Earth Island Journal articles from June 1997

Earth Island Journal archives from June 1997

'Dolphin death act' battle rages. (House Resolution 408)
June 22, 1997... On May 20, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed HR 408, the new "dolphin death act," by a vote of 262 to 166. Should this bill become law, thousands more dolphins will die needlessly in tuna nets every year, and US consumers...

Zero cut on public lands. (John Muir Project)
June 22, 1997... If you thought Smokey Bear was out there protecting our forests, think again. Less than 5 percent of America's native and ancient forests remain standing. Smokey stands smiling passively, holding his shovel, while some of the world's richest...

Texas shrimp net massacre. (Earth Island Institute's Sea Turtle Restoration Project)
June 22, 1997... When you think of Texas in the spring, what comes to mind? Vibrant wildflowers in bloom? Longhorns lowing? How about slaughtered sea turtles washing up on the shores? A recent undercover investigation in Texas has exposed outlaw shrimp...

Everybody talks about the weather. (weather catastrophes due to global warming)
June 22, 1997... Earth -- Extreme weather events continue to pummel the planet. Spring floods complete with ice floes destroyed Grand Forks, North Dakota. In May, a tornado struck Miami Beach, Florida. A murderous Force 5 "Hand of God" twister destroyed Jarrell,...

Outrage at Gustafsen Lake. (case of the Shuswap natives who were forced by the Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Mounted Police to evacuate their Gustafsen Lake shelter)
June 22, 1997... Canada -- In 1995, the Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) conducted the largest police operation in British Columbia's history -- one that cost taxpayers more than $5 million and nearly brought a Waco-style military assault...

Accounting for earth's eco-assets. (the value of earth's services estimated in the book 'Nature's Services')
June 22, 1997... Adding up the value of services ranging from air and water purification to the pollination of food crops, a team of scientists has estimated that Earth's natural ecosystems are worth $33 trillion a year -- nearly twice the combined gross national...

NASA's Cassini probe will play nuclear roulette with the planet. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration's plan to launch the new Cassini space probe)
June 22, 1997... US -- On October 6, NASA plans to launch the Cassini space probe -- carrying 72.3 pounds of deadly plutonium-238 -- from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The plutonium will fuel three General Electric-built generators that...

Oil pipeline threatens Russia. (the Caspian Pipeline Consortium)
June 22, 1997... Novorossisk, Russia -- The Black Sea is out of luck. Some of the world's biggest oil companies feel compelled to build a pipeline through the pristine wilds of southern Russia to the shores of the Black Sea. Construction is set to begin...

Inside the GOP. (views of a participant in the annual California Republican Party convention)
June 22, 1997... I knew it was a risky venture, setting up an anti-corporate, pro-green books-and-literature table at the annual California Republican Party convention. But I'd been hearing a lot about a growing environmental movement within the party, and I knew...

Judgment day for the Danube. (effects of the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Danube River as provided by the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros treaty)
June 22, 1997... The Hague, Netherlands -- This fall, the World Court will rule on the fate of the Danube River. This case -- the world's first international environmental lawsuit -- will decide if the global community has the right to protect one of the Earth's...

Who really needs NATO? (North Atlantic Treaty Organization's plan to extend its protection to Eastern Europe)
June 22, 1997... The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 to protect Western Europe from an invasion by the USSR. With the devolution of the USSR, one would expect NATO to follow suit. Instead, NATO is about to be expanded into Eastern Europe...

Chernobyl: a global tragedy.
June 22, 1997... I have seen the beginning of the end of the world," Michael Mariotte, editor of The Nuclear Monitor, said after visiting Chernobyl's doomed landscape in 1996. "The end of the world begins in Pripyat, Ukraine." Once a thriving community...

Climate change threatens democracy. (effects of climate changes on the world's political and economic conditions)
June 22, 1997... Long before the systems of the planet buckle, democracy will disintegrate under the stress of ecological disasters and their social consequences. Two different men independently expressed this chilling insight to me -- William Ruckelshaus, the...

Microwaving our planet. (effects of exposure to radiation from wireless broadcasts, satellites and communication towers)
June 22, 1997... In February of last year, only five senators and 16 representatives voted "no" on the Telecommunications Act of 1996. We have, consequently, hundreds of new satellites competing for space in our crowded skies, hundreds of thousands of new...

Oil spills in the sky. (contrails formed by aircrafts' emission of pollutants and their effect on global temperature)(Cover Story)
June 22, 1997... Viewed from space, there are four unmistakable signs that Earth is inhabited by humans: sprawling cities, forest fires, disappearing lakes and aircraft contrails. With 10,000 large commercial aircraft flying today and the number expected...

Behind the contrail curtain. (effects of condensation trails on the stratosphere and troposphere)
June 22, 1997... Exhaust gases from subsonic jet aircraft are affecting the ozone layer, the troposphere and cloud cover over the Northern Hemisphere every minute of every day as hundreds of heavy jets fly back and forth through the North Atlantic Flight Corridor...

How do we handle industrial evil? (US tobacco industry)
June 22, 1997... "What does it matter to us? Look away if it makes you sick" --Heinrich Himmler in response to complaints about Auschwitz They conspired to murder millions with lethal gases. They plotted to seek out and kill children. When challenged...

'We're losing our democracy'.(Transcript)
June 22, 1997... Terri Swearingen received -- the Goldman Prize -- the environmental equivalent of the Nobel Prize -- for her work in East Liverpool, Ohio, where she has fought construction of a huge hazardous waste incinerator for the past seven years. The...

Thoughts at 85. (lifetime experience of an environmentalist)
June 22, 1997... New York City, June 2,1997 As the time approached, I announced that on July 1, 1977, I planned to be 65 and to retire as president of Friends of the Earth. I became chairman instead and continued to cause trouble when needed. This...

Lessons from Peru. (unjustice of the Peruvian government)
June 22, 1997... As Peruvian soldiers burst into the Japanese Ambassador's residence on April 22, one of the members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) ran into the room where a number of the hostages were being held. He aimed his automatic rifle at...

The media missed the mark in Peru. (wrong focus of the media in their news reporting of the Peru situation)
June 22, 1997... "We have realized this military occupation in protest against the government of Mr. Fujimori, as well as its economic policy that has brought nothing but increased misery and hunger to the majority of the people of Peru."-- from the MRTA...

On monopolies and the economic bill of rights. (Franklin Delano Roosevelt's campaign address and annual message to the Congress)(Transcript)
June 22, 1997... On the 52nd anniversary of the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President William Jefferson Clinton officiated at the inauguration of the Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, DC. We hope that President Clinton will pay heed to FDR's words,...

Earth Island fifteen years: Earth Island's mission.
June 22, 1997... EARTH ISLAND'S MISSION Life on Earth is imperiled by human degradation of the biosphere. Earth Island Institute develops and supports projects that counteract threats to the biological and cultural diversity that sustains the environment....

Inside the GOP. (Republican Party's environmental policy)
June 22, 1997... I knew it was a risky venture, setting up an anti-corporate, pro-green books-and-literature table at the annual California Republican Party convention. But I'd been hearing a lot about a growing environmental movement within the party, and I knew...

Microwaving our planet. (hazards brought by communication technologies)(includes related articles on plans to build communications infrastructure in national parks and the health dangers of cellular phones)
June 22, 1997... In February of last year, only five senators and 16 representatives voted "no" on the Telecommunications Act of 1996. We have, consequently, hundreds of new satellites competing for space in our crowded skies, hundreds of thousands of new...

'We're losing our democracy.' (excerpt from Goldman Prize acceptance speech)(Transcript)
June 22, 1997... Terri Swearingen received the Goldman Prize - the environmental equivalent of the Nobel Prize - for her work in East Liverpool, Ohio, where she has fought construction of a huge hazardous waste incinerator for the past seven years. The Waste...

Lessons from Peru. (the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement)
June 22, 1997... As Peruvian soldiers burst into the Japanese Ambassador's residence on April 22, one of the members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) ran into the room where a number of the hostages were being held. He aimed his automatic rifle at...