Monday, 20 May 2002

Next Planet, Please

Earthquakes, forest fires, floods, dissolving icebergs, poison ivy, alligator attacks ... What kind of payback is that for all the hard work of environmentalists? Why separate cans and bottles, compost, and give money to green causes when the Earth is so darn indifferent? The environmental movement is calling it quits, tired of toiling away at such a thankless task, reports (er, "reports") Chris Colin in his latest satire, only on the Grist Magazine website.

Great White-meat Whale

The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission began today in Japan, with the host nation calling for an end to a 16-year ban on commercial whaling. Japanese Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Tsutomu Takebe urged IWC member nations to regard whales "in the same light as other living marine resources"-- that is, edible. Japan argues that whale populations have grown substantially since the ban was imposed, making its continued existence unnecessary. The nation already kills whales for research purposes (which is allowed by the IWC), but critics say the research expeditions are thinly disguised hunts to stock pricey Tokyo restaurants with whale meat. Three-quarters of the 48 IWC member nations would have to vote in favor of lifting the ban for it to be repealed, but as yet, it's not clear if a vote on the topic will even take place this year.

Whalie Meatie -- What a Treaty!

In other whale news, the Makah nation in northwestern Washington won another affirmation of its treaty rights late last week, when a U.S. district judge rejected efforts by animal rights activists to suspend Makah whaling until a lawsuit on the issue is resolved. The Makah are the only native people in the Lower 48 to retain the right to hunt whales through a treaty with the U.S. government. The tribe stopped hunting in the 1920s because whale populations had been decimated by commercial hunts. In 1994, when gray whales were removed from the endangered species list, the Makah sought to resume their hunts, citing cultural, spiritual, and subsistence reasons. Fund for Animals, a Washington, D.C.-based animal rights group, sued to block the hunts; a spokesperson for the fund said the group was disappointed with Friday's ruling but planned to proceed with the rest of the case. Among other arguments, the plaintiffs allege that the government's environmental impact assessment of Makah whaling was flawed.

Bass Ackwards

It's Marine News Day here at Grist Magazine and therefore our duty to report that more than 90 restaurants in Los Angeles and Orange counties in Southern California will pledge Tuesday to pull Chilean sea bass from their menus in an effort to save the fish from overfishing and possible extinction. The Chilean sea bass was born in the early 1990s, when spin masters renamed the Patagonian toothfish and propelled the fish into the spotlight of the seafood industry. That was bad news for the fish, which can take 10 years to grow to sexual maturity, making it highly vulnerable to overfishing; experts fear the fish could go extinct in as little as five years. To prevent that, restaurants nationwide are being encouraged by environmental groups to join the "Take a Pass on Chilean Sea Bass" campaign, which began in Northern California, Chicago, and Houston, and is expected to spread to the East Coast this summer.

There's the Right Way and the Army Way

Less than three weeks after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suspended some 150 projects nationwide due to concerns about the accuracy of their economic analyses, the agency announced Friday that it had reviewed all those projects and given the green light for 118 of them to proceed. The speed with which the reviews were conducted spurred renewed criticism of the Corps, which originally came under fire for exaggerating the potential benefits of its projects. When the suspension was announced, some feared that it was merely an attempt to head-off congressional action to reform the agency. Critics say the hasty review confirmed those fears. Of the projects suspended on April 30, only eight are still being evaluated.