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EARTH
TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Dear
EarthTalk: Are any book or magazine publishers using recycled
paper these days?
-- Debby Greco, Canton, CT
Environmental
groups have been advocating for changes in the paper choices of
the publishing industry for years. For one, Greenpeace's Book
Campaign has been working to convince publishers to switch from
non-recycled "virgin" paper to more green-friendly recycled
varieties. The virgin paper used in most books has been linked
to the ruin of ancient forests in Canada, Finland, Southeast Asia
and elsewhere.
Markets
Initiative, a group of Canadian environmental organizations working
with Greenpeace, has convinced 67 Canadian publishers to make
formal commitments to phase out virgin paper in their books. The
coalition even provides an extensive list of eco-friendly current
titles on its website.
Greenpeace
and its cohorts have had less success with American publishers,
though, going so far as to recommend that U.S. buyers of the latest
Harry Potter book make their purchases online from Canadian purveyors
offering Raincoast Books' version on 100 percent recycled paper.
It
is much the same story on the magazine side, where a few dozen
publishers have embraced the use of recycled paper, while the
big players continue to utilize virgin fibers, mainly due to cost
considerations, in putting out their glossy productions.
The
Magazine PAPER Project (MPP), which is trying to get big publishers
to take the lead in choosing recycled as well as chlorine-free
options, lists more than 60 magazines that have made a commitment
to using ecologically responsible papers, such as those that contain
"post-consumer" recycled content or that are produced
using non-toxic manufacturing processes. The list includes a wide
range of publications, from Ms. Magazine to Discover to Shape,
and just about every environmental and non-profit publication
in-between. MPP, which is part of the non-profit Co-op America's
WoodWise program, walks publishers through their papers' impacts
and assists them in adopting environmentally preferable alternatives.
Perhaps
an indication of things to come, the 2002 book, Cradle to Cradle:
Remaking the Way We Make Things, by William McDonough and Michael
Braungart--which describes how ideas of "ecologically intelligent
design" can be applied to everyday things in order to reduce
environmental damage--is printed on a synthetic "paper"
made from plastic resins. The book's pages look and feel like
paper, are waterproof--and can be recycled in communities that
have the means to collect polypropylene, a material similar to
that which is used in yogurt containers. The paper is significantly
more costly to produce than paper (for now), but this "tree-free"
book, says the book's website, "points the way toward the
day when synthetic books, like many other products, can be used,
recycled and used again without losing material quality…"
CONTACTS:
Magazine PAPER Project, www.coopamerica.org/programs/woodwise/paperproject;
Greenpeace Book Campaign, www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/forests/greenpeace-book-campaign;
Markets Initiative, www.oldgrowthfree.com.
GOT
AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental
Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/,
or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.
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EARTH TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Dear
EarthTalk: Are there ways to recycle old athletic shoes?
-- Carmen Wolf, Los Angeles, CA
Probably
the best way to make your worn out sneakers go the extra mile
is to recycle them through Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program, which
since 1993 has converted more than 15 million old athletic shoes
(any brand, not just its own) into components in more than 170
community sport surfaces across the United States as well as in
the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan.
Nike
separates the incoming old shoes into their component parts, and
then grinds the various materials up at its Reuse-A-Shoe recycling
facility in Wilsonville, Oregon. The resulting material, collectively
know as "Nike Grind," is separated into three categories:
outsole rubber, midsole foam and upper fabric. Rubber from the
outsole is used in the making of synthetic soccer, football and
baseball fields; foam from the midsole is used for synthetic basketball
courts, tennis courts and playground surfaces; and fabric from
the shoes' upper becomes padding used under hardwood basketball
floors. Nike supplies such major indoor and outdoor athletic surface
companies such as Atlas Track (running surfaces), Rebound Ace
(tennis and basketball courts), Connor Sports Flooring (gym floors)
and Field Turf (synthetic outdoor grass).
According
to Nike, it takes approximately 75,000 pairs of shoes to make
one outdoor playing field. The company's goal is to recycle two
million pairs of shoes each year.
Reuse-a-Shoe
accepts all athletic shoes as long as they do not contain any
metal (zippers, eyelets, spikes, etc.). The Nike website offers
a list of collection locations--which includes recycling centers
at municipalities from coast to coast--as well as an address to
which old shoes can be shipped. Shoes submitted to the free program
must be clean (mud-free) and tied together or paired accordingly.
The company also hopes to eventually recycle old shoes into new
ones.
For
people with wearable athletic shoes they'd like to be rid of,
there's also the option of donating sneakers to local charities
and thrift stores. The Children's Rights Foundation (CRF), for
one, sponsors an annual used athletic shoe drive through different
retail shoe shops nationally. Retailers promote the shoe drive
through normal means of advertising. Customers are directed to
bring their used wearable shoes to participating stores in exchange
for a discount on new shoes as decided by individual retailers.
CRF then donates the used sneakers to needy and at-risk children
and their families within the U.S. and abroad.
Some
local recycling services will also take your old wearable sneakers
and shoes and direct them to those in need. One such service is
Eco-Cycle, a non-profit recycler based in Boulder, Colorado. The
organization's Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials program will
take your old pairs of shoes--as well as accessories and other
clothing--and send them to relief agencies in developing countries.
CONTACTS:
Nike Reuse-a-Shoe, www.nikereuseashoe.com;
Children's Rights Foundation, www.crfi.org;
Eco-Cycle, www.ecocycle.org.
GOT
AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental
Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/,
or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php
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EARTH
TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Dear
EarthTalk: What is the status of bicycle use in the United
States, compared to other parts of the world like, say, China
or Europe? -- Monica Schmid, Seattle, WA
Given
different types of weather and terrain--as well as historical
economic and developmental trends--comparing bicycle usage in
different parts of the world is tricky. What is clear, however,
is that China dominates the world bike scene: A whopping 60 percent
of the world's 1.6 billion bicycles are used daily by some 500
million riders in China, who choose bikes over other modes of
transport over half the time.
Meanwhile,
in Europe's hotbed of commuter bicycling, Amsterdam, residents
choose their bikes 28 percent of the time, according to the International
Bicycle Fund (IBF). In other European cities, the stats are also
impressive: Commuters choose bikes 20 percent of the time in Denmark,
10 percent in Germany, eight percent in the United Kingdom, and
five percent in both France and Italy. In stark contrast, the
IBF reports that American city dwellers choose bikes less than
one percent of the time. Meanwhile, estimates of the number of
American adults who commute by bicycle regularly range from a
low of 400,000 (based on U.S. Census data) to a high of five million
(according to the Bicycle Institute of America).
Unlike
their American counterparts, Europe's urban planners are working
to increase bicycle ridership, according to Janet Larsen of the
Earth Policy Institute, an environmental think tank. Copenhagen,
for example, has 3,000 bicycles in the city, available for short-term
use for a small fee. Amsterdam provides covered bike parking at
bus stops, encouraging both bike riding and mass transit at the
same time.
In
Muenster, Germany, bus lanes can be used by bikes but not by cars.
Special lanes near intersections feed cyclists to a stop area
ahead of cars, and an advance green light for cyclists ensures
that they get through the intersection before cars behind them
begin to move. Thanks to government programs to ease traffic congestion
in Germany, bicycle use has increased by 50 percent over the past
20 years. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has developed a plan to
quadruple bicycle use by the year 2012. And in the European Union,
bicycles have been included for the first time in the comprehensive
transportation plan.
"European
cities are much less suited to motoring and much more suited to
short-distance bicycle transportation than are American cities,"
says transportation analyst John Forester. He cites historical
reasons, including that European capitals were designed as walking
cities served by rail, while America instead embraced cars.
Unfortunately
for the world's air quality, a similar trend is developing in
China, where people are ever more turning to cars and abandoning
their bikes. Beijing, for instance, has been converting hundreds
of bike lanes into car lanes and parking areas, as a recent influx
of motor vehicles is maxing out existing roads. And with increased
car traffic and fewer bike lanes, bicycle riding is getting more
hazardous. "Nowadays there are just too many accidents, with
a lot of cyclists getting hurt," says Zhang Lihua of the
China Cycling Association. "Riding bicycles is becoming too
inconvenient and too dangerous," he adds.
CONTACTS:
International Bicycle Fund, www.ibike.org,
Earth Policy Institute, www.earth-policy.org.
GOT
AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental
Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/,
or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.
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EARTH TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Dear
EarthTalk: Can asphalt roof shingles be recycled?
-- Kate Prendergast, Warwick, NY
Asphalt
shingles are the most common type of roofing material used for
residential homes today. In fact, the National Association of
Home Builders (NAHB) estimates that up to 60 percent of dwellings
use them. Each year, the re-roofing of homes in the U.S. generates
about 11 million tons of waste shingles--at a cost of more than
$400 million in disposal fees alone. Meanwhile, more than 60 manufacturing
plants generate up to one million tons of new material every year.
This
enormous glut has led to the relatively new practice of shingle
recycling. Asphalt roofing shingles have great recycling potential
because they are easy to isolate. Shingles are then ground into
small pieces, and can then be reused in a variety of ways. Currently,
almost all recycled asphalt shingles are used in paving, because
of the costs savings they can yield. But they can also be used
for new roofing and for fuel oil, according to the California
Integrated Waste Management Board.
The
Construction Materials Recycling Association has joined with the
University of Florida, the National Roofing Contractors Association
and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on shinglerecycling.org,
a website that answers questions about how and where to recycle
asphalt roof shingles. Along with a wealth of other resources,
the site offers a state-by-state listing of environmental and
permitting issues related to asphalt shingle recycling, including
how to deal with potential asbestos content.
According
to the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturing Association, asphalt shingle
recycling facilities are available in at least 15 states, including
Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Michigan,
Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania
and Washington.
For
more information, NAHB publishes an informative booklet entitled
From Roofs to Roads: Recycling Asphalt Roof Shingles into Paving
Materials. Written primarily for waste generators, processors
and regulators, the booklet details potential end uses for recycled
shingles, summarizes the issues that recyclers face, and lists
resources and equipment manufacturers, including for equipment
that enables demolition companies to shred and prepare shingles
for recycling themselves.
CONTACTS:
California Integrated Waste Management Board, www.ciwmb.ca.gov;
National Association of Home Builders, www.nahbrc.org; shinglerecycling.org,
www.shinglerecycling.org;
Asphalt Roofing Manufacturing Association, www.asphaltroofing.org.
GOT
AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental
Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/,
or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.
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EARTH
TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Laurie
Garrett: Are We Prepared for Avian Flu?
Interviewed
by Jim Motavalli
Editor of E - The
Environmental Magazine
Laurie
Garrett, the only reporter to win all three of journalism's big
"P" awards (the Peabody, the Polk and the Pulitzer)
is extraordinarily well positioned to tell the frightening and
emerging story of avian flu. The author of two major public health
books, Betrayal of Trust and The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging
Diseases in a World out of Balance, she was a science correspondent
at National Public Radio before joining the science-writing staff
of Newsday in 1988.
Today,
Garrett is Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign
Relations. Her story "The Next Pandemic?" was published
in the July/August issue of Foreign Affairs, the Council's bi-monthly
magazine. In it, Garrett traces the history of U.S. pandemics,
including the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918, which killed 675,000
Americans. Avian flu could be even worse. "If the relentlessly
evolving virus becomes capable of human-to-human transmission,
develops a power of contagion typical of human influenzas, and
maintains its extraordinary virulence," she writes, "humanity
could well face a pandemic unlike any ever witnessed. Or nothing
at all could happen." According to the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC), an H5N1 avian influenza that is transmittable from
human to human could sicken 80 million people and kill 16 million.
Influenza
comes from aquatic birds, including migratory ducks, geese and
herons. As Garrett explains, the loss of these birds' migratory
routes in China has brought them into direct contact with humans
in farms and parks. In this way, influenza is spread from migrating
birds to domestic birds, then to pigs and ultimately to humans.
This chain of events involves veterinary science, ecology and
medicine, the triumvirate studied by the science of conservation
medicine.
E
Magazine: How is avian flu progressing?
Garrett:
It is becoming more of a danger physically, and to add to that
there's been a steady effort by the public health community to
get policymakers more aware and more concerned about the situation.
That is meeting with some success finally.
How
does avian influenza spread?
I
wish we knew the answer to that question. There's evidence of
transmission via dining on the meat of animals. There's evidence
[of transmission through] some very, very close contact with chickens,
such as professional cock-fighting roosters. The owners of these
roosters suck the blood out of the roosters' beaks with their
own mouths when they start bleeding during cockfights. But it's
all rather mysterious: Lots and lots of chicken handlers, chicken
farmers and poultry workers are infected. And then we find infections
in people who seemed to be several steps away from any chickens.
So it's all quite baffling.
Americans
have probably been lulled into believing we have effective vaccines
for threats like avian flu.
The
only diseases we have any hope of eradicating--and I'm not really
sure that we're ever going to eradicate any more diseases besides
smallpox--are ones that are present only in humans and are not
found in animals. So smallpox was unique in that the vaccine was
100 percent effective. It was easy to spot people who were infected
because they had very gross and obvious physical symptoms, and
there were no animals that harbored that virus. But avian flu
is not like that; it goes through dozens of different species
of animals. We are the final end point on a long food chain of
animals that this virus goes chopping its way through, and as
it does so it constantly mutates. A vaccine that is effective
against the flu strain one year may have very little, if any,
effect against the flu strain circulating the next year. So influenza
is just orders of magnitude more difficult to deal with.
All
influenza virus seem to originate in southern China, in the Pearl
River Delta region. It's a unique ecology, with a tropical climate,
extremely dense human population, a booming economy with rapid
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and giant mega-cities sprouting
up overnight. But meanwhile, there is a large peasant population
still conducting traditional poultry rearing in the way they have
for centuries. The Chinese predilection for purchasing live animals
that are slaughtered at home means that possible routes of exposure
are infinitely greater than what would be the case in the U.S.
The
virus is normally carried by aquatic migratory birds, including
ducks and geese, that transverse the Asian Flyway, extending from
southern Indonesia all the way up into the Arctic Circle of Siberia.
The largest landmass on this migratory route is China, which has
really devastated its natural ecology. So the birds are unable
to find many pristine natural places to land as they make their
migration every year. They're landing on farms and getting into
fights with domestic animals over food and water.
The
ecology of this virus is very much about what's going on right
now in China. And then it's compounded by rising GDP growth, which
means that more Chinese people can now afford to eat protein on
a regular basis. So a family that just as recently as 10 years
ago would slaughter a chicken only on a special occasion can now
afford to have a chicken every week. And soon most Chinese may
be able to afford to have chicken or pork every day, just as we
can. And that is going to dramatically increase the number of
livestock being reared in China, with very dire potential outcomes.
So all of this means we're hastening the probability of the emergence
of a truly lethal flu strain.
Has
the appearance of avian flu led to changes in Chinese agricultural
practices?
China's
agricultural practices have not change appreciably in any of the
peasant areas. And, of course, the majority of China's population
is still peasant, even though the society is experiencing this
overall boomtown economy. Purchasing live chickens and other animals,
then taking them home and killing them is still very much a cultural
tradition that's deeply embedded across much of Asia, and not
just China. You can see it in Vietnam and all up the way up into
Singapore and all the way down towards parts of India. This is
about culture, and it will not change overnight.
You
were describing a process by which migratory ducks and geese have
been forced out of natural areas. Doesn't that make this a good
example of what is known as conservation medicine?
West
Nile virus, it's ecology, and how it was behaving in New York
in 1999 was understood by a very complicated host of medical professionals,
including veterinarians and people dealing in wildlife management.
But at that time we really had no respectful mutual lines of communication
between those protecting human health and those protecting animal
health and those dealing with ecology. And so vital clues that
might have slowed the spread of West Nile were overlooked because
people in the traditional public health community weren't listening
to veterinarians or people dealing with wildlife. We would hoped
that all of this would have been sewn up by now, but we still
see the same sort of snobbery and the same professional niche
way of thinking operating in infectious diseases all the time.
Even
now there's not a real smooth operating relationship between the
World Health Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health
and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. So those agencies
in the UN system that deal with animals and agricultural are not
as neatly plugged onto the World Health Organization, and vice
versa, as one would hope. And the same is true here in the U.S.
institutionally. Our U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department
of Health and Human Services are not exactly good bedfellows.
Agencies that traditionally deal with agriculture tend to have
as their mission statement the defense of the agricultural industry.
So they're very tied into the economic side of agriculture, whereas
health agencies tend to view that with suspicion, and to be tied
into a whole different kind of economy. So it creates a kind of
natural tension between these forces, and it filters all the way
down to the average doctor, the average veterinarian, the average
wildlife scientist or ecologist. So the bridges haven't been built
at the institutional level or at the personal level.
But
some organizations like the Wildlife Trust are trying to build
those bridges.
Well,
they can keep on trying (laughs).
Some
of our modern transportation systems also have helped spread disease.
I understand, for instance, that it would be very easy for a single
mosquito infected with West Nile to travel to Hawaii on board
one of the frequent flights.
Right after the World Trade Center attack, Hawaii was contending
with the fact that the country was in a panic about anthrax. Hawaii
was being deluged with claimed anthrax samples, and at the very
same time dengue hemorrhagic fever had arrived in the form of
mosquitoes that had hitchhiked their way from Asia into Hawaii.
And, of course, the latter was a much more serious problem for
the state of Hawaii, but its resources were sorely taxed at that
time. And so several people did end up getting dengue fever on
the island of Maui.
What
is the likelihood of mass human-to-human transmission of avian
flu?
If
we could say what the odds were, we could immediately advise policy
makers on what they ought to do. But we don't really know what
genetic change the virus has to undergo to become a rapid human
transmitter, and therefore we can't really tell how close it is.
It's not fully understood how the virus makes that change. It
may have at least three different ways of doing it--one of which
involves recombining in a host that's dually infected with a normal
human flu virus and then the H5N1. It may be that the H5N1 is
constantly undergoing mutation, and we certainly see that--it's
known as antigen drift--in flu viruses all the time. There may
be a third process that involves a more active genetic mechanism
inside mammalian cells--particularly in pigs--and so it's fairly
complicated.
The
actual biology is not well enough understood to be able to make
a prediction.
One aspect we don't really understand is this: If the virus makes
the genetic change to become human transmissible, does it give
up its virulence in the process? We hope so, but we don't know,
actually. So, there are many factors that play into trying to
map it out. Imagine if you had a supercomputer and you were trying
to do a future forecast about what might happen with this epidemic.
The number of input factors is just enormous and several of them
are unknown.
Do
you think the CDC is doing what it should be doing in terms of
preventative action?
I
think the CDC is doing a lot. But what I keep trying to get across
to people is that flu starts in Asia. We're a lot better off if
we can stop it in Asia than if we wait until it is here and try
to figure out some means to minimize the damage. And that means
a whole lot more multinational agreements, more working on the
international level, and this is difficult at a time when our
Congress is full of members saying really terrible things about
China all the time. It's China with whom we need to be collaborating
on this. And it's hard when you have some members of Congress
who still think of Vietnam as the enemy, as if we were still fighting
the Vietnam War. Vietnam is another crucial partner if we are
going to deal with flu at its source, rather than waiting.
In
a recent study published in Nature, a team at Oxford University
did a computer model just simply asking if it possible to stop
pandemic flu. And the good news is their answer is yes, it is
possible, but the bad news is only if you identify it when there
are only 30 human cases. Well, we're not going to spot those first
30 human cases before it spreads to hundreds or thousands of people
of people unless we have a much better infrastructure of public
health, vigilance and surveillance in poor countries like Vietnam,
Cambodia and Laos, and in countries with more money but completely
lacking in sophisticated public health infrastructure, like China.
Those
countries are not going to be able to make the necessary changes
overnight. They are going to require a lot of assistance, a lot
of expertise, a lot of money, a lot of support. Now, the CDC is
doing some of that, but we're not ramped up on an urgent basis.
We're still operating as if we have a lot of time, and we don't
know how much time we have.
Is
one of the problems that we're distracted by the war on terrorism
to the exclusion of everything else?
I
think that can be blamed for other things, but not for this. The
problem is that at a higher political level it has to do with
how our government perceives its role in the world and how it
deploys resources. We tend to prefer as Americans--and particularly
with this administration--to operate on a bilateral or unilateral
basis. We like to go it alone or we like to forge very intimate
alliances with particular countries we tend to get along with.
We're less happy working with big multinational mechanisms, with
the UN system, with other big umbrella organizations. We tend
not to give a lot of money to such organizations and we tend to
try to stay away from them. It's hard to work with partners that
come from different political systems and cultures. It takes a
lot of patience and it doesn't always work out the way you want
it to. But I don't think we have much choice in the context of
pandemic flu.
One
thing that is woefully lacking is really detail-level strategic
planning by communities and states--thinking about what we will
do. What if pandemic flu is in Oregon and I'm the governor of
California? Do I threaten to cut the border between Oregon and
California? We really haven't planned sufficiently, and some parts
of the country haven't done it at all for pandemic flu. Most political
leaders will do things that are ultimately destructive, but will
in the short term appear to be responsive. They have to do something,
so they will try quarantines and closed borders, they'll try slaughtering
millions of chickens or shutting down the whole poultry industry.
And in contrast, many of the hardball things that might make a
difference won't be thought of or addressed. You have to prepare
in advance and go through this thought process, so that a governor,
a state legislator, a state or city health commissioner, has some
kind of guide to work from. Fortunately, the CDC just released
in the last 30 days a detailed flu response cookbook, if you will,
for the federal level. But I still think we have a long way to
go.
Does
the threat of a pandemic also have military and strategic implications?
Yes.
In World War I, the 1918 flu drastically affected the conduct
of the war. At one point, the French army literally had no spare
soldiers to fight--everybody either had the flu or was tending
somebody with the flu. For the U.S., our shipments of soldiers
were literally death ships. By the time the ships had reached
their destinations, huge percentages of soldiers had died of the
flu onboard. We're involved in war in more than 60 countries right
now. We're involved in peacekeeping operations or direct warfare
and conflict all over the world. We have an enormously difficult
and very intense military situation in Iraq, one in which our
soldiers are hunkered down. They're often in gridlock positions,
not all that different from the situation in World War I. They're
fighting in very close contact with civilians and with the insurgents.
I think that there needs to be a whole lot more thinking and a
whole lot more planning about how we conduct our national security
operations in the context of pandemic virulent flu.
I
understand that malaria was a huge problem in the Pacific theater
during World War II. My grandfather came down with it on Guadacanal,
for instance.
In
World War II in the Pacific, DDT, antibiotics and chlorofin were
all introduced into military medicine for the first time.
CONTACT:
Laurie
Garrett
www.lauriegarrett.com
Laurie
Garrett's article in Foreign Affairs
http://www-dev.foreignaffairs.org/20050701faessay84401/laurie-garrett/the-next-pandemic.html
Wildlife
Trust
www.wildlifetrust.org
Copyright
© 2005 E - The Environmental Magazine, www.emagazine.com
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EARTH
TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Dear
EarthTalk: I've heard that, despite U.S. refusal to sign the Kyoto
Protocol climate agreement, a number of global warming reduction
efforts are underway nonetheless. What are some of them? --
Michaele Goodman, Port Chester, NY
Indeed,
the Kyoto Protocol--an international accord signed by 141 countries
agreeing to scale back carbon dioxide (CO2) and other "greenhouse"
gas emissions--has gone into effect now despite non-involvement
by the U.S., the world's largest polluter. But despite lack of
official participation, many carbon-saving programs are being
launched around the U.S., achieving real emission reductions while
saving money.
The
state of Wisconsin has undertaken numerous upgrades and retrofits
to water heaters, air conditioning, cleaning systems and lighting
in government buildings throughout the state. It retrofitted lighting
in 53 million square feet of office space and realized annual
savings of more than 15.6 million kilowatt hours (kWh), which
translates to 33,900 tons of CO2 emissions and $7.5 million saved.
The other building upgrades saved Wisconsin 108 million kWh and
more than 42,000 tons of CO2 and $11 million per year.
In
Iowa, a program that helps schools, hospitals and local governments
install energy improvements has saved more than $23 million yearly
on energy bills, and avoids the emission of 796,000 tons of carbon
and 360 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx) per year. In Missouri, the
Gas Recovery Project created a system enabling Pattonville High
School in Maryland Heights to burn methane from a landfill to
fuel its boilers. The project saves the school $40,000 per year,
and each year prevents the emission of 2,000 tons of CO2.
Seattle
is developing a public transportation network that includes free
downtown buses, a monorail, waterfront trolleys and the West Seattle
Water Taxi. The monorail system, known as the Green Line, is expected
to offer, by 2020, a car-free transportation choice to 20 million
riders per year. And San Francisco counts many climate-friendly
initiatives including light rail, ferries, buses and cable cars,
widespread use of solar arrays (the city recently put 60,000 feet
of solar panels on Moscone Convention Center), and agreements
by 273 regional employers to reduce pollution and increase energy
efficiency.
Portland,
Oregon began plying its CO2 reduction strategy a decade ago, and
now has one of the nation's best public transit systems. The city
also requires companies that offer employee parking to also subsidize
bus riders. Some other initiatives include: purchase of renewable
energy for over 10 percent of municipal electricity use; the planting
of 750,000 trees and shrubs to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere;
and the weatherization of nearly 11,000 single- and multi-family
homes. The city has also replaced all of its traditional traffic
lights with energy-efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs), at
a $500,000 annual savings.
New
York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof calls Portland a model city
for climate change reduction, rebutting claims that the Kyoto
accords would "wreck" the economy. "Portland, America's
environmental laboratory, has achieved stunning reductions in
carbon emissions," he wrote. "It has reduced emissions
below the level of 1990, the benchmark for the Kyoto accord, while
booming economically."
CONTACTS:
Kyoto Protocol, http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.html;
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/aw/air/ED/fallwin982.htm;
Portland Office of Sustainable Development, www.sustainableportland.org/.
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or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
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EARTH TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Dear
EarthTalk: I've heard that a number of fish commonly available
in seafood restaurants are now threatened with extinction. Is
this true? -- Glenn Hammond, San Francisco, CA
No
doubt the age of commercial/industrial fishing, which dawned in
the 1950s when large offshore trawlers and at-sea processing facilities
first plied the open ocean, has taken its toll on a number of
fish species. Atlantic Cod, for example, once teemed off the coast
of New England and sustained millions of settlers and then immigrants.
But populations have been reduced by more than 90 percent in the
last half century, and diners would be hard-pressed to find any
for sale at restaurants or fish markets these days.
Ocean
activists have been working hard to prevent another tragedy on
the scale of the Atlantic Cod, though several other endangered
fish species are still widely available throughout the U.S. and
elsewhere. Examples include shark, red snapper, bluefin tuna,
wild shrimp, wild caviar and orange roughy. Over-fishing, the
illegal trade, habitat loss and pollution have put these and many
other marine species at risk.
On
the bright side, some threatened populations are now on the rebound,
thanks to efforts to reduce consumption. Chilean Sea Bass, for
example, was all the rage at gourmet eateries in the 1990s. But
in just two decades, the average size of individual fish caught
dropped by more than 60 percent, meaning that fishermen were taking
all the adults, thus decimating their reproductive capacity. By
getting hundreds of restaurants to stop serving the trendy fish,
a coalition called the Seafood Choices Alliance (SCA) was able
to significantly reduce the strain on the species. Similar campaigns
are underway now to try to bring the Atlantic swordfish, shark
and bluefin tuna back from the brink.
SCA
also works to educate seafood wholesalers, chefs and consumers
about which types of fish consumers can indulge in guilt-free.
SCA lists 19 species on its SeaSense Safe List for 2005, including
abalone, Dungeness crab, northern pink shrimp, oysters and sablefish.
The organization also produces the "Sourcing Seafood"
handbook to help seafood buyers navigate the murky waters of purchasing
sustainably harvested seafood.
Meanwhile,
the Monterey Bay Aquarium's website features Seafood Watch, a
free series of guides to help consumers figure out which types
of fish are OK to eat. And the company EcoFish sells a wide range
of sustainably harvested seafood products to more than 1,000 grocery
and natural food stores and to over 150 restaurants nationwide.
Consumers can buy EcoFish products directly via the company's
website.
But
eater beware: Even if the fish on your plate is not threatened
with extinction, it might contain traces of mercury, the heavy
metal which is emitted from coal-burning power plants and has
been found to cause a wide variety of human health problems. As
a result of the threat, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), while acknowledging that fish provide one of the healthiest
sources of protein in our diets, recommends that pregnant women,
nursing mothers and young children limit their intake to two meals
per week of seafood such as shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon,
pollock and catfish.
CONTACTS:
Seafood Choices Alliance, www.seafoodchoices.org;
Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, www.montereybayaquarium.com/cr/seafoodwatch.asp,
EcoFish, www.ecofish.com,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), www.epa.gov.
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Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/,
or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
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EARTH
TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Dear
EarthTalk: When and How did Earth Day get started?
-- Laura Pfeiffer, N. Andover, MA
Senator
Gaylord Nelson--who just passed away in July--founded the first
Earth Day back in 1970 in order to celebrate and raise awareness
about protecting the planet. With rivers catching fire from the
dumping of combustible toxins, and cities buried under blankets
of auto exhaust smog, Americans were becoming concerned about
the state of their environment, but the politicians and media
weren't paying attention.
During
the early 1960s, while serving as Governor of Wisconsin, Nelson
began devoting a great deal of his time to lobbying Congress and
the White House to pay more attention to environmental issues.
In September 1963 he persuaded President John F. Kennedy to undertake
a five-day, 11-state speaking tour, focusing on the environment.
Despite Nelson's success in getting the ear of President Kennedy,
however, he was unable to drum up much political support or media
coverage for conservation.
Searching
for a way to put the environment in the spotlight, Nelson had
an epiphany while on a speaking tour in the summer of 1969: He
could borrow tactics used by the student demonstrators of the
day--who were busy organizing large "teach-ins" at campuses
around the country to protest the Viet Nam War--for his own cause,
the environment. A few months later Nelson, who by then had moved
from the Governor's mansion to the Senate floor, announced that
the first Earth Day would be held across the country the following
April, and began making preparations out of his Washington, DC
offices.
Within
a few months, the idea gained momentum and Nelson hired Harvard
Law student Denis Hayes and a team of impassioned young people--which
later evolved into the non-profit Earth Day Network--to coordinate
hundreds of events planned in local communities, schools and universities
around the country. The hard work paid off, and some 20 million
Americans participating in related events that first Earth Day,
April 22, 1970.
Thanks
to Nelson and other organizers, the environment had been put on
the map as an issue important to many Americans. Within four years,
Congress passed several landmark environmental laws--the National
Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered
Species Act--in response to public demand for cleaner lands and
safer air and water. Also in response, President Nixon created
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to oversee clean-ups
and enforce the new laws. Indeed, the birth of Earth Day signaled
the dawn of a new era of environmental responsibility within the
U.S. and beyond.
Since
the first Earth Day in 1970, millions of people have been coming
together every April 22 to hold rallies and festivals, coordinate
beach and park clean-ups, and educate their fellow citizens about
the importance of safeguarding the environment. Schools, from
elementary through college, have especially taken on Earth Day
as a traditional time of year to focus students' attention on
conservation and ecology.
CONTACTS:
Earth Day Network, www.earthday.net, EPA Earth Day Program,
www.epa.gov/earthday/.
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AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental
Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/,
or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
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EARTH TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Dear
EarthTalk: What are some of the trends in the construction
industry that seek to improve the environmental impacts of buildings?
-- Bianca Hoffman, Bridgeport, CT
Builders,
architects, environmental organizations and forward-thinking governments
around the world are working on a host of innovative ideas aimed
at greening the built environment--from giant factories and public
spaces to housing developments and single-family homes.
On
Earth Day last April, syndicated columnist Joan Lowy took the
opportunity to describe what she thought were the most important
environmental trends. Number two on her list (just behind cleaner
cars) was green building. Lowy pointed out that over 200 new commercial
and public structures built in the U.S. in the last five years
have met or exceeded rigorous standards for energy efficiency,
use of recycled materials, water conservation and other practices
set by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), an association
of building industry leaders that works to promote environmentally
responsible building.
"That's
217 million square feet, or five percent of the construction of
commercial buildings over the past five years," she wrote,
also noting that almost 10 percent of new homes in some of the
top housing markets now meet Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Energy Star standards for energy efficiency. (To earn an Energy
Star, a house must be 30 percent more energy-efficient than required
by regulation.)
Some
specific green building features include: water-saving "low-flow"
plumbing systems; "living" filter systems that use plants
and bacteria to break down waste; solar energy; recycled and non-toxic
materials (from paints to siding to insulation); efficient integration
of structures into natural landscapes; and innovative uses of
plants, including for roofing, to reduce water runoff, air pollution--and
energy bills.
Green
builders look to stack up to the LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) rating system, a science-based approach
developed by USGBC that emphasizes sustainable site development,
water and energy efficiency, wise materials selection and indoor
environmental quality. In San Jose, California, any new construction
over 10,000 square feet must be LEED certified. Mike Foster, Green
Coordinator for San Jose, reports that many of the city's public
projects now incorporate green features such as carpeting with
recycled content or paints with low levels of volatile organic
compounds (VOCs).
A
number of other cities, including San Francisco, Boston, Seattle
and Scottsdale, Arizona, are also leading the way in requiring
that new public buildings be green. In San Francisco, the greening
of such landmarks as the Academy of Sciences Building and the
Golden Gate Music Concourse have helped show what can be done.
And Boulder, Colorado has enacted a Green Points Building Program,
which requires builders to include certain sustainable elements
based on the structure's size.
"I
think what has happened is that we've changed people's attitudes,"
says Taryn Holowka, a spokesperson for the USGBC. "They realize
that a green building doesn't have to look like a space ship,
it doesn't have to cost more, and in the long run it actually
saves money."
CONTACTS:
U.S. Green Building Council, www.usgbc.org; Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Energy Star, www.energystar.gov;
Environmental Building News, www.buildinggreen.com.
GOT
AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental
Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/,
or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.
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EARTH
TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Dear
EarthTalk: Where can I find green-friendly office products and
back-to-school supplies?
--Taylor Howe, San Francisco, CA
Environmentally-friendly
school and office products have been available for decades from
specialty suppliers, but in recent years many recycled kinds of
papers, pens, pencils, ink toner cartridges, binders, folders
and desk accessories have become ubiquitous in mainstream office
supply stores.
Paper
use continues to be the largest source of waste generated by office
workers and students, and several paper manufacturers have risen
to the challenge of providing recycled and even "tree-free"
papers at competitive prices. New Leaf Everest, Badger Envirographic
and Eureka! 100 are some of the leaders in recycled paper, while
Dolphin Blue makes tree-free paper from recycled scraps of denim,
old money, and the plants hemp and kenaf. Buyers can order these
papers from online vendors including GreenLine Paper and Treecycle,
although office supply retail stores also now carry a wide array
of 100 percent post-consumer waste recycled papers.
Meanwhile,
materials such as biodegradable cornstarch and recycled plastic
and cardboard are starting to replace virgin plastic and vinyl
in pens, binders, notebooks, and in desk accessories like rulers,
pencil cases and staplers. Also, pencil manufacturers such as
Pentel, Autopoint and ForestChoice have gotten serious about crafting
their products from sustainably harvested timber and other green
materials, including old currency. Online vendors like Green Earth
Office Supply, the Recycled Office Products Company, Real Earth
Environmental Company and Mama's Earth stock these products. Meanwhile,
Discount Inkjet Printer Ink Cartridges sells a wide range of recycled
inkjet toner cartridges and ink refills compatible with all major
brands of copiers and computer printers.
Many
of these companies offer special price breaks for non-profits,
local government agencies, schools and universities and donate
a portion of proceeds to environmental non-profits. Consumers
shopping at these stores can rest assured that they are minimizing
their impact on the Earth while supporting small, innovative companies.
But those in need of a quick green fix might be surprised at how
good the selection is these days at places like Office Depot,
Staples and Office Max, too.
While
individuals often feel powerless to help solve the world's environmental
ills, they can make a difference through their consumer choices.
And buying only environmentally friendly office and school supplies
is a great place to start.
CONTACTS:
Green Earth Office Supply, store.yahoo.com/greenearthofficesupply;
Discount Inkjet Printer Ink Cartridges, www.discount-inks.com;
GreenLine Paper, www.greenlinepaper.com;
Treecycle, www.treecycle.com;
Recycled Office Products Company, www.recycledofficeproducts.com;
The Real Earth Inc., www.treeco.com;
Mama's Earth, www.mamasearth.com.
GOT
AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental
Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/,
or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.
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EARTH TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Dear
EarthTalk: What makes a city a "mega-city" and what
are the environmental implications?
--Eva Locke, Seattle, WA
Demographers
define "mega-cities" as sprawling, crowded urban centers
with populations topping 10 million. In 1995, 14 cities qualified
as mega-cities; analysts predict that by 2015 there will be 21.
The world's first mega-cities were in Latin America: Mexico City,
Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Buenos Aires. But in recent
years Asian countries--Japan, South Korea, China and India--have
grown the fastest. Today the five largest cities are Tokyo, Mexico
City, São Paulo, Mumbai (Bombay) and New York City.
The
rapid population growth of these cities is due primarily to intra-country
migrations as the rural poor move from the countryside to urban
areas in search of better lives. The result, unfortunately, is
often the proliferation of urban slums, increased crime, high
rates of unemployment--and profound environmental degradation
accompanied by serious health challenges for the majority of residents.
"By
2050, two-thirds of the world's population will live in urban
areas, imposing even more pressure on the space infrastructure
and resources of cities, leading to social disintegration and
horrific urban poverty," says Werner Fornos, president of
the Washington-based Population Institute. The rise of mega-cities,
agrees The Washington Post, "poses formidable challenges
in health care and the environment…the urban poor in developing
countries live in squalor unlike anything they left behind…"
According
to the World Resources Institute, "Millions of children living
in the world's largest cities…are exposed to life-threatening
air pollution two to eight times above the maximum tolerable level
[as established by World Health Organization guidelines]. Indeed,
more than 80 percent of all deaths in developing countries attributable
to air pollution-induced lung infections are among children under
five."
Worldwide,
over a billion people live without regular access to clean water.
Mega-city residents, crowded into unsanitary slums, also fall
victim to serious diseases. Lima, Peru (with population estimated
at 9.4 million by 2015) suffered a cholera outbreak in the early
1990s partly because, as The New York Times reported, "Rural
people new to Lima…live in houses without running water and
use the outhouses that dot the hillsides above." Consumption
of unsafe food and water subjects these people to regular and
life-threatening diarrhea and dehydration. "All the demographic
data point to the 21st century emerging as the urban century,"
says Deane Neubauer of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.
"But evidence also indicates that a vast portion of the new
'megacities'…will be infested by 19th-century-style poverty."
One
organization addressing the issue is the non-profit Mega-Cities
Project, based at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. The
organization has brought together a diverse international group
of community, government and business leaders to share ideas on
ways to make mega-cities more ecologically sustainable and economically
vital. Indeed, the fate of many of the world's poor rests with
such efforts to smooth the transition to a planet where 60 percent
of all people crowd into a few dozen sprawling metropolises.
CONTACTS:
Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, www.ycsg.yale.edu;
Mega-Cities Project, www.megacitiesproject.org.
GOT
AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental
Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/,
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EARTH
TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Dear
EarthTalk: What are the ramifications for wildlife of cross breeding
species and creating animals like the "zorse" (horse
and zebra mix) and the "beefalo" (cow and buffalo)?
-- Kiernan Warble, San Francisco, CA
In
1986, a 14-foot long male false killer whale and a 6-foot long
female Atlantic bottlenose dolphin at Honolulu's Sea Life Park
Hawaii became the proud parents of Kekaimalu, the first "wholphin"
ever born in captivity. In the 19 years since, Kekaimalu, with
a little help from male bottlenose dolphins, has given birth to
three wholphins herself, each one three-quarters dolphin and one-quarter
whale.
Though
rare, the interbreeding of different animal species does occur
in nature, even when unaided by humans. But mankind, in search
of marketable traits or the next big zoo attraction, has long
turned to controlled cross breeding. The mule (horse/donkey mix)
has been a beast of burden for centuries. The zorse, also bred
for its work endurance, has been around since the late 1800s.
Beefalo was introduced in the 1960s to increasingly health-conscious
American consumers to provide a heart-healthier alternative to
pure beef. And the Sierra Safari Zoo in Reno, Nevada, now entertains
visitors with a 1,200-pound "liger" hybrid. It has the
face and mane of his father, an African lion, and the body and
striping of his mother, a Bengal tiger. Says the zoo's website,
"He roars like a lion and swims like a tiger. He's definitely
all cat."
But
according to Science World magazine, such a pairing would probably
not occur in the real world: "If these ferocious cats met
in the jungle, a tiger would probably not choose to visit a pride
of lions; a raucous brawl--not romance--would be the more likely
result. But with little choice in captivity--like an open zoo--the
odd coupling may occur." Indeed, animals seldom interbreed
in the wild for one very important reason: Unlike the wolphins
at Hawaii's Sea Life Park, offspring are usually, like mules,
unable to reproduce.
Hybrid
species would likely have many other survival challenges as well,
even those, like beefalo, that can reproduce. Nature has evolved
a number of unique traits within individual species enabling them
to adapt to their unique climates, fight off particular predators
and diseases, and live off of their indigenous food supply. These
traits are passed on from generation to generation among naturally
occurring animals, but may not do so in hybrid creations.
Genetically
engineered animals also pose a number of potential ecological
threats, chief among them the decrease in genetic diversity that
has been the hallmark of evolution's march. One negative outcome
of too much genetic tampering could be greater vulnerability by
both animals and humans to new strains of infectious diseases.
Biotech animal hybrids can also wreak havoc on native wildlife.
A study conducted at Purdue University concluded that if 60 genetically
engineered salmon escaped into a native, natural population of
60,000, it would take only 40 generations for the wild salmon
to be completely wiped out.
"Species
are adapted to specific conditions," adds Susan Haig, who
has conducted hundreds of studies on wildlife hybridization in
her role as a wildlife ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
"So I think it's important to maintain the integrity of species."
CONTACTS:
Sea Life Park Hawaii, www.sealifeparkhawaii.com;
Sierra Safari Zoo, www.sierrasafarizoo.com;
U.S. Geological Survey's Haig Lab, fresc.usgs.gov/staff/haig.
GOT
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Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/,
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EARTH TALK
From the Editors of E/The
Environmental Magazine
Dear
EarthTalk: What are "Toad Tunnels?" --Peter Sterling,
Worcester, VT
A
group of conservation-minded Cornell University students invented
"toad tunnels" in 2003 to help amphibians better negotiate
a series of risky road crossings to springtime breeding ponds
in a nature reserve in upstate New York's Cornell Plantations.
The students knew that frog populations were already in steep
decline around the world for a variety of reasons, and they wanted
to help.
When
the students discovered that hundreds of toads, salamanders, newts
and turtles were dying on one particular road through the area
each spring evening, they hatched a plan. Working with a local
polymer company, they designed and installed a "drift fence"
to help guide the critters to previously existing culverts underneath
the road. The fences--dubbed "toad tunnels" by the students--even
curved over on top to prevent hopping creatures from turning back
and abandoning their important reproductive missions. After a
prototype test saved hundreds of amphibians one night at a particularly
difficult road crossing, the students raised $5,000 to install
toad tunnels at other key spots around the Cornell campus and
beyond.
Cornell's
toad tunnels are just one example of hundreds of innovative structures
designed to help wildlife make safe passage around, under or over
various kinds of man-made barriers. In Amherst, Massachusetts,
similar tunnels help salamanders reach breeding pools each spring--and
a "Watch Out for Salamanders" sign alerts drivers to
slow down in sensitive areas. And in Utah, fences channel deer
across busy state highways around Park City, with white stripes
on the roads serving as visual cues for the animals and to alert
drivers. Researchers estimate that road kill in the region has
dropped by 40 percent as a result.
Sadly,
roadways kill hundreds of millions of animals every year. With
highways already covering more than two percent of the land in
the contiguous 48 states expanding and increasing, wildlife populations
stand little chance of surviving the onslaught of automobiles
into their habitat.
From
the 1950s through the 1970s, the Human Society of the United States
sampled road kill data from across the country and estimated that
one million vertebrate animals--mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians--were
getting mortally familiar with the wrong end of a car bumper on
U.S. roads every single day. But according to surveys conducted
over the most recent decade, American motorists are only killing
500,000 vertebrate animals per day.
But
Mark Braunstein of the non-profit Animal Protection Institute
isn't sure if that trend means we've made progress or if animal
species have simply gotten scarcer. Still, others remain optimistic
that so-called "wildlife mitigation" efforts undertaken
in recent years have been paying off. In the old days, the construction
of interstate highways took precedence over environmental concerns.
But that notion may be falling by the wayside, as Congress last
year allocated a record $3 billion to fund toad tunnels and other
ambitious wildlife redirection efforts across the country.
CONTACT:
Cornell Plantations, www.plantations.cornell.edu;
Human Society of the United States, www.hsus.org;
Animal Protection Institute, www.api4animals.org.
GOT
AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental
Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/,
or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
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