Friday, 09 Dec 2005

At Least You Didn't Kill Kyoto

Grist offers one last chance to clear your conscience

Well, friends, this is it: the very last chance you'll have to write off the wrongs of 2005 and enter 2006 with a fresh, clean slate. Over the past two weeks, donations and confessions have come pouring in, as Grist Indulgence-buyers have relieved themselves of guilt over conspicuous consumption, frequent flying, and long, hot, steamy showers. The best part is they're all supporting the hot-to-trot environmental journalism they've come to depend on from Grist. Won't you support us too? Trust us, it feels darn good.

Arrested Development

FBI arrests six from around the country for green-themed crimes

It's one of the biggest-ever busts for "ecoterrorism" (we'll take the scare quotes off when someone gets hurt, thank you very much): On Wednesday, federal agents arrested six people in five states and indicted them on charges related to a string of property crimes in Washington and Oregon from 1998 to 2001. Included in the crimes are the destruction of a Bonneville Power Administration power-transmission tower near Bend, Ore., in December 1999, along with a string of arsons. The FBI claims the four men and two women are associated with each other and with the Earth Liberation Front, an amorphous group that along with the Animal Liberation Front has claimed responsibility for eco-inspired vandalism around the country for years. Federal officials are trumpeting the get-tough message, but Arizonian Ron Coronado, self-described unofficial spokesflack for ELF and ALF, says the charges won't stick.


Syriana, the new political thriller from Traffic screenwriter Stephen Gaghan, arrives amidst a buzz of anticipation -- at least among greens and peak-oil types. While its dense, deliberately confusing plot and lack of emotional uplift are unlikely to win it broad acceptance, those who put in the effort will come away with a detailed -- if depressing -- understanding of just how large, ravenous, and unstoppable the global oil machine really is. In a review, David Roberts asks what's been left out.

Heavy Metal Bummer

U.S.-owned plant contaminating Peruvian communities with heavy metals

There's heavy metal in Peru, but not the mullet-and-fake-satanism kind. Children in a Peruvian Andes mining town have high levels of toxic heavy metals in their bodies -- and the likely source is an 83-year-old smelter owned by the St. Louis-based Doe Run Company. An independent study found that 97 percent of La Oroya's children under six have harmful blood levels of lead, and about 18 percent have high body burdens of arsenic. Researchers also discovered elevated heavy-metal levels in Concepcion, a town about 70 miles downriver and downwind of La Oroya, suggesting the contamination may be regional. Doe Run execs didn't comment on the report, but a spokesflack says that by 2006, the company will have put over $140 million toward improving the smelter.


Every year, motivated Latin American students graduate from Costa Rica's EARTH University with degrees in Agronomy and Natural Resource Management -- and then take their knowledge of "sustainable tropical agriculture" back to their home communities. Proud EARTH prez José A. Zaglul, this week's InterActivist, shares with readers about student success stories, his mother's secret bean recipe, and what EARTH stands for, both in purpose and in acronym.

Dismember the Maine

Rural Maine residents divided as spring-water bottler moves in

An international corporation descending on a rural town, bent on extracting natural resources. Africa? South America? Nope: New England. Nestlé Waters North America Inc., purveyors of Poland Spring water, is prospecting for new sources of "blue gold" in the western Maine wilderness. Some fear the pumping and trucking will strain the underground water supply and ruin the area's tourism-friendly peace and scenic beauty. But with the area's historic mill economy declining sharply, others say the region can't make it on tourism alone -- and a new bottling plant could create 200 jobs. A petition campaign to tax bottlers 20 cents for each gallon extracted has gathered enough signatures to put it on the statewide ballot. It could mean hundreds of millions in revenue -- but Poland Spring says it may leave Maine if the measure passes.