6/30/01
4:21:26 PM
U.S. Studying Nuclear Test Site
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Energy Department is studying ways to improve the Nevada Test Site's readiness to resume nuclear weapons trials in case the Bush administration decides testing is needed, officials said Friday.
Joe Davis, a department spokesman, said there has been no change to the requirement, set in 1994, to be capable of resuming testing within 24 to 36 months of a presidential decision to test. He said the department is reviewing whether the readiness level can be improved, for the sake of efficiency.
Some have concluded from reports on the review that the administration is contemplating resuming nuclear testing.
``It would be wrong to interpret it that way,'' he said.
Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, on Friday said the administration does not plan to order a resumption of testing, which was halted in 1992. He could not rule out that it might one day be necessary.
``I'm not aware of a need to resume testing at this time,'' Wolfowitz said in an interview with radio reporters. If questions arose about the reliability or safety of nuclear warheads and underground blasts were required to resolve those questions, the administration would contemplate testing, he said.
That also was the policy of the Clinton administration, and it is the reason why the Energy Department is required by Congress to maintain the scientific and other capabilities to resume testing.
Prior to the U.S. decision in 1992 to place a moratorium on nuclear testing, it was the Pentagon's view that periodic testing was an indispensable tool in ensuring that nuclear weapons were reliable. But rapid advances in computer simulation and other technologies have made it possible to collect vast amounts of safety and reliability data without testing.
Asked about the matter on Thursday, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the review of the Nevada Test Site's readiness was strictly a technical matter.
``It does not have anything to do with resumption of nuclear tests,'' Fleischer said. ``The president is going to continue the moratorium.''
The secretaries of defense and energy are required by law to certify to the president each year whether there are nuclear weapons safety or reliability concerns that would require a return to nuclear testing.
John Gordon, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, an arm of the Energy Department, said in testimony to a House Armed Services subcommittee on Wednesday that the most recent assessment confirmed that the nuclear weapons stockpile is safe and reliable and that no nuclear testing is needed.
Gordon said confirmation was possible because of technological advances, which can also help maintain the readiness of the Nevada Test Site, a protected federal range of 1,350 square miles situated 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
``We are conducting an internal review on how we can improve significantly our readiness posture to conduct a nuclear test, should we ever be so directed,'' Gordon told the panel. ``This is not a proposal to conduct a test, but I am not comfortable with not being able to conduct a test within three years.''
An Energy Department spokeswoman, Lisa Cutler, said Friday the current 24-36 months standard for readiness ``may be inadequate,'' but the department has not made a final decision on reducing it.
Darwin Morgan, a spokesman for the Nevada Test Site, said the readiness of the site is under constant review to ensure that the lead time for nuclear testing does not exceed the 24-36 month standard.
``If we can reduce the lead time, great,'' but it would be done for the sake of improving efficiency, not in anticipation of a presidential decision to resume testing, Morgan said.
On the Net:
Energy Department's Nevada operations office at http://www.nv.doe.gov/
6/30/01
4:15:08 PM
FAIR
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
ACTION ALERT: Why Wasn't Kissinger Asked About War Crimes Charges?
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was summoned last month to appear at the French Palace of Justice to answer questions about murders and disappearances in Chile in the 1970s. While the story was carried by major European news outlets, it has received relatively little coverage in U.S. media.
French authorities wanted to ask Kissinger, who was visiting Paris, about Operation Condor, the terror network set up by the governments of Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador and Bolivia. Evidence that the U.S. government was aware of and lent support to Operation Condor has been available for years (see The Nation, 8/9-16/99; New York Times, 3/6/01). The French magistrate who summoned Kissinger was particularly interested in what light he might shed on the disappearances of five French nationals who disappeared in Chile during or shortly after the U.S.-supported coup there in 1973.
But the French courts would learn nothing from Kissinger, who left town the day after being summoned without answering any questions.
After the episode in France, Kissinger did a lengthy, one-on-one interview with PBS's Charlie Rose (6/20/01). Kissinger also appeared alone with CNN's Wolf Blitzer (6/21/01) and Fox News Channel's Paula Zahn (6/13/01). None of the interviews even mentioned the French attempt to question Kissinger about human rights abuses. Nor did any of the journalists bring up the question of whether Kissinger might be indictable on war crimes charges, as journalist Christopher Hitchens argued in a two-part Harper's magazine article (2/01, 3/01).
Was there an agreement that the interviewers would avoid raising such uncomfortable issues for Kissinger? Charlie Rose was recently accused of making such an agreement with Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News Channel. In an interview with the New York Times Magazine (6/24/01), Ailes claimed that he had written assurance from Rose that he would not be asked about "politics" during his May 22 interview. Yvette Vega, the executive producer for the Charlie Rose Show, told FAIR that she was unaware of any such deal with Ailes.
But Kissinger himself seemed to have this kind of agreement with the National Press Club in Washington, DC, where Kissinger spoke on June 21. Noting that none of the questions asked of Kissinger, chosen from written questions submitted by the audience, dealt with war crimes or human rights investigations, journalists Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman asked Press Club moderator Richard Koonce if there was some sort of arrangement to avoid these topics.
According to Mokhiber and Weissman, Koonce explained that there was a "definite sensitivity" to those kinds of questions, and that Kissinger "was afraid that if we got into a discussion of that, for the vast majority of people that, it would take so much time to explain all of the context, that, you know, he preferred to avoid that."
Which raises the question: If a former Secretary of State receiving a summons about his knowledge of murder, torture and disappearances is not news, then what is?
ACTION:
Please contact Charlie Rose and ask why he failed to ask Henry Kissinger about the newsworthy issues of human rights investigations and war crimes charges. You might also contact the National Press Club to voice your disappointment that journalists were not allowed to press Kissinger on these matters.
CONTACT:
The Charlie Rose Show
Phone: 212-940-1600
National Press Club
Melinda Cooke, Assistant to Club President Dick Ryan
Fax: 202-662-7537
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if you maintain a polite tone. Please cc fair@fair.org with your correspondence.
Read Mokhiber and Weissman's column, "Censorship at the National Press Club," at:
http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2001/000077.html
Read "The Fugitive" by Christopher Hitchens (The Nation, 6/25/01)
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010625&s=hitchens
6/30/01
4:09:44 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
BOSTON TREE PARTY
It seems that money from environmental groups may not be good enough for the Boston Globe advertising department. Todd Paglia of Forest Ethics has been in a tizzy of late because the Globe refused to run an ad by the group that criticized Massachusetts-based Staples for selling paper products that come mostly from clearcut forests. To make the situation worse, the Globe ombudsman wrote a column on the matter that ripped into Forest Ethics, without even bothering to call Paglia for his perspective. What gives? Read more on the Grist Magazine website.
catch it only in Grist Magazine: Green money not good at the Boston Globe -- in our Muckracker column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/muck/muck062901.stm?source=daily>
ON THE WATERFRONT
In a win for property-rights advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 yesterday that governments can be required to compensate property owners for interfering with their ability to develop their land. The court said that new owners can sue for compensation if their development plans are denied, even if long-standing rules forbid development. However, the decision wasn't a hundred-percent victory for property owners because the court refused to award the Rhode Island property owner who brought the suit the $3.1 million he sought from the state. The justices said the owner hadn't demonstrated that he had been deprived of all economic use of his waterfront property.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 29 Jun 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61520-2001Jun28.html>
straight to the source: Providence Journal Bulletin, Peter Lord, 29 Jun 2001 <http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/news/05751501.htm>
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, David G. Savage, 29 Jun 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010629/t000053818.html>
A REAL TURN-OFF
A month after he said "conservation does not mean doing without," U.S. President Bush said he would cut electricity use at the White House, ordering employees to turn off lights when leaving their offices and switch off computers when they would be gone for two days or more. With these and other steps, the complex of White House buildings is expected to cut energy use by 10 to 12 percent. The president also proposed to restore $300 million in funding for Clinton-era research programs on energy conservation -- money that he struck from the budget earlier this year. Speaking to Energy Department employees yesterday, Bush jokingly urged them to stop their applause, "Okay -- conserve your energy." In turn, Democrats, and even the national press, have had a hard time not poking fun at Bush for his seeming about-face on the issue of conservation.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Mike Allen, 29 Jun 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60887-2001Jun28.html>
straight to the source: New York Times, David E. Sanger and Lizette Alvarez <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/29/politics/29ENER.html>
catch it only in Grist Magazine: Breakthroughs in energy-efficient design -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha012201.stm?source=daily>
CONFESSIONS OF AN ENERGY TASK FORCE MEMBER ** SATIRE **
The White House is continuing to stonewall congressional investigators trying to uncover the identities of the people who met with Vice President Dick Cheney's secret energy task force. Indeed, even the identities of some members of the task force remain unknown. In a startling development, however, a diary entry from one of the task force's members was discovered near a duck blind in Delaware yesterday morning. It is reprinted today in Grist. An excerpt: "That was very fun. We went to the water park and Dick held us under water! After we dried off, he called us his special club and we practiced our handshake, which is like arm-wrestling." Read more on the Grist Magazine website.
read it only in Grist Magazine: Diary of Dick Cheney's secretive group discovered! -- satire in our opinions section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho062901.stm?source=daily>
CATCHING AIR
Passengers flying out of Lutin Airport in London are being asked to pay a voluntary fee of up to four bucks to offset the environmental impact of their flights. Mark McClennan, the airport's top environmental official, said money from the passengers would be used to plant trees to absorb carbon dioxide emissions. But Jeff Gazzard of the Aviation Environment Federation was dubious that the program would do much good for the environment.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 29 Jun 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11384>
Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:
It drives them crazy -- Grist readers debate SUV protest -- and other letters to the editor <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/letters/letters062901.stm?source=daily>
It don't mean a thing if it ain't a good thing -- a day in the life of Wood Turner, GoodThings.com <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/turner062801.stm?source=daily>
Kilowatts across the water -- the latest in the comic adventures of Zed, last of his species <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed062801.stm?source=daily>
6/30/01
4:03:18 PM
THE ENEMIES OF DEMOCRACY
The enemies of democracy are flexing their muscles. A corporate front group calling itself Frontiers of Freedom has petitioned U.S. tax officials to revoke the tax-exempt status of Rainforest Action Network (RAN), a major environmental organization (www.ran.org). If successful, the petition would put Rainforest Action Network out of business, and would open the door for lethal attacks on other environmental advocates. Frontiers of Freedom acknowledged to the WALL STREET JOURNAL that, if successful against RAN, "it will challenge other environmental groups."[1]
Frontiers of Freedom was founded in 1995 by Malcolm Wallop, a former U.S. Senator (R-Wyo.) and "friend of vice-president Dick Cheney," according to the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The JOURNAL reports that Frontiers is funded by Philip Morris Companies, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc., and the Exxon Mobil Corporation.
This latest corporate attack on freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of assembly, is not random. It is part of an accelerating campaign to replace representative democracy with control by corporate elites.
Now a new book, TRUST US, WE'RE EXPERTS! by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, provides a chilling, documented history of ongoing corporate efforts to use propaganda and "public relations" to distort science, manipulate public opinion, discredit democracy, and consolidate political power in the hands of a wealthy few.[2]
The Big Idea behind the anti-democratic corporate-power movement is that people cannot be trusted to make political decisions because they are irrational, emotional, and illogical. This cynical view of humans is widely held by the public relations industry's experts but also by the scientific experts they employ to 'guide' the public. For example, physics professor H.W. Lewis (University of California, Santa Barbara), a well-known risk assessor, says people worry about non-problems like nuclear waste and pesticides because they are irrational and poorly educated. "The common good is ill served by the democratic process," he says. (pg. 111)
If people are not rational they cannot be guided by reason, so they must be manipulated through emotion, PR experts say (thus justifying their own propaganda services). For example, a spokesperson for Burson-Marsteller, a PR firm that manipulates the public on behalf of Philip Morris, Monsanto, Exxon Mobil and others, told the Society of Chemical Industry in London in 1989, "All of this research is helpful in figuring out a strategy for the chemical industry and for its products. It suggests, for example, that a strategy based on logic and information is probably not going to succeed. We are in the realm of the illogical, the emotional, and we must respond with the tools that we have for managing the emotional aspects of the human psyche... The industry must be like the psychiatrist..." (pg. 3)
The PR psychiatric manipulation industry is now enormous. Corporations spend at least $10 billion each year hiring PR propaganda experts (pg. 26) and our federal government spends another $2.3 billion or so (pg. 27) -- and these are no doubt underestimates. But these huge sums are not wasted -- they provide major benefits to the clients. For example, about 40% of all stories that appear in newspapers are planted there by PR firms on behalf of a specific paying client. Because most radio and TV news is simply re-written from newspaper stories, a substantial proportion of the public's "news" originates as PR propaganda. Naturally the connection to the PR source is edited out.
The COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW analyzed the WALL STREET JOURNAL and found that more than half its stories are "based solely on press releases" even though many carry the misleading statement, "By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter." Thus what passes for news these days is, as often as not, corporate propaganda. Tongue in cheek, Rampton and Stauber refer to the major news media as the disinfotainment industry.
Unfortunately, as Rampton and Stauber make crystal clear with example after example, all of this manipulation has devastating consequences for real people. The news media largely set the limits on public discussion, and thus on public policy debate. What is excluded from the news is often more significant than what gets inserted. For example, approximately 800,000 new cases of occupational illness arise each year, making occupational illness much larger than AIDS and roughly equivalent to cancer and all circulatory diseases, but most people have no idea that this is so. (See REHN #578.)
Combined with on-the-job injuries, work-related illnesses kill about 80,000 workers each year -- nearly twice the national death total from automobile accidents. In 1991 former NEW YORK TIMES labor correspondent William Serrin reported (but, notably, NOT in the NEW YORK TIMES) that about 200,000 workers had been killed on the job since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in 1970, and that an additional 2 million workers had died from diseases caused by conditions where they worked.[3] That's 273 work-related deaths EACH DAY, day after day after day. This corporate carnage is ignored by the news media, which prefer to keep us focused on yuppie SUV crashes, and crimes of passion.
During the same 20-year period, 1970-1990, an additional 1.4 million workers were permanently disabled in workplace accidents. Yet during those 20 years, only 14 people were prosecuted by the Justice Department for violation of workplace safety standards and only one person went to jail -- for 45 days for suffocating two workers to death in a trench cave-in.
PR experts "spin" stories for the media on the assumption that most reporters are too overworked (or too lazy) to search out the truth for themselves. But Rampton and Stauber exhaustively document that "spin" goes much farther than merely providing a "news hook," a viewpoint, or a few facts. Modern corporate propaganda involves purchasing scientific opinions and planting them in scientific journals (without, of course, mentioning the money connection to the corporate benefactor). Tobacco companies invented this technique, but now others are using it freely. For example, in the early 1990s, tobacco companies paid $156,000 to a handful of scientists to sign their names to letters written by tobacco company lawyers. The letters were published in the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, the LANCET, the JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE, and the WALL STREET JOURNAL, and were then cited by the tobacco companies as if they had been written by independent scientists. "It's a systematic effort to pollute the scientific literature," says professor of medicine Stanton Glantz (University of California, San Francisco), a longtime critic of Big Tobacco. (pg. 199)
In 1999 drug maker Wyeth Laboratories commissioned ghost writers to manufacture ten medical articles promoting a combination of Wyeth drugs called fen-fen, as a treatment for obesity. Two of the articles actually got published in peer-reviewed journals. After fen-fen was pulled from the market for permanently damaging peoples' heart valves, lawyers for injured victims discovered that Wyeth had edited the articles to play down and occasionally delete descriptions of side effects caused by fen-fen. Prominent scientists put their names on these articles in return for fees as small as $1000 to $1500 -- and journal editors published the articles as if they represented independent scientific inquiry. Wyeth could then cite these "independent" studies to convince doctors to prescribe fen-fen.
In 1996, Sheldon Krimsky of Tufts University examined 789 articles published by 1105 researchers in 14 leading life science and biomedical journals. In 34% of the articles, at least one of the chief authors had an identifiable financial interest connected to the research. None of these financial interests was disclosed in the journals. Krimsky said the 34% figure was probably an underestimate because he couldn't check stock ownership or corporate consulting fees paid to researchers.
Science, like democracy, depends crucially upon the free flow of information. When secrecy is imposed, errors go undetected and fallacies proliferate -- only to be discovered years later, if at all.[4] For example, secrecy has allowed the U.S. military to create a "pattern of exaggeration and deception" in its reports to Congress, just as secrecy allowed the military to waste more than $100 billion (!) in failed attempts to create a workable "star wars" missile defense system.[5] In 1993, a front-page story in the NEW YORK TIMES began, "Officials of the 'Star Wars' project rigged a crucial 1984 test and faked other data in a program of deception that misled Congress..."[6] Secrecy invites deception and destroys democratic accountability.
Rampton and Stauber point out that "Corporate funding creates a culture of secrecy that can be as chilling to free academic inquiry as funding from the military. Instead of government censorship, we hear the language of commerce: nondisclosure agreements, patent rights, intellectual property rights, intellectual capital." (pg. 214)
A key feature of the corporate anti-democracy strategy of the past 20 years is reduced government funding for needed research, thus inviting corporate funders to step in. This is what "tax cut" really means. Tax cuts are not primarily aimed at giving families another $300 to spend -- they are mainly intended to reduce the capacity of governments to fund needed public services, such as medical research. As a result, corporations are asked to provide the funds and thus they gain an opportunity to influence the national research agenda and the results.
In 1994 and 1995 researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital surveyed more than 3000 academic scientists and found that 64% of them had financial ties to corporations. They reported in the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (JAMA), that 20% of the 3000 researchers admitted that they had delayed publication of research results for more than 6 months, to obtain patents and to "slow the dissemination of undesired results." "Sometimes if you accept a grant from a company, you have to include a proviso that you won't distribute anything except with its OK. It has a negative impact on science," says Nobel-prize-winning biochemist Paul Berg. (pg. 215) In 1999 Drummond Rennie, editor of JAMA, said private funding of medical research was causing "a race to the ethical bottom.... The behavior of universities and scientists is sad, shocking, and frightening," Rennie said. "They are seduced by industry funding, and frightened that if they don't go along with these gag orders, the money will go to less rigorous institutions," he said. (pg. 217)
In this rich, deep book, Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber have painstakingly documented the specific techniques that PR experts and their corporate masters employ to deceive the courts, the legislatures, the media, educators, and the public. The next time someone accuses you of "chemophobia" or of relying on "junk science" you'll know you're dealing with corporate manipulators who are being guided by PR skanks. Their overriding goal is to discredit decision-making by the public and replace it with control by corporate elites. They know better, they're experts, trust them.
The final chapter of this important book tells us how to fight back. If you care about democracy, science or simple truth and want to know exactly how corporate elites subvert all three, this is the book for you.
[1] Anne Marie Chaker, "Conservatives Seek IRS Inquiry On Environmental Group's Status," WALL STREET JOURNAL (June 21, 2001) pg. unknown.
[2] Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, TRUST US, WE'RE EXPERTS HOW INDUSTRY MANIPULATES SCIENCE AND GAMBLES WITH YOUR FUTURE (NewYork: Tarcher/Putnam, 2001). ISBN 1-58542-059-X. And check out their web site:
http://www.prwatch.org/cgi/spin.cgi.
[3] William Serrin, "300 Dead Each Day: The Wages of Work," THE NATION Vol. 252, No. 3 (January 28, 1991), pgs. 80-81.
[4] Tim Weiner, "Military Accused of Lies Over Arms," NEW YORK TIMES (June 28, 1993), pg. A10 quoting a 3-year investigation by the U.S. General Accounting Office.
[5] William J. Broad, "After Many Misses, Pentagon Still Pursues Missile Defense," NEW YORK TIMES (May 24, 1999), pgs. A1, A23.
[6] Tim Weiner, "Lies and Rigged 'Star Wars' Test Fooled the Kremlin, and Congress," NEW YORK TIMES (August 18, 1993), pgs. A1, A15.
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--Peter Montague, Editor
6/30/01
3:56:24 PM
Bush energy plan sent to Congress
By Environmental News Network
President George W. Bush sent his energy strategy to Congress on Thursday, based on the National Energy Policy he issued in May. The plan is based on more oil and gas drilling, clean coal technologies, and nuclear power as well as energy conservation and development of new technologies such as fuel cells. "On the one hand it says we must be wiser about how we develop and increase supply," the president said, "and on the other hand, it says we must be wiser about how we conserve energy."
President Bush called his strategy "comprehensive" and said it goes beyond the criticism his administration has been taking over its proposal to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Alaska's north coast.
The president said his strategy "goes beyond the stale debates of whether or not we ought to drill for natural gas in Alaska, or not."
"While I strongly believe we ought to explore for natural gas and hydrocarbons without destroying our environment, and I believe we can do so in Alaska, it's important for the American people to understand that we're talking way beyond just one single issue that seems to dominate the landscape here in Washington, D.C.," Bush said.
The president expressed support for energy conservation through the marketing of Energy Star–rated appliances labeled by the Department of Energy as exceptionally energy efficient.
President Bush announced an executive order directing all federal agencies to buy appliances that use only one watt of energy while turned off rather than the average four or seven watts used if energy savers are not installed.
After viewing a display of energy-efficient technologies, President Bush announced $85.7 million in federal grants to encourage researchers and the private sector to accelerate the development of fuel cells, advanced engines, hydro-technology, and efficient appliances.
United Technologies and International Fuel Cells received nearly a quarter of the total grant funding for the development of five fuel cell technologies. William Miller, president of the Connecticut-based International Fuel Cells, a unit of United Technologies Corp., said public-private partnerships are the key to making energy-efficient fuel cells a reality.
After demonstrating fuel cells to President Bush Thursday, Miller said, "Fuel cells are a proven technology. The grants announced today will help ensure fuel cells play a major role in overcoming our future energy challenges by providing clean, efficient, and reliable energy for homes, buildings, cars, and buses.
Miller said this investment by the federal government is crucial to driving down the cost of fuel-cell technology and making fuel cells available to the general public. United Technologies and other companies are investing millions of dollars to bring this technology to the market, he said.
The Sierra Club dismissed President Bush's energy efficiency photo-op today as "another attempt to confuse the public about the real focus of his energy plan."
The $85.7 million in grants simply restores funding for renewable energy to the levels in place before the president recommended cuts, said Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope.
"President Bush is trying to distract attention away from his overall energy plan, which drills, digs, destroys, and pollutes but doesn't solve our energy needs," Pope said.
While promoting funding for renewable energy is laudable, said Pope, "the Bush energy plan still focuses too heavily on the wrong choices — to produce more coal, oil, gas, and nuclear power — with insufficient emphasis on energy efficiency and cleaner alternatives."
Pope acknowledged that the investment in fuel-cell technology "will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels that cause global warming in the future," but urged the president to immediately increase fuel economy standards for all cars and light trucks.
"As he submits his plan to Congress, it would be more honest for President Bush to stand in front of old, dirty power plants or gas-guzzling SUVs," Pope said. "The biggest single step we can take to curb global warming and save energy is to make all cars and light trucks go further on a gallon of gas."
"If we were making the right choices for increased efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy," said Pope, "we wouldn't need the extra oil rigs and power plants President Bush proposes."
Source: http://www.enn.com
6/30/01
3:53:54 PM
Weakened ocean currents could cause climate flip
by David Suzuki
Scientists tell us that increased greenhouse gases in our atmosphere are making our world a warmer place, but could this paradoxically trigger sudden, much cooler temperatures in some areas? According to the average estimate of hundreds of climate researchers who worked on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, our world will be up to 5.8 degrees Celsius warmer by the end of this century. But scientists are also quick to point out that increased temperatures will not be spread evenly throughout the world. In some areas, like Canada's Far North, the increases will be much more pronounced. In others, they may not be as severe.
The global climate is an incredibly complex system that we are only just beginning to understand. By pumping massive quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and altering vast areas of the planet's surface, we are conducting a global experiment of unprecedented scale. And although we tend to think of global warming as something that happens on a linear scale over long periods of time, some researchers warn that our activities could potentially trigger an unexpected shift in climate that could result in extensive changes over as little as a decade.
Oceans, which cover 70 percent of the Earth's surface, play a major role in climate dynamics. Ocean currents have been likened to conveyor belts that exchange warm and cool water from all over the world. On one such belt, cold, dense water from the Arctic sinks and flows out deep into the Atlantic Ocean. This helps create a convection effect known as the Gulf Stream that draws shallow, warm water up from the tropics and into the North Atlantic. The warm water helps moderate the climate of northwestern Europe, which at the latitude of central-northern Canada, would otherwise be much cooler.
However, the flow of water out of the Arctic is changing. Research has shown that the water is becoming warmer and less salty (therefore less dense) so it does not sink as readily. And a study published last week in the journal Nature found that the amount of flow from one channel has decreased by at least 20 percent in the last 50 years. Melting arctic ice, which would add less-dense freshwater to the system and slow down the conveyor might have caused the change. This is frightening because, while researchers say it's too early to tell if the reduction is due to human-induced global warming, it is consistent with some of the worst-case scenarios of climate models.
If this reduction in cold water outflow is not compensated by an increase from other areas, the return of warm water will also be reduced, weakening the Gulf Stream and cooling northern Europe. Such a change may occur gradually, offsetting expected increases in temperature due to global warming. But hydrologist Kendrick Taylor of the Water Resources Center writes in American Scientist that such changes can also happen very quickly if certain thresholds are crossed. He writes, "So rapidly that it would be impossible to rearrange agricultural practice quickly enough to avoid stressing world food supplies. So rapidly that many species would not be able to adapt, because their habitat, already greatly reduced by human activities, would be eradicated."
Currently, we do not know enough about our climate system to know when or if we will cross a threshold that would lead to rapid climate change. But this does not mean that we should not act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, quite the opposite is true. We know enough to see that changes are occurring, in some cases with unprecedented rapidity. And we know enough about climate history to understand that climate shifts can occur quickly.
What we don't know is just how far we can push our climate before something drastic happens. The longer we wait, the greater the future impact and the greater the uncertainties. That's why our government's hesitation to take action is so disturbing. After all, we are experimenting on the only atmosphere we have.
Source: http://www.enn.com
6/30/01
3:45:56 PM
British Mind Control Experiments 1960's to present
The idea of controlling someone's else's mind is long established. Hypnosis is just one commonly known form said to be used by secret government agencies. Suicides, Assassinations and Crimes are all said to have been committed by unknowing individuals under hypnosis. The Americans widely used mind control in secret projects such as ARKICHOKE and MK PROJECTS. Some of this information is said to have been passed on to the British agencies. Well known assassinations such as Bobby Kennedy's in 1968 is said to been involving mind control of the assassin.
What British mind control has taken place, may be they could explain the Marconi and Whitemoor suicides and so called accidents. Mind control via telepathy was a topic extensively studied by the former USSR. As for the Americans, according to former Reagan aide Barbara Honneger, "the fundamental reason for the increased interest in mind control is initial results coming out of laboratories in the United States and Canada that certain amplitude and frequency combinations of external electromagnetic radiation in the brain-wave frequency range are capable of bypassing the external sensory mechanism of organisms, including humans, and directly stimulating higher-level neuronal structures in the brain. This electronic stimulation is known to produce mental changes at a distance, including hallucinations in various sensory modalities, particularly auditory.
Some ELF mind-control studies have been discussed under the heading of psychotronics. US Navy studies in ELF communications included a portion on possible health effects. When these findings were revealed, the possibility of using ELF as a weapon arose, and studies were continued in that direction. Is this what was used at Greenham common against the women.
http://ds.dial.pipex.com/sean/coverup.htm
6/30/01
3:41:00 PM
Body bags stockpiled for G8 summit
The protests against G8 in Genoa have already begun Italian authorities have ordered 200 body bags as they step up preparations for a violent confrontation at next month's G8 summit in Genoa, say Italian media reports. A room at the city's hospital will also be set aside as a temporary mortuary, said Italian news agency ANSA. The reports come amid growing concern that the G8 summit will witness even worse confrontation than last weekend's European meeting in Gothenburg.
Tens of thousands of protesters - from anarchists to Basque separatists - are expected to head for Genoa. As well as the threat of street unrest, Italian authorities have been warned that attempts may be made on the lives of some of the world leaders present. One threat passed on to Italy by the German secret service is of an assassination plan by Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, aimed at US President George W Bush. Militant supporters of Bin Laden are said to planning a possible bomb attack.
President Putin's personal security will also be stepped up because of a possible threat from Chechen rebels, say his bodyguards. Mr Putin's bodyguards have already visited Genoa and met the heads of special services from nearly all the countries being represented there, said Russian security chief Yevgeny Murov, head of the FSO. "Each special service works out its own method of providing security these days. Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service renders enormous assistance to us, and we are in a permanent contact with them," he said in an interview with the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.
He said his agency was aware of the Bin Laden threat, and was making its Genoa preparations in the light of them. "We view the threats as totally serious, but hope that with joint efforts we can solve all the problems," said Murov.
Leaders from Italy, France, Canada, the UK, Japan and Germany will also be at the two-day summit, which starts on 20 July. Italian authorities are preparing a huge force of 20,000 police and soldiers, backed by the threat of tear gas, water cannon and a formidable array of military hardware. A "ring of steel" will be imposed on the city. Railway stations and motorway junctions will be closed, and flights into Genoa diverted. In the city itself, the streets around the summit venue have been declared as a "red zone", and will be blocked off by dozens of armoured vehicles. Outside the red zone, some areas will be set aside for protesters to make their views known. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said he wants dialogue with the protesters, and stresses the legimitate right of people to make their views known, but he has warned them that violent extremists will be "isolated and not be allowed to do harm".
Aircraft carriers
As the security operation continues to build up, some organisers are still reported to be keen to switch the summit venue to a cruise ship, which would be moored safely out at sea somewhere along the Italian Riviera.
At least two conference leaders - President Bush and French President Jacques Chirac - are already planning waterborne accommodation. Both will stay on aircraft carriers while attending the summit. Concern about security has deepened since events in Gothenburg, when Swedish police appeared to be overwhelmed by the scale and depth of violence. A lavish dinner had to be cancelled and some delegations had to switch hotels after police said they could no longer guarantee their safety. Three protesters were shot and dozens of police officers were hurt.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1400000/1400554.stm
6/30/01
3:32:59 PM
Marine scientists are considering ways to help a troubled rare North Atlantic right whale that's tangled up in old fishing gear off the coast of Massachusetts.
The 50-ton male is suffering from an infection in the wound caused by the rope stuck in its mouth and looped around its upper jaw. Experts said the whale's health is deteriorating, and it could die within months without intervention by scientists.
David Mattila of the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Mass., which specializes in whale rescues, told the Boston Globe that rescuers "are going to do everything we possibly can to save this whale."
Mattila was among those in an inflatable boat who tried twice on Tuesday to sedate the whale in an unprecedented attempt to slow it down enough to allow the line to be cut and the wound treated by veterinarians. However, the drugs failed to calm the whale, one of only about 300 of its species still known to exist.
Mattila said scientists are considering their options but are not expected to go out to the whale again at least for a couple of days. The whale -- being tracked by satellite -- was still swimming some 80 miles east of Cape Cod.
xxxxxxxxx
Floods, droughts, famines, earthquakes and other natural disasters killed an estimated 665,598 people from 1991-2000, accounting for 88 percent of all deaths from disasters worldwide.
On average, 23 people die per reported disaster in rich countries, 145 per disaster in medium developed nations, and 1,052 per disaster in very poor countries, according to the report by the Geneva-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, a global relief agency.
Only 1 percent of the fatalities were in Europe while 86 percent were in Asia.
6/30/01
3:27:56 PM
The Nation
Yesterday, after completion of the UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS, the Global AIDS Alliance (GAA), a broad coalition of debt cancellation advocates, AIDS treatment activists, faith-based organizations, human rights groups, and humanitarian agencies in the United States and Africa, called the U.N.'s Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS "an advancement in the fight for an expanded and comprehensive response to the epidemic." But the group questioned whether wealthy nations, particularly the U.S., were prepared to back it up with action.
Read Ben Winters's eye-witness report from the conference halls and the cafeterias for an insider's account of this landmark meeting. Exclusively available at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=winters20010628
And check out The Nation's related special archive on the global AIDS crisis. Featuring articles, editorials, activist reports and a quiz, this collection examines the roots of the pandemic and proposes remedies. Currently available at:
http://www.thenation.com/special/2001aids.mhtml
HE'S BAAACK:
Elliot Abrams, a key figure in the Reagan-era Iran-Contra scandal, was named yesterday to a senior position on the National Security Council. Abrams's notorious history will be familiar to many Nation readers. Not only did he plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of lying to Congress about the Reagan Administration's Contra program, he was also one of the fiercest ideological pugilists of the 1980s, proudly billing himself as a "gladiator" for the Reagan Doctrine in Central America--which entailed assisting murderous right-wing regimes and dismissing and whitewashing their myriad human rights violations. Conveniently, Abrams was able to avoid discussion of his infamous past by virtue of the fact that his new positon does not require Senate approval.
Read David Corn's recent examination of Abrams currently at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010702&s=corn
NEW NATION MATERIAL:
You can also find many new articles, editorials, columns and reports currently at
ROANE CAREY: Letter From Palestine (WEB ONLY)
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=carey20010628
VICTOR NAVASKY: Cold War Ghosts
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010716&s=navasky
MARTIN DUBERMAN: On Radosh's "Commies" (BOOK REVIEW)
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010716&s=duberman
WILLIAM GREIDER: The Man From Alcoa
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010716&s=greider
ERIC ALTERMAN: Stop The Presses (Tabloid Edition)
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010716&s=alterman
JOANN WYPIJEWSKI: Death and Taxes
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010716&s=wypijewski
DAVID MOBERG: Organization Man
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010716&s=moberg
DAVID CORN: Rove-R And Out?
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010716&s=corn
6/30/01
3:25:28 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
LIMBERLOST AND FOUND
by Scott Russell Sanders, Audubon Magazine
-- A turn-of-the-century visionary author and a former farmer join in spirit to recreate a once-thriving wetland on the Indiana prairie. A fairytale of inspiration and rebirth.
ESCAPEARTIST.COM
Web site review by Al Paulson
--Have you always dreamed of running off to Paris to drink wine and smoke Gauloises in cafes while you write a brilliant novel? Before you pack up your typewriter and buy a one-way ticket, you might want to check out this magazine's Web site.
INDIE ARTISTS LOSE ON MP3.COM ACQUISITION
by Judith Lewis, Cleveland Free Times
-- Jiga, of the Goa trance duo Analog Pussy, tells Judith Lewis in Cleveland Free times how MP3.com, a recent Vivendi acquisition, is trying to take back the $35,000 Analog Pussy made on the site.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
6/30/01
3:23:35 PM
If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee
Hardly seems worth it.
If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb
(Now that's more like it)
The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet
(OMG...!)
A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes.
(In my next life I want to be a pig)
A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death.
(Creepy) (I'm still not over the pig)
Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.
(Do not try this at home .. maybe at work)
The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off.
("Honey, I'm home. What the....")
The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of football field.
(30 minutes...can you imagine??)
The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds.
(What can be so tasty on the bottom of the pond?)
Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
(I still want to be a pig in my next life quality over quantity.)
Butterflies taste with their feet.
(Something I always wanted to know)
The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
(Hmmmmmm........)
Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do.
(If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)
Elephants are the only animal that cannot jump.
(OK, so that would be a good thing....)
A cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
(I wonder who was paid to figure that out.)
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
(I know some people like that.)
Starfish have no brains.
(I know some people like that too.)
Polar bears are left-handed.
(Who knew...? Who cares!)
Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
(What about the pig?)
6/30/01
3:08:18 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Park groups fret over possible Bush snowmobile reversal - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11371
UPDATE - Burger King sets new supplier animal care standard - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11372
Exotic South American animals on the run in Fla - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11373
UPDATE - Bush submits energy plan, pushes conservation - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11374
UPDATE - US green group sues EPA over arsenic in water - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11379
FACTBOX - Details of Bush energy legislation proposal - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11380
FEATURE - Alaskans see drawbacks to booming cruise business - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11383
UK greenhouse gas emissions fall to 10-year low - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11381
London air travellers asked to pay for polluting planes - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11384
Donors pledge $140 million for Nile Basin projects - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11376
Activists detained over Red Square nuke protest - RUSSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11382
Environmentalists want Inco mine plan - NEW CALEDONIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11385
Greenpeace hits Milan Nestle plant in GM protest - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11378
EU food industry concerned over GMO label rules - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11377
UPDATE - Canada's Supreme Court allows lawn-pesticide ban - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11375
6/30/01
3:06:01 PM
WILD ALERT
Early next month, the U.S. House of Representatives will likely vote on whether or not to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge during consideration of energy legislation. Ask Congress to protect the Refuge from oil & gas drilling. Take action and find out the latest at
http://www.wilderness.org/arctic/action/
JULY VOTE EXPECTED ON ARCTIC REFUGE
Next month, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on a proposal to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. President Bush has made drilling in the Refuge the cornerstone of his national energy proposal, and the House Republican leadership has committed to bringing the issue to the House floor despite numerous polls that show strong opposition to drilling in the Refuge. A vote is also possible next month in the U.S. Senate.
Meanwhile, support continues to grow for legislation that would protect the Arctic Refuge permanently by designating its 1.5 million acre coastal plain as Wilderness. Such a designation would prohibit oil and gas drilling and other developments in the area. One hundred and fifty members of the House have cosponsored H.R. 770, Arctic Refuge wilderness legislation introduced by Rep. Ed Markey (D-7/MA) and Nancy Johnson (R-6/CT). Twenty-six Senators have cosponsored S. 411, a companion bill introduced by Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT).
TAKE ACTION
Send your Representative and Senators a message asking them to protect the Arctic at
http://www.wilderness.org/arctic/action/
or contact them directly with this message:
- OPPOSE oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
- SUPPORT permanent protection of the Arctic Refuge as Wilderness by cosponsoring HR 770 and S 411.
Send your message to:
Sen. _______, US Senate, Washington, DC 20510
Rep. _______, US House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515
Capitol Hill Switchboard; (202) 224-3121
FORESTS, MOUNTAINS, TUNDRA, COASTLINE
The 19.6 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a spectacular wilderness of boreal forests, rugged mountains, sprawling tundra, coastal lagoons, and barrier islands. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has called the Refuge's 1.5 million-acre Coastal Plain "the center for wildlife activity for the entire refuge." But the oil industry and its allies in the White House and Congress are lobbying hard to open this part of the Refuge to oil drilling.
WILDLIFE
Polar and grizzly bears, wolves, and muskoxen are just a few of more than 200 animal species that use the Coastal Plain. Millions of birds, representing some 125 species, migrate from as far away as the Southeastern U.S., South America, and Asia to nest, rear their young, molt, and feed there.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
The Gwich'in (Athabaskan) people depend on the Porcupine Caribou Herd for their subsistence and culture, a relationship that has existed for thousands of years. For millenia, the 129,000-member caribou herd has used the Coastal Plain as a calving area , for which there is no alternative.
WHAT WOULD DEVELOPMENT MEAN?
The Arctic Refuge is not an environment that can tolerate development. Oil drilling in the Refuge would bring hundreds of miles of roads and pipelines, air strips and port facilities, power lines, massive gravel mining, air pollution, and housing for thousands of workers. This kind of industrial development has no place inside a national wildlife refuge.
Oil development at Prudhoe Bay west of the Arctic Refuge results in more than a spill a day of oil and other toxic substances according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. The same would almost certainly occur in the Refuge.
President Bush and Interior Secretary Norton are continuing to push the myth that opening up the Arctic Refuge will somehow resolve California's energy problems or lower oil prices. Nothing could be further from the truth. Less than one percent of California's electricity comes from burning oil. In addition, it will take more than 10 years for any oil from the Arctic Refuge to get to market -- not a solution to California's current problems. Finally, Arctic oil would do nothing to affect overall oil prices, which are set on the world market. Alaska oil amounts to a tiny drop in that bucket.
The U.S. Geological Survey has determined that the most likely amount of oil that could be economically extracted from the refuge is less than what the U.S. consumes in six months. Even less natural gas occurs under the refuge relative to U.S. demand.
6/30/01
3:02:56 PM
Don't Genetically Modify San Diego: Protesting BIO
Aside from a surprisingly detailed CNN report on large street demonstrations outside this week’s Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) summit in San Diego, mainstream media coverage of the annual gathering of genetic engineering profiteers the professors they pay has been predictably poor. But don’t take that to mean that opposition to "Frankenfoods" has withered. In fact, San Diego activists have delivered a powerful, Seattle-style "no thank you" to the representatives of Monsanto and other corporations that are in the forefront of a profit-driven, largely unregulated remaking of the world’s food and drug supplies.
Demonstrations, teach-ins and a host of community actions, organized under the banner of "BIOJUSTICE 2001: Celebration and Action to Resist Biotechnology" confronted the industry conference. Local organizers brought in Vandana Shiva, the Indian scientist and activist, former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower and Percy Schmeiser -- a Canadian farmer who has fought Monsanto’s effort to prevent traditional farm practices such as saving seeds. Also present were Florida television reporters Steve Wilson and Jane Akre, who were fired for producing a dramatic investigation of threats posed by Monsanto’s rBGH (bovine growth hormone) to cows and humans.
A mass march and rally June 24 drew an estimated 1,200-1,500 activists into the streets. Follow-up "days of action" used puppets and street theater to raise awareness of the impact of corporate biotech schemes on family farms and the food supply. Banners read "Stop Patents on Life." Slogans on shirtless chests read, "Don’t genetically modify this." And, everywhere, there were reminders of the fact the biotech industry does not want Americans to know: That European countries label genetically modified foods and that the U.S. could do the same.
Polls -- including one conducted for Time magazine -- show that more than 80 per cent of U.S. consumers favor labeling of genetically engineered foods. In the Time survey, 58 per cent of consumers say that, if labeling was instituted, they would go out of their way to avoid genetically engineered products
6/30/01
2:59:35 PM
The Nation
Aside from a surprisingly detailed CNN report on the large street demonstrations that took place outside this week's Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) summit in San Diego, mainstream media coverage of the annual gathering of genetic engineering profiteers has been predictably poor. But we shouldn't take this media neglect to mean that opposition to "Frankenfoods" has withered. In fact, as John Nichols reports in the latest installment of The Online Beat, San Diego activists have delivered a powerful, Seattle-style "no, thank you" to the representatives of Monsanto and other corporations that are in the forefront of a profit-driven--and largely unregulated--remaking of the world's food and drug supplies.
Read the full story, currently at:
http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/
TEST YOUR MORALITY QUOTIENT
Take The Nation's AMDS Self-Test to see if you've been afflicted by a newly discovered but well-established chronic disease, most prevalent among those with extreme wealth and membership in racial or ethnic groups with greater privileges. Available at:
http://www.thenation.com/special/amds.pdf
RECENT NATION ARTICLES
Don't miss the host of recent articles of political interest still available, including Christopher Hitchens on Henry Kissinger; David Corn on Elliott Abrams; Molly Ivins on George W. Bush, Richard Kim on Andrew Sullivan and Scott Sherman on Al Sharpton. All accessible at:
You can also find scintillating cultural coverage on The Nation's website, as in two recent essays originally published in the July 9, 2001 issue of the magazine:
SALMAN RUSHDIE: The Ground Beneath My Feet
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010709&s=rushdie
CARL BROMLEY: The Limeys (FILM REVIEW: Sexy Beast)
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010709&s=bromley
6/30/01
2:56:18 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
THAT'S BIG, APPLE
To help with potential electricity shortages this summer in New York City, businesses and building owners controlling more than 300 million square feet of office space in the city said yesterday they'd take voluntary steps to reduce their energy use. The participants in the program, which covers about 75 percent of the office space in the city, said they would begin reducing their power demand ASAP, raising average building temperatures by 2 degrees Fahrenheit and turning off unnecessary lights -- saving an estimated 25 to 30 megawatts. In an emergency, they said they could drop demand by 160 megawatts by taking such steps as reducing elevator service and dimming lights near windows.
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 28 Jun 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11360>
catch it only in Grist Magazine: Rolling blackouts aren't just in California -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha061901.stm?source=daily>
RIO NOT SO GRANDE
Thanks to drought, fast-growing weeds, and overuse of water by agriculture and cities, the Rio Grande River is running so low that it doesn't even reach the Gulf of Mexico anymore. Enviros are concerned about the loss of the estuary, where saltwater mixes with freshwater to create ideal conditions for young shrimp and other marine life. They are calling for big changes in international water-use plans to protect the river, which marks the boundary between Texas and Mexico. Paul Montagna, a University of Texas marine biology professor, said, "It's become more like a stagnant lake than a river. Any organisms that need to use this as a nursery can't get out."
straight to the source: Lawrence Journal-World, Associated Press, 28 Jun 2001 <http://www.ljworld.com/section/worldnation/story/57515>
SMELLS LIKE PEW SPIRIT
Unlike many philanthropies that fund already-existing green groups, the Pew Charitable Trusts, one of the country's largest environmental grant makers, has launched major new campaigns and even begun its own organizations, like the National Environmental Trust and the Heritage Forest Campaign. Pew focuses on three issues -- global warming, marine conservation, and forest protection. It was a big force behind the campaign that produced more than a million public comments last year in favor of former President Clinton's plan to ban road-building on nearly 60 million acres of public land. The foundation will spend $52 million on the environment this year, almost five times what it spent in 1990.
straight to the source: New York Times, Douglas Jehl, 28 Jun 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/28/national/28PEW.html>
FLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS
Climate change and globalization are increasing the threat of flood and famine to the world's poor, according to a report released today by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. From the annual World Disasters Report: "Recurrent disasters from floods in Asia to drought in the Horn of Africa to windstorms in Latin America are sweeping away development gains and calling into question the possibility of recovery." Natural disasters have jumped from 481 in 1998 to 752 last year. Peter Walker, director of the IFRC's Asia Regional Office, said that urbanization in flood plains was another factor behind the rise in disasters.
straight to the source: ABCNews.com, Reuters, Richard Waddington, 28 Jun 2001 <http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20010628_317.html>
Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:
Made in the shade -- a day in the life of Wood Turner, GoodThings.com <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/turner062701.stm?source=daily>
The more you drive, the more you toot -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha062601.stm?source=daily>
6/30/01
2:50:44 PM
Public Citizen
Statement of Joan Claybrook, President of Public Citizen, on Introduction of House Campaign Finance Reform Bills
Public Citizen strongly supports the basic thrust of the new Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill. However, we deplore its failure to close or adequately limit a major loophole in the soft money ban - the Levin Amendment allowing continued corporate, union, individual and other contributions of soft money to state parties for voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts during federal elections. Reps. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) have promised further "dialogue and debate" on this issue as well as on proposals to raise the bill's $30,000 limit on annual aggregate political contributions by individuals to candidates, PACs and parties (the Senate bill provided $37,500).
This new version of Shays-Meehan includes the key features of their past reform measures as well as of the Senate-passed McCain-Feingold bill. It has a general ban on unlimited soft money; it curbs corporate- and union-financed pre-election ads that discuss candidates but masquerade as "issue" ads; and it provides lower rates for TV and radio political advertisements by candidates and parties during the campaign season. Furthermore, in a creative effort to take account of Congressional Black Caucus and other reform supporters' opposition to the Senate-passed increase in individual contribution limits to candidates (from $1,000 to $2,000), it maintains the $1,000 limit for House races.
However, the Levin Amendment - inserted in the Senate bill at the last moment by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and strenuously supported by his brother, Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) - could significantly undermine the soft money ban. While it has been justified by Sen. Levin as a "limited" effort to continue support of traditional "core" state party voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities in combined federal/state elections, it threatens to provide a large opening for special interest influence on national parties and candidates. It permits corporations, unions, wealthy individuals and PACs to give as much as $10,000 a year each to a plethora of state, county, district ward and other party committees within a state and then to do the same thing in every other state that allows such contributions.
While there is no comprehensive list of all existing party committees, one can get an indication of the magnitude of the loophole by considering the fact that there are 3,066 counties in the U.S. Each of the two major parties is likely to have a committee in each county. A big corporation could give $20,000 over the two-year cycle to, for example, 25 party committees within a state, totaling $500,000. It could repeat the process approximately in 20 other states that allow large or unlimited corporate contributions for another $500,000 per state. The total contributions could add up to $10.5 million. A rich individual could give even more money because more states allow large or unlimited donations by individuals. Soft money could return with a vengeance.
By focusing their contributions on states where there are competitive federal races (like Florida, Missouri, Michigan and others during the last election), fat cat donors could curry favor with national party leaders without formally coordinating with them, creating big chits for legislative and regulatory payoffs to special interests. And since state party voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities are the only ones that could benefit from six- and seven-figure soft money checks, the parties would have huge incentives to expand these activities further, to justify more soft money via innumerable mailings to voters, massive expansion of phone banks and rampant newspaper advertising. Soon, Congress and the public would be disgusted by the rebirth of the soft money system they clearly condemn, lose faith in campaign finance reform and reform leaders, and become even more disillusioned and alienated from the political system.
Some self-proclaimed reformers have justified this huge loophole on the grounds that the activities it furthers - party voter registration and get-out-the-vote - are good citizenship. But that is not the issue. Parties are good for democracy. But the kind of money used to support their activities can corrupt them and the entire political process. If parties persuade people to vote and then sell out the public to powerful interests that donate large amounts, there is no democracy. That is why the House in 1998 and 1999 passed bills that said the parties should raise only "hard money" contributions in limited amounts (and none from corporate and union treasuries) as prescribed by federal campaign law.
We call upon Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), Reps. Shays and Meehan, and Democratic Minority Leader Dick Gephardt to publicly condemn the misguided anti-reform initiative of the Levin brothers. While the new Shays-Meehan bill does include a number of conditions designed to limit the impact of the Levin Amendment (especially prohibiting expenditures for broadcast, cable and satellite issue ads, solicitation by national candidates and parties, and requiring a 50 percent hard money match), these do not go far enough to close a potential gaping loophole in the law.
Rep. Robert Ney's (R-Ohio) House Republican leadership bill, to be marked up today by the House Administration Committee, is transparently phony "reform." A warmed over version of the defeated Hagel bill in the Senate, it allows the national parties to raise up to $150,000 per cycle in soft money from corporations, unions, wealthy individuals and others and spend it for everything (including party administration as well as voter drives) except for public communications promoting or opposing candidates and for radio and TV advertising. It allows the state parties to raise and spend unlimited soft money to conduct the limited activities prohibited with national party soft money. Finally, it provides for disclosure of pre-election communications mentioning candidates - except for the most crucial information, which is who contributed to the ad.
The Ney bill maintains the $1,000 individual contribution limit to candidates not only for the House but for the Senate and presidency as well. But unlike the creative Shays-Meehan two-limit approach, this is a transparent attempt to create a major dispute with the Senate and force the bill into a conference, where House Republican leaders could bury it.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
For more information, please visit http://www.Citizen.org
6/28/01
2:07:39 PM
World's First Herd of Cloned Dairy Cows in Production at Infigen;
Company Plans to Submit Evaluation of Milk to FDA and National Academy of Sciences
DEFOREST, Wis., June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Infigen, Inc. announced today that the world's first herd of cloned dairy cows is in milk production at the company's farms. Infigen is a privately held biotechnology company merging genomics and reproductive technologies to advance both animal agriculture and human health. The milk will be evaluated and compared with milk from non-cloned Holsteins, as a part of the company's review to be shared with the United States Food and Drug Administration and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
The 18 cloned two year old cows began production following calving, beginning in December, 2000. Several different cell lines are represented in the milking herd. One may remember the BF-15 cloned bovines as heifers on display by Infigen at World Dairy Expo in 1999.
All milk from the 305-day lactation cycle will be sampled and tested but will never enter the human food chain. Complete analysis and testing is being done by two independent entities, the University of Madison and Utah State University. Results from the first lactation period will be finished by the end of this year.
"This is the world's first all-clone dairy. It will be used for research and to demonstrate the viability of cloned dairy animals in a commercial environment," said Dr. Michael Bishop, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Infigen.
Milk from the cloned cows has tested normally in preliminary evaluations. Infigen does not expect the components in the milk to differ since, in essence, this is exactly like milk from identical Holstein twins, to ensure there have been no new components added to the milk or any normal components subtracted due to the Nuclear Transfer (NT) process.
Proteins, minerals, lactose, and fat components of the milk from the clones are broken down and then compared to the same from the control group of non-cloned cows. Milk functionality tests are also being used to determine how the milk performs when making products such as cheese.
"This will be the first milk analysis ever completed in a herd of clones," said Dr. Marvin Pace, Senior Scientist and Director of Farm Operations for Infigen.
This herd demonstrates that cloned animals, produced by using Infigen's patented NT process, can reach sexual maturity and be healthy, uniform, calve naturally, and perform normally in a typical dairy environment. These clones also give merit to an unlimited number of possible uses of cloned animals that are genetically identical for research and production purposes.
"The uniqueness of several genetically identical animals provides the opportunity to better understand what production outcomes result from environmental factors and those that result from genetics," said Greg Mell, Livestock Manager for Infigen.
To continue its educational efforts, the company has presented its plans for the demonstrational herd to the FDA and NAS to inform them that the milk product is safe and the animals are not genetically modified. Infigen officials will publish a peer-reviewed paper analyzing the data of the tests from the cloned milking herd later this summer.
"We have been very proactive with the FDA and NAS," said Dr. Bishop. "Although Infigen does not believe there is any scientific basis for differences in food products from clone versus non-clone animals, we realize that we are ultimately accountable to the consumer to provide this evidence."
Currently, the FDA is urging companies to submit Investigational New Drug applications (INDA) if they send any "unmodified" cloned animals to market. The FDA has signed a contract with the NAS to conduct a study to determine if the cloning of "unmodified" animals presents any food, animal or environmental safety issues.
ABOUT INFIGEN, INC. AND GENMARK:
Infigen, Inc., formed in August 1997, is a privately held biotechnology company commercializing its proprietary nuclear transfer cloning in the human health and animal agriculture fields. The company has other existing strategic partnerships with Pharming N.V. to produce human therapeutics from the milk of transgenic cattle and Immerge BioTherapeutics, Inc., a joint venture of Novartis Pharma AG and BioTransplant Incorporated (NASDAQ:BTRN), to develop genetically modified miniature swine for the study of xenotransplantation (transplantation between species). In 2000, Infigen was issued a U.S. patent covering critical processes for cloning any mammal, excluding humans, utilizing Nuclear Transfer. Infigen markets its agricultural products under the trademark name of Genmark. In addition to its AgriCloning(TM) products, Genmark also markets marker assisted selection, diagnostic testing, and tissue/cell harvesting and storage. For further information on Infigen and Genmark, visit http://www.infigen.com and http://www.genmarkag.com
This release contains certain forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, delays, uncertainties and other factors not under the Company's control which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the results, performance or other expectations implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include results of current or pending research and development activities, actions by the FDA and other regulatory authorities, and other activities.
http://news.excite.com/news/pr/010626/wi-infigen-clone-cows
6/28/01
2:04:58 PM
DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS HIGHLIGHTS
The Marrying Tribe of the Amazon - Discovery Channel
Among the Zoe tribe of Warrior Island, polygamy and polyandry are common. There's no sign of jealousy or rivalry between men sharing a wife or wives sharing a husband. Though alien to Westerners, the system works and seems to benefit the children. July 4-12:00 AM, 8:00 PM (ET/PT). Antibiotics: Misused Miracles? - Discovery Health
Infections once easily cured by antibiotics now resist the onslaught of these wonder drugs. The abuse has sent us in search of new drugs. Also explore antibiotics impact in agriculture & new uses for the most important weapon ever developed for medicine. July 9-12:00 AM, 9:00 PM; July 12-4:00 AM (ET).
A&E NETWORK HIGHLIGHTS
Thomas Jefferson: Philosopher of Freedom on A&E
Profile of the brilliant and versatile third President who wrote the Declaration of Independence. He was an accomplished diplomat, architect, naturalist, and linguist. Yet, when he died, he left debts of more than $100,000. July 5 - 7:00 AM (ET/PT).
Lance Armstrong: Racing for His Life on A&E
Profile of the cyclist who became an international celebrity and a symbol of hope to millions when he conquered cancer and won the Tour de France--twice! In 1996, 25-year-old Lance was diagnosed with testicular cancer, but the cancer had spread to his abdomen, lungs, and brain and he was given a 50-50 chance to survive. Interviews with Armstrong's mother, wife, coach, and friends tell the stirring story of the Texan who triumphed despite brain surgery and four punishing rounds of chemotherapy. July 06 - 8:00 PM (ET/PT).
6/28/01
1:16:23 PM
PREVENTING AN ACCIDENTAL NUCLEAR WINTER
By Dean Babst
Nuclear Winter
In a study made by the World Health Organization, they found that a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia could kill one billion people outright. In addition, it could produce a Nuclear Winter that would probably kill an additional one billion people. It is possible that more than two billion people, one-third of all the humans on Earth would be destroyed almost immediately in the aftermath of a global thermonuclear war. The rest of humanity would be reduced to prolonged agony and barbarism. These findings are from a study chaired by Sune K. Bergstrom (the 1982 Nobel laureate in physiology and medicine) nearly 20 years ago. (1)
Subsequent studies have had similar findings. Professor Alan Robock says, "Everything from purely mathematical models to forest fire studies shows that even a small nuclear war would devastate the earth." (2)
Rich Small's work, financed by the Defense Nuclear Agency, suggests that burning cities would produce a particularly troublesome variety of smoke. The smoke of forest fires is bad enough. But the industrial targets of cities are likely to produce a rolling, black smoke, a denser shield against incoming sunlight. (3)
Nuclear explosions can produce heat intensities of 3,000 to 4,000 degrees Centigrade at ground zero. Nuclear explosions can also lift an enormous quantity of fine soil particles into the atmosphere, creating more than l00,000 tons of fine, dense, radioactive dust for every megaton exploded on the surface. (4) The late Dr. Carl Sagan said the super heating of vast quantities of atmospheric dust and soot will cover both hemispheres. (5) For those who survive a nuclear attack, it would mean living on a cold, dark, chaotic, radioactive planet.
A nuclear warhead is far more destructive than is generally realized. For example, just one average size U.S. strategic 250 Kt nuclear warhead has an explosive force equal to 250,000 tons of dynamite or 50,000 World War II type bombers each carrying 5 tons of bombs. The truck bombs that terrorists exploded at the New York World Trade Center and in Oklahoma City each had an explosive force equal to about 5 tons of dynamite. (6)
Accidental Nuclear War
The U.S. and Russia each have more than 2,000 strategic nuclear warheads set for hair-trigger release. If launched they could be delivered to targets around the world in 30 minutes. They would have an explosive force equal to l00,000 Hiroshima size bombs. (7) Russia and the U.S. have more than 90 percent of the nuclear weapons in the world. The more automated and shorter the decision process becomes the greater is the possibility of missiles being launched to false warnings.
The U.S. is trying to decide whether to build an anti-missile star wars defense or not. In order for an anti-ballistic missile to hit another missile traveling at incredible speed that can come from many different directions, it would be necessary to have a very complex computerized system.
President Reagan's Defense Secretary, Casper Weinberger, said that since an anti-missile defense would require decisions within seconds, completely autonomous computer control is a foregone conclusion. There would be no time for screening out false alarms and a decision to launch would have to be automated---there would be no time for White House approval. (8)
A highly automated defense system that has no time for determining whether a warning is false or not is highly likely to launch to a false warning. There are always false warnings. For example, during 1981, 1982 and 1983 there were 186, 218 and 255 false alarms, respectively, in the U.S. strategic warning system. (9)
There have been at least three times in the last 20 years that the U.S. and Russia almost launched to false warnings. Fortunately there was enough time to determine that the warnings were false before decision time ran out.
In 1979, a U.S. training tape showing a massive attack was accidentally played.
In 1983, a Soviet satellite mistakenly signaled the launch of a U.S. missile.
In 1995, Russia almost launched its missiles because of a Norwegian rocket studying the northern lights. (l0)
If the U.S. builds an anti-missile defense it appears certain that missiles would be launched to false warnings because no time is available for determining whether a warning is false or not.
Preventive Action Needed
Plans to build an anti-missile defense need to be carefully researched as to how it could increase the danger of an accidental nuclear war. As the research progresses, the findings need to be widely discussed in the news media. The more widely and clearly the danger is made known the more concerned the public should be for agreements to greatly reduce and eventually eliminate all nuclear weapons from the world.
As humanity's safety becomes more and more dependent upon technology, the technological dangers need to be guarded against. Technical errors in one system may trigger errors in others. When researching missile defense dangers the following types of factors need to be included in the assessments, e.g. Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)), "Dead Hand" control of missiles, High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), Hazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to Ordnance (HERO). Russia's blind spots in its satellite warning system also need to be included in this research.
The U.S. and Russia are in a position where either can destroy humanity in a flash and yet there appears to be little recognition of this peril hanging over the world. Only 71 out of 435 U.S. congressional representatives signed a motion calling for nuclear weapons to be taken off of hair-trigger alert. (11) The U.S. Senate rejected the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1999. (12)
Queen Noor al Hussein, of Jordan, said "The sheer folly of trying to defend a nation by destroying all life on the planet must be apparent to anyone capable of rational thought." (13) There is a need to greatly increase public awareness of the danger in order to provide broad, long-term understanding and support for arms agreements ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
Reference and Notes
1. Sagan, Carl. The Nuclear Winter, Council for a Livable World Education Fund, Boston, MA, 1983.
2. Robock, Alan. "New models confirm nuclear winter," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, Septem
6/28/01
1:14:45 PM
Nuclear Winter: The Forgotten Danger
You would think that the destruction of the Northern Hemisphere should be a topic that humanity might want to talk about. Yet, for the last ten years, the subject of nuclear winter has been virtually absent from public discussion.
The end of the Cold War, the fall of the Soviet Union, and a highly publicized attempt to discredit the ³theory² of nuclear winter by groups with a vested interest in preserving nuclear weapons: these events led to a decade of silence on the subject of nuclear winter. It is imperative that this silence be broken.
More than ten years have passed since the last extensive investigations on nuclear winter were conducted (during the period 1983 - 1989). The composition of American and Russian nuclear arsenals has changed significantly since the 1980's studies, with substantial reductions occurring both in the numbers and yields of strategic weapons. Yet no one has asked: Is nuclear winter still a likely outcome should existing or projected nuclear arsenals be detonated in a major nuclear war?
This is a question that the nuclear priesthood does not want discussed. Why? Because an answer in the affirmative will completely undermine the legitimacy of maintaining thousands of nuclear weapons on high-alert status. However, the extensive scientific studies of the 1980¹s leave little doubt: nuclear winter is a likely outcome of any nuclear war.
Perhaps the most important finding of the 1980¹s studies was that ³. . .only a few hundred nuclear detonations, or less, seem sufficient to bring about at least a nominal nuclear winter. Only 100 small warheads devoted to petroleum refining and storage facilities would suffice. Indeed, with something like a hundred downtowns burning, or the same number of petroleum facilities, even a substantial nuclear winter seems possible.² (from ³A Path No Man Thought², page 203, by Carl Sagan and Richard Turco, 1990, Random House)
The 1983 TTAPS nuclear winter study (from ³Case 14²) examined the effects of one thousand 100 kiloton warheads exploded over 100 large cities, creating a ³Class III² nuclear winter. Consider that U.S. Trident subs alone now carry more than three thousand 100 kiloton warheads, which are aimed at ³urban industrial² targets in Russia (targeting and warhead information from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Jan./Feb. 2000, p, 53).
This is a description of a Class III "Nominal" nuclear winter (taken from pages 194-195 of ³A Path No Man Thought²): "It carries in its wake significant cooling and darkening, drought, massive quantities of pyrotoxins generated, widespread radioactive fallout, and other atmospheric perturbations. Average land temperature drops would be about 10 degrees C. At noon, the Sun would have about one-third its usual brightness. Months later, sunlight would return to more than its usual intensity, enhanced in the ultraviolet by depletion of the high-altitude ozone layer.
Collapse of agriculture, and famine, could be widespread. Within the warring nations, these effects might generate casualties approaching those from the prompt effects of the war. Crop failure--from lowered temperatures, failure of the monsoons, and other causes--are expected in many noncombatant nations in the first growing season following the conflict. The most likely such failures would be in India, China, some African nations, and perhaps Japan. Worldwide, as many as 1 to 2 billion people could be placed in jeopardy of starvation."
The 1983 TTAPS study was followed by the ISCU¹s Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) study, which involved hundreds of scientists from more than a dozen countries working over three years. Meetings were held in Australia, Canada, China, England, France, India, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the U.S.S.R., the U.S.A., and Venezuela.
This is a quote from the 1985 SCOPE document, ³Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War². . . "The total loss of human agricultural and societal support systems would result in the loss of almost all humans on Earth, essentially equally among combatant and non-combatant countries alike. . . .this vulnerability is an aspect not currently a part of the understanding of nuclear war; not only are the major combatant countries in danger, but virtually the entire human population is being held hostage to the large scale use of nuclear weapons . . ." A review of the SCOPE assessment done by the U.S. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy confirmed these findings, and actually stated that the SCOPE analysis had been too conservative.
Even under the proposed START III treaty, the United States and Russia will indefinitely keep 3000 to 5000 nuclear warheads on launch-ready status. Should even a fraction of these weapons be exploded over large cities or petroleum refineries, it appears that they would be fully capable of destroying the Northern Hemisphere.
Efforts are now being made to promote the creation of an updated study on nuclear winter. Major advances in computer modeling and in the atmospheric sciences have taken place during the last decade. These advances can be utilized in conjunction with current information on nuclear weaponry to demonstrate the enormous threat to the biosphere posed by global nuclear arsenals.
If you are interested in participating in this effort, you may contact me by mail or email. If you are a member of any group which might also be interested in promoting an updated nuclear winter study, let them know about this project.
Steven Starr
9030 County Road 389
New Bloomfield, MO 65063
shadesahoy@socket.net
6/28/01
1:10:06 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
KENYAN ENVIROS CHARGE TV'S SURVIVOR WITH DAMAGING RESERVE
By Jennifer Wanjiru
NAIROBI, Kenya, June 27, 2001 (ENS) - Environmentalists in Kenya have threatened court action to stop the filming of the American television show "Survivor Series III" that formally begins on July 1 and runs to September 30. They accuse the filmmakers of damaging the fragile ecosystem of Shaba National Reserve in the semi-arid eastern province of Kenya.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-27-03.html
MOUNTAIN PINE BEETLE EPIDEMIC PANICS BRITISH COLUMBIA
PRINCE GEORGE, British Columbia, Canada, June 27, 2001 (ENS) - An epidemic infestation of mountain pine beetles is ravaging British Columbia forests, destroying trees worth billions of dollars to the provincial economy. Tuesday, newly elected Premier Gordon Campbell struck a government task force to address the crisis.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-27-01.html
COURT RULING COULD KEEP ROADS OUT OF WILDERNESS
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 27, 2001 (ENS) - In a landmark decision, a federal judge has sided with conservationists who argued that Utah counties violated federal law when they used heavy equipment to grade abandoned jeep trails and other primitive routes in the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument and other federal lands.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-27-07.html
U.S. WETLANDS ACREAGE FALLING DESPITE REGULATORY PROGRAM
WASHINGTON, DC, June 27, 2001 (ENS) - The amount of wetlands in the United States is continuing to fall, despite a government program that allows developers to fill in wetlands in exchange for restoring or creating others nearby. That program needs to be improved to meet the goal of "no net loss" in size and function of wetlands, says a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-27-06.html
SHAHTOOSH SHAWLS ARE SHROUDS FOR TIBETAN ANTELOPE
LONDON, England, June 27, 2001 (ENS) - The demand for luxurious meltingly soft woolen shawls is driving the Tibetan antelope to extinction, possibly within five years, an undercover investigation by conservation groups in three countries has found.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-27-02.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JUNE 27, 2001
U.S. Urged to Show Leadership in Emissions Reductions
Entangled Right Whale is Partially Freed
Rider Would Block Review of Missouri Dam Operations
Transmission Lines Can Shelter Wildlife Habitat
Nevada Land Sales Fund Open Space Acquisition
Park Service Seeks to Share the Wealth with Researchers
Three EPA Regions Get New Administrators
Green Chemistry Awards Honor Cleaner Alternatives
Tribes Blend Science, Spirituality to Protect Water
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-27-09.html
HEALING OUR WORLD: WEEKLY COMMENT
By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
Missing the Target - Green Bullets
Just when you thought you might have heard everything, something surprises you. In the last few years, the product marketers learned that if you call something "green," you can gain access to an ever growing market of consumers who are concerned about the environment. The definition of what makes a product green, however, has remained ambiguous.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-27g.html
6/27/01
11:19:57 PM
Green Group Comes Under Right-Wing Attack
by Don Hazen -- AlterNet.org
Inspired by a friendly Bush administration, a trio of anti-environmental groups and companies is launching a multi-tiered attack on the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). Best known for its headline-grabbing campaigns to protect forests, RAN has a proven track record of altering corporate behavior through a range of pressure tactics.
A conservative group called the Frontier Freedom Foundation (FFF) -- heavily supported by tobacco, oil and timber money -- is lobbying the IRS to revoke RAN's non-profit status. At the same time, logging company Boise Cascade has aggressively targeted RAN's funders with threatening letters, trying to undermine the organization by drying up its cash flow. Both are working with the anti-green Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise to cripple RAN's effectiveness.
RAN executes highly visible, aggressive campaigns primarily against corporations destroying old growth forests in North America and around the world. Its tactics include consumer boycotts and symbolic efforts designed to capture media attention, including rappelling down corporate buildings and unleashing giant banners. Along with Boise Cascade, RAN has also targeted Mitsubishi and Occidental Petroleum, among other corporate giants.
The first attack came from the FFF (founded by former Wyoming Senator Malcolm Wallup, a close associate of Vice President Dick Cheney), which charged in a letter to the IRS that RAN routinely engages in non-educational activity, violating the legal requirement that it be "operated exclusively for educational purposes." The FFF's executive director, George Landrith, called RAN "fundamentally radical, anti-capitalist and lawless."
In response, RAN says that the FFF is using the tax codes to attack its First Amendment rights. As many have pointed out, civil rights groups like the NAACP wouldn't have been able to organize sit-ins to fight segregation if such a standard was in place.
"We believe when laws are unjust, they can be broken in a symbolic way," RAN Executive Director Christopher Hatch told the Wall Street Journal.
Nevertheless, some other groups are expressing anxiety about the IRS case. They fear a chilling effect on anti-corporate protests if the FFF is successful. Indeed, the FFF's Landrith sees the RAN effort as a test case with many more to follow if successful. Thus far, the Bush administration hasn't been shy about employing hardball tactics with its enemies, and the prospect of politicizing the IRS is not out of the question. Also, experts note that the IRS language in this arena is vague and the rulings on the books are close to 20 years old. New language could be more narrow and restrictive.
If the FFF is successful, RAN would not be out of business, but would have to raise what's known as "hard money" from its donors and members. Put simply, donors wouldn't be able to claim a tax deduction for supporting specific RAN activities, which could discourage them from giving. Michael Klein, a business entrepreneur and one of RAN's key funders said, "I don't think there is any merit in this case and feel confident that the IRS will rule in RAN's favor. But I stand behind the RAN's work in this area, and would be willing to more than make up whatever shortfall might result."
Michael Shellenberger, a RAN spokesman, calls the whole effort with the IRS a canard. "The only activities that would result in revoking non-profit tax status are felonious activities, like embezzlement," said Shellenberger. "The FFF is trying to scare our supporters, but they won't be scared."
"Let there be no doubt," Christopher Hatch adds, "the work to protect our forests will not only continue, but escalate."
Exploiting IRS codes is only part of the attack on RAN. Boise Cascade Corporation (BCC) is trying to cut off RAN's financial support in a different way. BCC is currently RAN's public enemy number one for its role as a "global forest destroyer." According to RAN, "data shows that BCC engages in global rainforest timber trade and contracts with companies that cut down old growth forests in the U.S., Chile, Indonesia, Canada, Brazil and Russia." Furthermore, BCC was the lead plaintiff in the effort to reverse the Clinton Administration's Roadless Initiative for National Forests, strongly supported by the American public in polls.
The RAN-generated negative public attention and pressure on Boise Cascade has produced a chain reaction within the company, resulting in threatening letters written to many of RAN's funders. Vincent Hannity, a BCC vice president, wrote to RAN funders, "We are frankly struggling to understand how and why RAN receives the support of reputable, responsible, well-intentioned organizations such as (foundation name blacked out). If RAN's lawless, radical agenda and methodology are consistent with your organization's guidelines, objectives and ethics we ask that you share those criteria with us." Insiders say that BCC has even contacted principals of schools where students have written to the company urging the protection of old growth forests.
Students aren't the only ones worried about forest conservation. A Los Angeles Times poll showed that nine out of ten people believe protecting wilderness is important, and six out of ten say we shouldn't build more roads in national forests.
According to Hatch, rather than admiting that the strong public sentiment against irresponsible forestry might be cutting into its bottom line, BCC is trying to blame RAN for its economic problems. (BCC lost $35.5 million in the first quarter of 2001.) Clearly, RAN's success in reducing demand for products made from old-growth wood -- including its groundbreaking agreement with Home Depot and a deal in Canada to preserve large portions of the Great Bear rainforest -- has motivated BCC. But instead of working with RAN to clean up their act (which numerous companies have done), BCC has chosen a more hostile route.
BCC's aggressive strategy and denial of public opinion places it among a group of conservative corporations that are highly resistant to change, like oil giant ExxonMobil, which still refuses to acknowledge global warming. Also like ExxonMobil, BCC enjoys long-standing and close relationships with key members of the Bush administration.
A second right-wing group, the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, headed by notorious "wise use" advocate Ron Arnold, is working with the FFF and Boise Cascade to undermine RAN's standing. A press release from the FFF said that "Arnold would present RAN as an attack group and not an environmental group. He will present RAN's anti-capitalist and anti-corporate agenda of force, intimidation and unlawful actions. Arnold will also show suspicious links between RAN's rhetoric and Earth Liberation Front acts."
RAN denies such charges of unlawfulness, and a connection to more militant groups. "RAN is strictly a non-violent organization strongly opposed to property destruction of any kind," said RAN Communications Director Shannon Wright. Coincidentally, the FFF's outrageous guilt by association rhetoric received a major blow when police in Arizona arrested a suspect for a series of fires that destroyed more than a dozen homes adjacent to the desert. The suspect had apparently written letters on behalf of a fake militant ecological group in order to deflect attention away from himself.
It seems clear that RAN's efforts to protect old growth forests are not going to be seriously inhibited by attacks from right-wing groups and angry corporations. On the other hand, major companies with billion-dollar investments in their brands are increasingly vulnerable to the effective tactics -- advertising, public education, and direct action protest -- employed by RAN and pioneered decades ago by groups like INFACT and the United Farm Workers.
As more corporate money flows into the coffers of elected officials, government often produces policies that protect corporate interests at the public's expense. The only realistic shot at reform becomes public campaigns aimed at the reputation and the bottom line of the corporate behemoths. Ironically, as BCC's example may soon show, exercising overwhelming influence in politics may lead to more financial loses in the long run, if a company becomes a target for activist campaigns. If only they understood the need to balance their interests with the public and become better corporate citizens.
For more information, or to help defend the Rainforest Action Network, visit http://www.RAN.org
6/27/01
11:13:29 PM
HEMP CAR IN BOSTON JULY 12 - PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE: HEMP CAR IN BOSTON: THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2001
Hemp Car, an alternative-fuel project car that uses hemp seed oil biodiesel for fuel, will be making several appearances in the Boston area on Thursday, July 12, 2001.
Hemp Car's Boston area schedule is:
8 - 11am - Open / media interviews
11am - 2pm - Faneuil Hall (The Body Shop)
2 - 5pm - JFK Street in Harvard Square (The Body Shop & Mi Casa)
5 - 8pm - 207 Newbury Street (The Hempest)
8pm - 11pm - Central Square (Middle East Cafe)
Radio and television stations are encouraged to broadcast from any of the above locations. In addition to the companies noted above, Hemp Car is being sponsored in Boston by The Weekly Dig and The Boston Hemp Co-op's Hemp History Website:
Hemp Car, which will tour America and Canada, will depart from Washington, D.C. on July 4, 2001. The car has already generated a tremendous amount of publicity, as it emphasizes the utility of industrial hemp to modern society. Hemp Car is providing the public with information about biofuels, hemp, and prohibition. The Hemp Car crew is trying to establish a world distance record of 10,000 miles for a vehicle utilizing hemp fuel.
Hemp Car is the creation of Grayson and Kellie Sigler. While researching alternative fuels for use in their unmodified 1983 Mercedes Benz 300TD wagon, they realized that hemp seed oil was an excellent source ofbiodiesel. Biodiesel can be burned in any diesel engine or it can be mixed with petro-diesel in any ratio. Biodiesel, which is non-toxic and biodegradable, is an ecological fuel with significantly less emissions than its petroleum counterpart. Dr. Rudolf Diesel developed the diesel enginein the late 1890's in order to use peanut oil as fuel.
Industrial hemp would be an economical fuel if it were legal to cultivate in the United States. Industrial hemp has no psychoactive properties and is not a drug. The current energy crisis provides an excellent setting for Hemp Car's tour because the growing of crops for biodiesel could save family farms and turn the American heartland into a prosperous source of clean, renewable energy.
A network of volunteers will provide Hemp Car with hemp biodiesel at planned intervals throughout their tour. Funding and sponsorships are necessary for Hemp Car to succeed. Those interested in contributing to this project can contact the Hemp Car crew at:
HempCar@HempCar.org or 757-719-5868.
Donations can also be sent to:
HEMP CAR,
P.O. Box 3712,
Hampton, VA, 23663.
You can see pictures of the Hemp Car and learn more about it at their website: http://www.HempCar.org
Interview requests should be made through the Hemp Car Media Director, Scott Furr, at 757-719-3770 or scott@hempcar.org. For information about Hemp Car's