Wednesday, 13 Nov 2002

Staples Gunned

In a milestone victory for trees and forest advocates, the office-supply giant Staples announced yesterday that it would phase out paper goods made from threatened forests and increase the average amount of recycled material in its paper products to 30 percent, up from the current average of less than 10 percent. No timetable has been set for the changes. Enviros fought for two years to win the gains from the Massachusetts-based chain. ForestEthics, based in California, and the Dogwood Alliance, based in North Carolina, say they staged more than 600 demonstrations at Staples stores nationwide, barraged the company's top brass with letters, and even got the rock band R.E.M. to help sway public opinion. The enviros now have their sights set on other brand names in the industry. Kristy Chester Vance of ForestEthics, said, "We expect this to happen in the office-supply sector with companies such as Office Max, Office Depot, and Corporate Express."

E Is for Environment

We all know Rachel Carson is an environmental hero -- but what about Anna Pigeon? If you've never heard of her, it's time to check out the mystery section of your local bookstore, where eco-heroes are beginning to claim some shelf space. The creation of author Nevada Barr, Pigeon is an itinerant National Park Service ranger and crime-fighter extraordinaire who pursues evildoers through such national treasures as Mesa Verde, Carlsbad Caverns, and Isle Royale. Meanwhile, Rachel Porter, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent created by Jessica Speart, looks into mysterious grizzly-bear deaths in the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. And then, of course, there are the creations of Carl Hiaasen, the environmentally minded chronicler of all things Floridian and strange. Michelle Nijhuis reviews the latest in eco-mysteries, only on the Grist Magazine website.

Crop Busting

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is ordering the destruction of hundreds of thousands of bushels of soybeans in Nebraska after discovering that they were contaminated with genetically modified (GM) corn. The Texas-based company ProdiGene is attempting to grow GM corn impregnated with medications such as the hepatitis B vaccine. It plowed over a failed field of the crop in the Midwest and later used the field for a regular crop of soybeans. Federal officials say that they caught the problem before the soybeans ever made it to market, and that the nab is proof that an effective regulatory structure is in place to prevent safety problems with GM crops. But critics had a darker view: "This technology is moving so much faster than the government is," said Jane Rissler of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "So much of this regulatory scheme depends on the industry's actions, and we cannot trust them."

You're Living in Your Own Private Idaho

An increasingly common type of collaboration between a conservation group and a logging company will protect up to 600,000 acres of private forestland in northern Idaho from development. The Washington-based timber company Potlatch, which owns the land, will sell its development rights to the California-based Trust for Public Land, which in turn expects to raise more than $40 million from private and government sources to pay for the transaction. The company will be allowed to continue logging the land, but real-estate developers will be kept at bay forever. Some enviros are taking issue with such deals because they allow logging to persist, but others defend them as the far lesser of two evils. "To us, it's not a question of whether there will be a working forest or a pristine forest," says Larry Selzer, president of the nonprofit Conservation Fund. "It's really a question of whether it will be a working forest or a shopping mall or an industrial park."

Study Buddies

Ignoring the overwhelming consensus among scientists worldwide, the Bush administration this week unveiled a proposal that would have the U.S. embark on another years-long study to assess whether humans are causing the globe to warm. Industry officials and other climate skeptics lauded the research plan. But many climate scientists said it would simply reopen issues that most experts consider resolved. Others said more research would be helpful, but not at the expense of delaying action to address climate change. Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University said, "If you strip away the rhetoric, there's a valuable agenda of research here to pursue. The danger is that while they're continuing to do the research, the window of opportunity to avoid dangerous global warming is closing." The feds are accepting public comment on the plan through early January 2003.