Monday, 13 May 2002

Cheers for Fears

Forests are being cut down, species are going extinct, wild spaces are disappearing into the maw of sprawl, and around the world, people are maiming and killing each other in the name of security, justice, or revenge. All the while, our government is systematically undermining the sort of international agreements -- from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change to the anti-ballistic missile treaty -- that could make the world a safer place. Where do you find hope and courage in the face of so many grim goings-on? Grist columnist Elizabeth Sawin turns to the memory of her late colleague, scientist and environmental writer, Donella Meadows, to help fight despair -- only on the Grist Magazine website.

Bloomsday Doomsday

Ah, a lovely rolling meadow in springtime bloom. What could possibly be more British -- or more endangered? Flower meadows in the U.K. are declining at an alarming rate, putting some species at risk, according to a survey of eight English counties conducted by Wildlife Trusts, an organization that manages 2,400 nature reserves in the country. Conditions in all eight counties were deteriorating; in Worcestershire, three-quarters of "unimproved" grasslands are gone, while in Shropshire, almost half have been destroyed. Among the causes of the degradation are intensive, non-sustainable agricultural methods and a lack of understanding of proper meadow management. The meadows are (or were) home to large number of flowering plants and insects not found elsewhere in Great Britain.

Vera, Vera Good

Portland, Ore., has long had a reputation for attracting Birkenstock-wearing, bike-riding, tree-hugging residents. Now city officials hope to attract Birkenstock-wearing, bike-riding, tree-hugging companies. (Okay, yes, we know companies can't really ride bikes.) Last month, Danish wind-power company Vestas Wind Systems chose Portland as the base of its U.S. operations, bringing as many as 1,000 new jobs to the area. And Mayor Vera Katz and city commissioners have instructed Portland's development commission to take green business seriously when planning the city's economic future. The move has been hailed by many as a great way to unite environmentalists and business boosters. Critics, however, say the city government is tilting at windmills and should focus instead on more traditional forms of economic development.

Carolina in Their Minds

The Bush administration is unhappy about a new ad campaign attacking its plan to move some 30 tons of plutonium from Colorado to South Carolina for temporary storage. The campaign was launched last week by South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges (D), who opposes the plan, fearing that his state could become the permanent resting grounds for the radioactive waste. The feds have declined to guarantee that that won't happen, so Hodges has taken his case to the airwaves, asking South Carolinians to tell the U.S. Department of Energy to store the waste ... somewhere other than South Carolina. The DOE blasted the ads, accusing Hodges (who's up for reelection in the fall) of politicizing matters of national security and foreign policy.

Go Get 'em, Tigers

The world's largest mangrove forest, Sundarban, spans the border between Bangladesh and India, but the countries don't have a joint plan to manage the 3,700-square-mile area. The United Nations is hoping to change that. Two U.N. entities, the International Partnership Fund and the Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, are providing funding to help Bangladesh and India develop a coordinated approach to saving the land. The Sundarban, which runs alongside the Bay of Bengal, is home to endangered Royal Bengal Tigers and the Sundari tree (which is found nowhere else in the world), among many other species. But the forest and its inhabitants are gravely threatened by illegal poaching, logging, increased salinity, and oil pollution -- and that's just for starters.