Tuesday, 07 Sep 2004

My Interview With Andre

Grist Chats With Andre Heinz, Kerry's Stepson

As a committed environmentalist close to the man who may be president of the United States, Andre Heinz could prove a powerful advocate for sustainability. He is the son of a senator (the late John Heinz, Republican of Pennsylvania) and a philanthropist (Teresa Heinz Kerry), the stepson of a presidential candidate (some guy named Kerry), an associate of visionary enviros including Paul Hawken and William McDonough, an international consultant for sustainable-business advocate The Natural Step, and, of late, a full-time campaigner for his stepdad. (Here we pause to regain our breath.) He recently sat down with Grist for the first long-form interview he's given to any media outlet (not that we're bragging). Check out his insights on the intersection of the environment and politics -- today on the Grist Magazine website.

Vengeance Is Mine

Mining Company Funds Campaign to Repeal Cyanide-Mining Ban in Montana

In 1998, Montana voters approved a ban on cyanide open-pit gold mining, which for years had defaced the state's landscape and polluted its groundwater. That ban could be repealed by an initiative set to appear on the November ballot, funded almost exclusively by Canyon Resources Corp., a mining company that wants to build a massive gold mine on the headwaters of the legendary Blackfoot River. Of the $1 million spent so far by supporters of the initiative -- outspending opponents by 395 to 1 -- 97 percent has come from Canyon. The company says its proposed mine would have no adverse effects on the Blackfoot, but mining engineers say that cyanide leakage is practically inevitable. Canyon touts the jobs the mine would create, but federal government figures show that mining contributes only a tiny sliver of the state's revenue. Said Thomas Power, chair of the economics department at the University of Montana, "The engine of growth [in Montana] has been recreational opportunities, scenic characteristics, and wildlife. To threaten this engine with a mine on the Blackfoot is nuts, from an economic point of view."

The Answers, My Friend ...

Wind Power Advocate Luisa Colasimone InterActivates

The European Wind Energy Association is gunning to have 12 percent of the world's electricity produced from wind by 2020. You might imagine that the communications director for such an ambitious organization -- EWEA is the world's largest renewable energy association -- would have her hands full. You'd be right. Read Luisa Colasimone's answers to Grist's questions, and ask her a question of your own -- in InterActivist, only on the Grist Magazine website.

Igloom and Doom

Arctic Feeling the Heat From Climate Change

Global warming is messing with the Arctic more and faster than any other part of the world, to the detriment of the indigenous peoples and animals who call the region their home. Inuit living around the Arctic Circle have seen their ecosystems transformed. Shrinking ice cover means the hunting season is shorter for polar bears; animals who are either white or turn white in the winter as camouflage are more vulnerable as ice melts and rock is exposed; walruses are migrating farther north to follow the cold, while new types of flora and fauna are infiltrating the region as it warms. As ice melts, the less-reflective water absorbs more heat, accelerating the cycle. Add to these difficulties the fact that industrial pollutants migrate north and concentrate in the fat of seals and whales -- the staples of Inuit diets -- and it really looks like this is not a good century to live near the North Pole.

Taint Misbehavin'

Pollution Causes Animals to Act All Freaky

It seems to some folks that humans behave in more and more bizarre fashion these days, but animals have tended to go about their animal business in a generally ordinary fashion. No more: Ubiquitous chemical pollutants known as endocrine disruptors -- everything from heavy metals to PCBs -- are altering animal behavior in zany ways. Male gulls are trying to mate with each other. Goldfish are hyperactive. Macaques are roughhousing more roughly. Newts can't find each other to mate. It's kind of funny, only not. According to two major new reviews in the journal Animal Behaviour, these behavioral disruptions could pose a larger threat to animals' survival than previously thought. The researchers say different concentrations of pollutants can cause different, sometimes contradictory, behaviors, and they argue it's high time for biologists and toxicologists to work together more closely. "The most important point" of the studies, says researcher Dustin Penn, "is the incredible amount of evidence that this is a widespread problem."