CONTENTS

• Quote of the Month – Chosen by Maggie Young, Mercy HS, Burlingame
• A Letter From the Editor
• Photographs by Caitlin Baron, Berkeley HS
• "The Museum at Meru” by Daniel M. Ntoiti, Nbuku HS, Kenya
• ACTION of the Month –“Demand an Eco-Debate”
• Photographs by Caitlin Baron, Berkeley HS
• Tongue in Cheek Department: -  “Tainted Food and the Subliminal   Messages of the FDA...” By Natalie Nava, Monte Vista HS, Danville
• "Interview: Mikael Davis Discusses the Brower Youth Awards with Sarah Stoller, College Preparatory HS, Oakland
• Poetry: Two prize winning poems from EarthTeam’s Visuals and  Voices event  “I Hear…” by Rosie O’Hara, St Ignatius HS, San Francisco and “It’s the Earth’s Birthday” by Shahid Minapara, Mission HS, San Francisco
• Protect Your Health: Save the Sea Turtles!” by Elizabeth Arzouni, Earthscope and Teen Environmental Media Network
• Responses to May's Question of the Month
• June Question of the Month
• Letters to the Editor - We've got one!
• Join Now
• The Green Team
• Previous Issues

Mission Statement: Our mission is to strengthen and unify the young environmental community in the Bay Area by sharing interests, information, and calls to action. We seek to inspire participation in projects and events between groups, strengthen journalistic skills, and foster career exploration.

June 2004
Issue 17

Quote of the Month

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.  (Native American Proverb)

Chosen by Maggie Young, the Green Team, Mercy HS, Burlingame

A Letter From the Editor

Dear readers,

This initial “From the Editor” column concerns outreach and impact.

First, this issue leads with an article by Daniel M. Ntoiti, a student at Nbuku High School in Kenya. Daniel has written the first of what we hope will be a series of articles by students in Kenya. It first appeared in the Kenyan wildlife and conservation magazine for students, Komba. Readers should note that his article is entirely local, yet it is exactly that local sense of place that is most of interest to us. We hope to develop a back and forth communication of both writing and photographs so that students in our two countries have an opportunity to sense our common humanity and our common environment.

Second, we are in discussions with the Contra Costa Times, Common Ground Magazine, and Terrain, a publication of the Berkeley Ecology Center. They are interested in student writing on environmental themes. We are not exactly sure how this would work. Interested readers need to let us know your ideas. Our address is listed at the end of this issue.

Last, we are reaching out to you, if you are a high school student. Many of our contributors graduated this month. If you would like to write or provide your photographs for The Green, now is the time to step forward!  Have an impact on us, and who knows, possibly on readers from the Bay Area to Kenya! Again, our address is listed at the end of this issue.

The Museum at Meru

By Daniel M. Ntoiti, Nbuku HS, Kenya

My visit to Meru museum was thrilling because I learnt so much. In one of the galleries there were numerous birds displayed like pigeons locally known as “cage”. There were also yellow and black coloured weaver birds and guinea fowl “nkanga”, and a hornbill.

Outside the main building, we entered a boma, which showed how traditional village was set up. Traditional huts were made using cow dung and the roofs were thatched.

We also saw the snake park – some were big like the non-venomous python. We saw a poisonous puff adder, the brown spitting cobra, the green mamba, which is not actually green. It looks like black mamba only that it has a greenish lining inside the mouth.

While we were walking around a cheeky monkey snatched my pen, snapped it in two and threw the pieces back to me. But at that point I was more interested in the crocodile lying still in the pond. Before we left the museum we watched a film on environmental conservation ant it was appalling to see how man has destroyed wildlife through deforestation, poaching and hunting.

Action of the Month - Demand an Eco-Debate!

Source: www.thepetitionsite.com
Sponsor: The League of Conservation Voters

Americans care deeply about their air, land, and water. Does the American public have a right to know where Bush and Kerry stand on major environmental issues?

We think so! Senator Kerry has challenged President Bush to a series of debates, including one focused on our environmental future. Bush & Co. has yet to respond.

If you have already received an alert about this issue but have not had a chance to help, please do so now. If you have already signed, please urge your friends and family to sign as well!

TONGUE IN CHEEK DEPARTMENT
Tainted Food and the Subliminal Messages of the FDA...

by Natalie Nava, Monte Vista HS, Danville

Teens today are bombarded with dramatically conflicting messages about food:  As long as there have been TV dinners, there have been moms telling us to finish everything on our plate!  Advertisements with messages of GET YOUR FIVE A DAY splatter our billboards and TV commercials, while McDonalds tells us that our lives will be beautiful if we eat their french fries. The FDA shakes its head at these notions, discrediting all edible products – as well as eating altogether. According to American society, if you are what you eat, humans are dead meat. 

When the typical citizen saunters down the FDA’s food guide pyramid, they will become fully aware of the fact that humans as a race are nearing extinction, as no one is safe from this dark plague of corrupted grub.  We first examine the dairy and meat groups: fish and beef are edible no longer, as humans consuming these meats run the risk of encountering high levels of mercury or subjecting themselves to mad cow disease.  Better to just steer clear of these products.… In fact, animal lovers should just omit all meat whatsoever from their daily feed. There are many options one has on this journey towards ensuring happy cows and stomachs;   veganism, vegetarianism, fruitarianism, pesca-vegetarianism, pollo-vegetarianism, lacto-vegetarianism, and ovo-lacto-vegetarianism, to name a few.  We can escape all corruption of the meat industry as well if we simply stick to soy – the world’s perfect food (just ignore those claims about unhealthy toxins!) to use as our burger patties, cheese, and milk.

Back in the old days, getting your recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables used to be as simple as an apple a day.  Taking a walk down your local Safeway’s produce aisle nowadays proves that this statement is obsolete.  Catching even a glimpse of those too-perfect red “delicious” apples is enough to make any shopper scream.  Who knows what could be festering inside: genetic alteration, pesticides, God knows what!?  The FDA knows that Americans will think twice before indulging in that succulent strawberry because clearly, our produce is not the selection it used to be.

Bombarded with such extreme notions about our food, it is likely that many Americans will come to one conclusion alone: all food is poison and should be avoided at all costs!  We as teenagers have two options: hooking ourselves up to an IV or joining in with those smiling cows and indulging in the all-you-can eat grass buffet.  Hey, if it means eliminating all these impurities, count me in!

Clearly, society is trying to entrap us into a fasting cult so as to altogether eliminate homo sapiens and the responsibilities that they come with.  Society’s messages about food are far too extreme to be taken literally.  Perhaps listening to the mothers of our nation is really the better bet – after all, time and time again, they have told us that everything in moderation is ok.

We can only hope that experts can come up with new alternatives to our beloved cuisines, which have been so unfairly corrupted, without biting off more than they can chew.

INTERVIEW: MIKAEL DAVIS DISCUSSES THE BROWER YOUTH AWARDS with Sarah Stoller, College Preparatory HS, Oakland

Mikael Davis was first hired by Earth Island Institute when he was 22 years old to manage environmental legend David Brower's personal projects and his schedule. Brower was 85 when Mikael started working with him, but Brower still traveled all over the country to make environmental speeches and meet with business people, politicians, other environmentalists, and key decision-makers. While working for Brower, Mikael reminded him what he was supposed to do each day and helped him do it. Mikael helped found several new organizations, including the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment, which was started with a large labor union. Since Brower died in 2000, Mikael has been working to get more people to continue Brower’s work for the environment, especially young people. The Earth Island Institute created the David Brower Youth Awards to recognize and support young people who continue David Brower's commitment and creativity in their work for the Earth. Mikael is now the Field Director for the Brower Youth Awards, which means he is in charge of getting people to apply for the Awards by the June 1 application deadline each year and is in charge of running programs with the winners of the Award.

Q: What is the mission of Earth Island Institute? How and when was it founded? What projects does it focus on? How is the organization run?

A: Earth Island Institute was founded in 1982 by legendary environmental leader David Brower who saw the need for a new kind of environmental organization that was focused on helping leaders do their work with a minimum of paperwork and bureaucracy. Brower had run into problems with the way the Sierra Club (which he directed from 1952-69) and Friends of the Earth (which he founded in 1969) interfered with the boldness and expertise of highly motivated volunteers and staff who had ideas to help the environment. Brower felt that individuals should have freedom to work on the environmental issue they knew best and were most passionate about, not just the one or two issues the organization had chosen to focus on. Today, in addition to programs run out of our San Francisco office like the David Brower Youth Awards and our news magazine, Earth Island Journal, Earth Island is home to over 30 projects directed by motivated individuals who have taken on a particular set of environmental issues. Rather than founding their own small organization, these individuals receive services and support by becoming projects of Earth Island Institute. When Earth Island's projects grow larger, they often "graduate" and become a separate organization as happened with Rainforest Action Network and more recently with Julia Butterfly's Circle of Life.

Q: When did you first become interested in environmental issues and how has it become a career for you?

A: I grew up in 4 hours north of San Francisco in a house up in the mountains five – miles out a dirt road, so I always felt connected to nature just from playing in the woods. I remember writing letters and going to a protest when I was 9 years old, because the big logging company was spraying poisonous chemicals all over the area and it was getting in to people's water and causing all kinds of health problems. I read about David Brower in high school in a book called "Encounters with the Archdruid" and decided that I wanted to work like Brower did to keep people from trashing the Earth. I remember being very impressed that Brower had dedicated his whole life in service of protecting the Earth. I first got seriously involved in an environmental campaign when I was in college, and the Headwaters Forest, one of the last stands of ancient, giant redwood trees, was in danger of being logged. Giant trees are one of my favorite things still and it pains me that the giant redwoods are still being cut.

Q: Can you explain a little bit about the Brower Youth Awards? Why do you feel that youth involvement in environmental issues is important? What encouragement would you give to young people who care about the environment?

A: Every year Earth Island receives applications from all over the country from students age 13-22 who have lead outstanding environmental projects, from conserving natural resources like metals, paper, and water, to preserving endangered plant and animal species, to restoring a local vacant lot for an organic garden and education center. We looking for people who have taken responsibility for the natural world and the community around them and gotten other people to join them. Each winner gets $3000, an award, a trip to Yosemite National Park, and opportunities to speak at and attend major environmental conferences. One of the big goals of Brower Youth Awards is to get students inspired to take on their own environmental projects and use their own creativity to make a difference.

It is so important that young people take the lead on environmental issues and bring their energy, hope, and new ideas. It's easy to lose that hope and energy as you get older, so adults need young people to remind them to dream and to take on the really tough problems, rather than waiting for someone else to solve them, later. More and more young people are realizing that when adults put off solving environmental problems, the young people are the ones to pay the bill later. Adults need a wake up call that when they harm the environment, they are harming your future, and you're not going to take it.

I encourage everyone who reads The Green to come to this year's David Brower Youth Awards on September 30 at Berkeley High, celebrate the winners and plot your own projects to conserve, preserve, and restore our precious Earth. See our website http://www.earthisland.org/bya for more details

 Poetry 

First Place Winner Earthteam’s "Visuals and Voices" Event "I hear…" by Rosie O’Hara, St Ignatius HS, San Francisco Pine needles singing softly, Whispering as they rustle relentlessly. Insects buzzing and humming among the high branches of towering trees. A mouse scurrying through dried, motionless, fallen leaves. Calls and songs of birds cutting and nourishing the damp, thick air. Green leaves, fluttering to the ground, passing red bark of Madrones. The eight-legged queen swiftly and stealthily spins her home in Deafening silence. Ants as they scuttle across the soil, quickly and humbly, rushing away with a purpose. Shadows creeping and crawling into forest crevices hiding what and  who wish to be kept unseen. Spiders oscillating on thin strings, movements orchestrated by a Cool breeze. Gnats flying, seemingly dancing on bright, warm and welcoming rays,  escaping through cracks and holes in the canopy, of yellow and gold.   Second Place Winner Earthteam’s "Visuals and Voices" Event "It’s the Earth's Birthday" By Shahid Minapara, Mission HS, San Francisco It is the earth’s birthday today And red-breasted robins soar through the lush green Tropical rainforests of Africa once again. It is the earth’s birthday today And the heavens shatter, Releasing rain On the hot deserts of Saudi Arabia. This rain mixes with golden sands To create the pot That grows the five pillars of Islam. Its is the earth’s birthday today And the melting ice caps on the peaks Of the Himalayas Nourish the street children of India Bathing and soothing Their dry, cracked skin. It is the earth’s birthday today And golden sunflowers rise From the dirt roads of Kabul. It is the earth’s birthday today And forty sunken nuclear submarines Stop releasing deadly radiation By the blue magic of mermaids turning them into a school of silver fish fluttering away into a city of ruby coral. It is the earth’s birthday today And green killing machines Withdraw their position outside of Palestine, And the dead rise to life again To eat a plate of chicken kabob With their family. It is the earth’s birthday today And habitats of endangered species Are being destroyed by the clear cutting Of green tress at the borders Of the Amazon river. But these animals hide Within their dark caves Of warm, underwater springs To continue their survival. It is the earth’s birthday today And large, golden bells ring with joy, Calling out the return Of ancient temples of Tibet, Once wiped out by the hatred of Buddhism. It is the earth’s birthday today And the earth is standing on its knees, Worrying and crying deeply, Deeply about the fact that it is being renewed By the wise, watery words of poetry.

Photo by Caitlin Baron, Berkeley HS

Protect Your Health: Save the Sea Turtles!

Elizabeth Arzouni, Teen Environmental Media Network and EarthScope Reporter, San Rafael

[editor’s note: This article is a further look into this issue which we featured as our April 2004 Action of the Month]

Sea turtles have inhabited the Earth for over 100 million years. Now, as a result of harmful fishing practices, these gentle ocean dwellers may only have ten years left. In addition, the fish being caught by these devastating nets contain high levels of methyl mercury, which is harmful to humans as well.

In order to protect our health and the future of the leatherback sea turtle, the Sea Turtle Restoration Project (STRP) is educating the public about sea turtles and mercury. In order to protect consumers as well as the turtles, they are fighting for the enforcement of Proposition 65, a consumer “right to know” law passed in 1986, which requires California supermarkets and vendors to post warning signs about products that cause cancer or birth defects. This includes the several species of fish with high mercury contents.

Due to the testing of mercury-contaminated seafood by the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer sued state supermarkets for their failure to post the legally authorized warning signs. A STRP survey indicates that 70 % of stores statewide, and 84% in Marin County, have no signs in the fresh and frozen sections, or inadequate signs.

The Sea Turtle Restoration Project hopes that by alerting the public with these signs about the dangers of eating high methyl mercury content fishto their own health, the demand will be reduced and ultimately a fishing effort to protect sea turtles, seabirds, marine mammals and other non-target marine life will be mobilized.

Sea Turtles are often swept up in nets with tuna, swordfish, shark, tilefish, and king mackerel, all of which contain a high methyl mercury level. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can cause nervous system and brain damage in developing fetuses, infants, and young children.

Exploitation of ocean resources and destructive industrial fishing technologyhas created severe and irreversible effects on the sea turtle population. When long line fishing occurs in areas where sea turtles migrate with tuna and other targeted fish, they become subject to prey as well.

“Six out of the seven species of sea turtles are endangered or threatened. The primary reason is from industrial fishing in which they get caught on the hooks trying to eat the bait,” said Dr. Robert Ovetz, a marine species campaigner for the Sea Turtle Restoration Project. “Or they’re caught by accident which is the case with the leatherback sea turtle.”

Worldwide, the leatherback sea turtle population faces the largest threat of extinction since suffering a ninety-five percent decline in 1980, and now nesting females number only 3,000 – down from 80,000 in the 1990’s. The leatherback is only one of the six endangered sea turtle species. Ovetz feels the turtle is a striking example of the carelessness of human actions. STRP is committed to preventing further devastation to sea turtles and ocean eco-systems.

 “Sea turtles are really an indicator of the state of the health of our oceans, and how we treat our oceans and we’re seeing a dramatic decline in their survival,” said Dr. Ovetz. “Primarily because we’ve intensified our effort to exploit the ocean and, as our world population grows, there’s an increasing demand for seafood to supplement their sources of protein.”

Mercury contamination of seafood is a persistent public health concern. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration warns pregnant and potentially pregnant women as well as children to avoid eating swordfish, shark, tilefish and king mackerel because of their high methyl mercury content.

Low level mercury poisoning from eating mercury-contaminated seafood can include: hair loss, memory loss, mental instability, numbness or burning in extremities, learning disabilities, central nervous system damage, reduced motor skills, and psychological effects, including depression. 

In Marin County, Whole Foods and Safeway are among those abiding by the law to post the mercury warning sign. However, besides complying with the law, Whole Foods has offered handouts to concerned customers, further educating them about the foods that they are putting into their bodies. According to Whole Foods and Safeway, the signs are not having an impact on fish sales at their stores.

The bait on long line fishing hooks sometimes tempts sea turtles. In turn, they get caught, and then drown. By the time the lines are pulled up, they are already dead. Destruction of habitat, the poaching of their eggs, and the negligence to protect our marine resources are factors leading to extinction of their population as well.

Dr. Ovetz identifies the problem as a country’s under recognition of the importance of ocean resources.

“There are six main countries that use long line fishing in the pacific that are the most destructive,” he said, in reference to the United States, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Chile, and Spain. “Each of these countries has very large industrial long line fishing fleets and is causing the largest threat to our survival.”

There will always be a call for help somewhere and Dr. Ovetz found his call from the ocean. As a marine species campaigner, his passion is aimed at protecting the livelihood of the leatherback sea turtle.

“I have a very strong spiritual connection with the oceans and I’ve always had a very strong connection with turtles,” he said. “The majesty of the way they move and their sense of time and how they walk lightly on the earth has always been something that’s really inspired me.”

Responses to May’s Question of the Month -

What sustains your environmentalism when you can’t be immersed in the outdoors?
Submitted by Vrinda Manglik, Acalanes HS

• A CD, Afro-Celt Sound system, volume 2: Release.  Also lighting some incense.
  -Vrinda Manglik

• Just taking a minute to breathe and have a quiet moment in the middle of a hectic day helps me to calm down and reconnect.
  -Hanaka Hjersman, junior, Acalanes HS, Lafayette

• I found a red $2 t-shirt at Goodwill that says Keepers of the Earth and has a picture of a coyote on it.  Apparently, it is a boy scout shirt, but it reminds me and my peers of what I do; I try to set a good example while I’m at school.
  -Natalie Nava, junior, Monte Vista HS, Danville

• Well I tend to write articles (for the school newspaper) on the environment; example: 10 things to help save the earth, no on measure N, 10 endangered species so far.  I’m also an internet geek so I’m always looking to read on things, buy things, etc. that will help me learn more or support the environment, animals, the planet in general.
  - Kelly Chiang, junior, Northgate HS, Walnut Creek

Question of the Month for June - Let’s hear your answers!

If The Green had a “Rants and Raves” column would you contribute?

Send your answer by June 25 to TheGreen@earthteam.net

Letters to the Editor

To: thegreen@earthteam.net

You won't often find me defending private enterprise. In their drive for profit, many corporations do not adequately consider environmental issues.  However, when they do, I think they should be recognized because it can encourage other corporations to promote a positive environmental image of their business. 

The article about dolphin safe tuna in The Green failed to mention that Starkist, Chicken of the Sea, and other U.S. tuna brands have stated that they will continue to comply with their dolphin safe fishing practices.  The article failed to mention that and did not explicitly state that the problem lies in the promotion of foreign trade when Mexican and other foreign fishermen want to break into the U.S. market by altering the definition of dolphin safe tuna.

Tom Brown, AKA Mookeeo, author, The Dolphins' View

Please send your responses to anything in the Green or anything environmental. We'll print it in the next issue. Also, send us your answers to the Question of the Month by the 25th of the month. It would be great to hear from you. Contact TheGreen@earthteam.net

"The Green" is 100% student written and edited. We're looking for anything about the environment - what your class or club is doing, opinion pieces, facts, actions and more. The students who commit to monthly or every other month articles receive a small monetary compensation. To find out more, contact TheGreen@earthteam.net