Beware the justice of nature, says Wendell Berry

The words below from Wendell Berry inspire me. Wendell is the author of The Unsettling of America and many other books, and a guru of local food, ethical farming, and community. This passage was printed in the bulletin of a Charlotte church as part of their Earth Day celebration. A group of about 10 from the church flew out to Kentucky last month and met with Wendell for a couple of hours in his home, to hear his thoughts on environmental activism and local food. I wasn't in the group, but a couple of my friends were and they told me about the conversation. Wendell observed that environmental activism might be best practiced as a half-time job, to keep some sense of balance and well-being. He advised the visitors to spend some time every day doing something that brings "glee." To him, that might mean watching a nesting bird feed its young, or lying in the grass beside a pond enjoying the sights and sounds of the pond wildlife.

Here's what the church bulletin reprinted:

"And so, graduates, my advice to you is simply my hope for us all:
Beware the justice of Nature.
Understand that no amount of education can overcome the innate limits of human intelligence and responsibility. We are not smart enough or conscious enough or alert enough to work responsibly on a gigantic scale....
Learn, therefore, to prefer small-scale elegance and generosity to large-scale greed, crudity, and glamour.
Make a home. Help to make a community. Be loyal to what you have made.
Put the interest of the community first.
Love your neighbors - not the neighbors you pick out, but the ones you have.
As far as you are able make your lives dependent upon your local place, neighborhood, and household - which thrive by care and generosity - and independent of the inudstrial economy, which thrives by damage.
Find work, if you can, that does no damage. Enjoy your work. Work well."

Wendell Berry, "The Futility of Global Thinking"

Keywords:: Wendell Berry community neighbors local food right living

Dolphins learn tool use from their moms

Dolphin with sponge to protect sensitive snoot while foraging

Not too long ago, scientists used to believe that "tool use" was one of the characteristics that set humans apart from all other animals.

We now know that animals do use tools. The list of species observed not only using tools, but making tools, continues to grow.

Chimpanzees were the first species observed with tools - Jane Goodall saw chimps using sticks to extract edible termites from underground tunnels. More recently, chimps have been observed making and using spears on other prey.

Bird species also make tools to forage. A warbler species on the Galapagos uses thorns to probe under bark, and scrub jays make and use hooks to retrieve edible items - to name a couple of examples.

Marine biologists have also documented bottlenose dolphins using tools. Scientists say that dolphins in Australia's Shark Bay wear marine sponges on their beaks like a glove, to protect their sensitive beaks when foraging along rugged ocean bottoms. Poking around in deep water carries the risk of stings from bottom dwellers.

(Sponges are animals on the ocean floor whose skeletons are flexible and absorbent.)

The boater who first saw a sponge on a dolphin thought it was a tumor. But the tumor turned out to be a sponge.

As marine biologists have studied the tool use, they've discovered something even more interesting. Only the dolphins in the Shark Bay location use the sponges, and only a fraction of the dolphins in that bay use them. The scientists have studied the family relationships of the dolphins in the bay and have now determined that the spongers belong almost exclusively to a single maternal lineage. The sponge behavior is being transmitted from mothers to offspring.

But... the sponging doesn't follow any of the patterns that would be expected if it were genetically based.

The scientists have concluded that the spongers are learning the behavior from their mothers - the only interpretation that fits the observed family relationships of the spongers. Whether the spongers are learning from observing their mothers, or are being intentionally instructed by their mother remains to be seen.

This is not the first example of what is known as "cultural transmission" of behaviors in animals - behaviors transmitted to other individuals by way of observation or instruction. At least one population of macaque monkeys regularly wash their grains in pools of water, and that behavior is known to be culturally transmitted, for these particular monkeys.

Macaque washing food
photo courtesy of www.animalplanet.com.au

What more will we learn in future years about the traits we share with our animal relatives?

These discoveries are, for me, all the more reason to do whatever we can to stop the environmental degradation that threatens wildlife species worldwide.

See my previous post for three things you can do to slow habitat loss from global warming.

Source:
Susan Milius. "Sponge moms: dolphins learn tool use from their mothers." Science News, June 11, 2005

Keywords :: bottlenose dolphins marine biology tool use cultural inheritance cultural transmission animal intelligence animal behavior macaques

Earth Day: 3 things you can do

The Earth's most serious and menacing problem is global warming, a problem that will grow in coming decades.

Global warming is due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases, and the United States creates more of these gases by far than any other nation.

So here are 3 big things you can do to reduce our production of greenhouse gases.

1) Reduce fossil-fuel use with your travel. Specifically, drive a car that gets good gas mileage, or use public transportation or a bicycle, or car pool.

2) Change all the light bulbs in your house to compact fluorescent bulbs, which use about 10% of the electricity of an incandescent bulb and last for several years. Using less electricity means making less demand on coal-fired power plants, which are one of our biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollution. These bulbs are available at Home Depot. They cost more than regular bulbs, but the longevity of the bulbs makes them less expensive in the long run. We changed all of our bulbs and it made about a 30% difference in our utility bill! For more information about this, watch the movie "Kilowatt Ours" by Jeff Barrie.

3) Eat fewer animal products. According to a recent report from the U.N. ("Livestock's Long Shadow"), the livestock sector is one of the top 2 or 3 biggest sources of greenhouse gases. And Americans eat way more meat than any other nation, per capita - a whopping 248 pounds per year per person, compared to only 176 pounds per year per person in other industrialized nations, and only 66 pounds per person per year in developing nations (from a Worldwatch Institute document available online, "Happier Meals" by Danielle Nierenburg).

The U.N. document "Livestock's Long Shadow" is available online - just google the title.

Keywords:: Earth Day 3 things you can do 3 biggest things you can do what you can do greenhouse gases global warming fluorescent bulbs eat less meat fossil fuels

ACTIVISM WORKS: Dole denounces Navy's proposed landing field

Our Republican senator, Elizabeth Dole, announced yesterday that she too will take a stand to protect wildlife.

She joins thousands of activists who have banded together to protect crucial wildlife habitat on the coastal plain of North Carolina. Citizens and politicians from all over the state have united over this struggle, including farmers, hunters, birders, environmentalists.....even the NRA!

The Navy wants to build a landing field near the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, right smack in the middle of a vital migratory flyway. Every year, hundreds of thousands of waterfowl overwinter in the refuge before heading to their spring breeding grounds in Canada and in the U.S. prairie states. These birds include tens of thousands of Tundra Swans, Snow Geese, and many duck species such as Green-winged Teal and Canvasbacks. The Navy has acknowledged that the hundreds of thousands of birds may endanger pilots, but has suggested relocating birds or even poisoning them. What? Are they insane?

The Navy has held a series of public hearings (to their credit) to give the public an opportunity to speak and have their opinions recorded. Most of these hearings were on the coastal plain. But Tuesday we had a public hearing in Charlotte, and 400 people turned up! More than 100 signed up to speak! I was number 51, and I didn't speak until 10:00 pm so....someone was there until late. A lot of the speakers were farmers whose land would be taken for the landing field. Many were wildlife supporters and environmentalists. I talked about my son's ornithology class driving to Pocosin Lakes from UNC to see one of the greatest spectacles of nature - the stunning display of hundreds of thousands of waterfowl in one place. (I get chills thinking about that.)

We are blessed to still have this refuge more or less intact, given that the pork and poultry industries have all but taken over NC's coastal plain entirely with polluting factory farms (think "Smithfield" and "Tyson"). NC has more hogs than people, sadly, and their waste lagoons are fouling the air and water of our state.

But, anyway, I digress. I am thrilled that momentum is with us to stop this landing field. When we all turn out - it sometimes it seems to have an effect.

Earth's dirty little secret

Past civilizations have fallen when they wore out their supply of soil, and in his new book "Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations,"University of Washington scientist David R. Montgomery says the same thing appears to be happening again -- with potentially far more serious consequences.


Throughout history civilizations expanded as they sought new soil to feed their populations, then ultimately fell as they wore out or lost the dirt they depended upon. When that happened, people moved on to fertile new ground and formed new civilizations.

That process is being repeating today the geomorphologist argues and the results could be far more disastrous for humans because there are very few places left with fertile soil to feed large populations, and farming practices still trigger large losses of rich dirt.

"We're doing the same things today that past societies have done, and at the same rate," said David Montgomery, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences who studies the evolution and structure of the various aspects of the Earth's surface. In essence, he said, we are slowly removing our planet's life-giving skin.

"It only takes one good rainstorm when the soil is bare to lose a century's worth of dirt."

Montgomery examines how soil is slowly created over time, the vital role it has played in the rise and fall of civilizations from Mesopotamia to Rome and the way it has shaped where and how we live today.

In the past, as soil was depleted in a particular region – the American South during the height of tobacco plantations, for example, or the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s – people moved to new areas that could support their crops. But Montgomery argues that their primary farming method – plowing under any crop residue and leaving the surface exposed to wind and water erosion for long periods – was a major cause of the conditions that drove them from the land.

Flat lands and areas with thicker, richer soil tend to have less natural erosion, while steeper areas have greater erosion from both wind and water. Removing vegetative cover just worsens the problem, Montgomery said.

When the Earth's population was smaller people could move from one place to another and give soil a chance to regenerate. But now, with more than 6 billion people on the planet, that option no longer exists, Montgomery said.

"We're farming about as much land as we can on a sustainable basis, but the world's population is still growing," he said. "We have to learn to farm without losing the soil."

He advocates a wholesale change in farming practices, moving to no-till agriculture, which he says would reduce erosion closer to its natural rate. That method would eliminate plowing and instead crop stubble would remain in the field, to be mixed with the very top layer of the soil using a method called disking. Farmers might need more herbicides to control weeds, but it would take fewer passes of farm machinery – and thus less fuel – to tend crops.

Currently about 5 percent of the world's farmers engage in no-till agriculture, the vast majority of them in the United States and Latin America, Montgomery said.

"We don't have to farm the way we do. It's as much a matter of culture and habit as it is of economics, and our habitual ways of farming have gotten people into a lot of trouble through the years," Montgomery said.

"It's more of a conceptual shift than anything else, but it's a conceptual shift that conserves the soil."

Critical Bird Habitat Threatened by Navy Proposal

Tundra swans flying in

Unless we stop them, the US Navy will build a jet landing field right beside North Carolina’s famed Pocasin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Birds will have to be killed. And pilots will be in danger.

Come to a public hearing and tell the Navy what you think about their proposal. Many other sites for the landing field are available with far less impact on critical wildlife habitat.

Public Hearing in Charlotte
When?
Tuesday April 17
7-10 pm

Where?
Charlotte Convention Center
Ballroom A
South College St.

For more information, visit:
www.nc.sierraclub.org
www.ncwildlifefederation.org

Or call:
Sierra Club: 704.374.1125
NC Wildlife Federation: 704.332.5696

If you care about wildlife and wild places, this is an opportunity
to let your voice be heard!!

Background information about the landing field and the refuge:
The United States Navy proposes to place an outlying landing field (OLF) in Washington and Beaufort Counties, NC, farming communities in the northeastern part of the state. The purpose of the landing field is to allow pilots to practice jet aircraft carrier landings. The OLF would see thousands of such landings throughout the year, about one every fifteen minutes by the Navy’s estimate. The Navy plans to acquire 30,000 acres around the airfield. Approximately 1,700 acres of the core area are considered prime farmlands.

The area is less than four miles of a major migratory stop for hundreds of thousands of tundra swans and snow geese. These are big birds. Tundra swans weigh 10 to 20 pounds, have a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet and fly at night as well as during the day.

The 10 squadrons of Super Hornet fighter jets that would use the OLF would be based primarily in Virginia. Only two squadrons would be based at Cherry Point in Carteret County. The communities where the planes are based receive the economic benefit associated with a defense installation, in terms of good jobs and increased tax revenue. There is no net economic benefit to hosting the OLF.

Impact on wildlife:
The OLF would be located just 3.5 miles from the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, one of the most important waterfowl reserves in North America, where more than 100,000 snow geese and tundra swans spend the winter. Northeastern North Carolina provides winter refuge for 65 to 75 percent of the birds that migrate along the Eastern flyway. The acreage the Navy plans to acquire surrounding the landing field provide critical food resources to swans, geese and other waterfowl. Pocosin Lakes also includes populations of black bears and endangered red wolves.

The Navy plans to control the bird population include using dogs, fireworks – and poison. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has expressed grave concerns about the Navy’s proposal to use a highly toxic pesticide, Avitrol, which is banned for such uses in North Carolina. The Navy also acknowledges it may use firearms to shoot large migratory birds.

Dale Hall, director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, stated in a February public hearing that “We have a national wildlife refuge whose purpose is to pull birds in. The mission of the outlying landing field would be to push birds away”.

Impact on the pilots:
Experts hired by the Navy have called this the “most dangerous location on the East Coast for a landing field.” The birds fly irregularly, with many flying from feeding grounds to sleeping areas at dusk and dawn. The Navy’s own bird-strike experts have stated that a plane crash due to a bird strike is inevitable at this site.

The solution:
Gov. Mike Easley and his administration have made repeated attempts to work with the Navy to choose a more suitable site. In a statement in February of 2007, Gov. Easley called on Congress to withhold funding for the OLF project until the Navy considers suitable alternatives.

“I believe this matter can be resolved, but spending millions of dollars to build the proposed OLF next to a world-renowned wildlife refuge for migratory birds is not an acceptable resolution. Congress controls the purse strings for this project, and Congress should withhold funding until the Navy is willing to consider reasonable alternatives.”

Local communities and over 100 diverse groups (ranging from Sierra Club and Audubon Society to Ducks Unlimited, the National Rifle Association and the NAACP) have all joined in the fight to get the Navy to choose a more suitable North Carolina site.

What Can You Do in Addition to the Public Hearing

Write or Call your Senator!

Ask North Carolina Senators Dole and Burr to join Governor Easley in calling on Congress to withhold funds for the OLF project until the Navy is willing to work with the state on reasonable alternatives.

Senator Elizabeth Dole
310 New Bern Avenue Suite 122
Raleigh, NC 27601
Toll Free: 866.420.6083
DC phone: 202-224-63422
DC fax: 202-224-1100

http://dole.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.ContactForm

Senator Richard Burr
2000 West 1st Street, Ste 508
Winston-Salem, NC 27104
phone: 336-631-5125
DC phone: 202-224-3154
DC fax: 202-228-2981

http://burr.senate.gov/index.cfm

Submit a comment to the Navy!

Click Here to go the Navy OLF Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement Project site where you can send a comment via online form or US Mail.

The Governor said:

"I don't believe the US Congress is going to sit by and let them destroy an entire Atlantic flyway refuge. That would be the most environmentally irresponsible thing that's been done in the history of this state that I can recall." NC Governor Mike Easley

We can turn it around, though. This is one issue that we really can stop, if we speak up - because there is no major industry that stands to gain from allowing the landing field. No lobbyists, no campaign contributors. The usual corporate tools of influence that have their way with most politicians are absent from this scenario. So speak up!! Now's your chance!

Sources: Much of this post was quoted from www.nc.sierraclub.org. Some came from www.fws.gov/pocosinlakes. The half-baked parts are my own.


Keywords:: bird habitat tundra swans Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge migratory flyway Navy landing field OLF North Carolina habitat loss waterfowl ducks Sierra Club OLF

Celebrity Chef Embraces Animal Welfare and Eco-friendly Fishing

Wolfgang Puck. Photo courtesy of www.bfeedme.com.

World-renowned chef Wolfgang Puck of Los Angeles has announced that he will use eggs and meat only from animals raised under strict humane standards. Humane standards generally mean more earth-friendly methods as well, because humane farms must raise fewer animals to avoid the crowding associated with inhumane factory farms. Fewer animals mean less waste, which is one of the most polluting aspects of factory farming. Humane farming means fewer hormones and antibiotics flowing into our surface waters too.

Chef Puck joins a small but growing group of famous celebrated chefs around the U.S. who refuse to use foie gras, the fattened liver of force-fed ducks and geese. (See my earlier post of August 26 2006, Just What is Foie Gras?? Too Fat to Waddle.) His ban on foie gras is just the beginning. He has also adopted more humane criteria for his eggs, meat and seafood.

Puck has 3 companies that fed more than 10 million people in 2006. Now, his companies can buy eggs only from hens that are not crowded into small cages, as is the industry standard. We visited an egg factory with more than a million hens while we were writing Veggie Revolution. We saw hens crammed into cages so small the birds don't have room to open their wings. The cages are stacked 4 deep so that the feces from each cage rains down on the ones below. See my November 22, 2005 post on this blog, At Least Turkeys Don't Have to Lay Table Eggs for one of the pics from Veggie Rev.

Working with the Humane Society, Puck has also directed his companies to buy veal and pork only from farms where animals are not confined to crates. (Sara Kate and I also toured a factory hog farm, and wrote about the sows we saw confined to crates so small they can't take a single step or even lie down normally. Veggie Revolution has pics and more detailed descriptions.) In the U.S., 80% of hogs are raised on factory farms that use these crates.

Wolfgang Puck has considered seafood too. He vows to use only seafood whose harvest does not endanger the environment or deplete stocks. This is a difficult goal to achieve, unless he is harvesting very small numbers of fish and other sea life, caught with methods other than the long-lines, blast-fishing, and gill nets that have such a high "by-catch" (unintended mortality of untargeted animals). See my earlier post on this topic from September 4 2006, Puffins and Whales Endangered by Fishing Industry.

Some smaller grocery chains such as Whole Foods buy meat and eggs only from producers who use certain humane standards. Whole Foods acquires meats from Niman Ranch, a company whose hog farming methods have been approved by the Animal Welfare Institute. AWI is in the process now of developing humane standards for beef production.

McDonalds claims to have adopted more-humane standards for egg-laying hens. But they did so only under extreme pressure from PETA, and the improvement is only to cram 5 rather than 7 hens into the cages where egg-layers are housed for the duration of their lives. While 5 is better than 7, the living conditions for hens that lay for McDonalds is far short of "humane."

Wolfgang Puck is the best known celebrity chef to make a major public effort to support the humane farming effort. His enterprises include 14 fine-dining restaurants (such as Spago in L.A.) and more than 80 Gourmet Express restaurants.

A well-known personality setting a precedent is extremely valuable to the movement, and will encourage and embolden others to follow suit. We hope.

What can you do?

• Ask your local grocer to carry humanely and sustainably produced animal products. Even if they don't do it, your request will have an impact, will signal growing public interest.

• If you eat animal products, support the humane producers by buying their products, even if they cost more.

Sources:
Kim Severson for NY Times. "Chef pushes animal welfare." Charlotte Observer, March 22, 2007.

Sally Kneidel, PhD, and Sara Kate Kneidel. November 2005. Veggie Revolution: Smart Choices for a Healthy Body and a Healthy Planet. Fulcrum Publishing.

Keywords:: animal welfare humane farming caged hens sustainable farming McDonalds Wolfgang Puck

Gangster cowbirds resort to violence

Brown-headed cowbird. Photo courtesy of www.wildphotosphotography.com

Brown-headed cowbirds of North America have long been known as "brood parasites" or "nes parasites". They routinely lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, then abandon the eggs. The nest owners, often warblers, are left to raise the noisy and hungry cowbird chicks, which are usually bigger than their own chicks. Warbler chicks sometimes starve, because the husky cowbird chicks take all the food.

Scientists and birders have long wondered why the unwitting babysitters don't toss out the cowbird eggs and young and devote their time and energies to raising their own offspring exclusively.

New observations of cowbirds and the exploited nest owners may have turned up the answer.

When cowbird eggs are removed from a warbler nest, more of the warbler eggs wind up being smashed or carried away than in nests where the cowbirds are allowed to stay.

Scientists Jeffrey Hoover and Scott Robinson designed an experiment to test their idea that cowbirds are retaliating when their eggs are removed, by returning to the nests and destroying the warbler eggs. The researchers used warbler nest boxes in Illinois that are set atop greased poles to keep out raccoons, snakes, and other ground-dwelling predators. For years the warbler nests had been parasitized by cowbirds. When the cowbird eggs were allowed to stay, only 6% of the warbler nests were vandalized. But when the researchers removed cowbird eggs, a whopping 56% of the warbler nests were damaged by marauders.

To test their theory that the vandals were cowbirds, the scientists removed all the cowbird eggs but put new fronts on the warbler nest boxes with holes too small for the adult cowbirds to re-enter. The warbler nests remained intact.

So the nest-molesters were cowbirds.

A parallel situation exists between cuckoos and the magpies that parasitize cuckoo broods in Spain. Magpies also retaliate by trashing the cuckoos' nests if the magpie eggs are kicked out.

What's a parent warbler to do? The best strategy is to work like hell around the clock and raise those cowbird chicks as well as their own. The fact is, because of cowbird retaliation, warbler nests with the cowbird eggs removed produce only 40% as many warblers as the nests that retain the cowbirds.

It doesn't pay to cross those gangster birds.

Conservation issues related to brood parasitism
Is brood parasitism a threat to the species survival of smaller songbirds such as warblers? In the past it hasn't been, because most of the parasitized species have habitat preferences that generally take them beyond the reach of cowbirds, such as deep extensive woodlands. Cowbirds avoid deep continuous forests. They prefer agricultural or residential landscapes near scattered trees or woodland edges. Such edges are created when deforestation leads to fragmented forests and open brush or grassland.

Unfortunately, North American forests are becoming more and more fragmented due to the paper and timber industry, and due to development from the growth of our human population. So warblers and other small songbirds that are the most common targets of cowbird brood parasitism are losing their refuge from cowbirds, forced to nest in forest fragments that are easily penetrated by edge-seeking cowbirds.

What can you do? Contact the director of the division of natural resources in your county or state and ask what you can do to encourage the perservation of large tracts of continuous forest. Ask what opportunities there are for citizen input into land-use planning on public lands.

A parent warbler (right) feeds a bigger cowbird chick (left).
Photo courtesy of www.birds.cornell.edu.

Sources:
Susan Milius. March 10 2007. "Mafia cowbirds: do they muscle birds that don't play ball?" Science News 171: pages 147-8.

Vincent Muehter. "Cowbirds and conservation." Audubon. www.audubon.org/bird/research/#habitat

Sara Goudarzi. March 5 2007. "Cowbirds: thugs of the bird world." Live Science. Animal domain. www.livescience.com/animalworld/070305_cowbirds_thugs.html


Keywords: cowbirds bird behavior nest parasitism brood parasitism conservation timber industry paper industry development fragmented forest forest edge continuous forest prothonotary warblers

Many lines of fire: women at war

Many Americans assume that women in the U.S. military are stationed far from the fighting. While it's true they can't train for frontline combat positions, the changing nature of the Iraq war has placed many women at the center of the conflict. Yet the women serving and dying for the U.S. have received very little attention. Who are they, why did they join and what are their experiences and points of view?

On this edition, Sarah Olson speaks with veterans of the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines, and to one active duty soldier who served for a year as an Army journalist in Iraq. Each woman has a unique story, but all share an understanding of the power politics of the U.S. military and the price that is paid by women seeking to serve their country.

Featuring::

Anuradha Bhagwati, Former Marine Captain; Maricela Guzman, Former Information Technician in the U.S. Navy; Linsay Rousseau Burnett, Sergeant U.S. Army, first brigade combat team 101st Airborne division; Stefani Pelkey, Former Army Captain.

Senior Producer/Host: Tena Rubio
Mixing Engineer: Phillip Babich
Intern: Alexis McCrimmon

For more information::

Vets for Vets
520-250-0509; info@vets4vets.us
www.vets4vets.us

Iraq and Afghan Veterans for America
770 Broadway, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10003
212-982-9699; info@iava.org
www.iava.org

Iraq Veterans Against the War
P.O. Box 8296
Philadelphia, PA 19101
215.241.7123; ivaw@ivaw.org
www.ivaw.org

Women of Color Resource Center
1611 Telegraph Ave. #303
Oakland, CA 94612
510-444-2700; info@coloredgirls.org
www.coloredgirls.org

Women Veterans of America
National Headquarters
P.O. Box 72
Bushkill, PA 18324
570-588-4674
www.womenveteransofamerica.com

A tale of two cetations

A life sized blue on your desk top is the latest initiative designed to raise awareness about the risk to whales from on-going whaling by countries like Japan, Norway and Iceland.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, has announced the runaway success of its latest awareness-raising initiative; a life-sized blue whale on the web.

The banner, as part of WDCS’s Stop Bloody Whaling campaign, gives viewers a glimpse of a life size animated blue whale, the largest animal ever to live on Earth. The campaign highlights the growing danger to great whales from a cruel and increasingly aggressive commercial whaling industry.

The animated whale banner can be seen at www.whales.org.

“The response we’ve had has been overwhelming”, says Lindsay Bruce, IT Manager at WDCS. “Now we’re finding that our hosted solution is close to saturation as demand for the banner really takes off. We hoped the banner would be popular, but seeing this level of public interest is both gratifying and creating a real technical problem. The banner has registered over 90,000 downloads of the animation in the past week and we have been inundated with requests for a version to use as a screen-saver. We’re now looking for a generous IT partner who can help us host this. Clearly it’s made an impact on the public and we want it to stay up, but we don’t have the infrastructure to cope with the demand”.

Created by the German ad agency “Jung von Matt” in Hamburg with the help of "Soulpix 3D animation", the blue whale animation is composed of 10,000 JPEG images stitched together to illustrate the enormous size of these marine mammals. An ingenious Flash engine downloads the images on demand as the whale “swims” slowly across the screen. The completed image is over 80Mb in size.

“The banner is both a fascinating impression of this gigantic animal, the blue whale and a key reminder of the very real danger of commercial exploitation faced by this and other great whales should pro-whaling countries succeed in overturning the ban on commercial whaling.” Says Nicolas Entrup, spokesperson for WDCS “We want the banner to demonstrate to people how amazing these animals are, and how important it is that we do everything in our power to protect them.”

In the twentieth century, whaling pushed many species to the very brink of extinction. In the Antarctic alone, between 1904 and 1978, 1.4 million whales were killed. This number includes the 350,000 blue whales taken by whaling fleets during that time. Thousands more were killed and not reported. With populations slow to recover, these giant creatures are now classified as endangered with some populations in the Antarctic numbering just a few hundred. Many other populations of whales were similarly decimated.

Greener Magazine

One African Family Struggles to Survive

Photo courtesy of www.womenaid.org

I want to go to Africa. There is little that I want more, other than the health of my children.

For someone who loves wildlife and is intrigued by cultures different from my own, what destination could be more compelling? The fact that Africa's ecosystems are in serious peril makes me all the more desperate to get there before it's too late. I read yesterday, in an article from Emmanuel Koro of the World Resource Institute, that African conservation areas like Kruger National Park could risk losing up to 60% of their species as a result of the coming climate change.

But ecological changes will impact human communities just as much as the they affect the natural world. The early stages of climate change already exacerbate sub-Saharan Africa's pervasive and increasing poverty, through drought and subsequent crop failure as well as degradation of natural resources.

Poverty is one result of natural resource depletion and degradation, but poverty also causes resource depletion. Some of these causes are obvious, some less so. For example, poverty together with political instability means that social programs to improve options for women are often grossly underfunded. Women without access to education, health care, and employment, and the autonomy those opportunities bring, tend to marry in their teens and have large families. Larger families lead to rapid population growth and contribute to the consumption of natural resources at unsustainable rates. The high rate of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa also contributes to increased reliance on forest resources.

Poverty feeds habitat destruction; habitat and natural resource depletion feed poverty.

The problems facing sub-Saharan Africa are daunting.

Below, from the World Resource Institute, is a profile of one family's struggle to make a living, to survive, as forest resources dwindle. Their plight is difficult to fathom in the relative comfort of our 2200 sq ft (average) American home. But it puts a face on the challenges of rural life in an impoverished nation with an average income of less than $2 per day.


Fueling Malawi’s Environmental Challenges

by Charles Mkoka

(Blantyre, Malawi, February 2004) At 2:30 in the afternoon the Dyeratu family has just clambered down one of the highest mountains near Blantyre, the commercial capital of Malawi. Idan and Feligasi Dyeratu and their daughter, Gertrude, began the trek up the 1,400 meter-high Mount Michiru at sunrise on empty stomachs. Eight hours later and a little more than half way home, they have stopped to take a rest under a Eucalyptus tree, each burdened with a load of firewood that they carry on top their heads.

As Blantyre has grown in size and population -- almost tripling in the past decade -- the forests that blanketed the two mountains around the city have been under increasing pressure. Already the trees shrouding Ndirande Mountain have been entirely cleared for fuel wood and brick making. Families are now hiking to the forests on Michiru for their fuel.

In Malawi, 93 percent of energy comes from fuel wood. Under this pressure, deforestation is not just an ecological threat; women are negatively affected as well. Traditionally, it is women's work to gather wood for cooking. Increasingly, they have to walk long distances to gather firewood. This has consequences for the entire family: as firewood becomes scarce, the nutritional status of families often declines. Limited supply of fuel and energy forces many families to reduce the number of meals they eat and to prepare food that requires less cooking, which is often less nutritious.

Idan says his family climbs the mountain every Saturday so he can sell the wood in the densely populated township of Chirimba. They purchase loads of firewood from forestry officials that are managing a plantation on Mount Michiru. "The exotic pine plantation is benefiting us a lot," said Idan. "I make a profit of about 400 Kwacha [about US$4] per head load carried down the mountain after buying it at 15 Kwacha from forestry officials."

A recent survey conducted by the Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi identified poverty as both a major social problem faced by local people, and as a serious cause of pressure on the environment in Malawi. According to William Chadza, head of the organization's natural resources management program, poverty and lack of resources "lead the people to use available natural resources unsustainably."

Chadza cites charcoal production as an example. Around the country, rural communities are rapidly burning their forestlands to produce charcoal, which is in high demand in cities. To make 50 kilograms of charcoal requires 250 kilograms of wood. The disappearance of forests has resulted in massive soil erosion and siltation in low-lying areas resulting in floods during heavy rains. Increased flooding and siltation not only threatens rural communities, it has disrupted operations at the biggest hydroelectric dam in the country, resulting in power outages.

The UN's 2000 Human Development Report ranks Malawi as one of the 10 poorest countries in the world -- 163 out of 173 nations. About 65 percent of the people live below the poverty line, and 28 percent suffer from "severe poverty."

Malawi has a population of about 12 million, with most of the population living in rural areas. Nearly 85 percent of the population is dependent on agriculture, and in 2002 more than half of those people were not able to produce enough food to feed themselves the entire year.

While the country has taken measures to address poverty -- launching a poverty-monitoring system to inform and oversee poverty related issues -- the rapidly growing population continues to exert pressure on the country's natural resources. Until recently, Malawi was home to more than a million refugees from Mozambique refugees who fled armed conflict in their country a decade ago. Further, an influx of firearms from the conflict has helped poachers finish off elephants in Majete wildlife reserve and the Black Rhino in the Mwabvi Wild reserve.

Like the Dyeratu family many people now earn their living by selling fuel wood and charcoal. Idan says business of selling firewood assists his family to buy necessities like food, soap and salt and supports five of his children, who attend primary school and secondary education. However he is not sure what the future holds, when resource that he collects from Michiru Mountain is exhausted. "If the forest officials stops selling firewood from the mountain, then we have to decide as a family, what we have to do," said Idan. (WRI Features, 730 words)

---

Charles Mkoka (cmkoka@mw.loita.com) is a freelance writer based in Malawi and a contributor to WRI Features.

In later blog posts here, you can read how conservation organizations such as The Nature Conservancy in partnership with the African Wildlife Foundation, the Jane Goodall Institute, and the Green Belt Movement are working to develop incentives to help rural Africans protect natural resources in ways that also support their families. The challenge is immense, but the progress is encouraging. Because poverty and resource depletion are so intricately linked, any solution must address both. To be in some way a piece of that solution......what could be more gratifying or more meaningful?

Keywords:: habitat loss Africa povery wildlife Malawi population growth AIDS HIV deforestation resource depletion solutions incentives

African forests at risk

Africa lost nine per cent of its trees between 1990 and 2005, according to a UN survey of the world's forests.

This represents 0ne half of the earth's forest loss, this despite the fact that the continent accounts for just 16 per cent of the earth's forests.



In a news release this week (13 March) by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, it was reported that the highest losses occurred in countries with the densest forest cover: Angola, Cameroon, DRC, Nigeria, Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, all in Africa.

Although forests are obtaining greater political support and commitment in Africa, the report says "implementation and law enforcement remains weak in most countries".

In Latin America and the Caribbean, home to a quarter of the world's forest cover, 0.5 per cent of forest was lost each year between 2000 and 2005 ― up from a rate of 0.46 per cent in the 1990s. The conversion of forest to agriculture was the leading cause of deforestation.

Costa Rica, however, reversed its forest decline in the 1990s subsequently realizing a growth of of almost one per cent of forest area expansion per year. But the extent to which this is related to reductions in agricultural land or innovative policies is not clear, warns the report.

The survey highlighted positive action in Latin American countries. This includes a large increase in forest area designated for biodiversity conservation, indicating that countries are taking steps to prevent loss of primary forests ― those undisturbed by human activities.

According to the report, the region is "among the world leaders in innovative approaches to international cooperation on forest issues". Methods used include forming networks to fight fires and improve the management of protected areas.

The Amazon Treaty Cooperation Organization ― whose member countries comprise Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela ― and the Central American Commission on Environment and Development are among those cited in the report.

Forested area increased in Asia between 2000 and 2005 ― largely due to China's investment in tree plantations, which offset high rates of forest clearing in other regions.

Related links::
State of the World's Forests 2007 report
UN Food and Agriculture Organization
The Amazon Treaty Cooperation Organization

Keywords:: RESOURCES FORESTS AFRICA LOGGING PLANTATIONS CHINA

April 14, 2007: National Day of Climate Action

Photo courtesy of peacecorpsonline.org

Here's your chance to meet other global-warming activists in your own community.

The website Step It Up! 2007 is promoting a "national day of climate action" on April 14, 2007. Great idea, and a desperately needed action. Already 920 events are planned in 50 states. The Step It Up 2007 website has an interactive map that allows you to locate the event closest to your home.

Step It Up! is pushing Congress for an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by the year 2050, which is just a 2% reduction per year.

Here is Step It Up's explanation of why they've chosen this particular goal. From their website:

"The latest science tells us that temperatures are increasing faster than expected, and the results are showing up in melting ice caps, intensifying storms, and rising sea levels. America's foremost climatologist, NASA scientist James Hansen, has said that we have just a few years to start reducing carbon emissions, and he's endorsed our goal of 80% by 2050. That won't prevent global warming - it's already too late for that - but it may be enough to stave off the most catastrophic effects.

"While few experts have said explicitly 'we need to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2050,' we're sticking to this message. Here's why: Scientists have resisted in nearly every case prescribing policy because they don't want to enter the political realm. That's why the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and others won't suggest policy, but rather leave it up to legislators to do the dirty work. That said, Jim Hansen, the Stern Report, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a number of European countries, the State of California and others (including the new USCAP business-environmental partnership) have either suggested or explicitly referred to 80% carbon cuts by 2050 as a solution commensurate to the scale of the problem.

"And it's possible. The cost of renewable energy is falling fast. New conservation technologies, like hybrid cars, are becoming more available. Many Americans are starting to switch already, but only leadership from Washington can allow this transformation to happen fast enough. And if we begin to get our house in order, then we can play some role in helping China and India steer away from cataclysm as well.

"There are no guarantees we'll succeed. But if we act ambitiously, we have reason to hope."

Step It Up's website (link above) also has suggetions for how to plan an action near you, if there isn't one already planned, and other steps you can take to reduce our contribution to climate change. Americans are right now the world's biggest producers of the greenhouse gases that are warming the planet. But we're not helpless to stop it.

Keywords:: global warming, day of action, step it up, Congress, 80% reduction, greenhouse gases, carbon emissions, climate change

Africa: the race for dwindling resources

Cheetah photo courtesy of www3.nationalgeographic.com

Any given evening of channel-surfing is likely to turn up a show on African wildlife....hyenas scuffling over a zebra carcass, meerkats socializing, cheetahs chasing antelopes. We're fascinated with African wildlife. Of course we are. No other continent offers the variety of "charismatic megafauna" found on the African savannah. Troll the internet for safari prices, and you'll find many African packaged trips for $7,000 to $12,000 per person. But Americans continue to pony up because we're entranced by the grandeur and drama of African wildlife.

Yet Africa is a continent in serious crisis. It's the only continent where poverty is actually increasing. More than 70% of the world's HIV infection is in sub-Saharan Africa. The AIDS epidemic, as you probably know, has killed so many people in Africa that a large proportion of households in sub-Saharan Africa are missing one or both parents. In many cases, a child or granny is the head-of-household.

The disruption of family and village life by the AIDS epidemic has profound ripple effects throughout African culture and the natural world. Traditionally, rural villages have relied heavily on forest resources, especially fuelwood, but also plants for traditional medicines, and bushmeat, or wildlife for the dinner table. In some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 90% of household energy is from locally gathered wood. For centuries, villagers have harvested only dead branches, and the wood has come from the village commons - the communally owned area around each village. The harvesting of fuelwood, bushmeat, medicinal plants, wood for fencing and household implements and furniture, etc. has been at sustainable rates.

But families without a breadwinner tend to increase their use of forest resources, because such resources are free. In addition, the human population in east Africa is projected to double in the next 55 years or so. So the demand for forest resources is increasing for a number of reasons. The use of many of these resources, including trees for fuelwood, has surpassed sustainable levels. In South Africa, some studies have shown that at current rates of use, fuelwood resources will be exhausted within 15 years.

The demand for arable land is also increasing as human populations increase. Conflicts between the needs of human communities and the needs of wildlife for habitat grow more pressing. Many rural villages depend on livestock for their livelihoods. In east Africa - Kenya and Tanzania - predation on livestock can be a major source of friction between wildlife conservation efforts and community interests. In southern Africa, elephants often damage farm fields, and even invade villages, sometimes killing people. The Nature Conservancy is working with the African Wildlife Foundation toward solutions to these problems. The key lies in finding incentives for local Africans to preserve natural resources, including wildlife, and in finding ways that African villagers can improve their livelihoods through resource conservation. That is a major challenge for the century that lies before us.

On June 5 of 2006, Voice of America's Cole Mallard interviewed Adam Henson of the African Wildlife Foundation on the conflict over the use of natural resources by humans and wildlife in Africa, and solutions that AWF is trying to facilitate. Following is a link to the audio of that interview (less than 2 minutes long) and a written summary of the interview from the website of the African Wildlife Foundation.

Humans vs. Wildlife: How Serious Is the Race for Resources?

The audio of the interview

"Tonight, in our continuing series on the competition for resources between humans and wildlife, these questions: How serious is it? Can a compromise be worked out? Voice of America English to Africa reporter Cole Mallard put those questions to Adam Henson, a program manager with the African Wildlife Foundation in Washington, who said Human-wildlife conflict is one of the most serious threats facing conservation efforts in Africa today. Our mission is to work with the people of Africa to insure the wildlife and wildlands of Africa will endure forever through strategies that create incentives for conservation and opportunities for people to earn a living.

"He says the cause of the conflict is competition for resources between wildlife and people, such as water and grazing areas. Henson says the kind of conflict depends on the region. For example, in East Africa, lions and other large predators devastate livestock, whereas in Southern Africa, large elephant populations raid crops, destroy houses and sometimes kill people.

"He says the way to deal with conflict is through prevention and mitigation. He says prevention involves improving livestock husbandry, and containing of livestock from predators such as lions. He describes mitigation as financial compensation for economic loss resulting from destructive wildlife behavior.

"Henson says it's not the role of the Africa Wildlife Foundation to promote or oppose sport hunting or other similar activities, but to promote a wide range of economic activities that are derived from conservation and that create benefits for local people that can, in the end, sustain livelihoods and, most importantly, protect conservation of wildlife."

Sources:
African Wildlife Foundation. June 8, 2006. "Humans vs wildlife: How serious is the race for resources?" http://www.awf.org/content/headline/detail/1279

Twine, Wayne. "The rural fuelwood crisis: sifting through the myths." Kruger Park Times. October 4, 2004.

Keywords: Africa African wildlife sustainable resource use natural resources elephants predation tribal villages rural livelihoods conservation incentives compensation AIDS grannies AIDS orphans bushmeat traditional medicines fuelwood AWF Nature Conservancy

International council of the 13 indigenous grandmothers

Women are gaining influence as leaders throughout the world fighting for peace, justice, the environment and civil society.


In this program, we visit with three eloquent members of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers.

The Council is a global alliance of elder women healers who represent more than 900 years of collective wisdom and traditions. The women come together to speak in one voice, with one very simple, yet urgent message: we must take care of our Mother, the Earth, for the next seven generations.

This Women's Desk program is a special collaboration with the Women Rising Radio Project, Lynn Feinerman and Crown Sephira Productions.

Featuring::

Rita Pitka Blumenstein of the Yupik nation practices plant and energy medicine. She is on the staff of Anchorage's South Central Foundation Traditional Healing Clinic; Flordemayo is a Mayan curandera, or healer, and serves on the board of the Institute of Natural and Traditional Knowledge in New Mexico; Beatrice Long-Visitor Holy Dance is an elder in the Native American Church, a sundancer and a health worker with the Lakota Oglala people.

Program Producer: Lynn Feinerman
Senior Producer: Tena Rubio
Guest Host: Sandina Robbins
Mixing Engineer: Stephanie Welch

Keywords:: INDIGENOUS SEVENTH GENERATION GRANDMOTHERS TRADITION EARTH

For more information::

The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers
The Center for Sacred Studies
P.O. Box 745 Sonora, CA 95370
209-532 9048; info@grandmotherscouncil.com
www.grandmotherscouncil.com
www.forthenext7generations.com

Tardy report on climate change is long overdue

Later than the latest homework assignment, more inadequate than the most half-hearted school project, the US’s upcoming climate change report is expected to disappoint climate scientists around the world.

The report, required by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, was due to the UN no later than January 1, 2006. Yes, 2006. Nonetheless, it is currently still under review by the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

According to the Council, the fourteen-month delay has been the result of an exhaustive review process. Skeptics, however, beg to differ. Rick Plitz, director of Climate Science Watch and a former senior associate of the federal Climate Change Science Program, hypothesizes that the postponement is largely because “the administration is reluctant to make an honest statement about likely climate change impacts on this country.”

This reluctance is rather understandable, given the degree of action that an honest assessment would necessitate. The UN’s own report, released last month, stressed more harshly than ever the drastic need for a significant worldwide reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Although the US ratified the report, along with 112 other nations, the administration has yet to appropriately address the gravity of this news. The US’s current emissions policy calls for limiting the nation’s rate of increase to 19% – which still allows emissions to increase from 7.7 billion tons in 2000 to 9.2 billion tons by 2020.

This slowed rate of increase is simply not enough, according to Washington’s own Climate Institute. “We really need to be seriously reducing emissions, not just reducing the growth rate, as the president is doing,” says Michael MacCracken, the Institute’s chief scientist.

It’s easy to understand why the administration, and indeed, the American public, is hesitant to admit the decisive stance that is truly needed. After all, the greatest sources of greenhouse gases are coal, oil, and natural gas – the very fuels that support almost every aspect of the comfortable American lifestyle. Acknowledging the gravity of the true need for change is going to require a serious policy change from the government and citizens alike.

Both the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Climate Science Watch offer continued monitoring of the report’s progress, as well as further information on climate change in the political arena.

By Sara Kate Kneidel

keywords:: global warming, climate change, UN report, US greenhouse gas emissions

Birds Plan their Future Menus, Scientists Say

Western Scrub Jay photo courtesy of Arizona Game & Fish Division

Researchers say that Western scrub jays are the first animals to unambiguously meet the criteria for "planning" behavior. Scientist Nicola Clayton of the University of Cambridge in England reported her observations in the Feb. 22 issue of the journal Nature. The birds in the study were seen to store food in places where they were previously stuck with nothing to eat. They also were observed to cache certain kinds of food in spots where that kind of food had not been available in the past.

In humans, planning is the result of imaginary time travel. Whether the birds were engaging in imaginary time travel can't be known for sure. But behavior that seems to result from imaginary time travel has never been reported for any animal in research journals before now.

To set up the study, Clayton and her colleagues housed the jays in suites with two annexes. On some mornings, the researchers confined a bird in one of the annexes for 2 hours with no breakfast. On other days, the researchers kept the bird in the other annex, where food was available. So the birds knew which annex had food and which didn't.

For the experiment, the researchers served whole pine nuts to the jays. The birds could eat as many as they liked and cache the rest in either annex. The 8 birds in the test cached most of their nuts in the no-breakfast annex.

In a second experiment, the researchers offered the birds peanuts in one annex and kibble in the other. The birds cached more of each food in the annex that lacked it.

The researchers say the results show that the birds planned what they would have available to eat for future meals.

Other scientists - Sara Shettleworth of the University of Toronto and Thomas Suddendorf of the University of Queensland - concur with Clayton that the results show strong evidence of planning, much more so than previous behavioral experiments.

This behavior is different from, say, a dog running to the door at the sound of a car in the driveway, which is simply a response to a conditioned stimulus. It is also different from a cat lying next to a chipmunk hole, which may seem to be planning but is actually a hunt already in progress.

This behavior is not the same as a squirrel hiding nuts, either, which can be explained as just instinctive behavior with no imaginary reflection on how satisfactory the nuts will be at a future time.

The caching by Western scrub jays does seem to show "imaginary time travel" to events that could be weeks away - events which require some menu-adjustment in order to satisfy the choosy diners.

Source: S. Milius. "Bird plans." Science News, Volume 171. February 24, 2007.

Keywords: bird behavior bird intelligence scrub jays bird research planning behavior food cache

Activists Succeed in Blocking One New Coal Plant

Dear Global Warming Activists,

You’ve probably heard the news by now that the NC Utilities Commission yesterday approved only ONE 800-megawatt unit for Cliffside. Thanks to all of you for attending the hearing, providing public and written comments, getting friends and family to submit comments, writing letters to the editor, talking to people about the importance of moving away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy and energy efficiency, and all the other ways you contributed to making sure the Utilities Commission heard the public’s concerns. I am convinced that without the large turnout at the hearing in Charlotte and the many comments sent in, that the Commission would have no doubt approved both proposed units. So thank you for your part in this critical campaign to fight global warming pollution here in North Carolina!

There are several silver linings in this decision:

1) Duke stated under testimony that it would be cost-prohibitive to build just one unit. In the paper this morning Duke Carolinas President Ellen Ruff, stated that “We have to look at where we are.” She said they could choose to build more natural gas plants. So we will keep you posted on the latest developments.

2) Duke still needs to get an air quality permit from the state Division of Air Quality. In terms of concerns over air quality and global warming, we have better legal standing with the DAQ than with the UC on these issues. There may be a public hearing on this.

3) We now have the Charlotte Observer, the Raleigh News and Observer and the Winston-Salem and Durham papers on record as opposing Cliffside.

4) We also have the attention of the state legislature which is considering legislation that NC adopt a RENEWABLE ENERGY PORTFOLIO STANDARD that would require utilities to have a certain percentage of their energy portfolio met through energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

ACTION: We need folks to thank Rep. Becky Carney, Rep. Martha Alexander and Rep. Drew Saunders for co-sponsoring House Bill 77 which would ensure that at least 20% of North Carolina’s energy demand is met through efficiency measures and clean, renewable sources by the year 2020. Contact your specific legislator in the house and ask them to support this bill.

To find out your legislators and their contact info, follow this link from our website: http://www.clean-air-coalition.org/action_center.htm

FOR YOUR READING: You should know that Susan Tompkins of Charlotte is a member of the N.C. Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change. She is a wonderful advocate on our behalf. I’ve attached a Summary of Proceedings from their meeting on February 22. Please read over these and get familiar with the types of policy changes we need to support to reduce our carbon emissions in North Carolina and thank Susan when you see her!

CALENDAR ITEM: Mark your calendars for Thursday, March 22 to attend a presentation on climate change at Davidson College by Dr. Tim Flannery, Scientist and author of The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change, 7:00 p .m, Duke Auditorium, http://www.theweathermakers.com

Thanks again for using your voice to help the Carolinas Clean Air Coalition restore clean and safe air to the Charlotte region!

Best regards,

June Blotnick
Executive Director
Carolinas Clean Air Coalition
402 W. Trade Street, Suite 104
Charlotte, NC 28202
(704) 342-9161
www.clean-air-coalition.org

Keywords: coal plant coal plants coal-fired power plants activism activists clean air coalition cliffside victory North Carolina Utilities Commission Duke Energy global warming public hearing Duke Power activist success air quality asthma air pollution mercury Tim Flannery weather makers

North Carolina is not alone in our struggle to block the construction of new coal-fired power plants. Far from it. The Illinois chapter of the Sierra Club recently posted the article below about the "Midwest coal rush." The article explains why coal is making a comeback in spite of considerable health and environmental costs. To find the original article go to the Illinois Sierra Club Home Page, then scroll down and click on "Clean Air", then click on "Midwest Coal Rush". Or read it right here:

Midwest Coal Rush

Dirty coal is making a comeback...

For three decades the devastating pollution costs associated with burning coal for energy has prevented the construction of new coal power plants. American innovation has helped clean the air while meeting US energy demands with clean energy choices such as energy efficiency, wind, solar and clean-burning natural gas.

All that progress is now at risk. With a sympathetic White House, relaxed environmental protections, and large state and federal subsidies, dirty coal is staging its most serious resurgence in thirty years. 114 new coal-burning power plants are in various stages of planning and permitting in the US today. Most of the plants are proposing outdated coal combustion technology which would create the largest new source of global warming pollution in the US.

Almost one half of the new coal plants are proposed in the Upper Midwest – with a record 12 plants in Illinois! These new coal plants, some of which are already being permitted and funded with taxpayer subsidies, will not replace the old existing coal plants but instead will compound our existing pollution woes. These “new” coal plants emit essentially as much carbon dioxide – the principal cause of global warming -- as a 1950s-era coal plant.

What Is At Stake?

Our Health: Coal-burning power plants are the single largest source of mercury, a potent neurotoxin contaminating our nation’s waterways. The Illinois Department of Health has issued a fish consumption advisory due to dangerous levels of mercury in every waterway in the state. US EPA estimates that one in six women in America has levels of mercury in their bodies that presents a risk of permanent brain damage to her child in utero.

Coal-burning power plants also cause the fine soot pollution that blankets our cities. This fine soot bypasses the lung’s natural defenses and becomes lodged deep in the lungs where it causes asthma attacks, lung cancer, heart attacks, and even premature death. The Midwest already has its share of air quality alert days – more coal plants will only mean more dirty air days.

Our Economy: Investing in dirty old coal technology closes the market to expanding clean energy opportunities in the Midwest. Modern clean energy technologies, such as energy efficiency and wind power, are viable solutions to meet future energy needs in the US. The Midwest has an exciting opportunity, with its abundant wind and biomass resources, to become a leader in the 21st century energy market. Midwest wind energy alone could meet 25% of America’s electricity needs and create thousands of additional jobs in manufacturing, installation and maintenance of clean energy systems.

Our Future: Leading experts agree that the single largest threat facing our planet and our children’s future is global warming. A 2004 Pentagon-commissioned report states that “ because of potentially devastating consequences, the risk of abrupt climate change … should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a U.S. national security concern.” The proposed Midwest coal plants would add billions of tons of new carbon dioxide to the air, making them the #1 US threat to global warming, at a time other states and 140 nations are taking action to reduce their global warming pollution.

Stop New Dirty Coal NOW To Build A Clean Energy Future

Building dirty coal-burning power plants is a giant step in the wrong direction, leading us into a future of at least 50 more years of additional air pollution and increased health risks. The Midwest needs to become a leader by banning new dirty coal-fired power plants and instead investing in safe and clean energy technology. Clean energy alternatives should be considered before any other technologies. [end of article]

To learn more about the fight against coal's resurgence, go to the Energy Justice Network. Among other things, they have an interesting map of the nation's coal supply regions. I begin to understand why the Southeast has a hefty proportion of the nation's existing coal-fired power plants.

To register your objection to Duke Energy's proposed new Cliffside coal plants in North Carolina, e-mail the NC Utilities Commission with a brief statement at vance@ncuc.net (Subject heading: Cliffside or Docket E-7, Sub 790). Ask the Utilities Commission to reject Duke's construction request, and include any negative comment about coal. Send it by Weds February 28 if you can, although that decision date may wind up being postponed (at the request of several concerned legislators). You don't have to be a resident of NC to object. We'll all pay the price for the 11 million tons of carbon dioxide that these new NC plants will generate every year.

Thanks for any e-mails. For more about the struggle in NC against the mighty Duke Energy, which has its tendrils deep into local government and local corporations, see previous posts on this blog. More will be forthcoming.

Keywords: coal coal-fired power plants Duke Energy midwest coal rush Illinois Sierra Club map of coal supply largest source of global warming mercury brain damage asthma