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 Boston area appearances, please contact John Dvorak of hempology.org at 781-662-4313.
6/27/01
11:07:42 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
USA: UPDATE - House panel debates US nuclear plant liability law http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11359
USA: NY city businesses to turn lights off to save energy http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11360
USA: US scientists reassessing whale rescue efforts http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11361
USA: LA okays bond for controversial land development http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11365
USA: Wildfire grows from prescribed Alaskan forest burn http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11366
USA: US regulators gird for biotech crop innovation http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11367
UK: Britain calls for move away from intensive farming http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11362
NEW ZEALAND: NZ carbon dioxide emissions rose 22 pct in '90s http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11368
NETHERLANDS: Russia seeks wider "sinks" use in climate talks http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11358
GERMANY: German police step up search for Rhine crocodile http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11369
EU: EU presses Japan, US to allow deal on Kyoto http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11363
CHINA: Dolphin researchers make breakthrough in Hong Kong http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11364
CHINA: Tibetan antelope faces extinction despite wool ban http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11370
6/27/01
11:05:55 PM
AlterNet.org Headlines
GREEN GROUP COMES UNDER RIGHT-WING ATTACK
Don Hazen, AlterNet
A coordinated team of corporate front groups and companies with ties to the Bush administration are trying to cripple the Rainforest Action Network.
SCIENCE GOOD, NATURE BAD: THE BIOTECH DOGMA
Kristina Canizares, AlterNet
Science has triumphed over Nature as the new gospel, but in the case of biotechnology our naive faith may be depriving us of the facts.
THE PANDEMIC AND THE BLUE LADY
Tamara Straus, AlterNet
This week the UN General Assembly held its first ever special session on AIDS. But can the world's most lumbering bureaucracy stop the new global plague?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11098
A NEW GREEN DEAL
Mark Hertsgaard, MotherJones.com
The government helped launch the digital revolution by investing in technology -- so why not do the same to create an energy-efficient economy?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11090
PUT IT IN BLACKS BACKYARD
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, AlterNet
Contrary to conventional wisdom, blacks have repeatedly denounced the racially-warped policy of toxic waste or power plants being put it in blacks' backyard -- "PIBBY."
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11109
THE RADICAL NOTION OF SEX FOR PLEASURE
Lara Riscol, AlterNet
My best sex hasn't been for love or power, but for pure, exquisite pleasure. So when the Surgeon General admits that "beyond procreation, sex is for pleasure," it isn't radical to me ... but it is to right-wing moralists.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11097
THE ANGUISH OF THE DRUG WAR JUDGES
Steve France, Salon
Forced to hand down harsh sentences that defy their consciences, many federal judges are speaking out against a system that makes them do "ungodly things."
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11100
CHE GUEVARA GOES TO BUSINESS SCHOOL
Neal Pollack, LiP Magazine
In a recently discovered letter, Che expounds on the beauty of free markets and Forbes Global. Capitalists of the world, unite!
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11108
** Report of the Week **
INTERACTIVE TV MEANS NEW THREATS TO PRIVACY
As TV merges with the 'net, the goal is to collect personal data, profile viewers, and transmit targeted ads.
http://www.democraticmedia.org
MEDIA MASH: JET BLUE AND "FUCK YOU" MONEY
The Masher, AlterNet
This week from the Masher: Fuck You Money ... Bad Jet Blue Media Fare ... Sex in Preppy Catalogues.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11099
THE FRENCH MIRACLE -- A 35 HOUR WORK WEEK
John Lichfield, The Guardian
Official study finds that France's 35-hour week has boosted the economy and proved a hit with employees and their bosses.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/europe/story.jsp?story=78940
STRANGER INSIDE
Akilah Monifa, AlterNet
The new award-winning HBO movie, "Stranger Inside," does for women in prison what "The Sopranos" did for Jersey mobsters, and does it exceptionally well.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11083
ADVERTAINMENT'S NEW FRONTIER
Erika Milvy, AlterNet
"The Hire," a new series of online filmlets made by stars like Madonna and Ang Lee, is shamelessly blurring the line between marketing and entertainment.
* In Media Culture: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=19
NEW MORAL AND LEGAL BASIS FOR REPARATIONS
Ron Daniels, The Black World Today
If the upcoming World Conference on Racism declares that the slave trade was a "crime against humanity," it will provide a strong moral and legal foundation for reparations in the U.S.
* In Human Rights USA: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=22
EXPORT CREDIT AGENCIES FUND IMMORAL AND DAMAGING PROJECTS
Bruce Rich, TomPaine.com
The WTO, World Bank, and IMF are not the only culprits in the international development scam. Much more attention needs to be focused on Export Credit Agencies.
* In Globalization: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=21
TOXIC DRIFT: MONSANTO AND THE DRUG WAR IN COLOMBIA
Jeremy Bigwood, CorpWatch
The Monsanto-made herbicide Roundup has become a central weapon in Colombia's drug war. Is Monsanto covering up its danger to humans, like it did with Agent Orange in Vietnam?
* In Drug Reporter: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=17
WHAT CAUSES BREAST CANCER?
Peter Montague, TomPaine.com
A new, fully-documented book poses a fundamental challenge to all the doctors, researchers, and health bureaucrats who have turned their backs on cancer prevention.
* In EnviroHealth: http://www.alternet.org/?IssueAreaID=18
CORN: THE GORE GAP
David Corn, AlterNet
Should Al Gore decide to run for president again, we might be in for one weird show: Gore mounting a bitter race against his party establishment as an outsider.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11082
GARCIA: JORGE CASTANEDA, MINISTER OF DEMOCRACY
James E. Garcia, PoliticoMagazine.com
How does a man go from being a super-radicalized, left-leaning iconoclast to working for Vincente Fox, a Mexican cross between Ronald Reagan and Lee Iacocca?
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11101
REICH: THE PHONY POLITICAL CENTER
Robert B. Reich, AlterNet
Centrism is bogus, and the rush by politicians to it is a meager substitute for sharp, open debate about what a nation needs to do, and why.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11096
6/27/01
10:53:17 PM
Strategic Deception Rhetoric, Science, and Politics in Missile Defense Advocacy
by Gordon R. Mitchell
The Cold War's legacy has been characterized by a systematic pattern of threat inflation, a relentless stream of surplus weapons development, and a predilection for a brand of secret science that lines the pockets of defense contractors and swells the war chests of hawkish politicians-things that fray the fabric of democracy. There is perhaps no military project more representative of this legacy than ballistic missile defense (BMD). Since Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars address" in 1983, taxpayers have spent more than $100 billion on BMD projects. Close examination reveals that many of these programs were of dubious value. Politically seductive but scientifically elusive, the notion of missile defense has given rise to waves of runaway rhetoric featuring technical claims that have outstripped supporting scientific data.
Many expected that such instances of strategic deception would crumble with the Berlin Wall, but interlocking military and industrial interests have invented sophisticated new forms of deception to keep BMD projects alive. In this work, Gordon Mitchell examines the technical and political dimensions of the recurrent BMD controversies from a rhetorical perspective. His analysis yields original insights into the origins and dynamics of Reagan's Star Wars proposal, the postmodern complexities of strategic deception on Patriot missile accuracy in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, as well as fresh perspectives on Theater High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) and National Missile Defense (NMD). Mitchell believes that, as the episodes of strategic deception in missile defense advocacy recur perennially, the democratic pedigree of American society erodes.
Advance Praise for STRATEGIC DECEPTION
With one hand [Mitchell] has earned the gratitude of those of us who are desperately concerned about the latest and most unsettling political threats to the orderly control of weapons of mass destruction. With the other hand, he has earned the admiration of those of us who are interested in the politico-economic framework of modern science and technology. . . . As one of "us" on both counts, I commend this two-handed sword of a book to all who care about either of these apparently unrelated matters, and especially to the few who appreciate how closely they are now connected.
- John Ziman, author of *Prometheus Bound*
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gordon R. Mitchell is Associate Professor of Communication and Director of Debate at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His articles on missile defense have appeared in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs; Science, Technology & Human Values; and The Quarterly Journal of Speech. His missile defense briefing papers can be found on websites hosted by the Federation of American Scientists, the International Security Information Service (UK and Europe), and the Peace Research Institute of Frankfurt.
http://www.msupress.msu.edu/rhetoric/strategic.html
6/27/01
10:43:57 PM
Nuclear Murder: America's Atomic War Against Its Citizens and Why It's Not Over Yet
by David Proctor
"After 15 years of investigating, I have concluded that the United States government's atomic weapons industry knowingly and recklessly exposed millions of people to dangerous levels of radiation. "Nothing in our past compared to the official deceit and lying that took place in order to protect the nuclear industry. In the name of national security, politicians and bureaucrats ran roughshod over democracy and morality. Ultimately, the Cold Warriors were willing to sacrifice their own people in their zeal to beat the Russians."
—Former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall from the foreword to Atomic Harvest: Hanford and the Lethal Toll of America's Nuclear Arsenal By Michael D'Antonio
Since early June, newspapers in Australia and Great Britain have published articles about experiments conducted in the 1950s and 1960s by U.S. scientists on the bodies of deceased and stillborn babies. Documents declassified by the U.S. Department of Energy show that scientists from the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority worked with their American counterparts to take the bodies of 6,000 infants from hospitals in Australia, Great Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, South America and the U.S., then ship them to the United States for the nuclear experiments—without permission from the parents.
It was called Project Sunshine. Sunshine began in 1955 at the University of Chicago when Willard Libby, later a Nobel Prize laureate for his research into carbon dating, instructed colleagues to skirt the law in their search for bodies. "Human samples are of prime importance, and if anybody knows how to do a good job of body-snatching, they will really be serving their country," Libby is quoted as saying. The reasoning: Nuclear tests released great amounts of Strontium 90 into the atmosphere. Libby and others connected with the American defense industry wanted to know how much radiation was entering the food supply. The bodies and body parts were cremated and the ashes tested with a sophisticated Geiger counter.
Grotesque as Project Sunshine was, it fits the pattern. Since 1945, high officials of the United States government have maimed and killed hundreds of thousands of their own people, first while they spent $5.5 trillion to test and maintain nuclear weapons, then as they spent billions to support and under-regulate nuclear power plants. To cover their actions, the officials—and those who succeeded them—have for decades lied to the public and perjured themselves in court about the amount of radiation released and its effect on the millions of people exposed to it.
Now, that same government wants to transport hundreds of tons of nuclear waste through 43 states, including Idaho, on inadequate rail lines and highways past 138 million people to be stored in containers of unknown longevity for hundreds of thousands of years in geologically unstable formations in New Mexico and Nevada. And once again, officials insist it will all be perfectly safe.
The government has known for at least 70 years that nuclear energy—regardless of its form—is deadly to the human body. The first publicized case of radiation injuries in America was the radium-dial painters in the 1920s. These women used radium paint to put the luminous numbers on watch dials. Many wet their brushes with their mouths to make the tiny points needed for such fine work. When they began to die of cancer their successful lawsuit against the watch company in 1928 made the dangers of radiation very public. The government also sponsored radiation experiments on animals in the 1940s, as well as follow-up studies of the Trinity test at Alamogordo, New Mexico, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, all in 1945.
Despite this knowledge, and America's acceptance of the Nuremberg human rights protocols, the Atomic Energy Commission, a group appointed by the president and obligated by law to protect the public, detonated more than 300 above ground nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site and in the Pacific Ocean. The blasts totaled 138,600 kilotons of explosive power, which Soviet scientist Andrei Sakharov estimated would kill as many as 2.5 million people and American Nobel laureate Linus Pauling calculated would cause 1 million seriously defective children, another 1 million embryonic and neonatal deaths, and create millions of hereditary defects. In 1969, Dr. Ernest Sternglass traced the dramatic increases in infant deaths and childhood leukemia in upstate New York to airborne radiation from the nuclear tests. He estimated 375,000 American babies had been killed by fallout radiation between 1951 and 1966. And that didn't count the deaths caused by the Soviet Union's 715 tests.
Dr. John Gofman found that even low doses of radiation could cause cancer. In the early 1970s, when Gofman and Dr. Art Tamplin refused to keep their findings secret, they lost their research grants at DOE's Livermore National Laboratory. The government, of course, did not have this information when it began above ground testing. It did know, however, that radiation was dangerous and was being blown thousands of miles from the Pacific and Nevada sites. AEC's response was to lie about fallout readings, falsify some reports and bury others so Americans and Pacific islanders would accept the government's propaganda mantra that there was no danger. It wasn't only civilians who were handed this line of falsehoods. The Defense Department marched soldiers within a few hundred yards of ground zero during several atomic tests. When these "atomic veterans" started getting cancer, their claims for benefits were denied. Soldiers who obtained their service records found no mention of their trip to the Nevada Test Site. Only recently has Congress recognized their sacrifice and authorized limited treatment for the dying veterans.
For complete article and credits link to Boise Weekly Online:
http://www.boiseweekly.com/coverstory.html
6/27/01
6:47:58 PM
Stormy Weather
We are very happy to announce the publication of Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change by Guy Dauncey with Patrick Mazza, foreword by Ross Gelbspan.
"Stormy Weather is really wonderful -- it ought to be required reading for everyone who is concerned about our planet's climate, beginning in every high school in the country." -- Ross Gelbspan, author of The Heat is On.
"A fabulous book. Everybody talks about the climate, but nobody does anything about it. Now they can. Stormy Weather provides a sweeping vision of the issues, and comprehensive practical solutions. A must read for anyone who wants a cleaner, healthier planet." -- Dr. James Hansen, Director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies
"...an extraordinary accomplishment. It presents a thorough understanding of the threat to Creation from climate change. With abundant practical solutions and thorough resources, readers are stimulated to decide for themselves what actions they want to take." -- the Rev. Sally G. Bingham, Episcopal Power and Light, San Francisco.
"A wonderful contribution that provides clear guidance on climate solutions. Positive action is long overdue and this exciting road map will help move us forward." -- David Suzuki, scientist, author and broadcaster.
Please click on the hot link http://www.newsociety.com/new.html for more information on Stormy Weather and a direct link to our secure ordering system.
For a limited time we are offering a 20 percent discount and a free poster with each book purchased from our website http://www.newsociety.com
Many thanks.
Judith Plant
NEW SOCIETY PUBLISHERS
Books to Build a New Society
PO Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC Canada V0R 1X0
Tel: 250-247-9737 Fax: 250-247-7471
On the web: www.newsociety.com
6/27/01
5:45:44 PM
U.S. Gene Altered Crops Rejected Overseas
U.S. exports of crops with a biotech component are facing restrictions in foreign markets, says a new report by the General Accounting Office, the research arm of the U.S. Congress. The report was requested by Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, now senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. In many parts of the world, consumer concerns are growing about the safety of biotech foods, which have led key market countries to implement or consider regulations that may restrict U.S. biotech exports.
As the single major producer of biotech food crops, the United States has been relatively isolated in its efforts to maintain access to markets for these products.
Gene-altered crops were introduced into the marketplace by Monsanto in the mid-1990s; the first crop of transgenic soybeans was introduced in 1996. The Monsanto seeds are altered so that the crops are resistant to the Monsanto herbicide Round-Up.
Since that time, genetically modified seeds have been accepted by some American production farmers. More than 55 percent of all soybeans, 30 percent of corn, and 35 percent of cotton acres are planted with genetically altered crops.
Pure foods advocates, such as Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association, maintain that genetic modification "is inherently unpredictable and dangerous for humans, for animals, the environment, and for the future of sustainable and organic agriculture."
They object that transnational biotechnology corporations are becoming the architects and owners of life by altering or disrupting the genetic blueprints of living organisms—plants, animals, humans, microorganisms—patenting them, and then selling the resulting foods, seeds, or other products for profit.
Since 1998, the European Union has effectively blocked approval of new agricultural biotech products. New regulations and guidelines that may further restrict exports of biotech products, such as requirements for labeling and traceability, or tracking, are being enacted or considered by U.S. trading partners and are being discussed in international organizations.
The European Union, Japan, and Korea have enacted mandatory labeling requirements on foods containing or derived from biotech products.
Australia and New Zealand passed laws on August 4, 1999, mandating the labeling of all foods made from genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This law took effect at the end of 2000.
Japan has instituted a labeling law that came into force in April 2000. Already many Japanese food makers are beginning to seek non-GMO ingredients. Kirin and Sapporo Breweries are switching to GMO-free feedstock, as is Japan's largest grain miller.
Other countries are in the process of enacting similar regulations. The European Union is expected to enact requirements for traceability of biotech crops and foods throughout the distribution chain, a measure that could further limit U.S. exports.
As countries move forward independently with regulatory measures, international organizations are also developing guidelines and rules for biotech products.
Multilateral discussions affecting biotech trade are taking place in the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which sets international food safety standards, and the Biosafety Protocol, a United Nations environmental agreement.
U.S. corn and soybean exports are most threatened by new foreign regulatory measures because of their biotech content. While U.S. soybean exports have not yet experienced disruptions, U.S. corn exports have been largely shut out of the European Union market because American farmers are producing some biotech varieties that have not been approved for marketing in the EU.
In contrast, only one biotech variety of soybeans is now in general production in the United States, and this variety has been approved in most major markets, including the European Union. Still, U.S. soybean exports could also encounter difficulties in the future if foreign regulations are adopted that would raise handling costs by ultimately requiring segregation of biotech from conventional varieties.
Biotech and conventional varieties are typically combined in the U.S. grain handling system, which relies on the efficiency of mixing crops from multiple sources.
U.S. industry contends that segregating biotech from conventional varieties would raise handling costs, and that completely removing traces of biotech grain from bulk shipments may not be possible. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) views biotech crops as a way to increase crop yields and feed more people.
The agency uses the example of an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist who used biotechnology to pinpoint a gene that could help wheat, a major food staple, grow on millions of acres worldwide that are now hostile to the crop. ARS scientists have also developed an experimental potato hybrid that contains genes to resist a new, more virulent strain of the so-called "late blight," the disease that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s.
The USDA says biotechnology can help farmers reduce their reliance on insecticides and herbicides. For example, Bt cotton, a widely grown biotech crop, kills several major cotton pests, the agency points out.
The GAO report concludes that foreign regulations governing biotech varieties could affect all U.S. exports of these commodities as well as food products containing or derived from biotech crops. That would include products such as corn oil, soybeans, soybean meal, and soybean oil.
As international discussions in Codex and elsewhere take on greater importance, the U.S. government faces increasing demands for staff resources and coordination among the multiple agencies involved in biotech trade issues. In an effort to protect the U.S. farmers who have invested in biotech crops, U.S. officials are working to ensure that measures adopted by other countries and international guidelines are consistent with member countries' obligations under various agreements of the World Trade Organization.
The two sides are clashing during the biotechnology industry's annual international conference and exhibition, BIO 2001, held in San Diego, Calif., June 24 through June 27. The Organic Consumers Association is mounting a campaign against recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) and other genetically engineered ingredients in Starbucks Coffee products that is timed to coincide with the biotech industry's event.
The protests will be staged in San Diego and in Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Minneapolis; New York; Buffalo, N.Y.; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Albuquerque; Dallas; Houston; and London.
Source: http://www.enn.com
6/27/01
4:13:24 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
M'M M'M GOOD, THAT'S WHAT CAMPBELL'S SUIT IS
A U.S. federal judge sided with environmentalists on Monday and reduced the authority of local officials to claim rights of way over trails on federal land. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell upheld a decision by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that three Utah counties did not have the rights of way on 16 routes. Enviros filed suit after the counties used bulldozers to grade roads in wilderness study areas and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Because lands with roads are ineligible for wilderness status, local officials in many Western states have claimed jurisdiction over routes to preserve access and disqualify areas from being designated wilderness.
straight to the source: USA Today, Tom Kenworthy, 27 Jun 2001 <http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010627/3435460s.htm>
RISKY BUSINESS
Even if the Bush administration has its head in the sand, many businesses in the U.S. are treating global warming as a reality. Atmos Energy Co., a natural-gas distributing company, has spent millions on weather insurance. If Atmos's customers use less gas to heat their homes because of warmer temperatures, the insurance policy will offset the company's operating losses. Another example: Colorado ski companies are discounting tickets to coax people back to their resorts after two winters of little snow. And Great Lakes shipping companies are asking Congress for dredging to help them cope with falling water levels.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Greg Schneider, 26 Jun 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7666-2001Jun15.html>
THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE
In an unusual move, ABC News yesterday said it would remove correspondent John Stossel's interview with California children about global warming from an environmental special airing Friday night. A group of Los Angeles parents teamed up with the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group and revoked their permission for the interviews on Monday. They said that Stossel had asked the children leading questions to support his views, and that Stossel's involvement with the program had been hidden from them until moments before the interview began. In a version of the special sent to reporters, Stossel says some environmentalists are brainwashing children to believe the world is a scary place. Last year, Stossel was reprimanded by ABC and gave an on-air apology for a report criticizing organic produce that contained inaccurate information.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Elizabeth Jensen, 27 Jun 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/print/asection/20010627/t000052879.html>
MITIGATION BLANK
A program allowing developers in the U.S. to destroy some wetlands if they create new ones or restore old ones is failing, according to a panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences. The panel found that federal agencies weren't even tracking the country's wetlands accurately to see if the losses to development were being compensated. When he created the program in 1989, President Bush the Elder pledged there would be "no net loss" of wetlands. But the panel concluded that the promise was not being met.
straight to the source: New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, 27 Jun 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/27/science/27WETL.html>
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Associated Press, 27 Jun 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/593078.asp>
CAUGHT IN THE JAWS OF DEATH
Marine scientists weren't successful yesterday in freeing an endangered northern right whale off Cape Cod from a fishing line caught in its jaw. The jaw has become infected and the 50-ton whale also seems to be malnourished, probably because the line is interfering with its feeding. The scientists didn't know if they'd be able to mount another rescue effort and weren't sure the whale would survive, even if the rope were removed. Only about 320 of the whales remain in the North Atlantic. "Every whale counts," said Nina Young of the Ocean Conservancy.
straight to the source: CNN.com, 26 Jun 2001 <http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/06/26/whale.rescue/index.html>
catch it only in Grist Magazine: The customer-is-always-right whale -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha031901.stm?source=daily>
Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:
A cool idea in Chicago -- a day in the life of Wood Turner, GoodThings.com <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/turner062601.stm?source=daily>
Commander in grief -- the latest in the comic adventures of Zed, last of his species <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed060801.stm?source=daily>
Lean and green -- a Colorado family welcomes the simple life -- in our Out on a Limb column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/limb/limb042600.stm?source=daily>
6/27/01
4:05:21 PM
This is message is to inform you that new letters were posted on Earth Action Network's website,
We are also happy to introduce two exciting new programs described at
http://www.eanetwork.org/join/add_programs.html
We look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions about them, along with any other feedback you may have about EAN.
Thanks again for your efforts to make our world a better place to live!
Earth Action Network Project
6/27/01
3:56:21 PM
MediaChannel.org
NEWS DISSECTOR: THE UNBRAVE NEW MEDIA WORLD What is the Hague Treaty, and why is a democratic Internet at risk? As Danny Schechter has warned, a Web for commerce is not a Web for the people.
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#net
DAILY MEDIA NEWS
Breaking news stories about the international media, from mainstream and alternative sources.
http://www.mediachannel.org/news/today/
**FROM OUR AFFILIATES**
WRITERS BEAT PUBLISHERS
The highest U.S. court agreed this week that publishers have to pay again for work they reuse online. The National Writers Union has been fighting The New York Times over e-rights for over seven years.
COMMUNITY RADIO IN AFRICA
Access to the information highway is by small roads connected to homes and communities. Download a book on how it works in Africa.
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#radio
CORPORATE MEDIA IN EUROPE
Bettina Peters analyzes media concentration, the global media market's effects on diversity and independent journalism and what the EU can and should do
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#corp
CONNECT KIDS TO THE NEWS: 10 TIPS!
Here's how to talk with young people about what they see on TV news, ways to find youth-friendly and age-appropriate sources and more..
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#news
STORE WARS!
The independent film "Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town," demonstrates how media-makers can help residents and elected officials get together and get informed.
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#store
*SPECIAL PREVIEW!*
The MediaChannel Classroom: A Media Literacy Center
MediaChannel is proud to launch a new education center for K-12 teachers.
*THE TEACHER'S TOOLKIT: Teaching Units, Lesson Plans, Activities, Handouts and other tools from teachers and experts around the world.
http://www.mediachannel.org/classroom/toolkit
*MEDIA LITERACY TOPIC GUIDES: why understanding and using the media is as important as reading and writing.
http://www.mediachannel.org/classroom
Also, don't miss the new TEACHERS' GUIDE to MediaChannel.
http://www.mediachannel.org/teach
6/27/01
3:07:51 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
DECLARE INDEPENDENCE FROM CORPORATE RULE
Adbusters
-- Is the United States "one nation under God" or "one nation under the golden arches?" If you're concerned about the growing influence of huge corporations, check out Adbuster's Declaration of Independence from corporate rule.
FACING THE MEDIA: A HOW-TO FOR GAY AND LESBIAN FAMILIES
by Jonathan Kipp, Alternative Family Magazine
-- The media's increasing coverage of GLBT families has driven their growing public acceptance. Cathy Renna offers gay and lesbian parents some helpful tips on what to do when the media calls.
APPALACHIAN TRAIL STORIES
Web site review by Leif Utne
-- For a creative twist on the outdoor odyssey genre, check out www.trailstories.com, a thoughtful collection of journals, poetry, fiction, and other tales of adventure from hikers on the Appalachian Trail.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
6/27/01
3:05:45 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
COURT GIVES CALIFORNIA JURISDICTION OVER COASTAL DRILLING
SACRAMENTO, California, June 26, 2001 (ENS) - A federal judge in California has ruled that state officials have the right to review the potential environmental impacts any new offshore oil and gas drilling leases along the California coast, effectively barring new exploration. The ruling could put a crimp in Bush administration plans to step up offshore oil drilling to meet rising energy demands.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-26-06.html
COMMISSIONERS DELAY WILDLIFE CORRIDOR DECISION
By Bob Berwyn
BRECKENRIDGE, Colorado, June 26, 2001 (ENS) - A vocal group of Colorado residents appeared before the Summit County Commissioners Monday night to oppose plans to develop a new settlement where it would infringe on a wildlife movement corridor used by threatened lynx and other sensitive forest species.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-26-04.html
FRASER VALLEY SPOTTED OWLS WIN EIGHT DAY LOGGING REPRIEVE
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, June 26, 2001 (ENS) - A Fraser Valley timber company has been barred from logging a forest inhabited by spotted owls for another eight days.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-26-03.html
MOST AMERICANS WANT WHALE HUNTING ENDED
WASHINGTON, DC, June 26, 2001 (ENS) - A wide majority of American voters is opposed to commercial whaling by Japan and Norway, according to a new poll released today. Of 1,000 voters surveyed by phone, 83 percent were opposed and 60 percent were strongly opposed to the killing of whales by the world's most active whaling nations.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-26-01.html
TO ESCAPE GLOBAL WARMING, UK TURNS TO NUCLEAR POWER
LONDON, England, June 26, 2001 (ENS) - UK Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday threatened an explosive row over possible new nuclear power capacity as he launched the country's first comprehensive energy review for 20 years.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-26-01.html
AMAZON RAINFOREST COULD BE UNSUSTAINABLE WITHIN A DECADE
EDINBURGH, Scotland, June 26, 2001 (ENS) - Within a decade, there could be no more tropical rainforests to save, warns a Penn State-Abington researcher. The problem lies in the interactions between direct threats such as logging and mining, climate feedback that could bring far less rain to the remaining fragmented forests, and loss of essential species that help sustain the rainforest ecosystem.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-26-07.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JUNE 26, 2001
U.S. Government Sued Over Ruling on Air Conditioners
Agriculture Agency Awards $2.4 Million for Alternative Energy
$1.4 Million Awarded for New Carissa Oil Spill Damages
Climate Summit Draws Scientists, Business and Religious Leaders
Massachusetts Fuel Cell Researchers Get $17.9 Million
New York City Stops Shipments of Sewage to Texas Dump
Renewable Energy Credits Could Support Green Power
Gopher Tortoise Gets First Conservation Bank
Protecting Gulf of Mexico Requires Millions of Wetland Acres
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-26-09.html
6/27/01
3:01:26 PM
TomPaine.com
MORE UNDERHANDED REPORTING FROM ABC NEWS
The Story Behind John Stossel's Latest Attack on Environmentalism
by Marianne Manilov
Last summer, ABC News' Stossel fabricated and distorted scientific studies in his attack on the organic food industry. He is now gearing up for another attack on greens, this time a screed against environmental education.
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/06/26/index.html
ACCOMODATING KISSINGER
The National Press Club in Action
by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
When Henry Kissinger turned up for a recent speech at the National Press Club, he was concerned about the question-and-answer segment. The moderator accommodated his wishes and avoided probing questions.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/06/25/index.html
UNDER THE KNIFE AND THE CROSS
A Wave of Catholic Hospital Mergers Is Curtailing Medical Services
by Susan Jacoby
Just had a baby and want to get your tubes tied? Better hope your public hospital hasn't merged with a Catholic one, otherwise you'll be out of luck. From reproductive health to living wills, Catholic hospitals are imposing Church doctrine on patients of all faiths.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/06/21/1.html
6/27/01
2:43:52 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
USA: NASA readies solar-powered, high-altitude plane http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11344
USA: Protests dwindle at San Diego biotech conference http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11349
USA: Write new US farm law this year - House panel chair http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11335
USA: FCOJ futures crawl to firmer close in spread session http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11336
USA: California lawmakers want clean fuel exemption http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11332
UK: INTERVIEW - Norsk Hydro mulls new aluminium smelter technology http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11338
UK: ANALYSIS - Economics likely to hamper British nuclear revival http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11342
SOUTH AFRICA: South African hippo kills hotel security guard http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11354
PHILIPPINES: UPDATE - Philippine volcano could erupt again, experts say http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11357
PHILIPPINES: Philippines plans rules on imported GM products http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11345
NORWAY: Statkraft, Sydkraft, ABB to build hydrogen plant http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11347
NETHERLANDS: States huddle over climate change ahead of Bonn http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11333
MOZAMBIQUE: Mozambique landmine clearance raises food output http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11334
JAPAN: Brazil aluminium producer agrees to power cut http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11356
JAPAN: Japan to investigate bird flu virus in China http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11352
ITALY: Italy govt to meet protesters to avoid G8 clashes http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11340
ITALY: INTERVIEW - Seed patents needed to boost research-industry http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11339
GUINEA: Poaching threatens "smart" Guinean chimpanzees http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11337
FRANCE: Summer heat causes smog over Paris http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11350
EU: EU energy chief eyes continued coal subsidies http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11343
EU: Tough new EU air quality rules await MEPs vote http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11351
BAHRAIN: INTERVIEW - Bahrain to invest $660m on low sulphur diesel http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11341
AUSTRALIA: Botched grass burn kills penguins in Australia http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11353
AUSTRALIA: FEATURE - Solar-powered ferry enters uncharted waters http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11355
AUSTRALIA: PNG landowners demand Australia fund mine clean-up http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11346
AUSTRALIA: Oswal plans Australia ammonia plant http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11348
6/26/01
9:05:43 PM
CEO Of Enron, Jeffrey Skilling, ... Royally Pied
San Francisco- Inspired by the former actions of the Biotic Baking Brigade (BBB) and other pie wielding individuals across the nation, Agent Chocolate Supreme generously delivered a Blueberry tofu cream pie to the CEO of the Enron Corporation, Jeffrey Skilling, this evening at The Common Wealth Club, where he was scheduled to speak on "The Roles and Responsibilities of the Energy Industry." Agent Chocolate Supreme gave Jeffrey Skilling his just deserts with the announcement, "This is for the millions you've stolen from California's real working people."
The Enron Corporation, a Texas-based energy conglomerate, is one of the largest beneficiaries of California's energy crisis. They reported an income of $777 million in the fourth quarter of 2000, while citizens were simultaneously facing substantial rate hikes and rolling blackouts. "Mr. Skilling, who personally made $132 million this year, creamed us - so I, Agent Chocolate Supreme, felt obligated to cream him." The accomplished entarture added, "energy companies, such as Enron, are the ones who lobbied for deregulation. they bought off our politicians to make laws in their favor, and are now getting rich off us, everyday working people, as our rates are going up up up."
As proclaimed before by the Biotic Baking Brigade, "The BBB is a movement rather then a group. We have no members, though there is an underground network of militant bakers who provide us with nothing but the best vegan and organic pies. The BBB is not elitist or sectarian. In Fact, says Agent Lemon Meringue of the famous Cherry Pie Three, "Anyone with a pie and a vision of a better world can be a member of the BBB." The focus of the current pastry uprising, says Agent A La Mode, is to hold corporate crooks, and their lackeys in government, accountable. "Our track record shows that unlike them, we don't just promise 'pie in the sky' -we deliver."
"Never doubt that a small and dedicated group of people with pies can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
--Subcommandante Tofutti of the GC/BBB--EC, after Margaret Mead
MORE ON THE BBB AND PIE:
MORE ON ENRON AND THE ENERGY SCAM:
http://www.powertothepeople.org/learnmore/
13 WAYS OF THE LOOKING AT A BLACKOUT, commentary:
http://www.feedmag.com/templates/default.php3?a_id=1583
ENRON'S OWN HOMEPAGE:
http://www.enronenergyservices.com/
6/26/01
6:32:51 PM
Penguins In Trouble Worldwide
by CAROL KAESUK YOON
Harry's habits were as predictable as clockwork, so when he did not return from his last ocean voyage as expected, Dr. Dee Boersma knew something was wrong.
"We had signals until Dec. 6," said Dr. Boersma, a penguin researcher at the University of Washington who encountered Harry — a penguin outfitted with his own satellite transmitter — at a nesting area at Punta Tombo, Argentina. Harry headed out to forage at sea while his mate took her turn on their eggs, Dr. Boersma related. "Then we never heard from him again. We looked for him to come back every day. We just don't have adult birds disappear like that."
But late last year and early this year, the summer breeding season in the Southern Hemisphere, Magellanic penguins like Harry did disappear at sea. Thousands more washed up dead on the beaches north of Punta Tombo. Many birds abandoned their nests, leaving chicks to starve. Among the survivors, many were in bad shape, having difficulty finding the fish they needed to sustain themselves.
"This is the worst year ever," said Dr. Boersma, whose studies of the colony over 18 years have been supported by the Wildlife Conservation Society. "And we keep getting a lot of bad years."
Researchers say the Magellanic penguins at Punta Tombo, which have steadily decreased in number for more than a decade, are not alone. Around the world, many penguin populations are declining, researchers say, and evidence is mounting that global warming, whether natural or human-induced, is a prime cause.
Unless things change, they say, the outlook for some of these penguin species will be grim. Ten of the world's 17 penguin species are already listed as threatened or endangered.
Though a few species are thriving, "penguins, in general, are experiencing some really serious problems," said Dr. Lloyd Davis, penguin biologist at the University of Otago in New Zealand. "They are in trouble."
In addition to climate change, Dr. Davis said problems like overfishing and oil spills threatened these flightless birds. Penguins' best hope for overcoming these many obstacles, scientists say, may be their abundant adorability and the protection and money it can bring.
One typically thinks of penguins as waddling about atop miles of featureless ice, but many of the penguins at greatest risk are those species that have strayed farthest from the South Pole.
The endangered Galápagos penguin, a tropical species, is also one of the rarest. Found only on the Galápagos islands off Ecuador, these birds have been hard hit by rising temperatures. Dr. Boersma and others studying the penguins have found that the warmer the waters, the more the birds struggle to find food and to breed. In the warmest years, birds can fail to breed altogether and large numbers of adults can die of starvation.
Two other South American penguin species, the Magellanic and Humboldt, also suffer as waters warm. Since 1987, the number of Magellanic penguins at Punta Tombo has declined by 30 percent. It remains the world's largest colony of the species, still numbering in the hundreds of thousands, but, as with other penguins, the downward trend has researchers worried.
"If we get a series of intense El Niños, they're going to disappear," Dr. Patricia Majluf, conservation biologist at Wildlife Conservation Society, said of the colony of Humboldt penguins she studies, whose numbers are also dropping. "We lost half during one bad El Niño and these are very slow breeding birds."
El Niño is a phenomenon that comes and goes every few years in which the waters of the eastern tropical Pacific warm up, a change that can drive fish and other penguin prey far from colonies. The result, scientists find, can range from decreased egg sizes or deaths of chicks to, in a few cases, large-scale deaths of adults.
In cooler La Niña years, colonies can begin to recoup their losses. But in recent decades, the number and intensity of El Niños has increased while La Niñas have declined.
As for Harry and the other dead or missing penguins, researchers now suspect that they succumbed to a biological toxin like a red tide and again, scientists say the evidence points to climate change as the culprit. Such toxic blooms are associated with warming ocean waters.
Dr. Boersma said she got her first inkling that biological toxins might be at work when a freshly dead penguin floated ashore this winter. "It had an empty stomach that looked like it had been washed with acid," she said, adding that otherwise it seemed well fed and healthy. "He looked fine, except that he was dead."
Other die-offs, also suspected to have been caused by biological toxins, have hit penguins elsewhere.
"In 1990, over half the known yellow-eyed penguins died from some mysterious disease," said John Darby, seabird conservationist, now retired from the University of Otago, who has studied these endangered penguins in New Zealand for 22 years. "It was quite extraordinary. They were just dying all over the place, at their nests, on the beaches."
These penguins also looked healthy; Mr. Darby said he and colleagues believed that a biological toxin killed them as well.
Yellow-eyed penguins are unusual in that they require forest for nesting, putting them in proximity to New Zealanders who have logged to make way for farming. In other areas, penguins must compete with growing fishing industries. Oil spills have killed off many penguins and in Peru the endangered Humboldt is at additional risk because it is considered a good meal by people near the colonies.
Even the penguins in remote Antarctica, which tend to be doing better in terms of absolute numbers, can suffer declines when the bitterly cold seas warm.
Dr. Christophe Barbraud and Dr. Henri Weimerskirch, from the National Center for Scientific Research in France, reported in the journal Nature last month that warming seas and a decline in sea ice were linked to a 50 percent drop in numbers in a well-studied population of emperor penguins over the last 50 years.
In what may be the best understood of penguin declines, Dr. Wayne Trivelpiece, director of seabird research for the United States Antarctic Marine Living Resources program, and colleagues have studied Adelie penguins.
What researchers have discovered is that as the seas have warmed in recent decades, the annual formation of winter sea ice no longer reliably extends to its usual reaches north of the South Shetland Islands. Instead, since the middle of the 1970's, this pack ice formed in that region only two years out of every six to eight years.
The pack ice contains a store of frozen diatoms, a critical food source for young crustaceans known as krill, which are the only food of Adelie penguins. Without pack ice in their spawning grounds, the entire generation of new krill dies and the only krill alive are those that survived from the last winter when there was pack ice.
With the pack ice forming less frequently, the krill have declined and penguin numbers have experienced sometimes sharp drops.
But Dr. Trivelpiece said the real problem was that ice had not formed in the krill spawning grounds now for six winters — about as long as most krill can live. Dr. Trivelpiece said that without a winter's ice soon, the last of the aging krill might never have the chance to reproduce before they expired, crashing the krill population and threatening even healthy populations of Adelies now living at the bottom of the world.
"We're really out on the wire right now," Dr. Trivelpiece said. "If we don't get ice this winter or next, the whole house of cards will come down."
But penguins do have a formidable weapon: their extreme cuteness. Money to protect them has flowed in from tourists as well as wealthy benefactors who want to help these tuxedoed charmers.
Mr. Darby said yellow-eyed penguins had been adopted as mascots of a New Zealand cheese made by Mainland Products Ltd., whose commercials had long featured an elderly fellow who walked with a bit of a waddle. He said the addition of a waddling yellow-eyed penguin to the ads had been a huge success; over the years the company has provided more than a million dollars for work to protect the species.
In other places, penguins are tourist attractions, providing public relations protection and fund-raising for the birds. At Punta Tombo, each year 50,000 tourists, mostly Argentines, come to see what Dr. Boersma calls the "penguin megatropolis" of thousands and thousands of Magellanic penguins.
This black and white spectacle of birds — known as jackass penguins because of their braying call — has become so beloved that researchers say proposals in the 1980's to harvest the penguin skins to make gloves would never be considered today.
In Australia, a daily "penguin parade" of what can be hundreds or thousands of birds known as little penguins regularly draws paying tourists providing a source of income that has financed much research on managing the population. Tourists gather to watch the masses of petite penguins toddle out each morning to forage at sea and then return each evening to march back to their burrows.
"These are the most fantastic natural history spectacles," Dr. Boersma said. "I haven't met a person yet who didn't love penguins."
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/26/science/26PENG.html
6/26/01
6:13:59 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
PULP FRICTION
Cheap paper made from rampant logging of the Indonesian rainforest is flooding Britain. Public agencies are among the big users of the paper, despite calls by the government to use products only from sustainable sources. Asia Pulp and Paper, Indonesia's biggest paper producer, receives significant backing from British banks. About 70 percent of Indonesia's forests have been cut down, even though they are home to 12 percent of the world's mammal species and almost 20 percent of bird species.
straight to the source: London Guardian, Paul Brown, Steven Morris, and John Aglionby, 26 Jun 2001 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/paper/story/0,10581,512632,00.html>
POWER, BUT NOT MERCURY, TO THE PEOPLE
Wisconsin is moving to become the first state to force electric utilities to cut their mercury emissions. This week, the state Natural Resources Board is expected to approve for public comment a set of rules that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants by 90 percent over the next 15 years. The rules are aimed at 13 coal-burning plants owned by four large utilities.
straight to the source: Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, Jo Sandin, 23 Jun 2001 <http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/jun01/merc24062301a.asp>
I'D LIKE TO BE UNDER THE SEA ... FOREVER
Whoopie! -- you can now plan to have your cremated ashes sunk in the ocean as part of an eco-friendly artificial reef. A Georgia company, Eternal Reefs, is promoting the reefs as the "only death care option that is truly an environmental contribution and also creates a permanent, living memorial for the deceased and their families." The company mixes the ashes into concrete specially designed to last in seawater. It has sunk about 60 of the memorial reefs, mostly off the coast of Florida, and it hopes soon to be able to offer its customers the option of spending eternity in the Pacific.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, John-Thor Dahlburg, 25 Jun 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010625/t000052555.html>
FALLING TIMBER
Logging on federal land in the Northwest has dropped to its lowest point since before World War II, the result of lawsuits, court orders, and agency delays. This year, forest managers in western Oregon, Washington, and Northern California will offer about 1 percent of the timber volume they sold in 1990, the last year of the region's logging boom. The Northwest Forest Plan, brokered by the Clinton administration in 1994, calls for the U.S. Forest Service to offer 600 million board feet of timber a year; last year, though, it offered 62 million board feet, and so far this year, it has offered 22 million board feet. Enviros say the drop is the legacy of years of overcutting in the Northwest. The timber industry wants the Bush administration to open more areas to logging.
do good: Take action to end commercial logging in national forests <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/forests.stm#national>
TUXEDO DISFUNCTION
Penguin populations are declining around the world, and global warming may be to blame, researchers say. Warming ocean waters have been linked to toxic algal blooms, such as red tides, that have caused penguin die-offs. Adelie penguins may be taking a hit because warming temperatures are preventing the formation of winter sea ice that is essential to the life cycle of krill, a crustacean that is the penguins' only source of food. Overfishing and oil spills are also causing big problems for the birds. Ten of the world's 17 penguin species are already listed as threatened or endangered.
straight to the source: New York Times, Carol Kaesuk Yoon, 26 Jun 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/26/science/26PENG.html>
DONOR NOBIS PACEM
Despite a request from the watchdog agency of Congress, Vice President Dick Cheney has declined to identify the people who met privately with his energy task force. Some Democrats believe that leading Republican donors had special access to the task force and that the Bush administration energy policy is slanted to favor major corporations. They have asked the General Accounting Office to investigate. In the face of White House stonewalling, the GAO said it would issue a more formal request for information about the task force meetings.
straight to the source: USA Today, Jonathan Weisman, 26 Jun 2001 <http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010626/3431509s.htm>
Also in GRIST MAGAZINE today:
Is my good thing better than your good thing? -- a day in the life of Wood Turner, GoodThings.com <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/turner062501.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>
Mississippi delta blues -- pollution is flushing marine life down the drain -- by David Helvarg <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books052401.stm?source=daily>
6/26/01
5:38:35 PM
China Is Aggressively Reducing Its Carbon Dioxide Emissions
by Barbara Finamore, Qian Jingjing and Robert Watson
In statements of his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, President George W. Bush has frequently singled out China for special attention, saying it would be unfair for the United States to agree to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions while China does nothing to reduce its own. This June 2001 NRDC analysis shows that there is good basis to argue that in fact over the last decade China has done more than the United States to combat global warming. By Barbara Finamore, director of NRDC's China clean energy project; Qian Jingjing, environmental consultant; and Robert Watson, NRDC senior scientist.
Conventional wisdom holds that China's greenhouse gas emissions are growing rampantly and that the country soon will overtake the United States as the world's largest contributor to climate change. The facts, however, show otherwise. According to analyses by the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, China's emissions of carbon dioxide -- the main contributor to global warming --have declined 17 percent since 1997, despite economic growth of 36 percent over the same time period. China has achieved these impressive results principally by restructuring its economy, switching to cleaner energy sources, and improving energy efficiency. By 2020, China's CO2 emissions are projected to be lower than U.S. emission levels in 1990.
In statements of his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, President George W. Bush has frequently singled out China for special attention. "The world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases is China," he said in a speech on June 11. "Yet, China was entirely exempted from the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol." The president argues that it would be unfair for the United States to agree to reduce its emissions while China does nothing to curb its own emissions.
While it is true that only developed countries would be subject to binding emission targets in the Kyoto Protocol's first emission control period (2008 to 2012), it is wrong for the Bush administration to imply that China is doing nothing to reduce its emissions. There is good basis to argue that China has done more to combat climate change over the past decade than has the United States.
Want to know more…
Global Warming: In Depth: Analysis
http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/achinagg.asp
6/26/01
4:45:26 PM
Greenhouse Gases Building Quickly
Scientists who once disagreed about the amount of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is emitted by the United States have now reconciled their differences. The exact amount is important because it is a measure of how much the country contributes to global warming.
Emissions of six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, are limited by the Kyoto climate protocol because they trap the Sun's rays, warming the Earth's climate. Although President George W. Bush has abandoned the international climate agreement, America's impact on the changing global climate will still be judged according to the amount of carbon dioxide the country emits.
With four percent of the world's population, the United States emits about 25 percent of the world's carbon dioxide. The heat trapping greenhouse gas is produced by the burning of coal, oil and gas, and absorbed by plants that take up carbon dioxide to use in growth and release oxygen into the atmosphere.
In a new analysis, an international consortium of scientists led by Princeton University predicts that greenhouse gases will build up quickly at the same time as the uptake of carbon dioxide slows down. "The greenhouse problem is going to get worse faster than we expected," said the study's lead author Princeton professor Stephen Pacala.
The analysis shows that the continental United States is currently absorbing one-third to two-thirds of a billion metric tons of carbon per year.
Trees and shrubs in the United States, now recovering from past clearing, are drawing great volumes of carbon dioxide from the air and using the carbon to build tree trunks, branches and foliage. The suppression of natural forest fires is also causing an increase in vegetation, the research group said in its report.
By comparison, in 1998 another Princeton led group published a paper using atmospheric data to estimate that southern Canada, the 48 states and Mexico collectively absorb 1.4 billion tons of carbon per year. That conclusion triggered strong criticism from scientists who believed it was an inflated figure.
The new study reconciles previous differences by including 27 different atmospheric methods and by performing an exhaustive land based analysis.
The scientists also took care to base their calculations on the same time period and the same geographic region, focusing exclusively on the 48 states in the years 1980 to 1989.
Through this process, the researchers found that the atmosphere and land based assessments actually agree with each other, within the margins of uncertainty of each method.
The final answer of one-third to two-thirds of a billion tons per year is lower than the controversial 1998 result, but higher than all earlier land based estimates and some previous atmospheric estimates.
Despite the large U.S. carbon sink, Americans still pump a tremendous amount of carbon into the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels in the United States releases about 1.4 billion tons of carbon each year.
The uptake of carbon dioxide by plants is known to climate researchers as a carbon sink. Taking into account the U.S. carbon sink, 800 million to 1.1 billion tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide accumulate in the atmosphere each year.
The new analysis eliminates the possibility that the U.S carbon sink is big enough to equal the U.S. fossil fuel release, as some had speculated following the 1998 study.
Pacala emphasized that the carbon sink should not be seen as offsetting the U.S. carbon emissions from fossil fuels, and should not be viewed as a license to release more carbon. A large part of the sink is the result of the land taking back enormous quantities of carbon that were released due to heavy farming and logging in the 19th and early 20th centuries, he says.
"When we chopped down the forests, we released carbon trapped in the trees into the atmosphere. When we plowed up the prairies, we released carbon from the grasslands and soils into the atmosphere," said Pacala, who is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "Now the ecosystem is taking some of that back."
The sink will disappear over the next 50 to 100 years as U.S. ecosystems complete their recovery from past land use, Pacala said. "The carbon sinks are going to decrease at the same time as our fossil fuel emissions increase," Pacala said. "The greenhouse problem is going to get worse faster than we expected."
Source: http://www.enn.com
6/26/01
4:27:48 PM
Rainforests Hit By Paper Trail To UK
by Paul Brown, Steven Morris and John Aglionby -- The Guardian
Cheap paper made from cutting down Indonesian rainforest, an industry which is endangering some of the world's rarest animals, is flooding into Britain, a Guardian investigation has revealed.
Public bodies are among those using the paper produced by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), despite government calls that only products from sustainable sources should be used.
It has also emerged that APP, Indonesia's biggest pulp and paper producer, and some of its subsidiaries have received considerable financial backing from British banks, including NatWest.
Conservationists say Indonesia is heading for an environmental disaster. It is esti mated the country has lost more than 70% of its forests. A report by the World Bank has warned that 2m hectares - an area the size of Belgium - is being cut down every year and there are fears that by 2020 all of Indonesia's forests could have been destroyed.
The forests are home to 12% of the world's mammal species and almost a fifth of bird species. Unless the destruction is halted, species including the Sumatran rhinoceros, Sumatran tiger and orang-utan could become extinct.
Yet the amount of paper arriving in Britain from Indonesia has increased rapidly. In the late 90s, imports of Indonesian paper rose from 10,000 tonnes a year to 85,000 tonnes.
Last year the G8 leaders endorsed the principle of only using timber from sustainable sources. Environment minister Michael Meacher said Britain would be the first country to insist that government departments and agencies buy timber products (including paper) from sustainable and legal sources.
The government's central procurement agency now says that as much paper as possible comes from recycled sources. But Whitehall has no method of discovering where the timber and paper it uses originates.
There is nothing to stop schools, hospitals and local authorities buying products from APP. The Guardian has spoken to schools which taught pupils the importance of the environment while purchasing paper which could be traced back to APP.
In Britain APP paper is sold either under the names APP or Sinar, or repackaged by paper merchants and sold under their brand names. This paper is distributed through buying groups and suppliers. By the time most customers get their paper it has passed through so many middlemen that they cannot be sure of its origins.
Friends of the Earth produced a report in which it names crucial investors - such as NatWest - whom it wants to pressurise APP to change the way it operates.
Ed Matthew, of the FoE, said: "Huge growth in wood pulp and paper production, fuelled by international investment, has caused destruction of some of the most precious forests on earth."
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/paper/story/0,10581,512632,00.html
6/26/01
1:41:29 PM
Public Citizen
Comprehensive Analysis of NAFTA's 7-year Record Documents Bitter Harvest of Broke Farmers and Higher Consumer Food Prices
Farm Leaders Point to New Report's Findings to Highlight Causes of Growing Rural Opposition to Fast Track and Efforts to Expand NAFTA
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Farm incomes plummeted and bankruptcies escalated in the U.S., Canada and Mexico - while U.S. food prices increased 20 percent - during the first seven years of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA,) according to a new study issued Tuesday by Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.
The study found that contrary to promises and predictions at the time of NAFTA's 1993 passage, North America's farmers and consumers have not benefited from the pact - but many large agribusinesses have seen record profits during the period.
A conservative Democratic Congressman from a farm district in Minnesota and U.S. farm organization leaders joined Public Citizen today for the release of the new report: "Down on the Farm: NAFTA's Seven-Years War on Farmers and Ranchers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico." The 70-page study is the most comprehensive review of NAFTA's agricultural outcomes. It comes as President Bush launches an effort to persuade Congress to provide to him a broad delegation of Congress' constitutional trade authority through a procedure called Fast Track. Bush seeks Fast Track authority to expand NAFTA to an additional 31 nations through a proposed agreement called the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The study provides a substantive context for the escalating political opposition to Fast Track and NAFTA expansion in the agricultural sector.
On Friday, House Agriculture Committee Chair Larry Combest (R-Texas) withdrew his co-sponsorship of the GOP's Fast Track bill after the Bush administration listed as potential trade irritants some of the U.S. farm bailout payments used to counter falling commodity prices and the declining U.S. agriculture trade balance.
"In the past year, we noticed that wheat, soy, beef and other producers who had been a base of support for trade deals really starting to complain about how badly things were going since NAFTA," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "We understand why farmer are so upset, because nearly every U.S. commodity has faced a flood of new NAFTA imports swamping modest export gains, and prices have tanked."
During debate over NAFTA, farmers were promised that new export opportunities to Canada and Mexico would stabilize and reinvigorate the economics of farm life. The reality has been quite different. Independent farmers have seen commodity prices plummet and critical domestic safety nets dismantled in the name of implementing NAFTA and other export-oriented farm policies. For the past seven years, wheat farmers in the Midwestern and Plains states; ranchers in Montana, Texas and other states; flower and fruit growers in California; lumber mill and timber workers in Louisiana, Arkansas and Washington; vegetable growers in Florida and California; chicken farmers nationwide; and others have suffered declining farm income while a flood of NAFTA imports outpaced U.S. exports to Canada and Mexico.
Yet it was not farmers in Mexico or Canada who benefited from the woes of U.S. farmers. Up to 15 million campesinos (peasant farmers) throughout Mexico have lost a significant source of income and are threatened with losing their small corn farms.
Among the report's findings:
* During NAFTA, the rate of elimination of small U.S. farms with sales under $100,000 was six times greater than in the preceding five-year period.
* U.S. farm income is projected to decline 9 percent between 2000 and 2001 - from $45.4 billion to $41.3 billion - compared to annual farm income of $59 billion before NAFTA.
* While the U.S. agricultural trade surplus with Canada and Mexico grew by $203 million between 1991 and 1994, it fell by $1.5 billion since NAFTA.
* Instead of reaping special trade advantages with Mexico and Canada, under seven years of NAFTA, the U.S. agriculture trade balance with the NAFTA countries declined more rapidly - 71 percent - than the U.S.-world agriculture trade surplus, which suffered a 29.6 percent decline.
* Promises of new NAFTA export markets for U.S. farm products have proved to be as elusive as NAFTA proponents' promises of new U.S. manufacturing jobs created by exports to Mexico. Between the 1994-95 growing season and the 1999-2000 season:
- U.S. corn export volume fell by 11 percent and prices fell by 20 percent.
- the volume of wheat exports declined by 8 percent and prices dropped 28 percent.
- the volume of cotton exports fell by 28 percent and prices plunged 38 percent.
- during the same period, even though the volume of soybean exports increased 16 percent, the total U.S. soybean crop value still declined by 2 percent because the per-bushel price fell by 15 percent.
* In Canada, falling commodity prices meant that net farm incomes declined 19 percent between 1989 and 1999, even though Canadian farm exports doubled.
* In Mexico, crashing commodity prices caused by a flood of imports and the elimination of domestic farm programs have resulted in a massive transfer of land from small farmers to large multinational corporations.
* Meanwhile, as farmers and consumers suffered, some giant agribusiness and food companies made out like bandits, according to the report. During NAFTA's seven years, Archer Daniels Midland's profits nearly tripled - from $110 million to $301 million and ConAgra's profits grew from $143 million to $413 million.
"Given the track record of the NAFTA model for farmers and consumers in the three NAFTA countries, it is not surprising that farmers nationwide are increasingly opposed to the notion of expanding NAFTA through the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "As bad as NAFTA's seven years has been in the United States, the results for poverty-stricken Mexican farmers and consumers is horrific and puts to rest that myth that these trade deals benefit people in developing countries."
Public Citizen is a consumer advocacy group with 150,000 members nationwide.
The report can be read on the Web at www.tradewatch.org.
For more information about Public Citizen, please visit www.citizen.org.
6/26/01
1:37:25 PM
PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY
People For the American Way organizes and mobilizes Americans to fight for fairness, justice, civil rights and the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. PFAW monitors the Religious Right at the local, state and national levels, lobbies for progressive legislation, and helps build communities of activists.
To join our email Activist Network, please go to:
6/26/01
1:32:21 PM
ACTION: Call your senators and urge them to OPPOSE changing the Senate rules for consideration of nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court.
ACTION PLAN: Senate Republicans are demanding a radical change in the Senate rules -- a change that would weaken the role of the Judiciary Committee in the consideration of Supreme Court nominees. This change would allow the Bush administration to get Supreme Court nominees to the Senate floor even after a negative vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee and would encourage President Bush to select far-right nominees. DON'T LET THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT SHORT-CIRCUIT THE PROCESS THAT HAS GUARDED YOUR FREEDOMS FOR TWO CENTURIES!
Call your senators TODAY and tell them to OPPOSE any rules resolution that limits the Senate Judiciary Committee's ability to evaluate potential Supreme Court justices!
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR COMPLETE CONTACT INFORMATION:
http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index_by_state.cfm
6/26/01
1:26:56 PM
Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) Launches $150 Million Fund to Better Protect Biodiversity Hotspots
Washington, D.C. - A new $150 million fund designed to better safeguard the world's threatened biological hotspots in developing countries was launched today as a joint initiative of Conservation International (CI), the World Bank, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The focuses primarily on biodiversity hotspots - highly threatened regions where some 60 percent of all terrestrial species diversity are found on only 1.4 percent of the planet's land surface.
The threat to species diversity is reflected in the mounting loss of forests and other plant and animal habitat worldwide. Eighty-eight percent of the original hotspots are already destroyed. Some 12 percent of all mammal species and 11 percent of all bird species are threatened with extinction.
"This is a new source of money exclusively for local groups whose work is central to protecting the biodiversity hotspots," said Peter A. Seligmann, CI Chairman and CEO. "The aim is to help agencies and communities to pull together more effectively and have a greater impact. Too often the many ongoing efforts in the hotspots fail to deliver because people don't know what others are doing or because crucial activities - often at the grassroots level - are not funded."
The Fund's administrative flexibility will ensure that conservation investments achieve maximum impact. And its streamlined process of decision-making will allow quick responses to new threats and for smaller-scale projects that are often extremely time-sensitive. The Fund provides quick and easy access to grant guidelines and application forms through the Internet, and applications can be submitted online, via www.cepf.net CI will oversee day to day management of the Fund with the World Bank and the GEF playing an oversight role alongside other sponsors.
"We have to move fast to create realistic alternatives for poor people if we are to relieve the growing pressures on the environment," said World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn. "The Fund will help us find solutions that allow poor people to have a better way of life while at the same time conserving the biodiversity on which their long-term survival depends."
The Fund will advance the global conservation agenda on several fronts, resulting in improved management of protected areas and coordination in biodiversity corridors. Investments will support projects such as training, transnational planning, local dialogue with extractive industries, conflict resolution, priority setting and consensus building, strengthening indigenous organizations, and facilitation of partnerships between the private sector and protected areas.
"The Fund is an important step in galvanizing the kind of local action that can produce tangible benefits from the global perspective," said Mohamed T. El-Ashry, GEF Chairman and CEO. "If we do things right, the multiplication of lessons learned and actions by individuals and communities can provide enormous returns for biodiversity conservation on a globally significant scale."
CI, the World Bank, and the GEF each plan to commit $25 million to the Fund during the next 5 years. The remaining $75 million will be sought from other donor agencies. The Fund's areas of focus during its first year of operations will be on the hotspot regions of Madagascar, West Africa, and the Tropical Andes. Each subsequent year, the Fund will invest in a minimum of five additional critical ecosystems.
"No single organization can do it alone. By creating strategic alliances among diverse groups, we will combine unique capacities and eliminate duplication of efforts," said Conservation International Vice President Jorgen Thomsen who will serve as the Executive Director of the CEPF. "The Fund maximizes the strengths of its three initial investors, building upon CI's strategic focus on the hotspots, the World Bank's dialogue with high level decision makers, and the GEF's extensive reach that includes the participation of governments and nongovernmental organizations in more than 165 member countries."
Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) http://www.cepf.net
A global nonprofit organization, Conservation International applies innovations in science, economics, policy, and community participation to protect the Earth's richest regions of plant and animal diversity in the biodiversity hotspots, the major tropical wilderness areas, and the key marine ecosystems. CI works in 32 countries on four continents. For more information about CI's programs, call Conservation International, Lisa Bowen 202 973.2204 or Dana Topousis 202 912.1532 or visit
The World Bank's mission is to help developing countries fight poverty and raise living standards in a sustainable way. In carrying out this mission, the Bank has become a major financier of biodiversity conservation. Over the last decade, it has developed a portfolio of conservation projects and programs worth some $2 billion. For more information about the World Bank's biodiversity programs, call Kristyn Ebro World Bank 202 458.2736 or visit
http://www.WorldBank.org/Biodiversity
The Global Environment Facility provides grants and concessional funding to developing countries and economies in transition for projects to protect the global environment. As the financial mechanism of the Convention on Biological Diversity, it is the principal international funder of biodiversity conservation. For more information about the GEF's programs, call Hutton Archer Global Environment Facility 202 458.7117 or visit
6/26/01
1:17:57 PM
Web Of Life Must Be Mended
By Margot Higgins
Repairing the world's ravaged ecosystems is an imperative for the 21st century, according to a report released Monday by a coalition of major environmental players.
Conducted by the World Resources Institute, the United Nations Development Programme, and the United Nations Environment Programme, the report assesses the health of the world's major ecosystems: forests, freshwater systems, coastal marine habitats, grasslands and agricultural landscapes.
Based on the Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems, the report underscores the obvious: Earth's capacity to sustain diverse life and support world economies is directly dependent on the health of major ecosystems.
"People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life," which took more than two years to complete, combines the work of 175 scientists around the world in a wide range of disciplines. While international collaborations have addressed ozone depletion and climate change, few have tackled Earth's biological systems.
"We wanted to lay the foundation for a more sophisticated management approach to the world's ecosystems," said Carol Rosen, editor of the report.
The report also sets the stage for a larger $20 million study, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which is scheduled to begin in 2001.
The idea behind the preliminary report is to identify areas where data is insufficient and to target areas that warrant special attention.
Despite the availability of satellite imaging, remote sensing and the Internet, current and comprehensive information about the health of the world's ecosystems is in short supply, the report said.
Policymakers need to understand how different ecosystems interact, explains Rosen. "There are no clear lines between ecosystems," she said.
Since 1970, global food production has doubled, but not without costs to various ecosystems. Fishing hauls are 40 percent larger than the oceans can sustain, the report concludes. Soil degradation has affected two-thirds of the world's agricultural lands in the past 50 years, and logging has cut the world's forests in half. Over the past century, the world's wetlands have been reduced by 50 percent.
"For too long in both rich and poor nations, development priorities have focused on how much humanity can take from our ecosystems, with little attention to the impact of our actions," said UNDP administrator Mark Malloch Brown.
"Our knowledge of ecosystems has increased dramatically, but it has simply not kept pace with our ability to alter them," said Klaus Töpfer, UNEP executive director. "We can continue blindly altering Earth's ecosystems, or we can learn to use them more sustainably."
The report recommends that decisions on land and resource use be made according to how these policies will affect the capacity of ecosystems to produce goods and services.
The full $4 million study will was published in September 2000. "The final report will include case studies to show what options people have," Rosen said.
6/26/01
12:03:54 PM
MORE BANG FOR THE BUCK
A University of Chicago professor has developed a new explosive said to be 20 percent more powerful than current explosives. U.S. Army researchers say the white powder could lead to a new generation of munitions, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.
Phil Eaton worked for two decades to synthesize the new compound, called octanitrocubane. It is a cube-shaped carbon molecule with explosive compounds attached to each corner. The American Chemical Society cited it as one of the most significant discoveries of 2000.
Eaton said the research did not progress without its more exciting moments. Two of his assistants attempting to take shortcuts touched off explosions. "Both of them just felt like idiots afterward," Eaton told The Tribune.
Eaton's research was funded by several million dollars from the Army and Navy. Army researchers said octanitrocubane may be 20 percent more powerful than HMX, the most powerful explosive currently in widespread use, allowing for lighter, more powerful weapons.
6/26/01
10:32:32 AM
MCPHERSON VALLEY GAINS PROTECTED WETLANDS
MCPHERSON, Kansas, June 25, 2001 (ENS) - The McPherson Valley Wetlands Project in Kansas has protected 2,770 acres of wetland habitat for migratory birds, and is on target to protect an eventual total of 5,000 acres.
Ducks Unlimited held a dedication ceremony Saturday to honor the partners who provided funding for the development of the McPherson Valley Wetlands Project, a critical area for migrating waterfowl and other wildlife near McPherson, Kansas.
Prior to drainage, the McPherson wetlands complex was an important resting and feeding stopover for spring and fall migrant birds. More than 200 bird species were documented on the area between 1909 and 1927.
"Today, fewer than 10 of the original 52 shallow marshes remain," said Julius Wall, chair of the Board of Ducks Unlimited. "Most of the area is farmed, although many tracts drain only partially or very slowly. In dry years, these sites are extensively farmed. In wet years (three out of five years), they hold enough water to provide quality habitat for waterfowl, shorebirds, and a variety of wildlife."
Over the past decade, conservation interests, lead by Ducks Unlimited, the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks, and the Kansas Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, have purchased 2,770 acres of the original wetland basins and restored 40 percent of the area into functioning marshes.
"Ecologically, these historic wetlands have been one of the most important landscapes in the state," said Alan Pollom, state director of the Kansas Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. "They provide a source of food and a resting place for migrating waterfowl and more than 112 species of birds, including rare species like the whooping crane, white-faced ibis, peregrine falcon, snowy plover, piping plover and the least tern."
Completed restoration already has helped increase the number of bird species using the area by 27 percent. Recent counts record at least 112 species of birds, including 17 species of dabbling and diving ducks. Several threatened or endangered species use the area, including the whooping crane, which in 1995, was recorded on the area for the first time in 100 years.
The long term goal of the project is to acquire 5,000 acres of wetlands and associated uplands and to restore the maximum number of acres possible.
6/26/01
10:22:37 AM
SCIENTISTS MONITOR GLOBAL AIR POLLUTION FROM SPACE
BOULDER, Colorado, June 25, 2001 (ENS) - A new Earth orbiting monitor is providing the most complete view assembled to date of the world's air pollution as it churns through the atmosphere, crossing continents and oceans.
Policy makers and scientists now have, for the first time, a way to identify the major sources of air pollution and to track where pollution travels year round and anywhere on Earth. The first observations will be released Wednesday at the American Geophysical Union's spring meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.
Launched in December 1999, MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere) tracks the air pollutant carbon monoxide from aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Terra spacecraft as it circles the Earth from pole to pole 16 times each day. Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder are blending the new data with output from a computer model of Earth's atmosphere to develop the world's first global maps of long term lower atmosphere pollution.
"With these new observations, we clearly see that air pollution is much more than a local problem. It's a global issue," said NCAR's John Gille, lead U.S. investigator.
Much human generated air pollution is produced from large fires and then travels great distances, affecting areas far from the source. The first set of MOPITT global observations, from March to December 2000, has captured extensive air pollution generated by forest fires in the western United States last summer.
"MOPITT information will help us improve our understanding of the linkages between air pollution and global environmental change, and it will likely play a pivotal role in the development of international environmental policy," added atmospheric chemist Daniel Jacob of Harvard University, who used MOPITT data this spring in a major field campaign to study air pollution from Asia.
6/26/01
10:08:01 AM
The Nation
Just over six months ago, the US Supreme Court essentially handed Election 2000 to George W. Bush with its decision in Bush v. Gore. Or as veteran political consultant and Institute for Policy Studies Fellow Steve Cobble puts it, the Court "stole an election in broad daylight."
Arguing that Bush v. Gore could be the worst Supreme Court decision in US history, Cobble reinforces his position with a collection of testimonials from a wide-range of scholars, lawyers, activists and authors, all attesting to the continuing illegitimacy of the 43rd president of the United States. Cobble concludes by setting forth a remedy -- or at least a course of action -- in the face of last year's judicial coup that we'd all do well to observe.
Read "Supreme Injustice" currently at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=cobble20010623
THE PRO-DEMOCRACY CONVENTION, JUNE 29 - JULY 1, 2001 PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER, PHILADELPHIA
Another way to help is to attend this weekend's Pro-Democracy Convention in Philadelphia. Staged by the Center for Constutional Rights in conjunction with numerous other groups, including The Nation Institute and IPS, the conference is intended to galvanize the disparate and disaffected constituencies and movements that were outraged by last year's flawed election. With an impressive array of speakers and a series of activist workshops, this weekend should be an important step toward building the movement for true democracy in the US.
To register or for more information, write jlstern@ccr-ny.org, contact the Center for Constitutional Rights at 212.614.6452 or go to:
MAKING EVERY VOTE COUNT
In order to encourage the incipient movement for electoral reform, The Nation has teamed up with the Institute for Policy Studies to create a broad-based activist website. The idea is to provide a clearinghouse for information, a resource for education and a springboard for action. You'll find essays, reports, investigative articles, legal briefs, legislative updates, activist resources and an events calendar - even a Voters Bill of Rights. So check it out at:
http://www.ips-dc.org/electoral
THE BETRAYAL OF AMERICA
One of the most powerful voices making the case against Bush v. Gore was a legendary prosecutor, previously known more for putting people behind bars than for progressive activism. But Vincent Bugliosi's explosive article "None Dare Call It Treason," published in the February 5, 2001 issue of The Nation, drew the largest outpouring of letters and e-mail in the magazine's 136-year history, tapping a deep reservoir of outrage.
The original essay has been turned into a best-selling paperback, with updates, amplifications and introductory essays by famed attorney Gerry Spence and columnist Molly Ivins. Published by Nation Books, "The Betrayal of America" is very reasonably priced at $9.95. So buy a copy (or two or ten) today. They make great gifts. Order online and read reviews via The Nation Books site at:
6/26/01
10:05:17 AM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
U.S. MILITARY UNDER ATTACK ON ENVIRONMENTAL GROUNDS
LEWISTON, Maine, June 25, 2001 (ENS) - A coalition of citizens organizations is challenging the U.S. Armed Forces, alleging that the health and safety of communities across the country is under assault from past and current polluting military operations.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-25-03.html
IN YOUR FACE, OUT OF OUR GENES: THE BATTLE OF SAN DIEGO
SAN DIEGO, California, June 25, 2001 (ENS) - A day of reckoning has come for biotechnology. As anti-biotech protesters confronted police to make their views known in the streets outside the San Diego Convention Center, inside Carl Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, welcomed some 12,000 delegates to the annual meeting with an address entitled Keeping the Faith.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-25-04.html
KLAMATH BASIN DROUGHT THREATENS FISH, FARMERS
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, June 25, 2001 (ENS) - U.S. Senate efforts to pass a supplemental appropriations bill before the July 4th break could be stymied by the battle over scarce water in the Pacific Northwest. Farmers in the Klamath Basin are facing a year with no water for irrigation, as all available water has been diverted to protect endangered suckerfish, and the region's lawmakers are threatening to block emergency spending unless the water is restored.
For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-25-06.html
U.S. AIR POLLUTION POLICY UP FOR REVIEW
WASHINGTON, DC, June 25, 2001 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is asking for public comment on potential revisions to a rule that requires power plants to install the best pollution control technology available. The review is part of a Bush administration effort to cut the costs of power generation and reduce the burden of environmental regulations on businesses.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-25-07.html
FIFTY DEAD IN PERUVIAN EARTHQUAKE
LIMA, Peru, June 24, 2001 (ENS) - At least 50 people were killed and about 500 injured in a strong earthquake that shook southern Peru and northern Chile Saturday.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-24-01.html
TURKS PROTEST NUCLEAR SHIPMENTS IN NARROW BOSPHORUS STRAIT
ISTANBUL, Turkey, June 25, 2001 (ENS) - With klaxons blaring and the smoke from dozens of distress flares billowing in the sea breeze, Turkish environmentalists marked the end of a week of protest Sunday, with a flotilla of small boats surrounding tankers in the waters off Istanbul.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-25-01.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JUNE 25, 2001
Scientists Monitor Global Air Pollution From Space
EPA Offers Flexibility in Meeting Smog Standards
Engineers Develop Technology to Reduce Industry Emissions
Fish Consumption Advisories On the Rise
PCBs Impact Hudson River Fishing
Whitman Signs Proposal to Improve Visibility in National Parks
Journalist Stossel Criticized for a Second Environmental Story
Irrigation Upgrades Benefit Farmers, Fish
McPherson Valley Gains Protected Wetlands
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-25-09.html
6/26/01
10:02:04 AM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Few firm answers expected from fuel economy panel - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11318
Sears unveils top-end washer that uses less energy - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11320
Recycled uranium spread wider than thought - USA Today - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11322
Fresh look at wind energy blows to US from Europe - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11324
Pollution site victims fight for compensation - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11325
UK nuke group BNFL faces contract delays - report - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11321
ANALYSIS - Funds develop a taste for clean green energy - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11328
UPDATE - UK announces energy review, including nuclear - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11329
Raincoats to keep Thailand's rubber trees dry - THAILAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11317
Sri Lanka to suspend GM food ban at WTO's behest - SRI LANKA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11330
UPDATE - Philippine volcano danger lingers, villagers return - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11323
Green groups say seed patents menace food security - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11327
Ethiopia slams industry inaction on old pesticides - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11331
German govt, industry sign CHP-subsidising deal - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11326
NSW Australia eyes vegetable oil for fuel - minister - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11319
6/25/01
11:02:43 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
UPDATE - Federal judge halts oil, gas exploration off Calif - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11299
Longtime naysayer Harkin lists US farm law plans - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11314
UPDATE - EPA plans clean air rule to protect park vistas - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11302
US judge okays sedative for whale rescue mission - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11303
More US regulations needed to prevent mad cow - US panel - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11304
UPDATE - French power bills to rise on high wind prices - CRE - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11313
Europe trades cleaner fuels ahead of German tax break - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11310
Rhinos break records at South Africa wildlife sale - SOUTH AFRICA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11300
INTERVIEW - Norwegian Sea may be safe dumping ground for CO2 - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11306
Oslo says to meet Kyoto goals with new technology - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11308
UPDATE - Japan's snack recalls exacerbate biotech fuss - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11311
Japan should sign Kyoto treaty without US - WWF - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11312
UN to seek agreement on access to seed banks - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11316
Iran rations water to Tehran amid severe drought - IRAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11315
India suggests more trials on transgenic cotton - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11309
EU drafts ambitious climate emissions trade plan - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11301
EU chief slams Boeing over gas-guzzling new jet - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11307
Little environmental risk from oil spill - Cameroon - CAMEROON http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11305
One dead, four missing in Brazil landslide - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11298
6/25/01
11:01:10 PM
FAIR
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
ACTION ALERT: The FCC, Radio & Censorship: Defining Decency
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently fined a community radio station for airing a political rap song that attacks sexual exploitation and degrading lyrics in popular music.
On May 17, the FCC issued a $7,000 fine to Portland, Oregon's KBOO, a listener-sponsored station, charging that Sarah Jones' "Your Revolution" violated the Commission's decency standards, which were revised in April. The song, which challenges the sexualization of women in rap, asserts that "your revolution will not happen between these thighs."
The FCC ruled that "Your Revolution" contained "unmistakable patently offensive sexual references" that "appear to be designed to pander and shock." This ruling came after the FCC issued an order, nearly seven years in the making, to "provide guidance to broadcast licensees regarding compliance with the Commission's indecency regulations."
The FCC's indecency rules define indecent speech as "language that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities or organs."
Far from clarifying the FCC guidelines, the Jones case reveals how unqualified the FCC is to determine the bounds of decency. Much of what might be considered "indecent" in the song are references to the sexism in the songs Jones is criticizing.
The Jones case received less attention than the FCC's June 1 decision to impose a fine-- also $7,000-- on commercial radio station KKMG in Colorado Springs, Colorado for airing an edited version of "The Real Slim Shady," a song by rap artist Eminem. The FCC determined that the song violated its indecency standards, despite the fact that expletives had been bleeped out or removed. Ironically, "The Real Slim Shady" also includes an anti-censorship message, pointing out what Eminem sees as double standards about what kinds of speech are considered acceptable in popular culture.
The FCC's new "get tough" policy stands in sharp contrast to Powell's earlier statements about indecency. As Salon pointed out (6/13/01), Powell expressed skepticism about taking action on decency at his first press conference as FCC chair: "I don't want the government as my nanny. I still have never understood why something as simple as turning it off is not part of the answer." His changed may be due to pressure from conservative groups. ''This is probably a result of pressure from this organization," Morality in Media's Paul McGeady said of the Eminem decision (Village Voice, 6/19/01).
While cracking down on "indecency," the FCC's interest in regulating corporate control of the public airwaves seems to be at an all-time low. FCC Chair Michael Powell has advocated a deregulatory strategy that would likely remove the remaining legal limits on media consolidation.
By penalizing KBOO, the government is punishing an attempt to respond to offensive speech with more speech. Sarah Jones' critique is likely to be a more effective response than censorship to the cultural violence and misogyny represented by Eminem-- but if the FCC fails to uphold its mandate of maintaining a diversity of voices on the public airwaves, there will be fewer and fewer places where such a critique is likely to be heard. ACTION: Please contact the Federal Communications Commission about its attempts to define "decency" for the public. You might encourage the FCC to focus its attention on media consolidation instead, which has a much broader and more lasting impact on the content of the nation's airwaves.
CONTACT:
Michael Powell, FCC Chair
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St. S.W. Washington, DC 20554
Phone: 1-888-225-5322
Fax: 1-202-418-0232
For more background on the Jones case, please read:
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0125/lee.shtml
6/25/01
10:53:50 PM
Major US Magazine Takes On UFO Story
USA - The May, 2001 issue of "Popular Mechanics" contains the provocative lead story "When UFOs Land," which talks about the investigations by Peter Sturrock and others of physical evidence from UFO landing sites - evidence that has been suppressed and ignored by the media. Sturrock was on Dreamland last year to talk about his book "The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence."
In 1997, Laurance Rockefeller, who has long been interested in UFOs and other scientific enigma, asked Peter Sturrock, the former director of the Center for Space Science and Astrophysics at Stanford University, to convene a meeting of a dozen top scientists to discuss UFO evidence. Researchers from places such as Princeton, MIT, Stanford and the Center for Space Research in France focused their attention on cases where physical traces were left behind. "While their findings were not conclusive, Rockefeller said, "I hope they will raise the level of the debate."
"Ask most scientists what they think of the UFO enigma and you will almost certainly get a scoff and a brush-off like, 'There's not one shred of evidence,'" says astronomer Bernard Haisch. "That answer is simply not true. The problem is that this evidence does not follow our expected scientific logic, and so scientists dismiss what is, in fact, a huge number of accounts. Many sighting reports, as absurd as they sometimes appear, are probably real. Most professional scientists never bother to look at the evidence. Instead, the dogmatic dismissals by professional debunkers, which are often patently ridiculous, are simply taken at face value."
Three of the cases are reviewed in the article. In one, a UFO exploded after hitting the water near a town in Brazil in 1957 and left behind metallic debris composed of an extremely high grade of magnesium. It is now suspected that the craft was a classified U.S. military plane that used magnesium as part of its fuel source. When the material was sent to the Air Force for analysis, it was "accidentally" destroyed.
The other 2 cases have no conventional explanation. One, which took place in 1992, concerns a UFO sighting by a Florida policeman that made his cruiser stop dead. "The scientific panel was very impressed by cases in which electrical equipment was disrupted," said Michael D. Swords of Western Michigan University.
In another case, which took place in Trans-En-Provence in France in 1981, a hovering UFO left circular marks behind on the ground. The French UFO organization GEPAN removed soil from the area and found it had been contaminated with traces of metal, while the surrounding vegetation was damaged.
In 1977, a UFO ejected 40 pounds of molten, red-orange metal onto the ground in Iowa. After the metal cooled, samples were collected by local astronomer Robert Allen, who sent them to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and to the Ames Laboratory at Iowa State University. Wright- Patterson would not publicize its findings, but stated that "reentering spacecraft debris does not impact the earth's surface in a molten state." Ames Laboratory director Robert S. Hansen said it was not a meteor impact.
Former Lockheed scientist Bernard Haisch, who was on the Rockefeller panel, says, "We need to be skeptical of both the believers and the scoffers." He has created the website <http://www.ufoskeptic.org> to encourage mainstream scientists to reconsider UFO evidence. "UFO sightings are not limited to farmers in backward rural areas," he says. "There are astronomers and pilots and NASA engineers who have witnessed events for which there is no plausible conventional explanation."
Source: Unknown Country News:
http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=451
6/25/01
10:52:06 PM
Hospital Humanization Gains Momentum
USA - Imagine a hospital room with home-like decor, low noise levels, free nutritional guidance, where nurses give massages, and where patients have uninterrupted sleep schedules. A vision of medical utopia? No, a "Planetree" hospital.
The driving force behind the Planetree's model is Angelica Thieriot, who was hospitalized in San Francisco for a mysterious viral ailment. She was assigned to a bare room with only a bed, a metal chair, and a view of a cement wall. The staff, she recalls, 'ignored me, except to come in and draw blood, and it was never the same person coming into the room.' After recovery, she began to look for ways to change the hospital experience and formed the Planetree organization."
Planetree's aim is to create healthcare environments that support and nurture healing on all levels - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Planetree encourages consumers to become active participants in decisions relating to their treatment and care. Planetree hospital affiliates report increased patient, nurse, and physician satisfaction, decreased nurse turnover rates, decreased post-operative infections, and an increase in the number of patients making lifestyle changes conducive to health and wellness. Specific programs include the care partner program, in-depth medical information packets, architecture designed for optimal healing, arts programs, massage, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and healing gardens.
Planetree programs encourage and support:
- a healthcare environment that optimizes wellness through nutrition and stress management, and that also integrates a wide range of healing options for the body, mind, and spirit;
- environments which allow medical facility staff members to be nurturers as well as caretakers, educators, and human beings;
- community-based Health Resource Centers that provide consumers with access to books, articles, videotapes, support networks, research services, and educational programs on a wide range of health and medical topics.
Since its founding in 1978, Planetree has swept through more than 20 hospitals across the country, transforming units-and entire hospitals-from impersonal depots for the sick into humanistic healing centers. Certainly many conventional hospitals contain some of these Planetree elements, but Planetree units bring these warmer qualities together as never before.
With all the advances of modern medicine, the Planetree movement may be the biggest breakthrough of the decade in hospital care. And it's ironic because many of the principles Planetree is based upon-nurturing, compassion, family support-go back hundreds, and even thousands, of years.
In fact, Planetree gets its name from the sycamore tree, or plane tree. It was 2,500 years ago when Hippocrates-under a plane tree and surrounded by fountains, artwork, poetry and music-taught his students that treating patients demanded attention to body, mind and environment.
For further information, contact: Mara Wade, Planetree, 621 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94111. USA email: marawade@aol.com).
http://www.planetree.org/pat_welcome.html
6/25/01
10:48:47 PM
Study Flags Radioactive Threat
by Peter Eisler, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Thousands more people than anticipated face health and pollution threats from plutonium and other highly radioactive elements that fouled vast amounts of uranium recycled by the U.S. nuclear weapons program over the past 50 years. Recycled uranium was shipped worldwide from 1952 until 1999, when distribution was halted by revelations of its contamination.
Now, new federal studies reviewed by USA TODAY show that the program yielded 250,000 tons of tainted uranium — roughly double the estimates of two years ago. The material was handled at about 10 times the number of sites revealed previously, reaching more than 100 federal plants, private manufacturers and universities.
The studies suggest that thousands more workers than expected might have unwittingly faced radiation risks beyond those associated with normal uranium, increasing their odds of developing cancer and other ailments. That places an unexpected burden on a soon-to-begin federal program to compensate sick nuclear weapons workers.
Contaminants from the tainted uranium also raise the potential for soil and groundwater pollution at some of the newly recognized processing sites. That threatens to complicate cleanup plans.
Most recycled uranium went back into nuclear weapons production or was used as fuel for power reactors. But thousands of tons also were used in everything from academic research to the making of armor for Army battle tanks.
The vast majority of the material contained only traces of impurities — too little, scientists say, to pose risks beyond those posed by natural uranium, which is mildly radioactive and raises health hazards if inhaled as dust. But some plants handled recycled uranium in ways that concentrated its contaminants, significantly boosting its hazards.
"This stuff circulated much more widely than we'd thought," says Robert Alvarez, an official at the Department of Energy when it launched the new studies in 1999.
"The problem is, they really don't have reasonable estimates of how much (contamination) was in a lot of this recycled uranium," adds Alvarez, now a scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies. "It could range from very tiny amounts to relatively high levels."
Federal researchers conclude in the new studies that contamination generally was "extremely low." But that finding masks problems.
The uranium's contaminants apparently were concentrated at a dozen or more previously unrecognized sites, raising pollution and worker health threats. But it's unclear which batches of uranium were most dangerous — or where they went — so not all high-risk sites are identifiable.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., says, "The government has a responsibility to follow up."
6/25/01
10:48:08 PM
Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
AYE, CLAUDIA
A federal judge effectively halted all oil and gas drilling off the California coast on Friday, ruling that state officials must first decide whether drilling would harm the environment. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland said the state has the right to approve any plans by the federal government to open waters off California to new oil exploration. California Gov. Gray Davis (D) and environmentalists celebrated the decision.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Gary Polakovic, 23 Jun 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010623/t000051918.html>
SONIC THE GAS-HOG
Boeing last week admitted that its new high-speed plane, the Sonic Cruiser, would burn more fuel than other airliners, but appeared to dismiss concerns about the plane's environmental impact. "There is plenty of fossil fuel still around," said Harry Stonecipher, the company's vice chair. He tried to poke fun at Boeing rival Airbus for jumping on the environmental "bandwagon" at the Paris Air Show. Airbus said its new plane, the A380 superjumbo, would carry at least 555 passengers and use 35 percent less fuel per passenger than the Sonic Cruiser, which may seat as few as 100 people. In a letter sent on Friday, the European Union's environment commissioner, Margot Wallstroem, lashed out at Stonecipher for his remarks.
straight to the source: London Times, Ben Webster, 19 Jun 2001 <http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001210095,00.html>
UNHEALTHY GLOW
Thousands more people than expected face health threats from plutonium and other highly radioactive isotopes that contaminated huge amounts of uranium recycled by the U.S. nuclear weapons program over the last 50 years. USA Today reports that federal data show that the recycling program yielded 250,000 tons of tainted uranium, about double the estimate of two years ago. The material was handled at 100 federal plants, private manufacturers, and universities -- about 10 times the number of sites previously revealed. The possibility that workers at those sites may face higher odds of cancer and other health problems could have significant implications for a soon-to-begin federal program to compensate sick nuclear weapons workers.
straight to the source: USA Today, Peter Eisler, 25 Jun 2001 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/poison/2001-06-25-hotnukes-lede.htm>
ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES
About 1,000 demonstrators, some dressed as ears of corn and others as tomatoes, held a protest yesterday in San Diego on the opening day of a biotechnology trade show. Shannon Service of Boulder, Colo., who was in a monarch butterfly costume, said, "The biotech industry is conducting a real-time experiment with our biosphere. They don't know the results, they can't possibly know the results." Organizers of the protest had hoped for several thousand participants. As many as 15,000 people are expected to attend the four-day trade show. Meanwhile, anti-biotech sentiment continues to grow in Japan, which has experienced three recalls in less than a month of snack foods containing unapproved genetically engineered potatoes.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Justin Gillis, 24 Jun 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38484-2001Jun23.html>
straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Jae Hur, 25 Jun 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11311>
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING COAL'S COURT
Connecticut Gov. John Rowland (R) on Friday vetoed the "Sooty Six" bill that would have forced the state's six oldest and least efficient power plants to cut emissions of sulfur dioxide. His decision came the day before the bill would have automatically become law. Rowland had said he would sign the bill, and Democrats and environmentalists said the veto indicated that the governor cared more about the plants' profits than the environment.
straight to the source: New York Times, Paul Zielbauer, 23 Jun 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/23/nyregion/23ROWL.html>
6/25/01
10:28:40 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
DEMISE OF WEB ZINES CONTINUES
by David Hudson, Telepolis
-- Feed and Suck, two pioneering Web zines that created consistently fresh and critical social commentary, have discovered that teaming with big-time corporations is no guarantee of survival. They ceased publication on June 8.
HORNETS USE MYSTERIOUS CRYSTALS
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
--"Like New Age gurus, at least one species of hornet appears to rely upon the power of crystals." What will those wacky insects think of next?
SARAFEM: THE PIMPING OF PROZAC FOR PMS
By Alicia Rebensdorf, Alternet
--Eli Lilly has come through again with a modern miracle drug -- launched with much fanfare and a major media blitz. Or has the pharmaceutical giant just added a new coat of paint and a lot of hype to an old standby?
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
6/25/01
10:23:00 PM
House Thwarts Bush's Anti-Environmental Agenda
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, June 22, 2001 (ENS) - As President George W. Bush touted his commitment to environmental protection, open space conservation and outdoor recreation in Alabama on Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives was defeating several of the president's anti-environmental proposals, including a plan to open national monuments and off shore areas to oil drilling.
President George W. Bush, shown here in a Michigan speech earlier this year, touted his support for the Land and Water Conservation Fund on Thursday (Photo by Eric Draper, courtesy The White House)
President Bush traveled to Oak Mountain State Park in Alabama to discuss his plans for the federal government to work as a better partner with states and local communities toward responsible environmental stewardship. The President called on Congress to enact his budget request for full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), and highlighted the importance of funding the program to help states and local communities to improve conservation, environmental protection and recreational opportunities.
"Thirty-six years ago the federal government undertook to assist parks just like this one," Bush said, referring to the creation of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which uses money from offshore oil and gas leases to fund land protection initiatives, particularly at the state level.
"But for a long period of time, the federal government has been falling short on its commitment to this fund, and many states have been denied money that was promised the citizens," Bush continued. "In outlining my budget priorities this year, I proposed fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund: $900 million will fully fund the fund. It's the highest request in the fund's history, and half of the money will go to the states, just like the authors of the law intended."
Full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund was one of Bush's campaign promises. His support for the program, which gives states significant latitude in how to spend the funds, meshes with the President's preference for state rather than federal oversight of environmental protections.
Representative Joe Scarborough, a Florida Republican, cosponsored an amendment to stop proposed oil and gas leasing off the Florida coast. His cosponsor was Florida Democrat Jim Davis.
Bush also ran on a platform of keeping federal lands open to resource extraction: logging, mining, and energy exploration. The president's public lands policy is in direct contrast to that of the previous administration, which set aside more federal land as permanently protected monuments, parks and wilderness areas than any president since Theodore Roosevelt.
Bush wanted to reopen some of those protected areas to oil and gas drilling and coal mining, citing ongoing energy shortages in California as evidence that the nation needed to develop new energy sources.
Now, it appears the president may not get his wish.
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Interior appropriations bill for fiscal year 2002 (HR 2217), including three pro-environment riders aimed at protecting public lands and waters from energy development.
One amendment would delay oil and gas leasing off the Florida coastline. The controversial leasing program has long been opposed by the state of Florida, including the current governor, President Bush's brother Jeb Bush.
Representative Nick Rahall, a West Virginia Democrat, sponsored a rider to protect national monuments from oil and gas drilling.
A second rider would prevent energy development within the present boundaries of existing national monuments by precluding new leasing under the Mineral Leasing Act.
The third amendment would protect local communities from environmental threats from hardrock mining by preserving all parts of current mining regulations that keep companies from shifting costs to taxpayers, safeguard surface and groundwater resources, and maintain the government's authority to deny irresponsible mining proposals.
"These votes send a strong message to the Bush administration that more and more members of Congress are listening to the American public rather than to Big Oil," said Tiernan Sittenfeld, conservation advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG). "On behalf of our members across the country who want a clean environment and a sound economy, U.S. PIRG applauds the House of Representatives for voting today to protect our coastlines and other treasured public lands."
In a remarkable blow to another Bush administration initiative, the House also voted to reject an Interior Department proposal to hamstring citizen enforcement of the Endangered Species Act. The administration had introduced into the Interior budget a measure to bar U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funding for any threatened or endangered species actions ordered by the courts in response to citizen lawsuits.
"We are deeply gratified that the House kept citizens in the picture on listing endangered species," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "The administration proposed to throw the fate of species at risk on the tender mercies of Interior Secretary [Gale] Norton, who has argued that the entire Endangered Species Act is unconstitutional. We're very thankful that House of Representatives chose a different path."
Representative Jay Inslee, a Washington Democrat, cosponsored an amendment to preserve Clinton era restrictions on hardrock mining on public lands. His cosponsor was California Republican Steve Horn.
Coupled with new polling results that show that a majority of Americans disapprove of President Bush's handling of environmental and energy issues, the House's refusal to support the Bush line could spell serious trouble for the Bush administration's agenda.
"The House said, loud and clear, that Capitol Hill does not agree with his environmental views," said William Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society. "Bush should see this as a warning to keep the oil and gas and coal industries out of our most spectacular places."
"We hope the Bush administration is learning the same lesson taught to James Watt and Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s and to the Newt Gingrich leadership in 1994," added Meadows. "Americans care deeply about protecting the environment, and efforts to ram through a toxic agenda are doomed to failure."
Many in the president's own political party also object to Bush's environmental policies.
President Bush has proposed drilling for oil in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which contains millions of acres of fragile tundra habitat
"Votes from pro-conservation Republicans made the difference," in passing the pro-environment riders to the Interior appropriations bill, noted REP America, the national grassroots organization of Republicans for environmental protection.
"The Republicans who know that conservation is conservative were the ones who put the amendment over the top. We're proud they did the right thing and voted to protect all of our national monuments," said Jim Scarantino, REP America executive director. "Since the days of Theodore Roosevelt, who created 18 national monuments, Republican presidents have used the Antiquities Act to protect special places with great scenic, recreational, and cultural value. We're thrilled that Republican lawmakers remembered our party's proud conservation legacy and voted to protect what their political forebears created."
6/25/01
10:20:25 PM
SCIENTISTS DETAIL U.S. ROLE IN GLOBAL WARMING
WASHINGTON, DC, June 22, 2001 (ENS) - An international consortium of scientists has issued a revised estimate of the U.S. role in the worldwide accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a major cause of global warming.
The study, published in today's issue of the journal "Science," reconciles what had appeared to be conflicting measurements about the size of the U.S. "carbon sink" - an effect that drains carbon from the air and stores it in the land.
The Princeton University led research group found that the continental U.S. is now absorbing one-third to two-thirds of a billion metric tons of carbon per year. The main reason is that U.S. trees and shrubs, which are recovering from past clearing, are drawing great volumes of carbon dioxide from the air and using the carbon to build massive tree trunks, branches and foliage.
The suppression of natural forest fires also is causing an increase in vegetation.
The study is the work of 23 scientists who held differing views about the size of the carbon sink. At the center of the dispute was the method of measuring the sink.
One approach is to take samples from the atmosphere and estimate gains and losses of carbon dioxide as winds blow across the country. This strategy has yielded varying answers depending on the exact method used.
Another approach is to inventory the places carbon can accumulate in the land - including trees, soils, landfills and reservoirs - and estimate how that inventory is changing over time. This land based approach gave very small estimates for the carbon sink, but none accounted for all the places carbon accumulates.
Despite the large U.S. carbon sink, the nation still pumps a tremendous amount of carbon into the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels in the U.S. releases about 1.4 billion tons of carbon each year.
Taking into account the carbon sink, 800 million to 1.1 billion tons accumulate in the atmosphere each year. The new analysis eliminates the possibility that the U.S carbon sink is big enough to equal the U.S. fossil fuel release, as some had speculated based on earlier studies.
Princeton's Stephen Pacala, lead author of the new study, emphasized that the carbon sink should not be seen as offsetting the U.S. carbon emissions from fossil fuels. A large part of the sink is the result of the land taking back enormous quantities of carbon that were released due to heavy farming and logging in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
"When we chopped down the forests, we released carbon trapped in the trees into the atmosphere. When we plowed up the prairies, we released carbon from the grasslands and soils into the atmosphere," said Pacala, who is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "Now the ecosystem is taking some of that back."
The sink will disappear over the next 50 to 100 years as U.S. ecosystems complete their recovery from past land use, Pacala said.
"The carbon sinks are going to decrease at the same time as our fossil fuel emissions increase," Pacala said. "Thus the greenhouse problem is going to get worse faster than we expected."
6/25/01
10:17:48 PM
ARKANSAS NUCLEAR PLANT LICENSE RENEWED FOR 20 MORE YEARS
RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas, June 22, 2001 (ENS) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has renewed the operating license for Unit 1 of the Arkansas Nuclear One nuclear power plant.
The NRC unanimously approved the license extension following a review of staff recommendations.
Entergy Operations, Inc., which operates the plant, submitted an application to the NRC on January 31, 2000, to renew the license for Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 1, which expires on May 20, 2014. The NRC conducted an extensive review of the license renewal application, and concluded that their were no environmental or safety concerns that would preclude renewal of the license.
The NRC also conducted two inspections of the plant to verify information submitted by Entergy.
The NRC's environmental review is described in a site specific supplement to the NRC's "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants." In the "Safety Evaluation Report Related to the License Renewal of Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit1," issued in June, the staff concluded that Entergy had demonstrated the capability to manage the effects of plant aging.
On May 16, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards - an independent body of technical experts which advises the Commission -issued its recommendation that the operating license for Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 1, be renewed. That recommendation is contained in the "Report on the Safety Aspects of the License Renewal Application for Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 1."
All documents relating to the license renewal are available at:
http://www.nrc.gov/OPA/reports/renewal.htm
NRC renewed the operating licenses for both units of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Maryland, for an additional 20 years on March 23, 2000, and renewed the operating licenses for the three units of the Oconee Nuclear Station in South Carolina, for an additional 20 years on May 23, 2000.
The agency is now reviewing license renewal applications for Hatch Units 1 and 2, operated by the Southern Nuclear Operating Company in Georgia; Turkey Point Units 3 and 4, operated by Florida Power & Light Co.; Virginia Electric & Power Co.'s Surry Units 1 and 2 and North Anna Units 1 and 2 in Virginia; Duke Power Co.'s McGuire Units 1 and 2 in North Carolina and Catawba Units 1 and 2 in South Carolina.
6/25/01
10:16:51 PM
ULTRALIGHT TO LEAD WHOOPING CRANES FROM WISCONSIN TO FLORIDA
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin, June 22, 2001 (ENS) - Whooping cranes will migrate across the skies of eastern North America this fall for the first time in more than a century as part of a bold experiment led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Biologists will train a flock of about 10 young whooping cranes to follow an ultralight aircraft across seven states from Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Wisconsin to Chassahowitska NWR in Florida.
If all goes as planned, the endangered birds will learn the migration route during the trip and return from Florida to Wisconsin on their own next spring, establishing a second migratory whooping crane flock in North America.
About 174 whooping cranes now migrate each year between wintering areas at Aransas NWR in Texas to nesting areas at Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Biologists have long been concerned that this population might be wiped out by a natural event such as a hurricane or a human caused disaster such as a chemical or oil spill.
Reintroducing a second migratory population in the East will provide insurance against such a disaster and move the species closer to recovery.
The experiment will be conducted by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, a consortium that includes the USFWS, the U.S. Geological Survey, state agencies, conservation organizations and private citizens. Private donors are contributing more than half of the $1.3 million needed to complete the project.
More than 40 private landowners have offered their property to be used as overnight sites for the migrating birds.
"This bold experiment is a model of how to recover an endangered species," said Interior Secretary Gale Norton. "It combines innovative science, partnerships with local landowners and states, public and private funding, and reduced federal regulation. It could provide a blueprint for future recovery efforts for other threatened and endangered species."
6/25/01
10:14:18 PM
CASE COULD SLASH DONATIONS TO ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS
WASHINGTON, DC, June 22, 2001 (ENS) - In what will be a test case of whether many environmental groups are violating tax laws, the Frontiers of Freedom announced today that it has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) to deny the group its tax exempt status.
RAN, a nonprofit corporation established as a Section 501(c)(3) educational organization, has violated tax laws by engaging in pressure campaigns, boycotts and direct action protests, Frontiers charges. These activities are not educational, the lawsuit argues, but instead constitute advocacy activities.
That would require RAN to file as a Section 501(c)(4) organization - and forgo tax exempt status.
"It's obvious that RAN wants to have it both ways," said George Landrith, Frontiers of Freedom's executive director. "It wants to operate as an advocacy group but enjoy tax exempt status so it can rake in tax deductible contributions. The end result is that taxpayers subsidize protests, boycotts and pressure campaigns. The law was designed to ensure that these types of activities would not be tax exempt."
Landrith noted that many nonprofit groups, such as the conservative Frontiers of Freedom organization and environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, set up separate educational and advocacy organizations to comply with tax laws.
RAN executive director Chris Hatch says he suspects the timber industry, particularly logging giant Boise Cascade, is behind the legal action.
"The timber industry is attacking not just RAN, but the First Amendment itself," said Hatch. "Boise Cascade is attacking RAN because we have exposed its destruction of the world's last remaining old growth rainforests. As for the anti-environment activists, they are trying to scare our funders. Let there be no doubt: the work to protect our forests will not only continue, but escalate."
In its complaint to the IRS, Frontiers says: "While people have every right to form groups and forcefully express their opinions, RAN's founders chose to organize RAN as a nonprofit dedicated solely to educational purposes in order to have access to tax deductible contributions. ... For taxpayers who are footing the bill for advocacy activities they may not support, this is an unacceptable arrangement. It is also clearly prohibited by law."
"Losing its tax exempt status could seriously jeopardize RAN's funding," Landrith said. "But that's the price you pay for advocacy. Other radical groups could eventually lose their tax exempt status as well. This could have a profound impact on radical environmentalist groups that are skirting our nation's tax laws. This will force them to find legitimate ways to raise money - and that won't be easy."
The complaint to the IRS can be read online at: http://www.ff.org
6/25/01
10:05:46 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
HOUSE THWARTS BUSH'S ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, June 22, 2001 (ENS) - As President George W. Bush touted his commitment to environmental protection, open space conservation and outdoor recreation in Alabama on Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives was defeating several of the president's anti-environmental proposals, including a plan to open national monuments and off shore areas to oil drilling.
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-22-07.html
PESTICIDES CAUSE MORE BIRD DEATHS THAN WEST NILE VIRUS
NEW YORK, New York, June 22, 2001 (ENS) - A New York State wildlife official has discovered that of birds collected for a study on West Nile Virus, more died from pesticide poisoning than from the virus itself. In response to this early data, the National Audubon Society is calling upon Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia to begin testing dead birds for pesticide poisoning.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-22-06.html
COLORADO RESORT DEVELOPMENT THREATENS WILDLIFE CORRIDOR
By Bob Berwyn
VAIL, Colorado, June 22, 2001 (ENS) - A subsidiary of Colorado's biggest ski company, working in partnership with a Canadian resort giant, is pushing to intensify development on a parcel of land that juts into a critical wildlife movement corridor.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-22-01.html
BRITISH COLUMBIA COURT HALTS LOGGING TO SAVE SPOTTED OWL
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, June 22, 2001 (ENS) - The presence of a rare spotted owl in an area permitted for logging in the Fraser Valley has prompted a provincial Supreme Court judge to grant a temporary injunction against logging in a case brought by a conservation group.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-22-03.html
ARGENTINE LAWMAKERS APPROVE KYOTO PROTOCOL
By Alejandra Herranz
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, June 22, 2001 (ENS) - The Argentine House of Representatives has approved the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement which aims to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases are linked to global warming.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-22-02.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: JUNE 22, 2001
Scientists Detail U.S. Role in Global Warming
Case Could Slash Donations to Environmental Groups
USFWS Cannot Leave Species on Candidate List
Ultralight to Lead Whooping Cranes From Wisconsin to Florida
Huge Ethanol Plant to be Built in Iowa
Shift from Forest to Crops Lowers Midwestern Temperatures
Computer Disposal Could Cost Californians $1 Billion
Portable Classrooms to Become Less Toxic
Arkansas Nuclear Plant License Renewed for 20 More Years
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-22-09.html
6/25/01
9:43:09 PM
TomPaine.com
UNDER THE KNIFE AND THE CROSS: A Wave of Catholic Hospital Mergers Is Curtailing Medical Services, Especially for Women
by Susan Jacoby
The mergers of Catholic and non-Catholic hospitals have forced staff and patients of all faiths to abide by Catholic rules. Now, scores of patients are scrambling in search of basic reproductive health and other medical services.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/06/21/1.html
HOW THE MEDIA COVER WOMEN: We Haven't Come a Long Way, Baby
by Jane Hall
"At their most extreme, today's crime stories about women link sex and violence, even if they're doing it in a 'Tsk-tsk, isn't it awful what happened to this poor woman' kind of way."
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/06/22/1.html
The Loyal Opposition
THE GORE GAP: Coming Soon to an Election Near You?
by David Corn
If Al Gore decides to mount another bid for the White House, we may be in for a real treat. Gore, the born-to-be-a-Democratic-insider, mounting a bitter race against his party establishment... as an outsider.
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/06/22/index.html
Book Review
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM AT ITS BEST: James Bamford's BODY OF SECRETS
by Steve Weinberg
A new book on the National Security Agency details its strange past projects and charts its post-Cold War future. By shining a light on the NSA's past, Bamford will hopefully increase skepticism for chasing today's chimera.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/06/21/2.html
THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR DRUG: Caffeine Dependence, Intoxication and Toxicity
by Bennett Alan Weinberg, Esq. and Bonnie K. Bealer.
Many consumers of coffee, tea, and cola, have never entertained the thought: Caffeine is a drug. In excessive quantities, it can even be fatal.
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/05/22/2.html
6/25/01
9:34:00 PM
The Nation
Yesterday, thousands of AIDS, debt relief, anti-racist and anti-globalization activists from around the world came together in New York City on the eve of the UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS to demonstrate and rally around what has become known as the three Ds of the global AIDS movement: Dollars, Debt and Drugs.
The march began at 11 am, just after a summer drizzle, with a rally in historic Washington Square Park and ended a few hours later with a speak-out in midtown Manhattan's Bryant Park that was cut short due to a violent thunderstorm.
Read Richard Kim's eye-witness web dispatch from the rain-soaked afternoon currently at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=kim20010623
And check out these three Nation articles for background on the global AIDS crisis which has sparked an incipient global movement:
SALIH BOOKER AND WILLIAM MINTER: Global Apartheid
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010709&s=booker
ROBERT WEISSMAN: The AIDS Fund Fight
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010709&s=weissman
EILEEN STILLWAGGON: AIDS and Poverty in Africa
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010521&s=stillwaggon
6/25/01
9:29:44 PM
Sarasota County Green Party
The Sarasota County Green Party is busy and would love your participation.
Lately...
We have promoted the June 21 international voluntary rolling blackouts, and did receive quality and repeated press coverage from Channel 40.
And...
We will be at Starbucks in a joint demonstration with the Organic Consumers Association on June 26th, 2001. We will meet at the Sarasota Starbucks at 4:30 p.m.; the leaflet and protest will begin at 5 p.m. The Sarasota Starbucks is located at 1375 S.Tamiami Trail (Rt. 41), near Bahia Vista.
We are demanding that Starbucks: a) remove genetically engineered (GE) ingredients from their cafes b) brew fair trade coffee on a regular basis, and c) improve working conditions on the plantations which grow their coffee.
And...
Our Aquifer, Our County, Our Scandal
Introduction: To: The Sarasota County Commissioners: District 1: Paul Mercier District 2: David R. Mills District 3: Shannon Staub District 4: Nora Patterson District 5: Jon Thaxton cc: Editor, Sarasota Herald Tribune From: Captain James Edwards James Miller Rowland Morgan Jackie Stevens I am Captain James Edwards, one of the four 'water cops' who was hired recently as part of a pilot project to help conserve water in Sarasota County....
http://sarasotagreenparty.org/article.php3?story_id=175
General Membership Meeting
The next General Membership Meeting will take place on Thursday, June 28. It will be located at Sudakoff Center on the New College Campus from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. tentative Agenda...
http://sarasotagreenparty.org/article.php3?story_id=176
Thanks for reading, please stop by the site at http://sarasotagreenparty.org