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The Green

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.

October 2003
Issue 9

Quote of the Month

"I realize that if I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes."
Charles Lindberg

submitted by Chris Kim

 

Photos

by Jeff Martin, Acalanes High School, Lafayette

                              

    A century plant somewhere along highway 80                            A sunset in Yosemite National Park    

What Are You Eating???

By Susan Loshin, Sir Francis Drake HS

Do you really know what exactly you’re eating and where it comes from??? Well, be aware of what you’re buying and then eating. Just because you’re buying "organic" or even what you believe to be traditionally grown food…is not always what you bargaining for. The world of food is full of deceptions that are made to simply "fool" the average consumer.

Let’s say you are at the grocery store buying your small and rapidly growing children food. As you go from isle to isle, you try to incorporate healthy and "safe" foods. What you don’t always think about is what the advertisement on the packaging is really hiding. To label a food "organic", only ninety-five percent of the food has to be organic. The other five percent is what I’d like to think of as the food industries "white lies". They don’t have to say "95 percent organic"…they can legally just plain say "organic". Did you also know that a business is not required to label foods that are genetically engineered? Because who would buy genetically engineered foods over traditional or organically grown foods? Well, you probably do for your families everyday without even having a clue.

Sometimes even our minds can play tricks with us where we don’t even question what we’re picking up or putting in our mouths. If everyone else is doing it…then why shouldn’t we? Why should we be couscous in cases where everyone appears to be knowledgeable on what they are doing? Well, the truth is, you’re not alone. So next time when you go to the store, remember to think through the packaging…because we really don’t know some of the long-term effects of GEs, or other alternative farming methods. Put your health first.

"Eco-Club at College Prep"

by Sarah Stoller, College Preparatory HS

The College Preparatory School’s "Eco Club" began in 2002, instituted by one particularly ambitious freshman, Jonathan Wachter. Initially our club faced a huge struggle to gain even a few committed members. Our goals became to improve the quality of the environment in and around our school community, learn more about environmental issues and educate people in our school about the importance of environmental awareness. In the 2002/2003 school year, the Eco Club had a particularly devoted faculty advisor, Jean Hooker, who left the school after last year. After finding a new faculty advisor, Lew Douglas who was very involved in the club last year we aim to work closely with him in the future. The number of members in our club has varied from somewhere between five and ten people over the course of the last year. Increasing membership and interest within our school has become an important goal for our club.

One of the biggest projects that we have worked on consistently has been the creation and maintenance of a school organic garden. We started this project last year and have been working hard in the past few weeks to harvest the vegetables we have grown. The crops from our organic garden go to the head of community service who, with another group of students, uses them to prepare meals for homeless shelters in the Bay Area. Another project that we worked on last year and hope to continue working on this year is improving our schools recycling system. We worked hard to label paper recycling bins for every class room and label glass/tin as well as plastic recycling bins placed in easily accessible locations throughout campus. One of the biggest accomplishments of the CPS Eco Club was putting together a PowerPoint presentation and speech about water use and conservation for the entire student body last spring. On September 20 of this year, several members of the Eco Club participated in the coastal beach cleanup at the Berkeley Marina. At the College Preparatory School Clubs Fair on September 24th, with newly designed T-shirts, we promoted the Eco Club to our school. Throughout this year we hope to participate in more Earth Team restorations and events. I feel that our club is making an important difference in impacting the environment in and around our school campus and by striving to spread environmental awareness and good environmental policy.

Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee

Review by Vrinda Manglik, Acalanes HS

"I’m trying to save some forests, some wilderness. I’m trying to do anything I can to get man back into balance with the environment. He’s way out—way out. The land won’t last, and we won’t." –David Brower

In Encounters with the Archdruid, John McPhee presents a biography of a conservationist in a unique way. The conservationist is the famed David Brower, described by McPhee as the Sierra Club’s "pre-eminent fang". David Brower was certainly hard-core and passionate, in fact, his radicalism eventually got him kicked out of the Sierra Club, but I was expecting something different from the book. Druids, as mentioned in the title, were ancient people who sacrificed people and worshipped trees. I think I was expecting a book more direct and radical than this one was.

Nevertheless, this book was really good and very interesting. Most of the book is dialogue, and therefore, the reader can make his or her own interpretations on David Brower. The book is divided into three sections: "A Mountain", "An Island", and "A River". Each of these provides a different setting where David Brower is interacting with people of very different opinions than him. They are a miner (Charles Park), a land developer (Charles Fraser), and a dam-builder (Floyd Dominy), respectively.

Mining, land-development, and dam-building are highly controversial issues. They are projects which the typical conservationist would oppose. Mining is detrimental to mountains, land development to forests and wild space, and dams to rivers. David Brower was opposed to each of these methods of development.

However, what makes the book interesting is that the hero is not always easy to spot. Each of Brower’s "opponents" are extremely well-informed and respected in their fields. Brower gets into heated arguments, backed with facts and examples from history, with each of these people. Both sides make very strong cases. The issues dealt with are never black and white. There are pros and cons to development, and to mining, land-development, and dam-building. But there are certainly places where a line has to be drawn.

In what ways can people compromise to create a sustainable environment and still develop cities, towns, and parks? Are these developments even necessary? What has to be changed? The answers are not always clear, and in the way the arguments are presented, the reader is able to formulate his or her own opinion.

I liked this book. It was a very interesting inside look on the life of David Brower, a Bay Area native. The book deals with the huge complexity of any project which affects the environment and people. It also deals with the equally complex people who support and oppose those projects.

Poem

"Summer's Fading Song"

By Rebecca Smith, California High School, San Ramon

The curtain of darkness called out to the sky,
awakening the creatures who by night did come by.
Birds flocking southward gave vent to a cry,
saying Farewell! to the moon up on high.

The wind through the rushes was sighing aloud,
urging the thrushes to join in with the crowd.
The crickets were stirring, warming up their strings,
adding their melody to the rustle of wings.

Way down in the field, a little titmouse,
ventured forth shyly from her hide-away house.
Nearby, a stream tracing its way through the grass,
reverberated faintly like the tinkling of glass.

The dawn was approaching with a slight nip in the air,
chasing the night's euphony back to its dark lair.
The long languid summer was drawing to a close,
causing creatures to gather their bounty in troves.

More Photos

by Jeff Martin, Acalanes High School, Lafayette

                             

A swallow's nest (with swallow) in the Mono Lake region                                Hetch Hetchy resevoir with falls

Additional Answers to September's Question of the Month

"If you could make the year 2004 honor whichever element (earth, air, water, fire) you choose, which would it be and why?"

Jessica Cardin, Acalanes HS
"I would choose water to protect because it is the most prolific resource on the planet and it is the source of life. Water is what we have exploited the most through mining, oil tankers being ruptured, and pumping it out of the earth before it is replenished. Water is the resource we should focus on."

Alex Rooney, Acalanes HS
"I would save the soil because erosion is a major problem. Eroding soil causes water run off and the soil to lose nutrients leaving the planet depleted."

Vrinda Manglik, Acalanes HS
"I think instead of focusing on a single element to protect, we should work on collaborating our efforts. If the people trying to save the water lose their battle, so do the people trying to save the forests. Everything is connected. It was John Muir who once said, 'When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."


October Question of the Month

"If you could have your local politicians act on one environmental issue, what would it be?"


Vrinda Manglik, Acalanes HS
"Basically I think politicians should promote awareness. With awareness, action follows. Politicians should work to break-up media monopoly and expose people to all important issues. A big problem I see in the Bay Area is over consumption and excessive product packaging and waste."

Laura Holtan, Bishop O’Dowd HS
"I want local politicians to make park conservation a priority. I live in Oakland and find sanctuary in the many regional parks in the hills and want to make sure they’ll last and be maintained for future enjoyment."

Rebecca Smith, California HS
"I want politicians to not let Bush get rid of the clean air act thing. I also think they should make Styrofoam use illegal."

Zach Bjornson-Hooper, Campolindo HS
"Agricultural production of hemp should be legalized. Right now hemp products are legal, but they're under pressure and some people want them illegal. It's one of the best soil amendments, has fantastic medicinal properties and can be turned into more than 25, 000 environmentally-friendly products form cloth to food, paper to ink and shampoo. Hemp as food is loaded with protein, in fact, it has more digestive protein than any diary or meat or fish product. Legalize it!"

Thien Le, De Anza HS (’03)
"To promote public transportation, minimize hummer (gas guzzler) productions."

Derek Romero, De La Salle HS
"To promote recycling."

Jeff Martin, Acalanes HS
"In our area, it would be great for a local representative to work on restoring our numerous creeks to ecologically healthy and beautiful resources for our community."


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

Submitted by Jeff Martin, Acalanes HS

"With recent actions by ELF and other extreme environmentalists groups, and threats of increased attacks, what are your feelings on extremism, or "eco-terrorism"?"

Action of the Month !NEW!
Submitted by students at Youth Coalition meeting

Learn why cell phones are hurting gorillas & what you can do about it!
Have you ever thought about where manufactures obtain the materials used to produce cell phones or computer chips? These ubiquitous and convenient items contain a highly valued composite substance called coltan that is being mined predominantly out of the eastern Congo. The eastern Congo is also home to dwindling gorilla populations. Mining of coltan destroys gorilla habitat. Even more problematic is that with the influx of miners to the area and with wide-spread poverty prevalent around the region, gorillas are killed at alarming rates for their meat. A UN panel is addressing the problem, but public education is critical.

EDUCATE YOURSELF:

BBC News report: Mobile phones 'fuel gorillas' plight'
Watch BBC report online and read the article.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2036217.stm

NPR - Radio Expeditions:
Read about Coltan Mining and Eastern Congo's Gorillas
http://www.npr.org/programs/re/archivesdate/2001/dec/20011220.coltan.html

Cellular-News
http://www.cellular-news.com/coltan

TAKE ACTION:

Free online petition:
http://gopetition.com/region/237/459.html

Write a letter:
http://www.koko.org/help/action_coltan_letter.html
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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