Alternatives Journal articles from June 2001

Alternatives Journal archives from June 2001

THE NATURE OF SEX.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Yes. This is an issue about sex. Not about reproductive biology in animals. Or about pollination in plants. Or even about the weird chemical sex that is genetic engineering. It's about human sexuality, desire, libido. Our erotic nature. ...

Bush Kills Kyoto Illusion.(George W. Bush)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... After the barrage of criticism over US President George W. Bush's retraction of commitments to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, some experts are suggesting that Bush may have inadvertently helped the cause of climate change prevention by...

Ireland Puts the Lid on Big-Box Stores.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Ireland has imposed a ban on the construction of "big-box" retail superstores. The new law, enacted on January 2, 2001, restricts new retail buildings to about a quarter of the size of some North American superstores. The restrictions aim...

Greenonomics Targets Investor Ethics.(Greenpeace)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Last January, Greenpeace and Toronto-Dominion Bank's Asset Management representatives met to discuss investments. Greenpeace wanted TD to stop investing capital from mutual funds in logging companies responsible for timber harvest in the...

Feds Cop Out on Enforcing Environmental Laws.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Environmental crimes are going undetected and unpunished in Canada, according to Friends of the Earth Canada (FOE). At current rates, biotech companies are inspected twice a century, PCB storage sites every 20 years, and hazardous waste import...

COLLATERAL DAMAGE.(farmers in Colombia)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... The US war on cocaine production in Columbia is driving legitimate farmers off the land Colombia's national ombudsperson has issued a stinging critique of a US-funded drug-crop eradication campaign, saying that "indiscriminate" herbicide...

VALLEY OF THE DAMMED.(Narmada River)
June 22, 2001... Despite resettlement failures, local protests and abandonment by international partners, India continues its massive projects to dam the Narmada River In a ruling that Patrick McCully of the International Rivers Network (IRN) calls...

ON THE DOOLE.(Dakar's Community Exchange System)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Dakar's community exchange system strengthens the local economy and helps the people who need it most If you turn a corner on one of Dakar, Senegal's dusty streets, you might come across one of this city's 12 weekly local currency markets....

THE HIGH PRICE OF HABITAT PROTECTION.
June 22, 2001... Under the new Species At Risk Act, the federal government would compensate landowners whose property values are reduced by habitat protection orders. This is a very bad idea. Shortly after the new session of Parliament began in January...

Gut Reaction.(Arpad Pusztai interviewed)(Interview)
June 22, 2001... Scottish scientist Arpad Pusztai's research pointed to disturbing imbalances to the digestive systems of rats that ate genetically modified potatoes. Talking about his findings cost him his job. The author of some 250 research papers and...

Gene potatoes damage rats' immune systems.(genetically modified)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Nigel Hawkes on new evidence about dangers of genetically modified food GENETICALLY modified potatoes can damage the immune systems of rats, a research project in Aberdeen has discovered. Professor Arpad Pusztai, of the Rowett Research...

Food safety authority moves to reassure public over GM foods.(Ireland, genetically modified)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... THE Food Safety Authority of Ireland has attempted to reassure the public that new genetically modified (GM) foodstuffs coming onto the Irish market are being rigorously vetted by an expert scientific committee. This follows independent...

Minister resists call for ban on GM food.(Jeff Rooker, United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... The UK, London THE British government was last night resisting pressure to ban genetically modified foods after tests found they could damage the immune systems of rats and stunt their growth. Meanwhile, the Express reported that a new GM...

Scientist in food safety controversy suspended.(Arpad Pusztai, Rowett Research Institute, United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Research body says TV programme was "misleading" THE scientist who claimed his research had raised questions about the safety of genetically modified (GM) food for consumption by humans has been suspended for issuing "misleading...

Effect of diets containing genetically modified potatoes expressing Galanthus nivalis lectin on rat small intestine.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... DIETS containing genetically modified (GM) potatoes expressing the lectin Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) had variable effects on different parts of the rat gastrointestinal tract. Some effects, such as the proliferation of the gastric...

Eros Unbound.(loving sexual relationships heal the earth)(Excerpt)
June 22, 2001... Erotic experience can deepen our connection to nature and liberate our life energies from the cycle of production and consumption When we touch, we do not always feel fingers on skin; sometimes instead we feel tingles, shivers, the exchange...

FALLING FOR NIAGARA.(waterfalls in the written word)
June 22, 2001... Writers have long found the great falls an erotic source of inspiration In the imaginary geography of Niagara - that is, in the way travellers speak about the waterfall as though it were female and invest it with dangerous, alluring and...

ALL CONSUMING DESIRE.(sexuality in advertising sublimates nature)
June 22, 2001... Advertisers prey on our sexual insecurities to mass-market products and services Did the earth move for you? Perhaps not, but your libido is changing it. Primal urges, institutionalized in society and encouraged by advertising, are...

Ethical Consumption: For People, Animals & Planet.(www.powerup.com)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... [less than]www.powerup.com.au/[sim]kkaos[greater than]. Examines consumerism as the dominant religion of our times and its ecological and social consequences. The aim of this site is to help people make informed decisions about their...

One World Guide to Consumerism.(www.oneworld.net)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... One World Guide to Consumerism [less than]www.oneworld.net/guides/consumerism/index.html[greater than]. A quick reference point that gives basic information on the development and distribution of consumerism. Topics include runaway consumerism,...

The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need.(Review)
June 22, 2001... The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need by Juliet B. Schor (Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 1999). Offers up accessible, in-depth analysis on the drives behind middle-class consumerism, status buying and debt-spending. Probes the...

The Desirable Body: Cultural Fetishism and the Erotics of Consumption.(Review)
June 22, 2001... The Desirable Body: Cultural Fetishism and the Erotics of Consumption by Jon Stratton (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2001). Lays a solid foundation for cultural and gender studies and links commodity culture and cultural fetishism....

Consumption, Production and the Making of Social Identities.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Consumption, Production and the Making of Social Identities, online paper by Robert L. Frost, University of Michigan [less than]www-personal.umich.edu/[sim]rfrost/papers/Consumer.html[greater than]. Based mainly on Marxist literature, this...

Sexy Accounting.(sex in person is more energy efficient than Internet sex)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Internet sex is more draining on the environment (and your wallet) than the real thing. Even with a light and a stereo on, a romantic foray in real life would only draw 90 watts of electricity. Running a computer, even in the dark, would use at...

PIN-UP PROTEST.(women pose nude for calendar to support environmental protection on Saltspring Island, British Columbia)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Saltspring women bared all in a fundraising calendar. Was it empowerment or exploitation? They tried lobbying governments, informing the media, holding rallies and even locking themselves to logging trucks. But it took the women of a small...

From Unnatural Passions to Queer Nature.(rural gay life)
June 22, 2001... Common assumptions linking urban-artificial-queer in opposition to rural-natural-straight deserve closer attention THAT WARM MAY morning, I stood waiting for my host in a garden at the end of a long gravel road. Looming large to my right...

PINK GREENS.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Ecoqueers organize in Toronto The first thing that I notice as I enter the 519 Community Centre on Church St. - unofficial headquarters of Toronto's queer community - is the men. Tonight, on a frosty December evening, the recently formed...

ANIMALS Do Do IT.(homosexuality in the animal kingdom)
June 22, 2001... Whether humans wish to regard it as natural or unnatural, homosexuality has always occurred in the animal kingdom Animals don't do it, so why should we! Can you even imagine a queer grizzly bear! Or a lesbian owl or salmon! -- from a...

UNSUNG EROS.(Review)
June 22, 2001... The Ecology of Everyday Life: Rethinking the Desire for Nature, Chaia Heller, Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1999. With glowing back-cover praise from the likes of Carolyn Merchant and Arturo Escobar, one cannot help but be compelled to read...

PARKS AT RISK.(Review)
June 22, 2001... Phantom Parks: The Struggle to Save Canada's National Parks, Rick Searle, Toronto: Key Porter Books, 2000. Riding Mountain National Park is an island of pine, aspen, spruce and bunchgrass prairie that sprawls along the edge of a glacial...

Grist Magazine.(web site)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Grist Magazine [less than]www.gristmagazine.com[greater than] Get your dose of doom and gloom provided with a twist of humour. Grist, an online magazine and pet project of the US-based Earth Day Network, considers itself "a beacon in the smog."...

Business for Social Responsibility.(web site)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Business for Social Responsibility [less than]www.bsr.org[greater than] If you thought "business" and "social responsibility" were contradictory notions, this site will prove you wrong. It's an amazing site for anybody who wants to get...

Canadians Against Pesticides.(web site)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Canadians Against Pesticides [less than]www.caps.20m.com[greater than] Wake up and smell the DDT. The fight to ban pesticides rages on, and you can get just about any question you have on the topic answered here. CAPS has all the scientific,...

Pollution Watch.(web site)
June 22, 2001... Pollution Watch [less than]www.pollutionwatch.org[greater than] dream tool for citizens and industry's worst nightmare. This incredibly easy and informative site red flags Canada's big polluters. Just type in your postal code and find out who...

Commuter Connections.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Commuter Connections [less than]www.carpool.ca[greater than] Providing assistance to those Canadians ready to break the damaging and rampant trend of single occupancy vehicles. This site has a great database of other like-minded car-poolers...

Planetizen.(web site)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... Planetizen [less than]www.planetizen.com[greater than] Planners - plan to be amazed. Planetizen is a progressive, US-based news site and e-mail service covering a plethora of related areas from growth management, sprawl and urban poverty to...

BUSINESS COULD.(Down to Earth: Applying Business Principles to Environmental Management)(Review)
June 22, 2001... Down to Earth: Applying Business Principles to Environmental Management, Forest L. Reinhardt, Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press, 2000. Forest Reinhardt, an accomplished scholar and member of the Harvard Business School...

Letter.
June 22, 2001... Turning Point Just discovered Alternatives at the local magazine shop when Adbusters was sold out and I had ten dollars burning a hole in my pocket. What a great Canadian magazine. If Adbusters is the source of inspiration then...

BLUE NOSES.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2001... I have blue-nose envy. Many Upper Canadians have it. How could we not? The highest tides in the world, the tall ships, a rich cultural heritage. It's also a hot bed of funny and interesting people. Like fiddler Natalie McMaster, singer...