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March/April 2000 issue (#44)
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A conference titled "Farm to Table: Growing Healthy Foodsheds and Community," will be held at Evergreen State College March 24-26. Sponsored by Washington State University Cooperative Extension, Cascade Harvest Coalition, and the Washington State Department of Agriculture, the conference will feature speakers and workshops on subjects like composting, starting a successful farmland preservation program, sustaining the farm, agriculture and community development, connecting producers and consumers, organic farming, and why one should care about where food comes from in the era of globalization and industrialization of the food supply. More information: 360-417-2279 or beusc@wsu.edu.
The Checkerboard Project aims to plant 200,000 trees from Seattle to Cle Elum by the end of April. Volunteers will plant the trees along I-90 and other areas. Call 206-812-0122 or 206-523-2147. Those unable to join the group effort can plant trees in the own yards, street areas, nearby parks and green spaces, getting permission where necessary. Private property in Puget Sound constitutes one of the greatest areas needing trees.
Earth Day 2000, April 22, will focus on global warming this year, with Leonardo DiCaprio the main spokesman for events that are supposed to take place worldwide. The Hollywood actor has said he is concerned about global warming and that he intends to buy a hybrid, fuel efficient car. Several groups have asked him to speak out for a meat-free Earth Day, as well. One of the main events will be a celebration in Washington, DC, at the Capitol Mall, where hundreds of exhibits will display the elements of a sustainable society and a clean energy future. In Seattle, the city and various groups are gearing up for activities. Go to www.earthday.net for details.
According to a recent report from Friends of the Earth, the following foods contain genetically modified ingredients: Bravos Tortilla Chips, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, General Mills Total Corn Flakes Cereal, Post Blueberry Morning Cereal, Heinz 2 Baby Cereal, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, Quaker Yellow Corn Meal, Gardenburger, Boca Burger Chef Max's Favorite, Duncan Hines Cake Mix, Ultra Slim Fast, Nabisco Snackwell's Granola Bars.
Some 17 billion catalogs were mailed in the United States in 1998, for a total of 64 for every man, woman and child, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. And the catalog mailings are increasing. Twelve percent of printing and writing paper in the U.S. goes to catalogs, the EDF said. This country has 5 percent of the world's population, but uses 30 percent of the world's paper, with the average American using 739 pounds in 1997, twice as much as in 1960. Best treatment for catalogs: 1) Put them near your phone; 2) Call the toll-free line when you have time and ask to be removed from the mailing list; 3) recycle the catalog; 4) buy used items and use scratch paper.
The 1994 United Nations Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo, agreed that family planning, reducing maternal mortality, and slowing STDs including AIDS, should be a top priority. Cost for the year 2000 was estimated at $17 billion, with $6.5 billion coming from the developed countries. An excellent article in the January Scientific American, titled "The Unmet Need for Family Planning," says 1998 aid from rich to poor countries "was the lowest in 30 years," and last year the developed countries gave only a third of what they had pledged in Cairo. Thus, by 2050, the author says, the world's population will hover around a crowded 8.9 billion, and by 2025 perhaps a billion people will face "severe water shortages." The article explains the global need for birth control methods that should be available for voluntary use. It concludes that all societies "will have to reduce both levels of consumption and population sizes."
An International Grassroots Summit on Military Base Cleanup, held in October in Washington, D.C., adopted an "Environmental Bill of Rights" calling for disclosure of information, the right to inspect the bases, cleanup of sites, pollution prevention, and community involvement in decision-making. For more information contact Fellowship of Reconciliation, 415-495-6334. At the same time, according to Environment News Service, a lawsuit was filed in Federal Court in Washington, D.C., to force the U.S. Air Force to reevaluate its flight-training program. Led by the Rural Alliance for Military Accountability and the Center for Biological Diversity, the suit says low-level military training flights harm wildlife, livestock, and rural communities.
The Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) is ramping up its campaign against dioxin, a carcinogen generated by companies using chlorine to make products such as pesticides and pvc plastics, and by metal refining and smelting operations. In America's Choice: Children's Health or Corporate Profit (available at www.essential.org), CHEJ says Americans "are at serious risk from their daily intake of dioxin in food" and that children are the most vulnerable. CHEJ compiled its report after it "got tired" of waiting for the EPA to issue its own dioxin study. America's Choice says dioxin is associated with disrupted sex development, birth defects, IQ deficiencies, and immune-function disorders, including increases in middle-ear infections and chicken pox. Most Americans ingest dioxins in meat, fatty fish, and dairy products (a good reason to consider moving toward an earth--and people-friendly vegan diet). The average daily American intake of dioxins is 200 times higher than the EPA's cancer guideline risk, the report says. (Anti-dioxin drawing courtesy Everyone's Backyard, published by CHEJ, www.essential.org)
"We need salmon, and those dams don't make sense," is the urgent theme of a campaign to save the rapidly deteriorating Pacific Northwest salmon. The Save Our Salmon Coalition (434 Third Ave W, #100; 206-378-0114) says $3 billion has been wasted on salmon "recovery" efforts that haven't worked. But partially breaching Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose, and Lower Granite dams (among others) will restore the salmon, according to scientists and SOS. The federal government will hold hearings in this area in April. It is urgent to write letters to representatives and to Vice President Al Gore, c/o SOS, preferably before the end of March, asking that the dams be removed.
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