Earth Island Journal articles from September 2001

Earth Island Journal archives from September 2001

Dear Journal.
September 22, 2001... "Slanderous" Cover If you people are going to be slandering our president on the cover of your tree-hugger magazine, I do not care to receive it. I'm sick and tired of you imbicile [sic] liberals. When you belittle our president, you...

Cultured Vultures.(genetically modified vulture)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... INDIA -- Comparing the achievement to the explosion of India's first nuclear bomb, scientists at the Guru Ghasidas University announced that they had introduced genetically modified material from a green pigeon into a whitebacked vulture....

Your Simecs or Your Life.(private Italian currency)
September 22, 2001... ITALY -- Giancinto Auriti, a retired law professor, believes that the debt-based economy promoted by Italy's banks have devalued the lire by 50 percent. Acting on his beliefs, Auriti devised a new currency for his hometown of Guardiagrele. The...

Greens Ready to Uproot Bush.(President George W. Bush)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... AUSTRALIA -- The first international conference of Green Party politicians drew 800 delegates from 70 countries. The conference swiftly announced plans for a worldwide boycott of US oil companies in response to George W. Bush's decision to turn...

Toxic Tots and Stauffer's Spin.(Stauffer Chemical Company)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... US -- The American Lung Association reports that 4.3 million US kids suffer from asthma and the National Cancer Institute reports a 65 percent jump in testicular cancer in 15- to 19-year-old boys. The Center for Health, Environment and Justice...

Would You Like Pillow Mints with That?(McDonald's Corp. opening a chain of hotels)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... SWITZERLAND -- The Golden Arches are now sprouting up over a chain of European "McDonald's Hotels," thanks to maverick multimillionaire Urs Hammer, CEO of McDonald's Swiss operations. The familiar yellow and red color scheme dominates the decor...

Save an Ecozombie.(those disconnected from nature)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... US -- On Earth Day, Greenwich University ecopsychologist Michael J. Cohen announced the start of "Ecozombie Rehabilitation Year." According to Cohen, "ecozombies" are people who "needlessly suffer because they have become nature-disconnected...

The Towering Infernals.(cellphone antennas)
September 22, 2001... US -- There are more than 111 million cellphone users in the US (7.3 million are used in Los Angeles alone) and, over the past five years, the number of cellphone antennas has quadrupled. With more than 95,000 cellphone antennas already...

IBF to UNEP: Get Out and Pedal.(International Bike Fund, United Nations Environment Programm)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... BELGIUM -- "We must radically rethink our approach to road transportation," UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Klaus Toepfer declared in March. Speaking at the start of the "Clean Energy World Tour 2001," an event that...

No Fuel Like an Old Fuel.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... US -- US automakers are being forced to play catch-up to European and Asian carmakers who are starting to mass-produce hybrid and fuel cell-powered vehicles. General Motors intends to introduce a fuel cell-powered Chevrolet S10 pickup within...

Atlas Coughed.(author Ayn Rand and industrialization)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... US -- The followers of capitalist guru Ayn "Atlas Shrugged" Rand, have taken aim at Earth Day for subverting "industrial society, human progress, and human life." As the Randians see it, "Automobiles power industrial civilization. Without them...

Fee Speech.(payinig for time with political leaders)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Organizers of the Summit of the Americas in Quebec offered the world's biggest multinationals the opportunity to make t private "welcoming remarks" to George W Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and 32 other world leaders in exchange...

All the News That's Fit to Place.(declassified Bay of Pigs invasion memorandums)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Recently declassified memos from the days of the Bay of Pigs invasion show the CIA boasting of its ability to plant political propaganda "directly on international wire services." One CIA memo states that "radio and leaflet operations... will...

Boost Your Ratings: Kill a Pig.(killing animals to boost radio ratings)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... "There's been a disturbing trend in radio these days of killing animals as a stunt to boost ratings," reports Eco-Mole Jackie Dove. Clear Channel Communications (CCC), one of the largest US media chains, is a repeat offender. CCC radio...

Spy Kids.(studying Internet habits of children)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... N2H2, the company behind the "Bess" Internet filtering software, secretly conspired to sell client data to the Department of Defense. The "clients" were 14 million US schoolchildren who used N2H2's "Class Clicks" to surf the Internet. Defense...

Another Rigged Election.(Yugoslavia)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... The International Action Center (IAC) reports that the Clinton administration and European governments engaged in "open and extensive intervention" in last September's Yugoslav elections and used "blatant pressure, bribery and interference" to...

Meet the Ambassador.(United States ambassador to United Nations)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... George Bush's choice for UN Ambassador, John Negroponte, has a shadowy past. Negroponte was US Ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to 1985 when Battalion 316, a covert Honduran army unit trained by the CIA, murdered hundreds of students and labor...

Happy Holidays.(layoffs)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Kaiser Aluminum -- owned by the same Texas-based behemoth that controls embattled forest-raper Pacific Lumber -- was quick to profit from the western power "crisis." Because its Spokane, Washington aluminum smelters were protected from surging...

What $25 Billion Can Buy.(orbiting spy cameras)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... The 40-year-old National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is so secret that its logo wasn't declassified until 1994. Its annual budget (still a secret) is believed to exceed $6 billion -- greater than the budgets of the CIA or National Security...

Mole Kiss.(Governor Jesse Ventura and animal rights)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... To Minnesota's outspoken Governor Jesse Ventura, who talked himself into another controversy during his weekly radio broadcast. Sounding for all the world like an animal rights zealot, Ventura scolded people who hunt "Bambi" and "Yogi Bear."...

Mole Nip.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... To Jennifer Lopez for appearing at the Oscars wearing false eyelashes made from red fox fur. Japan's Shu Urmura cosmetics company was so struck by J-Lo's lashes that it plans to add "eye stoles" to its catalog (also available in mink and...

Mole Kiss.(comment on global warming and President George W. Bush)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... To Donald Kennedy for his editorial in the March 20 edition of Science magazine. Referring to the debate over [CO.sub.2] emissions and global warming, Kennedy wrote: "Mr. President, on this one, the science is clear." The essay was decorated...

Clean Air Wins.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... In a landmark decision, the US Supreme Court ruled (Whitman vs. American Trucking) that the EPA can set clean-air standards based on public health alone and need not take economic considerations into account. The truckers had complained that...

Cascade of Protests: Boise Bows.(logging industry abandons plan to grind forests into wood chips)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... After years of lobbying and litigating by green groups, Boise Cascade finally dropped plans for a mill to grind the primordial forests of southern Chile into wood chips. The plant, which would have been the world's largest manufacturing...

The Safeway to Brew Your Java.(supermarket chain offers Fair Trade coffee in its stores)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Safeway is the latest major coffee retailer to offer Fair Trade coffee in each of its 1,600 US stores through a partnership with the Organic Coffee Company. Safeway's move comes hot on the heels of a decision by Starbucks and Seattle's Best...

Saving Native America's Seeds.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Realizing that many ancient crop strains and their associated cultural traditions were disappearing, Gary Nabhan, Mahina Drees, Barney Burns and Karen Reichhardt founded the nonprofit Native Seeds/Southwestern Endangered Aridland Resources...

The Sounds of Silence.(Senator John McCain awarded environmental award)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Senator John McCain (R-AZ) was awarded the William Penn Mott Jr. Park Leadership Award at the annual dinner of National Parks Conservation Association in March, for his role in sponsoring the Air Tour Management Act. The legislation enables the...

The Greenest Hollywood Stars.(environmental protection advertisement campaign aimed at young adults)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Young Hollywood is being drawn into the green scene through the Environmental Media Association's (EMA) "Generation E" campaign. Stars will record a series of public service announcements (PSAs) aimed at the 20- and 30-something crowd. The...

Spirit Bears' Forest Saved.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... An intense global campaign to halt logging in Canada's Great Bear Rainforest has convinced two major logging companies -- International Forest Products (Interfor) and West Fraser -- to permanently protect 20 valleys and defer logging in another...

Reversing the Legacy of War.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... PeaceTrees Vietnam's largest landmine and unexploded ordnance clearance project has made another 37 acres of land inhabitable for families and children of Quang Tri Province. This freshly cleared site will become the home of PeaceTrees...

The Maine Event.(forested land purchased to be protected against development)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... The New England Forestry Foundation has purchased 762,192 acres of forested land in Maine -- an area larger than Rhode Island. The parcel will be protected for posterity against development. Money to buy the land came from foundations, a few...

Natural Rhythms.(composer-environmentalist Steve Heitzeg)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Steve Heitzeg is not your average composer. He's more of an environmental-activist-with-a-baton. In an amazingly varied career, this 41-year-old Minnesota musician has composed the music for the PBS series "Death of the Dream: Farmhouses in the...

Yggdrasil Institute.(Green Map of Paris)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Yggdrasil Institute's Green Map of Paris is just the thing to enhance your next trip to France. The 48-page $6 booklet can be purchased from Yggdrasil or viewed free on the Web [PO Box 131, Georgetown, KY 40324, www.earthisland.org/ yggdrasil]....

Campaign to Safeguard America's Waters.(ballot initiative in Alaska)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Campaign to Safeguard America's Waters is one of the primary authors of a ballot initiative that would increase pollution controls on cruise ships and provide cash to help communities cope with the industry's impacts. If the initiative becomes...

SAVE International.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... SAVE International held its second silent auction at the University of California at Berkeley to benefit SAVE's work in protecting the primary wintering site of Taiwan's endangered black-faced spoonbill (only 600 of the birds are believed to...

Earth Island Journal.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Earth Island Journal contributors Jane Akre and Steve Wilson were awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for North America for their courageous fight against corporate censorship of the media [See "The Mystery in Your Milk," Summer '01 EIJ]....

The Sacred Land Film Project.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... The Sacred Land Film Project's new TV documentary, In the Light of Reverence, recounts the struggles of three native communities to save sacred lands at Mount Shasta, Devils Tower and the Four Corners area. The 72-minute program will be...

Climate Solutions.(Clean Energy Leadership Plan, Crimea)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Climate Solutions Co-Director Rhys Roth joined a Washington State delegation to the Crimea in southern Ukraine in April to help business, government and nonprofit leaders develop a Clean Energy Leadership Plan. The trip was organized by members...

The John Muir Project.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... The John Muir Project has filed a lawsuit against the US Forest Service (USFS) seeking to halt logging in the 10 National Forests that comprise more than 11 million acres of the Sierra Nevada. These forests protect the...

Earth Island Institute.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Earth Island Institute is adding a new digital media theme to the EII website, thanks to Ecostream [www.ecostream.net], a new webcasting production company with a studio in the same building that houses EII. Ecostream's goal is to help green...

The Borneo Project.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... The Borneo Project won headline attention in the San Francisco Chronicle on May 22, for helping t0 electrify a Dayak village in the river forests of Borneo. The Borneo Project paid for half the cost of a minihydro generator that uses a local...

Nick's Long Walk.(Pacific Crest Trail)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Imagine waking up at 6 a.m. every morning, knowing you have thousands of miles to hike until reaching your destination. In contrast to mountain climbing, hiking the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail requires a certain type of mental stamina and an...

Luna Still Stands.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Luna, the ancient redwood where environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill lived for more than two years, has survived an illegal chainsaw cut that was discovered last fall. Since the attack, the critically injured tree has received an...

Bari and Cherney vs. USA.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Eleven years ago, a car bomb nearly killed two Earth First activists. Darryl Cherney was temporarily deafened and partially blinded. Judi Bari was severely injured when the bomb detonated directly beneath the driver's seat. Judi and Darryl...

Swiss Go Dolphin-safe.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... ZURICH -- On April 4, the Working Group for the Protection of Marine Mammals-Switzerland (ASMS) and Earth Island Institute joined forces with Switzerland's two largest supermarket chains, Coop and Migros, to introduce a new "dolphin-safe" label...

Robo-Willy.(robotic orca)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... The 1993 hit movie Free Willy and its two sequels raised international concerns about the cruel practice of keeping marine mammals captive for human entertainment. As a result, the number of amusement parks and aquariums with captive orcas has...

Sounding Off on the Navy's Sonar.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... At long last, the public got its turn to question the US Navy's proposal to deploy one of the loudest man-made noisemakers into the world's oceans to detect "enemy" submarines. Underwater blasts of the Navy's Low Frequency Active Sonar...

Correction.
September 22, 2001... In the spring issue, IMMP reported that "Japan's National Fisheries Agency sent officials to [the towns of] Futo and Taiji to warn local fishers to beware of activists taking pictures." This was incorrect. Iruka and Kujira Action Network...

Cruise Ship Pollution.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... At the beginning of this year, representatives from six California state agencies were selected to form a Cruise Ship Environmental Task Force to investigate the cruise industry's impact on California's environment. The task force was created...

ORV Restrictions Bush-Whacked?(off road vehicles, environmental policies of George W. Bush)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Under the Bush administration, many of former President Clinton's public lands policies are either being reviewed or rescinded. Unfortunately, several National Park Service (NPS) regulations regarding off-road vehicles (ORVs) such as...

Fill 'er Up ... with Biodiesel!(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Bluewater Network caused a media sensation on May 23 when it invited drivers to pick up five free gallons of biodiesel fuel at a San Francisco filling station. "We challenge oil companies to give motorists a genuine green fuel choice by...

A Bill to Control Global Warming.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... In the past century, humanity has unknowingly embarked on a collision course with an environmental disaster of planetary proportions. It is called global warming. Global warming is no longer a theory; it's a reality. And it's worse than we...

Watch Out for Whales!(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Around the world, ship and ferry strikes are causing the needless and bloody deaths of alarming numbers of whales, many of them young whales and newborn calves. The death toll is likely to rise with the expansion of global shipping, ocean...

Ethanol: Fueling a Rural Revival.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... Today rural America is in trouble. Low crop prices are squeezing families off the land and farm populations are declining to unprecedented lows. Many small towns have trouble' maintaining stores and services. At the same time, oil imports...

Protecting Asia's Wildlife.
September 22, 2001... In mid-April, Earth Island Institute, acting on behalf of the Tibetan Plateau Project (TPP), joined in filing one of the first Endangered Species Act lawsuits against the Bush administration. The suit, brought against Department of the...

Holy Smog!
September 22, 2001... ITALY -- Fearing that their increased incidents of leukemia were caused by exposure to "electrosmog" (powerful radio waves), residents of a Rome neighborhood appeared to Italy's Environment Minister Willer Bordon to clamp down on the offender...

A Taste of What's to Come?(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... MOLDOVA -- In March, the World Health Organization reported that desperately poor Moldavians were selling kidneys and other body parts for cash. The buyers (known as "recruiters") harvest the organs for clients in Israel, Turkey and Western...

WTO Does Something Good!
September 22, 2001... SWITZERLAND -- In mid-March, the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued a stunning ruling upholding France's right to ban imports of highly toxic and cancer-causing white asbestos from Canada. France, which was defended by lawyers representing...

McC Says No to McD.(Paul McCartney; McDonalds)
September 22, 2001... UK -- Sir Paul McCartney cancelled a guest appearance on the Chris Evans' Virgin Breakfast Show when he discovered that the DJ is a Big Mac addict. Evan's not only advertises for McDonald's, he makes a point of munching cheeseburgers and...

The North Sea "Powerhouse".(possible use of sea winds to generate electricity)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... GERMANY -- Harvesting the force of the North Sea winds could generate three times the electricity currently consumed by Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and the UK. This estimate comes from the German Wind Energy Institute (GWEI), which...

Globalization and Bribery.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... UK -- Western multinationals pay an estimated $80 billion a year in bribes to corrupt foreign governments -- enough money to eradicate poverty worldwide. A study by The Corner House, a British environmental think tank, found that a bribery boom...

Working Towards a Solution.(globalization increases gap between rich and poor)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... SWITZERLAND -- According to the International Labor Organization's (ILO) World Employment Report 2000, "one-third of the population of all the developing countries [is] living on less than $1 a day" and the US has the highest child poverty rate...

UN Team Calls WTO a "Nightmare".(United Nations, World Trade Organization)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... SWITZERLAND -- A report prepared for the UN Sub-commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights concludes that the World Trade Organization's rules are so "grossly unfair and even prejudiced" that the WTO has become "a veritable...

Razzing Ronald.(McDonald's)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... SCOTLAND -- In an act of counter-globalization, wage-slaves at McDonald's fast-food restaurants have formed a global fraternity called McDonald's Workers Resistance (MWR) to protest "late nights, skin irritations, no overtime, harassment, tow...

Bottled Water? Feh!
September 22, 2001... SWITZERLAND -- Bottled water's claims to purity are bogus, says a study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Selling bottled [H.sub.2]O for 1,000 times the price of tap water has given birth to a $22 billion-a-year industry, but the WWF's tests...

What Next? Nicotine Coco-Puffs?
September 22, 2001... UK -- London-based British American Tobacco and the US Brown & Williamson tobacco company have created a "refreshing and satisfying" mint that contains as much nicotine as a cigarette. The watchdog group Action on Smoking and Health, accuses...

Did I Say "Terrorist"?(planned nuclear power plant in Finland)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... FINLAND -- Despite 20 years of protests by antinuclear activists, Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen is defending his decision to build a nuclear power plant in his country, the first such proposal in Europe in nearly 20 years. TVO, the...

Big Dam Could Break Lynx.(Alqueva project, Portugal)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... PORTUGAL -- The Alqueva project -- which includes 10 dams, 3,000 miles of irrigation canals and dozens of new roads, bridges and pumping stations -- will require the clearcutting of more than one million trees. The dam, which is being funded by...

Europe to Ban Animal Tests.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... BELGIUM -- On April 2, the 626-member European Parliament voted to ban sales of cosmetic products tested on animals. If approved by the 15 European Union member nations, the law would eventually ban all new cosmetics using animal-tested...

Euro-Greens Bash Bush.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... UK -- George Bush's rejection of US responsibility for polluting the world's atmosphere prompted Green Party members of the European Parliament to call for a Europe-wide boycott of the Big Three US oil companies -- Texaco, Chevron and...

Biofuels for the Biosphere.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... THE HAGUE -- The Ecologic Foundation has called for the world's transport systems to shift from petroleum-based fuels to biofuels. According to Ecologic Executive Director Guy Salmon, displacing oil on the scale envisaged in global...

Yakkity-Yak.(protection of Tibetan antelopes)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... CHINA -- Volunteer members of Qinghai province's Wild Yak Brigade gained worldwide fame for risking their lives to protect Tibetan antelopes from poachers. Hunters have been killing 25,000 animals a year for their fur, which is used to make...

Clean Steel.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... JAPAN -- New York-based Innovest Strategic Value Advisors studied 16 steel companies in the US, Canada, Europe, Japan and South Korea, using 60 environmental filters. Topping the list with a perfect AAA rating was Japan's NKK Corporation [1-1-2...

Serious about Recycling.(used appliances, Japan)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... JAPAN -- Garage sales may suffer but Japan's landfills will benefit from a new law that requires manufacturers of TVs, washing machines, air conditioners and refrigerators to reclaim their products for recycling. Japanese shoppers, who cast off...

Bombay's Beef with McDonald's.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... INDIA -- Shortly after a US lawyer filed suit against McDonald's for flavoring its fries with beef fat, Big Mac attacks erupted across India, the country with the world's largest population of vegetarians. On May 4, Hindu fundamentalists...

Hide and Seek.(leather trade in India)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... INDIA -- Cows are sacred in India but leather remains a major export, particularly for the manufacture of shoes. A campaign by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) drew attention to the cruel treatment of cattle consigned to the...

Diesel's Days Are Done.(solar project, Philippines)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... THE PHILIPPINES -- In September, work begins on the world's largest solar project, a $48 million effort to bring electricity to 400,000 residents of rural Mindanao. In addition to installing solar panels to power 15,000 homes in 150 villages,...

Cheats and Chong.(Dayak land rights case, Malaysia)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... BORNEO -- On May 12, Malaysian High Court Judge Datuk Ian Chin Hon Chong ordered the powerful state-backed Borneo Paper and Pulp Company (BPPC) to stop logging inside a 672-hectare area of Sarawak rainforest claimed by an indigenous Dayak...

Enron Overpowers Maharashtra.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... INDIA -- Houston-based multinational Enron is locked in a battle with Maharashtra officials over the fate of its $2 billion Phase-II Dabhol powerplant on the coast 100 miles south of Bombay. Maharashtra officials complain that they do not need...

A Worldwide Political Party.(Global Greens)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... AUSTRALIA -- The Global Greens conference, which convened in Canberra in April, dramatically demonstrated that a historic movement has been born -- a political party that spans political boundaries. Reuters reported that the delegates "arrived...

Anti-Loggers Log a Victory.(Zealand protects lowland forests)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... AOTEAROA -- On June 1, the New Zealand government bowed to decades of nonviolent protests and decreed that all 130,000 hectares of native lowland forest owned by Timberlands West Coast would be transferred to the Department of Conservation,...

Cheney's Link to Mexico's Oil.(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... MEXICO -- Dick Cheney once claimed that it was a "damned shame" the Good Lord didn't put the Earth's best oil reserves in democratic countries. About the time Cheney became CEO of Halliburton (the world's largest oil services company),...

Pipeline Project Looms.(Ecuador)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... ECUADOR -- The world's leading bird conservation alliance, BirdLife International, has criticized the Ecuadorian government's plan to allow a multinational consortium to build the $594 million Mindo Pipeline, which would carry crude oil through...

Let Them Eat Scrambled DNA.(genetically altered crops included in Bolivian food relief)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2001... BOLIVIA -- Farmers and environmentalists were livid when the Bolivian Environment and Development Forum revealed that shipments of US food aid contained significant amounts of genetically engineered soy, wheat and cornmeal. The import of...