Document KGxGNEpXpORkqK0J63ZkEZpvK

Volum e IV, N u m b er 6 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1993 THIS ISSUE 18 Currents Fur Industry Fights to Survive Kenaf: Paper of the Future? - Crisis Forces Conservation in Cuba Eco-Architecture Conversations 44 E Notes Features 30 Are We Burying Ourselves in Junk Mail? It seems so simple to "Just Say No" to junk mail. Each of us receives 17 trees worth of unwanted mail each year, and together we add two million tons of it to our landfills and incinerators. But in our shop-at-home world, we rely on the stuff more than we realize. 14 Twenty Minutes With Carol Browner The administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency talks about life in the Clinton administration, pesticide reform, hazardous waste incinerators, shrinking budgets, citizen activism and her five-year-old son's taste for bananas. Interviewed by Will Nixon DEPARTMENTS 4 EWord 6 Advice and Dissent Letters From Our Readers 48 Food and Health Meatless Meat Goes Mainstream By Rosemarie Bria By Will Nixon 34 The Junk Mail Hall of Shame Some catalog and letter mailers engage in outright mailbox abuse. They arrive too often, waste too much paper, use crass sales gimmicks and poison political debates. And many can't even be recycled. 10 In Brief Toward Nuclear-Free Seas - Tigers on the Brink - The Green Wall of Russia - The Xerces Society EarthTime Curriculum - Florida Bay Woes 51 Environmentalist Clean and Green Laundering By Mark Harris 54 Reviews Rush Limbaugh and the Eco-Bashers Reviewed By Will Nixon By Will Nixon 38 The Magazine-Racket Newsstands everywhere are stuffed fat with magazines--far more than ever sell. Even at good newsstands, half of the magazines may be garbage-on-arrival, yet publishers, magazine distributors and retailers all profit from the system. By Diane Cyr 56 Holiday Green Marketplace 64 The Earth Exchange 68 Classifieds 72 Latitudes Good Science, Weird Reporting By Andre Carothers COVER: Photo by ELiine K. Osowski Section heading art by Enos E MAGAZINE la printed on recycled paper E MAGAZINE la Indexed la The Reader' Guide to Periodical Literature, the Alternative Preto Index, Environmental Periodical Bibliography, mad 01 In/otrac. If yoi have questions aboat roar sabecrlpdon or a problem with It, or seed to change your addrees, please write to: E MAGAZINE, Sobecrlptloa Department, P.O. Box 6M7, Syracaee, NT 13217. E MAGAZINE (ISSN 1048-8021) it published bimonthly by Eirth Action Network. Inc., a nonprofit, tax-exempt orgamxauon with office located at 28 Knight Street, Norwalk. CT08851: (203 ) 854-5559. Addreia for editorial, advertuing and newsstand inquiries PO Boi 5098. Westport, Ct. 08881. Second dasa postage paid at Norwalk. CT 08858 and at additional mailing office. Postmaster Send form 35/9 to E MAGAZINE Subscription Department, PO. Box 6887. Syracuse. NY 13217. Reproduction or use without written permission of editorial or pictorial content in any manner n prohibited Copyright 0 1993 by Earth Action Network. Inc. Subscriptions; 120 per year; 838 for two year* and 150 for three yean Canada and Mexico: 125/one year. 148/two yean. 885/three yean. Overseas: 130/one year. 158/two yean. 180/three yean. Payable in US currency only. E MAGAZINE aaaumet no retponubility for unsolicited materials. Manuscripts or artwork not accompanied by a itif- addreued, stamped envelope may not be returned. E MAGAZINE make every effort to eniure th at the products and services advertised in our page are consistent with the environmental ethic and vision we are trying to uphold and promote. Opinions expressed in the*e pages do not necesaaniy reflect the view of Eanh Action Network. Inc. 000069 DVICE & DISSENT f//J Letters From OurReaders M S CHLORINE KHIING WEGREAT 4 "i - . .. " g V How 'bout Life With Some Chlorine? In "Sunset for Chlorine" (July/August 1993 cover story), David Moberg writes LAKES? " " - - ' that polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or vinyl is "often easy to avoid" and advises: "Don't buy vinyl siding, gutters, window frames, pipe..." That's all very well for people who can afford expensive alternatives, but most .cannot afford brick, natural wood siding, or copper pipes. And these natural materials also have negative en vironmental impacts. Bricks are energyintensive to produce and transport and very labor-intensive to lay. And what of the copious amounts of cement needed in brick mortar? Terra cotta drain pipes are so plainly inferior-- being heavy, ag ile and difficult to joint-- that it's hard to imagine their revival, short of draconi an measures to ban PVC. Neither would environmentalists favor opening new clay pits to provide raw materials for more brick and terra cotta. Moberg concedes in a moment of hu mor that a little sodium chloride is good for you. His anti-PVC strictures also de serve to be treated with a generous dash of salt. ing much greater threats largely unad dressed. There is no more fundamental example of this than the billions we spend yearly digging up tons of slightly contaminated soil only to be burned, bur ied or treated someplace else. At some sites the work is urgent and the invest ment is worthwhile. But at most sites, is it necessary to spend $10 to $20 million an acre to "clean up" concentrations of toxic compounds that pose a risk so small it cannot be measured? In reporting as he does, Montague meets the expectations of an environ mental orthodoxy driven by the belief that more regulation is "good" environ mentalism, and that questioning the value of regulation is "anti-'environmental." By casting every chemical pollutant as a dire threat, Montague adds to the political rhetoric and popular belief on Peter Sam uel which the exorbitantly expensive waste Libertytoum, MD management regulations have been built. Toxic Controversies The denser the web of rules, the happier the industry is, because the price of dis Dr. Peter Montague's "Sign of the posal goes up. Times?" (.Forum, Juiy/August 1993) Near where I now live in northwestern is filled with supposition and conspiracMy ichigan, a Nevada company has pro theories that do your readers a disser posed building a huge incinerator to burn vice. garbage from the Midwest. That project In The Times series last March, we re is a direct result of regulations built on ported that the nation is wasting enor fear of groundwater contamination that mous sums of money battling environ has not been confirmed at most U.S. land- mental problems that pose small risks to nils. The regulations did almost nothing health and the environment, while leav to reduce the amount of trash people produced. They did, however, force the closure of existing city dumps and en couraged the construction of enormous landfills and incinerators in rural Amer ica,'far from the source of the garbage. Building that incinerator here would be an insult to people who live in this beau tiful area, and would permanently mar forests and farm fields now alive with flowers and wildlife. One panel report last year found that toxic waste regulations hindered the de velopment of old industrial sites in the state's impoverished urban centers. Em ployers were unwilling to pay millions of dollars to "clean up" sites with minute levels of toxic materials. Instead they built new plants on farm fields and in forests outside the cities. The result was spreading urban sprawl and an increase in air pollution from people driving to the new plants. In the meantime, inner cities crumble, along with the employ ment opportunities for men and women desperate for well-paid work. I am following the trail of new evi dence and new thinking about environ mentalism wherever it leads. Dr. Mon tague is afraid of that. But E Magazine doesn't have to be. KeithSchneider/National Correspondent The New York Times Dr. PeterMontague replies: Mr. Schneider's letter and recent report ing serve one main purpose: to convince readers that industrial poisons are safe and don't deserve cleanup. In co maga zine (June 1993), Schneider writes that the U.S. is wasting $140 billion each year to capture chemicals that don't need to be captured because, "According to fed eral health studies, the incidence of can cer in most age groups has been steady over the past two decades." Schneider has his facts wrong: During the'past 35 years, the incidence of all cancers has increased 42 percent. Toxic chemicals buried in the ground are potentially harmful. In a 1977 study of groundwater contamination by land fills, conducted by leading geohydrolo gists Geraghty and Miller, groundwater m We Welcome Your Letters Please type them double-spaced, and include your full name and address and a daytime phone number. E Magazine/ Advice and Dissent, PO. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881. 6 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1993 000070 % LETTERS____________________________ *' contamination by landfills was confirmed exceeds the forest's ability to provide in 43 out of 50 cases (86 percent). them sustainably? I doubt we'd say, "Sor The National Research Council con ry, we can't fill this demand." Histori cluded in a book-length study in 1991 cally, we've developed intensive and ex that "increased rates of birth defects, ploitative means to keep up with demand. spontaneous abortions, neurological im Finally, can we save anything by buy pairment and cancer have occurred in ing more? Consumerism is a major cause some residential populations exposed to of ecosystem destruction. It makes no hazardous wastes." sense to feed this addiction in the name "Following the trail of new thinking..."? of "green business." Bunk. My guess is Schneider will soon get offers to manage "environmental communications" for some big chemical company. Susan Meeker-Lowry Montpelier, VT Cutting Clearcuts Let Freedom Ring. Rethinking Rainforest Marketing Diane Jukofsks article, "Can Market ing Save the Rainforest?" (July/Au- Contrary to lumber industry propa ganda, the problems of Northwest lumberjacks and mill workers ("Talking When the President's plan to lift the About Trees," Currents, July/August 1993) gust 1993), did not address several keyhave been caused largely by lumber mis military ban on gays was ambushed in issues regarding the rainforest harvest. management. Given the loss of lumber These include the ethics of the market, its impacts on rainforest peoples, and con- jobs due to mechanized cutting, the wholesale export of raw logs and the tree Congress, our phone lines hummed. We're Working Assets Long Distance. . ! sumerism itself. In November 1992, Indian Unity, one of the oldest newspapers in South Amer decline caused by accelerated cutting, timbering will never again support gen eration upon generation of lumberjacks Unlike ordinary phone companies, we're not afraid to flex our fiber-optic muscles ica, reported: "The "rainforest harvest'... is weakening the international campaign despite much desire and sentiment to the contrary. Sadly, many who call them in support of our struggles for our rights. selves lumberjacks might as well call for good causes. Every month we print in our bills People think that by consuming some product they are guaranteeing our pro tection. Our communities'independence is also weakened as our well-being is themselves whalers or buffalo hunters. After all, free enterprise drove hump backs and bison to the verge of extinc tion, too. the names and phone numbers of key decision-makers on pending issues like gays in the military. Then we let customers made-dependent on western markets... selling products is meaningless if we our The solutions must include greater timber employment and reduced cutting call those decision-makers absolutelyfree. selves do not control the marketing pro jects and the natural resources, If we ourselves do not control our lands." Ever since studies proved that an in tact rainforest is economically more val uable than a cleared one, scientists and would-be entrepreneurs have been mak ing a bee-line for the forest, befriending indigenous peoples in the hopes of learn pressure: First, ban clearcutting on pub lic lands in favor of selective cutting de termined by government foresters. This would make mechanized cutting imprac tical, employ more lumberjacks and be kinder to the environment. Second, ban the export of logs over five inches in di ameter. This will force international tim ber buyers to purchase dimensional lum (Thousands do--and they get heard.) Of course; we also save you money on calls to ordinary folks. And we send money to feisty nonprofit action groups every time you calL.at no cost to you. (Since 1986 we've given ing the secrets of the forest and coming home to create "green^roducts and med ber, millwork and finished wood prod ucts, putting mills to work, bringing back icines to sell to guilty and concerned North Americans and Europeans. And while many are well-intentioned, others have dollar signs in their eyes. For me, the bottom line centers around the ques tions asked by Stephen Corry of Survival International: "Are we only going to save those wildernesses which can pay their way? Are we really only going to stand up for the dispossessed if they start produc ing something we want?" There is a fine line between sustain able extraction and exploitation. What if the bottom falls out and the market for jobs lost to foreign mills, and eventually improving our trade position due to the added value of manufactured goods. Third, phase in the use of recycled plas tic s for large-volume wood uses like gar den timbers and marine pilings. This will reduce cutting, create a demand for re cycled plastics and reduce exposure to chemical wood preservatives. Lacking the perspective of distance, the situation in the Northwest has be come a classical case of not being able to see the forest through the trees. Brazil nuts or oils no longer exists? Or if William T. Fidurski the demand for rainforest products far Clark, N J Q over $2 million to groups like the National Gay 8c Lesbian Task Force, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU.) So let freedom ring. It's as easy as talking on the telephone. And when you use our lines, it's free. Working A ssets Long Distance 1-800-CmffiN -OS 000071