Earth Island Journal articles from September 2007

Earth Island Journal archives from September 2007

Profile in cowardice.(From the Editor)(Editorial)
September 22, 2007... While the planet burns, Washington fiddles. Each day brings fresh evidence of how humanity's reckless carbon consumption fuels atmospheric changes. Europe experienced a particularly bizarre summer, as erratic weather simultaneously brought...

Advocacy journalism.(Letters & E-mails)(Letter to the editor)
September 22, 2007... In response to your Editor's Letter, "Journalism with a Purpose," in the Summer 2007 issue: I hope that you can give substance to your call for advocacy journalism. I have subscribed to EIJ for a long time, but haven't read it for years....

Fight the good fight.(Letters & E-mails)(Letter to the editor)
September 22, 2007... I like the new style of the magazine. I was an early Earth Island supporter, but the endless Chicken Little-sky is falling scenarios were too depressing for words. Hardly ever did the magazine cover any stories on positive events that would...

See the movie.(Letters & E-mails)(Letter to the editor)
September 22, 2007... In your Summer 2007 edition you join other conservation groups in voicing a rather negative view of tourists visiting Antarctica and the Southern Ocean ("Cold Comfort"--Around the World). Antarctica has no "public," but is managed by...

Spotty logic?(AFRICA)(sport hunting leopards)
September 22, 2007... Leopards may find themselves in a tight spot now that The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has approved a Ugandan proposal to allow sport hunting of leopards. Of Uganda's estimated...

Clearcut apothecary.(AFRICA)(illegal logging affects traditional medicine)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... What do you do when someone cuts down your pharmacy? That's the dilemma facing some West African traditional healers who are finding it more difficult to procure ingredients for their natural, remedies as logging goes unchecked in Ivory Coast....

Drastic plastic.(AFRICA)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... Can a plastic bag give you malaria? No, not directly, but when discarded plastic bags accumulate in the African countryside, any moisture they collect gives mosquitoes one more breeding ground. In Uganda, officials have placed a ban on plastic...

Nature persists.(ASIA)(Teshima, Japan)
September 22, 2007... In a powerful testament to nature's resilience despite human onslaught, a Japanese island that had been the site of one of the country's worst environmental disasters is starting to come back to life. Between 1978 and 1990, a now-defunct...

Burning man.(ASIA)(Vinod Kumar Agarwal's invention reduces wood use during cremation)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mechanical engineer Vinod Kumar Agarwal wants to make sure that the last thing a Hindu does is to protect the environment. Agarwal has developed a funeral pyre that will allow the traditional Hindu custom of...

War profiteer.(ASIA)(Asiatic black bears)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... The conflict in the disputed Kashmir region between Pakistan and India has been a human rights disaster. Since a revolt against New Delhi's rule started 18 years ago, as many as 60,000 people have died in fighting. Tens of thousands more have...

Virgin effort.(EUROPE)(Virgin Group)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... Virgin Group CEO Sir Richard Branson recently set a transportation milestone when his railroad company launched Europe's first biodiesel train. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In June, the Virgin Voyager set out from London's Euston station to...

Exporting harm.(EUROPE)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... In July, the European Union passed new legislation that seeks to halt the illegal dumping of toxic waste in developing countries. The regulations come in response to a series of incidents in which hazardous materials from European countries...

Ethanol hangover.(NORTH AMERICA)(tequila industry in Mexico affected by ethanol industry)
September 22, 2007... Earlier this year, Mexicans took to the streets of the capital to protest a spike in the price of tortillas, a staple for tens of millions of people. Since President Bush outlined US government targets for using corn-based fuel as a gasoline...

Ship shifting.(NORTH AMERICA)(Boston Harbor-bound ships to change routes)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... As of July 1, ships coming and going in Boston Harbor will be diverted from the areas where several whale species--such as the fin, sei, and the endangered humpback and Northern right whales--are known to feed. The move is expected to lower the...

Double trouble.(NORTH AMERICA)(nuclear reactor to be built in the tar sands in Alberta)
September 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For years, green groups have warned that the increasing petroleum development of the tar sands in Alberta could pose one the greatest environmental mistakes of the century. Al Gore--seeking to place the development...

Dino die-off.(OCEANIA)(tuatara)
September 22, 2007... One of the planet's oldest reptilian lineages, contemporaneous with the dinosaurs, may soon become extinct. The tuatara has lived on Earth for some 200 million years, and is the only living example of the Sphenodontians that used to roam...

Flight(less) risk.(SOUTH AMERICA)(Galapagos Islands)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It's a vicious cycle. A location is beautiful, so tourists want to see it, and in doing so, ultimately destroy the destination. On Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, famous for being among the sites that inspired Darwin's...

Drowning the river.(SOUTH AMERICA)
September 22, 2007... Tension between Brazil's need for economic growth and the effects of environmental destruction is nowhere more visible than at the heart of the Madeira River, where a dispute over a proposed $11 billion hydroelectric dam has set off a fight...

Tater nots.(SOUTH AMERICA)(genetically modified tubers)
September 22, 2007... Cuzco, Peru, ancient capital of the Incan Empire and for millennium the center of potato biodiversity, recently voted to prohibit genetically modified (GMO) varieties of the tuber. In July, the Cuzco regional government banned the...

The Adaptation Network is one of Earth Island's newest projects.(Earth Island Project Reports)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... The Adaptation Network is one of Earth Island's newest projects. "Adaptation" refers to adapting to climate change in the US, although the models the Network promotes and the relationships it brokers are global. Begun last September, The...

In January 2007, Circle the Earth--Grassroots Women Taking Action for a Sustainable Future developed out of the former EII project, Women's Global Green Action Network (WGGAN).(Earth Island Project Reports)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... In January 2007, Circle the Earth--Grassroots Women Taking Action for a Sustainable Future developed out of the former EII project, Women's Global Green Action Network (WGGAN). According to Redwood Mary, executive director of Circle the Earth,...

The Red Panda Project.(Earth Island Project Reports)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... The Red Panda Project will be part of an upcoming documentary travel series "It's Your World," a project of Rattle the Cage Productions. In November 2007, the Red Panda Project will be collaring the first wild red panda in 19 years and setting...

Christopher (Toby) McLeod of Sacred Land Film Project has completed some of the filming for a 12-part documentary series, Losing Sacred Ground.(Earth Island Project Reports)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... Christopher (Toby) McLeod of Sacred Land Film Project has completed some of the filming for a 12-part documentary series, Losing Sacred Ground. McLeod and crew filmed in Russia before heading to Australia, where they are documenting the effect...

Ethical Traveler.(Earth Island Project Reports)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... Despite its popularity with legitimate tourists, Cambodia is a hot spot for human trafficking: the sale of men, women, and children for sexual exploitation and forced labor. Ethical Traveler has partnered with Global Exchange, the Not For Sale...

Brower Youth Awards.(Earth Island News)
September 22, 2007... Former Earth Island Journal editor Gar Smith noted that as a mountaineer, "Dave Brower learned how to balance personal daring against gravity to over come daunting obstacles." He took that courage into his life as a conservationist, working...

In loving memory of Gretchen Wyler.(International Marine Mammal Project)(Obituary)
September 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Animals should have the right to run if they have legs... swim if they have fins... and fly if they have wings," was how Gretchen Wyler signed off the Genesis Awards, which she founded and hosted for 20 years....

Court rejects bid to weaken the "Dolphin Safe" label.(International Marine Mammal Project)
September 22, 2007... On April 27, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit refused to allow the weakening of the "Dolphin Safe" tuna label and condemned the failure of the Bush administration and federal agencies to base decisions on scientific evidence. The...

Watershed for whales.(International Marine Mammal Project)(International Whaling Commission meeting)
September 22, 2007... The International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, held May 30 to June 2, is likely to be a watershed meeting where countries opposed to commercial whaling solidified their majority in support of whales. In previous...

Japan fisheries agency's dolphin slaughter online.(International Marine Mammal Project)(www. SaveJapanDolphins.org)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... Japan's violent and bloody annual slaughter of thousands of dolphins can be seen online at www. SaveJapanDolphins.org. The Web site is the effort of a coalition comprising Earth Island's IMMP, Animal Welfare Institute, In Defense of...

Trouble brewing.(Temperature Gauge)(Climate change affects coffee industry)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... Caffeine addicts beware: Climate change may end up making it harder to get your morning fix. A new study warns that temperature increases could wipe out the entire coffee crop in Uganda, an African nation that depends on coffee exports for half...

Body count.(Temperature Gauge)(climate change related deaths)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... Shifting global temperatures are beginning to take a deadly toll. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), climate change has already directly or indirectly killed more than a million people globally since 2000. More than half of...

What's in a name?(Temperature Gauge)(Glacier National Park)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... In 1850, the Montana wilderness that today forms Glacier National Park had some 150 glaciers. Today it has 27. By 2030, if present warming trends continue, there will be zero. This is some thing of a dilemma. Do you still call it Glacier...

Surf's up.(Temperature Gauge)(planetary waves)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... Giant ocean waves, some spanning hundreds of miles from crest to crest, are speeding up due to rising temperatures. Scientists at the University of Victoria in British Columbia recently built a computer model to look at how these so-called...

No comment.(Temperature Gauge)(climate change)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... Long after the rest of the world has agreed that human actions are, in fact, affecting the Earth's atmosphere, the US House of Representatives has come to the groundbreaking conclusion that climate change is real. In June, the House voted for...

Toyotas vs. tortillas.(Spyhopping)(ethanol production from corn)
September 22, 2007... The world is running out of coal, oil, and gas--and we're running out of time. Environmentalists used to fret that humanity was fouling its own nest. Today, as mounting evidence of global warming emerges, it seems we've set our nest aflame. ...

Harnessing the wind.(wind power plants)
September 22, 2007... The Rosebud Sioux like to tell the story of a visiting elder from a Southwest pueblo who came to their South Dakota tribal lands and asked, "Say, all your animals up here kind of lean over to one side. Do they fall over when the wind stops?"...

Bubbling waters: recent reports on methane emissions suggest that dams are anything but carbon-neutral.
September 22, 2007... Opponents of dams have long argued I against putting barriers in the natural flow of a river. Dams, they point out, prevent endangered fish from migrating, alter ecosystems, and threaten the livelihoods of local communities. Native...

Intolerable beauty.(1,000 Words)(Brief article)
September 22, 2007... Chris Jordan is part of a cohort of environmental photographers who, rather than turning their lens on nature, focus attention on the unnaturalness of our daily surroundings. Sure, the "environment"--that is, biological systems unmarred by...

Money for nothing: how much is the world willing to pay Ecuador to not drill for oil?
September 22, 2007... On July 7, some 18 million people tuned into eight simultaneous Live Earth concerts staged worldwide featuring Sting, Al Gore, Kanye West, and a range of other celebrities preaching about our planet's dire environmental crisis. The concerts...

The fission division: will nuclear power split the green movement.
September 22, 2007... Situated on a tall sea cliff above pounding waves, the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant enjoys the kind of stunning ocean view typical of Central California's rugged coast. Rolling hills--bright green in winter, fading to gold by...

Moving mountains: the human costs of our coal economy.(Cover story)
September 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] West Virginia author (and one-time third party candidate for governor) Denise Giardina once observed: "Mountains imprint themselves upon the souls of those who know them as children." It remains to be seen how...

Stone's throw.(mountaintop removal)
September 22, 2007... High in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, on a small island of green above a desert of rock and mud, a man in blue jean overalls wanders through an overgrown cemetery and struggles to contain his emotions. "What happened to the...

Conversation: John Schaeffer discusses the future of solar energy.(Interview)
September 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For more than 30 years, John Schaeffer has been on the cutting edge of innovations in renewable energy. He is the founder and president of Real Goods, which he has shepherded from a small start-up to one of the...

Everyone has a story.(Aaron Lehmer)
September 22, 2007... As a young boy, Aaron Lehmer lamented as the cornfields outside his family's suburban home in Des Moines, Iowa gradually were paved over to make way for more housing. Lehmer could not fathom how while agricultural land disappeared, people still...

Green revolution? Venezuela's socialist reforms float on a sea of oil.
September 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With his outspoken criticism of the US and self-proclaimed Bolivarian Revolution--the current catchphrase now being "Fatherland, Socialism, or Death!"--Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has catapulted his off-rich...

Reimagining the world: an excerpt from Paul Hawken's new book Blessed Unrest.(Excerpt)(Reprint)
September 22, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] While so much is going wrong, so much is going right. Over the years the ingenuity of organizations, engineers, designers, social entrepreneurs, and individuals has created a powerful arsenal of alternatives. The...

The 11th Hour.(Movie review)
September 22, 2007... The 11th Hour Produced and Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio. Directed by Leila Connors Petersen and Nadia Connors. 91 minutes; Warner Independent Pictures. The urban organic farm I co-manage relies heavily on volunteers, and when a new one...

The Carbon Buster's Home Energy Handbook: Slowing Climate Change and Saving Money.(Book review)
September 22, 2007... The Carbon Buster's Home Energy Handbook: Slowing Climate Change and Saving Money by Godo Stoyke. 171 pages, paperback. New Society Publishers, 2007. You're nearly at the end of this issue of Earth Island Journal, and if you've read all...

A conservative's conservation works.(Voices)(Column)
September 22, 2007... A point of view is like a watershed. Different wellsprings of experience, culture, and philosophy combine to form a river of perspectives. So it goes with being a conservative conservationist. One can locate the rivulets that lead to such...