Posted on 24-4-2003
Earth
Day 2003, Gone But Not Forgot
Activists: War Lets Bush Aim At Environment
By Debbie Gilbert, The Gainsville Times,Tuesday
23 April 2003
With the nation's attention still riveted on the war in Iraq,
most Americans probably aren't aware that today is Earth Day.
Some area environmentalists say the Bush administration has
taken advantage of the public's distraction, pushing through
an anti-environmental agenda without anyone noticing.
"Fear is a good tool," said Adele Kushner, president
of Alto-based Action for a Clean Environment. "You get
people worried about something else, and then they don't have
time to think about who's chopping all their trees down."
Brent Martin, director of Georgia ForestWatch in Ellijay, said
the administration is trying to weaken landmark federal statutes,
such as the Clean Air and Endangered Species acts, that have
been in place for decades.
"We've had major environmental rollbacks in the last 90
days, but they've managed to get all this stuff in under the
radar," he said. "Everything has been subsumed by
war coverage, and no one is listening."
In March, for example, the administration reversed a ban on
snowmobiles in national parks, called for legislation exempting
military installations from federal environmental laws, and
dropped Clinton-era rules that were set to take effect on cleaning
up impaired streams.
And this month, the Department of the Interior announced that
3 million acres of designated wilderness in Utah would lose
protected status.
"I think we're looking at an administration that's far
worse than the (former Interior Secretary James) Watt years
under Reagan," Martin said. "But they're subtle about
it. They take a logging plan and call it the Healthy Forests
Initiative. They take a plan that allows more air pollution
and call it the Clear Skies Initiative."
Kushner said she's frustrated by these euphemistic slogans.
"'Clear Skies' sounds good, but what it actually meant
was that enforcement (of air-quality rules) on coal-fired power
plants became voluntary," she said. "With good PR
and good speechwriters, you can make it sound pretty. But it's
a farce."
Bob Baschnagel, associate director of the Southern Appalachian
Forest Coalition, said the situation has turned out exactly
as he feared it would.
"When Bush took office, he placed former industry lobbyists
in environmental positions throughout his administration,"
he said. "He took a lot of heat for his environmental policies
at first. But after Sept. 11, that was all forgotten. The public's
attention span is not that long, and they have so many other
concerns now."
Foremost among these worries is the economy. In a March Gallup
poll, 47 percent of Americans said they think the environment
is getting worse, compared to 38 percent in 2002. Yet when asked,
'If the environment and economic growth conflict, which should
take priority?', respondents were much more likely to choose
growth than they were a year ago.
And not everyone is unhappy with Bush's policies. David Jarrard,
a sawmill owner in White County, would love to see wilderness
areas eliminated in the Chattahoochee National Forest.
"It would be so much better if they got rid of these restrictions,"
he said. "We can't even go in and get rid of the pine beetle
infestation."
Organizations that oppose the administration's policies have
little strength to fight back, as nonprofits have been hit hard
by the weak economy.
"Funding is tough," Kushner said. "Some foundations
have gone belly-up."
Baschnagel said longtime activists tell him they have never
seen a more gloomy situation. But they're determined to weather
the storm.
"The environmental movement is not going to go away,"
he said. "At some point, the Bush administration will slip
up and the pendulum will start to swing back. This too will
pass."
WASHINGTON, DC, April 22, 2003 (ENS) - The Earth
Day Network, coordinator of the 33rd annual Earth Day, is using
today's spotlight on the environment to inspire one million
new people to register to vote. "If you want to do one
thing for the environment, register to vote!" the organization
says on its website, which provides a page to download voter
registration forms.
The campaign information for the One Million New Voters campaign
was sent to all presidential hopefuls in early March, and the
campaign has been endorsed by Senator Joeseph Lieberman of Connecticut,
Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, Congressman Dennis Kuchinich
of Ohio, Congressman Richard Gephardt of Missouri, and former
Vermont Governor Howard Dean, all Democrats, and Senator John
McCain of Arizona, a Republican. President George W. Bush also
received the campaign materials, but he has not responded.
Theresa Thames, Earth Day Network director of diversity outreach
and new initiatives, who with Earth Day Network president Kathleen
Rogers created the One Million New Voters campaign, says the
goal is to get more people of diverse backgrounds involved with
environmental issues that affect them directly.
"When they started Earth Day in 1970, it was really a middle
class movement, said Thames today. The crowd got older and whiter
as the years have gone by. This campaign aims to really engage
youth and people of diverse backgrounds."
To encourage new voter registrations, the Earth Day Network
has formed partnerships with Project Vote, the Southwest Voter
Registration Project and the NAACP Voter Project organized by
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Thames says the campaign is not just to register people to vote,
but also to educate people, to reframe and repackage environmental
issues in terms that relate to their lives. Minority youth bear
the brunt of environmental contamination, suffering diseases
such as asthma and lead poisoning, Thames, said. They may never
visit the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but the Thames says
the Earth Day Network voter registration campaign can get them
interested in environmental issues in their own communities.
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) has its own Earth Day
voter registration page. "There are over 8.5 million environmentalists
in the U.S., more than the size of the Christian Coalition and
NRA combined! We have the strength and numbers to make our elected
officials in Washington pay attention - if we are organized
and if we vote!" the LCV says on its website.
LCV president Deb Callahan said today, "The next 559 days
- from Earth Day 2003 to Election Day 2004 - might turn out
to be the most important year and a half in American environmental
history. The next 559 days may spell the difference between
whether Earth Day in the future is an event to celebrate or
a day of disappointment."
"Americans have watched the Bush administration dismantle
environmental laws that have improved the health and security
of families for decades," Callahan said. Americans have
watched President Bush consistently place the desires of powerful
corporate interests ahead of the needs of regular people. And
Americans are not happy."
Americans who have complaints about Bush administration environmental
policies will have an Earth Day opportunity to get answers to
their questions tonight. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator
Christie Whitman will be in the hot seat this evening on "Ask
the White House," an online interactive forum that debuted
last week where citizens can submit questions to White House
officials. Questions will be accepted from 5 pm Eastern Time
at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ask
Interior Secretary Gale Norton visited the Kuenzler family farm
and wildlife habitat preserve in North Carolina for Earth Day.
Ed and Jutta Kuenzler bought a 154 acre property in Orange County
in 1965 and have since turned the whole farm into a conservation
easement. They have restored a degraded wetland and turned it
into a wildlife refuge for migratory birds, amphibians, reptiles
and native plants.
"The environmental challenges we face in the 21st century
are in many ways more subtle and more difficult than we have
faced in the past," Norton said. "They deal with managing
the increasing demands on the land and the conservation of our
resources - how do we meet the need to develop and expand our
economy while conserving our land and its rivers, lakes, forests,
and abundant wildlife?" For Norton, the answer lies in
"cooperative conservation." "We need to empower
Americans to become citizen-conservationists on their own land,"
she said. "The best thing federal and state governments
can do is to empower people like the Kuenzlers to take conservation
into their own hands."
Several agencies of the federal government are participating
in Earth Day this year. Find out more at: http://www.earthday.gov/
The energy company BP today inaugurated the largest solar field
on the East Coast in Paulsboro, New Jersey, to facilitate productive
reuse of a 130 acre former petroleum and specialty chemical
storage and distribution facility located east of Philadelphia
on the Delaware River. The solar field produces an estimated
350,000 kilowatt-hours a year, enough to power about 50 typical
homes. The power is generated by an array of 5,880 solar panels
and provides up to 30 percent of the energy needed for environmental
remediation equipment at the former terminal.
"This project takes land that has served it purpose for
heavy industry in the 20th century and provides an adaptive
reuse with 21st century technology, making clean electricity
without a smokestack," said Paulsboro Mayor John Burzichelli,
who also serves New Jersey as Assemblyman for the 3rd Legislative
District.
Several environmental organizations are using Earth Day 2003
to object to Bush administration environmental policies. U.S.
Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG) released a new report
today detailing how Bush administration has intensified its
attacks on environmental protections after the 2002 mid-term
election which gave Republicans the balance of power in Congress.
"Since the 2002 elections, the Bush administration has
worked behind closed doors with polluters to craft one proposal
after another to weaken environmental and public health protections,"
said U.S. PIRG Legislative Director Anna Aurilio. "This
Earth Day, we call on the Bush administration to listen to the
public, not the polluters, and to uphold, not uproot, America's
environmental laws."
As an example, USPIRG notes that earlier this month the Bush
administration announced that the Interior Department intends
to halt all reviews of public lands for new wilderness protection.
"This is a sweeping change in wilderness policy that will
leave millions of acres of pristine lands open to mining, drilling,
road building and other development," the organization
says.
In Berkeley, California, Environmentalists Against War, a coalition
of environmental organizations and individuals who came together
in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq, is encouraging environmental
groups to use Earth Day to talk about the environmental impacts
of war and what can be done to promote peace. "Now that
the war is winding down, it's important to focus on environmental
restoration in Iraq," said Peter Drekmeier, coordinator
of Environmentalists Against War and former executive director
of Earth Day Network. "The cleanup of depleted uranium
and the reconstruction of water and sewage treatment plants
should be a priority."
Former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley released the key findings of
a poll conducted by the American Zoo and Aquariums Association
(AZA) that shows children are keenly aware of the environmental
problems facing the planet, and believe they themselves are
a potent force for saving the Earth. AAZ's Opinion Poll attracted
60,000 respondents, 84 percent of whom were children. The children
said they want information and opportunities for action. They
want to know what they can do to help. They also want to know
who is helping, what is being done, what is working. Bradley
and AZA are making the full report available to leaders from
the public and private sectors at no charge.
Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich today signed into law a bill
that repeals the 300 year old Maryland prohibition on Sunday
hunting, drawing instand criticism from The Fund for Animals.
The bill was opposed by diverse constituencies including horseback
riders, hikers, campers, wildlife watchers, animal welfare advocates,
and religious groups.
It is ironic that Governor Ehrlich chose Earth Day to sign a
bill that threatens all the Maryland citizens who want to enjoy
nature and the outdoors on Sundays without fear of being shot,said
Michael Markarian, president of The Fund for Animals. It is
also ironic that during a budgetary crisis Governor Ehrlich
thinks it is appropriate to increase spending for recreational
hunting opportunities at the expense of public safety.It will
cost Maryland taxpayers nearly $50,000 each year for the Natural
Resources Police to enforce hunting regulations on Sundays.
Finally, former Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, founder of
Earth Day, said today, "The President must begin a national
dialogue on the issue of sustainability by beginning a tradition
of a biennial State of the Environment address. This biennial
message would be in addition to the traditional State of the
Union address. Congress must undertake a comprehensive series
of educational hearings on the concept and significance of sustainability."
"The public must encourage serious Presidential and congressional
attention to the issue of sustainability," Nelson said.
"The youth of America are also involved, making it clear
to the President and Congress that sustainability is essential
to the security of our nation."
The Earth Day Network lists many Earth Day events from now through
June online at: www.earthday.net
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