Tuesday, 28 May 2002

It's a Criming Shame

Environmental crimes are the train robberies of the 21st century: High-profit and low-risk, they are generally carried out by perpetrators that are better informed, better organized, and better funded than law enforcement agencies. That was the message delivered by the Environmental Investigation Agency at a Royal Institute of International Affairs seminar held yesterday in London, where speakers warned that international environmental criminals are lining their pockets with lucrative and illegal activities such as dumping toxic waste, manufacturing and selling illicit chemicals, trading in endangered species, and illegal logging. Gavin Hayman, an associate fellow with the institute, put the price tag for environmental crimes at about $40 billion per year. But tackling the criminals is a tall order, because enforcement agencies are under-funded, unable to cover the vast territories assigned to them, and frequently open to bribery at the local level.

We've Got Mail

It's vox populi time again here at Grist Magazine. From bones to pick to praises to sing, our readers get talking about what gets them going: chemtrails in Portland, consumerism in Korea, corporate waste, nuclear haste, eco-terrorists, Mormon conservationists -- you name it and there's a Grist reader writing about it in our letters to the editor section. Go read the work of our favorite unpaid contributors, only on the Grist Magazine website.

Get the Bali Rolling

The fate of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August, could rest on a meeting that opened yesterday on the Indonesian island of Bali. The U.N.-sponsored meeting, which runs for two weeks, aims to smooth out differences among nations on how to achieve the twin and rather daunting goals of protecting the environment and eliminating poverty. The U.S. decided against sending any high-ranking officials to the talks, a move environmentalists say demonstrates a lack of commitment to sustainable development. In part because of U.S. obstructionism, environmentalists fear the Bali talks will not achieve anything of lasting significance. But Emil Salim, a former Indonesian environment minister who heads the U.N. committee paving the way for Johannesburg, played down such concerns: "I sense a mood of optimism, a sense of getting conclusions [at Bali] so that Johannesburg will be successful," Salim said.

Inuit Intuition

There is no word in the Inuit language for a robin, but suddenly, there are robins in Inuit territory -- the vast, frozen lands of the Arctic. Mostly frozen, that is; this spring, there are bare spots in the tundra snow, just one of many signs that the far north is thawing. Other signs include receding glaciers, eroding coastlines, disappearing lakes, rising temperatures, and once-unheard of thunderstorms. None of those have escaped the attention of the Inuits, whose knowledge of the land used to be dismissed by the scientific community. Recently, however, scientists have begun to incorporate Inuit observations into studies of climate change. Canada has even mandated that government agencies take traditional knowledge into account when making land-use decisions. That's all well and good, but it doesn't reverse climate change, which poses a dire threat to the Inuit way of life. "When you think in terms of the long-term negative effects of climate change, this could be the beginning of the end of the way of life for a whole people," said Sheila Watt-Cloutier, president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference of Canada.

Fischler-ing for Trouble

The E.U. has announced a proposal to overhaul Europe's fisheries policy, a move that would save endangered species but cost some 28,000 jobs. The reforms would entail cutting the size of the fishing fleet by 8.5 percent, a reduction that E.U. Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler called necessary for the future of European fishing. "Either we have the courage to make bold reforms now, or we watch the demise of our fisheries sector in the years ahead," Fischler said. Despite efforts to protect fish species by imposing annual catch quotas on E.U. nations, the stocks of many European fish have fallen to dangerously low levels, and two-thirds of Northeast Atlantic stocks are below safe biological limits. Environmentalists welcome the plan to protect the fish, but southern European countries and Ireland, which will be most strongly affected, are expected to resist it.

Gift Rap

So far, the first-ever Grist fundraising drive has been an unprecedented success. (eGrants.org, the organization that's making it possible to do fancy things like process your online credit card donations safely and securely, wants to know what the heck we've done to inspire such a love-in among our readers.) Donors have sent enthusiastic notes saying they're happy to fork over some dough so long as we keep providing first-rate environmental news, the latest opportunities for activism, and features from the county's best environmental writers -- not to mention a daily dose of laughter. What with all the warm fuzzies, we're finding that fundraising can be mighty fun. But we'd rather get our jollies doing what we do best -- writing about the trials and (occasional) triumphs of Mama Earth. So if you haven't given yet, please do. We run a tight ship here, but we need help from you to keep it afloat. It's true what they say about every little bit counting, so please give whatever you can. Along with all that good Grist content, we promise fountains of gratitude in return.