May 21, 2001
Media Compilation #10: The Musings Of A Minor Prophet + MAYDAY! MAYDAY! STOP THE GLOBAL PLAGUE + WILL EUROPE BAN ASPARTAME? + PUTTING IT IN REVERSE & ROLL OUT THE BARRELS + Rolling Blackouts on a Voluntary Basis + How polluters influence environmental education
Dear media person
There are several urgent and important matters in this compilation I'd like to submit to your attention. Of greatest concern is the extremely critical situation in the Palestinian territories under almost continuous Israeli fire and aerial bombing as well as the repeated Palestinians attacks on Israeli citizens. There is simply no way the rest of the world can continue merely paying lip service to this ongoing human tragedy. Of course, both the Israelis and Palestinians have to understand that violence can only breed more violence and that they have to rein in their emotions and rage so as to allow cooler heads to prevail and discussions to resume in order to settle their outstanding disagreements towards some kind of peaceful resolution. But the Unites States has an especially important role to play in pressuring their Israeli allies to step back from their campaign of disproportionate retribution for the acts of agression committed by Palestinian extremists whose suicidal actions are prompted by the very cycle of vengeful violence the Israeli militaries are directly contributing to perpetuate and aggravate. Failure to take bold action right now at this critical juncture in the history of the Middle East conflict, so as to help re-create an atmosphere conducive to a mutual willingness to compromise and make peace, could precipitate the whole Middle East in the grip of a much wider conflict with far-reaching worldwide repercussions. I would go as far as to say that a special international and completely neutral U.N. military presence on the ground to prevent any further escalation of this conflict is now warranted because of the critical threshold crossed a few days ago when U.S.-made F-16 warplanes were used in retaliation for a suicide bombing. There are some positive contributions to be made by all governments around the world towards facilitating a peaceful resolution of this conflict along the lines of what has been proposed in the Mitchell report. This terrible situation won't go away on its own and cannot simply be brushed away from our collective consciousness as it will then come back to haunt us with the guilt of a missed opportunity to put out the fire before it turns into a massive conflagration...
Now is the time to act!
You will find below a positive vision of a possible outcome of this crisis regarding the creation of an International Model of Peace & Brotherhood with the city of Jerusalem, which I feel is an important goal to keep in mind and empower with determination and courage.
A couple other important subjects are also included below:
1) The ever-present stealth threat to the health of millions of people conjured up by the sweetening powder aspartame that was first discovered as part of military research to create a new chemical weapon and which has now find its way into thousands of food products and diet beverages. This powerful carcinogenic and neurotoxic chemical agent has been causing life-threatening and debilitating diseases worldwide for far too long and is finally coming under closer scrutiny, particularly in the UK as revealed in a Sunday Time article published yesterday (see below). Betty Martini, the courageous 65+ year old crusader from Georgia, USA, who has been campagning non-stop for years to alert the world to this invisible plague and willfully ignored epidemic, is asking for the assistance of insider informants and whistleblowers who may help her organization put the last nails in the coffin of this deadly aspartame hydra that has been unleashed onto the planet for the sheer sake of mega profits for people such as Donald Rumsfeld, the new U.S Defense Secretary, who was president of Searle inc., the company that designed and agressively lobbied the FDA - with the direct arm-twisting assistance of former President Reagan, to get this chemical sweetener approved over the very strong objections of the very panel of experts of the FDA.
2) Another critically important issue discussed below is the new energy policy of the "Fossil" administration of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. There is no way the world will allow this arrogant government, sponsored by some of the most powerful American corporate interests, to jeopardize the environmental future of the Earth over the objections of the entire international community. Generating 25% of the total greenhouse gases with barely 5% of the world population, the U.S. has no right to defeat the already feeble efforts made to turn dow the global heat, only for the sake of short term profits. Conservation and clean energy sources have got to be the way out of this energy crisis, not more of the worst polluting sources such as coal, oil and nuclear plants. More details below.
3) The Utne Reader article below (Smoke and Mirrors) about how polluters influence environmental education presents some damning pieces of evidence as to how corrupting the corporations have become to make sure they can continue polluting the environment and destroying the Earth and make ever more profits out of it.
Sincerely hoping you'll take time to review this material and report on it.
Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000
---
From: Michael Lightweaver <lightweave@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 16 May 2001
Subject: The Musings Of A Minor Prophet
The Musings Of A Minor Prophet
The "Land Of Jerusalem" stands at a crossroads. This Is A Historic Moment.
Have you wondered why the Israelis are doing what they are doing to the Palestinians? Is it because they are naturally an aggressive, greedy, or hate filled people? Or is it because they are living in a deep state of the inner terror of annihilation as a people and as a nation after finally fulfilling a 2,000 year old dream of returning home?
Have you ever wondered why the Palestinians are doing what they are doing to the Israelis? Is it because Palestinians are just an evil people and terrorists by nature? Or is it because they are reacting to what they see as foreign troops occupying their land, demolishing their homes, killing their children, and denying their basic human rights?
Young Israeli soldiers don't shoot Palestinian children for the fun of it. It is born of deep seated fear. Each time they do, something inside themselves dies as well. They will never be the same.
Young Palestinians bombers don't blow themselves up because they enjoy suicide. It is a desperate act by desperate young men who have given up hope of bringing about change any other way.
And now, with the escalation, there is revenge.
Until each side ceases to see itself as the "innocent & virtuous victim" and the other side as the "evil demon" ......
Until both sides begin to see the humanness of each other; the deep suffering of the other; the legitimate longings and the justified grievances .......
Until this happens, the violence will continue and will escalate.
Both sides have experienced more than enough atrocities.... And perpetuated them.
How much more pain and suffering must both sides endure before everyone wakes up and realizes that THE CURRENT COURSE OF ACTION IS NOT WORKING to produce what each side wants?
How many more children must both sides sacrifice to the false gods of nationalism, fear, hatred & revenge; how many arms, legs and eyes lost, before people are willing to change; before the majority of people on both sides WAKE UP AND SAY ENOUGH !!!
Both sides claim that the violence is only in reaction to the other side. But all of the outward violence is the product of the inner Violence Of Attitude on both sides. Until this changes, the children will continue to die.... On both sides....
Israelis and Palestinians, as historic brothers and the children of Abraham, have the opportunity to offer the whole world a model of cooperation, justice, peace and prosperity. The Palestinians can have Justice and the Israelis can have Security. Both can have Peace & Prosperity. But neither will have what they want until they are willing to grant these to the other.
Jerusalem can fulfill it's destiny as an International Model of Peace & Brotherhood, governed by its own citizens, or it can once again become a city of desolation and despair. This is its fate if everyone doesn't WAKE UP - and very soon.
The frequencies of anger, hatred, revenge and fear are being anchored in the land itself. When these stresses become too intense, the Earth will release them. She will tremble and land will roll like the waves of the sea. She will not distinguish between Palestinian and Israeli; between Christian, Jew or Muslim. All will pay the price and in the silent aftermath, they will call it "The Judgment Of God."
This is NOT the fate of Jerusalem, and it need not be a step toward the fulfillment of its Divine Destiny as an International Model of Peace & Brotherhood. If everyone WAKES UP NOW from this nightmare to remember who they really are, why they are here and the Beautiful Vision Of The New Jerusalem, then everything can change in the twinkling of an eye.
AWAKEN THE PEOPLE NOW! Let the Guardians of Light transmute the anger, fear and hatred, and release the tension from the Earth.
May The Land Of Jerusalem Be Preserved And May A River Of Light Once Again Flow Out Of Zion & Bless The Whole World With Peace & Grace.
Michael Lightweaver
lightweave@aol.com
Date: Mon, 14 May 2001
From: Betty Martini <Mission-Possible-USA@altavista.net>
Subject: MAYDAY! MAYDAY! STOP THE GLOBAL PLAGUE!!
INFORMANTS & WHISTLEBLOWERS NEEDED!
Little blue paks of rat poison sit on millions of dinner tables!
It's in children's vitamins and Kool Aid and it burns their brains out!
It triggers birth defects, abortions, infertility and sexual dysfunction.
It drops intelligence in children, occludes their ability to learn.
It damages DNA, cursing future generations.
It triggers brain tumors, Parkinson's, blindness, lupus and mimics MS.
It's the most complained about food additive in FDA history.
It's addictive! Its ASPARTAME/NUTRASWEET/EQUAL
This month a 1000 page medical text, ASPARTAME DISEASE, AN IGNORED EPIDEMIC, will be released by world famous H. J. Roberts, M.D.,FACP, FCCP once recognized as "the best doctor in the United States" by a national medical publication. F.R. Rifkin, Publisher of the National Health Review calls the text: "An enormous literary feat by a motivated doctor with impressive credentials. It constitutes a new text on medicine and pharmacology that should be required reading for every physician."
http://www.sunsentpress.com/ or 1 800 814-9800
Help Us:
Studies which sacrificed poor villagers in 6 South American countries saw brain tumors, seizures, damaged CNS and the hardening of synovial fluids. Some died. We have the translator's affidavit. We're trying to locate Dr. Art Chavarria who lives in Mexico City (from Belize) who claimed to have the studies, but when money was transferred he disappeared. He is said to work as a veterinarian for Agriculture, in feed and nutrition. Help us find actual victims or their families if they didn't survive, and the doctor who helped translate the studies who was from Mexico. This was in l983/84, studies by Searle.
Did you work for G. D. Searle Co, Monsanto/NutraSweet and have inside facts that can help us? We hear the National Soft Drink Association did a 10 year study on aspartame which showed it triggered Alzheimers, blindness and birth defects, but were not published. We need copies of this study and similar unpublished studies. We need to talk to employees who worked for Searle in the Ft. Lauderdale area before they closed the office in l984 after the studies were translated. We have also heard of teratogen studies that showed hearts on the outside of fetuses, not published.
The FDA once published a list of 92 reactions including death, as a summary of 10,000 consumer complaints. It triggers tumors, mental confusion, rage and imbalance, joint pain, drug interaction, vision and memory loss plus dozens of neurological reactions. The report is secret now and you can't get it without a congressman. Actual report is on http://www.dorway.com
The FDA sends out NutraSweet propaganda, it's like reporting crime to the Mafia. Does FDA mean Fatal Drugs Allowed? Why is this vital list that can save lives and protect us concealed and denied? It’s criminal betrayal of an entire population in behalf of venal bureaucrats!
Two Federal attorneys were assigned to prosecute the manufacturer for fraud, but their lawyers hired the prosecutors and watched the case expire with the statute of limitations. When the godfather hires the district attorney nobody gets convicted. As it ravages the health, happiness and lives of millions, victims are reassured by FDA and the purveyors, to whom your welfare is meaningless.
Recall the 7 Dwarfs? The presidents of seven tobacco companies swore to Congress tobacco is safe. These men are their brothers! FDA, CDC, FAA, etc. tell us the Nutratanic is the safest ship afloat, maybe hoping they can switch sides and hire with the producers as have eleven federal officials already. Producers claim it's the "most tested product in history" but they paid for the rigged tests and never mention the 52 week study on seven infant monkeys: 5 had grand mal seizures, one died. You're the monkey now and its time to stop this atrocity. In some studies tumors were excised from rats, and the rats put back in the study. When they died some were resurrected on paper!
Government records like the FDA audit, Bressler Report, and protest of National Soft Drink Assn, and even the Board of Inquiry summation telling the FDA not to approve aspartame are on http://www.dorway.com
Books by physicians who know the truth are listed such as Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills by Russell Blaylock, M.D. and other books by H. J. Roberts, M.D.
People are suffering all over the world and there are already four support groups on line.
Aspartame Toxicity Center http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
Insiders come forth, pro bono investigators, and investigative journalists. Remember when you damage DNA you can destroy a species. Please help us.
Betty Martini, Mission Possible International 770 242-2599.
From: Betty Martini <Mission-Possible-USA@altavista.net>
Subject: WILL EUROPE BAN ASPARTAME?
Date: Sun, 20 May 2001
Aspartame: UK national press article May 20, 2001
The Sunday Express, May 20, 2001 page 7
Sweetener probed
By Lucy Johnston, Health Editor
Action at last over additive Aspartame as fears grow of health risk in food and drink
The Government has ordered a top-level investigation into the safety of Britain's best-selling sweetener amid fears that the low calorie chemical is a health risk.
Aspartame, used in thousands of diet food and drinks has been linked to more than 90 adverse reactions including brain tumours and blindness. The Sunday Express has seen a leaked letter which reveals the Government's food watchdog - the Food Standards Agency - has sent more than 500 research papers on the chemical to the Brussels-based Scientific Committee on Food.
If it finds it is a health risk, the sweetener widely used in fizzy drinks, squashes, yoghurts, spring water, chewing gum and pharmaceutical products, and often sold under the names NutraSweet and Canderel, could be banned. Last night, Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who is campaigning for NutraSweet to be taken off the shelves added: "This is a very positive step. Doubts have been raised about this product and they need to be cleared." Last September, the Sunday Express led calls for an inquiry after our investigations discovered large numbers of people were claiming their health had been damaged by the sweetener.
They included Lyn Hunter, 49, of Liverpool, who regularly drank diet drinks with Aspartame and had pain in her limbs, headaches, lack of concentration and insomnia.
Her constant pain became so great she even considered suicide. Her doctor treated her for arthritis even though tests for this condition were negative. When she eliminated Aspartame her symptoms disappeared. The leaked letter from food scientist Dr Sandy Lawrie expresses concern that Aspartame has not been reviewed by the Scientific Committee on Food for 13 years.
It states: "We have discovered more than 500 papers on Aspartame published between 1988 and 2000. There is clearly sufficient new data on Aspartame to justify a review."
Sources at the agency say that if scientists find strong evidence about dangers of a product, they will advise an EU-wide ban. A spokeswoman for European manufacturers of Aspartame, Ajinomoto, said: "All of the good scientific data shows it is safe. No data raises any concerns about Aspartame either new or old."
However, many studies which have not been sponsored by the food industry highlight potential dangers. Professor Ralph Walton of Northwestern Ohio Universities said: "I dispute the assertion that there are no health risks. "I believe Aspartame increases risk of cancer. Virtually all the studies attesting to its safety have been funded by the industry."
One independent study on animals shows how digestion breaks Aspartame down into formaldehyde, which accumulates in the animals' cells, damaging DNA and poisoning the liver, kidneys, eye and brain. However, the manufacturers argue that all the constituents of Aspartame are found in much greater quantities in natural drinks such as milk and tomato juice, and are not considered a health risk.
In the US, there are now five Aspartame detox centres. Symptoms reported to America's Food and Drug Administration include headaches, skin problems, stomach disorders, poor vision, depression, carbohydrate cravings, panic attacks, irregular heart rhythms and seizures.
For more information send an SAE to Geoff Brewer, Additives Survivors Network, 63 Downlands Road, Devizes, SN10 5EF or visit the online support group at http://www.dorway.com
END OF ARTICLE
Comments from Betty Martini, Mission Possible International As many know I lectured in the UK the end of August and Sept, 2001 and provided many records the UK had not seen. Aspartame was approved in the UK through a business deal between Searle and Professor Paul Turner. When Parliament found out there was a big blowout but the order was not rescinded. (Article in Guardian) Therefore, the UK did not know that in the beginning the FDA had asked for the indictment of Searle but two U.S. Prosecutors hired on with the defense team and the statute of limitations expired. For 16 years the FDA refused to approve aspartame because of the brain tumors but Searle hired Don Rumsfeld (now Secretary of Defense) who said he would call in his markers and get it approved anyway. See UPI 8 month investigation of aspartame on http://www.dorway.com
The day after Reagan took office he appointed Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes. A Board of Inquiry was setup who told Dr. Hayes it had not been proven safe, and because of the brain tumor issue he could not approve it. (See Board of Inquiry summation on http://www.dorway.com). Dr. Hayes over-ruled the Board of Inquiry and approved aspartame anyway, and then went to work for the PR Agency of the manufacturer and refused to talk to the press ever since. Over a year ago Fox News in Washington, D.C. went to Dr. Hayes house and asked "were the public ever at risk?" Again, Dr. Hayes refused to answer and shut the door. With audio hear the Fox News newsclip on DORway.
We thank James Turner, Attorney, Washington, D.C. for those records and Jon Baum, Mission Possible National Capital Area for sending them to us. Aspartame which was never proven safe and in original studies triggered brain, mammory, uterine, ovarian, testicular, thyroid and pancreatic tumors, as well as grand mal seizures, should never have been approved. Three congressional hearings because of the outrage of consumers being poisoned never banned aspartame because senators like Orrin Hatch were paid by Monsanto who bought Searle in l985, and since sold it.
On June 20, l999, The Independent in the UK exposed "World's top sweetener is made with GM bacteria." As more and more evidence is brought forward we hope that aspartame will now be banned having created one of the greatest plagues in world history. H. J. Roberts, M.D. is about to release a 1000 page medical text on this global plague titled ASPARTAME DISEASE; THE IGNORED EPIDEMIC. Consumers and physicians will be able to get it by accessing http://www.sunsentpress.com/ or in the US by calling 1-800 814-9800. We wish to thank all those in the UK working to expose this deadly chemical poison, Felicity Mawson, Geoff Brewer, Carl Sims, Marjorie Schofield, Joanna Clarke, John Smith, and many others.
The Sunday Express is not on web and for those reading it on the Internet who would like to send them their case history on aspartame poisoning you may write expressletters@express.co.uk
Betty Martini, Founder,
Mission Possible International
(770) 242-2599
http://www.dorway.com
Aspartame Toxicity Center, http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
Aspartame Support Groups may be accessed from
http://www.dorway.com
http://www.aspartamekills.com
Jon Baum, Mission Possible National Capital Area
DAILY GRIST
18 May 2001
http://www.gristmagazine.com
4.
PUTTING IT IN REVERSE
The average fuel economy of new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. last year dropped to the lowest levels since 1980, according to a new report by the U.S. Transportation Department. President Bush's energy plan released yesterday calls for a review of fuel-economy standards once the National Academy of Sciences completes a study of the topic in July. But greenies aren't hopeful about the study because its authors include several people who worked for the auto and oil industries but no environmentalists. The energy plan also recommends a tax credit for consumers who buy gas-electric hybrid cars, but it doesn't specify how large the credit should be.
New York Times, Keith Bradsher, 18 May 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/18/politics/18FUEL.html
New York Times, Matthew L. Wald, 18 May 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/18/politics/18CONS.html
5.
ROLL OUT THE BARRELS
Did anyone expect such early international criticism of President Bush's energy plan? Yesterday, Jan Pronk, the head of U.N. talks on climate change and the Dutch environment minister, described the plan as a "disastrous development" that would "undoubtedly" lead to more greenhouse gas emissions. A press release issued by Friends of the Earth in the U.K. was titled "Bush to Planet Earth: Drop Dead." In the U.S., no surprise, Greenpeace dumped several tons of coal outside Vice President Dick Cheney's residence and blocked an entrance with empty oil barrels. Former President Carter wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post accusing the Bush administration of using
"misinformation and scare tactics" to justify attacks on the environment.
Planet Ark, Reuters, Paul Casciato, 18 May 2001
http://web.sunherald.com/content/biloxi/2001/05/18/nation_world/4139598_05182001.htm
Washington Post, Jimmy Carter, 17 May 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37159-2001May16.html
From: Brucie <Spiritedbc@cs.com>
Date: Sat, 19 May 2001
Subject: Fwd: Energy Forum: Solstice Rolling Blackouts on a Voluntary Basis
Sent by a friend who wrote:
"Who knows whether this will even register with the media or the capitalists (probably not) ... but in any case, it's a fine idea in and of itself."
***
HRowntree@aol.com wrote:
ROLL YOUR OWN BLACKOUT THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER JUNE 21, 2001 THURS EVE, 7-10pm worldwide, all time zones
As an alternative to George W. Bush's energy policies and lack of emphasis on energy efficiency, conservation and alternative fuels, there will be a voluntary rolling blackout on the first day of summer, June 21 at 7pm - 10pm in any time zone (this will roll it across the planet). It's a simple protest and a symbolic act. Turn out your lights from 7pm-10pm on June 21. Unplug whatever you can unplug in your house. Light a candle to the Sungoddess, kiss and tell or not, take a stroll in the dark, invent ghost stories, anything that's not electronic - have fun in the dark.
Read the 1999 book "Natural Capitalism" by Paul Hawken (of "The Natural Step") and Amory Lovins (of The Rocky Mountain Institute) to learn that conservation and high efficiency technologies already ARE on-the-shelf. If implemented these revolutionary ideas would pay themselves off within 5 years, after which we'd be pumping far less greenhouse gas into the atmosphere and saving bucks to boot.
Forward this email as widely as possible, to your government represent atives and environmental contacts. Let them know we want global education, participation and funding in conservation, efficiency and alternative fuel efforts -- and an end to over exploitation and misuse of the earth's resources.
Anyone knows that the Cheney-Bush team is blowing smoke when they tell us that "... conservation can't help, it'll just be too expensive to implement those technologies..." While on the other hand, technology to develop and deploy weapons to blow incoming ICBMs out of the sky are easy to come by.
***
There is growing understanding among people that the power to control energy bills can be as close as your own fingertip--switching off lights, appliances and keeping thermostats to the tolerable levels will save energy, money and lessen the impacts on global warming. Grassroots efforts are working; I monitor residential and municipal energy bills from several sources, and have seen these efforts working.
Spread those conservation tips around!
- Alice LaPierre
---
"Each year the amount of energy lost through UN-INSULATED homes in the United States is equivalent to the amount of fuel delivered through the Alaskan Pipeline."
From: "Mark Graffis" <mgraffis@islands.vi>
Subject: How polluters influence environmental education
Date: Thu, 17 May 2001
May 17, 2001
Utne.com
Smoke and Mirrors
By John F. Borowski, Utne Reader
Florida's Orange County Convention Center is big. Big enough to hold the Sears Tower, if you laid it on its side. So big you could walk 10 miles and never leave the cement behemoth. A hulking structure like this was necessary to host the recent National Science Teachers Convention, the largest gathering of educators in the nation: more than 14,000 science teachers, and hundreds of exhibitors passing out armloads of pamphlets, packets, books, stickers, posters, and other goodies.
A handful of conservation groups were on hand offering teachers inspiration and information on how to teach about environmental issues, but they were clearly in the minority.
When I started teaching 20 years ago, I could not have imagined such a perverse display: industries and their front groups trying to justify everything from deforestation to the extinction of species
* The coal industry's Greening Earth Society passed out videos and teacher guides on the "fallacies" of global warming. * The "Temperate Forest Foundation" offered a video titled The Dynamic Forest, in which insects and fire hurt forests, but industry provides the needed remedies--with the help of chain saws. * The American Farm Bureau, avowed enemies of environmental education, propositioned teachers to reconsider the dangers of chemical herbicides and insecticides.
They were selling lies, and the teachers were buying--quickly filling their bags with curricula as corrosive as the pesticides that the Farm Bureau promotes. Where were the largest environmental groups to counter this frontal assault on environmental education? Where was the outcry of the educational community? Most Americans consider our public schools to be hallowed ground, where young people learn about the world through carefully chosen curriculum. Yet corporations now view schools as convenient locations for the dissemination of propaganda debunking environmental concerns.
Environmental education is under assault on two fronts. First, multinational corporations are designing and distributing environmental curricula that are professionally produced, easy to use, often free, and incredibly biased in favor of industry. Second, some of the most prominent conservative think tanks in America are mounting a well-funded attack on genuine environmental education.
Their objective is simple: protect industries that despoil the planet and put the brakes on the emergence of environmental awareness among young people. The spectrum of curricula is breathtaking and its shamelessness is overt. The American Nuclear Society provides "Let's Color and Do Activities with the Atoms Family." Materials I received from Exxon portray the Prince William Sound cleanup as a victory of technology, brushing over the cause of the disaster: the Exxon Valdez. But the most brazen miseducation campaign is carried out by the timber industry.
Big timber spends millions on so-called educational programs (which, of course, they generously donate to public schools). They offer hikes, presentations, and paid workshops for teachers. They distribute books, posters, videos, lesson plans, and other materials. Through the looking glass of big timber, old-growth forests become biological problems that require clear-cutting in order to survive. Logging companies are not cutting the forests, the propaganda explains, it is "managing" them, acting as their stewards--even saviors.
Truax, spun from Dr. Suess' conservationist classic The Lorax, is one of the "educational" materials distributed to schools produced by the Hardwood Forest Foundation and the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association. The colorful book, written and illustrated in the Suess style, chronicles Truax, a calm and thoughtful logger, who tries to explain the "facts" of forest management to the psychotic treehugger Guardbark.
In Philomath, Oregon, where I teach science, Starker Forests offers a guided hike in a small section of their forest, an outing that resonates strongly with the kids, and can shrewdly confuse the most earnest educator. Classes are instructed to play a game in which the largest child in the group pretends to be the big tree. The other children stand closely to the big tree and crowd it. The company guide asks them to choose three words that describe how they, the little trees, feel when you are crowded together under the big tree. Then all the little trees scatter out, providing more space. The purpose of the exercise is to help them visualize the benefits of thinning the forest. (For full realism, perhaps some of the children should be asked to visualize the feeling of being chopped down and processed into end tables.)
Often, the very organizations that preach the gospel of environmental education are actually industry shills. They have earthy names but clandestine roots. The American Forest Foundation (AFF) has a list of co-sponsors, cooperators, and partners that includes some of the most egregious despoilers of our forests: Sierra Pacific Industries, champion of clear-cuts in California; The Pacific Lumber Company, loggers of the redwoods; MacMillan Bloedel Packaging; Willamette Industries; Boise Cascade Corporation. One AFF project, Project Learning Tree, which works to promote logging and industrial management of our nation's forest, has reached more than 500,000 teachers and some 25 million students from prekindergarten to 12th grade.
Surreptitious public relations campaigns and deceptive advertising are battling today for the hearts and minds of our children. And they're winning. The North America Association of Environmental Education (the largest environmental education group in the world) has endorsed Project Learning Tree. Parents and citizens in general must assume the role of frontline warriors if environmental education is to remain meaningful. They must demand that any curricula provided by corporate sources be reviewed, just as textbooks are reviewed prior to being adopted. They must challenge their local boards of education to keep schools free of corporate propaganda. They must study the materials children receive at school. Corporate PR campaigns in classrooms are reminiscent of tobacco companies' secretive strategy of peddling cigarettes to teens. Their effort must be brought into the full light of day.
-- John F. Borowski From Utne Reader
