Tip #8: Pimp yourself out for the planet. Take time out to volunteer with an environmental organization, and give the greatest gift of all: your fine self.

We’re not just talking about a one-night stand here; we’re looking for commitment. A relationship, even. After all, it takes gajillions of dedicated volunteers and their sustained efforts to support the environmental and social causes that keep the world going ‘round. 

To get started, flip open your planner and assess how much time you have to offer. Make it a habit to donate one hour a week, one day a month, or even one year of your life with a green nonprofit. You can do it with a friend. You can even do it on vacation.

Next, figure out what your interests are—climate change, invasive species, watershed protection—and search for organizations that address those issues, especially in your local community. You may need to go on a few blind dates before you find “the one(s)” that you can really settle down with, but remember to have fun along the way.

Earth Day (April 22) is a fine opportunity to start volunteering, but don’t let your eco-intentions stop after the greenest-holiday-of-them-all hype settles down. Here are some great resources for finding a way to pimp yourself out for the planet any and every day of the year:

If you’re already volunteering (thank you!), don’t neglect to recruit family, friends, co-workers, even strangers to your cause.

Screw Earth Day: Check out tips #1, 2, 3, 4, 5,  6, and 7 for more advice on how to make every day Earth Day.

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Planting trees in Kenya is about more than just helping the environment.
Alan Dater

Planting trees in deforested areas brings a host of benefits, as any good environmentalist knows. Trees provide cleaner air, richer soil, wildlife habitat, and shade. They conserve water and protect lands against floods. They absorb carbon dioxide.

Under the rule of an oppressive regime, tree planting can also be a profoundly subversive act.

This is the focus of Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, a documentary about the Kenyan activist that premiers on the PBS series Independent Lens this Tuesday, April 14.

Wangari MaathaiMartin Rowe

By now the story of Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been well told. (Read Grist’s profile from 2004.) After becoming the first woman in East Africa to earn a PhD, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977. The women’s group has planted 30 million trees across the country, employing thousands of women and providing them with education and solidarity.

In Taking Root, by independent filmmakers Alan Dater and Lisa Merton, Maathai says, “When the women started, no one took them seriously, because who takes women seriously? Then the government realized we were organizing women. And they started interfering.”

The film spans Maathai’s life, from her rural childhood and Catholic-school education to the present, but it focuses most heavily on the ways she challenged the Kenyan government, particularly the 24-year dictatorship of Daniel arap Moi.

The interference began with Kenyan officials demanding licenses and restricting meetings from the Green Belt Movement. It grew much more dramatic when Moi proposed replacing Nairobi’s only major public park with a skyscraper and a statue of himself. Maathai and Green Belt organizers successfully appealed to Moi’s international funders to help defend the park.

“In all her fights, that was the biggest fight, because that also was the turning point in this country that no matter how small you are, you can make a difference,” says human rights activist Ngorongo Makanga.

The filmmakers unearth truly impressive archival footage, including scences of the police brutality at Uhuru Park and Kenya’s Karura Forest. It makes for disturbing moments, though they feel necessary to the story, not gratuitous. Some of the most gripping moments are the more pastoral scenes of women working to restore forests and, later, of soldiers in uniform planting trees.

Taking Root has more to say about social change than about forest ecology--I’m not sure it even mentions the types of trees being planted. But it makes abundantly clear the connections between environmental health, human rights, and democracy. I haven’t read them, but Maathai’s autobiography, Unbowed, and her just-released call to action, The Challenge for Africa, look to offer much of the same.

Truth be told, Taking Root often has the good-for-you feel of so many documentaries, the sort of thing you’d watch in civics class. Then again, a college dorm-mate once said that to me about Gandhi. I’m glad I didn’t listen to him and watched it anyway.

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Aral Sea coming back to life after decades of draining damage

The dramatic diminution and pollution of Central Asia's Aral Sea is one of the 20th century's most stunning eco-disasters -- but its restoration may become an eco-miracle of the 21st. Since the World Bank's $85.8 million Kok-Aral Dam project began in 2001, the Aral has regained millions of cubic feet of water. Long-abandoned village harbors are reviving, with Kazakh fishers putting back out to sea for carp and flounder after their boats sat high and dry for decades. The Aral was once the world's fourth-largest lake and a major source of fish for the region, but the Soviet Union diverted rivers feeding the Aral to irrigate Central Asian cotton fields, turning it into a small, dank, saline stew. Twenty-one-year-old Yerbolat Sartaganov plans to work in the petro-industry for now. "But my grandfather was a fisherman," he says, "and when the water returns I will be a fisherman too."

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Researchers identify 20 future conservation battlegrounds

The soldiers of conservation have been given their marching orders. (Ah, martial metaphors ... never can get the hang of them.) A new study has identified 20 future conservation battlegrounds around the world, from Alaska's far north to the southern tip of the Australian island of Tasmania -- hotspots where land-mammal species aren't yet endangered but could be especially vulnerable in coming years due to pollution, deforestation, hunting, and other pressures. "Conservation is a crisis discipline," said lead researcher Marcel Cardillo. "Because there are so many species on the verge of extinction, that's where most of the effort goes." But the researchers hope their map, published this week in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will spur conservationists to target these regions now for preemptive protection.

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Big Great Lakes cleanup plan gets an OK, but no federal funds

U.S. EPA administrator Stephen Johnson and a bipartisan coalition of Midwestern lawmakers and officials approved a 15-year strategy to restore the Great Lakes on Monday. But the Bush administration says it won't fund the plan, which may cost up to $20 billion. The strategy to pull the lakes back from imminent ecological collapse involves revamping disintegrating municipal sewer systems, clearing out invasive species, decontaminating severely polluted toxic hotspots, and more. Conservationists say the effort is imperative to the region's ecology and economy -- the lakes supply 35 million North Americans with freshwater, and support a $35 billion boating industry and an estimated $18 billion in yearly spending from hunters, anglers, and wildlife-watchers. Lawmakers vow they'll pry funding loose from Washington. "There is not a Democratic plan for cleaning up the Great Lakes or a Republican plan for cleaning up the Great Lakes," says Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.). "There are only two choices -- action or inaction."

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Pandas seem to be recovering in the wild

We're not like those panda fetishists who flip out about the cute, cuddly black-and-white bears, with their snoogly faces and their roly-poly schnugum wugums ... wait, where were we? Anyway, we've got some good news for panda fans: A recent census found almost 1,600 giant pandas in the wild, well up from an estimated 1,000 in the 1980s. It might just be a reflection of better counting methods, some experts say, but also suggests that panda numbers have at least stabilized. The Chinese government has stepped up protections and expanded panda preserves -- perhaps mainly to score global prestige points, but hey, whatever works. Still, the situation remains fragile, caution pandaphiles. "By taking that much land away from the people, there will be lots of people and land conflicts," said John Ouellette, a panda researcher at the Memphis Zoo. But "it's an exciting time. There are lots of possibilities."

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Every damn kid in the U.S., son of cabbie or Catholic, knows and cares about dinosaurs. But few have heard of gomphotheres, which lived here much more recently.

Cheetahs never win.

In the late summer, this North American elephant -- along with some of its contemporaries, like American camels, cheetahs, lions, and giant tortoises -- crept into the minds of many Americans, as the press reported on a proposal put forth by my colleagues and me to bring large animals back to North America.

Our big idea brought an even bigger response from the press, public, and scientific community. It was a wild week of knee-jerking, gasps, and groans -- mixed with some joyful salutations and celebratory fists in the air. Much of the press got it wrong; a few got it so right. Many scientists fired off emails and rebuttals; fewer apparently actually sat down and carefully read the paper before firing.

The public took their corners too. This became clear, crystal, as my inbox filled up with hundreds of emails. "What a fantastic idea ... how can I help?" many asked. But others were decidedly less supportive. One advised me that, while I was promoting a scientific and careful approach to our proposal, he would be sure "to be really careful when I place the crosshairs on them big goddamn animals and slowly squeeze the trigger of my Remington 300Ultra Mag ... P.S.: Are you sane, you f*%$ing moron?" A few of these emails rolled off my back, but after a few hundred, I was watching my back. Thanks to widespread TV, radio, and newspaper coverage, I reckon I had a few new nicknames worse than moron.

The nicknames I can deal with. It's the history that bothers me.

As North Americans, our elephant experiences should be wild, rather than tented ones brought to us by Barnum and Bailey. In the scope of time, these fine creatures were just with us. Go back about 10,000 years, and the African lion is no longer African; it was found throughout Europe, Asia, and, yes, the good ol' U.S. of A. When the Egyptian pharaohs were pondering the pyramids 4,000 years ago, a pygmy mammoth still reigned on a small island in the Arctic Ocean. But our ancestors had hunted this continent's similar creatures to extinction, soon after trudging here for the first time.

Have you herd?

After some reflection in the woods of the Arizona mountains, I realized that it wasn't that important which corner people took to. Rather, the fact that we got them moving at all may be what counted. Our proposal attempted to use the past to provide a new, optimistic vista for the future of biodiversity. Americans, and humanity in general, continue to erode our environment, becoming more and more removed from a relationship with nature. This is bad for biodiversity, bad for us, and bad for our grandkids. Meanwhile, we just keep hitting the snooze button.

Could large animals -- our megafauna -- be the thing that finally stirs us? They're important in our psyche; this is clear from the names of our cars and sports teams. Could Eurasian and African camels, elephants, and lions "replace" those that once roamed the United States? Could they reconnect Americans with nature? Could they return to play long-lost pivotal roles in our ecosystems and economy? A rigorous, cautious scientific approach could help answer these important questions. (Some conservationists are doing just that: The Turner Endangered Species Fund is studying the possibility of reintroducing giant Bolson tortoises, which once thrived across the Southwest, to two ranches in southern New Mexico.)

No one knows the answers, and we all hate uncertainty. Just as scientists are conservative in their findings -- generally a good thing -- many people are conservative when it comes to environmental issues, likely to turn out to be a very bad thing. Let's wait and study it more, we say, instead of Let's study it and act on what we know. Global warming, alternative energy, overfishing -- the list goes on and on.

But we need to act. Consider how wilderness has changed since 1905, and how it is likely to change in the next century. We need to decide how much biodiversity and nature we want to coexist with. The deep natural history of our continent provides guideposts for an optimistic roadmap. Following them will require hard decisions, with substantial obstacles and risks. But the risks of the default scenario -- a world full of weeds and rats, and the absence of the large animals that capture our imagination -- may very well be greater.

Despite the uncertainty, I'm certain those goddamn big animals can help in more ways than one. To that, with my eyes off my back and a fist in the air, I say onward!

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Alfredo Quarto.

With what environmental organization are you affiliated?

I am executive director and cofounder of the Mangrove Action Project.

What does your organization do?

MAP is dedicated to reversing the degradation of mangrove-forest ecosystems worldwide. We promote the rights of local coastal peoples, including fishers and farmers, and encourage community-based, sustainable management of coastal resources. We are based in the U.S., with regional offices in Thailand and Indonesia, and another office opening soon in Brazil.

Mangrove forests are vital for healthy coastal ecosystems -- their salt-tolerant trees and other plant species provide nutrients for the marine environment and support immense varieties of sea life in intricate food webs. Yet for too long, these vital wetlands have been undervalued, called mosquito-infested, muddy swamps, worthless and remote. They're being lost to the charcoal and timber industries, shrimp farms, tourism, golf courses, and ill-planned urban expansion.

We've got a mangrove-y kind of love.

The loss of these wetlands has made coastal regions vulnerable to tsunami waves and hurricane winds, resulting in the loss of thousands of lives and billions of dollars in property, as tragically evidenced in the tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, in which more than 250,000 people were killed. Most recently, it is believed that loss of coastal wetlands along the Mississippi Delta contributed to the immense devastation from Hurricane Katrina. If mangrove forests and related coastal wetlands are kept in a healthy state, they can offer a protective greenbelt to buffer against such otherwise devastating tsunamis or storm surges.

What long and winding road led you to your current position?

In the very distant past, I was an aeronautical and astronautical engineer who quit Boeing to work for $7 a day for Greenpeace in Japan.

I first stumbled upon the mangrove forests, and the shrimp aquaculture industry that threatens them, back in 1992. I was traveling in southern Thailand, visiting several fishing communities, where fisherfolk, both men and women, told me their stories.

One brave, young leader spoke quite openly about the shrimp farms that threatened the very lives and livelihoods of the fishing communities. He simply and poetically stated, "If there are no mangrove forests, then the sea will have no meaning. It is like having a tree with no roots, for the mangroves are the roots of the sea." This statement inspired the formation of Mangrove Action Project, and set me on a new course from which I seriously doubt I will ever recover!

Where were you born? Where do you live now?

Born in Long Island, N.Y., I now live in Port Angeles, Wash.

Who's the biggest pain in the ass you have to deal with?

I would say dealing with the industrial shrimp-aquaculture proponents and their supporting financial and intergovernmental institutes such as the World Bank or the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. has been a pain, as has dealing with those big-name NGOs that are willing to compromise (sometimes sell out) for the sake of finding a quick and easy solution, when too often there just isn't one.

What environmental offense has infuriated you the most?

Witnessing the destruction of vital and healthy mangrove forests that have been cleared to make shrimp ponds in Brazil, Thailand, or India, or tourist resorts and golf courses in the Bahamas or Mexico. The loss of these mangroves destroys the lives and livelihoods of countless coastal communities, placing them in peril from tsunamis and hurricanes, just so we here in the U.S., Canada, Japan, and Europe can eat cheap, farm-raised shrimp, or sunbathe or play golf on a denuded tropical beach.

Who is your environmental hero?

John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mahatma Gandhi, Rachel Carson, Loren Eiseley, David Brower, and Masanobu Fukuoka, who all inspired my environmental mind-set.

Who is your environmental nightmare?

The Republican Party -- a fiesta of lies, environmental pillage, and war!

What's your environmental vice?

Driving a conventional car and eating store-bought bananas, but not necessarily at the same time.

What are you reading these days?

Trying to get through The Passion of the Western Mind by Richard Tarnas, which looks pretty good by its cover.

What's your favorite meal?

Lasagna.

Which stereotype about environmentalists most fits you?

Dedicated to a cause greater than the sum of its support.

What's your favorite place or ecosystem?

The temperate forest of the Pacific Northwest, along the winding banks of the Hoh or Elwha rivers on Washington's Olympic Peninsula.

What's one thing the environmental movement is doing badly, and how could it be done better?

The larger environmental organizations -- the Big Three or Five -- are becoming organizationally moribund and bureaucratic, unable to take a bottom-up approach to the issues. Losing contact with the grassroots makes for a shaky environmental stance. A tall tree without roots will not stand!

What was your favorite band when you were 18? How about now?

The Byrds. U2.

What's your favorite movie?

The Lord of the Rings.

If you could have every InterActivist reader do one thing, what would it be?

Each person should choose at least one environmental or social-justice cause and work on it with a passion and determination to correct the problem, while supporting the Mangrove Action Project with a donation. We need your support!

Death Waits for No Mangrove

Alfredo Quarto, head of Mangrove Action Project.

Where do mangroves naturally grow?    -- Loie Hayes, Boston, Mass.

Mangroves grow in the tropical and subtropical intertidal zones of sheltered bays and river mouths. These complex ecosystems are found between the latitudes of 32 degrees north and 38 degrees south, along the tropical coasts of Africa, Australia, Asia, and the Americas.

Having seen firsthand the destruction of mangrove forest for industrial shrimp farms, I have stopped eating shrimp altogether. Friends say it's OK to eat wild-caught shrimp, which supports local fishers. But even this seems to support a global trade that makes shrimp a commodity available at Sizzler. What's your take?    -- Ted Bardacke, Santa Monica, Calif.

This has been a difficult question since MAP formed 13 years ago. At that time, we wanted to tell people to not eat shrimp, period. But we came to realize that there are indeed some sustainable, less-destructive shrimp production methods that could be supported. For instance, spot prawns found in the Pacific Northwest are caught in small traps or nets lowered into the coastal waters. These do little damage to the surroundings, and if kept within reason, the fishery for spot prawns could be sustainable, though it could never fill the current level of consumer demand artificially created by the shrimp aquaculture industry.

In the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. shrimpers still go out in small commercial trawlers. Today there are many shrimpers utilizing improved bycatch-reduction devices that actually allow the heavier, larger marine species such as sea turtles and fish to escape, while keeping the majority of the shrimp caught in the nets. Also, there are trawlers that are not bottom-draggers, and these do not damage the coastal seafloor. Supporting these types of improved fishing methods is preferred because the small commercial shrimper's traditional livelihood is at stake, and their impact upon the natural ecology is much less damaging than that of the shrimp aquaculture industry, which destroys coastal habitat on a massive scale.

In the U.S., as well as abroad, there are actually promising forms of shrimp farming emerging that utilize a near-closed-system approach, whereby pond waters are recycled. There are no effluent discharges to surrounding waterways, no use of antibiotics or pesticides, no spread of viral diseases between shrimp ponds, no escapes of non-native species, etc. All of these problems and more still plague much of the shrimp-farm industry, which still operates largely as open-system production ponds.

Having offered these examples of more benevolent forms of shrimp production, I need to clarify that another important issue surrounding shrimp production is in the consumption end of the cycle. There are just too many shrimp being eaten now by too many people. In the U.S. alone, the per-capita shrimp consumption level is around four pounds of shrimp per person per year. This is nearly four times what it was around 20 years ago. Consumers in wealthy, importing nations are just consuming too much, and this is causing the rapid and too often uncontrolled expansion of production. So, we at MAP urge a reduction in shrimp consumption. Please, give shrimp a break! Avoid those "all you can eat" Red Lobster and Skipper's buffet dinners. Reduce your demand for farm-raised shrimp, and there will be an important reduction in bad practices to meet the demands of a more socially and ecologically conscientious consumer.

How do you think governments can help in the replanting of mangrove plants? Do you think it will be necessary to enforce a law prohibiting the destruction of mangrove areas?    -- Dean Lim, Flores, Indonesia

Effective enforcement of existing laws is very important, and lack of proper enforcement is one reason why so much mangrove destruction has occurred. Laws exist in the books, but in the majority of instances where mangroves are illicitly cleared, law enforcement is not being carried out. Often, the perpetrators pay bribes to key officials who conveniently turn their backs on the problem.

In some countries, such as in Thailand, those attempting to enforce the laws protecting mangroves face death threats, some of which have tragically been carried out over the years. In one of the first villages I visited along the Andaman coast of Thailand in March of 1992, I found out that two villagers had been shot and killed because they were protesting shrimp farms expanding illegally into their surrounding mangrove areas. Such violence is not unique to Thailand, but is present in Brazil today, in Bangladesh, India, Ecuador, Honduras, and in Indonesia, to name a few trouble spots.

For certain, we need government support of effective mangrove restoration and conservation.

How do you promote change in the behavior of a social institution in Thailand, given that you are in a separate country?    -- Philip

Good question, Philip. Making changes in government policies even in one's own country is difficult, but certainly more so when attempting to do so in another country. Avoid a direct, confrontational approach while raising international pressure on a certain policy or lack of enforcement of an existing regulation. Letter-writing campaigns can definitely help pressure countries sensitive to outside opinions where tourism and consumer awareness about certain export items might be seen as pressure points. With shrimp aquaculture, for instance, Mangrove Action Project raised awareness and some support when we blew the whistle on the fact that shrimp farming was destroying mangroves at a dizzying rate. Though the industry still is adversely affecting mangrove forest areas, we know that some shrimp farmers at least are more sensitive to being caught in the mangrove areas, and are actually striving to avoid them.

Another approach is strengthening local communities and NGOs. Working in collaboration with these groups and others, such as scientists or academics and local government officials, can help change the system from within. Empowering local communities and grassroots NGOs is vital for any campaign aiming at long-term, effective solutions on the ground. Otherwise, we are administering only Band-Aid fixes to a gaping wound, and these will not last.

Does your organization have any program to inform people who want to help mangrove wetlands?    -- Mohsen Ansari, Tehran, Iran

Yes, we have our biweekly, electronic newsletter, "The Mangrove Action Project News," which MAP sends out to over 3,000 email addresses in over 60 nations. It offers news updates and action alerts, informative reports, and related announcements for our general readership.

Also, MAP is cosponsoring conferences and workshops via our "In the Hands of the Fishers" program that deals with mangrove wetland conservation and local community empowerment issues.

I am a seventh-grader planning a science-fair experiment. I am interested in doing something that would show people why it is important to protect the coastlands. Any ideas? (My mom says I should stand up some paper dolls, put some plants in front of them, and point a fan in their direction; and then do the same without the plants. But I don't think that sounds very scientific.)    -- Payne McMillan, Blue Bell, Pa.

Payne, I think your mom has a good idea that really is in a sense scientific in its approach. One of the rules of sound scientific experimentation, in fact, is the ability of other experimenters to independently duplicate your experiment elsewhere to see if they can obtain the same results. Your mentioned experiment seems fitting as one that can be easily performed by others to verify a very important fact -- that a coastal fringe forest, such as mangroves, can act as a buffer against wind and waves.

Your own experiment would be a great way to demonstrate the fact that where there is such a mangrove buffer zone, those communities situated behind this protective cover are much safer than those that do not have the greenbelt to protect them.

After the tsunami in Indonesia and now Hurricane Katrina, there will be talk of mangrove restoration to protect coastlines. How can this be done in an ecologically sound and community-inclusive fashion?    -- Ken Wilson, Palo Alto, Calif.

Very relevant points, Ken, to discuss now, because we are at a sort of crossroads where we must choose the right path toward ecological recovery. In direct response to the tsunamis that killed over 250,000 people in Asia and East Africa, governments are now setting aside millions of dollars to implement massive mangrove restoration projects along the still vulnerable coastlines where mangroves have been lost or degraded by unsustainable developments. This sounds like a good plan on the surface, but there is a history of prior large-scale, top-down-managed mangrove planting projects that have cost millions of dollars and thousands of person-hours, but were dismal failures in the end. Because the methodology and planning were inadequate, the mangroves planted -- usually in mud flats or along open stretches of beach (and even sometimes in sea-grass beds!) -- failed in short order, discouraging all those who took part.

To address these serious concerns, MAP is initiating small-scale restoration projects in the tsunami-affected areas. We are working with local coastal communities and NGOs to implement an effective method of mangrove restoration that promises a more long-term, biodiverse restoration of healthy mangrove greenbelts.

Does the Mangrove Action Project have plans to be involved in the rebuilding and redevelopment of the Gulf Coast following the recent hurricanes?    -- Patrick Lowery, Los Angeles, Calif.

We have no immediate plans there, but are keenly interested in what solution will be tried in rebuilding the region. I am doubtful that any real solution will be taken, unless the old Mississippi River is allowed to run somewhat wild again, so it can deposit its sediments to rebuild the natural wetlands.

As you know, shrimp farming has devastated large mangrove areas along the northeastern coast of Brazil. Is there any chance for closer cooperation between the Mangrove Action Project and NGOs in Brazil?    -- Renè Schaerer, Prainha do Canto Verde, Brazil

Yes, there is good probability for MAP's close collaborative partnerships with several NGOs and local community representatives. We have had an active presence in forming working projects in Brazil that will be aimed at conserving and restoring the mangroves there, attempting to halt or limit the further expansion of shrimp farming, and forming stronger ties with local NGOs and communities to involve them in mangrove conservation, restoration, and resource-management decisions.

We are also planning a workshop there and hope to establish an interactive Coastal Communities Resource Center in Brazil to be tied with other CCRCs now located in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Honduras, Nigeria, and Senegal. When these links are made between our network partners in the global south, MAP's work will be more effective in promoting local community involvement in comanaging and conserving the coastal regions.

I live on a magnificent mangrove estuary at the edge of a coral reef in New Caledonia, a French southwest Pacific island territory. I have been a full-time environmental campaigner here for 20 years. As somebody whose main waking hours are spent trying to save diminishing natural habitats and biodiversity from a multiplicity of human activities either tolerated or aided by a corrupt political regime, I find it extremely difficult to be at all optimistic. How do you keep going?    -- Rick Anex, Bourail, New Caledonia

Rick, I too wonder at times how we can keep going in the face of so much loss of our planet's health and vitality. Yes, I get discouraged when I see a beautiful mangrove forest destroyed in Indonesia or Thailand, India or Bangladesh, Ecuador or Honduras, Kenya or Tanzania for shrimp farms that may last only a few years before they must be abandoned because of disease problems or pollution; discouraged when I see a unique mangrove habitat on Bimini Island -- Hemingway's "Island in the Stream" -- being cleared by a wealthy American developer to place his golf course, marina, and massive tourist condo-hotel haven on the island's last stand of mangroves because a corrupt Bahamian government has sold out its people and their heritage; discouraged as well when I see callously criminal industrial oil extraction by Shell or Chevron in Nigeria's once natural-resource-rich, mangrove-laden Niger Delta, which is killing both the coastal ecology and the people, where poverty and misery follow on the heels of unregulated exploitation.

But as Ken Saro-Wiwa, a leader and martyr for the Ogoni people of Niger Delta, once stated so poignantly, before Nigeria's military tribunal hanged him on trumped-up charges, "... we confront these deadly enemies with the only weapon which they lack -- Truth ... we would have to be ready to suffer arrest, detention, imprisonment, and death, as the only alternative to the struggle is extinction ... Let the struggle continue!"

And as India's Mahatma Gandhi once stated, "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win!"

Finally, it is also for that wonderful, mysterious sense of being alive that we must struggle on. One of the preconditions of being alive is the instinct to survive. It is time we all consciously take steps to survive, form meaningful movements and grow these toward the light. It is not just for ourselves we struggle, but for future generations who will inherit the earth we leave them.

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Humans struggle to live peacefully with beasties

Large carnivores have made impressive comebacks in some parts of the U.S. Now the question is how humans can live with them in harmony. In Oregon, after cougars were hunted to near-extinction, voters banned the practice of hunting with radio-collared dogs. The state's big-cat population has since jumped from about 3,000 to 5,000 -- but complaints about peckish panthers munching pets and livestock are on the rise too. Farmers and ranchers are still anxious about the return of wolves to the northern Rockies. And in other states around the country, wildlife bridges and tunnels are being built to try to prevent major meat-eaters from becoming roadkill. Despite the challenges, scientists and greens point out that the return of large carnivores can help improve biodiversity. Since wolves have come back to Yellowstone, beavers and songbirds have also flourished, as elk no longer over-graze the willows and aspens. And seriously, they've only eaten like 23 tourists.

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Conservation groups unveil $404 million plan to aid planet's amphibians

Amphibians are having a rough time of it, and by "rough," we mean terrifically bad. Nearly a third of all amphibian species worldwide are believed to be at risk of extinction, with some 122 already suspected of having died off in the last 25 years or so. Fortunately, emergency assistance for the critters that are left may be on the way. A group of international conservation organizations has announced an attempt to fund a $404 million plan that would preserve important habitat, create captive breeding programs for especially imperiled species, and sponsor disease research on a prolific fungus that's believed to be responsible for a large portion of the die-offs. Though the plan has been widely embraced by many, some point out that the panoply of problems amphibians face can't be solved in any meaningful way without addressing the root causes -- chemical pollution, invasive species, the spread of disease, a rampant pet trade, and climate change.

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Conservationists propose bringing elephants to U.S., bears to U.K.

Imagine: lions and elephants roaming free across the same Great Plains of the U.S. that their ancestors -- big cats, mastodons, and mammoths -- populated 13,000 years ago. That's the "Pleistocene Park" vision that a group of conservation scientists proposed in the journal Nature last week. Since people are increasingly leaving the plains, the logic goes, why not bring back the animals? Such a strategy could help maintain a healthy grasslands ecology and keep these species from going extinct outside of zoos, the scientists argue. The proposal is part of a movement to "rewild" landscapes by bringing back large, sometimes ferocious wild animals to areas they (or their distant relatives) long ago abandoned. In the U.K., a similar scheme calls for reintroducing wolves, bears, boars, and other long-vanished animals. The trend has produced skeptics on both sides of the Atlantic. "Just when you think the world has gotten as weird as it can get, something like this comes along," said Steve Pilcher of the Montana Stockgrowers Association.

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More problems uncovered with habitat conservation plans

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has published parts two and three of its special series on habitat conservation plans (HCPs) and, suffice to say, the story didn't get any cheerier after part one. A proposed 9.1 million-acre HCP in Washington -- which would cover the bulk of the state's private forestland -- promises big timber companies 50 years of immunity from Endangered Species Act lawsuits in exchange for a promise to keep salmon safe, but scientific reviews have called the plan "ill-informed." Political and development pressures have slowly whittled away at an urban HCP in Austin, Texas. In Southern California, land set aside as habitat by several small HCPs has gone almost entirely unmanaged and is now covered with trash and invasive species. The litany goes on, prompting a growing number of conservationists to call for sweeping overhaul of the HCP program, including a requirement that the plans actually help recover, rather than just observe the decline of, the species they are meant to protect.

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Habitat conservation plans poorly monitored, sporadically effective

Today, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer kicks off a big three-day series on the increasingly ubiquitous but nonetheless poorly understood and poorly monitored phenomenon of habitat conservation plans (HCPs). Congress authorized the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to administer such plans in 1982, but it wasn't until the late '90s that they started catching on, as disgruntled landowners in Southern California threatened to sue the feds when the Endangered Species Act kept them from developing their property. HCPs, in exchange for some protection of species and habitat, offer landowners and developers permanent immunity from ESA lawsuits and authorization to off some endangered animals. There are now almost 400 HCPs in the U.S., covering some 37 million acres, and federal officials say current applications could raise that number to around 100 million acres. But the P-I's investigation found that while there's no evidence species have gone extinct under HCPs, no one knows if they're being protected, the process is being abused by local and state governments, there's little public input, and even land that is set aside as habitat is often poorly protected.

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Woodpecker thought extinct rediscovered; birders weep like babies

It was spotted several times -- once even filmed -- over the past year and a half. Now, ornithologists writing in the journal Science have officially confirmed the existence of at least one ivory-billed woodpecker, a miraculously tangible token of a species long thought extinct. The discovery -- referred to variously as "a spiritual experience," "thrilling beyond words," and "kind of like finding Elvis" -- was enough to bring at least one grown man to tears. With a wingspan of three feet, the ivory-billed woodpecker is the largest in North America. It was once sought for its feathers, used in women's hats, and for its bill, believed by Native Americans to have magical powers. It became known as the Lord God bird, says ornithologist John Fitzpatrick, because when people saw it, they'd exclaim "Lord God, look at that bird." Conservationists are working in concert with state and federal officials to secure the swampy area of eastern Arkansas where the bird was sighted, and plans to acquire more land in the area are in the works.

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Former Iron Curtain may become continent-spanning greenbelt

The fabled Iron Curtain that separated Western Europe from the communist countries of Eastern Europe was once one of the most dangerous places on earth. But in the post-Cold War era, a coalition of conservation and community-development groups has ambitious plans to transform it into a string of parks, nature preserves, and organic farms. Already parks exist in Germany, between Finland and Russia, and between Austria and the Czech Republic and Hungary. Though there's resistance from governments that aren't quite yet chummy -- say, Greece and Macedonia -- and farmers that chafe at organic restrictions, organizers envision a grassroots, largely voluntary effort involving both public and privately owned land. "The idea is to interlink the needs of people and nature, because they're not incompatible," says Andrew Terry of the World Conservation Union, which is coordinating the project. "Protected areas should be places that allow humans and wildlife to live together."

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Ecosystem restoration is booming business, only getting boominger

One positive side effect of polluting and despoiling the planet is that somebody stands to make money cleaning it up. (Hey, our glass is half full!) And sure enough, ecological restoration is a booming business. Viewed narrowly, as attempts to restore natural resources to something approximating their original condition -- including projects like those in the Chesapeake Bay and the Florida Everglades -- U.S. restoration revenues last year were about $1.2 billion, according to the Environmental Business Journal. But some advocates like author Storm Cunningham think restoration should be thought of even more broadly. "We've come to assume," he says, "that economic growth is synonymous with conquering new lands and extracting virgin resources." But in fact, in an already-developed world, much infrastructure development -- upgraded sewer systems, brownfield redevelopment, environmental remediation -- is restorative. Viewed that way, says Cunningham, more than $1 trillion is spent each year on restoration, and that figure is only expected to grow.

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Everglades restoration stagnating after five years

Restoration of the Florida Everglades is, well, a bit bogged down, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers internal memo. Written by Everglades project manager Gary Hardesty, the memo was addressed to Army Corps colleagues preparing to write a five-year update on the 30-year restoration plans. Hardesty noted that the undertaking was over budget, behind schedule, slowed by paper pushing, and facing negativity from the Hill. "We haven't built a single project during the first five years," the memo states. April Gromnicki of Audubon Everglades says the memo's frankness is an indication that the Army Corps will produce an "honest assessment of the current state of Everglades restoration." But others worry that the memo's admissions about ballooning costs -- including a $1 billion price increase for the first four projects -- and questions about the project's science could simply give critics additional impetus to siphon money away from the already pricey venture.

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Wangari Maathai with good reason
to smile.

Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize.

It is a small room for such a momentous decision. And it's made even smaller by the impressive portraits of past winners lining the walls, listening in on the secret deliberations of the Nobel Peace Prize committee.

Amidst the daily drumbeat of war stories, the committee hatched a wonderful surprise in that small third-story room. Today, they announced that Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmental activist and biologist-turned-deputy environment minister, will receive the world's most prestigious award -- the first time the Peace Prize has been awarded to honor work in the environmental field. Maathai will now receive the wide recognition she deserves for fighting to protect Kenya's forests from corruption and degradation.

In 1977, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, which planted 30 million trees across the country, in the process employing thousands of women and offering them empowerment, education, and even family planning.

A Green Belt Movement outpost.

Photo: Geoffrey Dabelko.

GBM was grounded in the firm belief that environmental protection is inextricably linked to improving human living conditions. As Maathai told the UNESCO Courier in 1999, "If you want to save the environment, you should protect the people first, because human beings are part of biological diversity. And if we can't protect our own species, what's the point of protecting tree species?"

This grassroots movement had a broader impact than more traditional "environmental" movements. GBM focused on empowerment through the environment, which led Maathai to clash with Kenya's ruling elites.

During Daniel arap Moi's decades-long rule, the fight for environmental protection and democracy was not always easy. Maathai's demonstrations to protect the forests often met violent resistance. Upon being jailed by a government intent on defending corruption and mismanagement, she proclaimed, "The government thinks that by threatening me and bashing me they can silence me. But I have an elephant's skin and somebody must raise their voice."

Wangari raised her voice higher in 1997 by running for president on the Liberal Party of Kenya ticket. In 2002 -- after Moi's Kenya Africa National Union party lost the presidential race -- she was elected to Parliament, and the next year was appointed deputy minister of environment for the new government.

Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to an environmental activist may raise some eyebrows. But Maathai is on the front lines of the struggle over natural resources that fuels conflicts across the world. While there is no dramatic footage of tanks rumbling across borders or airplanes flying into buildings, the everyday fight for survival of those who depend directly on natural resources -- forests, water, minerals -- for their livelihoods is at the heart of the battle for peace and human security. Maathai told Norway's TV2, "When natural resources get scarce, wars are started. If we improve the management of our natural resources, we help promote peace."

Maathai receiving the Goldman
Environmental Prize in 1991.

Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize.

"Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment," said the Norwegian Nobel Committee. "Maathai stands at the front of the fight to promote ecologically viable social, economic, and cultural development in Kenya and in Africa." The committee chair said Maathai "represents an example and a source of inspiration for everyone in Africa fighting for sustainable development, democracy, and peace."

Those focusing on today's hard security agenda of war and terrorism praise the award, too. Former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and vice chair of the 9/11 Commission, said, "Today we face a range of difficult security challenges across the globe. The Nobel Committee has done a great service in highlighting the struggles for sustainable development, democracy, and peace that affect the safety and quality of life of literally billions of people every day."

The committee chose well to add another picture to its hallowed walls, one of a woman from the Global South fighting for peace in the trenches, from the small villages of Kenya's heartland to the crowded streets of Nairobi. Much of the debate about the link between environment and security plays out in the rarified air of Northern universities and think tanks (including my own) -- even as they issue reams of paper about a South they only visit for conferences. Elevating such a strong Southern voice -- and one whose elephant's skin bears the scars of the fight for peace -- is a noble choice.

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Environmental Cooperation Bringing Hostile Nations Together

Frustrated by the glacial pace and pestersome bureaucracy of major international treaties and conventions, a new generation of environmental activists is turning its focus to "environmental peacekeeping": local, grassroots efforts to forge cooperation on ecosystem preservation among neighboring nations with a history of conflict. Activists say that, rather than provoking further conflict, shared environmental challenges often serve as an opportunity for geopolitical opponents to reach rapprochement. Joint conservation projects are underway between rival nations such as Russia and Kazakhstan; Peru and Ecuador; and China and Vietnam. "There's not much in the way of political stakes, so if all fails there's not nearly the embarrassment there would be on a cooperative deal on the economy or military," says environmental consultant Mary Matthews. "The environment is just a nice soft-political backdoor way for countries to get along."

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Aral Be There

New Missouri River Management Plan Sparks Protest

A massive new plan to manage the Missouri River, released by the Army Corps of Engineers on Friday, managed to please exactly nobody, in keeping with the tenor of 15 years of debate over the future of the "Big Muddy." Conservation groups immediately protested and filed lawsuits, saying the plan ignores broad scientific consensus -- captured in a 2002 National Academy of Sciences report -- that the only way to restore the sandbars and wetlands needed to nurture the river's endangered and threatened species is to reestablish its natural ebb and flow, letting the river rise in the spring and fall in the summer. "They're proposing just to make it an industrial ditch, and to hell with everything else," said Chad Smith, spokesperson for conservation group American Rivers. Local politicians and business interests along the river also protested, claiming that even the modest flexibility in the plan's environmental provisions would make the river "unpredictable" and hurt the barge industry.

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