Earth Island Journal articles from September 1997

Earth Island Journal archives from September 1997

Fight to save Taiji Orcas continues. (marine mammal activist Michael Reppy)
September 22, 1997... On April 24, marine mammal activist Michael Reppy set sail for Tokyo from San Francisco with a twofold agenda -- break the world record for a solo Pacific crossing and use the resulting press coverage to draw attention to the plight of five...

Ibans defy the grasp of palm oil barons.
September 22, 1997... "[I]t is very undemocratic and an abuse of our most basic human rights for the Sarawak government to systematically force, harass, intimidate, suppress and sabotage us to accept the oil palm plantation on our customary land, which is the only...

Resisting the new world order. (corporate globalization)
September 22, 1997... The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (a coalition of 29 rich countries, led by the US) is quietly negotiating an insidious Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) that will grant transnational investors the unrestricted...

Jet skis hit bumpy water.
September 22, 1997... Personal watercraft -- JET SKIS[R], Waverunners[R] and Sea Doos[R] -- have long plagued beachgoers and marine enthusiasts with their overpowering, mosquito-like noise. But soaring accident and injury rates -- along with gruesome deaths and...

The people take on the prawns. (India's outlawing of the shrimp industry) (includes related article on Central America's shrimp and fish industries)
September 22, 1997... "Fishing communities and farming communities have Joined in action to stop the destruction of our environmental wealth and our people's livelihoods. The people have begun the second movement for freedom on the 50th anniversary of our...

THe Dead Sea is dying.
September 22, 1997... Israel -- The Dead Sea -- the most unique body of water in the Mideast -- is drying up. Depleted by industrialization and tourist development, the sea is evaporating, sapping an environmental and cultural resource shared by Israel, Palestine and...

US plans to define bio-engineered foods as 'organic.'
September 22, 1997... US -- Since 1990, organic food sales have jumped 20 percent annually, reaching $3.3 billion in 1996, and are projected to grow to $6.5 billion by the year 2000. Organic cropland has more than doubled since 1991, and organic dairy sales are...

World trade threatens Massachusetts. (Massachusetts' selective purchasing law to Burma)
September 22, 1997... Europe -- On July 4, the Japanese government and the European Commission (EC) unveiled plans to challenge US sovereignty before the World Trade Organization (WTO). At issue: a Massachusetts law that penalizes companies doing business with Burma....

Monsanto targets activist -- and loses.
September 22, 1997... Germany via EcoNet -- I was sued last winter by the US agrochemical corporation Monsanto for distributing an announcement on GENESIS, an electronic mailing list in Germany concerned with novel food. I received a message from Greenpeace...

Monsanto's big bio-gene slipup.
September 22, 1997... Canada -- In mid-April, the chemical and biotechnology giant Monsanto Corp. announced that it was recalling "small quantities" of genetically engineered canola seed containing an unapproved gene that had found its way into the product by mistake....

Europe legalizes 'patents on life.' (includes related article on US' life patents)
September 22, 1997... On July 16, the European Parliament (EP), meeting in Strasbourg, approved a controversial European Commission directive that would grant "inventors," including corporations, the right to patent "genes, human cells, body parts and organs and whole...

Nightmares and hope in Bhopal. (includes related article on industrial hazards and human rights)
September 22, 1997... India -- On December 3, 1996, the 12th anniversary of the world's worst industrial accident, women in saris and veils led symbolic funeral processions through the streets of Bhopal. In the ghetto opposite Union Carbide's abandoned pesticide...

A timber baron exposed. (Indonesia's timber tycoon Mohammad Hasan)
September 22, 1997... Indonesia -- Timber baron Mohammad "Bob" Hasan is a rising environmental star. In Indonesia, one of his companies recently won a clean-operations award from the government, and abroad, he's been getting plenty of good press. But Hasan is anything...

Dolphin Death Act dead, but Safe-Tuna Label still in danger.
September 22, 1997... On August 15, after a bruising and contentious two-year battle, President Clinton signed compromise dolphin legislation. Though Earth Island Institute (EII) and the 85-member Dolphin Safe/Fair Trade Campaign defeated the worst aspects of the...

New 'tree free' paper touted -- don't be bamboozled. (bamboo-based papers)
September 22, 1997... In a world where industrial logging is ravaging our last pristine forest ecosystems, it's refreshing when major companies look beyond the status quo and explore non-wood fibers as part of their overall business strategy. With the recent...

World climate showdown. (climate changes)
September 22, 1997... Critical international negotiations are underway to set targets and time tables for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Any agreement reached will be signed during the December '97 climate summit in Kyoto, Japan....

Plutonium strikes earth. Ho-hum.
September 22, 1997... Sunday afternoon, November 17, 1996, President Bill Clinton, vacationing in Hawai'i, is interrupted by an urgent message from the US Space Command: The Russian Mars 96 space probe -- with a half-pound of deadly plutonium on board -- is falling...

How diet soda turns to poison.
September 22, 1997... Earlier this year, 11-year-old Jennifer Cohen, a New Jersey sixth-grader, conducted a class science project proving that aspartame (the artificial sweetener also known as NutraSweet) breaks down into two deadly neurotoxins. This is an edited...

Community food security: growing back to the earth. (US food system) (includes related article on urban farmers)
September 22, 1997... A gribusiness produce typically travels over 1,000 miles before it even reaches the consumer. Yet this food has a far easier time reaching the supermarket than do low-income urban residents. Food industry consolidation and supermarket...

Threatened species lose to trade.
September 22, 1997... Before leaving for the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, I wondered what the endangered animals and plants whose survival was being debated would say if...

Multinationals target Europe with secret biofood PR plan.
September 22, 1997... EuropaBio, Europe's most powerful biotechnology association, hired the US public relations agency Burson Marsteller to battle European resistance to genetic engineering. In the past, Burson Marsteller has represented oppressive regimes in...

Food pets die for. (Includes related articles on junk food and additives)
September 22, 1997... Pets in pet food? No, you say? Be assured that this is happening. Rendered companion animals are just another source of protein used in both pet foods and livestock feeds. Rendering is a cheap, viable means of disposal. Pets are mixed...

The United Nations and the corporate agenda. (includes related article on controlling the transnational outlaws)
September 22, 1997... It was a true power lunch, with the highest officials of the United Nations sitting down to a meal of lobster and an exotic mushroom salad with the CEOs of some of the world's most powerful transnational corporations (TNCs). On June 24,...

Coming soon: a futures market in constitutional rights. (Wisconsin's local agreement with MegaMining Corp)
September 22, 1997... It's the best of times, if you're a rapacious corporation with money. It's the worst of times, if you're a citizen with democratic pretensions, or a living thing. Or a rock. Especially if you contain ore. Feeling cash-poor? Already sold...

Jail time for biking.
September 22, 1997... "We find ourselves... at a critical point in the evolution of American cities, and the main enemy of green cities is, in fact, the private car. And the car is everywhere triumphant. Indeed cities everywhere on Earth, not just in America, are...

Barefoot hiking: just doff it.
September 22, 1997... A walk in the woods can be the perfect escape from the stresses and fast pace of modem life. Hiking allows us to enter a sensory-rich world with fresh air for the lungs, beautiful landscapes for the eyes, the stirrings of wildlife in the brush to...

A tale of two economies. (laws of the earth and human economics)
September 22, 1997... The first commandment of economics is: Grow; grow forever. Companies must get bigger. National economies need to swell by a certain percentage each year. People should want more, make more, earn more, spend more -- evermore. The first...