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July/Aug 2000 issue (#46)
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The International Shrimp Action network (ISA) is a coalition dedicated to helping coastal communities manage their coastlines. This involves educating people about shrimp farming. The US consumed about a billion pounds of shrimp in 1998, most of it from shrimp farms that destroy ecologically important mangroves (trees with long, spreading roots that grow along coastlines and help build up shorelines). Farmed shrimp can contain antibiotics, fungicides, parasiticides, algicides and pesticides, all of which control disease in the crowded ponds. Nearly a quarter of the world's mangroves have been destroyed, resulting in the loss of protection for coral reefs, tropical fishes, and storm-surge protection for inland areas. For more information: ISA, 25415 70th Ave. E, Graham, WA 98338; www.shrimpaction.org
A survey of Americans by the National Environmental Readiness Education and Training Foundation found that 75 percent don't know what the world's main environmental problems are. Answering a questionnaire, people said the main problems are air and water pollution. But most scientists now agree that global warming and overpopulation (coupled with gargantuan overconsumption in the developed countries) are the most pressing problems.
Every year, as the sea level rises, two meters of west Florida's red cedars give way to cabbage palms and salt marsh. Earth Island Journal, quoting an article in Ecology, says oceanfront highrises prevent the trees from retreating to drier ground, and the only way to save the forests is to tear down the beachfront hotels so the trees can reseed themselves further from the rising tides.
The School Environment Protection Act (Senate Bill 1716, House Bill 3275), recently introduced in Congress, would protect children from the use of pesticides in and around schools. Contact your representatives to urge passage of this bill. The Center for Health, Environment and Justice has published "Childproofing Our Communities: Reducing Children's Environmental Health Risks in Schools, Parks, Playgrounds, Homes, Food and War." This organizational tool is available for $25 from CHEJ: www.chej.org; POB 6806, Falls Church, VA 22040.
"Fluorides and The Environment" is a pamphlet compiled from articles in Earth Island Journal, arguing that fluoride in the water supply does not prevent cavities, and in fact can harm the health of humans and other species, including salmon, plants, and coniferous forests. "Fluorides are pollutants with considerable potential for producing ecological damage," says one expert quoted in the pamphlet. The pamphlet says fluorides harm infants and young children and are associated with increased hip fractures in adults. The pamphlet costs 50 cents from EIJ, www.earthisland.org; 300 Broadway, Suite 28, San Francisco, CA 94133-3312; 415-788-3666.
An environmental scorecard for 1999, prepared by the League of Conservation Voters, showed a record number of representatives earning a "zero" when it came to pro-environmental votes. Also, for the fifth consecutive year, scores averaged below 50 percent--41 percent in the Senate and 46 percent in the House. The League urges people to keep writing to their representatives about environmental issues. For the full report: www.lcv.org; 1920 L St. NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 200036.
In the 1960s, before the four dams were built on the Lower Snake River in Washington, 100,000 salmon and steelhead migrated through the river's channels in a journey that took about two weeks. In 1998, exactly two sockeye salmon and 18,600 steelhead and Chinook salmon made the voyage, which took about two months. The dams must be breached, says Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund (www.earthjustice.org;180 Montgomery St. #1400, San Francisco, CA 94104-4209). Breaching or bypassing the dams entails removing the earthen embankments so the river can flow around the dams and powerhouses. Earthjustice and other groups urge people to write to their representatives demanding breaching of the dams.
Signature gatherers earned $2 for every name they garnered for Initiative 745. The measure would require 90 percent of all transportation revenue to used for road building and maintenance. I-745 would seriously impair Sound Transit and all bus systems in Washington. To get involved: Transportation Choices Coalition, 206-298-9338; www.Trans-portationChoices.org.
Each year hunters and trappers in the United States kill 134 million animals, according to a report by The Fund for Animals titled "Body Count: The Death Toll in America's War on Wildlife." A spokesman for the Fund said: "If we respect the Earth and respect the environment, we will stop this carnage once and for all.... It's time for sport hunting and commercial fur trapping to be recognized as serious environmental issues." For a copy of the report, contact the Fund for Animals at 301-585-2591 or visit www.fund.org/ facts/bodycount.html
Few people know that Cable Network News (CNN) founder Ted Turner is the largest private landowner in the country, with 13.5 million acres in various states. He's not selling it to developers. Instead, he continues to acquire acreage and return it to "the way it was before white settlers arrived," according to Audubon magazine. The periodical said he pulls out fences so animals can roam free, won't use pesticides, reintroduces native predators, and gets rid of native-plant destroying cattle. In 1999 he started a pollinator project in an attempt to boost the population of bees, bats, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Says Turner: "Everybody can do something. Put out birdhouses and bird feeders. Don't spray insecticides on flowers (or anywhere!) so bees and hummingbirds survive. You've got to save the world one little piece at a time."
Conservationists realize that animals, even small ones, need vast tracts of land to roam in. They cannot find new breeding partners in isolated forests or parks. That's why seven major environmental groups have joined together in an extraordinary Cascades Conservation Partnership to protect the last tracts of native, ancient forestlands connecting Washington's North Cascades and Mt. Rainier, near I-90. The groups, including the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance (NWEA) and others, need to raise $125 million--much via the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund--to save 75,000 acres.
To get involved in this historic effort:
NWEA, 1421 Cornwall Ave, #201, Bellingham, WA 98225; 360-671-9950; www.cascadespartnership.org.
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