Friday, 18 Jan 2002

I Believe in a Town Called "Without Hope"

The name of the Kenyan shantytown of Korogocho means "without hope" in the local dialect, but an environmentalist entrepreneur is working to bring hope to the locals. In 1995, Matthew Meyer cofounded the Wikyo Akala Project, which recycles rubber tires from the town dump into "eco-sandals" and sells them around the world. With the help of a website (Ecosandals.com) launched in 2001, the project is providing ecologically and socially responsible sandals to the world -- and bringing hope (in the form of money for food, housing, education, and health care) back to Korogocho. Read more about Meyer's project and his daily adventures, only on the Grist Magazine website.

Garden State, Meet the Cement State

Bad news on the environmental justice front: Poor and minority residents of Camden, N.J., aren't having much luck with efforts to sue the state for allowing a cement factory to spew pollution in their neighborhood. The residents successfully convinced U.S. District Judge Stephen Orlofsky that the siting of the plant was discriminatory, but Orlofsky's decision was undermined by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in another case that individuals suing states for discrimination must prove that there was intent to discriminate. Now the residents are trying to get the courts to hear their case on other grounds, but so far they haven't had much luck; last month, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeal denied the request, and on Wednesday, the court ruled against a petition for the full court to reconsider the issue.

Polar Bear Market

In its latest clash with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of the Interior has rejected the findings of its biological agency and concluded that oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would not violate an international treaty to protect polar bears and their habitats. A 1995 USFWS report found that the Arctic Refuge contains "the greatest concentration of denning polar bears in Alaska." But higher-ups in the Department of the Interior have insisted that oil drilling would not harm the bears or contravene the treaty, and the USFWS now officially agrees with that position. Meanwhile, efforts to protect the refuge were dealt another setback yesterday when five major unions reiterated their support of a bill to approve drilling there. The Teamsters estimate that opening up the refuge would create 700,000 jobs; the Center for Economic and Policy Research puts the number at 46,000.

Great Leap Forward

In the second move in recent weeks suggesting a heightened commitment to the environment, China called yesterday for early passage of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, saying the treaty would benefit rich and poor countries alike. The appeal was made during a meeting of European and Asian environmental ministers, who want to move ahead with Kyoto despite the withdrawal of the U.S. The treaty would require industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5 percent of 1990 levels by late 2012, while setting no goals for developing nations. However, Xie Zhenhua, director of the State Environmental Protection Agency, said his country would "actively explore" deals with industrialized countries to reduce emissions within China, which contributes about 11 percent of the world's carbon emissions. Earlier this month, Xie announced that China would double funding to clean up its air pollution over the next five years.

Canary Row

Ten years ago, the nations of the European Union agreed to create Natura 2000, a continent-wide network of conservation areas designed to protect 200 habitats and 600 species. The network was supposed to be in place by 1998, but foot-dragging and local resistance gummed up the works. Now, Natura 2000 is finally becoming a reality. Yesterday, the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira became the first nations to set aside Natura 2000 lands, which will be subject to strict conservation rules, including restrictions on industrial activities. The Canary Islands -- one of the most biologically diverse areas of Europe -- will move to protect the habitat of the endangered giant lizard of Hierro, the continent's rarest reptile.

The MLK of Human Kindness

Daily Grist won't be published on Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. See you on Tuesday.