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The Bulletins are a constantly updated source of information, mainly from newspapers,
about environmental and cultural developments around the planet.
The Bulletins have been going
since the summer of 2001. I posted a few pages of them and gradually amassed
a backlog of four cardboard boxes of clips and snippets, mainly from the
Montréal Gazette, but also from the New York Times and various magazines and
books. I didn't have time to get to them. In the summer of 2005, Sam Solomon,
soon to enter his last year at Bishop's College in the eastern townships,
came to the rescue, posting chronologically and by category maybe a
three-inch stack of them. Sam was the editor of the college paper, and since graduating has gone on to a career in
journalism. He is now the managing editor of The National Review of Medicine,
a Montreal-based on-line news magazine for Canadian doctors.
There still
remained approximately 45 inches to go. In March of the following year, 2006,
I addressed the Protected Areas course of Dr. Karen Richardson at the
geography department of McGill
University, and I must
have been in good form, because three of the students volunteered to further
whittle down the towering stack. Alexandra Rainsford,
an exchange student from Australia,
immediately tackled a telephone-book-thick pile of them, and was soon
followed by Erin Duggan, a senior from Massachusetts.
These brave girls were immersed in their respective heaps until the end of
May, when they departed into the "real" world, Alexandra to join
her boyfriend in Hong Kong and to look for work as a teacher, and Erin to
work for a mining monitoring N.G.O. in Fairbanks,
Alaska. That summer, Nina
Berryman took on the remainder. Nina was assisting a professor who was
measuring the biosphere/atmosphere interface-- the gases being emitted and
absorbed by a bog that had pitcher plants-- and was going to be looking for
an environmental job in the fall.
There were
still hundreds of bulletins to be redacted, and another box had accumulated
by the time I returned to Karen Richardson’s class in March of 2007. This
time five students volunteered as interns. Marylise
Lefèvre, a thirty-year-old French woman from a
small village in the Val d’Oise, near Paris, had a lot of
hand-on experience in field biology and was finally getting around to getting
her academic credentials. She had been an intern with the wildlife services
of Kenya and Uganda in wildlife management in their national parks, then
helped habituate mountain gorillas to tourists in Bwindi
Impenetrable Forest in Uganda’s southwest corner, then helped with the
release of captive-bred California condor chicks in Big Sur,
California, then helped reintroduce to the wild chimps that had been poached
from the wild. Many were destined for zoos or pets stores in the West and
were confiscated at the airport in Brazzaville,
the capital of the Republic
of Congo. Then she went
to the Morocco to set up the protocol for
releasing Houbara bustards, the species used for
falconry, at the desert ecology field station in Irashidia.
Then she went to the State University of New Paltz
and studied with the legendary bird of prey expert, Heinz Meng,
and from there she transferred to McGill. This summer, after handing in
her bulletins, she is tracking migratory Atlantic Salmon for the Atlantic
Salmon Federation on the Rivière Saint Jean, in
remote eastern Quebec.
She is catching salmon returning to spawn (see the Dispatch on the Caspedia River on the Gaspé Peninsula) and estimating their
numbers and implanting “acoustic tags,” computer chips that will enable their
movements at sea to be monitored. A prize catch herself, Marylise
hopes to return to the Dispatches in the fall. Some of her bulletins are in
French, gleaned from Le Monde and other sources.
Jennie Creed and Terri Alderfer also did superb
jobs redacting their stacks. Jennie is trying to land a job in conservation
in Africa, and Terri is interning at Philadelphia
style magazine and planning to be a journalist.
Then Emilie Doran tackled a bunch more. Emilie tells she is
“French-American, a ‘third-culture kid’ of sorts, having lived in Europe, the
Middle East, Canada, and Central America. I am a recent McGill graduate, I
hold a BA Hon in Latin American/Caribbean Studies, and I am
currently pursuing a Diploma in Environment, also from McGill University.
My interests include wildlife conservation, sustainable development,
music, volleyball, snorkeling, and backpacking/travelling
adventures.” Here is a photo of her – which there will hopefully be of all
our interns from now on.
At the end of each bulletin,
the source and date, if available, appears, along with the initials of its
redactor, i.e. ED for Erin Duggan, AR for Alexandra Rainsford,
SS for Sam Solomon, NB for Nina Berryman, ML for Marylise
Lefèvre, JC for Jennie Creed, TA for Terri Alderfer, EmD for Emilie Doran,
and AS for moi.
To the reader: you can scroll the categories, and do a search for the
ones you're interested in, or just start reading.
Format for Bulletins is as follows:
Bulletin text
Redactor’s initials
Source
CATEGORY and subcategories as
needed
Categories:
Addiction
Animal Awareness
Animal Behaviour
Arachnids
Archeology
Arctic
Bactericide
Biodiversity
Biodiversity Conservation
Birds
Biodiesel
Burkina Faso
Canada
Cannabis
Carbon Footprint
Congo
Connections and disparities
Consumerism
Consumption
Corporations
Crime
Cults
Cultural Diversity
David Suzuki
Deforestation
Diabetes
Disparities
Ecoterrorists
Ecotourism
Ecomartyrs
Energy
Environmental Awareness
Ethnic conflict
Evolution
Extinction
Fiction
Fish
Food for thought/Musings
Foundations and Grants
Gender
Geology
Globalization
Global warming
Gore, Al
Human Personalities
Human Rights
Health
Hydroelectricity
Immigrants
Infectious diseases
Insects
Kinship
Languages
Literacy
Literature
Lives of the naturalists
Mammals
Media
Mineral Consumerism
Mining
Modern grid
Modern culture
Mushrooms
Music
Nature
Neuroscience
Nutrition
Oceans
Oil
Ozone
Paleoanthopology
Paleontology
Paper Industry
Pesticides
Poaching
Pollution
Pope
Population
Quebec
Religion
Rainforest
Sexual Slavery
Slavery
Somalia
Solutions
Survival tips for the traveler
Tourism
Traditional Culture
Traditional People
Trees
Uganda
USA
Waste
Water
Women's Rights
Addiction
China opened a clinic for
internet addiction in Beijing.
One psychiatrist there estimates that “up to 2.5 million Chinese suffer from
internet addiction,” but one Renmin
University (Beijing) professor claims that those people
had addictive personalities and thus would otherwise have been addicted to
something else if they had not become addicted to the internet.
SS
Audra Ang, Associated Press – July 4, 2005
ADDICTION
Modern Culture
Internet
The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry published a report revealing details
about internet addiction, its causes, and its consequences. The internet may
serve as a “tonic for people with inner conflicts …[and]
psychological distress rooted in their personality.” Some significant
consequence of internet addiction appears to be a worsening of social
relationships, and greater rates of “paranoia, depression, irritability,
impulsiveness, anxiety, phobias,” and more.
SS
Ian MacLeod, Canwest – June 15, 2005
ADDICTION
Modern Culture
Internet
Researchers have developed a possible agent to block addictions to drugs
such as nicotine and marijuana: a synthetic peptide that interacts with the
receptors that excite the cells responsible for signaling pleasure. The
effects have only been tested on rats thus far and researchers are concerned
that the peptide could block natural highs as well. No side effects
have been noted yet.
ED
Janet French, The Gazette, Montreal.
ADDICTION – cannabis, tobacco
Animal Awareness
Philosophers and biologists share views on the origins of morality. Humans
inherited their moral rules from social animals like monkeys. More
controversially, these moral rules have had to be shaped by emotional
patterns also visible in non-human primates. For instance, consolation (which
requires empathy) is a common trait of great apes and humans but is absent in
monkeys. Social animals practice a certain social order with rules in which hostilities
within the group is managed to keep the community stronger when facing danger
or attacks by other groups. These traits are the common precursors of human
moralities.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – j10 –24 March 2007 – Nicholas Wade
ANIMAL AWARENESS
Animal Behaviour
Contrary to the popular belief that a genetic bound links moms to their
offspring, the reality is not so evident in the natural world. A mom will
defend her kids to death, yes-- but not all of
her kids. It has been observed in pandas, emperor penguins, hens and eagles:
mothers often give birth to two but she really meant to spend the energy on
one, the other is a spare just in case something bad happens to the ‘chosen
one’.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – j10 –13 May 2006 – Natalie Angier
ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR
Parenting
Arachnids
Males and females jumping spiders need UV light to be “turned on,” according
to a study published in Science. UV lights make the markings on the spider’s
body glow, which stimulates courtship.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A20 – 26 January 2007
ARACHNIDS
Archaeology
Radiocarbon dating suggests that the dispersal of modern Homo Sapiens was
more rapid than previously thought. This means that there was less
contact with Neanderthals, about 6,000 years. These changes in theory
can lead to a breakthrough in our understanding of this time period in
prehistory.
ED
John Nobel Wilford, The Gazette, Montreal, February 23, 2006, p. A4
ARCHAEOLOGY – Paleontology
The oldest moccasin to date was found in a forested area inhabited by the Athapaskan people. It is from circa AD 560.
Most clothing and footwear discovered are not more than a couple centuries
old.
ED
Tom Spears, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 22, 2006 – p. A9
ARCHAEOLOGY – Athabaskans
A Vancouver Island sea cave may support a new theory of human migration to
the Americas.
Discoveries of an ancient mountain goat’s bones inside the raised sea cave
have added weight to the theory that the first human migration to the Americas happened
more than 16,000 years ago, at least 40 centuries earlier than most textbooks
teach. Researcher Majid Al-Suwaidi says that until you actually find your arrowhead
or human skull, there’s always going to be people who say you aren’t proving
anything. You’re just showing that the environment was OK, but that
doesn’t mean humans traveled down there.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
October 17, 2003
Randy Boswell
ARCHAEOLOGY
Paleo Migration
During the 1991 Gulf War, U.S.
bombs destroyed or damaged some of the 10,000 archeological sites throughout Iraq. U.S. and
Iraqi archeologists are concerned that another assault will ruin yet more of
humanity’s treasures. Archaeological sites are scattered throughout Iraq, many
unmarked or unexcavated.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
January 27, 2003
Elizabeth Neuffer
ARCHAEOLOGY
Destruction of cultural heritage
A Russian discovery of a 30,000 year old encampment in Siberia
is being hailed as ironclad proof Stone Age humans were living in Arctic
environments at least 10,000 years earlier than previously believed.
The latest evidence seriously bolsters the case humans crossed the Bering
land bridge, which once connected Asia and North America,
well before the end of the last ice age.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
Randy Boswell, Canwest News Service
ARCHAEOLOGY
Paleo Migration
The remains of those taken from the northern end of the Queen Charlotte
Islands, native peoples known as Haida Gwaii, were reburied in Old Massett
on Graham Island. The repatriation brings
to an end, almost, an eight-year campaign by the Haida
to have their ancestors brought home. The bones had spent 100
years packed away in the Field Museum of Natural History, where they were
taken after anthropologists scooped them up many years ago.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
ARCHAEOLOGY
Native People
A Toronto architect has found distinctly
man made structures in Nova Scotia
that archeologists world wide are agreeing could be
an ancient Chinese fortress.
ED
Randy Boswell, The Gazette, Montreal,
p. A14
ARCHAEOLOGY
Arctic
A warming Arctic Ocean and melting polar ice caps are
changing the conditions in Inuit lands. These delicate and interconnected
ecosystems of the Arctic are showing signs
of unbalance. Sea ice is becoming dangerously thin, and migration patterns
are changing, introducing never-before seen creatures in the north, such as
dolphins, finches, and robins.
EmD
The Gazette. Beth Duff-Brown (Associated Press). April 16,
2007.
ARCTIC
Global Warming
90 percent of lead accumulated in Devon Island
snow and ice in the past decade was generated by human activities. This
pristine Arctic island is subjected to a massive lead burden, a potent
neurotoxin. This shows that lead contamination is not yet over.
ED
Margaret Munro, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 6, 2006 – p. A11
ARCTIC – air pollution
Lead
A federal permafrost specialist says methane, one of the most potent gases
associated with global warming, is bubbling out of mud volcanoes on the floor
of the Beaufort Sea. Scientists do not
know how much is being released, if the rate of release is increasing, or
what the impact will be on the atmosphere. Polar ice has been shrinking
at a rate of about 74,000 square kilometers annually for the past 30 years,
and Arctic ice is withdrawing so fast that some scientists predict that by
2050 it may be non-existent in summer. There is little anyone can do
for the animals and other life forms that will be stranded as Arctic
temperatures climb.
TA
Margaret Munro, Canwest News Service, The Gazette, Montreal, March 8, 2006
ARCTIC – Global Warming
A University
of Calgary geology
professor discovered a sulphur-spewing spring in
the High Arctic. The secrets to its existence could help scientists
searching for proof of life on other planets because there is life within the
ice and beneath the ice, which could lead to uncovering what rests below the
ice-covered surface of Jupiter’s second moon, Europa.
TA
Renata D’Aliesio, Canwest News Service, The Gazette, Montreal, June 14, 2006
ARCTIC – Extraterrestrial Life
Bactericide
Triclocarbon is an antibacterial compound that
has been used in soaps and cosmetics for years. Half a million kilograms of
it are produced each year. John Hopkins scientists have detected it in sludge
at a wastewater treatment plant. This sludge is often spread on agricultural
land and Triclocarban might persist in the soil and
accumulate in crops. Little is known about its effects but it is
inadvertently being spread on fields and no one knows the impacts it might
have.
JC
The Montreal
Gazette, May 27, 2006
BACTERICIDE
Waste
Biodiesel
If Quebec Environment Minister Thomas Muclair has
his way, Montreal city buses will be running in 2004 on an environmentally
friendly mixture of conventional diesel fuel and biodiesel
made of vegetable oil, recycled cooking oil and animal fat. MTC buses
do not have to be adjusted in any way to burn biodiesel.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
May 28, 2003
Levon Sevunts
BIODIESEL
The sustainability of EU green fuel targets has been
called into question. The EU agreement to use 10% biofuel
for transport by 2020, which aims to cut CO2 emissions, may have the
unintended consequences of accelerating rainforest destruction in South East Asia. Plant-based fuel use is expected to
increase by at least 10 times before 2010, increasing pressure on tropical
forests and peat lands.
EmD
The Gazette. Bruno Waterfield (London Daily Telegraph).
April 27, 2007. A3.
BIODIESEL
Rainforests
Biodiversity
Israeli scientists have discovered an ancient ecosystem containing eight
previously unknown species in a lake inside a cave near the city of Ramallah,
where they were sheltered from the outside world for millions of years.
The species discovered were of the crustacean and invertebrate variety and
were found 100 metres below ground in a limestone
quarry, where some similar to scorpions and shrimp inhabit an underground
lake. Unlike most animals, the newly discovered species live in a
small, independent, self-sustaining ecosystem.
TA
Aron Heller, Associated Press, The Gazette, Montreal, June 2, 2006
BIODIVERSITY – New Species
A new species thought to have vanished 60 million years ago was found 400
meters below in the Coral Sea off the Chesterfield
Island, near New Caledonia. This living fossil is 12 cm
long and is half shrimp half lobster with big eyes.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – 20 May 2006
BIODIVERSITY
New species
Picobiliphyte. That’s the name of a new species
of algae discovered in the Arctic and Atlantic
Oceans and Greenland
Sea. Located at the bottom of the food chain, this new species
may be crucial for supporting life in the Arctic.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A9 –12 January 2007 – Charlie Fidelman
BIODIVERSITY
New species
Oceans
While researching the scalloped hammerhead shark, scientists discovered a
new species of shark. Referred to as the “cryptic species,” it is
only different from the scalloped hammerhead at the mitochondrial DNA
level. The new species is believed to be at risk of extinction as it is
only known to exist off the coast of South
Carolina.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
June 17, 2006, p. J11
BIODIVERSITY
New Species
Sharks
The WWF states that the Bluefin tuna is at risk
of extinction and calls for a ban on all catches of the fish. According
to WWF, catches are 40% larger than the legal quota, and fishing has expanded
to the western Mediterranean, which is one
of the last breeding areas for the species.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
July 5, 2006, p. A15
BIODIVERSITY
Extinction
Marine Life
Tuna Fish
The Mekong River
in Laos
has recently become more popular with foreign tourists. Kayaking down
the river reveals temples in an ancient town. Previously the area has
been difficult to travel to as a result of Chinese authorities. Such
areas are threatened by the construction of future damns upriver.
Unlike other touristic areas, the Mekong
has working markets that are not just tourist traps. The Mekong historically has evaded colonists’ attempts of
commercialization, but some people are worried today, especially as development upriver seem to be affected local species
diversity.
NB
Joshua Kurlantzick, The Gazette, Montreal, April 18, 2006, p. K1
BIODIVERSITY
Scientists discovered an untouched paradise full of previously undocumented
species in one of Indonesia’s most remote provinces. They saw mammals
hunted to near extinction, and new species of flora and fauna. The area
is protected because of small population in the area, national fighting, and
its remote access.
ED
Robin McDowell, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 8, 2006 – p. A19
BIODIVERSITY – New species
The snakehead fish, an introduced invader from Asia, has reappeared in Maryland. The
fish hasn’t been seen in the area since 2002 when the state of Maryland had to poison
a pond in Crofton to prevent snakeheads from wriggling away. The fish
has been known to breathe out of water and scoot short distances over
land. Authorities will drain the five-acre lake to ensure no more
snakeheads are there. Native fish will be captured first and
reintroduced when the lake fills again. Experts say that if released
into a pond, the snakehead instantly becomes the top of the food chain and
can clean out a pond of native fish.
AR
David. A. Farenthold, The Gazette, Montreal, April 29 2004
BIODIVERSITY
Introduced Species
A new species of whale has been discovered, as long a
s a city bus in the Indian Ocean and Sea Of Japan.
Caught by whalers off the coast, the skeleton, blubber and various organs
were sent to biologist Tadasu Yamada at the
national Science museum in Tokyo
for analysis. Caught years ago, the cadavers have been examined by
scientists and have now gone public with the assertion that this is a whole
new species of whale. Estimates of the number of the
Earth’s species yet to be discovered vary widely but are all high.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
November 20, 2003
Tom Spears, Canwest News Service
BIODIVERSITY
New Species
Whales
Japanese scientists say a new species of whale is found, called Balenoptera omurai. The
scientists said the whale differed from other species in a jawbone, DNA and
baleen.
Japan
conducts research whaling, and the new findings result partly from that
pursuit.
AR
The New York Times, November 20, 2003.
James Gorman
BIODIVERSITY
New Species
Whale
McGill University PhD student Sara Lourie found
a new species of seahorse in the deep waters of the Flores
Sea off Indonesia. As
one of the world’s leading seahorse experts, Laurie proclaimed it the world’s
33rd species of seahorse, in an article published in the Taiwanese journal
Zoological Studies.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
May 10, 2003
John Mackie, Canwest News Service
BIODIVERSITY
New Species
Coral Reefs
The state of Maryland
has declared victory over its war on snakeheads. After a final round of
tests this month at a rural Maryland pond
found no trace of the fish, the Maryland
wildlife officials said they plan to ask the state to tighten standards and
scrutiny of snakeheads and other predators.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal
BIODIVERSITY
Introduced Species
Hunters journey to Kyrgyztan to pursue rare
mountain goats and so-called Marco Polo sheep, along with Siberian antelope,
wolves and pheasants
AR
(No date, author or source)
Hunting
BIODIVERSITY
Biodiversity Conservation
Conservationists are designing wildlife corridors in the Rockies
that allow animals to roam and reproduce. A highway running through Banff National Park and its associated
development could prove to be an environmental disaster. Zoologist Paul Paquet doesn’t want to remove the roads but to mitigate
their effects. He wants to create a sustainable environment from the Yukon to Yellowstone
Park (Y2Y). Participants of the Y2Y designed overpasses and underpasses to
help animals cross the roads safely. They are trying to achieve the goal of
functional connectivity between wildlife habitats.
JC
Cornelia Dean, The Montreal
Gazette, May 27, 2006
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Wildlife Corridors
Maasai tribesmen have gained access to Amboseli
National Park to
provide their cattle grazing land and water. These domesticated animals
will now compete with the mega-fauna the park currently aims to
protect. Ongoing droughts already force wildlife into human settlements
in search of water, creating conflict. Allowing the Maasai
into the area could exacerbate tensions.
ED
Rodrique Ngowi, The
Gazette, Montreal,
February 15, 2006 – p. A16
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION – protected areas
Maasai
Number of Spiny Softshell Turtles remaining in Quebec: less than 100.
Number of acres of Spiny Softshell Turtle habitat
protected by NCC-Quebec: 400. Number of baby turtles successfully
hatched through recovery program in 2003: 56.
SS
The Globe & Mail, Toronto
– June 24, 2005
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Reptiles and amphibians
Endangered species
Percentage of Canada’s tall grass prairie remaining today: less than 0.5%.
Number of plant and animal species found in the tall grass prairie: more than
50%.
Number of acres of the tall grass prairie protected by NCC and partners:
15,000
SS
The Globe & Mail, Toronto
– June 24, 2005
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Percentage of Canada’s threatened and endangered species found in
“Carolinian Canada,” in
the far south of Ontario:
33%. Number of species lost from this area since European
settlement: more than 45. Number of acres protected in this area by NCC: more
than 15,000.
SS
The Globe & Mail, Toronto
– June 24, 2005
BIODIVERSTIY CONSERVATION
Endangered species
Three rare pygmy elephants were decapitated in Malaysia in a seven-month
period. Herds of the elephants, whose habitat is being destroyed by
commercial farming, are sometimes responsible for destroying crops. The
killers face five years in jail and a fine, under wildlife protection
laws. The pygmy elephant lives only in the rainforests of Borneo Island.
SS
Associated Press, reproduced in The Gazette, Montreal - June 12, 2005
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Endangered species
Agreement on protecting the Giant Sequoia National Monument in California has been
reached, but just how to do this is an ongoing question. The national
forest is home to a wide array of plant life and rare animal species.
Art Gaffrey is the supervisor of the 1.2 million
acres forest and his goal is to return the forest to something resembling its
condition before loggers and ranchers denuded much of the area, beginning in
the mid-19th century. Plans to have prescribed burns to remove
underbrush, small trees and downed logs that feed forest fires, are
accompanied by plans to permit the cutting of trees up to 30 inches in
diameter, to allow more light to reach the forest floor and provide breaks to
slow fires. Environmentalist groups oppose the removal of any trees,
maintaining that controlled fires, not logging, is the soundest and most
natural way to reclaim the forest.
AR
The New York Times, June 11, 2003.
John M. Broder
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Forest Conservation
Sequoias
A global crisis meeting to save the great apes from extinction opens in Paris this week as conservationists warm that gorillas,
chimpanzees and orangutans are disappearing even from two dozen protected
areas in Africa and southeast Asia.
The gathering will see the United Nations launch a $25 million appeal, their
biggest ever to save the great apes, which
will be used to implement the Great Apes Survival Project in 23 countries
where apes survive. Under the greatest threat are orangutans of Sumatra
and Borneo. Their untouched habitat
will shrink by 99 percent by 2030 at the current pace of human expansion,
experts say.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal
Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Primates
Scientists have for the first time created a healthy clone of an
endangered species, offering powerful evidence that cloning technology can
play a role in preserving and even reconstituting threatened and endangered
species. The clone, a cattle-like creature known as a Javan banteng, native to Asian
jungles was grown from a single skin cell taken from a captive banteng before it died in 1980.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
Rick Weiss
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Genetic Engineering
Cloning
London’s Darwin Centre houses a collection of over 22 million creatures
from all over the world. Rich in historical material dating back to the
15th century, it contains Darwin’s collection as well as others such as Carl
Linnaeus, Sir Charles Lyell, Alfred Russel Wallace and Captain James Cook. The
so-called ‘Spirit Collection’ houses samples of all these creatures so that
scientists can classify them and understand evolutionary relationships among
them. The centre opened as part of a long term plan to make Natural
History Museum’s entire collection of over 70 million species accessible to
the public
AR
Bijal. P. Trivedi.
National Geographic
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Inventory of Species
Thousands of tadpoles raised in the Toronto Zoo
and other faraway locations have been released in Puerto Rico in hopes of
saving a critically endangered species of toad unique to the Caribbean island. Their new home is a man-made
pond in a forest on the island’s south coast where the only known wild colony
of 300 to 400 toads remains.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Amphibians
Puerto Rico
Birds
In an effort to reconnect with their ancestors, Kazakh hunters gather in
the shadow of the Tien Shan
mountains each year for the winter hunt. A fox is released from a
wooden crate in the valley, is spotted, and the hunters huddled on a hill
release the golden eagles they have been holding on their leather-gloved
forearms. The eagles chase the animals, and eventually most foxes are
hunted down and killed. Kazakhs say the eagle is a symbol of statehood
and independence and are happy to know that this rare bird has survived
millennia.
TA
Maria Golovnina, Reuters, The Gazette, Montreal, March 19,
2006, p. A11
BIRDS – Eagles
There is indeed an advantage in having a bigger brain. Scientists Louis
Lefebvre and Daniel Sol studied 236 birds for which they measured of body
mass, mortality rates and brain size. They found that birds with bigger
brains have greater survival chances. Interestingly, big brains cost a lot in
evolutionary terms because they take longer to develop and only allow shorter
reproducing times compared with those of smaller birdbrains. The advantage
though, is greater adaptability to a changing environment. At the top are corvids and parrots, the smartest birds in the class,
while pheasants and pigeons score the lowest in brain size proportionately to
their body. Now researchers need to find what advantage there is in having
smaller brains. There must be one, otherwise only
big brains would be present on earth.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A6 – 22 January 2007 – Kazi
Stastna
BIRDS
From 15 individuals left in 1938, whooping cranes are now numbering 237 in
their wintering grounds of Texas Costal Bend. This recovery success is due to
legislation measures and public education.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A3 – 6 January 2007 – Lynn Brezosky
BIRDS
Conservation
Bird feeders are helping whole bird communities to survive winter and
birdwatchers are helping scientists to notice changes in bird
populations. Nearly 2,000 Canadians take part in the feeder watch
program over the winter. Their observations contributed to document bird
range expansion as a result of global warming.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A3 –29 January 2007 – Cheryl Cornacchia
BIRDS
Global warming
The Royal Ontario
Museum put on a display of over 2000
birds that have died as a result of lights left on in Toronto city buildings. Birds are
attracted to the lights inside the buildings and either die of exhaustion
from circling them, or simply crash into them. The display included 89
species, some of which are threatened. Fatal Light Awareness Program
(FLAP) is a group of volunteers who have collected over 32,000 dead or
injured birds in Toronto
since 1993. The group estimates between 940,000 and 9.4 million birds
die every year from flying into buildings. These numbers could easily
be reduced if lights were turned off at night.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
Thursday, March 9, 2006
Tara Brautigam
BIRDS
Brazil
has 228 species of birds that do not live in any other country, the highest
record world wide. Brazil
has 1,752 species, which is the third largest number of any country.
120 of these species are threatened with extinction. According to
Brazilian Veja magazine, the number of bird
watchers in the US has
grown 150% in the last 10 years, and tourism continues to grow in Brazil.
NB
December 2005/January 2006
BIRDS
Canus, the 39 year old whooping crane who died
last year, is returning home to Fort
Smith, N.W. T. Canus,
named after the two countries, Canada
and the Unites States, is regarded by scientists and
environmentalists on both sides of the border as a symbol of international
co-operation on conservation. Canus is
responsible for the production of many offspring, and was involved in a
captive breeding program which has now produced over 180 of the rare bird
species.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
April 15, 2004
Ed Struzik
BIRDS
Cranes
Moves to protect Canada’s vast boreal forests will be the topic of
discussion at the 12th World Forestry Congress. Conservationists hope
to reach agreement with industry on how to set aside some parts of the forest
and agree on management policies for other areas. Threats to Canada’s
boreal forest come from mining, logging and farming. The 2 million
square miles of woodland and wetland are home to many species of birds and
animals, not
AR
The New York Times, September 23, 2003
James Gorman
BIRDS
A tug of war is going on over the final resting place of a 39 year-old
whooping crane between the United States
and Canada.
When he was just a few months old the injured crane, Canus,
was rescued by two Canadian Wildlife Service scientists. At that
time just 42 whooping cranes like him were left in the world. Described
as a remarkable bird by both countries, Canus sired, grandsired and
great-grandsired 186 whooping cranes.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
February 10, 2003
BIRDS
Cranes
Peter Matthiessen’s book, The Birds of Heaven,
tells of his journeys to five continents in search of the planet’s 15 species
of cranes, 11 of them endangered.
AR
New York Times, Book Review. April 20
BIRDS
Cranes
The loon has changed very little from hespoeronis,
“an aquatic bird that existed 100 million years ago,” according to The Spokseman Review (Spokane,
Washington).
SS
Michael Kesterton, The Globe & Mail, Toronto
BIRDS
An international tussle over the carcass of a legendary whooping crane
that helped bring the endangered species back from the brink of extinction
has ended with a decision to send it home to Canada. Canus,
the 39 year old crane will be in a tiny museum in the North West Territories
not far from where he was born. Canus
produced 186 descendants. The agreement made in 1993 by the
International Whooping Crane Recovery team gave the museum the rights to
bring him home after he died.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal
Canwest News Service
BIRDS
Cranes
United States
authorities want to give individual states more flexibility in dealing with
Canadian geese. The bottom line is to reduce their numbers by a third
over the next 10 years. The populations of resident geese have been
climbing four to six percent per year. To cull their numbers by up to
800,000 birds a year will mean everything from gassing, poisoning and
shooting to shaking eggs and destroying nests.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal
BIRDS
Canadian Geese
Research into chickadee flocks shows that they have developed a complex
social hierarchy, which tend to be made up of mated pairs and having a
dominant male.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal
BIRDS
Chickadees
Huge flightless birds living in the rain forests of New Guinea
emit a penetrating, booming noise at a lower frequency than any other bird,
so low humans at times cannot hear it say researchers at the New York-based
Wildlife Conservation Society. The New Guinea cassowaries can grow
to 1.5 meters tall and weigh as much as 57 kilograms.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
Guy Gugliotta
BIRDS
Vocalizations
After twenty years of study, scientists have discovered the bar-tailed
godwit holds nature’s record for endurance flying. The bird migrates
from Alaska to New Zealand each year without
stopping, a 12,400km journey completed in six days and six nights.
Maori folklore states that it was the godwit flying over the Pacific that
made them take to their war canoes to find land, journeying from Polynesia to
the shores of New Zealand
1,000 years ago.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
Tom Peterkin
BIRDS
Godwit
Burkina Faso
Norbert Zongo était un
journaliste au Burkina Faso, le pays des hommes intègres, dit-on. Pourtant il
a été assassiné dans sa voiture en 1998 alors qu’il enquêtait sur un meurtre
compromettant le frère cadet du chef d’Etat. Le chauffeur du premier aurait
été torturé, puis assassiné dans les bureaux même de la sécurité
présidentielle. Norbert Zongo a collaboré dans la création de plusieurs
journaux mais il a aussi écrit un livre, « le Parachutage » où il dénonce les
dirigeants corrompus de l’Afrique. La réédition de son livre cette année va
sans doute aider la veuve de Norbert, Geneviève, qui a perdu son emploi
auprès du syndicat libre des cheminots. Un journaliste, dit-elle, doit
critiquer et ne pas défendre le pouvoir.
ML
Le Monde – France – pages 34-35 – 17 Mars 2007
BURKINA FASO
Literature
Canada
There are dual claims to Hans Island, a tiny, barren rock between Canada’s
Ellesmere Island and Greenland, a self-governing
territory under the Danish crown. This issue is highlighted as the most
tangible and odd sovereignty challenge facing Canada in the far North.
The United States and the
European Union differ with Canada
on the status of the Northwest Passage through the Arctic
Archipelago. Canada considers it part of its
internal waters, while others see it as an international strait open to
all. Canada’s role in the North may come down to one question: How much
oil and gas lies beneath the ice?
TA
Adrian Humphreys, Canwest News Service, National
Post, date unknown
CANADA – Northwest
Passage
Cannabis
A Montreal
facility is manufacturing Cesamet, a drug that
replicates the active ingredient in marijuana. Cesamet
was approved for sale in the US
last week, 25 years after it was first authorized in Canada.
Cesamet is primarily used for nausea and vomiting
in cancer treatment, it is also effective at treating acute pain. Valent Pharmaceuticals International of Costa Mesa,
California produces the drug almost exclusively in Ville St. Laurent.
JC
Peter Hadekel, The Montreal Gazette May 26, 2006
CANNABIS
Carbon Footprint
Quebec Premier Jean Charest participated in the annual World Economic Forum
whose theme was “the shifting power equation” in reference to the rise of the
BRIC economies: Brazil, Russia, India
and China.
At the same time, the United Nations is trying to get organized on the issue
of environment. On this Charest admits that his personal carbon footprint is
important but he is proud to say that Québec has had a leadership role on the
issue of greenhouse gases reduction and sustainable development.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A16 – 24 January 2007 – Kevin Dougherty
CARBON FOOTPRINT
Congo
In December 2006, Joseph Kabila was elected during
the first democratic election in more than 40 years in DCR. In spite of this
and nearly a year of peace, riots exploded in Kinshasa resulting in the evacuation of
1000 people and the shutting down of schools.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A16 - 23 March 2007
CONGO
Connections and
Disparities
Even if the life span difference between black and white Americans has
decreased from 7.1 years in 1993 to 5.3 years in 2003, the gap disfavouring the black Americans is still troubling. A
study using the U.S. National Vital Statistics System data found that
homicide, HIV, perinatal death along with kidney
disease and bloodstream infections are all factors reducing the life
expectancy of black to 72.7 years compared to 78 years for whites. This
inequality is a direct result of social inequalities and access to health
care.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A23 -22 March 2007
DISPARITIES
Connections and Disparities
Population
Echoing a common complaint about the G8’s 2005 summit, the Canadian
Council on Africa has declared that Africa needs more than just money.
The Canadian private sector must become equally involved in establishing
links in Africa, in training the African private sector, and in providing
expertise, investment, and contracts to Africa.
CONNECTIONS AND DISPARITIES
SS
Aileen McCabe, Canwest – June 15, 2005
Africa
As the wealth of stockholders plummets and corporate controversy derails
companies, CEOs barely notice the backlash – their salaries remain very
high. The median compensation of USA’s largest 100 companies was $33.4
million. Poor boardroom performance, overall substandard earnings of
the companies, and employee layoffs did not deter directors from awarding
large bonuses to the top ranking employees.
CONNECTIONS AND DISPARITIES
ED
Gary Strauss and Barbara Hansen, USA Today, March 31, 2003 – p. B1
Consumer capitalism – corporations
The World Economic Forum held in Davos
included world politicians, business types, and human rights activists.
The diverse groups productively discussed the business case for human rights,
putting forward ideas that would benefit human rights causes and developing
countries while protecting the interest of ‘wicked’ multinationals and
politicians.
CONNECTIONS AND DISPARITIES
ED
Payam Akhavan, The
Gazette, Montreal – p. A11
Globalization
The average annual salary of the US baseball player is 5.3 million dollars
(in the lead is A. Rodriguez with a $25.2 million annual paycheck). On the
other end of the spectrum, the average annual salary of the Cuban national
team is 240 dollars.
CONNECTIONS AND DISPARITIES
EmD
Consumerism
Consumerism in the U.S. increased. Americans increased their credit card use.
Despite warnings for the need for energy reduction people took out more car
loans. Congruently, debts increased.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – 8 May 2007
CONSUMERISM
Average prices for mink, beaver, and other furs jumped by 30 to 40 percent
as fur regained popularity among younger generations. The boom is also
caused by the expansion of fur markets, a hot economy, and a re-imaging of
fur as the “ultimate eco-fabric”.
ED
Lynn Moore, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 21, 2006 – B1
CONSUMERISM
Capitalism – fur
Children are migrating to electronic toys quickly, parents willingly
purchase these pricey items, and toy makers struggle to keep up with
demand. Nonetheless, over seventy-five percent of the toys at the
American International Toy Fair will have microchips. As the cost of
microchips decreases, toys are more affordable, but some hot items still
remain over $200.
ED
Anne D’Innocenzio, The Gazette, Montreal, February 9, 2006, p. B7
CONSUMERISM – capitalism
Electronics
All purchases are discretionary after the procurement of essentials –
food, shelter, and clothing. Yet Canadians have a burn rate of $100
cash in three to four days. And by 2005, the Canadian saving rate
dropped to negative numbers, people are unconsciously spending money that
could pay off debt or put into their RRSP on frivolous purchases and brand
names.
ED
Stephanie Whittaker, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 6, 2006 – p. B1
CONSUMERISM
Capitalism
An e-mail describes the medical benefits of drinking water, such as
decreasing joint pain and reducing risk of colon and breast cancer.
Also, it elaborates on Coca-Cola’s properties that make it both a hazardous
material and an excellent cleaner of metal objects.
ED
Chase Twichell, e-mail care of
www.ausablepress.com, September 27, 2003
CONSUMERISM
Capitalism – Coca Cola
Children and sexuality are no longer taboo, images only seen by child
pornographers. Ad campaigns feature children sexually clad and adults
shaved to look like children. Sexualizing pre-pubescence is not new,
but its mainstream imagery is.
ED
Lorrayne Anthony, The Gazette, Montreal, January 27, 2003 – p. D3
CONSUMERISM
Capitalism
Advertising
Dix Mille Villages collaborate with village artisans in India to
offer fair trade goods to the middle class and combat poverty in developing
countries. The organization appeals to bourgeois overcoming shopper
guilt and it generates income for women artisans worldwide.
ED
Mike Boon, The Gazette, Montreal,
p.A7
CONSUMERISM
Capitalism
Coffee
Consumption
By 2010, half of the kids in North and South America
will be overweight, a study warns. But it’s not too late. The number of
overweight children worldwide will increase significantly by the end of the
decade. Obesity has become a global epidemic. British surgeon Phillip Thomas
said the obesity levels in children are so severe that this generation will
be the first to have a lower life expectancy than their parents.
JC
Associated Press, The Montreal
Gazette, March 7, 2006
CONSUMPTION
Obesity
The Vatican
has sided on the political and scientific issue of genetically modified
foods. They say they hold the answer to world starvation and
malnutrition.
ED
Richard Owen, The Statesman, Siliguri, August 2,
2003 – p. 2
CONSUMPTION– GM food
Split
tomatoes, dirty salad, and tough beans made Equiterre’s
organic produce baskets disappointing. More satisfying and with better
variety are the baskets prepared by Les Jardin des Anges. They are delivered year round, have a assortment of normal and exotic produce, and the baskets
are delivered to your front door.
www.jardindesanges.com
ED
Lesley Chesterman, The Gazette, Montreal
CONSUMPTION – organic food
The classic watermelon, an American summer ritual, is
becoming extinct, replaced by a seedless, tasteless variety. Most farm
stands and grocery stores sell varieties engineered to eliminate the seeds
because people want to eat faster and more attractively.
ED
David Margolick
CONSUMPTION
Food plant breeding
Budgeting, splurging, and secret spending habits… A 2005 poll shower that 25
percent of adults had severe disagreements with their partners about
finances. People have different ideas about finances and spending, and money.
These different types of attitudes about money often depend on upbringing,
personality, and relationships.
EmD
Susan Schwartz. The Gazette. April 30, 2006. A16.
CONSUMPTION
Corporations
Automated telephone services deter human – human customer service contact
much to our chagrin. We dislike these automated services because we
rarely have black and white, questions to be answered or simple tasks to
complete. Humans, we find, are more reliable. An organization, Get
Human, fights back by posting the codes to get through large companies’
automated services and speak to an operator.
ED
Josh Freed, The Gazette, Montreal,
March 4, 2006 – p. A7
CORPORATIONS
Modern communication
Crime
Wilburt Coffin was convicted and executed for the
deaths of three hunters in the Gaspé in 1956.
He maintained his innocence until death and doubt still exists about his
conviction. Controversy over Coffin’s hanging galvanized opposition to
capital punishment, resulting in the banning of the death penalty in Canada.
Coffin’s case has received a lot of attention and has been the topic of song
lyrics and books.
ED
Marian Scott, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 11, 2006 – p. A3
CRIME – Gaspé
Cults
Self-declared prophet and cult leader Claude Vorhilon
has brought the newspaper Le Droit to court for a
libel suit. He has convinced 60,000 followers of the Raëlian he is the son of a French mother and an alien
father. The defamation lawsuit is part of a greater legal quest by the Raëlians for legitimacy. They want a ban on future
negative reports and a declaration by the court that their faith is a true
religion.
ED
Allison Hanes, The Gazette, Montreal,
September 27, 2005 – p. A8
CULTS
Cultural Diversity
Richard Desjardins, famous for his documentary L’Erreur
Boréal, in which he exposed and denounced the
destructive forestry practices of Québec, performed at the sixth Montréal’s
annual spoken words Festival “Voix d’Amériques”. Desjardins is a renowned singer and
songwriter, but he will be presenting and commenting on his new film: Le Peuple Invisible. This time, Desjardins tackles the
situation of the Algonquin nation of Québec. The Algonquins
number only 8,000 people and depend on the forest.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – j3 – 27 January 2007 – Pat Donnelly
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Music
Québec
Molefa Moleja, a
priest of the South African Edumisweni Apostolic
Church of Christ, leads his people through the principles of the bible. His
congregation of followers resembles the conventional Pentecostal movement
within Christianity, which emphasises the authority
of the bible and the direct experience and healing with God through baptism
and prayers. However, the South African members of this church also venerate
their ancestors and believe in witchcraft and magic. Despite the biblical
injunction, they still perform animal sacrifice to increase their chance of
physical healing and cast away bad luck. Such beliefs may be an alternative
to absent or failing health care institutions.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – h8 – 27 January 2007 – Terry Leonard
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Ancestor worship
Kinship
Syncretism
In his new novel, the Virgin of Flames, Chris Abani,
the Nigerian-American writer narrates about search for cultural identity in Los Angeles city. He
offers a reflection on how people fight to maintain their own individuality
in the fast pace of a city that constantly reshapes itself.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – J3 -3 February 2007 – Ian McGillis
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Nigeria
Larger-than-life roadside renderings of everything from sausages to
enormous muskies transform what would otherwise be
a sense of non-place along stretches of highway in Canada. These “Big Things”
often correspond with local industry and help travelers discern meaning from
the local landscape.
TA
Anne Marie Owens, Canwest News Service, The
Gazette, Montreal,
June 5, 2006
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
In honor of the anniversary of Genghis Khan’s unification of Mongolia in
1206, the Mongolian capital is covered in images of Genghis Khan. Such
attention may seem shocking to westerners who affiliate the man with
bloodshed and terror. In the West, it is often overlooked that Genghis
Khan outlawed the kidnapping of women, guaranteed diplomatic immunity to
ambassadors, granted religious freedom to all people, and his empire
introduced gunpowder and paper to the West. DNA testing has revealed
that 16 million men living in Eurasia are
descended from a single person who lived in the 1200’s, presumed to be
Genghis.
NB
Richard Spencer, The Gazette, Montreal,
July 12, 2006, p. A13
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Kinship
Diners have been part of American cultural identity and here are few for
which it is worth making a detour: The Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro, Maine
has exquisite walnut pie. The Miss Port Diner in Port Henry, New York was so
popular it had a band a baseball team named after it. The Blue Benn in Bennington, Vermont
is a vegetarian-friendly diner with “better than sex” chocolate
brownies. To fine more amazing diners, go to www.roadfood.com.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal, Saturday, June 17,
2006, p. K7
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
USA
Kenneth Briggs, author of “Double Crossed: Uncovering the Catholic
Church’s Betrayal of American Nuns,” write that the total number of nuns has declined
from 179,954 to 68,634 from the years 1965 to 2005. He states that the
reason for this decline has to do with the backlash of repression towards
liberated nuns in the 1960’s from the church hierarchy. Briggs does not
think there is much weight in the argument that the number of nuns has
declined as a result of growing feminism and secularism. Another
problem he notes, is that nuns are not necessarily
promised the retirement security they would need to be comfortable committing
themselves to the church.
NB
Richard Ostling, The Gazette, Montreal, Saturday, June 17, 2006, p. K7
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Extinction
When Boris visited China,
he was not expecting to find the attitude towards communism that he did among
the Chinese people with whom he conversed. It was not so much a defense
of Chinese communism that he found, but more a “patient refusal to accept my
glib assumptions of the superiority of western pluralism, “which was a
“defense not so much of the system but of China itself.” He experienced
the impressive extent to which most Chinese people have respect for authority
and fear of disorder. Boris admits that China is proving that
free-market capitalism and democracy do not have to go hand in hand, but also
states that there are two things China lacks that the US has which make it
such a powerful country: hard power (military) and soft power (cultural
protection abroad).
NB
Boris Johnson, The Gazette, Montreal, May 6,
2006, p. B5
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
China
Olga Alexandrovna Romanov
was the last grand duchess of Russia,
but passed the last chapter in her life in a humble home in southern Ontario before she
died in 1960. A glass bowl that she received for her duties as a nurse
in the battlefield during the First World War is expected to be sold for
$200,000 Canadian. Locals remember her as unassuming and ordinary,
wearing rubber boots and buying canned food at the grocery stores; a woman
who cared more about her freedom than her finances.
NB
Randy Boswell, The Gazette, Montreal,
March 29, 2006, p. A15
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Russian Aristocracy
David Suzuki
The journalist Dan Gardner accused David Suzuki of going too far in his quest
aiming to alarm people about the terrifying consequences of global warming.
David Suzuki has distorted, he said, some critical nuances of the Stern
report that forecasts the economic effects of climate change. The revered
Canadian ecologist uses the most dramatic figure stating that global warming
will generate 20% loss for the global economy,
while ignoring to mention in his discourse that lesser economic impacts of 5%
are also possible.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A23 -3 May 2007 – Dan Gardner
DAVID SUZUKI
Deforestation
A satellite-assisted survey of Quebec’s northern forests revealed that an
area of almost one million square kilometers, or about 60 percent of Quebec, has been
logged. The data can help to provide information to the government in
the implementation of forestry recommendations. 30 Quebec-based
companies were invited to asses the data, but all declined.
ED
Lynn Moore, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 10, 2006 – p. B1
DEFORESTATION – boreal
BBC News reports that the Amazonian rainforest deforestation rate has been
halved, and the amount of illegal logging reduced.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4189792.stm, August 2005
SS
DEFORESTATION
Amazon rainforest
Diabetes
The Kahnawake First Nation, in collaboration with
Health Canada,
has successfully implemented the Diabetes Prevention Project in their
schools. The Type 2 diabetes rate has not increased in 21 years as a
result. The success occurs even though increased incomes lead to more
eating out and sedentary lifestyles in front of electronics.
ED
Michelle MacAfee, The Gazette, Montreal
– p. A9
DIABETES
Native Americans
Ecoterrorists
A fugitive US radical
environmentalist, charged with setting fire to logging and cement trucks in
2001, has been arrested in Vancouver
by the FBI.
AR
The Gazette
ECOTERRORISTS
Ecotourism
Peter Phillips, the former head of Newmount Gold
Corp., operates a 9,400-acre game farm called Makulu
Makete in South
Africa by the Botswana border. The reserve’s
goals include the rehabilitation of the savannah ecology of the area and the
conservation of indigenous plant and animal life.
AS
www.makulumakete.com
ECOTOURISM
Conservationism
Ecomartyrs
Two new ecomartyrs have given their lives in
the effort to save tropical rainforest, joining the roll of honor that
includes Dian Fossey and Chico Mendes (for whom I
coined the term ecomartyr—a deliberating grating
hack-journalism artifact designed to heighten the reader’s indignation: not
only were these people murdered, now they’re being called ecomartyrs).
But their deaths have attracted very little notice. The vogue for saving the
rainforest has come and gone, but the destruction continues. Bruno Manser, a 47-year-old Swiss activist who devoted 12 years
to trying to save the Penan tribe, a small tribe of
nomadic hunter-gatherers who live in the rainforest of Sarawak, in
northeastern Borneo, was last seen on May 22nd, 2000 and presumed to be dead.
He was setting out to climb a 7,000-foot limestone pinnacle called Batu Lawi to dramatize the
plight of the Penan, whose way of life is being
extinguished by commercial logging, the cash economy, Coca Cola, television--
the usual Western toxins. Or he may have gone to the mountain in despair, to
commit suicide because he realized that the Penan
were history, his efforts useless. In l990, Manser
wrote: “Each morning at dawn the gibbons howl and their voices carry great
distances, riding the thermal boundary created by the cool of the forest and
the warm air above as the sun strikes the canopy. Penan never eat the eyes
of the gibbons. They are afraid of losing themselves in the horizon. They
lack an inner horizon. They don’t separate dreams from reality. If someone
dreams that a tree limb falls on a camp, they will move with the dawn.”
AS
To learn more, read Simon Elegant’s September 3,
2001 cover story in Time Asia. Also see
http://www.earthisland.org/borneo/news_bruno.html for further information.
ECOMARTYRS
The other ecomartyr is a 36-year-old Brazilian
activist named Ademir Alfeu
Federicci and
nicknamed Dema. He was shot in the head by an
unknown assailant in front of his wife and children on August 21st, 2001,
apparently because he vociferously opposed a hydroelectric dam that the
Brazilian government plans to build on the Xingu
River, in southern Amazonia, and because he had
been making a huge stink about the illegal logging that is going on in the
region. Like Chico Mendes, who was the president of the rubber-tappers’ union, Dema was the
president of a union of small agricultural workers.
AS
For more information, contact Tonya Hennessey at Greenpeace, tonyah "at" bb.sfo.us.gl3
ECOMARTYRS
Energy
Nigerian rebels pledge to choke off oil. Easing supply fears have pushed
oil prices lower. Armed militants vowed to cut daily oil exports from the
West African nation’s troubled delta region by another million barrels by the
end of March because OPEC will keep output levels intact.
JC
Montreal Gazette, March 7, 2006
ENERGY
Oil
Nigeria
The Charest government decides to go ahead with the Rupert
River diversion project. The project will flood 400 km² and
greatly affect the local Cree people. The project will create a maximum of
4000 employments for 6 years and generate an estimated 532$ million in
Québec. However, for the first time in history, an aboriginal group will
financially truly benefit from such a project. For the next 50 years the Cree
communities will receive from the government an annual $70 million plus a
portion of the benefit from electricity sales. Part of this money will be
invested in a Cree heritage fund ensuring long-term financial benefits. In
spite of these financial incentives, the three Cree communities the most affected
by the project will loose spiritual connection to their land. Money can’t buy
everything.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A1 – 12 January 2007 - Mike King
ENERGY
Cree
Hydroelectricity
Native people
Rupert River
Fidel Castro denounced U.S. President Bush for encouraging the use of biofuels and in particular ethanol derived from corn or
sugar cane. The Cuban leader forecast that over 3 billion people in the world
would starve to death if Bush goes on with his policy. Biofuels
are now considered as the best alternative to dwindling oil reserves, but
they have a negative side. Brazil
and the U.S.
together produce 70% of the world’s biofuels and
Bush is now planning for mandatory biofuel content
five times greater than the present amount. In order to achieve this plan,
Castro points out that 320 million tonnes of corn
would be needed. This would take away space to grow food for people. He finds
it obscene that corn should be grown to fuel cars in the rich countries, when
people are starving in Africa.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – B7 – 30 March 2007 - Isabel Sanchez
ENERGY
Biodiesel
Castro
Jathopha curcas, a
shrub-like woody plant, was used for generations as fencing for protecting
crops of poor villagers in Zimbabwe.
Now, thanks to the Mudzi Jatropha
and Cassava project, funded by CIDA, the Canadian International Development
Agency and implemented by Edit trust, a Zimbabwean NGO, the seeds of the
shrub are put to good use. Jatropha seeds are
processed to make oil, soap and fuel, and cassava, another drought resistant
plant, provides nutritious food and allows local people to make enough
profits fromn growing it to send their kids to
school.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A13 – 29 May 2006 - Ian Jones
ENERGY
Biodiesel
Zimbabwe
The two countries U.S.
and Brazil, which happen
to be the two biggest producers of ethanol, signed an accord to share
technology for alternative fuel production and reduce their respective
reliance on oil imports from Venezuela.
However, Brazil is leading
the example: thanks to its ethanol production, Brazil has replaced 40% of
gasoline consumption. Moreover, 70% of Brazilian vehicles can run on both
gasoline and ethanol.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – C6 – 10 March 2007 - Roger Runningen
and Catherine Dodge
ENERGY
Hydro-Quebec is planning on investing $25 billion in new dams to generate
4500 megawatts of electricity, with 1000 megawatts as export sales to Ontario and the US. The dams will create
70,000 person-years of construction jobs. It is said the project would
save Quebecers money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Environmentalists
are skeptical about both of these points. Potential rivers for damming
include La Romaine on the lower north shore and rivers in Nunavik.
NB
Kevin Dougherty, The Gazette, Montreal,
May 5, 2006, p. A1
ENERGY
Hydropower
The Co-founded of Greenpeace states that nuclear power is the only
large-scale, cost-effective energy source that can reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, given the growing demand for energy. Wind and solar energy
have their place in reducing greenhouse gases, but they are simply too
intermittent to act as a substitute for coal. He states that nuclear
energy is actually one of the least expensive energy sources, and is actually
safe (Chernobyl
did not have a containment vessel). He also states that nuclear energy
does not actually produce that much dangerous waste, as used fuel has less
than one-thousandth its radioactivity after 40 years and 95% of the potential
energy in the waste can actually be used again as fuel. Moore also states that
many other types of facilities are much more vulnerable to terrorist attach
than nuclear plants (which have two-meter thick reinforced concrete
containment vessels). Lastly, he concludes by saying that the 103
operating plants in the US
currently avoid the release of 700 million tons of carbon-dioxide
annually.
NB
Patrick Moore, The Gazette, Montreal,
April 29, 2006, p. B5
ENERGY
Nuclear Power
After a copper mine and smelter closed in Murdochville
in 2002, new life was brought to the town with the construction of 60
turbines to produce wind power. Murdochville
is 1,000 kilometers east of Montreal
and is currently Canada’s largest winder power project, generating enough
electricity to power 12,000 homes. New jobs have been created and new
families are moving to the area. Currently HydroQuebec
will pay 6.5 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity produced by wind, and in
the past 20 years, the cost of producing wind has dropped by 80% in real
dollars. Quebec is the second largest
producers of wind energy in Canada
and soon it is predicted is will soon surpass the number one producer, Alberta.
Worldwide, Canada
is the 14th largest wind energy producer, with less than one half percent of
its energy coming from wind. Some concerns about wind farms include
that fact that local communities may not receive their fair share of the
economic benefits, and after initial construction they are limited
employment.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
Saturday, April 1, 2006, B1
ENERGY
Windmills
More than 1 million people have been displaced for the Chinese Yangtze
River Three Gorges Dam. The world’s longest dam (2.3km) also flooded 1,000
archaeological sites and over 24 hectares of agricultural land. The 660km
long lake that will form behind the dam will further threatened Yangtze
dolphin, Chinese sturgeon and finless porpoise. The energy derived from the
gigantic structure is expected to reach 85 billion kilowatt per hour by 2009,
which represents only 2% of China’s electricity need by 2010. However,
project managers say the dam will help control the Yangtze’s deadly floods
that have killed hundred of thousands in the past. Environmentalists fear
that the huge lake forming behind the dam will become a waste pool for
China’s largest urban centre of Chongqing despite newly build
sewage treatment plants.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – B7 – 19 May 2006 - Edward Cody
ENERGY
Hydropower
Dams
Change your light bulbs for the compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). They’ll make your energy bill almost 4 times cheaper
and help reduce our dependence on coal and fossil fuel. For those still
nostalgic of the incandescent rays, the famous bright and coiled CFLs are now coming in various shapes and colours to give an old-fashioned feel. The only problem,
when the long-lived energy-efficient bulb is retired,
it is considered hazardous waste containing phosphorous powder and
mercury. Thus, you can’t just trash it or recycle it.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – B3 – 24 March 2006 - Cheryl Cornacchia
ENERGY
Light bulbs
Expansion of the Eastmain powerhouse and the
diversion of the Rupert River into the Eastmain
pose serious threats to the environment, the health of the Rupert and the Eastmain and the Cree who
depend on its fish, but the controversy
surrounding the projects is dampened down by the context of high-energy
prices and global warming. The dam will negatively affect Cree communities’
livelihood, but the power it will generate will sell at the cheap rate of
five cents a kilowatt- hour, which is two cent less than the current
electricity market price.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – B1 - 31 January 2007 - Peter Hadekel
ENERGY
Hydropower
Rupert River
Will a 62km² wind farm, 130 turbines strong, ever rise on the shores of
the Nantucket Sound ? The project idea was born
in 2002 and $325,000 has been spent in lobbying while politicians with vested
interests in the oil business are trying to get the project nixed.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal - Juliet Eilperin
ENERGY
Wind power
Zenn electric minicars
are to be produced in St. Jerome, 60 km north
of Montreal.
Although the Zenn (Zero Emission No Noise) meets
all federal highway regulations, British
Columbia is the only province so far where the
vehicle can be legally licensed. Feel Good Cars, the Toronto-based company that
manufactures the cars, has not yet sold any Zenns
in Canada, although they
have orders from France
and the United States.
TA
Mike King, The Gazette, Montreal,
April 14, 2006, p. A1
ENERGY
Electric Cars
Environmental Awareness
The Canadian largest survey on the subject of climate change reveals that
Québec has surpassed British
Columbia as the most environmentally conscious
province. Quebecers, regardless of their age class, wealth and education
levels, are the most environmentally aware and the most determined to make
changes in order to reverse the effects of global warming.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A4 – 23 March 2007 – Michelle Lalonde
ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS
Québec
Ethnic Conflict
Australian-led forces, who came to East Timor in the midst of a bloody
transition from Indonesian rule in 1999, are back to keep the peace in the
capital of Dili. It’s a sad departure from
2002, when East Timor declared independence
after a period of UN oversight and a generous infusion of international
aid. East Timor is an extreme case, a
neglected territory where violence and deprivation became routine for many
people during 24 years of harsh Indonesian occupation. Some observers
believe the UN left East Timor too soon and
retained too much authority for too long. The tensions between old
independence fighters and those perceived to be sympathetic to Indonesia
were never resolved, and they have flared up in the recent violence.
TA
Christopher Torchia, Associated Press, The Gazette,
Montreal, June 1, 2006
ETHNIC CONFLICT – East Timor
An Israeli couple used a stroller to bring firecrackers and small
explosives into one of Christianity’s holiest sites in Nazareth. The explosions started
riots in the street and six people were injured. The attack was not
nationalistic but did underline the tensions between Jews and Palestinians.
ED
Associated Press, The Gazette, Montreal,
March 4, 2006 – p. A27
ETHNIC CONFLICT
Over 35,000 children were abducted by rebel militia in the Congo during
Africa’s First World War. Since 2003, the country has demobilized about
11,000 youths and made it illegal for rebels to have children soldiers.
The boys, changed by their experiences, are put into interim camps to help
ease their transition back into childhood and family life.
ED
Edmund Sanders, The Gazette, Montreal,
December 18, 2005 – p. IN4
ETHNIC CONFLICT – Congo
Evolution
Humans have transformed the archipelago of the Galapagos
Islands through the introduction of alien species. Scientists
have tried to eradicate the invasive species such as goats, donkeys, cats and
pigs. Scientists are making progress in the protection of threatened species
in this region on uninhabited islands but are losing ground in inhabited
areas. Alien species have driven native species into extinction because
native species have never faced competition before.
JC
Juliet Eilperin, The Montreal Gazette, March 4, 2006
EVOLUTION
Galapagos
Introduced Species
Extinction
The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes
elsewhere in the universe because there’s an increasing risk of disaster
destroying the earth, the visionary particle physicist Stephan Hawking said.
He said life on earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a
disaster such as global warming, nuclear war, or dangers not yet thought of.
JC
Sylvia Hui, Associated Press
EXTINCTION
Human Race
North Atlantic right whales were nearly driven extinct by whaling, but
they don’ t have to be concerned about hunters
anymore, they are threatened by ship strikes which are hindering their
ability to recover in numbers since whaling days. Scientists at the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts have discovered that
whales don’t respond to recorded ship noises, but when the alert signal was
sounded, the whales responded by heading towards the surface, straight into
oncoming ships.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
December 21, 2003
EXTINCTION
Whales
A lone turtle living in a lake in Hanoi
could be the last of its kind, wildlife experts
fear. The Asian giant softshell turtle is
extremely rare and is presumably at the risk of extinction.
The Times, October 13, 2003
EXTINCTION
Turtles
Harvard researchers say that habitat destruction by illegal loggers could
mean the extinction of orangutans within 10 to 20 years. Orangutans
live only in Indonesia and
Malaysia.
While the government of Indonesia
has a commitment to protect the orangutans, the loggers return when the
police leave.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
September 30, 2003
EXTINCTION
Primates
Indonesia
In the past 80 years, two thirds of the 91 known forest-dependent species
of birds in Singapore
have become extinct. Researchers predict 42 percent of animals species in Southeast Asia
could become extinct by the end of this century. Stronger enforcement
against illegal logging and poaching and economic incentives are needed to
retard the rate of extinction.
ED
Kristin Kovner – p. 4
EXTINCTION
Southern Alberta’s Ord’s Kangaroo rat population
is under threat. A two year study beginning will try to determine why
the population dips perilously close to extermination every winter, from an
estimated 3,000-5,000 each summer to around 500 the following spring. University of Calgary biologist Darren Bender
believes that it is the loss of the rat’s habitat in the Middle Sand hills
that is responsible for the declining numbers. The Ord’s
Kangaroo is one of six endangered animal species in Alberta.
AR
Grady Semmens, Canwest
News Service
EXTINCTION
Rodents
Fiction
In his latest novel “Returning to Earth”, Jim Harrison, often referred as the
Mozart of the plains for the quality of his writing, reflects on the world of
death and mourners. In his fiction, a 45-years-old man diagnosed with an
incurable degenerative disease chooses to die before the illness consumes
him. Then, Harrison describe the feelings and memories of the wife who tries
to let go of her husband at the same time she realizes she needs to
relinquish her grown up children. In spite of these sad events, the novel is
full of happiness. The characters facing either side of death are remembering
the times of their life that made it all worthwhile and unforgettable.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – J7 - 10 March 2007 – Omar Majeed
FICTION
Fish
Banned chemicals found in the Potomac River (West Virginia) are suspected to cause
sexual mutation in smallmouth bass. The pesticides and banned fungicides
found in the water can stimulate oestrogen
production in male fish as well as the production of immature eggs in fish
testes.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal –A25 - 20 January 2007 – David Ochami
FISH
Pollution
Food for Thought/Musings
“I don’t think you can live with the flat, metallic lakes, the brooding firs
and pines, and the great expanses of grey rock that stretch all the way from
Yellowknife to Labrador, with the naked birches and the rattling aspens, with
the ghostly call of the loon and the haunting cry of the wolf, without being
a very special person.”
SS
Pierre Berton, Quoted by Michael Kesterton, The Globe & Mail, Toronto
FOOD FOR THOUGHT/MUSINGS
When fascism comes to America
it will be in the form of Americanism. Take, as an example, former Louisiana
Governor, U.S. Senator, and noted radical Huey Long.
AS
FOOD FOR THOUGHT/MUSINGS
The ecologist’s apologist creed: I have desecrated my right to be here and
that of others.
AS
FOOD FOR THOUGHT/MUSINGS
“History is the passion of sons who wish to understand their fathers.”
Late Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini
AS
FOOD FOR THOUGHT/MUSINGS
“Where do you go if you’re young and the world comes to an end? Do
you go into history?”
AS
Isabelle, a Montreal
first-grade student, Montreal Gazette
FOOD FOR THOUGHT/MUSINGS
Foundations and Grants
Just got a call from Mervin Roberts, who is pushing eighty and works as a
consultant for a philanthropic institution called Maine Coastal Resources,
which was thinking of making a grant to a leper colony in the Amazon where
some Franciscan monks had reported that 4000 destitute lepers were “eating
garbage.” Roberts went down to check it out before the grant was finalized.
It turns out that I visited the colony, which is seven miles from the city of
Manaus,
in l976 and devoted a few paragraphs of my book, The Rivers Amazon, to it.
Roberts had read the book before going down and had called me to see if I had
any contacts or suggestions. Everything was as I had described it, he
reported, except that the Franciscans who were running the colony had left,
and so had all the lepers except for three. It was, as he described it,
a “depressed leper colony.” With the advent of the new sulfa drugs, he
explained, most lepers can be treated so that within six months they are no
longer contagious and can return to the general population, which is what the
other 3997 lepers had apparently done. Other healthy Amazonians had moved
into the abandoned compound with their families because there was electric
power “to run their boob tubes,” Roberts went on. “This place doesn’t need
American help. The people are better off than they are in many parts of
America.” So this is good news for Maine Coastal Resources, I said to
Roberts. It doesn’t have to make the grant. “I suppose,” he said, “but I’m
furious with the Franciscans. It didn’t pan out. That’s why these benevolent
organizations have to be so careful before they send out the cheques.”
AS
FOUNDATIONS AND GRANTS
Gender
One in every 2000 babies is born an intersexual,
with genitalia that are neither male nor female. Mrs. Hartman of Hackensack, NJ
gave birth to such a child. The doctors did not know at birth
whether her child was a boy or a girl. Deciding to raise the child as a
girl, the child underwent feminizing surgeries. By age 4 the child, Kelli, began to tell her mother that she was actually a
boy named Max. In the near future the mother and child are going to
have to decide whether to take hormones to either shape Kelli
into a woman, or turn her into a man.
AR
The Gazette, Montréal - 31 July 2004 Ruth Padavuar
GENDER
Intersexual
Prince Manvendrasinh Gohil
is the only son and heir to the fortunes of the former Rajpipla
principality, in Gujarat state.
However, he learned through a newspaper ad, which his parents placed, that he
was disowned from his parents. The motivation for this was that he
recently came out to his parents. Homosexual relationships are illegal
in India.
NB
Peter Foster, The Gazette, Montreal,
June 28, 2006, p. A18
GENDER
Homosexuality
Aida Melly Tan Abdullah was abused by her
husband who secretly took a second wife but refused to give her a
divorce. After countless unsuccessful court rulings, she was so
frustrated with the legal system in Malaysia that she studied Islamic
law, known as Shariah to fight for her own
rights. After attracting nation-wide attention she obtained a divorce
in 2002. While Malaysia
was once considered the most progressive Muslim country in regards to family
law, it has since digressed and is getting worse according to some
critics. Women are discriminated against in legal issues regarding
family, inheritance as well as their fundamental liberties. Law are getting stricter against women’s favor as political
parties fight for the support of conservative Muslims. Under Islamic
law, Muslim men can have up to four wives, can divorce their wives simply by
stating the words (or texting them via cell phone),
“I divorce you,” three times, can avoid child support simply by moving to
another state, and two states allow men to marry off their daughters without their
consent. Wives on the other hand, have to prove their divorce case in
court if their husbands do not want a divorce. Sisters of Islam is a
women’s group that campaigns for Shariah reforms
and deals with an average of 700 Shariah court
cases a year from women who want divorces or child support.
NB
Eileen Ng, The Gazette, Montreal,
June 23, 2006, p. h10
GENDER
Women’s Rights
One in every 2000 babies is born an intersexual,
with genitalia that are neither male nor female. Mrs. Hartman of Hackensack, NJ
gave birth to such a child. The doctors did not know at birth
whether her child was a boy or a girl. Deciding to raise the child as a
girl, the child underwent feminizing surgeries. By age 4 the child, Kelli, began to tell her mother that she was actually a
boy named Max. In the near future the mother and child are going to
have to decide whether to take hormones to either shape Kelli
into a woman, or turn her into a man.
AR
Ruth Padavuar, The Gazette, Montréal, July 31, 2004
GENDER
Intersexual
“Busted” is an all-women private detective agency in Atlanta. The intention of its
founder, Jeanene Weiner, was not to limit it to
women, but then she found how helpful it was to have women detectives.
She finds that clients are more comfortable talking to women (especially male
clients), and she believes women are more curious and observant than men,
important qualities in the trade. The agency is three years old and is
the only all-female private eye agency in the US.
NB
Harry Mount, The Gazette, Montreal,
June 18, 2006, p. A9
GENDER
Marriage
Geology
Avalonia is the name of the rock that was driven
away by tectonic forces from the super continent Gondwana
480 million years ago. Researches found that this rock forms part of Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick, New England, Carolina, the British Isles and even
France and Spain. When Avalonia split again, it
allowed the formation of the Atlantic Ocean.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – 25 May 2006 – Randy Boswell
GEOLOGY
Plate tectonics
The American side of Niagara Falls is
predicted to dry to a trickle in about 1,000 years, says University of Wisconsin
scientist Steven Dutch. He also predicts that the Hudson
Bay will shrink dramatically due to its shallow sea bottom
rebounding from the last Ice Age. When the Canadian Falls finally
recedes past Goat Island – the rock that splits the course of the Niagara
River and creates two separate, 50-metre cascades – the American
falls will cease to exist, and there will only be a single
falls, predicts Dutch.
TA
Randy Boswell, Canwest News Service, The Gazette, Montreal, May 26, 2006
GEOLOGY
Globalization
The International Monetary Fund is experiencing a budget crisis, as Asians
are building up foreign currency reserves and Argentina
and Brazil
have paid back their loans early. Donor governments are less likely to
launch aid initiatives with the World Bank’s help because of skepticism over
President Paul Wolfowitz. It’s not that the
underlying forces of globalization have gone limp; it’s that nobody wants to
invest political capital in global institutions.
TA
Sebastian Mallaby, Washington Post, The Gazette, Montreal, May 8, 2006
GLOBALIZATION
Global Warming
Scientists are sure that sea levels will rise as a result of global
warming. At least one quarter of the houses within 500 feet of the United States
coast may be lost to rising seas by 2060. Though most of the country’s
ocean beaches are eroding, few coastal jurisdictions consider sea level rise
in their coastal planning, and fewer incorporate the fact that the rise is
accelerating. Some of the rise – scientists argue over how much – is
because of natural temperature variation, but much of it results from
warming; as water warms, it expands, occupying more space. Warming also
melts inland glaciers and ice sheets, sending torrents of fresh water into
the oceans – causing sea levels to rise.
TA
Cornelia Dean, Science Times, The New York Times, June 20, 2006
GLOBAL WARMING - Oceans
Unusual warm temperatures for January in Montréal and region are
disturbing the migration, hibernation and also breeding behaviour
schedule of many animals. Canada
geese, for instance, delayed their migration south and racoons
are forgetting to hibernate. Unusual warm temperatures are tricking animals
and their behavioural responses that could have
negative impact on their metabolism and survival in the long run. Other
species such as the opossums and fox squirrels are moving up north welcomed
by the nice weather. This range expansion could trigger unforeseen
competition with the species already present in the north.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A16 - 6 January 2007 – Cheryl Cornacchia
GLOBAL WARMING
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change announced the results of a
1,000 worldwide scientists-reviewed report that gives a gloomy picture of the
consequences of global warming. By 2080, 1.1 to 3.2 billion people will
starve and suffer water shortage while 100 million others will experience
devastating floods. Tropical disease such as malaria and pest species will
proliferate, while the natural habitat of polar bears and other arctic life
will vanish by 2050.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A1- 11 March 2007 – Seth Borenstein
GLOBAL WARMING
Al Gore went to Congress for the first time after his presidential run
defeat of 2000. This time, Al Gore brought more than half-million messages
from citizens urging for governmental action against global warming.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A19 - 22 March 2007
GLOBAL WARMING
Al Gore
Al Gore and David Suzuki talked in front of nearly 5,000 people during a
conference organized by the Youth Action Montréal coalition. Both felicitated
Québec in its leading role in raising awareness about environmental issues.
The two public figures also stressed the importance of sustaining media
exposure around the issue of global warming, fearing that that the concerns
and efforts accomplished so far vanish as soon as media loose interest, as
they did back in 1988.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A4 – 23 March 2007 – Michelle Lalonde
GLOBAL WARMING
Al Gore
David Suzuki
Environmentalists denounced the plan presented by the Canada’s
Conservative Environment Minister, John Baird. They said that the measures
planned to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2012 are not satisfactory. Not
only is the carbon emissions limit set by this new plan weaker than the one
imposed by Kyoto, but also it will allow companies to easily achieve the
target and even increase their emissions as long as their overall business
grows faster than the pollution they create.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A15 - 5 May 2007 – Mike de Souza
GLOBAL WARMING
Canada
Newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper appears to follow U.S.
president Bush’s position on global warming. Canada
is the only signatory country that has openly abandoned its Kyoto target. The Canadian Conservative
government argues that it would be impossible to met
its pledge at Kyoto
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by 2012.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A3 - 2006 – Mike de Souza
GLOBAL WARMING
Canada
Canadian Environment Minister Rona Ambrose said that Conservative
government had to give up on its Kyoto
commitment because it was impossible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
which are rising 35% above the planned target rate. She added that only if
all the lights and all the agriculture industry were to shut down could the
unrealistic target be reached.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A12 – 12 May 2006 – Mike de Souza
GLOBAL WARMING
Canada
Canadian Environment Minister Rona Ambrose is stopping a plan that allowed
the government to invest in initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
abroad. As a result, private investors, whose business depends on the
emissions trading market, moved nearly CA$1 billion investment and technology
overseas.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A11 – 15 May 2006 – Mike de Souza
GLOBAL WARMING
Canada
Canada’s forests store 12 times more carbon than is emitted by the world
annually. The 1000km- wide boreal forest line that stretches from the
Labrador to the Yukon
retains 47.5 billion tons of carbon. Conserving old and intact forests, ForestEthics says, is the key to counteract climate
change. Such forests are 50% more efficient at storing carbon than younger
replanted forests. Yet, each year logging activities in Canada remove
more carbon than is emitted through the exhaust pipes of Canadian
drivers.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A15 - 10 May 2007 – Don Butler
GLOBAL WARMING
Forest
The Centre for Health and Global Environment of Harvard Medical School
discussed the health implications of climate change as laid out in the second
section of the United Nations report. Rise in temperatures and
intensification of extreme natural events will result in wide and sudden
disease outbreaks. They warned that an old estimate of 150,000 deaths
directly related to global warming is too conservative. Global warming is
affecting the air, the forests and the water ecosystems on which we all
depend to survive. Thus, the excess deaths generated by climate change will
be much greater.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A16 - 30 March 2007 – Mike de Souza
GLOBAL WARMING
Health
Scientists say that Mars is also experiencing global warming, even more
intensely than Earth. When the dust-covered planet is swept by storms, the
dirt particles prevent the sun’s rays from reflecting back into space, and
heat is trapped in Mars’ atmosphere. As a result the planet experiences
temperature fluctuations ranging from -87ºC to +5ºC.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A16 - 30 March 2007 – Mike de Souza
GLOBAL WARMING
Mars
Efforts to slow global warming will have no discernible effect on
hurricanes for the foreseeable future – reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and
adequately preparing for future disasters are essentially separate
problems. The number and scale of disasters worldwide has been rising
rapidly in recent decades because of changes in society, such as the
continuing development of coastal regions, not global warming. Because
of the way that greenhouse gases behave in the atmosphere, even emissions
reductions far more rapid and radical than those mandated under Kyoto would have little
or no effect on the behaviour of the climate for
decades.
TA
Roger Pielke Jr. and Daniel Sarewitz,
The Gazette, Montreal,
September 27, 2005
GLOBAL WARMING – Scoffers
United States President George W. Bush met with author Michael Crighton in 2005 because he loves his latest novel, State
of Fear, the plot of which surrounds a scientist who discovers climate change
is a hoax cooked up by malevolent environmentalists. Early in his
presidency, Bush pulled the plug on the Kyoto Protocol and now hypes hydrogen
fuel cells and pays little attention to other alternative energy research.
Although the Canadian Liberals took climate change seriously, Stephen
Harper’s government has dismissed the Kyoto Protocol.
TA
Dan Gardner, Canwest News Service, The Gazette, Montreal, May 28, 2006
GLOBAL WARMING – Scoffers
Increased tourism results in greater carbon dioxide output. Cost effective
vacation trips allows for more tourists to visit natural places but these
travels cost a lot in terms of carbon footprint generated by plane rides and
air conditioned hotel rooms. Not less than 1.1 billion tourists expected in
2010 and 1.6 billion in 2020 will contribute to flood famous beaches as
global warming progresses.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A19 -22 March 2007
GLOBAL WARMING
Tourism
Environment Canada
documents state the threats of global warming and encourage Tories to act on
the matter. The document sites a rise in infectious diseases,
food-poisoning outbreaks, flooding coastlines, crumbling roads, buildings and
sewage systems as some of dangers that Canada needs to prepare
for. The document states that glaciers are already retreating in the Rocky Mountains, sea levels and climatic zones are
changing, and of “paramount concern” is the fact that permafrost is melting
at faster rates.
NB
Mike de Souza, The Gazette, Montreal,
June 29, 2006
GLOBAL WARMING
A team of Russian and American researchers have recently concluded that
the thawing of permafrost could release 500 billion metric tons of carbon
into the atmosphere, a process that would only enhance global warming.
In general, permafrost has been ignored in previous climate change
research. The area that could be affected is 25 meters deep and two
thirds the size of Alaska.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
June 25, 2006, p. J11
GLOBAL WARMING
Todd writes about the state of the world we have created for the next
generation, where babies must have their kiddy pools in the shade and must be
lathered in sun block; a world where the roar of rush hour traffic is common
place, and where nature is ever threatened; a world where Glacier National
Park will have no more glacier by 2030 and where the Arctic Ocean will have
no more permanent ice by 2080. Todd hopes that every father can teach
their children to be stewards of the earth, wishes that more political
leaders and oil companies listened to the words of Elizabeth Kolbert, and hopes that it is in fact, not too late for
their children.
NB
Jack Todd, The Gazette, Montreal,
June 17, 2006, p. A2
GLOBAL WARMING
Premier Jean Charest announced that he expects oil companies to absorb the
carbon tax necessary to pay for a greenhouse gas reduction plan over the next
6 years. Charest stated that Hydro-Quebec and Gaz
Metro absorb the cost of their energy efficiency plans and the oil companies
should do the same. However, the Quebec
vice-president of the Canada Petroleum Products Institute rebutted that these
companies slide these costs into rate increases.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
June 16, 2006, p. A1
GLOBAL WARMING
Aubin writes about the realistic benefits of Quebec joining the
alliance set up among northeastern states that are fed up with Bush and are
taking their own actions against climate change. The alliance focuses
on stabilizing carbon-dioxide levels at 10% below the 2005 level by 2019 (a
goal less ambitious than Kyoto)
mainly through cutbacks in the generation of electrical energy. However
Quebec
produces only 1.5% of its greenhouse gases from electricity generation since
most is produced from hydro-power. Therefore, joining this alliance
would be more for political reasons that environmental. Instead, Quebec needs to focus
is reductions in areas such as agriculture, industry and transportation,
which contribute much more heavily to the province’s carbon-dioxide
generation.
NB
Henry Aubin, The Gazette, Montreal, May 4, 2006, p. A21
GLOBAL WARMING
Based on data that has been collected since the mid 1800’s, it now appears
that wind speeds have decreased over the Pacific Ocean
as a result of global warming. The wind pattern has a significant
effect on ocean currents, climate and the marine food chain. The
slowdown matches predictions of climate change models that link global
warming to increased man-made greenhouse gas concentrations, and models that
only consider natural processes do not predict a slowdown of wind currents,
such as has been observed. The wind currents have decreased 3.5% since
the mid 1800’s and may reduce another 10% by 2100.
NB
Malcolm Ritter, The Gazette, Montreal,
May 4, 2006, p. A15
GLOBAL WARMING
Wind Patterns
Albrecht SchulteHostedde is studying flying
squirrel reproductive fitness. More specifically, he is studying the
long term effects of climate change on reproductive fitness. His work
is especially significant in that flying squirrels are indicator species for
the health of local ecosystems.
NB
Tom Spears, The Gazette, Montreal,
March 21, 2006, p. A14
GLOBAL WARMING
A “major ecosystem shift” has occurred in the Arctic waters. Grey
whales, walruses and diving seabirds are being replaced by more southern fish
species that are moving northward. Both commercial fishing and
indigenous hunters are being affected. Thinner ice is also making
hunting more difficult for indigenous peoples. Mother walruses have
also been reported to be abandoning their pups with thinner ice conditions.
NB
Margaret Munro, The Gazette, Montreal,
March 10, 2006, p. A14
GLOBAL WARMING
Oceans
2006 marks the inaugural year of Greenland’s polar bear quota. In
the past, Inuit hunters have killed about 250 bears out of a population of
7,500, but now the limit for Greenlanders will be 150. The quota was
put in place to protect the bears from climate change that threatens their
Arctic habitat.
ED
Jan M. Olsen, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 23, 2006 – p. A19
GLOBAL WARMING
Mammal – Polar Bears
Polar Bears, evolutionary the newest bear species, have to struggle with
pollutants invading their bodies and the effects of climate change. The
melting ice cover and shorter seasons of ice mass have limited their habitat
and shortened their hunting season. The entire species could potentially
vanish due to climate change.
ED
Brian Payton, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 15, 2006 – p. A19
GLOBAL WARMING
Mammal – polar bear
The warm winter is problematic for businesses and events that need snow
and cold for survival. Ice fishing cabins stand unrented,
ski hills have bad conditions and have closed some
days, Montreal’s Fête de Neiges was cancelled, and
maple sugar production could suffer.
ED
Alana Coates, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 6, 2006 – p. A6
GLOBAL WARMING – ice
New research suggests that carbon dioxide emissions also pose potential
risks to the oceans. The oceans have absorbed vast amounts of carbon
dioxide released in the industrial age and have measurably changed,
chemically and biologically, as a result. More than 100 oceanographers
and other scientists assessed the issue at a meeting in Paris in May, and concluded that he effects
are already occurring, negatively effecting corals and other calcifying
organisms, with disrupt marine food webs.
AR
The New York Times, July 20, 2004
Andrew C. Revkin
GLOBAL WARMING
Marine effects
Affordable air-conditioning saves lives and many of thousands that died in
the heat of France’s brutal summer could have been saved by century old
technology.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
August 29, 2003
GLOBAL WARMING
Power companies in several European countries have asked for rules to be
relaxed governing the temperature of water they pump back into rivers from
their cooling systems because of the heat wave that continues on the
continent. French and German nuclear reactors are located along
riverbanks to ensure sufficient supplies of cooling water. Governments
generally impose limits on the temperatures of water that is poured back into
rivers after cooling reactors to protect the environment and river
life. In Germany
two states agreed to lift the permitted water temperature 2 degrees, from 28
degrees Celsius, to 30 degrees Celcius.
AR
The New York Times, August 12, 2003
John Tagliabue
GLOBAL WARMING
Electricity
Canadian scientist Jan Veizer’s new research
suggests that the force behind climate change over the past 545 million years
has been “galactic cosmic ray flux” – the varying intensity of thermal energy
from the sun and stars – rather than carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere.
Veizer and Israelis scientist Nir
Shaviv,
found that peak periods of cosmic ray activity consistently coincided with
lower global temperatures. He emphasized that unprecedented carbon
dioxide emissions in modern times may eventually ‘overtake’ cosmic rays as a
chief factor in climate change.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
July 3, 2003
GLOBAL WARMING
Few Canadians act to cut greenhouse-gas output, even though between 1998
and 2001 the federal government spent $30 million trying to convince Canadians
to care about climate change. In fact, Canada’s total greenhouse-gas
emissions rose from 690 million tones in 1998 to 730 million tonnes in 2000. The question arises as to whether
future spending on Kyoto
initiatives will be any more effective. Michael Gareau,
Environment Canada’s manager of public education and outreach for the Climate
Change Action Fund, says that while the government told people to reduce
emissions, it did not provide enough concrete programs and financial
incentives to actually help them cut the energy used to run their homes and
cars.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
May 20, 2003
GLOBAL WARMING
Canadian Policy
Al Gore harshly criticized the Conservatives’ new
environmental platform, a strategy supposedly focused on reducing GHGs and improving air quality. Gore described it as
being a “complete and total fraud” and “designed to mislead”, and David
Suzuki was noted as saying that it wasn’t enough.
EmD
CanWest news Service/Agence France Presse/Canadian
Press. April 29, 2007. A1, A6.
GLOBAL WARMING
Al Gore
Canadian Policy
A thorough study undertaken by scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian
Centre for Astrophysics reveals that the 20th century, contrary to the
alarmism of the environmentalists, was neither the warmest century in the
past millennium nor the one marked by the most
severe weather. The study was funded in part by NASA and the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Belief that the globe
is warming faster than ever before is the result of examining variations in
temperature over too short a time span, the study suggests.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
April 26, 2003
Lorne Gunter, Canwest News Service
GLOBAL WARMING
President Bush has been denounced by mainstream scientists, deserted by
his progressive friends in industry and sued by seven states over his
abandonment of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global climate change. Prime
Minister Tony Blair of Britain
has made a speech stating he regarded environmental degradation in general
and climate change in particular as just a devastating in their potential
impact as weapons of mass destruction and terrorism.
AR
New York Times, Editorials. March 1, 2003
GLOBAL WARMING
Kyoto Protocol
United States
Policy
Global warming is forcing species around the world to move into new ranges
or alter habitats. This could disrupt ecosystems. In some cases,
species’ ranges have shifted 60 miles or more in recent decades. Some
species are also being pushed into areas of higher threat from human factors.
ED
Andrew C. Revkin, January 2, 2003
GLOBAL WARMING – range shift
Babies born to mothers who suffered the full brunt of the 1998 January ice
storm had lower IQ scores and took longer to speak, a study by researchers at
McGill University and the Université
de Montréal reveals.
AR
The Gazette, Montréal
Peggy Gurran, University Life Reporter
GLOBAL WARMING
1998 Ice Storm
The term “global warming” is simply not frightening enough to inspire
people to act. In fact, many Montrealers even
welcome the idea of a warmer climate. Some alternative terms that might
be more intimidating include: “global harming,” “global planetary
plague,” “defective international epidemic syndrome (DIES),” “sick universe
virus (SUV),” or “satanic planet syndrome.”
NB
Josh Freed, The Gazette, Montreal
GLOBAL WARMING
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his cabinet
approved the Kyoto Protocol and will put it into effect within 90 days.
The United States and Australia are the only industrial nations that aren’t
ratifying the treaty and the United States is the biggest carbon-dioxide
polluter contributing one quarter of global emissions. Critics say that
the United States could be
hurt by Russia’s decision to ratify the treaty as European nations will have
to pay for pollution controls to reduce their emissions whereas the United States
does not. European countries may try to punish U.S. companies with tariffs on U.S.
goods.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
GLOBAL WARMING
Kyoto Protocol
United States
Policy
The government needs to cut more than $1 billion from existing climate
change programs in the next five years in order to deliver part of its “made
in Canada” solution for reducing greenhouse gases. The money will be
reallocated to give tax credit to bus pass users. A Greenpeace spokesman
states that there is little else that the government has mentioned besides
the bus pass incentive about how to actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The spokesman also said that the new budget is more of a “climate change
catastrophe” than anything else.
NB
Mike de Souza, The Gazette, Montreal,
p. A7
GLOBAL WARMING
While carbon dioxide is not a pollutant when occurring naturally in the
environment, the same does not hold true for unnatural emissions. How
human-induced climate change and how natural-climate change fluctuations
affect glaciers is complicated, but we should never stop researching them in
the name of science and human welfare.
AR
Letter to The Gazette, Montreal
Dylan Perceval-Maxwell, Montreal
GLOBAL WARMING
The entire Pacific archipelago nation of Tuvalu is literally vanishing as
we speak.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2219001.stm
GLOBAL WARMING
Oceans
British researchers have evidence that global warming has cut the
frequency and duration of common cold season. This would be one
incidence where a warming global climate would reduce, instead of spread,
infectious disease.
ED
Tom Spears, The Gazette, Montreal
– p. A14
GLOBAL WARMING
Health
A friend of mine named Kenny who runs a beautiful heifer farm in Orwell, Vermont,
and is keenly observant of the weather and the seasons, told me that last
April started as the latest spring on record and ended as the earliest. Due
to the lingering heavy snowcover, followed by weeks
of no rain and record heat, which probably had something to do with global
warming and brought out the leaves and flowers weeks ahead of time and messed
with the timetables of the returning birds. This provides anecdotal support
for Dr. Terry Root’s chapter about the disruptive climate change-related
effects on bird migration at the onset of spring and fall, in the latest
report of the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change.
AS
GLOBAL WARMING
As part of the strategy to spread the word on climate
change, Desiree McGraw, a long-time green activist will be bringing Al Gore’s
An Inconvenient Truth presentation to Montreal. The former American Vice
President has been training people (1000 so far, mostly Americans) to adapt
his slideshow for smaller, local groups. McGraw is one of the twenty
Canadians chosen to learn, modify, and present An Inconvenient Truth. She has adapted it to connect on a
personal level and has provided a translation into French.
EmD
The Gazette, Michelle Lalonde.
April 16, 2007
GLOBAL WARMING
Al Gore
Germany has proposed to go beyond EU targets of CO2 reduction, and cut its
carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent within 13 years. This objective will
make it the most energy-efficient country in the world. Plans to reach the
ambitious target will include enlisting industry’s help, as well as the
promotion of incentives to change domestic travel from plane use to rail
transportation.
EmD
The Gazette. Agency France-Presse.
April 27, 2007. A3
GLOBAL WARMING
Germany
An international study published in the April 26th
Issue of Science, has revealed that
destructive global warming occurred 55 million years ago. Volcanic activity
caused the release of greenhouse gasses and raised surface water
temperatures. History could be repeating itself: as Earth temperatures
increase, melting polar ice caps and changing weather patterns are considered
by scientists as evidence of global climate change.
EmD
Agence France Presse. April 27, 2007. A3
GLOBAL WARMING
A UN report on climate change was allegedly watered-down
by officials from a handful of countries who offered no scientific evidence
for their changes. It went from being a summary made for policy-makers to one made by
policy-makers to delay calls for urgent action. This emphasizes the need
to ensure that the final document be based on the best science.
EmD
The Gazette. Mike de Sonza (CanWest News Service). April 16, 2007.
GLOBAL WARMING
Politics
Within the next few years, China
is expected to surpass the U.S.A.
to become the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG). Official
Chinese targets aim to increase energy efficiency and drop industrial
pollutants by 10% between 2006 and 2010. However, the matter of other
countries having polluted their way to development, and America and Europe’s
high per capita pollution are still a concern.
EmD
The Economist, in The Gazette. April 30, 2007. A17.
GLOBAL WARMING
China
Health
Mothers who take selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSRIs, such as Prozac, Paxil,
and Zoloft, during the second half of their pregnancy are six times more
likely to give birth to babies with persistent pulmonary hypertension.
99% of mothers would deliver without a problem, so the probability of
complications is low. The possibility of the effect of the drug on a
fetus can only be observed after the medicine is on the market and in use
because for ethical reasons you can’t test medications on pregnant women.
ED
Stephanie Nano, The Gazette, Montreal – February 9, 2006, p. A15
HEALTH
Human Personality
Sharing secrets is a bonding experience. But knowing other people’s secrets
also empower us. Interestingly women share more secrets than men do. Why?
Women tend to be more verbal and talk more, psychologist Mary Harsany says.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – D1 – 15 January 2007 – Monique Polak
HUMAN PERSONALITY
Secrecy
Human Rights
Ivory Coast
produces 70% of the world’s cocoa. It also has a disturbingly high number of
child labourers working to grow that cocoa. One
study showed that 388 of 500 surveyed children in Oumé
district were either temporary or permanent cocoa plantation workers.
American politicians, foreign aid groups, and the International Labour Organization have all been working towards ending
the practice of child labour that is so prevalent
in Ivory Coast and neighbouring Ghana, another major cocoa
producer. The impoverished region will need aid, say officials, in
order to hire adult workers to farm the land.
SS
Todd Pitman, Associated Press – July 4, 2005
HUMAN RIGHTS—child labour
Hydroelectricity
Hydro-Québec announced a 5.3-per-cent rate hike. This article reviews
the cost of the raised prices for individual home owners and businesses as
well as asks experts about their views on the huge price increase. The
consensus is divided between whether or not the increase will help
conservation.
ED
The Gazette, Montreal,
March 4, 2006 – p. A3
HYDROELECTRICITY - Hydro-Québec
Immigrants
The term “Londonstani” refers to South Asian youth
living in London.
Journalist Gautam Malkani
was afraid the term would be altered from one of pride to one of insult after
the July 7th bombings in London
that killed 53 commuters and four bombers, three of whom were of Pakistani
descent. Malkani’s fear prompted him to turn
the term into the title of a book about the life of troubled Asian youth in London. The book,
geared toward the kids who “normally play their PlayStation,” was a huge
success. Malkani notes that Asian youth seem
to have become more assertive and aggressive in the early ‘90’s.
Criticism of the novel is that it is too conventional and at times
cliché.
NB
Jill Lawless, The Gazette, Montreal,
July 8, 2006, p. j6
IMMIGRANTS
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Los Angeles, New York, Montreal, and other major cities to fight against
proposed immigration reform in the United States. Protestors
said that they “wanted to prove to people that the United States depends on
us.” The multi-city protest, called A Day Without Immigrants, brought
several U.S.
cities to a standstill to protest against legislation that would crack down
on 12 million illegal workers in the country. Hispanics are now the largest
minority group in the country, with 1.1 million to 1.2 million new migrants,
both legal and illegal, entering the United States each year.
TA
Cox News Service, The Gazette, Montreal, May
2, 2006, p. A2
Sheldon Alberts, Canwest
News Service, The Gazette, Montreal,
May 2, 2006, p. A3
IMMIGRANTS
Infectious Diseases
Avian flu reached Nigeria
and the Middle East, killing wild birds en
masse. Officials have done little to stop the spread despite citizens’
pleas.
ED
Associated Press, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 15, 2006 – p. A17
INFECTIOUS DISEASES – avian flu
There have been reports of pet birds being destroyed in Abu Dhabi and other regions are temporarily
prohibiting the import of wild birds destined for pet trades. These are
defensive measures against the spread of avian flu, a potential pandemic that
has thus far infected 120 people since 2003. Most cases of the flu
originate from human to poultry contact and experts have not reached a
consensus regarding migratory birds spreading the disease.
ED
David Bird, The Gazette, Montreal,
October 30, 2005 – p.B8
INFECTIOUS DISEASES – Avian flu
Polio has returned after an outbreak in Nigeria
reached Yemen.
Children have received vaccinations against polio because Yemen had
been polio-free for four years. As a result, one fourth of all polio
cases in 2005 occurred in the poor region of Hudaydah, Yemen.
ED
Paul Garwood, The Gazette, Montreal,
October 5, 2005 – p. A16
INFECTIOUS DISEASES – Polio
Insects
As though the big ice storm in Quebec
in 1998 didn’t cause enough problems, this lingering effect appears to be at
least as frustrating a challenge for some people in the Montréal area.
Carpenter ants have flourished in the “wet, rotting conditions” created by
fallen trees and branches.
SS
The Gazette, Montréal - A1 - 9 June 2005 - Susan Semenak
INSECTS
Ice Storm of l998
Robert Hall from the University
of Missouri is a
forensic entomologist. The species and size of the larvae maturing in murdered
human bodies can help identify the location and time of death. These two
pieces of information are sometimes crucial to solving crime cases. Evidence
provided by these insects haved help convict or
clear people and have even been useful in civil cases.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A3 – 6 January 2007 – Claudia Dreifus
INSECTS
Law
Kinship
A new term, “adultescence”, describes adults who
choose to live with their parents because of the benefits of housing and
economic support. The number of twenty-somethings
living with their parents in Canada
has reached 41 percent over the last two decades. This could have long
term effects on society.
ED
Misty Harris, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 20, 2006 – p. A10
KINSHIP
Languages
Knowing two or more languages delays onset of senile dementia for about 5
years. Crosswords and other similar mental games are similarly helpful in
delaying memory loss.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A9 –12 January 2007
LANGUAGES
Alzheimer
Engineers at the language Technology Research Centre in Gatineau, Quebec, are developing a translator software that will
distinguish and pick the proper contextual meaning for a word with multiple
definitions and will accurately transcribe expressions. They are first
working on translating French Québécois idioms into English but plan to
expand from Spanish, German, Chinese and Finnish translation into English.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A16 - 27 January 2007 – Dave Rogers
LANGUAGE
Québécois
Graham Fraser asserts in his new book that bilingualism is failing in Canada.
But in Montreal
exchanges between individuals often occur in two languages. He argues that
there has been a remarkable adoption of French by Montreal Anglophones. The
author cites many instances where bilingualism hasn’t been a complete
failure, such as parents lining up to get their children into French
immersion schools in B.C.
JC
The Montreal Gazette, March 7, 2006
LANGUAGES
Quebec
Few non-francophones ever grasp the fine art of
swearing in Québécois because it sounds
closer to prayer than profanity. To swear in Québécois, you must stop
thinking sexually and start thinking spiritually, using religious words like calisse! (chalice!) and tabernac!
(Tabernacle!). Only Quebec
has kept religion at the core of it’s swearing. An
Internet dictionary called the “Swearasaurus” lists
major curses for more than 150 languages – and all except Quebec French use
mostly sexual slurs.
TA
Josh Freed, The Gazette, Montreal,
May 27, 2006
LANGUAGE – Swear Words
The English language does not have an equivalent to the Yiddish machetunim, meaning the members of a spouse’s extended
family. Despite the large vocabulary of English, it lacks many words
that are common in other languages that describe specific family relationships.
Latin has distinctions between maternal and paternal uncles (avunculus and patruus), as does
Swedish (morbror and farbror).
On a similar note, in the last 200 years, more than 80 suggestions have been
made for the pronoun of unknown gender. “thon”
served this purpose and was printed in Webster’s Dictionary until the
1960’s.
NB
Howard Richler, The Gazette, Montreal, March 18, 2006, p. J8
LANGUAGE
Words
It is common for twins to speak their own language, but Luke and Jack
Ryan, at 4 years old, have created a language incomprehensible to anyone but
themselves and are incapable of speaking in English sentences. In an
attempt to break the habit, they have been sent to school.
ED
Paul Stokes, The Gazette, Montreal,
March 4, 2006 – p. A26
LANGUAGE – kinship
The European Union has decided to recognize Irish Gaelic as an official
language of the EU. One reader, Michael Helfield,
parallels Irish Gaelic’s suppression at the hands of a colonial power to that
of the Sioux language of the American plains. Helfield
advocates the preservation of aboriginal languages and the recognition of
those languages as not only valid but as valuable.
SS
Michael Helfield, letter to the editor, The
Gazette, Montreal
-- June 15, 2005
LANGUAGE
Language extinction
In 2021 half the languages spoken in the world are under threat, according
to UNESCO. In Africa alone, 250 languages
could be lost forever of 1400 languages spoken by 700 people or more, with
another 500 on decline. The danger of language extinction appears to be most
serious in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Tanzania, and Sudan. A
language is in danger when spoken by fewer than 30 % of its children. Over
the past several centuries, languages have died at an increasing rate,
especially in the Americas
and Australia.
One bright sidenote is Cornish, a language extinct
in l777, which is now back from its near-dead in the eighteenth century,
spoken by 1000 people currently as their second language.
UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=7856&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
http://www.cornish-language.org/
LANGUAGE
Language extinction
Malapropism are common in everyday
language. A large amount stem are spoken by children, such as backyarden and frontyarden, and
a rainbrella. Yet adults have spoken them
too. More often then not, francophones
speaking English slip up.
ED
Howard Richler, The Gazette, Montreal
LANGUAGE – words
Malapropisms
The world’s foremost phonetician, Peter Ladefoged,
passed away. He worked on Hollywood
sets, with police and forensics, and in remote villages worldwide documenting
endangered languages and examining speech patterns. He wrote the widely
used book, A Course in Phonetics.
ED
Margalit Fox, The Gazette, Montreal
LANGUAGE
Literacy
55% of Canadians cannot properly read and follow the instructions on
medication labels. Seniors score the worse: 90% of them are misreading the
instructions. Deficiency in “health literacy” leads to problems such as dosing
errors, misinterpretation of blood glucose scores for diabetics and
overlooking warning labels. Contrary to our U.S.
neighbours, no health literacy test exists in Canada. How can we solve this
puzzling glitch? Prescriptions need to be worded in simpler terms or
pharmacists ought to teach people how to read labels.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A14 – 27 January 2007 – Sharon Kirkey
LITERACY
Health
Literature
Can the argument between evolution and creationism be extended to the field
of literature? David and Nanelle Barash argue for a Darwinian interpretation of literature
and art, attempting to explain why art has evolved as it has. But, in a
letter to the editor, Billy Toufexis of Pierrefonds,
Quebec took exception to such a
concept, calling it a “simplistic” and “dehumanizing” idea that cheapens not
only artists but also human existence as a whole.
SS
The Gazette, Montreal
– June 5, 2005
LITERATURE
Darwinism
The International Parliament of Writers opens its website. The
journal Autodafe, appearing in eight languages,
adds a multilingual Internet site christened www.autodafe.org, which serves
as a relay and an extension of the publication¹s initiative. A wide selection
of writings published in the review Autodafe is
available on the site in four languages (French, English, Spanish and Portugese), and original articles in French and English
will also be inserted regularly. The site’s three captions respond to
its aim of addressing current world affairs, literary efforts and
issues
dealt with by writers today:
-Writings of authors giving
their perspectives of given social or political situations, such as violence
or the death penalty in the United States, the Basque dilemma, the Zapatista
movement in the Mexican province of Chiapas, war in the Balkans, contemporary
Russia, etc…
-Interviews with authors
from all points of the world such as Afghanistan, Congo-Brazzaville, Cuba,
Algeria, China and Iraq, who are being hosted in Asylum Cities and whose
individual experiences strike a singularly common note with those of their
colleagues.
-Analyses and thoughts on
literary creativity, on its link to the society that produces it and on the
current status of cultural activities and the examples of censoring currently
practiced in the world.
Autodafe.org provides more general coverage of
the International Parliament of Writers and the Asylum City
network. The Parliament’s history, a complete description of the Asylum
Cities program, a list of cities and regions that are members of the network,
as well as a presentation of writers hosted there and selections of some of
their works are included on the site. The site also houses a “Bookstore”
section containing unpublished literary works that have been censored throughout
the world. The editorial section of Autodafe, both
the publication and the Internet site, is intended to provide the following:
-reactivate
exchange—nowadays injured not only by censorship but also by the hegemony of
the
media—between writers of the five continents.
-to make
known contemporary literary works that are difficult to obtain because they
appear in minor
languages, are excluded because of a lack of
funding, or are censored by political or religious powers.
-to give the
opportunity of self-expression, not only to individuals but also to peoples
and experiences struck mute, to vanishing cultures, to endangered languages.
The
international journal Autodafe is published through
a partnership of nine editors including Agra
in Athens, Asa in
Porto, Anagrama in Barcelona,
Denoël in Paris, Feltrinelli in Milan, Pangloss in Moscow,
Serpent’s Tail in London, Seven Stories Press
in New York, and Ikusager
in Vitoria,
in the Spanish Basque country.
AS
Issue number two can be accessed at:
http://www.autodafe.org/autodafe/autodafe_02/autodafe_02.htm.
LITTERATURE
Human rights
Lives of the Naturalists
S.J. Gould is dead. Among the theories, discoveries, and ideas credited
to his name: punctuated equilibrium (evolutionary change is not slow and
steady, but advances rather in sudden spurts and spasms followed by long
periods of sameness); ontogeny and phylogeny; the thesis that not every
feature of an organism exists for some adaptive purpose (cf. spandrel in
architecture); the structure of evolutionary theory.
AS
LIVES OF THE NATURALISTS
David Suzuki has written an autobiography touching on features of his
childhood, such as his time spent in internment camps in B.C’s
interior during World War II. Later in his childhood he moved to Ontario. He was
bullied as a child for being Sansei, a grandchild of immigrants, and being
unable to speak Japanese. He has always had a sense of being an “other”. As
an adult he has tried to warn an international audience about looming
environmental disasters. Through his television show he has educated the
public about the fight to save the Amazon Rainforest, and to end
clear-cutting on B.C’s Queen Charlotte
Islands. As a university professor he spoke out against the potential
abuse of genetic research. He says that after he dies his hope is that his
grandchildren will say his life work has helped the world become a better
healthier place.
JC
Lisa Fitterman, The Montreal Gazette, May 27, 2006
LIVES OF NATURALISTS
David Suzuki
Mammals
Canada
has declining herds of woodland caribou. The government needs to act to
protect them to ensure their survival. This species could disappear from Alberta with in the
next decade. Their decline is evident in provinces from the Yukon
to Newfoundland.
The Caribou are extremely vulnerable to industrial landscape pressures. A
report by CPAWS calls for connected protected areas to be developed and for
governments to change land use policies. Newfoundland,
Alberta and Manitoba have initiated plans to help the
caribou. Part of the challenge is garnering public support.
JC
John Cotter, The Montreal
Gazette, May 29, 2006
MAMMALS
Caribou
World’s oldest known beaver was swimming around 164 million years ago in China. This
beaver, now extinct, seems to be an amalgam of animals. Finding mammals that
existed during this period is rare because mammals didn’t take over as a
dominant group until 100 million years after Little Castorocauda
luxtrasimilis went swimming. It is the largest
known Jurassic early mammal, and the first known to have lived in water.
JC
Tom Spears, The Montreal
Gazette, February 24, 2006
MAMMALS
Beaver
Translocated lynx individuals from Canada have helped the dwindling Colorado lynx
population to rebound. However, despite some new evidence, the state of New Mexico does not
recognize the lynx as a native species and permits the cat’s hunt. A court
case is underway to decide on the lynx’s fate in New Mexico.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A29 – 13 May 2006 – Randy Boswell
MAMMALS
Cats
How deep underwater can emperor penguin go? 1,650 feet or 500 meters.
Interestingly, a team of scientists found that the energy spent by the
penguins during their fish hunting dives was minimal. That is, they spent the
same amount of energy racing after their prey 500 meters below than they
would if they just were handed the food. How can they do it? They decrease
their heart beats by two or three times its normal rate, thereby minimizing
energy loss.
ML
Wildlife Conservation® - June 2005 pages 38-42
MAMMALS
Penguins
Death
The Atlantic Walrus, whose range used to span over Nova
Scotia and Massachusetts,
has been declining in numbers at an alarming rate. Unsustainable hunting in Greenland appears to be responsible, but scientists
fear that lack of a management plan for the species, added to global warming
effects, will only make things worse. COSEWIC, the Committee on the Status of
Endangered Wildlife in Canada,
is pushing for a Special Concern status for the species.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A12 – 29 May 2006 – Dene Moore
MAMMALS
Walrus
Bruno was part of the reintroduction program of bears into Northern Italy. The bear crossed the Italian
border into Germany
and was shot by government-sanctioned hunters. This was the first wild
bear seen in Germany
since 1835. The Environment Minister of Germany who gave permission to
kill the bear has received death threats.
NB
Roland Losch, The Gazette, Montreal, June 27, 2006, p. A12
MAMMALS
Bears
Canada’s leading polar bear expert, Ian Stirling,
challenges Tim Flannery’s claim that polar bear will be extinct around the
year 2030. While Stirling
states that climate change poses a serious threat to polar bear, they will
not disappear in this time period. Stirling argues that polar bear will only
disappear when there is no year-round ice coverage, and this will only happen
for “thousands and thousands of years.” While Stirling challenges Flannery’s statement
about extinction, he has studied the effects of climate change on the
species. The Hudson Bay polar bear
population, which he has studied for decades, has decreased in weight by 15
to 20% and has 20% fewer individuals.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
April 29, 2006, p. A18
MAMMALS
Bears
Polar Bears
Bridgitte Bardot
stated she is appalled by Canada’s seal hunt and calls for “the massacre” to
stop. The 71-year-old French actress said she may never return to Ottawa on account of
the hunt.
NB
Bruno Shlumberger, The Gazette, Montreal, March 23, 2006, p. A10
MAMMALS
Seals
Ottawa has
set the 2006 harp seal hunt limit to 325,000 animals, which is similar to the
limit that has been set for the last three years. The Department of
Fisheries and Oceans state in response to concerns about ice conditions for
hunting, that they are not ideal but not unprecedented in the area. The
International Fund for Animal Welfare says the quota is “unbelievable.”
Currently, the harp seal population off Canada’s east coast is 6 million, triple what it was in the 1970’s. The industry
of seal hunting is valued at about $16 million a year. For the years
2003 to 2005, the quota was set at 975,000. In the early 1990’s hunters
killed about 60,000 animals a year, but that number has been rising.
Baby seals (less than 12 days old), known as white coats are illegal to hunt,
and most seals are hunted when they are about 25 days old.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
Thursday, March 16, 2006, p. A14
MAMMALS
Seals
Luna, the solitary male orca who has lived off the coast of Vancouver since 2001,
was killed by the propeller of a tugboat. Luna sometimes damaged
equipment of fishermen, upsetting them and rumors began that some fishermen
wanted to harm Luna. However, the death of Luna appears to be
completely by accident. The Mowachaht/Muchalaht
First Nation believed Luna (known by them as Tsux’iit)
was the spirit of their deceased chief. The federal government had a
$10,000 stewardship program with the First Nation to keep the whale away from
boats.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
Saturday, March 11, 2006, A12
MAMMALS
Whales
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service developed a new plan to protect the Florida panther, which
is federally listed as endangered. At the same time, opponents are
questioning authenticity of the distinction between the Florida panther and the common
cougar. Genetics tests show they are more similar than previously thought, this could change the needs to protect this
predator.
ED
Peter Whoriskey, The Gazette, Montreal, February 26, 2006 – p. A23
MAMMALS – Big cats
Elephants in Uganda
with the equivalent of pachyderm post-traumatic stress disorder, are taking
revenge on humans for the breakdown of elephant society. The stress is
remnant from witnessing the slaying of family members or being orphaned in
the 1970s and 1980s. To protect themselves, humans are shooting
ferocious gangs of elephants but this perpetuates the problem.
ED
Roger Highfield, The Gazette, Montreal – January 6,
2006, p. A22
MAMMALS – elephant poaching
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
A new species of dolphin has been identified. The Australian Snubfin Dolphin (Orcaella heinsohni) was confirmed as a new species by observations
made by scientists in Queensland, Australia and by a genetic study in La Jolla, California.
Isabel Beasley (of James Cook University’s School of Tropical Environmental
Studies and Geography), one of the two Australian researchers) pointed out
that the Australian Snubfin Dolphin is at risk
of accidentally being caught in fishing nets because they live in such
shallow waters. Beasley also noted that the dolphins were under threat from
“the effects of coastal development.”
SS
Associated Press – July 6, 2005
MAMMALS—dolphins
Endangered species
Thought you were special? Well, think again. Macaque monkeys have been
found to have in their brains something called Broca’s
area, which had been thought for a long time to set humans apart from other
primates in our ability to speak and express sophisticated ideas.
SS
Peggy Curran, The Gazette, Montreal
– July 4, 2005
MAMMALS—primates
A research study claims to have proved that dolphins have culture, which
is defined in this case as “a behaviour that is
acquired by imitation and passed on in a population.” Behaviours
are, of course, consistent from one generation to the next of any species,
but the distinction is that some species learn behaviours
because they are genetically predisposed to do so, whereas others—like the
dolphins in question—do so because they observe the conduct other members of
their community. The study found that a group of dolphins near Australia had
passed on to its children (exclusively from mothers to daughters) the
practice of using a sea sponge as a protective tool during foraging by
wearing the sponges on their noses. It had been previously believed
that only primates passed on cultural practices.
SS
Rob Stein, The Gazette, Montreal
– June 29, 2005
MAMMALS—dolphins
On June 5, 2005, a grizzly bear killed a jogger in Canmore, Alberta.
Isabelle Dubé, a Quebec-born mountain biker, was
jogging with 2 friends when they were attacked by the bear. The bear
was identified as the same one that had been removed from the area just a
week before the attack. In this first encounter, officials were able to
tranquilize the grizzly and transport it to a location inside Banff National Park. The bear was being
monitored after having been fitted for a radio collar, but was nevertheless
able to leave the park. Fish and wildlife officers killed the grizzly
later in the day that Dubé was attacked.
SS
Robert Remington, Canwest; and Alex Dobrota,
The Gazette, Montreal
– June 7, 2005
MAMMALS—bears
Canada
has increased its quota of baby harp seal skins to record levels. The
clubbing of baby seals, as young as twelve days old, caused a global outcry
from animal rights activists and environmentalist in the 1970’s successfully
shutting down the US and European markets and forcing a virtual collapse of
the hunt. New markets emerging in Russia,
Ukraine and Poland have
fueled the revival of the industry, raising the price paid for a top grade
skin to similar prices of the 1970’s. The revival is made possible
because the seal population was allowed to replenish during the long hunting
slump, tripling in numbers since 1970.
The federal government will allow the killing of up to 350,000 baby harp
seals, or one in three born. Tougher hunting rules and regulations will
try to put to an end the inhumane actions of the 1970’s such as clubbing very
young seal pups and then skinning them alive. Seal hunting is worth about
$39 million annually to the Newfoundland
economy.
AR
Clifford Krauss, The Gazette, Montréal, April 5, 2004
MAMMALS
Seals
Winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, author J.M. Coetzee’s
new novel, Elizabeth Costello, raises the question: By raising billions of
animals a year in often squalid conditions before brutally slaughtering them
for their meat and skin, are we all complicit in ‘a crime of stupefying
proportions?’ Coetzee thinks that history
will one day “judge us harshly as it judges the Germans who went about their
ordinary lives in the shadow of Treblinka.”
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
October 14, 2003
MAMMALS
Vegetarianism
How often do porcupines do it? Very carefully and very often. Improbable
as it seems, a porcupine copulates every day, 365 days a year, whether it is
in breeding season or not.
AS
Natalie Angier, The New York
Times, 7/10/01
MAMMALS
A male insect-eating mammal known as an almiqui,
native to Cuba
but believed for years to be extinct, has been found in the island’s eastern
mountains. The creature looks like a brownish woolly badger with a long,
pink-tipped snout and can measure up to about 19 inches.
AR
MAMMALS
Cuba
It is believed that a series of domestication events that
took place in East Asia that have lead to
the dog becoming mans best friend. Initially, dogs would have
adopted humans as a protector, provider and best friend. In return the
early wolf-like animals helped humans hunt. After that, the dogs
followed where humans went, including migrating to the Americas.
Living with humans and sharing the environment for thousands of years also
caused dogs to develop some of the same genetic health problems, from cancer
to night blindness. Researchers are now mapping the dog genome, as it
is closer to the human genome than the mouse. From this researchers
hope to learn the genetic basis for many diseases that affect both dogs and
humans.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal
Paul Recer
MAMMALS
Dogs
The
two-part documentary “The Rise of the Dog” and “Dogs by Design” follows the
history of the first domesticated animal and its proliferation around the
world. It explores the theory that the explosion of breeds has made dogs the
most varied species on the planet.
EmD
The
Gazette, by David Krouke (L.A. Daily News). April 22, 2007
MAMMALS
Dogs
Japan intensified its
efforts to end an 18-year international moratorium on commercial whaling,
contending at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission that
nearly 3,000 Minke whales could be safely hunted
annually in the seas around Antarctica
without threatening that species. Japan threatened to pull out of
the organization, created in 1946 to protect whales, if it did not gain
concessions.
The New York Times
AR
MAMMALS
Whaling
According to Great Britain’s Daily Express newspaper, Charles Dickens
coined the term “polar bear,” which was called a “white bear” before.
SS
Michael Kesterton, The Globe & Mail, Toronto
MAMMALS—bears
The news about the 100 to 400 remaining spirit bears, a
recent item in the Montreal Gazette reports, is much more heartening. The
100,000-hectare Great Bear Rainforest has been set aside in British Columbia for this rare white
subspecies of black bear, also known as the kermode.
AS
MAMMALS—bears
In an attempt to avert their extinction by a contagious cancer that causes
facial tumors, Tasmanian Devils are being relocated to an island off Australia’s
coast. There is hope that the disease will be wiped out and that healthy
individuals can eventually be reintroduced. However, concerns remain that the
relocation will have an unpredictable impact on the island’s ecology.
EmD
The Gazette, Red McGuirk
(Associated Press). April 21, 2007
MAMMALS
Marsupials
The slaying of 39 Labrador
caribou, some from herds near extinction, is currently being investigated.
The mammals are protected under Newfoundland
and Labrador’s Endangered Species Act.
Efforts towards a Labrador-Quebec Caribou recovery plan have been hindered by
the recent slaughters.
EmD
The Gazette. Canwest News
Service. May 1st 2007.
MAMMALS
Caribou (n.c.)
Media
When issuing a press release regarding the depiction of Prophet Muhammad in
the Danish newspaper Jullands-Postend, the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights equated the offensive cartoons and
ensuing mayhem and bloodshed. The article accentuates the double
standards of the entire incident.
ED
Dan Gardner, The Gazette, Montreal
– p. A11
MEDIA
The
International Press Institute (IPI) reports that an unprecedented number of
journalists, 100 worldwide, were killed in 2006. Of these, 46 victims were in
Iraq, 10 in the Philippines, 7 in Mexico,
and 5 in Sri Lanka.
EmD
Norman
Webster. The Gazette. April 29, 2007. A15
MEDIA
Mineral Consumerism
Less than 1% of the marketed diamonds is funding armed conflicts. However, if
one considers smuggled diamonds and deplorably abusive mining labour conditions, it is rather 20% of the diamonds on
the market that supports somewhat fraudulous
activities. The recent Hollywood
flick, Blood Diamond, raised awareness on this issue but awkwardly too late.
The central African “diamond wars” denounced in the movie are
now finishing and governments are building a system aiming to legitimize the
market. This system, the Kimberly Process, although still flawed and
inefficient, is a step forward to giving the diamond more legitimacy.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A19 -8 January 2007 – Lynne Duke
MINERAL CONSUMERISM
Conflict diamonds
Mining
Alcan Inc. is the second largest producer of Aluminium in the world and operates in 61 countries.
Would it be possible that such a large company distinguished itself through
its efforts to put in place sustainable development measures? Indeed, Alcan Inc. was awarded the Prize of Sustainability in
2006 and the World Environment Council’s gold medal for International
Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development in 2007. Yet,
environmentalists are blaming Alcan for “greenwashing” its activity, suggesting that the company
whose production has increased by 40% cannot decrease it emissions by 25% at
the same time..
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – C1 -5 May 2007 – Lynn Moore
MINING
Alcan
Aluminium
Noranda, a Canadian mining company, hopes to built an aluminum smelter in Patagonia, Chile.
Opponents are afraid that past cases of Noranda not
fulfilling their promises of high environmental standards will jeopardize the
beauty of the land. Noranda believes they are
technologically advanced and can economically help a poor region.
ED
Michelle LaLonde
MINING – aluminum
Modern Grid
On Thursday August 14, 2003 at 4:10.48, the New England
power grid shutdown, resulting in a massive blackout. This occurrence
was not the first massive electricity blackout, but it is a reminder of the
fragility of the system and our growing dependence on its existence.
ED
James Glanz, The New York Times, August 17, 2003 –
section 4-1
MODERN GRID – electricity
Modern Culture
French officials warn Canada that although the country has an impressive
multicultural policy, it needs to integrate immigrants more into the
“Canadian way of life” to prevent the type of disruptions that France
experienced with the Muslim riots recently. Toronto
is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, and 13% of
legislators are foreign born, compared to 11% in Australia
and 2% in the US.
Currently there are 650 million people in the world that live outside their
native countries, and that number is expected to double in the next 30 years.
NB
Hubert Bauch, The Gazette, Montreal, June 15, 2006, p. A13
MODERN CULTURE
Immigrants
Is globalization on the decline, and is this a positive thing for national
sovereignty and governmental social programs? Canadian essayist John Ralston
Saul believes so, as he writes in his book “The Collapse of Globalism,” published in 2005. Jay
Bryan, a columnist for The Gazette (Montreal)
disagrees, citing, in essence, the inevitability that globalization and its
inherent (in his opinion) economic benefits will win out over nationalism and
government regulation, particularly in places like China
and India.
SS
Jay Bryan, The Gazette, Montreal
— June 19, 2005
MODERN CULTURE—globalization
Leather basketballs are being replaced by “composite” leather basketballs
in the NCAA Championships. These composite balls are, in fact, not
leather at all. One more example of a synthetic substance (the excrement of
oil as Mailer calls plastic) replacing a real one.
AS
http://www.sgma.com/press/2002/press1024423517-10258.html
MODERN CULTURE—denaturalization
Wayne Grady has written a book, “Bringing Back the Dodo,” which suggests
that Homo sapiens may be the most domesticated species of all. In the
book, Grady brings up topics such as what is a species that originated in
subtropical grasslands doing with millions of individuals living in regions
where the temperature drops to -20? He touches upon topics such as what
is natural and what is unnatural, and how have we adapted our environment
instead of adapting to our environment, as Darwin would have suggested? Grady
describes the poor state of our Earth, but stays away from doomsday
predictions.
NB
Eric Boodman, The Gazette, Montreal, April 1, 2006, p. J5
MODERN CULTURE
Environment
Natural History
These days, children are spending less and less time playing outdoors, and
when they are outside, it is rare to find them without the supervision of a
coach or parents. The situation has become so bad, that one parenting
magazine included tips on how to play backyard games and climb trees.
One newspaper columnist has coined the term “nature-deficit disorder.”
At the same time, obesity rates are on the rise. There is growing
concern about the next generation of environmentalists if children today are
more likely to be inside playing video games than exploring outside.
NB
Peggy Crowley, The Gazette, Montreal,
March 31, 2006, p. A21
MODERN CULTURE
Children
Mushrooms
The eight-meter tall fossil of a mysterious organism, found on the Gaspé Peninsula, has stumped
scientists for 150 years. A US
research team has recently determined that the specimen was a “humongous
fungus.” Their findings are published in the May issue of Geology.
EmD
Randy Boswell. The Gazette. April 24, 2007. A1.
MUSHROOMS
Music
Sam Gesser received the heritage award from the
Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Thanks to Gesser,
more than 100 Canadian folk artists were produced on the New York label Folkways. He also brought
out to Montréal Janis Joplin, Glenn Gould, Peter Seeger,
and Joan Baez to name a few. Before him nobody has distributed Folkways in Canada.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – D1 - 26 January 2007 - Juan Rodrigez
MUSIC
Folk music
Nature
Electronic media such as video games are to blame for
“nature deficit disorder.” Kids are experiencing virtual nature
through their TV and Xbox and are neglecting to go out and experience the
wild “live”.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – i4 – 13 January 2007 – Tyler Todd
NATURE
Nature deficit disorder
Quote of the day in the Montreal Gazette, “The subtlety of nature is
greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.”
(Sir Francis Bacon).
JC
The Montreal Gazette
NATURE
definitions of
Neuroscience
Asymmetric tail wagging in dogs gives clues about how they feel about someone
or something. In the 20th issue of Current Biology Italian, scientists
revealed their results: when a dog is wagging its tail to the right they feel
secure and on familiar ground When the animal is facing danger, the tail wags more to the left. Thus, just like for humans,
dogs’ left brain controls the right side of the body and is stimulated by
positive feelings like love, feeding and calmness, while the right brain,
stimulated by energy expenditure, fear and rapid heart beats, controls the
left side of the body.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A3 – 25 April 2007 – Sandra Blakeslee
NEUROSCIENCE
Animal neurophysiology
The word’s first study of chronic déjà vu has begun at University of Leeds.
Chronic déjà vu sufferers are constantly overcome with the sensation that
something new has happened before and the more novel the event, the more
likely they will get sensations of déjà vu. This can be very
problematic, and before these people were often misdiagnosed.
ED
Sharon Kirkey, The Gazette, Montreal, February 13, 2006, p. A2
NEUROSCIENCE - déjà vu
To sleep on a decision is a good thing according to researchers at the University of Amsterdam. When presented with
complex decisions, participants better selected the best option after
sleeping rather than in consciousness. Sleeping, therefore, is not
procrastination but an effective tool.
ED
NEUROSCIENCE
Nutrition
Health Canada
urges Canadians to replace half of their daily grain intake with enriched
white flour that contains folic acid, a preventative against birth
defects. Other experts, such as professors at the Harvard School of
Public Health, says the benefits of a reduction in whole grain products is
unlikely to help more than whole grain products.
ED
Elizabeth Payne, The Gazette, Montreal,
March 4, 2006 – p. A12
NUTRITION – health
Oceans
A new small inshore cod fishery for the northeast coast of Newfoundland has just been opened. This
commercial fishery is a one-year pilot project. It is the first time in three
years there has been a commercial cod fishery in the region. The fisherman
said this project would prove if there are fish to be had in the region.
Fisheries Minister Hearn said the fishery would be shut down if it were
abused. The previous fishery was shutdown in 2003 because of fears that
stocks had not recovered enough.
JC
Barb Sweet, The Montreal
Gazette, June 9, 2006
OCEANS
Fisheries
Cod
Scientists have successfully equipped narwhals with satellite tags north
of Greenland. The tags will record time, depth
and water temperature as the narwhals travel through up to 1.5km below sea surface in the frigid waters. Measurements like
these are rarely taken in the winter months. Therefore, the valuable
information they bring will help monitor the effects of climate change.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – j10 -5 May 2007 – Juliet Eilperin
OCEANS
Climate change
Narwhals
Reminiscent of the 15 years-old historic cod fisheries collapse, the Newfoundland fisheries
face today the plummeting of shellfish export prices. 700 jobs have already
been lost and more are forecasted. Since the ban on cod fisheries in 1992,
the industry turned to crab and shrimps. But competitors such as China and Alaska
are too powerful and Newfoundland
has no other alternative fisheries to exploit.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A12 - 22 May 2006 – Tara Brautigam
OCEANS
Fishing
Paleontologists in Italy
uncovered the remains of a 5-million-year-old and 10-meter-long whale. This
region of Tuscany
where the whale was found was under water at that time.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A23 -22 March 2007
OCEANS
Palaeontology
Whales
Killer whale sightings in western Hudson Bay
have increased by 5 times in 20 years. This increase is unexplained, but
seems to be correlated with the decrease in sea ice. On the top of the food
chain, pumped-up killer whale numbers means no good for other large mammals
such as belugas, narwhals, walruses and bowhead whales, on which Inuit people
depend. However, it is unclear if the increase in killer whales is a result
of global warming or due to the termination of commercial whaling activities
since the 1970s.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – 19 January 2007 – Bob Weber
OCEANS
Whales
Global warming
The world’s marine life is in serious trouble. The World Wildlife Fund
states that catches of bluefin tuna are occurring
at a rate 40% higher than internationally agreed limits. Controls of
commercial whaling have been lifted. There are dangerously low levels
of anchovy populations in the Bay of Biscay.
The Canadian government has reopened small-scale cod fisheries and is
allowing “recreational” cod fishing, with the fishermen in charge of catch
limit enforcements.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
July 6, 2006, p. A18
OCEANS
Marine Life
“Deep Sea 3D” is a documentary about the
earth’s oceans. 90% of big fish of big fish have disappeared over the
last 50 years. The film speaks about the ever-changing balance between
predator and prey, and rare footage of spawning of coral reefs, which happens
once a year on the 8th day after the full moon in August for only two hours.
NB
Kathryn Greenway, The Gazette, Montreal,
May 5, 2006, p. D10
OCEANS
A group of right whales has been sighted in the Bering
Sea. This is good news for the species, as it is
endangered after almost being hunted to extinction in the 1800’s. in 2004 a group of 17 were seen, and up until then the
most that had been seen in one place together was six.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
April 29, 2006, p. J11
OCEANS
Whales
Pirate fishermen are decimating fish populations. The bandits are
too wide-ranging and swift for regulatory agencies to respond.
Large-scale extinction are on the horizon if nothing
is done, according an assistant professor of biology at kalhousie University. Fikret
Berkes, a researcher chair at the University of Manitoba’s
Natural Resources Institute, states that
cooperative stewardship at multiple levels of authority needs to be
implemented. Villy Christensen from the University of British Columbia states that different
levels of management have been aware of the situation for over a decade and
have practiced this type of suggested cooperation.
NB
Charles Mandel, The Gazette, Montreal,
March 17, 2006, p. A10
OCEANS
Sharks
Fishing
The slaughter of sharks – they have suffered a 90%
decrease in the last 50 years-- has destabilizing consequences for marine
ecosystems, as shown by a 2007 Atlantic Ocean study. They are not only being
hunted for their flesh but dying en masse as bycatch
in nets cast for other fish. Sharkwater is a
documentary that emphasizes the need for environmental concern and policy
‘below the surface’. It seeks to rectify the public perception of sharks as a
deadly predator, and aims to increase awareness of other keystone species.
More info can be found on the website: www.sharkwater.com
EmD
The Gazette. Rob Stewart. April 22 2007.
OCEANS
Sharks
Due to its tendency to get caught in commercial salmon
nets, the basking shark was, until 1970, subject to a deliberate eradication
program instituted by the Canadian Government. This policy is reportedly to
blame for the disappearance of Canada’s longest fish, which has
been seen only six times in the past decade.
The Gazette. Dennis Bueckert
(Canadian Press). May 1st 2007.
EmD
OCEANS
Sharks
Extinction
A toxic algae bloom from Maine
to Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard, called a
“red tide,” forced the closure of shellfish harvesting in those areas in the
summer of 2005. It was the largest in decades, according the AP report. The
red tide can poison shellfish and the people who consume them.
SS
The Gazette, Montreal
– reproduced from an AP report
OCEANS
Fishing
The Great Turtle Race, between Costa Rica’s
Pacific Coast and the Galapagos, aims to raise
awareness on leatherback turtles in a creative way. The eleven female race
contestants can be monitored online.
EmD
April 16, 2007
OCEANS
Turtles
Oil
Guards foiled the first ever attack on a Saudi oil facility before it caused
any damage to the crucial facility. The attack did not affect
operations. Suspicions fell on Al-Qa’ida-linked
militants, a group that Saudi Arabian officials have been targeting in the
past three years.
ED
Hasan Jamali, The
Gazette, Montreal, February 25, 2006 – A16
OIL – Saudi Arabia
The world needs 85 million barrels of oil every day. With no
insulation (surplus production) against disruption to the production side of
the oil market and growing consumer demand, oil prices will continue to rise.
ED
Jay Bryan, The Gazette, Montreal,
February 25, 2006 – p. C1
OIL
Hyper-consumption
Iraq’s oil revenues should be used for humanitarian needs, not to pay for
the cost of war. How the United States determines to use
the oil will effect their worldwide reputation.
ED
Editorial, The New York Times, April 11, 2003 – p. A24
OIL – Iraq
Nigeria, the world’s
fifth-ranking supplier of oil to the United States – only has the
capacity to produce half of its own supply. The international market, violence in the Niger Delta, and politics have
resulted in long lines at gas stations, vandalism, and black markets in Lagos and other cities.
ED
Somini Sengupta, The New
York Times, April 11, 2003 – p. A4
OIL – Nigeria
If oil is the lifeblood of the modern economy, the so-called ‘chokepoints’
such as the Strait of Hormuz
are the primary arteries. They allow the transportation of millions of
barrels of crude oil, yet are so narrow and theoretically could be blocked.
Any move to block these conduits would choke energy markets, causing prices
to soar for consumers and businesses. While the probability of
squeezing a chokepoint remains small, it can’t be discounted in such volatile
times.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
March 12, 2003
Chris Varcoe, Canwest
News Service
OIL
Crude oil prices soared as the world waited to see if the United States would invade Iraq.
Experts assure that if the USA
invades victory will be swift and oil prices will drop like the last invasion
in the Middle East during the Persian Gulf
War.
ED
Chris Varcore, The Gazette, Montreal, March 10,
2003 – p. A14
OIL – world production and consumption
Militants’ ransom for the nine foreigners they held captive was a greater
share of oil wealth for Nigeria.
They threatened to continue to wreak havoc on the industry until changes were
made. Nigeria
is Africa’s top crude producer but remains poor.
ED
Edward Harris, The Gazette, Montreal, p. A7
OIL – Nigeria
Ozone
UV radiation from the sun is expected to be even higher than last summer,
when the UV index hit a record high of 11 on June 12. Several factors have
attributed to these high UV levels such as, the depletion of the ozone layer,
the 11-year sunspot cycle, and global warming.
JC
Marian Scott, The Montreal
Gazette, March 27, 2006
OZONE
A coalition of health groups, including the Canadian Cancer Society and
seven other health agencies, says it’s safe to go outside briefly without
sunscreen. Ultraviolet radiation in modest doses can help prevent
Vitamin D deficiencies. Although the health agencies do not recommend
hours a day or baking in the sun, a couple of minutes outside the peak UV
period, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. will benefit. Evidence is mounting
that UV radiation, a known carcinogen, can paradoxically lower the risks of
colorectal, prostate and breast cancer.
TA
Sharon Kirkey, Canwest
News Service, The Gazette, Montreal,
May 26, 2006
OZONE
Solar Radiation
The zero-tolerance policy for sun-exposure may expire soon: new research
shows that the sun’s ultraviolet rays benefit some key parts of the body and
help reduce risk of some cancers. Vitamin D and skin cancer researchers
will meet at the inaugural North American conference on ultraviolet rays to
discuss vitamin D and health.
ED
Don Harrison, The Gazette, Montreal,
March 2, 2006 – p. A3
OZONE
Ozone levels above the South Atlantic Ocean
have doubled since 1977 says a study in Science Express, the online edition
of the journal Science. They state the increase is probably due to a
doubling of African energy emissions, mostly increasing in the southern part
of the continent. As ozone levels rise, so too are hospital admissions
and emergency room visits as elevated ozone levels aggravate asthma and other
respiratory ailments. Ground level ozone has also been shown to
interfere with plant’s ability to produce and store food, reducing yields of
farmed soy beans, wheat and cotton.
AR
Jack Kasey, The Gazette, Montréal, May 14, 2004
OZONE
Paleoanthropology
New evidence confirms that humans spread out of Africa
50,000 years ago. A few teeth, stones and tools made of ivory were found near
Moscow and
were dated 45,000 old. A link was made between these items and a skull from South Africa of the same time frame revealing
the direction of the journey our human ancestors took to leave Africa. Modern humans originated in the African rift
valley 160,000 years ago.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A21 – 13 January 2007
PALEONANTHROPOLOGY
Paper
Industry
The budget of the Conservative party offers advantageous financial incentives
to the paper and pulp industries that switch to more environmental practices.
For instance, pulp and paper firms recycling one of their wastes, the “black
liquor,” by using it as a form of energy source.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A10 – 12 May 2006 – Glen McGregor
PAPER INDUSTRY
Bowater Inc, purchaser of Abitibi-Consolidated
Inc., suffered important first-quarter losses. Continued decline in newsprint
consumption and weak lumber markets have led to price declines. Fueled by a
decrease in newspaper circulation and the growing popularity of the internet,
US
newsprint consumption has decreased by 26 percent since 1999.
For
more information on Bowater, see Dispatch #20 : The Rape of the Cumberland Plateau
EmD
Christopher Donville and Rob
Delaney. The Gazette. April 27, 2007. B7.
PAPER INDUSTRY
Paleontology
British scientists claim to have found 40,000-year-old footprints in volcanic
ash in Mexico.
It had been previously believed that humans arrived in the Americas
13,500 years ago.
SS
Associated Press – July 5, 2005
PALEONTOLOGY
Prehistory of the Americas
A nearly complete skeleton of the sabre-toothed
cat Hoplophoneus was purchased by the Canadian Museum of Nature for display in the
museum’s new tertiary period exhibit. The Hoplophoneus
specimen came from South Dakota
where paleontologist Japheth Boyce found it on a ranch owned by his
family. The museum also purchased a pair of pygmy camels from the same
time period.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal.
George Kampouris
PALEONTOLOGY
Pesticides
Dr. Ron Matsusaki claims he sees abnormally high
cancer rates in West Prince Country, P.E.I. due to high use of agricultural
chemicals. Health authorities dispute his claims but are looking into
the use of agro-chemicals anyways. The province has recently released
new legislation to crack down on overusing these chemicals.
ED
Charles Mandel, The Gazette, Montreal
PESTICIDES – health
Poaching
Despite the 1989 ivory ban, elephant ivory is still being confiscated at the U.S. border.
In 2004, attempts to import illegal ivory were five times greater at the U.S. border
than for other countries. Americans buy the illegal goods through the
Internet from China,
which feeds the fraudulent trade. However, some ivory can be marketed. It is
the case for mammoth ivory, trophies from African countries that have
negotiated the practice and for the ivory that pre-dates the ivory ban. This
dual market (legal/illegal) is certainly complicating the law enforcement
against illegal ivory.
ML
Wildlife Conservation® - p. 22 - June 2005
POACHING
Mammals
Elephants
Poachers killed Olga, the first ever radio-collared Siberian tiger. She
was 14 years old and the most studied tiger. Out of the 23 tiger deaths
recorded by the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Siberian Tiger Project, 17
fell under the bullets of poachers, who also destroy the radio collar to
avoid to be tracked down.
ML
Wildlife Conservation® - p. 12 - June 2005
POACHING
Mammals
Tigers
Poetry
Wilma McDaniel, an American poet died at 88. Her work spoke to the people
from Oklahoma who restarted their life in
central California
during the1930s Great Depression. Nicknamed the “biscuits and gravy poet”
from one of her poems, she praised folk wisdom. McDaniel had to wait her 50s
to be discovered and published.
ML
The Gazette, Montr
Here’s a bulletin forwarded by David Simpson, a freelance environmental
editor in Kenya: For the
last twenty years, 10,000 bears in China have been imprisoned with
catheters draining their gall bladders for ingredients to produce shampoos,
aphrodisiacs, and “miraculous” remedies. As well, there is
heavy poaching of the black bear in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, also
for their gall bladders, which are sold to Asian agents, who also make
monthly stops at local convenience stores to buy ginseng roots as far north
as Vermont.
AS
POACHING
Mammals—bears
Pollution
Hundreds of atmospheric scientists are culminating a month long research
project about the air quality in Mexico
City. The poor air quality in Mexico City is due to many factors:
it is surrounded by mountains, the valley contain about 9 million vehicles,
oil refineries, a volcano, hundreds of thousands of leaky propane tanks used
with cooking stoves, and a population of 20 million people. Effects of
current air conditions include lodged particles under contact lenses and in
lungs as well as a worsening of allergies, asthma and colds. Research
is being done on the secondary pollutants that are created when the suns rays
alter emissions that are released into the air, as well as how particles
affect cloud formation and rain fall. Although conditions have been
improving over the past few years, they are still below basic health
standards.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
Sunday, April 2, 2006
POLLUTION
Air
A recent medical study shows that mercury previously common in some
vaccines does not increase the chance of developing autism, as was commonly
believed. About 200,000 Canadians live with the disorder today.
NB
Charlie Fidelman, The Gazette, Montreal, p. A7
POLLUTION
Toxic Contaminants
Mercury
Pope
The Pope Benedict XVI wrote a book on Jesus where he draws parallels between
the evangelical story and modern day “rape” and “pillage” of Africa by richer consumerism-oriented states.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A16 – 5 April 2007
POPE
Population
“Children of Men” is the must-see movie that shows an apocalyptic world
inspired by today’s concerns. An unidentified and incurable pandemic disease
prevents childbirth in the world’s human population, whose youngest
representative is 18 years old. Terror and war ravage all countries; refugee
camps abound and immigrants are caged and
treated as if they were brutal criminals. Yet, among this doom and gloom
world, an ordinary man, acted by Clive Owen, is trying to bring the only
known infant and his mother toward an uncertain safe place.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – D1 – 5 January 2007 – Jay Stone
POPULATION
Disease
Fiction
The perilous population growth rates predicted in the 1970s never became
reality. In fact, population growth has dropped from 2.1 percent per
year to 1.1 percent per year. We will reach out peak in 2050. This is
good news, but problems with the high population of the world will still
occur.
ED
Charles Enman, The Gazette, Montreal, February 25, 2006 – A19
POPULATION
A publication supported by the United Nations called “World Resources:
Managing Ecosystems to Fight Poverty” advocates stronger environmental
protection in order to reduce worldwide poverty. The report claims that
foreign aid and debt relief are oversimplified methods of fighting poverty.
Many of the world’s poor rely heavily on the environment: 75% of people in
poverty live in rural areas and are dependent on the environment for their
livelihoods.
SS
Richard Black, BBC News online environment correspondent -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4199138.stm
POPULATION
Poverty
Conservationism
Modern culture
Primary school teachers in New
Delhi have been ordered to find two volunteers for sterilization.
The order, given by magistrate Amrit Abhijat, is a new attempt to combat India’s population
explosion.
ED
Peter Foster, The Gazette, Montreal, p. A26
POPULATION – India
Quebec
The debate about Quebec’s nationality and sovereignty was kindled after
Stephen Harper’s speech in Quebec
City on St. Jean Baptiste
Day. Harper said the debate was, “a semantic argument that doesn’t
serve any real purpose.” Distinction is made between recognizing Quebec as a nation in
a sociological sense, and a political sense. Also, that not all
nationalists are sovereignist, but all sovereignists are nationalists. Lastly, there is
concern about who is truly Quebecois and whether native-born Quebecers extend
the definition to Anglophones and immigrants.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal, July 2, 3006, p. A13
QUEBEC
Sovereignty Culture
Nation- Statehood
Rainforest
7000 hectares of rainforest reserve in Uganda will be cut for a sugar
plantation in order to enhance the agriculture and industrial based economy.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A19 -22 March 2007
RAIN FOREST
Uganda
Sexual slavery
Worldwide, 10 million of children (17 years old or younger) work in
prostitution.
The worst brothels are in Cambodia,
Malaysia, Nepal, India
and Thailand.
Children are often drugged, then kidnapped and forced into prostitution. The
AIDS epidemic renders things worse. A myth widely believed in East and South Africa
circulates the idea that having sex with a virgin cures from AIDS. As a
result, young girls are sold at a higher price and end up dying before they
reach 20.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A19 -8 January 2007 – Nicolas D. Kristof
SEXUAL SLAVERY
Human rights
Religion
John Allen Jr., a respected Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic
Reporter, has finished a book about Opus Dei and sates that they are largely
a misunderstood, harmless group. The group exists within the Roman
Catholic Church and has fewer than 100,000 adherents. Supporters
describe the group as devout, like-minded believers who find salvation in
routine, daily work. Critics describe the group as elitist, masochistic
and anti-clerical. Allen says that the conception of members
self-inflicting pain is a tradition of the past and largely abandoned
today. The Da Vinci Code has recently brought
Opus Dei into the public eye, but the group has endured criticism long before
this popular book hit the printing press. Having been founded in Spain in
1928, it was quickly associated with Facism.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
Saturday, March 11, 2006, p. H9
RELIGION
Slavery
Rough Crossings, a non-fiction novel by Simon Schama,
is about the loyalist response of the colonist’s slaves during the American
Revolution. Thousands of slaves deserted the plantations to fight against the
revolutionaries. It is a historical account written by an academic scholar.
The slaves are the center of Schama’s story which
tells of their flight from the plantations; of their perch, temporary for
most, but permanent for a few, in Nova Scotia;
and of the migration of many others, in a great fleet of sailing ships to Sierra Leone.
JC
Neil Cameron, The Montreal
Gazette, May 27, 2006
SLAVERY
Sexual Slavery
Worldwide, 10 million of children (17 years old or younger) work in
prostitution.
The worst brothels are in Cambodia,
Malaysia, Nepal, India
and Thailand.
Children are often drugged, then kidnapped and forced into prostitution. The
AIDS epidemic renders things worse. A myth widely believed in East and South Africa
circulates the idea that having sex with a virgin cures from AIDS. As a
result, young girls are sold at a higher price and end up dying before they
reach 20.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A19 -8 January 2007 – Nicolas D. Kristof
SEXUAL SLAVERY
Human rights
Somalia
Fights between Islamic insurgents and Somali-Ethiopian troops killed 170
people in two days. Despite 14 attempts at peacemaking since 1991, the
country remains in a constant civil war. 40,000 people have fled Mogadishu in February
2007 to escape the violence. The African Union troops are insufficient to
stabilize peace.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A16 -23 March 2007 – Emmanuel Goujon
SOMALIA
In her latest book “Infidel”, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee and former Dutch
parliamentarian, recounts her life as a journey “from a world of faith to a
world of reason.” Known for denouncing the abuse of Islamic fundamentalism,
the 38-year-old black woman struggled to escape her fate: to marry a man she
has never met. She also describes her childhood, going from countries to
countries as a refugee, and how different her life as a black Muslim woman
was in each country. In the Netherlands,
she received death threats because she denounces the abuses done to many
Muslim women. Ayaan Hirsi
Ali is now a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in
Washington D.C.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – J3 -10 March 2007 – George Walden
SOMALIA
Women’s right
Solutions
French-language publisher Gallimard has gone green by using the most ecological paper
available and by centralizing printing and binding to produce the new Harry
Potter book. The paper used is classified as 100% post-consumer fiber, and
certified as processed chlorine-free. This paper, Enviro
100, is 3-10% is more costly than virgin fiber paper. Demand for post-
consumer paper still represents a small portion of the market; however, it is
growing.
JC
Lynn Moore, The Montreal
Gazette, September 28, 2005
SOLUTIONS
Paper
Survival Tips for Travelers
I recently recovered from another severe bout of resistant falciparum malaria (I nearly died of blackwater
fever, one of its complications, in the Peruvian Amazon in l976) which I
picked up in Congo and
came down with in the Adirondacks. The
minute you get the splitting headache, that means
your lariam tablets aren’t doing any good. Don’t
ask any questions, just pop three fancidars and a
cocktail of the antibiotics kotexin and doxycyline.
AS
SURVIVAL TIPS FOR TRAVELERS
Traditional People
“Bio-piracy” refers to acquiring biological resources without giving the
country of origin a chance to negotiate some of the profits. Often, the
chemicals are discovered by talking to locals who have used the substances
for hundreds of years; they deserve recognition, remuneration, and
respect. The International Convention on Biodiversity says a country
has the right to know if its genetic resources are being accessed but there
are no powers to police violators.
ED
Steven Edwards, The Gazette, Montreal
TRADITIONAL PEOPLE – intellectual property
Trees
The preferred wood for violin bows is something called Pernambuco wood. But there are only 2000 Pernambuco
trees left in the world, in northeastern Brazil. For some reason,
they aren’t being cultivated. My source, a Montreal violin-maker, doesn’t know why. Maybe
they can’t be cultivated.
AS
TREES
Tourism
An estimated 600,000 Western women have been sex-travelers at least once in
the past 25 years. Is this a type of prostitution in which the roles are
reversed, or the expression of women’s rights? At any rate, money is
involved, and this time the women from rich countries create havoc in poor
countries of the Caribbean. The men hired
for sex are called ‘beach boys” or “sanky panky”
are also becoming professionals at it. They investigate for possible sugar
mummies targeting the over 40-years-olds or young but over-weight women and
start a seductive game without mentioning money. At the end, the ties will be
kept and many Caribbean men use this situation in order to immigrate to Canada. In
the end, the person who is being exploited may not be clear.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – B3 – 6 January 2007 – Jeff Heinrich
TOURISM
Sex tourism
Traditional
Culture
On Siquijor, an island of the Philippines,
local herbalists use their knowledge to heal diseases that modern doctors
have failed to cure. The traditional healers collect their plants once a year
during the 40 days preceding Good Friday. One of them, Endoy,
has cured people of diabetes, seemingly incurable rashes, breast cancer, and
bloated stomachs. Patients fly in from as far as New
Jersey and Denmark
to be healed.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – h12 -5 May 2007 – Karl Wilson
TRADITIONAL CULTURE
Healing
The German movie, The White Masai, recounts the improbable story of a Swiss woman who
falls in love, marries and has a child with a Masai
tribe man in Kenya.
But this story is no fiction and was based on the bestseller by Corinne
Hofmann. Maybe because it really happened, this story allows the viewer to
reflect on cultural adaptation and different cultural values.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – D4 -16 March 2007 – John Griffin
TRADITIONAL CULTURE
Masai
Traditional
People
“Bio-piracy” refers to acquiring biological resources without giving the
country of origin a chance to negotiate some of the profits. Often, the
chemicals are discovered by talking to locals who have used the substances
for hundreds of years; they deserve recognition, remuneration, and
respect. The International Convention on Biodiversity says a country
has the right to know if its genetic resources are being accessed but there
are no powers to police violators.
ED
The Gazette, Montréal - Steven Edwards
TRADITIONAL PEOPLE
Intellectual property
There are 3 millions Kuchis,
a minority in the 25 million strong Afghan population.
The Kuchis are being driven away from their
traditional nomadic life style. In the past and for more than 3000 years, the
Kuchis were distinguished transporters and traders,
making business happen between Asia and the Middle East.
Today, they are violently discriminated against by the Afghan government and
the rest of the population. Moreover, the desert they travel is scattered
with land mines dating from the Soviet occupation of 1979-1989.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A13 – 14 May 2006 – Paul Garwood
TRADITIONAL PEOPLE
Nomadic people
Afghanistan
Kuchis
They have roamed and survived in the deep
jungle of Columbia,
but the Nukak Maku tribe,
discovered in 1988, is facing a crisis. The Marxist army of Colombia,
which controls over a third of the country, is annexing the tribe’s land. The
Columbian government is now asking the Red Cross and UNESCO to help the
indigenous people herded into detention camps to preserve their way of life.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A13 – 4 April 2006 – Jeremy McDermott
TRADITIONAL PEOPLE
Nomadic people
Columbia
Nukak Maku tribe
In Southern Niger,
Tuareg people are forming rebel groups and
attacking villages. They accuse the Malian government of preventing them from
leading their ancestral way of life consisting of traveling through the
desert as nomads do, ignoring political borders.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – B3 – 29 May 2006
TRADITIONAL PEOPLE
Nomadic people
Touareg
Trees
The preferred wood for violin bows is something called Pernambuco
wood. But there are only 2000 Pernambuco trees left
in the world, in northeastern Brazil.
For some reason, they aren’t being cultivated. My source, a Montréal
violin-maker, doesn’t know why. Maybe they can’t be cultivated.
AS
TREES
Uganda
Alice Lakwena was a Ugandan warrior and priestess
who founded the Lord’s Resistance Army, got
her followers to believe that they would be protected from bullets if they
covered their body with special oil. She was like the Jeanne of Arc of the Acholi tribe of northern Uganda, claiming she was hearing
god’s messages. She led her troop for a year fight against Ugandan president Musevini but was defeated in 1987. Alice Lakwena died from illness in a refugee camp of Kenya while
she was only in her 40s. Her nephew, Joseph Koni,
took over the LRA after her arrest and is responsible for doing many
atrocities to the children and villagers in northern Uganda.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – 22 January 2007 – David Ochami
UGANDA
Cults
U.S.A.
The Environmental Protection Agency released the first comprehensive analysis
of the quality of the environment in 2003. They said that the air,
water, and land were better protected than 30 years ago but problems
remained. The pace of land development increased in the 1990s as
conservation efforts increased. Overall, the report has a positive
outlook.
ED
Katherine Q. Seelye and Jennifer Lee. The New
York Times, June 24, 2003 – p. A28
U.S.A.
– Environment
Waste
Paul-Antoine Pichard, a French photographer, is
showing the people who live by picking the garbage dumps in the Philippines,
Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, India, Senegal, Madagascar and Mexico. But Pichard did not just take pictures. He lived with the
poorest people who eat the food they find in the refuse and dig out
recyclable items to sell them. Pichard also raised
funds in France
and went back to the dumps he visited with medicine.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – E4 - 13 January 2007 – Katheryn
Greenaway
WASTE
McGill civil engineering student Kealan Gell has co-founded Gorilla Composting, an organization
that has brought composting to McGill campus in full force. He
discusses the ease of making your own composting with a plastic bin and red
worms.
ED
Chris Barry, Montreal Mirror, February 9 – February 15, 2006 – p. 7
WASTE – compost
Groupe Conporec, Inc.,
a Montreal
waste-management firm, has developed a marketable composting product which
can convert organic waste into compost and generate a
revenue in the process. This could be the future of reducing
landfill waste. Toronto has become one
of Conporec’s clients and the company is discussing
contracts in Paris, Quebec, and south of the border.
ED
Mike King, The Gazette, Montreal,
October 25, 2005 – p. B1
WASTE - compost
Water
The Jeans factories offer thousands of jobs in Tehuacan, Mexico, but are pouring dangerous
chemicals in the rivers irrigating adjacent cornfields. Levi Strauss and Gap
buy some of the jeans coming out of these factories.
ML
The Gazette, Montréal – A20 - 3 May 2007
WATER
Pollution
Private, multinational companies are discovering that they can make more
money building big dams and selling bottled water than they can by developing
public water systems in developing countries. Sales of bottled water in
China have risen 250%
between 1999 and 2004, tripled in India
and doubled in Indonesia.
Activists look towards corporate interests and lobbying campaigns by the
World Bank as the incentives for developing countries to agree to build large
dam and hydroelectricity projects.
NB
The Gazette, Montreal,
Wednesday, March 22, 2006, A18
WATER
The issue of fresh water accessibility is being approached both at the
small scale and large scale. Worldwide, about 1.1 billion people are
without clean, drinking water. In Morocco, simply moving water taps
closer to villages has a resounding effect on school attendance, bringing
female student attendance up by 20% in six provinces. The water
minister of Chad believes
that poverty can be reduced if Africa
invests in large-scale hydroelectric power dams. Other critics state
that large dams are not part of the solution because the water rarely gets as
far as the really poor areas, where it is needed most. However, others
argue that large dams are easier to manage and inspect because there are
fewer and they are more centralized.
NB
Mark Stevenson, The Gazette, Montreal,
March 20, 2006, p. A19
WATER
Eighty-four recent cancer diagnoses in Shannon, Quebec
may be linked directly to water pollution created by nearby Canadian Forces
Base Valcartier. Trichloroethylene (TCE), a
known carcinogen, was used by the Canadian Forces to clean munitions for
fifty years. Shannon residents are demanding
that the Quebec Institute of Public Health conduct a study on the
plausibility of their claims that TCE is responsible for the abnormally high
cancer rate in the town (200 cases in 3,700 residents).
SS
Charlie Fidelman, The Gazette, Montreal - June 11, 2005, p. A1
WATER
Diseases
Canada
ranks second in the index of best and worst water situations, yet they rank
19th from bottom in the list of efficiency of water use. International
conferences such as the World Water Forum look for solutions to a world water
crisis.
ED
Anne-Marie Tobin, The Gazette, Montreal,
December 12, 2002 – p. A12
WATER
Eco-activists are concerned that developing countries don’t have the
sewage infrastructure or water availability to support a sharp increase in
flush toilet use among their populations. Instead, they suggest the use
of dry-toilets that may increase the spread of bacteria but can be used as
compost. This suggestion has been met with high amounts of criticism.
ED
Tom Randall, June 20
WATER – toilets
Experts and activists will speak at an environmental conference to be held
in Montreal,
where fresh water and health are the main themes. The focus is on fresh
water as it is inextricably linked to other issues such as health, climate
change, energy sources and more. Other speakers at the conference will
address issues such as privatization of water supplies, environmental impact
of oil and gas exploration, accessibility to fresh water in the third world
and Canadian environmental law.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal
John MacFarlane
WATER
Justin Trudeau has recreated his father Pierres’s
canoe trip along the Nahanni
River in the Northwest Territories. Justin
Trudeau recalled recalls his father describing the Nahanni
as ‘being probably the greatest river in Canada’. There are plans to
enlarge the park around the Nahanni in the hopes
that industrial development on the park’s fringes will be stopped.
AR
The Gazette, Montreal
Nelson Watt, Canadian Press
WATER
Canadian Rivers
Plant-eating organisms might explain density of algal blooms in Lake Chamolain
and Missisquoi
Bay.
WATER
Water shortages are one of many problems plaguing the world. The
root crisis is overpopulation, which we are doing little to stop. In
fact, the Canadian government’s policy is to double the population within the
next half century.
ED
Robert Bériault
WATER
Women's Rights
About 2,000 men marched in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka,
to protest against acid attacks that permanently disfigure many women each
year. A total of 268 people, mostly women, were attacked with acid last
year in Bangladesh,
a male-dominated traditional society. Most victims are attacked by
spurned lovers, but recently more men and children have been splashed with sulphuric acid in family arguments or disputes over
property. Bangladesh’s constitution guarantees equal rights for women,
but still the attacks continue, as the chemical is easily obtained from
battery shops or jewelers. The protesters included celebrities,
teachers and students, who carried placards and banners.
TA
Julhas Alam, Associated
Press, date unknown.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
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