Earth Island Journal articles from June 2003

Earth Island Journal archives from June 2003

From the editor.(Editorial)
June 22, 2003... By the time you read this, the war may be over. Or it may be turning into a protracted, ugly conflict, with house-to-house fighting, biological and chemical weapon use, and heavy casualties among combatants and noncombatants alike. ...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
June 22, 2003... In our last issue, we misstated the application deadline for the 2003 Brower Youth Awards. The correct deadline is June 1, 2003. For more info, call Cindy Arch at (415) 788-3666 x 160 or email arch@earthisland.org. We regret the error, and...

Helvarg spawns a reply. (Letters).
June 22, 2003... David Helvarg's "The Last Fish" (Spring '03 EIJ) is pretty accurate, but he seems to attribute the disappearance of both the Atlantic and Pacific salmon to dams. A study of the salmon problem in Maine suggests that dams were only a part of the...

No chimp, thanks. (Africa).
June 22, 2003... Bush meat vendors in Ouesso, a city in the Republic of Congo, report that an Ebola outbreak raging through the area has changed people's eating patterns. Ebola, a viral disease that causes severe internal hemorrhaging and is fatal to 90 percent...

The big dry. (Africa).(drought in Africa)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Drought has hit hard this season in Africa. Pastures in South Africa are withering and turning brown. Farmers in the Port Elizabeth area are trucking in loads of feed they can normally grow on their own lands. Alexandria Farmers' Association...

What do we want? Hot chocolate! When do we want it? Now! (Antarctica).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... The only continent where no wars have ever been fought has seen multiple anti-war protests so far this year. Dozens of people demonstrated in January and March at McMurdo Station, a US facility. Even the South Pole's Amundsen-Scott Station saw...

The cost of war. (Asia).(environmental impact of the Iraq War)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... A special report in the March 15 issue of New Scientist holds frightening predictions for the fate of the environment in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq. As we go to press, the US Defense Department claims that off wells are being set afire...

They take conservation seriously in Manipur. (Asia).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... The underground Revolutionary People's Front (RPF) in Manipur, northeastern India, sent a harsh warning to illegal hunters of the locally revered sangai by shooting two poachers in the legs in February. The RPF aims to protect the sangai, or...

Same old dam story. (Asia).(North Eastern Electric Power Corp. to build Tipaimukh Dam)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... In other news from Manipur, protest marked the reported signing of a memorandum of understanding between the provincial government and NEEPCO (North Eastern Electric Power Corporation) to build the Tipaimukh Dam, which would flood more than 100...

The cost of war, Part 2. (Asia).(wetlands in Afghanistan)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Afghanistan's wetlands and birdlife are bearing the brunt of war and drought. Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani, Afghan Minister of Irrigation, Water Resources and Environment, told environment ministers attending a Nairobi meeting of the UN Environment...

A Valentine for Lake Cowal. (Australia).(protesting against open-pit gold mining)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Protesters entered the offices of Australia's National Parks and Wildlife Service in Sydney and gave Valentine's Day cards to Director General Brian Gilligan. The cards asked that no permit be granted to Canadian mining company Barrick Gold to...

GM-free in Oz. (Australia).(genetically modified food crops banned New South Wales)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... The Labor government in New South Wales (NSW) vowed March 3 to ban commercial release of genetically modified food crops if it was re-elected. NSW is the second Australian state (after South Australia) to propose a ban. Tasmania and...

Ecosport. (Europe).(cleaning up after sporting events in Switzerland)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Every year, thousands of sporting events take place in Switzerland, most of them accompanied by endless traffic and mountains of waste. The Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape and the Swiss Olympic Association created the...

Poor pikas. (North America).(global warming in the Rocky Mountains)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Pikas may be the first North American mammals to fall victim to climate change. Related to rabbits, American pikas (Ochotona princeps) live in rocky, high-elevation habitats in the western mountains of North America. Pikas are particularly...

Goldman Prizes awarded. (North America).(grassroots environmental heroes)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... The 2003 Goldman Environmental Prize winners were announced and feted at a ceremony in San Francisco, California on April 14. The Goldman Prize, given annually to grassroots environmental heroes from around the world, includes an award of...

Boxer's rebellion. (North America).(Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Alaska safe from oil drilling)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Amid florid language and dark mutterings of political payback, the US Senate voted 52-48 to block a move to add opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling to the congressional budget memo. The tactical maneuver listed the...

Oh, the few manatees. (North America).(Brevard County, Florida)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... A Florida appeals court upheld state rules in March protecting endangered manatees from high-speed boats. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's rules require boats to slow down in Brevard County. Boaters and boat...

Poaching prickles. (North America).(cacti in the Chihuahuan Desert)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Some of the world's rarest cacti grow in the Chihuahuan Desert, home to a quarter of the globe's 1,500 cactus species. But demand for rare specimens by collectors and landscapers is depleting desirable species. TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade...

Invading invertebrates booting out native bugs. (Oceania).(New Zealand)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... New Zealand's insect world is changing. Wildlife biologists say that new invertebrate arrivals are displacing--or eating--New Zealand's native invertebrates. "Introduced invertebrates pollute and dilute the native fauna much as weeds do in a...

Chilean sea bass in trouble. (South America).(www.seafoodchoices.org)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Activists have urged South American countries to work together on conservation and sustainable use goals for the fishery and trade in Patagonian toothfish, sold in the US as "Chilean sea bass." Current estimates predict total collapse of...

Peru copper smelter faces fines. (South America).(Southern Peru Copper Corp.)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Peru's Energy and Mines Ministry has given Southern Peru Copper Co. until June to plan an overhaul of its aging, polluting smelter on the coast south of Lima, or face stringent fines. SPCC must capture 92 percent of the sulfur emitted from its...

Hazardous wastes are routinely converted into fertilizer, which is then used on farms, lawns, and gardens, contaminating our air, soil, water, and food. (Earth Island Project Reports).(www.safefoodandfertilizer.org)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Hazardous wastes are routinely converted into fertilizer, which is then used on farms, lawns, and gardens, contaminating our air, soil, water, and food. These wastes, containing lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, dioxin, and radionuclides, have...

Earth Island Institute is currently made up of 38 projects. (Earth Island Project Reports).(applications accepted skamprath@earthisland.org)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Earth Island Institute is currently made up of 38 projects. Project applications are reviewed four times a year by Institute staff and the board of directors. Normally 12 to 15 applications are considered, and only two or three projects are...

Bay Area Wilderness Training (BAWT) is proud to offer its first site-based course this spring--the Mt. Diablo Complete. (Earth Island Project Reports).(www.bawt.org)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Bay Area Wilderness Training (BAWT) is proud to offer its first site-based course this spring--the Mt. Diablo Complete. The workshop, to be held May 2-4, will help educators deepen the connection between wilderness and urban environments and...

Four past winners of the Brower Youth Awards presented a panel on "Youth Environmental Leadership" at the 21st Annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference on March 8 at the University of Oregon in Eugene. (Earth Island Project Reports).(www.earthisland.org/bya)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Four past winners of the Brower Youth Awards presented a panel on "Youth Environmental Leadership" at the 21st Annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference on March 8 at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Amir Nadav (BYA '02), Barbara...

KIDS for the Bay. (Earth Island Project Reports).
June 22, 2003... KIDS for the BAY still has spaces available in its summer environmental science camps. Children ages 5-10 will join environmental educators to study the ecology of lakes, creeks, and the San Francisco Bay. Call KIDS for the BAY at (510)...

Center for safe energy. (Earth Island in the news).(Center for Safe Energy co-director is co-recipient of Nuclear Free Future Lifetime Achievement Award)
June 22, 2003... At a ceremony in St. Petersburg, Russia on October 3, 2002, Fran Macy, co-director of the Center for Safe Energy, was named the co-recipient of the Nuclear Free Future Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing "his many decades of dedication...

Campaign to Safeguard America's Waters. (Earth Island in the news).(cruise ship industry problems include docking in Moloka'i, pollution)
June 22, 2003... Say "bon voyage" to the buffet line The recent boom in passenger and crew numbers coupled with the tight quarters and sanitation problems on the new mega-ships is incubating communicable diseases at nearly epidemic levels. In the past...

Sacred Land Film Project. (Earth Island in the news).(Bush administration policies threaten sacred lands)
June 22, 2003... Bush's new assault on sacred lands Before a screening of In the Light of Reverence at Arizona State University earlier this year, Cal Seciwa (Zuni), the director of ASU's American Indian Institute, unfurled a canvas banner across a table...

Bush administration declares war on whales. (International Marine Mammal Project).
June 22, 2003... IMMP and Seaflow, Protect Our Living Oceans, have denounced a new effort in Congress by the Navy and the Bush administration to seriously weaken the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) supposedly for "national defense." The MMPA protects whales...

Earth Island sues (again) to save dolphins. (Earth Island in the news).(suit against Secretary of Commerce over Bush administration efforts to weaken 'Dolphin Safe' tuna labeling)
June 22, 2003... In December, Earth Island and eight other environmental and animal welfare groups filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of Commerce in San Francisco Federal Court, seeking to overturn the stealth decision by the Bush administration to weaken...

Four-strokes for whale folks. (Earth Island in the news).(loans to help local wale-watch and fishing businesses buy four-stroke outboards)
June 22, 2003... IMMP has joined four other organizations to launch an important program to help the fishermen and whale-watching guides of Baja California, while helping to clean up the main source of pollution in the Baja gray whale lagoons. With our...

Latin American dolphin news. (Earth Island in the news).(bottlenose dolphin protection in Nicaragua and Dominican Republic)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Nicaraguan Minister of Environment Jorge Salazar Cardenal confirmed in February that his government has indefinitely banned the use and exploitation of bottlenose dolphins. Salazar says that this new law guarantees that in Nicaragua,...

Orca update. (Earth Island in the news).
June 22, 2003... The campaign to save the Pacific Northwest's southern resident orcas from extinction continues. Three years ago, IMMP initiated the Orca Recovery Campaign (ORCa) to halt the whales' slide to extinction and enhance their prospects for recovery....

Climate Solutions to become independent. (Earth Island in the news).(of Earth Island Institute)
June 22, 2003... Bob Wilkinson, president of Earth Island Institute, and Paul Horton and Rhys Roth, co-directors of Climate Solutions, have announced that Climate Solutions will become independent of Earth Island Institute effective April 1, 2003. Climate...

Readers' survey.(on the journal)
June 22, 2003... We wanted to share with readers some of the highs and lows of the reader survey we included in the Autumn 2002 issue of Earth Island Journal. By our deadline of July 1, we had received 328 completed print surveys and responses from 92 forms...

Everybody's got a story.(Todd Steiner, founder of Sea Turtle Restoration Project)
June 22, 2003... Todd Steiner has devoted his life to saving aquatic creatures. Perhaps the secret to his success is that he knows what it's like to swim upstream. The founder of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project (STRP), Steiner faces the world with an...

Dead heat: the science is in on global climate change, and the picture isn't pretty.
June 22, 2003... Severe climate change--and with it chains of storms, floods, heat waves, droughts, and even cold snaps--is now virtually inevitable, and will bring widespread ecological destruction, extinction, and human suffering. Continued dithering will...

The unbroken circle: Brazil's most traditional indigenous people use modern methods to defend their way of life.(Xavante Indians of the Mato Grosso)
June 22, 2003... The moonless night was so dark I could hardly distinguish the outlines of our guides as we approached the village. Light from cooking fires inside thatched huts sent figures dancing on the walls. As we walked toward the center of the village,...

Bush's bizarre science: if scientific evidence shows that your policies will hurt human health and the environment, your course is clear: get rid of the scientists.
June 22, 2003... During his presidential campaign, George W. Bush said he supported environmental policies that were "based on sound science." If you're wondering what the Bush administration considers sound science, it's hard to find a better example than the...

The Activist's Handbook: A Primer.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Randy Shaw, University of California Press (2001), $19.95 (fist) In an age of escalating human need, The Activist's Handbook is an invaluable tool. It's a user-friendly primer to fighting back, effecting change, and making a difference,...

Change Activist: Make Big Things Happen Fast.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Carmel McConnell, Perseus Publishing (2001), $20.00 (list) Aside from sleeping and looking for our keys, we spend most of our lives working. In an ideal world, we'd all have jobs that fulfill our souls, make us feel valued, give us a sense...

Wild wetlands of New York: nearly all of New York City's wetlands in Jamaica Bay will be a memory in twenty years if nothing is done to prevent their loss, according to experts.
June 22, 2003... The largest urban wildlife preserve in the country at 13,000 acres, Jamaica Bay is the natural transition between land and sea, where hundreds of species of birds, fish, and other wildlife eat, rest, nest, and raise young. Wildlife numbers...

True grits.(grassroots campaign to inform public about genetically modified foods/ingredients on grocery store shelves)
June 22, 2003... What did you do when your mother told to eat your vegetables? You probably at least gave it a try. What would you do if a grandmother told you not to eat certain foods? Well, if you're a grocery store manager in Decatur, Alabama, you'd call the...

Voices.(restoring lands)(Excerpt)
June 22, 2003... When an environment has become unbalanced, polluted, or devastated to the point where it is no longer healthy or able to sustain life, restoration becomes necessary. Then you must ask, what is it you are trying to restore? Ecosystems are...

EII's mangrove action project ecotour to Sri Lanka and Thailand.
June 22, 2003... After more than 20 years of civil war, Sri Lanka is at long last enjoying peace. From the steep fertile fields of tea plantations in the mountains to the untouched coastal beaches sprawled around its borders, Sri Lanka remains the fabled jewel...

Curious humans and other animals.(impact of humans, including wildlife lovers, on wildlife)
June 22, 2003... Humans are a curious lot, and our intrusions, intentional and inadvertent, have significant impacts on animals, plants, water, the atmosphere, and inanimate landscapes. Often our influence is subtle and long-term. Many animals who we want to...

How to be a responsible ecotourist.(Maasai tribespeople supplanted by safari tours and lodges)
June 22, 2003... The Maasai tribespeople of East Africa have been evicted from their traditional lands in order to accommodate safari tours and lodges. The Sioux of the American Black Hills often work as low-wage laborers in the white-owned tourism industry...

Matching conservation with enterprise: a look back at the international year of ecotourism.
June 22, 2003... Thirty thousand flamingos lifting off a soda lake in northern Tanzania. Sidling up in a shallow boat to a herd of 30 Asian elephants shredding a shoreline of tall grasses in the Malaysian state of Sabah. Waking up each morning to view at first...