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Vol. 7 Number 6 - Dec 1997/Jan 1998
Editorial
Referendum on Pickering's Nukes
An End to Chlordane and Heptachlor
Honeybees & Genetically Engineered Canola
Toxic Toys - Follow Up On Greenpeace Findings
Tests Confirm High Lead Levels in Toys
Perry Ridge Injunction Overturned
Ethyl Wields NAFTA Club
Earth First! Tries The FBI
Global Warming: Signs Of Change
Signs of Change: The Heat is On
Great Lakes Losing Water
The Canadian North Feels the Heat
Oil Patch Subsidies Can Change Climate
Canadians Call for Action
Herring Alliance Wants Commercial Roe Herring Fishery Out of Georgia Strait
Compound in Diesel Exhaust May Cause
San Francisco Cuts Pesticide Use
Children of Nuclear Workers Get More Cancer
Liver Damage from HCFCs
The Multinationals - Their Rise And Fall
Water Wise Filters
Lindane, An Unnecessary Poison
Roundup:
Glyphosate: What is it? What does it do?
The Problems With Roundup
Does Roundup Damage Non-Target Species?
Annotated Bibliography of Glyphosate Damage
Roundup-Ready Cotton Fails
20 Minutes a Month to Save the World
Greenpeace Cutbacks
Friends of Cortes Island AGM Report
Life Boat for Youth
Hope for Home, Giving the Land a Voice, Mapping our Home Places
The Ballenas/Winchelsea Archipelago
Why BC Forestry Must Change
No Nukes is Good Nukes
Explosion at Hanford
Machiavellianism, n. The political doctrine of Machiavelli, which denies the relevance of morality in politics and justifies craft and deceit. (The ITP Nelson Canadian Dictionary, 1997.)
Those of us who, through newspapers, radio or television, try to keep abreast of the news, must surely believe that "Old Niccolo" is alive and well, living in luxury at taxpayer expense, while writing policy for our various levels of government.
We are left to wonder how our governments, while promising protection of our well-being and democracy, could have led us into trade agreements that deny democracy to citizens while granting citizen rights to corporations, those agreements having been bitterly opposed by the majority of Canadians and Americans alike. Now our governments show every indication of extending the anti-democratic edicts of the FTA and NAFTA worldwide by signing the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), by a stroke of the pen abdicating government's authority and responsibility to impose environmental and other restrictions on corporations.
Our federal government continues to spread the potential misery of CANDU reactors to cargo-cult governments around the world while stating that they should get environmental credits for those sales because nuclear reactors do not burn fossil fuel so therefore do not contribute to global warming. Imagine that.
Our provincial Minister of Environment, Cathy McGregor struggled this past week to explain to reporters, her government's environmental credits project slated to start next year and run through 1999. The project would allow a polluting company to earn credits for investing in technology B like busses powered by natural gas B that cut greenhouse gases. Oh, this is too silly.
The credits would be tradeable, presumably on a doomsday exchange similar to the stock exchange and could be sold by nice companies to bad companies wishing to pollute. Imagine the price AECL would have to pay in order to build a CANDU. An all-out nuclear war could bring enough revenue through the doomsday exchange to guarantee pensions for everyone.
It would be easy to assume that all our members of government are stupid, are being suckered by high-rollers. But if they were simply stupid, the law of averages would surely give us sensible legislation some of the time. Perhaps it's reasonable to conclude that they are evil.
"What now remains of the once rich land is like a skeleton of a sick man, all the fat and soft earth having wasted away, only the bare framework is left. Formerly, many of the present mountains were arable hills, the present marshes were plains full of rich soil; hills were once covered with forests and produced boundless pasturage that now produce only food for bees. Moreover, the land was enriched by yearly rains which were not lost, as now by flowing from the bare land into the sea." -"C Plato, 5th Century BC
In Canada's first ever referendum on nuclear power, citizens of the Town of Pickering have voted overwhelmingly to call for an environmental assessment on the Pickering Nuclear Generating Stations, before Ontario Hydro proceeds with rehabilitation of the aging reactors. The referendum was placed on the ballot of Pickering's municipal election in November. 87% of Pickering voters (17,038 out of a total of 19,599) supported the YES side for an environmental assessment. Durham Nuclear Awareness spearheaded a campaign of door-to-door leafleting, postering, and advertisements, urging residents to 'Vote YES to Assess!'
Durham Nuclear Awareness, November 1997
nucaware@web.net
See also "No Nukes" later in this issue
The Velsicol Chemical Corporation announced in May that it is permanently ceasing production of the organochlorine insecticides chlordane and heptachlor at its plant in Tennessee, and that it will not make its proprietary technology available to any other company for manufacture. Velsicol is the world's sole producer of these pesticides.
Chlordane and heptachlor have been prohibited for almost all uses in 70 countries around the world. However, Velsicol exported over 4 million pounds of chlordane and 5 million pounds of heptachlor between 1991 and 1994 for road building in Africa, for "protection of residential structures," in Northeastern Australia and Asia and for soil insecticides in South America.
The US Environmental Protection Agency classifies chlordane and heptachlor as "probable human carcinogens" and they are possible endocrine disruptors. They are persistent organic pollutants (POPs). POPs are subject to long-range global transport and are highly persistent, semi-volatile, highly toxic and liable to bioaccumulate.
* Pesticide Action Network North America Updates Service, May 1997; www.panna.org/panna; ph:(415)541-9140, fax: (415)541-9253
A recent French research report has described impacts of transgenic colza (genetically engineered canola) on honey bees. The development of transgenic varieties through genetic manipulation has provided some new properties to plants. These include production of protease inhibitors (PI) which confer resistance to fungi and insects. The overall strategy in this technology is to develop plants that require less insecticide in use. In transgenic plants, however, chemicals produced by genes designed to inhibit insect feeding or prevent fungal growth may also affect pollinating insects in two ways:
The author reported significant differences in quantity of nectar found in various transgenic varieties "... Comparing volatile emissions between transgenic colza and control plants also indicates that genetic transformation can modify existent plant odors."
Minh-Ha Pham-Delegue of INRA, APIS, Vol. 15, No. 4, Sept. 199; Copyright M.T. Sanford, IFAS/University of Florida
A Little Action on Toxic Toys
As usual, Europe responds to Greenpeace, while North America fiddles
At the end of October, the Austrian headquarters of Toys'R'Us withdrew five baby toys identified by Greenpeace as PVC (plastic [vinyl] products), asking all Toys'R'Us shops throughout the country to do the same immediately. Greenpeace is concerned that hazardous additives (phthalates, lead, and cadmium) used in soft PVC can leach, posing a hazard to children who chew on the toys. The Austrian Ministry for Consumer Affairs has also asked retailers to remove these toys from their shelves.
"Despite the decision in Austria, hundreds of Toys 'R' Us stores around the world are still selling soft PVC baby toys containing hazardous chemicals," says a Greenpeace spokesperson.
In October, the Belgian government asked retailers to voluntarily withdraw the toys. The Danish and Dutch governments have also warned toy retailers, distributors, and manufacturers of the potential hazards. At the end of July the European Commission issued an information alert to each European country on the possible risks to children from soft PVC teethers.
The Dutch Ministry of Health tested soft PVC toys to determine softener levels and leaching rates, and found that some of the toys leach phthalates at such a rate that 5-50% of all babies sucking or chewing on these toys would ingest more phthalates than what the Dutch government considers acceptable. Greenpeace tests on 71 toys from 17 countries showed that soft PVC toys contained 10-40% by weight of phthalate softeners.
*Greenpeace on the Internet at www.greenpeace.org
High lead levels found in tests conducted on children's PVC by Health Canada reinforce the need for the products to be removed from Canadian toy shelves, according to Greenpeace. Greenpeace tests have shown that many products purchased across Canada, including backpacks, video game cables, and raincoats, exceed Health Canada's recommended maximum lead levels.
Health Canada's results reveal similar findings, some even higher than the lead levels found in the Greenpeace study. Of the 24 products Health Canada tested, 17 exceeded 200 parts per million of lead. The Canadian standard for acceptable levels is 15 parts per million.
Despite Health Canada's findings, the department has chosen to downplay the high lead levels with the release of "risk assessments." These claim that the high lead levels pose no threat to children's health and contrast starkly with previous Health Canada documents.
"Spinning these results for political convenience is simply not acceptable," says Greenpeace campaigner Morag Simpson. "In light of their results, Health Canada must amend the Hazardous Products Act to include PVC children's products on the list of regulated products."
*Greenpeace Press Releases, Oct. 1997
Perry Ridge Injunction Overturned:
Slocan Haida Victory
BC Supreme Court rules that the government gave misleading information when seeking an injunction against a logging blockade in the Slocan Valley
NELSON, BC - The BC Supreme Court has set aside an injunction granted to the Ministry of Forests this summer to clear 375 protesters out of the path of a proposed logging road. The injunction resulted in the arrest of 15 people and enabled road construction to proceed towards some of the most steep, unstable domestic watersheds in BC's Slocan Valley.
Mr. Justice Parrett ruled that he was given incomplete and misleading information when he was asked by the Attorney General for an injunction. The Ministry of Forests' injunction application mischaracterized the concerns of the protesters as extending only to water quality. But the court found that the actual evidence showed the concerns to be much broader, including fears of threats to life and property through landslides. The government failed to tell the Judge that one Perry Ridge resident, Austin Greengrass, had already lost his home because of a land slump on Perry Ridge.
The injunction application had included a list of reports which purportedly ensured that the road building would be "environmentally sensitive". Two reports done for the government many months before the blockade had warned that logging could increase the risk of landslides in the area of the Greengrass residence and near other homes, as well. However, the studies were not included on the list attached to the injunction application, nor were the reports themselves provided to the judge.
In a stinging rebuke, Justice Parrett said he found it inconceivable that the government had failed to tell him about Greengrass's house when seeking an injunction. Greengrass was named in the lawsuit launched by the Attorney General for the purpose of obtaining an injunction, but he was not served notice and did not know he was on the lawsuit until after the injunction had been granted.
In addition, the Ministry of Forests had included the reports of hydrologist J. Allen Isaacson in the list of studies it had done to ensure the road building would be ecologically sensitive. However, Isaacson's reports were actually commissioned by the Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance, and they concluded there should be no roadbuilding on Perry Ridge. Justice Parrett read quotations from two reports of Isaacson stating that any landslides caused in the headwaters would go all the way to the valley bottom where there are homes.
A fifth study on the government's list was characterized as "ongoing". However, the study was begun in October 1996, too late for the consultant to complete field studies because of snow. In spite of a draft report noting a high risk of landslides, no further field work was done after the snow melted. The draft report was made into a formal interim report on Oct. 28th, 1997.
"Until now, the government has been playing games with us, saying that the road didn't necessarily mean our watersheds would be logged," says Marilyn Burgoon, a resident on Perry Ridge. "I'm relieved that Justice Parrett pointed out that the government's own affidavit revealed the intent of the road was to log Perry Ridge. At last the seriousness of our concerns has been verified."
* Valhalla Wilderness Society, November 14, 1997; website: http://www.savespiritbear.org
Haida Nation Wins in Court of Appeal
Interim Measures and Right to Trees Upheld
The Haida Nation won a decision in the BC Court of Appeal that has profound implications for BC's tree farm licence (TFL) system and First Nations rights to the forests. TFLs give logging companies the exclusive right to log within a broad area. The decision recognizes that Aboriginal title to the land includes an interest in forests and that the aboriginal rights of the Haida may include a legal right to trees. The exclusive nature of TFLs is clearly incompatible with recognizing the legal interest of Aboriginal rights.
The Council of the Haida Nation brought this lawsuit in 1995 when the provincial government renewed MacMillan Bloedel's TFL 39 for another 25 years without consulting the Haida. TFL 39 covers much of the remaining old-growth forest on Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands). The Court of Appeal's decision addresses the question of whether the Haida's Aboriginal rights are capable of constituting an encumbrance under the Forest Act, but does not actually strike down MacMillan Bloedel's TFL 39.
This decision overrules an earlier decision of the BC Supreme Court which had concluded that the Haida's aboriginal rights could not constitute an encumbrance under the Forest Act. A New Brunswick decision in November also recognized the legal right of First Nations to trees on Crown land.
David Boyd, Executive Director of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund (SLDF), Thomas Berger, Q.C., Greg McDade, Q.C., and Terri Williams-Davidson, Director, EAGLE Project (SLDF) represented the Council of the Haida Nation.
"We are very pleased. This decision is a significant step towards legal recognition of Haida ownership and control over the forests of Haida Gwaii and will give us significant added leverage in our treaty negotiations and in our efforts to get an Interim Measures Agreement to protect our lands and forests", said Ron Brown Jr., President of the Council of the Haida Nation.
"Today's decision drives a stake through the heart of the tree farm licence system, a system that has long failed to respect Aboriginal rights", said David Boyd.
Ethyl Wields NAFTA Club
They said it would never happen here: Canada is sued for Ethyl Corporation's loss of business because Environment Canada banned a gasoline additive that is a neurotoxin, that car manufacturers say harms pollution control in new cars, and that is already illegal in the United States!
By Don Malcolm
Under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Ethyl Corporation, a US "multi-national," has launched a $350 million lawsuit against the Canadian government.
MMT, a gasoline additive manufactured solely by Ethyl, the corporation that invented leaded gasoline, is a manganese-based compound which is added to gasoline to enhance octane and reduce engine "knocking", thereby filling the same market niche occupied by lead, now banned in Canadian gasoline. Automobile manufacturers argue that MMT causes irreparable damage to automotive pollution control systems, thereby increasing emissions. Canadian legislators are concerned that the manganese in automobile emissions poses a significant health risk to the public. MMT, like other heavy metals, is a neurotoxin. Its impacts on human health have not been adequately assessed. The US Environmental Protection Act (EPA) has banned its use in formulated gasoline; California has imposed a total ban on MMT.
Under the provisions of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Canadian legislators were unable to ban the use of MMT. They chose the best available alternative. In April, Parliament moved to ban MMT's import and transport.
NAFTA requires member countries to compensate investors when their property is "expropriated"or when governments take measures "tantamount to expropriation." As soon as the bill was passed by the Canadian Senate, Ethyl launched its suit claiming that the MMT ban constitutes expropriation.
A key provision of NAFTA grants corporations "private legal standing" and the ability to sue governments directly and to seek monetary damages.
The Ethyl case could set a precedent where, under NAFTA and similar agreements, a government would have to compensate investors when it wishes to regulate them or their products for public health or environmental reasons. It should ring alarm bells for legislators and citizens alike, especially since the US is negotiating a new multilateral investment agreement (MAI) that would push NAFTA standards worldwide.
* Sources: Steven Shrybman, "A Bad Dream?" Canadian Perspectives, Fall 1997; Michelle Sforza, "Ethyl Uses NAFTA To Sue Canada,"
Canadian Environmental Law Association Intervenor, July/August 1997
Earth First! Tries The FBI
1990 Car Bombing of Redwood Activists Results in Civil Rights Trial
The US District Court judge in the Earth First! lawsuit over the 1990 Judi Bari/Darryl Cherney car bombing has refused to grant immunity from prosecution to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Oakland, California police. The civil rights lawsuit, filed in 1991, charges the FBI and police with false arrest, illegal search and seizure, and conspiracy to violate the activists' first amendment right to organize for social change. The ruling means the case can proceed to a jury trial.
On May 24, 1990, a motion-triggered anti-personnel bomb exploded beneath environmental/labor activist Judi Bari's car seat as she drove through Oakland, California with fellow activist Darryl Cherney. Bari & Cherney were the two most prominent organizers for Earth First! Redwood Summer, a campaign of non-violent protests targeting corporate logging practices. The FBI and Oakland Police arrested the activists and charged them with transporting the explosives. The arrest ignored previous death threats against the pair. The bomber remains at large.
At first, Bari and Cherney blamed the timber industry for the violence against them, but eventually they realized that only FBI and police involvement explained the peculiar facts of the case.
The judge's ruling states the plaintiffs have made an adequate showing that the FBI and Oakland Police deliberately misrepresented clear evidence regarding the location and makeup of the bomb in order to justify the false arrest of Bari and Cherney. Six FBI special agents and three Oakland police must stand trial for what Bari and Cherney assert were deliberate attempts to disrupt, discredit and intimidate Earth First!
The ruling states that the plaintiffs have made a reasonable showing that the Oakland Police had no probable cause to arrest Judi Bari, who was placed in custody just three hours after the explosion. Further, the judge states that without the misrepresentation of the facts, including the false characterization of Bari and Cherney as violent terrorists, the magistrate would not have granted a search warrant.
The FBI's Richard W. Held, who was the Special Agent in Charge of the San Francisco FBI office at the time of the bombing, was dismissed from the case. Held is known to have been involved in FBI COINTELPRO campaigns against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement, but claims that he was unaware of the misconduct of the agents under his supervision. Plaintiffs are appealing this part of the decision.
The plaintiffs allege that the conspiracy against Bari and Cherney was part of a larger FBI COINTELPRO operation against them and Earth First! COINTELPRO, the FBI's notorious counterintelligence program, was ordered disbanded as unconstitutional in the 1970's. COINTELPRO was an FBI program designed, in the words of J. Edgar Hoover, to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit and otherwise neutralize" activists and groups advocating social change in the US.
The ruling also provides for the lawsuit to continue in the name of the estate of Judi Bari, in light of her death from breast cancer in March 1997.
The full text of the October decision, dramatic police photos, and the original motion by the plaintiffs are all available on the Redwood Summer Justice Project website at www.monitor.net/~bari.
* Contact: Dennis Cunningham, Lead Attorney (415)285-8091; Alicia Littletree, Earth First! (707)462-9145;
Tanya Brannan, Redwood Summer Justice Project (707)887-0262
Redwood Summer Justice Project Press Release, October 1997
Global Warming and Earth's Water Cycle
Comments by Thomas R. Karl, Senior Scientist, National Climate Data Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Asheville, NC, speaking at the US Global Change Research Program Seminar Series, October 1997.
The presence and availability of water is largely what makes the Earth uniquely able to support life. Not only is water essential for life, but its presence in the atmosphere significantly amplifies the greenhouse effect. Its abundance in the oceans moderates the seasonal swing in temperatures, and its distribution over the land determines the presence and geographic extent of forests and deserts and occasionally brings floods or drought.
The Earth's water (hydrologic) cycle controls the distribution of water, most importantly evaporating and distilling salt water to create the fresh water that sustains life on land. While humans often act to beneficially control and/or correct local and even regional aspects of the water cycle such as runoff and soil moisture, the inadvertent alteration of this global hydrologic cycle by human activities will have many direct and indirect influences that significantly impact society, the environment, and ecosystems.
Increases in anthropogenic greenhouse gases resulting from the burning of fossil fuels and the deforestation of forests have altered the composition of the atmosphere, resulting in an increase in the amount of heat energy trapped at or near the Earth's surface. This enhancement of the greenhouse effect is increasing surface temperatures while provoking other changes in climate as well. Both model results and observational evidence indicate that roughly 80% of the net additional heat energy trapped at the Earth's surface by the build-up of greenhouse gases is transferred back to the atmosphere through increased evaporation of water from the land and ocean, where condensation returns the additional heat to the atmosphere causing warming, while enhancing precipitation. The remaining 20% of the net additional heat from the enhanced greenhouse effect contributes directly to warming of the surface and the lower atmosphere.
Both contributions lead to a general warming of the Earth's climate and to an increase in the water vapour in the atmosphere (warming increases the atmospheres water-holding capacity), thereby further enhancing the greenhouse effect. Thus, the trapped heat energy serves to accelerate the cycling of water (as water vapour) from the surface to the atmosphere, and enhances the transfer of the water vapour back to the surface as rain and snow (condensation and precipitation). The increased availability of water vapour in the atmosphere also leads to a significant increase in the energy available to drive storms and associated weather fronts, therefore affecting rainfall rates, precipitation amounts, storm intensity, and related runoff.
There is compelling observational evidence that the Earth's hydrologic cycle has intensified during the past century as global temperatures have increased. These results are consistent with climate model projections of global warming resulting from the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations. In general, the observed changes in the Earth's hydrologic cycle suggest that focusing attention mainly on the temperature effects of increased greenhouse gases (i.e., global and regional increases in the Earth's surface temperature) provides an incomplete and, in some instances, inadequate portrayal of the importance of climate change. This is so because the evidence indicates that widespread increases in the intensity of the hydrologic cycle may have more immediate and far-reaching ecological and socio-economic impacts than those due to elevated temperature alone.
The Evidence Includes:
Signs of Change: The Heat is On
As the temperature rises, dramatic climatic changes are being reported.
Compiled by Alan Schroeder and David Bassett
* Contact: BC Environmental Network, 1672 E. 10th, Vancouver, BC V5N 1X5; ph: (604)879-2279; fax: (604)879-2272.
A new federal study says Ontario should prepare for Great Lakes water levels that may "fall significantly" over the next 50 years. The report is one of eight Environment Canada studies that assess the impact of climate change on the country's major ecosystems and industries. It says Ontario may be two-to-five degrees C warmer by the end of the 21st century.
* The Vancouver Sun, Nov. 14, 1997
It's impossible to predict all future costs of global warming but people living in Canada's North have already started to pay. Water levels are falling and in 1995, barges taking fuel oil down the Mackenzie River were unable to carry full loads across a lowered Great Slave Lake. Isolated communities depend on oil to run small electric power plants so, in those communities, the price of electricity went up.
The Mackenzie Basin Impact Study, a collaborative effort by nine universities and federal and provincial agencies, found extensive evidence of global warming, such as lower lake levels, drought, forest fires, and 2,000 landslides caused by melting permafrost.
* The Ottawa Citizen, Oct. 9 1997
Oil Patch Subsidies Can Change Climate
Cutting subsidies to the oil industry should be the first step in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, says Greenpeace
A billion-dollar subsidy to the oil industry should be eliminated as a first step in reducing Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, according to Greenpeace, the international environmental organization. Greenpeace has asked the Prime Minister to take that action, and has also written an open letter to all Members of Parliament highlighting the subsidy issue.
In 1995, the latest year for which figures are available, Ottawa handed out $336.6 million to the fossil fuel industry in the form of direct grants and equity, and $259.3 million in the form of various supportive programs. Despite his concern with deficit cutting, Finance Minister Paul Martin also allowed the oil industry $362 million in tax breaks.
"Ottawa's massive handouts to the oil patch are economically perverse and environmentally destructive," said Greenpeace Atmosphere and Energy campaigner Kevin Jardine. "It's no wonder Canada's greenhouse gas emissions just keep going up and up, when the oil industry receives such financial encouragement from the federal government."
Calls for reform of Ottawa's oil subsidy program have been made repeatedly over the years, including in the present government's own Red Book. In 1995, the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development also recommended that the federal government refrain from injecting any additional tax assistance into tar sands development. Nevertheless, immediately following release of the committee's report, the federal government allowed the developers of the Alberta Tar Sands to write off 100% of their expenditures.
"It's clear that Ottawa's policy is stuck in the past, in the mire of outdated energy sources like the Alberta Tar Sands. That's why this government must go to Kyoto with its tail between its legs," says Jardine.
Just four weeks remain until international environmental talks in Kyoto, Japan, where Canada will report its failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which have risen more than 10% since 1990.
However, government sources are reporting that the federal government wants to put off reductions until after the year 2010.
This head-in-the-sand approach ignores the growing evidence that Canada will be among the countries most seriously affected by climate damage, especially in its northern regions.
The Mackenzie Basin is heating up at three times the global rate, resulting in melting permafrost, increasing forest fires, and coastal erosion.
"When will Jean Chretien and Paul Martin realize Canada must shift its energy policy to alternative energy sources for the 21st century?" asks Jardine.
* Contact Greenpeace on the Internet at www.greenpeace.org
Canadians want the government to take action on climatic change even if it means the economy will be slowed as a result.
The findings of a recent Environics poll are part of an international poll taken in 24 countries. Environics surveyed 27,000 people and found majority support for concerted action in 15 of 24 countries, including Canada.
The poll showed that 61% of Canadians agreed with the statement that "we should assume the worst and take major action now to reduce human impacts on climate even if there are major costs."
Many scientists say growing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are warming the Earth's surface with potentially calamitous consequences.
Thirty-two percent of the 1,530 Canadians surveyed said no major action should be taken until more is known about the science. The poll results are considered accurate within 2.5 percentage points.
* The Vancouver Sun, Nov. 10, 1997
Herring Alliance Wants Commercial Roe Herring Fishery Out of Georgia Strait
Following a devastating year for the multi-million dollar sportfishing industry in the Strait of Georgia in 1997, the planning for the 1998 roe herring fishery is now in full swing.
"But it is not worth going out sportfishing anymore in the Strait, there is no herring for the salmon to eat," noted Len Greenall of the Herring Alliance.
Mr. Greenall noted that the DFO is saying that herring spawning has shifted in the Strait to one small area around Hornby Island because of high temperatures in the Strait. But, he also noted that the sockeye salmon are migrating to the Fraser River via Johnstone and Georgia Straits, to avoid the warm water off the West Coast of Vancouver Island. "The department is inconsistent in the extreme, in using the temperature argument," noted Mr. Greenall. "The truth is that the coho and chinook have no herring to eat in the Strait - that is the reason they are leaving."
"It is time for all roe herring and bait fishing to close in the Strait," said David Ellis. "Vast areas of the Strait are now left vacant of the essential herring resource, food of salmon, ling cod, sea birds, and sea mammals," he noted.
Mr. Ellis noted that the DFO does not know the extent of the resident and migratory herring stocks, but he predicted that the DFO will again plan and execute a massive roe herring fishery in the Strait in the spring of 1998.
Sport catches have been at record low levels in the Strait in 1997, with many sportfishers simply not untying their boats due to the scarcity of salmon.
* Contact David Ellis:( 604) 222-8394
Japanese scientists reported in the New Scientist in October that a chemical, 3-nitrobenzanthrone, found in the exhaust fumes of diesel engines may be the most carcinogenic ever found. Hitomi Suzuki, a Kyoto University chemist who conducted the study, called for stronger limits on the loads that diesel trucks can carry, because there are more emissions from engines with heavier loads. Suzuki said he personally believed the increase in lung cancer patients in vehicle-congested areas was due to such respirable carcinogens.
* Reuters, October 1997
San Francisco has dramatically reduced its pesticide use due to an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program mandated by the city's tough anti-pesticide law. Total use has dropped by approximately two-thirds since 1995 and use of pesticides linked to cancer and reproductive harm dropped to almost zero.
* City and County of San Francisco IPM Program & Pesticide Watch Press Release, October 1997
The British National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) reports that the children of both male and female nuclear workers have a significant increased risk of cancer. For the children of male nuclear workers, the risk of childhood leukemia is almost double the national average.
Higher than average risks of childhood cancers have previously been reported near many nuclear facilities, in particular around three British nuclear reprocessing plants, and La Hague in France.
* Greenpeace Press Release, November 1997 and "Cancer in the Off-spring of Radiation Workers: A Record Linkage Study," G. Draper et al. The British Medical Journal vol 315, 8 November 1997
The British medical journal The Lancet reports confirmed liver damage among workers accidentally exposed to HCFC 123 and HCFC 124, the two alternatives chosen by North American corporations to replace ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as coolants or cleaning agents. Exposure to high levels of the compounds had been linked to tumors in rats and other laboratory animals, but the new research provides conclusive evidence of toxic effects in people. Nine workers at a factory in Belgium developed acute hepatitis as a result of exposure to a leaking pipe from the air conditioning at the plant.
* Washington Post, August 1997
The Multinationals
- Their Rise And Fall
When the Multinationals add the MAI to their corporate trophies, they may feel the world is their oyster. But we are at one of the great watersheds of history.
By Colin Graham
One kind of logic says that there is no reason the global economy should not at least triple again over the next three decades
Working quietly behind the scenes, multinational corporations in Europe and North America successfully persuaded government to pass the free trade legislation now embodied in GATT and NAFTA. When, as seems likely, they add to their trophies the Multilateral Agreement on Trade and Investment now being prepared, they will have every reason to feel that the world is their oyster. These treaties, when combined with a growing number of Export Processing Zones, will give them an extraordinary degree of freedom from nation-state controls, allowing them to drive down wages by pitting the workers of one country against those of another and riding roughshod over environmental laws they find inconvenient. It is a triumph they should savour since it may not last.
Already the more farsighted CEOs are worrying that the major global corporations could be creating a populace too poor to buy enough of their wares. They know, too, that the very existence of the multinationals is predicated on the availability of cheap oil to move their products around the planet. That holds good not only for factory produce but also for industrial agriculture. Oil moves the big farm machines and provides the rootstock for many fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.
The question many CEOs must be asking themselves is not only when world stocks of oil will run out but whether a serious onslaught of global warming could compel the world to cut oil consumption before stocks vanish.
A third factor is for the time being only a small cloud on the multinationals' horizon, but it could grow to darken their days. Sometimes tagged as one of the key developments of the nineties, the "voluntary simplicity" movement represents in part a revulsion against gross consumerism (the disease which Kirkpatrick Sale has dubbed "Affluenza") and partly the reaction of those who sense what consumerism is doing to the earth's ecosystems and want to tread more lightly on them. More and more people are beginning to see that consumerism is far from adding to the joys of life. The US Index of Social Health, for example, found recently that over the past two decades consumption grew by 45 percent while the quality of life declined by 52 percent.
The trouble is that at the moment consumerism on the global scale seems quite unaffected by this trend. With the multinationals feeling their oats and the new Asian economies taking off (albeit with a few bumps here and there), Another kind of logic notes that, thanks to the last fifty years' growth, it is now difficult to find anywhere an ecosystem that is not in some kind of trouble. This logic asks how much longer things can go on before systemic breakdown brings everything to a halt.
Even without more growth the number of climatic events scientists say we have already set in motion should sober us up. In 1980 the annual global storm damage came to a mere $1.5 billion. By 1996 it had grown to $60 billion. The sort of thing it seems we should prepare for now is what is happening to Britain. The Gulf Stream, which draws warm water from the south Atlantic toward Greenland and in the process gives Britain its temperate winters, is slowing due to Arctic ice melt. The increasingly violent storms and lower temperatures which are expected to result are described by Sir Robert May, scientific adviser to the government, as "awesome."
The next question is: Have we already overdone things? Donella and Dennis Meadows in their Beyond The Limits have computer simulations which suggest that, if we haven't already overshot the mark, we shall shortly do so if we don't mend our ways. The ecologically informed Paul Hawken in his Ecology of Commerce comes to the conclusion that, "We must reduce the absolute consumption of energy and resources by 80 percent within the next half century." But for the purposes outlined here the most cogent and down-to-earth analysis is that worked out in recent years at the University of B.C. by William Rees and Mathis Wackernagel in Our Ecological Footprint.
We have reached the end of that time, which, through Adam Smith and Marx to our day, assumed that the organizing principle of life should be the production and consumption of goods.
Using readily available statistics, these authors have devised a procedure through which one can measure the extent to which a human community is or is not living within the resource limits of its ecosystem. After analyzing matters at the global level they reach the sobering conclusion that the developed countries (the North) are already using up 100 percent of the world's sustainable bounty, with the rest (the South) using another 30 percent. The human race, in other words, is already in a condition of 130 percent overshoot.
It is obvious, then, that voluntary simplicity is a movement whose time has come. And as the environmental ructions scientists are promising us arrive, the ranks will continue to swell. Soon it should become clear that we are now at one of the great watersheds of history. We have reached the end of that period which began with the European Enlightenment of the 18th century and which, running through Adam Smith and Marx to most of the economists of our day, took it for granted that the main organising principle of life should be the production and consumption of goods.
What is the alternative? Physically, with the phasing out of fossil fuels and their substitution with such renewables as wind, photovoltaics, hydro power and, perhaps, hydrogen, a society with more modest amounts of energy would presumably have more compact cities in which public transport largely replaced the private car. Since today's throwaway society would be replaced by one where goods are made for permanence, there would be relatively few factories. Those that survived would be so organised that the effluent of one became the feedstock of another. Pollution would be minimal.
In some sectors the number of jobs would grow, in others it would shrink. Overall, though, as Jeremy Rifkin predicts, the only alternative to heavy unemployment would be job sharing and fewer working hours per person.
Socially, such an outcome if handled well could prove to be a huge plus. With much more leisure for family life and for looking after children a substantial spectrum of today's social ills could be ameliorated. Civic life could become richer with more time available for volunteering and more time devoted to cultural happenings and sports. There would be more public holidays and festivals. In other words, more organic community bonding.
At the same time, there could begin the long and essential work of restoring the planet's ecosystems. Restoration ecology and conservation biology, accomplished probably by a mix of professional expertise and volunteer help, could start on the job of restoring harbours, rivers, lakes, and whole watersheds.
Remediation starts, of course, at each community's doorstep, and there Rees and Wackernagel have given us the tools with which to make an overall survey of our ecosystem impact. Their analytic technique can reveal the impact of elements as large as nations and cities and as small as a tomato greenhouse. They have found, for instance, that "the lower Fraser Valley population requires an area 19 times larger than its home territory to support its present consumer lifestyles."
Suppose, then, that analyses were made for such major BC areas as the Saanich Peninsula, the east coast of Vancouver Island (including the Gulf Islands), the Cariboo, the Peace River district, and the western coastal communities. If the results were published annually each bioregion could develop a keen sense not only of how it was impacting on its regional ecology but also of the general direction in which it was going. It would know, for instance, what population increase (if any) it could afford to allow. City people who tend to be locked away from the natural world would develop a much sharper sense of the degree to which they are dependent on that world.
In one sense Canada is fortunate. Because of its huge geographical extent and small population it is only, according to these authors, in a condition of 250% overshoot. The figures for Britain are 760%, for Belgium 1400%, for Germany 780%, and for Japan 730%. Such countries must now think soberly about population and resource use.
Words for the Water-Wise:
Fish know better ... and so should you
By Will Thomas
For a quick poll of public confidence in your local water supply, count the growing stack of throw-away distilled-water bottles in the landfill. Distilled water is one way to make sure you=re drinking germ-free aqua, if you trust the supplier, and if you can find a way to recycle or refill the empties. Just remember, the latest findings show there are estrogen mimicking chemicals in some plastics, which might be turning all of us into girls.
"Brita"-type filters are good for morale. But to get all the bugs out, choose a home filter which uses pressure from the tap to force water through an activated carbon filter, and remember to change carbon filters often. Bacteria think they're love hotels.
The best, and most expensive, counter-top protection comes from reverse osmosis filters, which let only water through. To corral crypto, choose an RO filter with a mesh size of one micron or less. (Hint: Look for an AAbsolute@ label, or ANS/NSF International Standard #53.)
Another good way to protect yourself and your family is to stick an open (glass) pitcher of water in the fridge. Michele Giddings, a Health Canada biologist looking hard at trihalomethanes (THMs), says potentially deadly trihalomethanes can be removed by vigorously stirring, boiling, or storing drinking water in a refrigerator for 24 hours. This gives volatile chlorine time to evaporate. But don=t breathe the fumes! A 1990 Italian study found that inhaling THMs (while swimming in public pools) poses a greater health risk than swallowing the chlorinated water.
Giddings says water filters containing activated carbon also remove cancer-causing THMs. If you=re suffering from dry, cracked fingertips or other skin problems, you could be in for a pleasant shock when you stop taking baths in chloraminated water. Fish know better, and so should you.
A home filtration system capable of handling your shower and bath is the size of a scuba tank, takes a plumber to install, and costs about $500 or more, plus another few hundred dollars per year for replacement filters. Send the bill to City Hall. Or to the folks who clearcut your watershed.
Reprinted from Eco-News Summer 1997, PEI
In September, with the start of school, comes the usual epidemic of head lice. In the past, this has often meant extreme hazards to children from toxic pesticides - the most dangerous being lindane, an organochlorine which affects the nervous system.
Fortunately, there is a much safer product now available in Canada. SH 206 has been used in Europe for 20 years and contains only acetic acid (vinegar), camphor (used in cough medicine), oil of citronella (lemon oil) and sodium laurel ether sulphate (a surfactant commonly used in regular shampoos).
The Alternatives to Pesticides Committee is working with the PEI Home and School Association to mount a public awareness campaign using pamphlets, videos, press releases and a co-ordinated policy among interested parties (pharmacies, nurses, etc.). It is hoped to avoid the misuse of toxic lice shampoos when head lice appear. Lindane use is opposed by the Canadian Home and School Association, the American Pediculosis Association and the World Health Association.
Glyphosate:
What is it? What does it do?
It might be called Roundup, Vision, Wrangler, Laredo, Side-Kick, or a variety of other trade names ... but can it be called safe?
By Leonard Fraser
Roundup may be considered safe by most people, certainly those who use it. It has, however, the potential to be one of the more dangerous toxic substances we have, simply because it is so widely used and misused. Roundup is not only widely used commercially in forest "management," agriculture, corporate utilities like BC Hydro/BC Gas/BC Tel, railways, Ministry of Highways contractors, Ministry of Environment Lands and Parks-Parks Dept., city/ regional/municipal governments, school districts, but is even more widely used domestically. This widespread use is the result of a very aggressive advertising campaign by our friends at Monsanto in the United States and Canada.
The following is a quote from the Handbook For Pesticide Applicators and Dispensers: AGlyphosate (Roundup) is an amino acid compound which is a broad spectrum, postemergence, translocated herbicide. It is used for control of many annual and deep-rooted perennial weeds including brush species in non-crop areas (why don't they just say forests!). It is also used on cropland before emergence of barley, wheat, oats, soybeans and corn, for pre-plow cleanup or spot control of perennial weeds in legumes and grasses, and for pasture renovation.
"Avoid drift onto foliage of any crops or desirable plants. Rain within six hours of application reduces effectiveness. Glyphosate is quickly deactivated in soil. No residue remains in the soil to affect subsequent crops. It has a low acute toxicity to mammals (LD 5O: oral = 4,300/dermal = 5,300) but is an eye, nose, throat, and skin irritant. It has a low toxicity to fish and wildlife."
At Earthcare, we have a tremendous amount of printed data on Roundup. Here are some things that may help you.
There are a number of trade names for glyphosate: Roundup, Rodeo, Vision, Laso, Clear It, Wrangler, Laredo, Side-Kick, Erase, etc. They all seem to have a Western theme to them. Put those wagons in a circle!
They all contain glyphosate in different formulations designed for various application preferences and scenarios. Produced by Monsanto and first registered in the United States in 1974, it is a translocated herbicide, absorbed by leaves, stems, or roots and translocated (carried along with other nutrients) throughout the plant. It disrupts the chemical processes critical to plant growth and nutrition, and its effects may not be seen for a week or more after treatment. Translocated herbicides can be selective, as with 2, 4-D, or non-selective, as with Roundup. Because of this, application rates are critical; an overdose may kill the parts of the plant first contacted by the herbicide, and prevent further absorption and translocation. It kills plants by inhibiting synthesis of essential amino acids, thereby resulting in a reduction of protein synthesis and an inhibition of growth.
1. Persistence. Although the claim is often made that Roundup is inactivated rapidly in soil, it is more accurate to say that it is usually adsorbed to soil components. A sandy loam treated with glyphosate at recommended application rates was found to drastically reduce nitrogen fixation, growth, and modulation of subterranean clover planted 120 days after glyphosated treatment. All soils are not created equal.
2. Phytotoxicity. Because glyphosate is a nonselective herbicide, any desired vegetation must be completely protected from spray drift.
3. Toxicity of "inert" ingredients. Except for glyphosate, all ingredients and contaminates of Roundup are considered trade secrets and are unknown to the public. The surfactants added to Roundup to increase foliar absorption have been found to be much more toxic than glyphosate. These surfactants have been shown to have severe local skin reactions and testicular effects in test cases.
4. Testing and cancer. Often, in studies meant to show where the chemical appears in the environment and our metabolisms, the data was incomplete. Invalid cancer studies in the mid 1980s forced Monsanto to release information that indicated glyphosate causes kidney tumors (renal tubule adenomas) in mice; these particular tumors are rarely found in untreated mice. The EPA classifies glyphosate as a class C (possible human) carcinogen. Remember, testing is done on glyphosate, not on Roundup itself.
5. N-nitrosoglyphosate. Glyphosate may include this as a trace contaminant or the compound may be formed in the environment when combined with nitrite which is present in human saliva or fertilizer. The majority of these compounds are carcinogenic.
Here in Canada, the federal government relies on information submitted by companies like Monsanto when they apply for an application to sell a product. In fact, the last decade has seen those regulations, ineffective though they were, watered down considerably. Controls on agricultural use of pesticides were loosened with the (provincial) Right to Farm Act, which gives farmers greater allowance for pesticide application.
The bottom line is, we don=t need this stuff anyway. Most domestic use is the result of pressure from advertising linked with a perceived need to have our lawns and gardens looking like Butchart Gardens. It is all a matter of perception. What is a weed? It's a plant you don't want.
If we continue to treat forests the same way we treat the majority of our agricultural land, we will continue to use pesticides to "manage" them. When was the last time any of us said "cutting," instead of the industrial term "harvesting," when we talked about logging? We use these terms to suggest that we have the same values in regard to forests, as we have in regard to agriculture.
That is one reason we use chemicals like Roundup in forests, because trees like alder or aspen are not as valuable as the cash crop of fir, spruce, pine, et al. Except both aspen and alder are vital to forest health in the long term, just like any "weed."
Leonard Fraser is Executive Director of Earthcare, 1476 Water St., Kelowna, BC V1Y 1J5
"If you insist on strict proof/disproof in the empirical sciences, you will never benefit from experience, and never learn from it how wrong you are."
Karl Popper reached this important conclusion in 1959 in his book The Logic of Scientific Discovery.
He based it on the fact that it is almost impossible to obtain clean proof of statements or theories of the real world in practice. One can study an empirical problem for a lifetime and still not be sure of the answers.
Popper said science makes better progress when empirical scientists try to falsify a particular statement or theory, instead of trying to prove it. He argued that falsification of a statement or theory allows us to determine that it does not describe the real world, and that more progress is made in understanding the real world by eliminating statements, rather than trying to prove "pet" statements are true.
Accordingly, it can be scientifically observed that the following statement has been falsified: "Use of the herbicide glyphopsate/Vision/Roundup is justified since it does no persistent damage to non-target species."
Annotated Bibliography of Persistent Glyphosate Herbicide Damage to Non-Target Species (1994):
Black, H.C., and Hooven, E.H. 1974. Response of small mammal communities to habitat changes in Western Oregon. In Wildlife and forest management of the Pacific Northwest. Edited by H.C. Black. Oregon State University, Corvallis. pp. 177-186.
Borrecco, J.E., Black, H.C., and Hooven, E.F. 1979. Response of small mammals to herbicide induced habitat changes. Northwest Science 53: 97 106.
(Populations of vagrant shrews, Pacific jumping mice, pocket gophers, and Oregon voles were less abundant on treated areas than untreated areas.)
Campbell, D.L., Evans, J., Lindsey, G.D., and Dusenberry, W.E. 1981. Acceptance by black-tailed deer of foliage treated with herbicides. USDA For. Serv. Res. Pap. PNW-290.
(Deer rejected foliage treated with glyphosate.)
Clough, G.C. 1987. Relations of small mammals to forest management in northern Maine. Can. Field Nat. 101: 40-48.
D'Anien, P., Leslie, D.M., Jr., and McCormack, M.L., Jr. 1987. Small mammals in glyphosate-treated clearcuts in northern Maine. Can. Field Nat. 101: 547-550.
(Red-backed voles were less abundant on herbicide-treated plantations than in naturally regenerated areas.)
Connor, J., and McMillan, L. 1990. Winter utilization by moose of glyphosate-treated cutovers. Alces 26: 91-103.
(Moose utilized non- sprayed control areas 32 times more often than glyphosate treated areas. Glyphosate reduced browse to 25% of pre treatment levels.)
Cumming, H.G. 1989. First-year effects on moose browse from two silviculture applications of glyphosate in Ontario. Alces 25: 118-132.
(Glyphosate reduced available moose browse by 63-92% at least one growing season after treatment.)
Eschholz, W., Raymond, K., and Servello, F. 1992. Herbicide effects on habitat and nutritional ecology of moose and deer in Maine. Cooperative Forestry Research Unit Report No. 31. Maine Agric. Exp. Stn. Misc. Rep. 376: 31-34.
(Twenty-five percent of available moose winter browse was reduced during the first winter after spraying.)
Hjeljord, O., Sahigaard, V., Enge, E., Eggestad, M., and Gronvold, S. 1988. Glyphosate application in forest-ecological aspects. VII. The effect on mountain hare (Lepus timidus) use of a forest plantation. Scand. J. For. Res. 3: 123-127.
(Mountain hare use of glyphosate-sprayed plots decreased after treatment when compared with untreated plots.)
Kennedy, E.R. 1986. The impact of the herbicides glyphosate and 2,4-D on moose browse in conifer plantations in northeastern Minnesota. M.S. thesis, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Kennedy, E.R. and Jordan, P.A. 1985. Glyphosate and 2,4-D:The impact of two herbicides on moose browse in forest plantations. Alces 21:149-160.
C (Glyphosate-treated plantations averaged at most one fourth of the available browse four years after treatment.)
Lautenschlager, R.A. 1993. Response of wildlife to forest herbicide applications in northern coniferous ecosystems. Can. J. For. Res. 23: 2286 2299.
(Glyphosate treated areas still had 55-80% removal of browse at least eight years after treatment.)
Lloyd, R.A. 1989. Assessing the impact of glyphosate and liquid hexazinone on moose browse species in the Skeena region. Fish and Wildlife Branch, BC Ministry of Environment. Third-year report.
Lloyd, R.A. 1990a. Assessing the impact of glyphosate and liquid hexazinone on moose browse species in the Skeena region. Addendum. Fish and Wildlife Branch. B.C. MOF, Victoria.
Lloyd, R.A. 1990b. Impact on vegetation after operational Vision treatment at varying rates in the Skeena region. Fish and Wildlife Branch.
(Moose preferred control areas by 3:1 over treated areas 1-3 years after glyphosate treatment.)
MacKinnon, D.S., and Freedman, B. 1993. Effects of silviculture use of the herbicide glyphosate on breeding birds of regenerating clearcuts in Nova Scotia. Journal of Applied Ecology 30: 395-406.
(Songbird abundance was 5-20 times greater on the reference plot than glyphosate-treated plots. Abundances on treated plots remained depressed until at least fourth growing season after spraying. White throated sparrow, common yellowthroat, black and white warbler, red-eyed vireo, ruby-throated hummingbird, and others disappeared from treated plots.)
McMillan, L.M., Connor, J.F., Timmermann, H.R., McNicol, J.G., and Krishka, C.S. 1990. Small mammal and lesser vegetation response to glyphosate tending in north central Ontario. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Northwestern Ontario Forest Technology Dev. Unit, Thunder Bay. Tech. Rep. No. 57.
(Red-backed voles decreased for at least three years after spraying.)
Milton, G.R., and Towers, J. 1990. Relationships of songbirds and small mammals to habitat features on plantation and natural regeneration sites. Canadian Institute of Forestry, Nova Scotia Dept. of Natural Resources.
(Glyphosate-treated conifer plantations had lower species richness of songbirds when compared with naturally regenerated sites for at least 4 5 years after spraying. Red-backed voles were less abundant on glyphosate-treated plantations than in naturally regenerated areas.)
Morrison, M.L., and Meslow, E.C. 1984. Effects of the herbicide glyphosate on bird community structure, western Oregon. For. Sci. 30: 95-106.
(Significant decreases of orange-crowned warbler, American goldfinch, and song sparrow were observed for at least two years after glyphosate treatment.)
Reynolds, P.E., (ed.). 1989. Proceedings of the Carnation Creek Workshop. FRDA Rep # 63.
(a. The dry mass of glyphosate was higher 151 days post- application than 47, 49, and 57 days post-application in tributary 1600, indicating persistence.)
(b. The conclusion was made that Roundup "...sediment residues were relatively persistent ..." [p. 61].)
(c. The amount of glyphosate was higher 150 days post- application than 37 and 60 days post-application in the upper watershed (p. 77), again indicating persistence.)
(d. The statistical variance of glyphosate residue in the soil of upper, middle, and lower watersheds is greater than or approaches the mean residue for many sampling days throughout a calendar year. This strongly indicates persistence is beyond one year (pp. 82-84).
(e Macroinvertebrate densities were 42% lower in the Roundup-treated swamp than in the untreated swamp [p. 263].)
Santillo, D.J., Brown, P.W., and Leslie, D.M., Jr. 1989. Response of songbirds to glyphosate-induced habitat changes in clearcuts. Journal of Wildlife Management 53:64-71.
(Treatment reduced the complexity of vegetation through three growing seasons post-treatment compared with untreated clearcuts. Yellowthroat, Lincoln sparrow, and alder flycatcher were reduced in treated areas.)
Santillo, D.J., Leslie, D.M., Jr., and Brown, P.W. 1989. Response of small mammals and habitat to glyphosate application on clearcuts. Journal of Wildlife Management 53: 164-172.
(Fewer small mammals were captured on glyphosate-treated clearcuts at least 1-3 years post-treatment compared to untreated clearcuts.)
Slagsvold, T. 1977. Bird population changes after clearance of deciduous scrub. Biol. Conserv. 12: 229-244.
(Herbicide-treated areas had reduced bird populations for at least four growing seasons after treatment.)
Sullivan, T.P. 1988. Non-target impacts of the herbicide glyphosate: A compendium of references & abstracts. FRDA Rept No. 13.
(Reports mostly negative impacts of glyphosate on mammals, birds, fish, microflora, aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, up to1988. Most new studies falsify this earlier work, making the positive impacts Sullivan reports even more important. The history of earlier work indicates that the null hypothesis of negative effects was supported. This lead to the belief that glyphosate did not affect non-target species. However, most new research falsifies the null hypothesis and falsifies the belief that glyphosate does not affect non-target species. Falsification of the null hypothesis is scientifically valid, whereas non falsification of the null, like the older studies, was scientifically flawed.)
Sylva Management Services. 1991. Information Summary on the Herbicide Vision, prepared for MOF, Kamloops.
(Even though written after most of the above studies nullifying its conclusions, this very poor but widely circulated "scientific" report states "...there have been numerous studies conducted over the last 20 years into the effects of this herbicide...the use of the herbicide Vision in a forest environment will not cause an unreasonable adverse effect to either mankind or the environment...the safest of all herbicides in use today" (page 18). This many-times falsified summary even opposes Sylva's own conclusion with regards to Vision-sprayed fruit-berries "...it is not recommended that these be eaten..." (p. 15).
Rick Zammuto, Ph.D., is the head of SEE ME Consultations Ltd. (Sustainable Ecology and Evolution of Montane Ecosystems), and President of Save-The Cedar League, 8995 Loos Road, Crescent Spur, BC V0J 3E0. Phone or fax: (250)553-2325; rzammuto@aol.com
According to a report by the Center for Ethics and Toxics, farmers throughout the mid-south region of the US began experiencing problems with Roundup Ready cotton in August 1997. The failing cotton plants contained an inserted gene that should make the plants able to withstand two seasonal applications of Roundup herbicide (Monsanto=s brand name for the herbicide glyphosate).
Roundup Ready cotton was grown commercially in the US for the first time this year. In early spring, approximately 600,000 acres of the bioengineered crop were sown across the cotton belt. This equals about 2.3% of the 14 million acres of cotton planted nationwide. Approximately three-quarters of the way through the growing season, some cotton bolls became misshapen after the second Roundup application and began to fall off the plants. In August, Robert McCarty of the Bureau of Plant Industry in Mississippi stated, "We are receiving complaints from farmers everyday."
According to McCarty, the complaints were all identical: the bolls become deformed and subsequently fall off the plant. Bill Robertson, a cotton specialist in Arkansas, says "We call the malformation "parrot beaked" because the bolls look like the beaks of parrots, then fall off of the plant before they are mature."
According to Karen Marshall of Monsanto, "There are a number of environmental factors that can put stress on cotton plants." But the failures do not appear to be occurring in all cotton varieties, just those that are genetically engineered to withstand Roundup. The failure is occurring in Roundup Ready Paymaster varieties #1244, #1215, #1330, and #1220.
According to the Center for Ethics and Toxics, the US Department of Agriculture=s Director of Biotechnology and Scientific Services has stated he was "totally unaware of the problem."
Contact: Center for Ethics and Toxics, Box 673, 39175 S. Highway 1, Gualala, CA 95445; ph: (707)884-1700; fax: (707)884-1846; email, cetos@cetos.org http://www.cetos.org
Mission Statement: 20/20 VISION British Columbia is a non-profit society committed to enabling concerned individuals to join others in influencing policymakers, in a spirit of good will, to protect our environment and enhance peace.
20/20 Vision serves a population of concerned citizens who have neither time nor access to information that would allow them to act individually, but who want to contribute effectively to the enhancement and protection of the environment. Imagine! All you need to do is spend 20 minutes a month and $20 a year (hence, the name 20/20 Vision), and you can be part of this growing population.
Each month core group members collaborate with more than 15 reputable peace and environmental organizations throughout the country to keep abreast of current issues and to gain access to research and in-depth information. 20/20's researchers discuss the information gathered and choose a postcard topic to share with 20/20 Vision subscribers. When you subscribe to this non-profit service, you will receive one clearly presented topic on a monthly postcard. It provides a summary (background information) of the issue, suggestions for the content of your message, and the name and address, phone and fax numbers of the appropriate policymaker to contact (MLA or MP, Prime Minister, etc). Feedback is encouraging! - you frequently receive a personal response from the person you contact.
In addition to 12 postcards a year, subscribers remain current on topics they have supported by way of six-month updates on progress and successes of postcard topics.
A core group of 14 volunteers has been providing this service for seven years. 20/20 Vision strives to focus on "root causes" when identifying issues, thereby ensuring that the action taken by its members is effective and long-lasting. One recent root cause issue was advocacy for industries responsibility for their products from cradle to grave (as compared to encouraging consumers to recycle, which, while being a positive action, does not deal with the core problem). Another is preservation of wilderness areas (as opposed to saving endangered species. By preserving wilderness, species will be ensured their survival).
The Earth Summit in 1992 saw the birth of a new world-wide citizens' organization, EarthAction Network. As a partner organization with EarthAction, 20/20 Vision subscribers co-ordinate their ventures (up to four times a year), with more than 1600 citizen groups in 127 countries. Now that's thinking globally!
The 20/20 Vision core group of volunteer researchers and writers has expanded to include regional co-ordinators in Fernie, Nelson, Powell River, Victoria, White Rock and Thunder Bay. Subscribers include teachers, home-makers, students, designers, business people, pharmacists, in fact, people from all walks of life, who are committed to working for a cleaner, safer world.
Pru Moore, 20/20 Co-ordinator, and her fellow volunteers like to quote anthropologist Margaret Mead's powerful message: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
You can take action by joining 20/20 Vision. Write to: 20/20 Vision, 5112 Francisco Court, North Vancouver, BC. V7R 3K5; (604)983-2525 or (604)926-3417.
Budget cutbacks from $29.5 million to $20 million have forced the layoff of 200 Greenpeace USA employees and the closure of ten regional offices. Climate change, the preservation of ancient forests, toxics, and fisheries campaigns will continue. Greenpeace's toxics campaign, which includes its anti-dioxin and PVC efforts will likely drop from nine or 10 full-time staffers to five or six, said toxics campaigner Rick Hind.
In Canada the organization remains financially stable and no layoffs or closures are contemplated
Greenpeace International has a worldwide membership of 2.9 million, with 32 national offices around the world.
* EnviroNews Service, August 1997
Friends of Cortes Island held their Annual General Meeting on November 9th. Along with the usual Board business, various issues of local interest were addressed. Support for such projects as the Cortes Island Self Sufficiency Group, Cortes Historical Society, Cortes Island Local Advisory Committee, the Foreshore Monitoring Project, the Forestry Committee, and the Youth Scholarship Fund were discussed. All of these projects rely heavily on volunteer involvement so if anyone is interested in getting involved, please contact FOCI.
Special Guest Speaker Chief Gilbert Hanuse of the Klahoose First Nation gave an in-depth and inspiring overview of the numerous activities in which the band is currently engaged. Work training, treaty talks, construction projects, the beginnings of a hand-carved racing canoe, the opening of a daycare centre available to all Cortes Island residents, and a salmon hatchery project were just a few of the items Chief Hanuse shared with the meeting. He also expressed an interest in further opening the lines of communication between the band and other island residents with more regular interaction and sharing of information.
The Foreshore Monitoring Project and the Forestry Committee also gave reports on their on-going activities. Sabina Leader-Mense of the Foreshore Project explained the excellent work she and a group of dedicated volunteers have been engaged in over the last 2 years. They are cataloguing plant and animal life in the intertidal zone at 12 locations around the island. This work is creating an invaluable record for future research, providing baseline data on intertidal conditions. On behalf of the Forestry Committee, David Shipway reported on the ongoing Community Forests tenure discussion. He now feels some reticence as to the workability of current community forest plans, fearing that they do not have a firm basis in Ecoforestry practices. He will continue to keep the community informed of any new developments.
The 1997-98 board members are: Nori Fletcher, Ralph Nursall, Garvin Morris, Hubert Havelaar, and Ralph Garrison. Many thanks to everyone involved in the Friends of Cortes Island organization and other valuable local groups.
* Contact Friends of Cortes Island, Box 3333, Manson's Landing BC V0P 1Z0; (250)935-6453
by Rachel Bevington, October 1997
The Friends of Cortes Island offers a scholarship to young people wishing to attend environmental and cultural conferences, workshops and meetings. Last spring, Rachel Bevington took part in LIFE Boat, a week's cruise in Georgia Strait.
I just recently received a letter in the mail from the LIFE Boat expedition office and it contained a paragraph that I had written during my last days on the expedition in March 1997. It was a description of my thoughts after partaking in a brief meditation exercise with my group. This description reflects the feelings and ideas that I had shared with my LIFE Boat companions throughout the week, and is an example of how the LIFE organization wants to help the youth of the world to find ways to achieve our own personal goals.
"As I swam closer and closer to the island, my future, I saw a long white beach. There were a few people on the beach, a couple that I recognized, the others I didn't, so I guess I have not met them yet. When I saw these people, I realized that something that is very important in my life is being able to have children and raise a healthy family, free from stress, pollution, anger or frustration. I know that I want to be able to live out my life constantly creating and living happily, experimenting with new and different ways to live at one with my surroundings. Taking and using the gifts the Earth has given me, I want to turn myself around to become the one who gives. In cleaning up the state of our world, I could give my children of the new millennium a chance to live and grow as humans were meant to, totally connected and intertwined with the environment."
This letter was held by the LIFE organization and was to be sent to me in eight months time as a reminder of the experiences we all had that week on the high seas of the Sunshine coast.
The trip was a lot of fun, a real adventure that brought all different kinds of people together, all with the same interests and concerns about the state of our world, addressing environmental and cultural issues in a variety of ways. We worked in groups and as individuals to discover ways that young people can solve their own problems in their communities. We also learned how we can begin to make a difference on a much larger scale, affecting issues nationally and globally, all in the spirit of Leadership Initiative For Earth.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I really enjoyed. I greatly appreciated the chance to participate with a group of such dedicated and knowledgeable people. For this I wish to thank the Friends of Cortes for sponsoring my journey, one that will carry into the future.
Hope for Home
Giving the Land a Voice, Mapping our Home Places
By Doug Aberley & Michael Dunn
($16) Salt Spring Community Services, 268 Fulford/Ganges Road, Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 2K6 (250)537-9971; fax: (250)537-9974
A proud, single pelican perched on top of a piling greets me each morning. As I get out of bed, I look at a collection of pictures recently pasted on my closet door. Luminescent fish, stingrays, chocolate clams and other creatures previously unknown have helped me see how vulnerable our herons, bears, elk, owls and frogs are. Before sailing down the coast past Washington, Oregon, California and Mexico, I ignorantly thought the desert was fairly boring and lifeless. Instead, unique creatures, fantastic flowering cacti and majestic palms kept my love of nature in my heart. But, the rapidly desertifing California coasts and protected bays in the Sea of Cortez confirmed my inner knowing: we are in a small window of time when we have the opportunity to preserve habitat and slow the rapid intrusion of the human species over the planet.
Another kind of picture is proving to be one of the best tools for conserving our northern creatures with their habitat. More than a picture, a map is a language, a sign system which links us to our territories. They tell us about the past, the present, and in the process of making them, we discover our own relationship to space and time. Notating a rosemary bush planted one hundred years ago, the path of the nightly racoon visits, and where the outhouses have been over the years will help new land stewards make sensitive choices about where they build a new cabin or clear areas for septic fields. On a larger scale, marking a seasonal creek's course through a neighbourhood, noting where the local day care centres are situated, or where a chemical spill occurred, can save habitat and even human lives.
As tools for restoring and saving cherished places and irreplaceable habitat, maps are brilliant. They act as a way of thinking, a communication which reveals our relationship to the land and each other. The only drawback to mapping is we tend to think only an expert can make one. As long as we think this, we will be left with the endless parade of utilitarian maps which draw lines through cliffs, marking where Joe's property meets Jane's. Or worse yet, demarking protected forest areas, up in the rocky mountain tops.
If you are contemplating any kind of restoration, conservation or local planning project, I suggest you get a copy of Giving the Land a Voice, Mapping our Home Places before it is out-of-print. Mapping is a very powerful process and a powerful tool. This manual will help you through the process, step by step, including charts, survey sheets, sample maps, covenants and many full-colour artistic maps to keep you inspired.
What we do has impacts far beyond our imaginings. Please write to me at Salt Spring Community Services if you or your group has made a difference with a map. It's a powerful motivational way to help give the land a voice.
* Sheila Harrington
The Land Conservancy of British Columbia, in partnership with the Nanaimo and Area Land Trust and the Islands Trust Fund Board have begun a campaign to purchase South Winchelsea. A 10.4 hectare island, South Winchelsea is part of the Ballenas/Winchelsea Archipelago, a group of 19 islands located on the east coast of Vancouver Island, north of Nanaimo.
The islands remain relatively undisturbed by human activity or introduction of exotic species. They contain the Garry Oak ecosystem, which exists nowhere else in Canada, and is rapidly disappearing, as well as rare and endangered species such as the Water-plantain Buttercup, Slimleaf Onion and Seaside Rein-orchid. Eagles abound and in winter the rocky shores are used as a haul-out site for Stellar and California sea lions.
South Winchelsea is one of only four islands in the archipelago that are privately owned and its acquisition will bring conservationists closer to protecting the entire group.
The option to buy South Winchelsea for $595,000 needs to be met by a wide range of individuals and organizations and can be done through individual donations and pledges to the year 2002, though commitments need to be in place by March, 1998.
For more information or donation forms please contact: Bill Turner, The Land Conservancy of BC (250)361-7693; Bturner@vvv.com
Barbara Hourston, Nanaimo and Area Land Trust (250)758-5490; hourston@island.net or Carolyn Stewart, Program Coordinator, Trust Fund Board (250)405-5174; cstewart@islandstrust.bc.ca
Why BC Forestry Must Change
What type of forestry do we have in BC? Ninety-five percent of wood logged is still old growth. Over 90% is clearcut. The working forest slated for conversion is 93% of reachable forests. The provincial cut is still above 70 million cubic metres per year.
By Bill Henderson
Forestry in BC today remains the timber sustainability approach to forest management mandated by the Sloan Commissions of 1946 and '56. Sustained yield planning and methodology was adapted for BC forests initially by W.A.C. Bennett-led governments eager to develop BC's hinterland. The plan was and remains the liquidation of all reachable "decadent and over-mature" old growth forests and their conversion to tree crop plantations.
Simplified, sustained yield is prescriptive planning where an area of forest is cut on a schedule so that when the last part of the area is cut a new crop of trees is old enough to harvest. If trees are mature enough to cut at eighty years, divide your forested area by eighty and harvest one section each year until after eighty years the original forest is gone and you have a series of tree crops maturing for harvest: a flow of commodities - timber sustainability.
Tree Farm Licences and Timber Supply Areas are the areas to be converted to plantations. The Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) is the area to be cut each year. Clearcutting is the elimination method.
| "The forest industry and the ministry continue to implement what can be called the liquidation-conversion project, a set of policies aimed at achieving a controlled liquidation of old growth forests and their conversion into managed second-growth plantations. Despite two decades of intense debate over forest policy, both harvest levels and the proportion of the harvest that is clearcut have increased dramatically since the 1970's. The busy air of policy innovation may simply mark the final stages of the liquidation-conversion project, amounting to nothing more than a sophisticated symbolic politics that serves to contain environmental opposition."
Ken Lertzman, Jeremy Rayner, Jeremy Wilson, Can. Journal of Political Science, March 1996 |
What are the problems with this forestry?
What business today, in these times of rapid change and uncertainty is still following a business plan that's fifty years old, based upon a science and governance world view dominant after World War II?
Sustained yield is a land rent, economics approach to forestry that is more closely related to shelf-stocking strategy in malls than it is to ecology. Maximizing timber volumes per square foot (hectares) is the goal. Like sustained yield in fishing, it has been a disaster wherever it has been implemented because it is relentlessly concerned with maximizing commodity volumes instead of protecting the health and integrity of forests.
If you were going to manage humans for a sustained volume of soylent green and you determined that the optimal age for harvesting was eighteen - what sort of society would you have after a couple of rotations? When you plan to systematically eliminate forests that have developed over millennia and were overwhelmingly over two hundred years old before industry intervention, and farm eighty year old tree crops instead - what invaluable structure and components are you throwing away?
Sustained yield is concerned with timber. Forests provide a variety of goods and services to the biosphere and to humans. Water, oxygen-carbon and climate regulation are just three indispensable services provided by forests. One recent study estimates that timber production is only a small fraction of the total service value provided to human economies by temperate forests. Sustained yield alienates and interferes with other human use. Clearcutting is not compatible with recreation and tourism. It damages salmon habitat and threatens community watersheds. This approach to forestry is the root cause of the war in the woods.
Sustained yield is a one-size-fits-all monolithic plan for all BC that does not allow for differing approaches for the diverse types of forest ecosystems and diverse BC communities. The Slocan Valley can't have their own agreed upon local plan if it doesn't conform to liquidation - conversion MoF planning.
Sustained yield planning legitimizes a bloated high volume - low value industry. Milling capacity and employment are still based upon volumes predicated upon complete elimination of old growth. (And because sustained yield was always more of an excuse to log, and because this logging was and remains essentially highgrading of the most valuable and easy to reach timber first, falldown is already putting paid to the notion of timber sustainability in BC communities such as Golden and Prince Rupert.)
Finally, each job in this present forestry eliminates many future jobs. Old growth has vastly more potential for value-added products than second growth. Plantation harvests and milling are also much more easily mechanized. (And this assumes that plantation crops will survive pathogens, global warming, etc.)
Haven't we already changed from the bad old days of forestry?
We still have Tree Farm Licences and AAC's. Ninety-five percent of wood logged in BC is still old growth. Over 90% is still clearcut. The working forest slated for conversion is still 93% of reachable forests in BC. (The Harcourt parks creation reduced the working forest size by 2%.) The provincial AAC is still above 70 million cubic metres, little changed from levels in the 1980's.
NDP forest policies are cleverly-disguised business-as- usual. The Forests Practices Code is, as former deputy Forests Minister Gerry Armstrong readily admits, "completely within the sustained yield paradigm." The Ecoforestry Institute's Cheri Burda points out that the Code "attempts to regulate industrial forestry. It does not change it."
Well, are there other, better types of forestry?
Emerging Ecosystem Management (EM) in the US and the forestry recommended by the Clayoquot Scientific Panel specifically repudiate sustained yield redesign of forests. The prime objective of management is not timber sustainability but the continued health, integrity and function of forest ecosystems for all values. Human use such as timber production is a subset. Historical age classes and disturbance patterns are respected and ecosystem components such as owls or grizzlies are valued for their ecosystem contribution.
Rate of cut, based not on timber targets but on what is ecologically possible without endangering forest ecosystems, replaces AAC's. Partial retention logging methodology replaces clearcutting. Ecosystems are not eliminated.
Forestry tenure is based upon agreement to protect and maintain forest health in license areas while still harvesting timber. A diversity of management styles and methodologies will be facilitated by devolving management control from Victoria to diverse communities under a provincial regulatory umbrella enforcing the prime goal of protecting forest health. Each local approach should be formulated as an adaptive management experiment where risk to future generations is quantified and front loaded. Local knowledge: aboriginal, scientific, technologies, etc. is sought and incorporated in forestry planning.
Increased logging costs and accounting that quantifies all forest values (with inter-generational equity, i.e. sustainability, foremost) will push the forest industry out of raw commodity markets. Log markets which handle products from diverse producers will greatly increase value- added capacity by correctly valuing old growth stock and freeing access from the monopoly enjoyed by the few integrated corporations that control supply today.
Wouldn't a change from sustained yield to ecosystem based management be very difficult if not economically impossible to implement?
Difficult, yes - but there is really no choice. Each year that we continue down the wrong (timber sustainability) path impoverishes BC by degrading forests and limiting the size and viability of a future truly sustainable industry. Each tree cut, each paycheck, each job is robbing future generations of British Columbians, loggers and city dwellers, of opportunities for services and wealth creation from healthy forests.
Sustained yield is ultimately indefensible. An ecosystem-based management is inevitable.
Change is opportunity: Those first through the transition will be first to market. Ecosystem Management standards will sooner rather than later become international standards for forestry. BC has incredible forest opportunity if only we change while we still have old growth to access without endangering forest health.
We are very fortunate: wealthy, well-educated, with excellent institutions and infrastructure. If we can't change to an ecologically sustainable forestry, nobody can. We might even find that there are much richer lifestyles possible in a BC of the 21st century if we co-operate to make the changes instead of fighting each other in myopic self-interest.
No Nukes is Good Nukes
Ontario Hydro will shut down seven reactors in the next year.
Ontario Hydro announced in August it would shut down its oldest seven reactors within the next year. This includes four 515 megawatt (MW) reactors at the Pickering "A" nuclear station, east of Toronto, and three 848 MW reactors at the Bruce "A" nuclear station on the shore of Lake Huron, near Kincardine. Ontario Hydro previously shut down a reactor at the Bruce "A" station, in 1995. Ontario Hydro is also shutting down Canada's last remaining heavy water plant at the Bruce site. CANDU reactors need heavy water for both coolant and moderator. According to Dave Martin, Research Director of the Nuclear Awareness Project, "This is the largest single nuclear shutdown anywhere in the world. It's the beginning of the end for nuclear power in Canada."
The Bruce "A" reactors lasted less than half of their expected 40-year lifetime. The Pickering "A" reactors lasted only 25 years, despite having been re-tubed at a cost of $1 billion.
The shutdowns will leave Ontario Hydro with 12 reactors: four at the Pickering "B" station; four at the Bruce "B" station; and four at the Darlington station. Ontario Hydro refers to the current shutdowns as "lay ups," implying that the reactors may be re-started at a later date. However, the Nuclear Awareness Project believes that the reactors will never be re-started, for economic, as well as environmental and safety reasons.
"The Ontario Hydro shutdown will also seriously hurt the chances of foreign CANDU sales by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL)," Martin says. AECL is a Canadian crown corporation that designs and markets CANDU reactors. AECL is currently seeking to build reactors in Turkey, Romania, and the Republic of Korea. CANDU performance has declined dramatically in recent years. In 1996, Ontario Hydro's 19 operating reactors ran at an average capacity factor of 66 percent. The Pickering "A" station had a capacity factor of 36 percent, and Pickering "B" 49 percent in 1996. Martin added, "The message is clear: do not buy CANDU reactors."
Closure of the problem-plagued Pickering "A" reactors vindicates ten years of public education work by activists with the Nuclear Awareness Project and its local affiliated group, Durham Nuclear Awareness. The four aging reactors, now over 25 years old, were the oldest operating CANDU reactors in Canada, and have been the subject of several recent controversies.
Ontario Hydro will increase the use of coal and oil-fired stations to compensate for the closed nuclear reactors. In the last four years, the giant utility has decimated its conservation programs, and recently canceled its first tentative efforts at a renewable energy program for independent power producers. Added coal and oil generation will result in major environmental impacts.
* Contact: The Nuclear Awareness Projec; Box 104, 34 Church St., Uxbridge, ON, L9P 1M6; Phone or fax: (905)852-0571; email: nucaware@web.net
In May a chemical explosion at Hanford Nuclear reservation in Washington State released plutonium and other toxins while emergency responses descended into chaos, according to the Guardian Weekly.
The explosion occurred in a storage tank at the plutonium-processing facility. It blasted open the roof, releasing a toxic plume that spilled plutonium-contaminated water outside the plant.
Emergency services broke down, and the plume was not tracked. The news appears to have been leaked by affected workers.
Hanford, in the Pacific Northwest 250 miles (400 km) southeast of Vancouver BC, produced plutonium for almost fifty years. The site's 11 reactors are idled now, but, despite several billion-dollar remediation projects, there seems to be no way to stop the plumes of radioactivity moving through groundwater to the Columbia River.
* Guardian Weekly, Aug. 1997
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About us
Reach for Unbleached! started in 1991 as a grassroots organization in British Columbia, Canada in response to fishing closures due to dioxin contamination from chlorine-bleaching kraft pulp mills. We are now a national foundation, and a Canadian registered charity with a focus on consumer education and pulp mill monitoring.