Earth Island Journal articles from March 2004

Earth Island Journal archives from March 2004

From the editor.(Editorial)
March 22, 2004... In October, the news media trumpeted the results of a massive study in the UK that was intended to measure the environmental impact of growing genetically modified (GM) crop plants. The scientists monitored wildlife populations in GM and...

Let's have another cup of coffee.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 22, 2004... In the "Just Java" piece (Winter 2004) submitted by Co-op America, it was announced that Procter & Gamble has now begun to offer a Fair Trade coffee. While some good behavior such as this has to be better than nothing, we at Equal Exchange...

Behind the curve?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 22, 2004... Your From the Editor (Winter 2004), while well intentioned, focused on news much older than you acknowledge and displayed an unfortunate myopia. The piece described how "a rather remarkable story broke" concerning the treasonous White...

Shock and ugh.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 22, 2004... I just opened this month's issue and am absolutely disgusted by the Tofurky ad on the inside of the cover. To use the phrase "shock and awe" to sell a "turkey alternative"--or anything for that matter--is not only in bad taste, it is...

Africa.(Local news from all over)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... South Africans have started illegally breeding big cats to be shot by big-game "hunters" in what locals are calling "canned hunts." In December, Limpopo game wardens confiscated six lions from an illegal breeding project on a private game...

Oily money.(Africa)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... Nigeria's Federal High Court said in December that ExxonMobil must pay 1.4 billion naira (about $10 million US) to communities in Bayelsa and Rivers states as restitution stemming from a 1998 oil spill from a Mobil pipeline in Akwa-Ibom State....

Flowers vs. fish.(Africa)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... Farms raising cut flowers for export to Europe are being blamed for depletion of the wildlife in Kenya's Lake Naivasha. Locals say the farms contribute to pollution and falling water levels. About three dozen such farms, in which...

Japanese river may win reprieve.(Asia)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... A major Japanese dam project may not materialize as concessioners start to reconsider their participation. Completion of the project, initially slated for 2000, has already been pushed back to 2008. Saitama Prefecture, which would have been...

Put the "ban" in Bangladesh.(Asia)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... Several hundred farmers and their supporters marched in Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh, protesting use of agricultural pesticides Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of people die each year from pesticide poisoning. Among the most gruesome of...

Tasmanian tumors.(Australia)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... Devil Facial Tumor Disease has killed half the wild population of Tasmanian devils, and shows signs of spreading to more of the species' range. Biologists haven't figured out whether the tumors, which start around the animals' mouths and faces...

Climate tax.(Europe)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... An independent British think-tank is proposing a tariff on exports from climate change "rogue nations." The New Economics Foundation wants the European Union (EU) to tax imports from countries that have not signed the Kyoto climate change...

Organic food goes to college.(North America)
March 22, 2004... In the spring of 2003, the University of Montana in Missoula began exploring the possibility of purchasing locally grown food with its $2.5 million annual food budget. On May 8, four environmental studies graduate students at UM made their...

No snow job.(North America)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... It may sound like a joke, but some climatologists are wondering whether Minnesotans might see warm winters from now on. Of course, "warm" is a bit of a relative term here. What's raising concern is that Minnesota's legendary hard winters...

We stand on guard for trees.(North America)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... Canada's boreal forest is closer to being protected now that a coalition of industry, native communities, and environmental groups has agreed on a commitment to conserve forests covering more than half of Canada. The conservation agreement,...

Lawyermongering.(North America)
March 22, 2004... After his smashing successes pushing the PATRIOT Act, covering up an unseemly statue of topless Justice, and interfering with states' rights (when those rights involve medical marijuana or right-to-die laws), US Attorney General John Ashcroft...

Peruvian activists defend dolphins.(South America)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... As many as 3,000 dolphins are killed each year in Peru for human consumption, according to one estimate. "The killing of dolphins in Peru is the product of poverty," says Stefan Austermuhle, executive director of Mundo Azul. In...

Major gold project implodes in Peru.(South America)
March 22, 2004... The Peruvian government found that Canadian mining company Manhattan Minerals failed to meet criteria necessary for digging a proposed open-pit gold mine on the site of the village of Tambogrande, a town of 16,000 residents. "Now the...

Members of Earth Island gathered in Boston November 20 to hear Dr. Charles Chester talk about biodiversity.(Earth Island Project Reports)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... Members of Earth Island gathered in Boston November 20 to hear Dr. Charles Chester talk about biodiversity. The event was held at the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, from...

Yggdrasil Institute.(Earth Island Project Reports)
March 22, 2004... Yggdrasil Institute's Eastern Old-Growth Clearing-house has released an updated edition of Old-Growth in the East: A Survey by Mary Byrd Davis. The report contains descriptions of known old-growth sites in the eastern United States, from the...

Campaign to Safeguard America's Waters (C-SAW).(Earth Island Project Reports)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... The Campaign to Safeguard America's Waters (C-SAW) continues to move Alaska's Cruise Ship Ballot Initiative (CSBI) forward. Supporters are gathering the 23,285 signatures required to place the initiative on the November 2004 state ballot. The...

Want something to celebrate? Bay Area Wilderness Training extends an open invitation to attend its fifth anniversary weekend retreat, April 2-4.(Earth Island Project Reports)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... Want something to celebrate? Bay Area Wilderness Training extends an open invitation to attend its fifth anniversary weekend retreat, April 2-4. Expect hikes, speakers, great food, and fun people. BAWT has trained over 200 youth workers and...

Mangrove Action Project.(Earth Island Project Reports)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2004... A Mangrove Action Project eco-study tour, "Spirit of Thailand Coastal Resources Program: An experiential study of Thailand's coastal resources and the people who depend on them," will take place in Thailand from July 4-17, 2004. This program...

Staff and projects.(Earth Island Institute)
March 22, 2004... Earth Island Institute 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....

International Marine Mammal Project.(Earth Island in the news)
March 22, 2004... RIP, Keiko Keiko, the orca beloved by millions, whose real-life journey to freedom echoed the plot of the movie that brought him fame, died December 12 in Norway's Taknes fjord in the company of staff members who had been caring for him...

Boreal Footprint Project.(Earth Island in the news)
March 22, 2004... Three years of successes 2003 marks the third year that the Boreal Footprint Project (BFP) has been working to enhance public understanding of the biological and cultural values of the worldwide boreal forest. This will be the project's...

Ethical traveler.(Earth Island in the news)
March 22, 2004... Why travelers matter Ten years ago, I set out to discover the actual size of the world. My strategy was simple: I'd circle the Earth without resorting to the use of airplanes. During my journey (recounted, appropriately enough, in a...

UniversitArea Protegida.(Earth Island in the news)
March 22, 2004... UniversitArea Protegida (UAP), a project of Earth Island since August 2003, supports Nicaraguan university students who are doing thesis research, conservation work, and environmental education in natural reserves. It has been described by its...

Sustainable world coalition.(Earth Island in the news)
March 22, 2004... Ecological Avoidance Syndrome (EAS) We have the blessing and the curse to be living in a time in which scientists have repeatedly reported on the imminent destruction--and in many cases, collapse--of major parts of virtually all of the...

Everyone's got a story.
March 22, 2004... No matter how prestigious the university or gifted the professors, some of the most important lessons a university student learns take place outside the lecture hall. As a student in the legal studies department at UC Berkeley, Susan...

On finding your way.
March 22, 2004... A half-year after graduating from college, I was lost. I had believed all the messages proclaiming that the key to success was a college education. I had followed those instructions, gotten my degree, and now had no idea what I was supposed to...

My environmental career journey.
March 22, 2004... I've always had a passion for environmental issues. It started out with a love of the natural world and evolved into an elaborate network of beliefs about the importance of environmental equity and of reversing some of the harm that we humans...

Beyond the books.
March 22, 2004... Since the late 1960s, when student leader Denis Hayes organized the first Earth Day, college students have been at the forefront of creating environmental change. With access to such resources as funding sources and faculty assistance, a...

Beyond Grey Pinstripes.
March 22, 2004... A report released on October 8, 2003 by the Aspen Institute and the World Resources Institute challenges business schools to better arm graduate business students with skills critical for effective leadership in a changing world. The...

Green for greener.
March 22, 2004... Some of America's most promising young scientists--all of them still in their teens--were honored in late November 2003 at the nation's most prestigious science and math competition for high school students. Arun P. Thottumkara (17), a...

Tangled in the food web: commercial fishing takes a toll on seabird populations.(Cover Story)
March 22, 2004... We go to the sea hoping to see birds swooping and diving, to watch them carve the wind, to turn and twist, skimming the sea as they search for food. Their dark images darting against the setting sun give flight to our imagination, conveying...

Painting ourselves into the landscape.
March 22, 2004... As I set out on my hike, I knew that by the end of it I would be breaking the law. Three easy miles and two steep ones brought me to the edge of Headwaters Forest, a 3,000-acre tract of ancient redwoods that was the cause celebre of the...

The great Danes: Americans could learn a lot about recycling from the descendants of the Vikings.
March 22, 2004... Nestled within the protective crook of Sweden and Norway's outstretched arms, perched atop Germany's northernmost border, Denmark marks the seam between the North and the Baltic seas, Most Americans would find themselves hard pressed to...

Wading through Everglades policy.
March 22, 2004... She is pure light descending from the sky; a single snowy egret swoops softly down, taking pause in a shallow pool, her body half hidden by the khaki grass rising from the water. Her eyes scan the flat horizon for just a moment before she...

Glen Canyon emerges.
March 22, 2004... In his foreword to Eliot Porter's The Place No One Knew, David Brower wrote, "Glen Canyon died in 1963, and I was partly responsible for its needless death. So were you. Neither you nor I, nor anyone else, knew it well enough to insist that at...

Fighting for the redwoods.
March 22, 2004... Only when I hear the deafening roar of the chainsaws nearby do I realize the dangers all around me. I am climbing a 180-foot-high old-growth redwood tree nicknamed "Allah" in northern California, along with two "tree-sitters" who choose to live...

Voices: "China must curb its appetite for 'wild taste'".
March 22, 2004... At Lang Son, a northern Vietnamese town on the Chinese border, I watched as hundreds of Vietnamese carried baskets of monkeys, pangolins, snakes, and a variety of exotic birds in rattan cages. On the way back, their baskets held electric fans,...