:
TAX CREDITS FOR ENERGY EFFICIENT CARS IN THE WORKS Ford, Toyota, and Honda are working with environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council and Union of Concerned Scientists to urge Congress to pass tax credits for people who buy vehicles that are better for the environment. Legislation introduced in the Senate would create tax credits that range from $1,000 for gas-electric hybrids to much more for heavy-duty trucks that runs on electricity or fuel cells. Ford President Jacques Nasser said the bill "will help accelerate demand for cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles in the marketplace and put them on the road earlier and in higher volumes." DaimlerChrysler and General Motors say they support tax incentives, but they disagree with the way the bill calculates fuel improvements. The Sierra Club, on the other hand, supports higher requirements for gas mileage rather than tax credits. Straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, Nedra Pickler, 24 Apr 2001
EARTH WEEK WITH NOBEL LAUREATE WOLE SOYINKA OF NIGERIA Nigerian Nobel Prize winning author Wole Soyinka has an Earth Week message for the world about his homeland - at least a third of the entire country is polluted in some way. Now writer in residence at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Soyinka is the first holder of the university's newly established Endowed Chair of Creative Writing. He shared some insights on the environmental and political problems of Nigeria. For full text and graphics visit: Click here.
SMALL POWER PLANTS ARE BIG OZONE PRODUCERS New research on ozone pollution has found that power plants can't be judged by size alone, scientists said Thursday. Click here.
BUSH SCUTTLES CLINTON ROADLESS AREA PROTECTIONS In a stunning blow to wilderness protection in the United States, the President Bush is moving to scuttle protection of America's last roadless national forests. Read More.
JAPAN'S INSATIABLE APPETITE FOR TIMBER IMPORTS Japan is the largest importer of timber in the World. Japan has just 2 percent of the world's population but imports 33 percent of internationally traded wood products. This level of wasteful and excessive consumption marks Japan as the World's greatest contributor to global deforestation. Read More.
LOGGING STANDARDS: SEEING THE FOREST FOR THE TREES Alves Sobrinho handles external relations for Gethal Amazonas, a plywood exporter with logging and sawmill operations in the Brazilian rain forest. In October Gethal became the first old-guard logging firm in the Amazon to earn certification for sustainable forestry management. Click here.
5/3/01
5:31:49 PM
Global Warming / Kyoto Protocol News
News on the Global Warming Front
JAPAN VOWS TO SUPPORT KYOTO PACT Japan's environment minister vowed to help achieve a world consensus in the fight against global warming but acknowledged that success would be difficult given U.S. opposition to the Kyoto climate treaty. Click here.
GREENPEACE TARGETS U.S. OIL FIRMS ON CLIMATE CHANGE The environmental group Greenpeace said Thursday it would seek to hurt the businesses of five U.S. oil companies until they agreed to back an international treaty designed to slow global warming. Click here.
EUROPEAN ASSEMBLY BLASTS U.S. ON KYOTO PROTOCOL The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly questioned on Thursday whether the United States remains a "reliable partner" for Europe following President Bush's rejection of the Kyoto climate accord. Click here.
GREENHOUSE GASES MAIN REASON FOR QUICKER NORTHERN WINTER WARMING Greenhouse gases are the main reason why the northern hemisphere is warming quicker during winter-time months than the rest of the world, according to new computer climate model results by NASA scientists. Read more.
MOON SHEDS LIGHT ON CLIMATE CHANGE ON EARTH Studies of the moon conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Western Center for Global Environmental Change are giving scientists another tool to measure climate change on Earth. Click here.
PACIFIC ENVIRONMENTALISTS SEEK U.S. GOODS BOYCOTT South Pacific climate activists want a region-wide boycott of all U.S. goods to protest against President George W. Bush's decision to ditch the Kyoto protocol on global warming, a regional umbrella group said on Thursday. Click here.
CALCULATE YOUR PERSONAL GLOBAL WARMING IMPACT ONLINE The World Resources Institute has launched a Web site where visitors can calculate individual actions that contribute to global warming. Click here.
5/3/01
4:42:44 PM
eMail And / Or Write The EPA
Tell Them You Want Safe ( 10 parts per billion or less )
Arsenic Levels In Our Drinking Water
The Bush administration has given the public an appallingly short time period of only14 days to officially be heard on its plan to yank the new rule that reduced the acceptable level of arsenic in our drinking water and re-open the issue to further study. Please email and / or write the EPA now.
On March 20th Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christie Todd Whitman announced that the Bush administration would suspend the revised arsenic standard for drinking water issued by the outgoing Clinton administration in January. More than a month passed, however, until the EPA announced an official comment period concerning it's decision. To make matters worse, the agency is giving the public an absurdly short time frame of only 14 days to speak out on this critical issue.
The current U.S. arsenic-in-drinking-water standard of 50 parts per billion (ppb) was set in 1942, before health officials knew that arsenic causes cancer. The revised rule would have lowered the acceptable arsenic level to 10 ppb, the same international standard adopted several years ago by the World Health Organization and the European Union.
The National Academy of Sciences has determined that arsenic in water causes bladder, lung and skin cancer, and may cause kidney and liver cancer, birth defects and reproductive problems. Arsenic also harms the central nervous system and heart.
Send your email to ow-docket@epamail.epa.gov
Please use "Arsenic Docket #W-99-16-IV" as your subject line.
Send your letter with this message to the official EPA comment address.
Subject: Arsenic Docket #W-99-16-IV
Water Docket (MC-410)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
Dear Administrator Whitman and EPA staff,
I strongly oppose your decision to suspend the new 10 parts per billion arsenic-in-drinking-water standard and re-open this issue to further study. The new standard was a result of more than a decade of scientific reviews, public hearings, and discussions with health experts and industry. In addition, the 10 ppb level is the international standard adopted several years ago by the World Health Organization and the European Union.
Delaying implementation of the standard only serves to increase profits for polluters, such as the mining industry and other corporate interests, at the expense of the public's health. I urge you to reverse your decision and immediately implement the 10 ppb standard. If you do decide to re-open this issue for further study, however, you should adopt an even stronger standard (3 ppb), not a weaker one.
Sincerely,
your name and full address
5/3/01
4:05:14 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
CONFERENCE TO TACKLE NUCLEAR TRAFFICKING THREAT
VIENNA, Austria, May 2, 2001 (ENS) - The threat of illicit trafficking in nuclear materials and radioactive sources will bring more than 300 officials from over 70 countries to Stockholm next week.
For full text and graphics, visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-02-11.html
RUSSIANS EYE ANTARCTICA'S FORBIDDEN MINERALS
MOSCOW, Russia, May 2, 2001 (ENS) - A Russian prospecting vessel is reported to have just collected data on oil and gas reserves in Antarctica, a global nature reserve where minerals exploitation is forbidden.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-02-04.html
INTERNATIONAL BAN ON SUBMARINE MINE TAILINGS DISPOSAL URGED
MANADO, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, May 2, 2001 (ENS) - An international conference here on the dumping of mine waste at sea, known as submarine tailings disposal, concluded Monday with a declaration calling for an international ban on the practice.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-02-03.html
NAVY'S LOUD OCEAN SONAR DRAWS INTENSE OBJECTIONS
SILVER SPRING, Maryland, May 2, 2001 (ENS) - Tomorrow, the last of three public hearings will be held on the U.S. Navy's application for permission to "take" marine mammals during a five year deployment of low frequency active sonar (LFAS) in 80 percent of the world's oceans.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-02-05.html
ILISU ACTIVISTS DAMN PROTOCOL AT BALFOUR BEATTY AGM
LONDON, United Kingdom, May 2, 2001 (ENS) - Shareholders of construction company Balfour Beatty can expect a little extra from their annual general meeting in London today. Kurdish music, dancing, a symbolic dam made from shareholder certificates and a resolution challenging the company's role in the Ilisu Dam project in Turkey are all on the agenda.
For full text and graphics, visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-02-10.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MAY 2, 2001
Former Fish and Wildlife Head Joins National Wildlife Federation
Senate Considers Bill to Privatize Fishing Quotas
Turtle Protection Lawsuit Against Longliners Filed in California
Pepsi Shareholders Pressured to Support Recycling
Oak Ridge Boys Sing to Attract Wildland Fire Fighters
Nick Brown Takes a Long Walk for Bay Area Youth
Cranes Learn to Migrate by Following an Ultralight
Vortechs Stormwater Treatment Tests Well in Upstate New York
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-02-09.html
5/3/01
4:02:33 PM
Bush's Anti-Logic Shield
By Robert Wright
Building the ambitious missile-defense system outlined yesterday by President Bush would mean abandoning the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, but that has never much bothered the Bush administration. As Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld puts it, "The Soviet Union, our partner in that treaty, doesn't exist anymore."
One thing Rumsfeld doesn't bother to add is that when the Soviet Union died, its successor states—most notably Russia—agreed to inherit its treaty commitments. Another thing he doesn't add is that they did so at the insistence of the United States.
In fact, they did so at the insistence of a president named Bush. I guess American officials forgot to tell the Russians that, though the Soviet Union's offspring would be expected to keep treaty commitments, Bush's offspring wouldn't be.
I don't want to make too much of this. After all, George W. Bush now seems to be suggesting not unilateral withdrawal from the ABM Treaty but a negotiated withdrawal—forging a new "cooperative relationship" with Russia. And I guess there's a chance that he means this more sincerely than he meant his pledge to forge a new cooperative relationship with Democrats.
Besides, the main problem with missile defense isn't the legal niceties. The problem is that it lies somewhere on the spectrum from useless to counterproductive. That is, it would either not affect the chances of my dying prematurely or increase them. I don't consider either of these outcomes worth the price tag—which, realistically, is somewhere between $60 billion and $1 trillion.
Exactly how effectively a missile-defense system would fend off missiles is open to debate, but one thing it has already proved its imperviousness to is logic. Bush yesterday trotted out a series of bullet-ridden rationales and held them up proudly, as if oblivious (which he probably is) to the withering criticism they've already been through. For example:Barbarians at the gate: The basic rationale for missile defense has long been that people like Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-il are savages not subject to the deterrent logic of mutually assured destruction. These men are "gripped by an implacable hatred of the United States of America. They hate our friends. They hate our values. … Many care little for the lives of their own people. In such a world, Cold War deterrence is no longer enough."
But of course, Cold War deterrence was never premised on enemy leaders sharing our values, liking us, or even caring whether their own people died. As I've noted before in this space, deterrence assumes only that enemy leaders don't want to die themselves. If Bush thinks Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-il don't care about their own survival he should say so, but so far the evidence suggests pretty strongly that these guys are survivors. Of particular relevance: During the Persian Gulf War, after Secretary of State James Baker made a veiled threat to respond with nuclear force to the use of chemical weapons, Hussein kept his ample supply of chemical weapons sheathed.
Nuclear blackmail: In light of this Persian Gulf episode, it's ironic that Bush yesterday cited the war with Iraq as an argument for missile defense: The alliance that rolled back Iraqi aggression "would have faced a very different situation had Hussein been able to blackmail with nuclear weapons."
Of course, it's possible that, even though Hussein would have been bluffing, the bluff would have worked. If enough European and American citizens decided there was at least a tiny chance he'd deliver on his threat, their fear might have proved politically paralyzing. But if a tiny chance of successful nuclear attack is paralyzing, then missile defense isn't going to help. After all, not even supporters of missile defense think it will be 100-percent effective, and most observers think its success rate would be much lower. And, as an extremely perceptive critic of missile defense once wrote, "In the psychology of paralyzing fear, a small but appreciable threat of massive destruction is a small but appreciable threat of massive destruction. If our allies are worried that there's a 5 percent chance of London or Paris going up in flames, it won't help to say, 'Actually the threat is only 2 percent.' " Or 1 percent, or one-half of 1 percent.
Deterring nuclear buildups: Bush said yesterday that missile defense can "strengthen deterrence by reducing the incentive for proliferation." What an odd claim! China has already warned that it would respond to missile defense by accelerating its nuclear missile program—and, unlike Russia (which has made similar noises), China has the money to do so. This would then give India an incentive to accelerate its nuclear program, which would give Pakistan the same incentive.
Even as it provokes weapons proliferation, missile defense will distract us from the longstanding U.S. goal of negotiated nonproliferation. Bush claimed yesterday that part of his "broad strategy" would be "active nonproliferation." Yet the official Bush administration policy is to refuse to discuss nonproliferation with North Korea. After all, if we're going to be snuggled up under our missile-defense blanket, why bother trying to lure North Korea into the modern, civilized world? (And, if you're trying to build political support for missile defense, why give North Korea a chance to show that it's civilizable?)
Maybe the biggest problem with missile defense is that it will distract us from what everyone agrees is a more serious threat than ballistic missiles—nuclear or biological weapons smuggled into the United States by boat, plane, or car. In fact, missile defense may expand that threat. Let's suppose that, in the case of the "rogue states," missile defense did have the "deterrent" effect that the Bush administration claims, inducing them to shift resources away from missile construction. What do you think they're going to do with those freed-up resources—give money to the Red Cross? They're going to focus on alternative ways to deliver weapons of mass destruction to the United States. Last night on PBS's NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, a missile-defense booster said that "a credible U.S. commitment to missile defense" would "discourage countries from building missiles." These countries, he predicted, would say to themselves: "We're going to put millions of dollars into missiles and the United States is just going to counter them. Let's do something else." Yeah, and I think I know what the "something else" is.
Alluding to the option of