Earth Island Journal articles from March 2005

Earth Island Journal archives from March 2005

From the editor.(Editorial)
March 22, 2005... Since the election, I've seen a lot of so-called "progressives" saying incredibly insulting things about people in the "red states"... people who live in states that went to Bush in the Electoral College. I've read calls for secession, calls...

We like you too, Bill.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 22, 2005... I wish with all my heart I was the other Bill Gates for one week! A week where I would support you and all environmental and social causes--their needs with his billions!--to fight the insanity of what happened on November 2, 2004. Sadly,...

Do walls make good neighbors?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 22, 2005... I read with dismay the article, "Farming Under Fire" by Kate Rogers Gessert (Winter, 2005 EIJ). The article was completely biased against Israel, contained factual errors, and was inflammatory. Here are a few major points: In the opening...

Double-edged DDT.(Africa)(Uganda to use DDT)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... The Ugandan government is planning to use DDT to kill mosquitos that carry malaria, a disease afflicting two million people globally, 90 percent of them in Africa. If the chemical--which numerous studies have indicated is carcinogenic. and...

No power to the people.(Africa)(Nigeria faces power shortage)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Nigerians are facing a potential nationwide blackout. The power supply is 66 percent short of total national requirements, prompting National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) employees to ask the Federal Government to build ten new power...

To be young, green, and black.(Africa)
March 22, 2005... Another vestige of South Africa's apartheid era is ending as government officials, teachers, wildlife protection groups, and private safari operators campaign to promote wildlife conservation among black South Africans, particularly youth. ...

Berg-trippin'.(Antarctica)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Construction of a US-backed 1,020-mile "ice highway" from McMurdo Sound to the South Pole is continuing in its third season, with completion slated for the end of the 2006 polar summer. The man who made the first motorized crossing to the...

RIP Nesiota elliptica, et al.(Asia)(global biodiversity study)(International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources )(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... In the past two decades, 15 species have vanished. Another 15,589 face the same fate. Current extinction rates are at least one hundred to one thousand times higher than "natural" patterns. The most comprehensive global biodiversity study...

India's biodiesel future?(Asia)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Jatropha curcas is a tough, drought-resistant plant that may help meet India's burgeoning energy demands. "India needs to grow jatropha to tackle dry land and generate biodiesel," says India's president Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. The...

Going, going, dugong.(Australia)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Indigenous communities around northern Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria have received $2 million from the Federal government to help rid their shores of fishing nets. The "ghost" nets entangle hundreds of large marine mammals annually,...

Le pauvre petit ours.(Europe)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... In an arguable case of self-defense, a single mother was shot dead at close range, leaving an orphan to wander the western Pyrenees. The mother, a 15-year old brown bear affectionately named "Cannelle" ("Cinnamon") by game war dens, was the...

Sea change in mapping.(Europe)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Cartographers may face a boom in employment. At a Berlin conference on climate change, Britain's chief scientific advisor, Sir David King, warned, "Maps of the world will have to be redrawn as global warming melts the Greenland ice cap,...

Endangered Ice.(Europe)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... At a four-day conference on Arctic climate in Reykjavik, Iceland, indigenous groups urged the US to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. Global warming is dangerous to native people such as the Inuit, whose hunters have fallen through melting ice....

Same (g)old story.(Oceania)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... The world's largest gold producer, the Newmont Mining Corporation, is charged with polluting Indonesia's Buyat Bay with 5.5 million tons of arsenic- and mercury-laced waste. Three villagers filed a $543 million lawsuit against the Denver-based...

Energy vampires.(North America)
March 22, 2005... According to the National Association of Home Builders, the average new home occupies 2,230 square feet, up from 1,500 square feet in 1970. Indicating a general "SUVing" of American houses, utility bills are rising at a similarly impressive...

Glen Canyon comeback.(North America)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Long drowned under the mammoth Lake Powell, Glen Canyon is beginning to re-emerge as a result of severe drought. Heralded as the "living heart" of the Colorado river by Edward Abbey, Glen Canyon was lost under water with the completion of the...

Ready, aim, double-click!(North America)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Killing animals for fun just got easier. John Underwood, an auto body estimator from San Antonio, Texas, said his entrepreneurial epiphany for online game hunting came while viewing a website where cameras placed in the wild photograph animals....

Forest cops.(South America)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Federal Police Agent Delano Lopes said Brazilian law enforcement has a mandate to protect the nation's wealth: the environment. Lopes is a recruit to the Amazon's new--and Latin America's biggest--environmental police academy. Spread...

Real eco-terrorism.(South America)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Though the US continues its refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol and funnels resources into "fighting the war on terror," 48 of the world's least developed nations have different priorities. "For our countries, climate change is more...

Yosemite too touristy?(Off-Planet)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Mars is no longer just our neighboring planet, but is an essential part of our environment requiring conservation and protection, according to British microbiologist Charles Cockell and German astrobiologist Gerda Horneck. Cockell and Horneck...

The True Food Network.(Earth Island project reports)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Earth Island's newest project, The True Food Network, is a consumer network dedicated to ending the genetic engineering of our food and promoting a socially just, democratic, and sustainable food system. In 2000 Greenpeace USA created the True...

With a small grant from The Brower Fund, 2002 Brower Youth Award winner Max Harper has been pioneering an effort in Colorado Springs, CO, to expand the market for local organic produce by developing buying clubs in the religious community.(Earth Island project reports)
March 22, 2005... With a small grant from The Brower Fund, 2002 Brower Youth Award winner Max Harper has been pioneering an effort in Colorado Springs, CO, to expand the market for local organic produce by developing buying clubs in the religious community. By...

Global Service Corps.(Earth Island project reports)
March 22, 2005... Global Service Corps is now recruiting Fellows for the Seeds of Survival (SOS) Fellowship Program. Fellows must have an advanced degree, and experience in Africa or other developing countries. The Fellowship consists of a one-month training...

UniversitArea Protegida.(Earth Island project reports)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... The eighth annual conference of the Mesoamerican Biology and Conservation Society was held in Managua, Nicaragua the week of November 15th, and UniversitArea Protegida (UAP) sent a small delegation of students to participate in its activities....

Mangrove Action Project.(Earth Island project reports)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Mangrove Action Project's Executive Director Alfredo Quarto attended the first gathering of the African Mangrove Network (AMN) in Dakar and Foundiougne, Senegal from Dec. 14-19, 2004. Participants from various coastal nations in Africa gathered...

Reef Protection International (RPI).(Earth Island project reports)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Reef Protection International (RPI) recently launched its new Web site, funded through an in-kind grant from The Art Institute of California in San Francisco. RPI would like to thank student Bernie Valdez for his fine work, and the staff at The...

Earth Island Institute: staff and projects.
March 22, 2005... 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....

$40,000 for falsely labeled "Dolphin Safe" tuna.(International Marine Mammal Project)
March 22, 2005... The International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) is celebrating a major court case against smugglers bringing Dolores tuna into the US from Mexico with a phony Amigo de Delfin (Dolphin Friendly) stamp on the cans. In San Diego federal court,...

Euro moratorium on whale-killing sonars.(International Marine Mammal Project)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... On October 28, the European Parliament overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of extremely loud sonars that have been linked with whale deaths around the world. The moratorium is voluntary, but puts the onus on...

Stop the dolphin drive fishery in Japan!(International Marine Mammal Project)
March 22, 2005... IMMP has partnered with leading French animal protection society One Voice and the Japanese environmental organization Elsa Nature Conservancy in an effort to stop the annual massacre of dolphins in Japan. Approximately 20,000 dolphins and...

New hope for Australia's old-growth forests.(Ethical Traveler)
March 22, 2005... In October 2004, Ethical Traveler launched a letter-writing campaign to protect endangered old-growth forests in Tasmania, Australia. Recent elections in Australia have led to pledges of government protection for some of these ancient forests....

Victory for Africa's forests.(West Africa Rainforest Network)
March 22, 2005... Nigeria is well known for its oil-producing region of the Niger Delta, which currently feeds a large portion of America's oil addiction. Roughly the size of Texas, Nigeria is home to over 130 million people. As in many oil-rich regions around...

Universit Area Protegida.(Earth Island in the news)
March 22, 2005... In October 2004, UAP completed its first two Expansion Through Exposure (ETE) trips. The ETE program is designed to give Nicaraguan youth the opportunity to learn about the biodiversity and cultural variety their country offers. ETE takes...

Protecting the Altai.(Center for Safe Energy)
March 22, 2005... In the Altai Republic of southern Siberia, a region of astonishing biodiversity and cultural heritage, new protected areas are popping up all over the place. Rural folks--many indigenous--are diving into the difficult bureaucratic process of...

Nature parks and economic sustainability.(Center for Safe Energy)
March 22, 2005... News of Uch Enmek's success spread quickly in the Altai. By 2003, three additional protected areas were created: Chui-Uzy, Argut, and Katun nature parks. Chui-Uzy, which houses the famous Kalbak-Tash petroglyphs, has been particularly...

Legislative obstacles.(Center for Safe Energy)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2005... Recent changes in federal land legislation also threaten the fate of the Altai's nature parks. One recently passed law proposes that all Russian nature parks re-apply to become federal protected territories, although it is still unclear what...

Bay Area Wilderness Training.(Earth Island in the news)(wilderness leadership training to youth workers and teachers )
March 22, 2005... When I began Bay Area Wilderness Training (BAWT) in 1997, I knew very little about David Brower. I did know, however, that my connection to the outdoors was what grounded my concern for the environment. After BAWT became a project of Earth...

Mangrove Action Project.(Earth Island in the news)
March 22, 2005... When the Zhangjiang Guolin Aquatic Products Company, an international shrimp farmer and exporter, opened shop along the tranquil coastline of the Leizhou Peninsula in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, it was either unaware of or...

Everyone's got a story.(Wildfutures director Sharon Negri's passion wildlife conservation)
March 22, 2005... Sharon Negri will never forget the first time she saw a mountain lion. As Sharon and her family floated peacefully down the Flathead River in Montana, their rubber raft approached a solitary mountain lion lounging on the riverbed. The mountain...

Dear editor ...(Letter to the Editor)
March 22, 2005... I read with interest the column entitled "My Environmental Career Journal" by Carol Ruhl in the Spring 2004 issue. I teach a general education course called "Environmental Health in the 21st Century: the Global Environment" here at Illinois...

Career spotlight ...(Interview)
March 22, 2005... Nancy Marks is a Senior Attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York City, where she represents national and local public interest groups in defending the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery...

University launches Academy for the Environment.(of Nevada)
March 22, 2005... Officials at the University of Nevada, Reno recently announced the creation of a new Academy for the Environment. Mike Collopy, professor and chair of the department of natural resources and environmental science in the College of Agriculture,...

Beyond the books ...(Eugene Pearson)
March 22, 2005... Eugene Pearson, one of the 2004 Brower Youth Award winners, thinks that doing things in an environmentally conscious way just makes sense. "In the big picture," he said, "you're really making a difference by the little actions you take." And...

Green roofs in Georgia ...(University, of Georgia's roof construction)
March 22, 2005... A few years ago, Tim Carter left his job as a carpenter building upscale homes to become a doctoral student in ecology at the University, of Georgia, where he has designed an innovative vegetated roof project. Carter is monitoring how well...

Leaving a foot print ...(USM's Environmental Literacy program )
March 22, 2005... Students at the University of Southern Maine (USM) are challenging each other and their communities to live more sustainably in USM FootPrint, a green living column published weekly in the campus newspaper Free Press. The popular column was...

Calling all eco-jocks ...
March 22, 2005... Remember when college residence halls were hubs of competitive sports like keg stands and foosball? Fortunately--for the environment at least--co-ed competitions are evolving. At Washington, DC's Duke University, the Eco-Olympics are a popular...

Opportunities in Environmental Careers.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... Opportunities in Environmental Careers ($12.95) by Odom Fanning VGM Career Books, 2002 If you're wanting to work in an environmental field, but not sure where you fit in, read this book. Beginning with a historical overview of...

Great Jobs for Environmental Studies Majors.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... Great Jobs for Environmental Studies Majors ($14.95) by Julie DeGalan and Bryon Middlekauff VGM Career Books, 2002 So, you've graduated. You've learned amazing and startling things on your way to earning your Environmental Studies degree....

Transportation & Sustainable Campus Communities--Issues, Examples, Solutions.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... Transportation & Sustainable Campus Communities--Issues, Examples, Solutions ($30.00) by Will Toor and Spenser W. Havlick Island Press, 2004 I don't have to tell you--parking on campus, any campus, is impossible. And if you do miraculously...

Sustainability on Campus--Stories and Strategies for Change.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... Sustainability on Campus--Stories and Strategies for Change ($23.95) edited by Peggy F. Bartlett and Geoffrey W. Chase The MIT Press, 2004 Written from the experiences of professors, administrators, and students, each essay included in...

Students Against Sweatshops.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... Students Against Sweatshops ($15.00) by Liza Featherstone and United Students Against Sweatshops Verso, 2002 Ever wonder where your NYU t-shirt was made? Any idea how much the person who made it earned per hour? The members of United...

Careers for Environmental Types & Others Who Respect the Earth.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... Careers for Environmental Types & Others Who Respect the Earth ($12.95) by Mike Fasul and Jane Kinney VGM Careers Books, 2002 In case you're wondering, it is possible to earn a living by caring for the Earth. If this is news to you, perhaps...

Greening the Ivory Tower: Improving the Environmental Track Record of Universities, Colleges, and Other Institutions.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 22, 2005... Greening the Ivory Tower: Improving the Environmental Track Record of Universities, Colleges, and Other Institutions ($32.00) by Sarah Hammond Creighton The MIT Press, 2001 If you're curious about how much of an environmental impact your...

Bushed again: what can we expect in the next four years?(Cover Story)
March 22, 2005... The ink had barely dried on the tens of thousands of uncounted provisional ballots before the Bush administration started consolidating its power. In the wake of an election in which he received 51.02 percent of the popular vote, less than 31...

Killer wind.(wind turbines)
March 22, 2005... The wind turbines of Altamont Pass, blades glinting in the afternoon sun, have become a welcome signpost of home for me over the years. As the plane I'm on begins its descent into Oakland, the wind farm--more than the Sierra, more than the...

The spraying of America: American agriculture dumps a billion pounds of pesticides on food, producing a truly toxic harvest.
March 22, 2005... When Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published in 1962, the American pesticide business was in full postwar bloom. These "elixirs of death," descended from World War II chemical warfare experiments, were suddenly ubiquitous--growing fivefold...

A day in the sun for moon bears.(Animals Asia Foundation)
March 22, 2005... In a bamboo forest along the Pi River, Jill Robinson holds out a finger dipped in honey. The sun peeks through the canopy, illuminating a rusty cage. Tentatively, a tongue reaches through the bars. "Andrew," an Asiatic black bear, also known as...

Mordechai Vanunu arrested again.
March 22, 2005... It was a few minutes before noon in East Jerusalem, and Mordechai Vanunu, the courageous man who blew the whistle on Israel's nuclear arsenal nearly two decades ago and became a hero to peace activists around the world, had just climbed a...

The Mauna Loa anomaly.(carbon dioxide concentration)
March 22, 2005... George Bush is President That's the bad news The good news at least from the point of view of climate aficionados, is that with Russias recent ratification, the Kyoto Protocol is about to enter into force--on Feb 16, to be precise. It's not the...

Text of the Nobel Peace Prize winner's acceptance speech.(Voices)(Transcript)
March 22, 2005... As the first African woman to receive this prize, I accept it on behalf of the people of Kenya and Africa and indeed the whole world. Although this prize comes to me, it acknowledges the work of countless individuals and groups across the...