Earth Island Journal articles from September 2005

Earth Island Journal archives from September 2005

From the editor.(Editorial)
September 22, 2005... The last three months have seen a rather startling number of news stories about wildlife species showing up where they weren't expected. In June, biologists announced a breeding pair of least Bell's vireos had been spotted in California's...

Angry about Heifer.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 22, 2005... I was very disappointed to see the article about Heifer International [Summer 2005 EIJ], a well-intentioned group that provides animals to impoverished people. The problem is that what these people really need are tools and education on how to...

No, nukes!(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 22, 2005... As a nuclear engineer I was concerned with the attempts to explain some of the technical workings of the nuclear reactor [Summer 2005 EIJ]. While all the terms were present, they were thrown together in a sort of haphazard manner that is close...

Kudos.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 22, 2005... I find it interesting that your organization is looking at minority rights and Third World development issues. Sometimes all people believe is important about the environment is keeping trees healthy and dolphins swimming in the oceans when the...

Global warming and malaria.(AFRICA)
September 22, 2005... The number of South Africans at risk for malaria will quadruple by the year 2020 as global warming brings infected mosquitoes south. Mosquitoes carrying the malaria parasite, now restricted to the tropical north, could spread southward toward...

Green power.(AFRICA)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... Hoping to reduce the environmental damage caused by coal-fired power plants currently in use, the South African government is encouraging production from renewable sources to meet the surging demand for power. The first company trading...

Greenland's "big four" threatened.(ARCTIC)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... A report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has called on Greenland to do more to protect polar bears, walruses, narwhal, and beluga whales, referred to collectively as the country's "big four" species. Narwhals and belugas are threatened because...

Indian tigers close to extinction.(ASIA)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... India's Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has set up a task force to try to save the nation's declining stock of tigers. The tigers are believed to be on the verge of extinction in India due to poaching for their body parts. Trade in dead...

Another fake island for Persian Gulf.(ASIA)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... Following in the footsteps of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, Bahrain has decided that it wants to build yet another artificial island to hold multi-billion dollar real estate. Bahrain, an island itself, says it's ready to spend $3...

Australian for "save the whales".(AUSTRALIA)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... Ian Campbell, Environment and Heritage Minister of Australia, is pressuring Japan to stop killing whales in the name of science. Japan has been killing whales under the guise of scientific research as allowed by an article in the International...

Culled oyster blues.(AUSTRALIA)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... Officials in Australia say the country's Sydney rock oysters are dying off at an alarming rate due to a hitherto-unknown disease, referred to as the QX parasite. The disease threatens to destroy a $23.1-million-a-year industry. The QX...

Euros sunset dirty beaches.(EUROPE)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... A European Union assembly has set a 2011 deadline for its members to clean up their polluted beaches. This new date moves up the previous deadline from 2015, due to increased risks to beachgoers' health. Officials for the EU say one in eight...

Pesticides and Parkinson's.(EUROPE)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... Researchers at the University of Aberdeen report that British gardeners exposed to more pesticides run a greater risk of developing Parkinson's disease. Anthony Seaton, the principal investigator, recommends wearing protective clothing for...

From nukes to wind.(EUROPE)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... Sweden ramped up its nuclear phase-out program with the closure of the 600-megawatt Barseback-2 reactor at the end of May. The first Barseback reactor was closed in 1999. To compensate for the lost power, Sweden is investing heavily in...

California may ban online hunting.(NORTH AMERICA)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... California's State Senate has passed a bill that would prohibit use of computer-assisted hunting sites and ban the import or export of any animal killed using computer-assisted hunting. The bill now goes to the Assembly for approval. The...

Pemess.(NORTH AMERICA)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... Another oil spill has been reported in Tamaulipas, Mexico, the latest in a long series of incidents from the nation's aging pipeline network. The state oil monopoly, Pemex, has promised to cut such accidents, calling safety the company's...

Flushed with death.(NORTH AMERICA)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... According to a study published in the Caribbean Journal of Science, raw sewage discharged into the waters around the US Virgin Islands is killing coral reefs at an alarming rate. Coral reefs exposed to the bacteria and nutrients found in raw...

CO2 ... achoo!(NORTH AMERICA)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... An agricultural researcher in Maryland found that increased levels of carbon dioxide, the most significant greenhouse gas, may cause some weeds to release more pollen. The Agricultural Research Service in Maryland planted ragweed, a common...

The old green mayors.(UN World Environment Day conference, San Francisco)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... The mayors of Zurich, Istanbul, Melbourne, Seattle, and many other cities from across the globe convened in San Francisco in June to sign the UN Urban Environmental Accords. The signing came at the end of the UN World Environment Day...

Hoppy hour.(SOUTH AMERICA)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... Health officials in Lima, Peru uncovered some 5,000 endangered Telmatbius frogs during a routine inspection of commercial refrigerators. The frogs were said to have been brought from lakes in the high Andes to become ingredients in popular...

Soya battle.(SOUTH AMERICA)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... Brazil's small contingent of Green Party legislators resigned in May in protest over the government's failure to stem the high rate of destruction in the Amazon rainforest. Despite campaign promises by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in...

Galapagos sea cucumber ban lifted.(SOUTH AMERICA)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... The Galapagos reserve management authority has lifted a ban on sea cucumber fishing to allow the capture of three million animals in 60 days starting June 12. The ban, in effect for 2005 and 2006, was lifted as local fishermen threatened to...

In the Light of Reverence, the documentary produced and directed by Christopher McLeod of Sacred Land Film Project, was recently awarded the Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media at the Council on Foundations' annual meeting in San Diego in April.(Earth Island project reports)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... In the Light of Reverence, the documentary produced and directed by Christopher McLeod of Sacred Land Film Project, was recently awarded the Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media at the Council on Foundations' annual...

Mangrove Action Project.(Earth Island project reports)(Brazilian coastline mangrove protection)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... In May, the Forum in Defense of the Coastal Zone of Ceara (FDZCC), the Environmental Education Network of the Ceara Coast (REALCE), and Instituto Terramar initiated an Environmental Caravan "Mangroves are our Heritage," which visited...

Earth Island Institute welcomes three new projects!(Earth Island project reports)
September 22, 2005... Earth Island Institute welcomes three new projects! Nature in the City has a mission to restore a positive human connection with urban nature, leading to urban ecological sustainability. Energy Action is the project of Billy Parish, winner of a...

2005 Brower Youth Awards.(Earth Island project reports)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... The 2005 Brower Youth Awards ceremony will take place Friday, September 30, at the Calvin Simmons Auditorium in Oakland, California. The 2005 awards ceremony will exemplify the broadening collaboration between environmental, environmental...

In July, Brian Williams, executive director and founder of the Red Panda Project, and Praveen Singh, the project's communications director, will head to Nepal and India to lobby the government and garner local and regional support for the proposed Singhalila Red Panda Reserve, the world's first reserve for the endangered red panda.(Earth Island project reports)(Brief Article)
September 22, 2005... In July, Brian Williams, executive director and founder of the Red Panda Project, and Praveen Singh, the project's communications director, will head to Nepal and India to lobby the government and garner local and regional support for the...

Staff and Projects.(Earth Island Institute)
September 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....

International Marine Mammal Project.(Earth Island in the news)
September 22, 2005... Another big court win for dolphins The International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) is celebrating an important legal victory for dolphins in the US Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel unanimously turned down an attempt by the tuna...

Reef Protection International.(Earth Island in the news)
September 22, 2005... A revolution for the ocean The world suffered a recent enormous human tragedy on the Indian Ocean's shores. Oceans themselves have also suffered greatly in the past year. Millions of tons of waste have been dumped into the ocean, 100...

Borneo Project.(reforestation, Baram, Sarawak)
September 22, 2005... Penan restore biodiversity, one seed at a time Lina Kajan, a young Penan mother, is waiting for the giant canopy trees of the world's oldest rainforest to bear fruit. When they do, she'll traverse steep slopes and ravines, searching for...

Kids for the Bay.(Earth Island in the news)
September 22, 2005... EPA Award KIDS for the BAY (KftB) is the proud recipient of the Environmental Achievement Award for 2005 from the US Environmental Protection Agency. "We are thrilled not only because the award recognizes our own staff's hard work to...

Center for Safe Energy.(Earth Island in the news)
September 22, 2005... Fighting nuclear waste disposal in Kazakhstan Biologist Kaisha Atakhanova was chosen as the most influential and courageous activist in Asia this year. A longtime partner of the Center for Safe Energy, Atakhanova was recently awarded the...

UniversitArea Protegida.(Earth Island in the news)
September 22, 2005... UniversitArea Protegida (UAP) works with Nicaraguan university students in natural reserves throughout the country to promote research, conservation, and youth development. The program's first group of students--UAPitos--has completed their...

Everyone's got a story.(Illai Kenney)(Biography)
September 22, 2005... Have you heard the story about the Brower Youth Award winner who went toe-to-toe with Arnold Schwarzenegger? Arnie beat Illai Kenney--and 247 other challengers--in the 2003 California gubernatorial election, but Kenney remains unbowed. "I did...

NASCAR goes green? New tracks touted as good for the planet.(Cover Story)
September 22, 2005... An endless stream of RVs is at a standstill, waiting to fill dirt parking lots. People congregate around barbecue grills, drink a few cold ones, and talk strategy. Fans adorned with drivers' portraits or sponsors' logos walk around the giant...

Toxic tour: driving through one of the West Coast's deadliest neighborhoods.
September 22, 2005... "Contra Costa is a potential Bhopal," activist Denny Larson grimaces as his red Subaru roars west on Interstate 580. Large, easygoing, and genial, Larson warns, "We are now entering Richmond, and we may not return alive." His tone is...

Harvest in the city: New York gardeners bring fresh, healthy food to the less-affluent.
September 22, 2005... Bursts of yellow flowers explode along one side of the Garden of Eden on Weeks Avenue in the Bronx. The 5,000-square-foot community garden is just beginning to unfold, but already it lifts the spirit. A path runs through the garden, taking...

Navajos ban uranium mining: a new law bans all uranium mining and processing on Navajo land.
September 22, 2005... Navajo (Dines) who have lost family members from radioactive contamination--and those fighting new proposals for uranium development--celebrated the passage April 19 of the Dine Natural Resources Protection Act of 2005. Navajo Tribal Chairman...

Alaska's crude threat: oil spills on the North Slope are routine, and so are oil executives' lies about them.
September 22, 2005... Thousands of caribou and other types of wildlife will be displaced if DC lawmakers pass a measure to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). But there's an even bigger issue: the very real possibility of an...

Sedimental journey: if ever there were a perfect time to let Glen Canyon return, its is now.
September 22, 2005... During Easter week in 1965, two dozen people paid a farewell visit to the lower Escalante River on the Colorado Plateau. Glen Canyon, on the Colorado River, just a bit downstream, had already begun to disappear beneath the waters of Lake...

It's in the bag: how a Central American community is making books out of trash.(Honduras, Analea Brauburger )
September 22, 2005... One of the first things Analea Brauburger noticed when she stepped off the plane in Honduras was the trash all over the airport parking lot. "Litter is a major detractor from the beautiful naturaleza [nature]," the 27-year-old Peace Corps...

Voices.
September 22, 2005... "Imagine that a scientist and a libertarian go out for a drive one day..." From the day Bush took office, it's been his policy to disregard the advice and findings of environmental scientists, often espousing bad data put out by...