[pf] Fw. "It Does Pay to Fight- Environmental Success Stories" Jackie Al

· I'm still working on building my early-Jan environmental news summary.
  One I've just linked-to is:

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http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-05g.html
  is:
Healing Our World: Weekly Comment

By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

It Does Pay to Fight - Environmental Success Stories

Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower - but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.
-- Alfred, Lord Tennyson 

Every day, millions of people stand up for what they believe in, demanding
protection for the Earth's species and life support systems. Injustice
abounds in our world, but more people than you think are willing to take on
the long, often arduous, frustrating and demoralizing battles to protect
our world. 

The well funded conservative opposition does its best to make opponents
feel like they are wrong and going against the American way. The corporate
controlled mainstream media does its best to represent these activists as
loners and misfits. But these hard fought efforts by individuals and groups
of all ages around the world do have an impact. They are changing the face
of our culture. 

Just a few years ago, organic food was considered a fad. But thanks to the
efforts of food activists who have exposed the dangers of pesticide
poisoning, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that pesticide residues
remain on most produce, even after it is washed, the organic food industry
is now a $6 billion a year business. 
When the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) tried to expand the organic
food standards to include genetically engineered foods, the use of sewage
sludge as fertilizer, and even some pesticide use, people from around the
nation voiced their opposition to these proposals, which were clearly
supported by the powerful non-organic industry. The USDA received more than
200,000 comments against allowing organic foods to be produced using these
methods. 
Recently, the USDA released new organic food standards that will increase
the confidence of organic food buyers everywhere. The new regulations ban
the use of biotechnology and irradiation. Meat producers claiming to be
organic cannot feed antibiotics to the cattle and organic dairy cows must
have access to pasture. 

There are currently more than 10,000 farms across the United States that
use organic methods that must now comply with the new regulations.
Activists successfully fought the efforts of the National Food Processors
Association which wanted the USDA to label organic produce with a statement
that such food is no better than other products. 

None of these protections would have come about if people had remained
silent. 

Millions of people care deeply about how poorly animals are treated by
mainstream culture. Activists have been fighting inhumane treatment for
years, in spite of attempts by the media, politicians, and industry leaders
to represent them as a few bleeding heart liberals or extremists. But the
large number of people who are members of humane organizations demonstrates
that a significant portion of the population puts compassion before profit. 

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/pics15/cagedchimp.jpg
Chimps are confined for decades in tiny cages. (Photo courtesy U.S. Humane
Society)
An example of an animal who has been championed by many caring people is
the chimpanzee. There may be no animal more abused by our culture.
Chimpanzees are humans' closest living cousins. They have more than 98
percent of our genetic code. These intelligent, social beings have a
distinct language amongst themselves as well as distinct cultures. Research
has shown that they plan for the future, teach their young, use tools, and
make moral choices. Chimpanzees in captivity have been taught American Sign
Language, and they even pass their acquired language skills on to their
children. 
There are over 1,100 chimps in federally sponsored laboratories. For nearly
every chimp that is used in research, five to 10 have been killed in the
wild. Chimps for research are often caught as babies in African forests,
chased up trees by dogs after their parents are murdered. After years of
being research subjects under often deplorable conditions in laboratories,
they are frequently doomed to live out the remainder of their lives in tiny
cages. Chimps can live up 60 years. 

Legislation recently signed by President Bill Clinton directs the National
Institutes of Health to work with humane groups to create sanctuaries for
retired and surplus chimps and allocates funding for this purpose. This
legislation would never have made it through Congress without the tireless
work of many compassionate people and the support of thousands of concerned
citizens who were brave enough to stand up for what is right. 

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/pics15/electiondemo.jpg
On December 9, 2000, an often isolated group of Utah Progressives marched
from the Utah state capitol in Salt Lake City to the U.S. Federal building
to protest the United States electoral college and "anti-democratic"
process. (Photo by Jonny Jemming courtesy Indymedia.org)
It is often difficult to stand up for compassion and truth. All around us
are displays of values by the corporate controlled media that suggest only
a few weak people care for other people and other life forms. We are
constantly told that being independent and free of responsibility should be
our ultimate goal, along with owning the most stuff. 
Fear of being ridiculed and singled out keeps many of us silent. Many
people are intimidated by the threat that they will be labeled a radical,
different, or even unchristian. It takes a special kind of courage to
withstand these labels from friends, coworkers, and even family. 

Everyone has the potential to become a champion for justice and compassion.
You don't have to know everything about an issue, and you don't have to be
fearless. All you need is practice connecting with your heart and trusting
your gut reaction to what is right and what is wrong. 


 * Keep informed about the happenings in your community and in the world
through alternative news sources. Use the newspaper to get ideas, but
always do your own research. With the Internet, it is easier than ever. 
Decide that you are going to care and then decide what you care about. 

 * Choose how far you want to go. Do you want to write letters and email?
Do you want to take part in an active protest? There are many different
forms of activist expression. All are important. 

 * Find the groups and organizations that share your views and join them.
They can provide you with information and can help magnify your voice. And
you won't feel so alone anymore. 

 * Resist the urge to fit in with what you perceive to be the norm. Take
the risk of being who you want to be, someone that a child could look up to
and be proud of. 

 * Decide how you would like to be remembered. 

 * Work to redefine the concepts of power and strength and security. Maybe
we really get our strength from giving all that we have to another and
opening up our lives to our neighbors instead of building higher and higher
walls. 

 * ALWAYS concern yourself with the suffering of another, whether human or
animal. Move that snail off the sidewalk. Help that lost dog. Buy a
sandwich for a homeless person. Don't look away. 

This new year marks the beginning of a challenging time for us all. The new
conservative presidency in the U.S. has begun to turn back the clock, as
every executive branch leader is being hand picked to promote the greed
based conservative agenda. We must all find our voices and our hearts and
protect what is left of our world. We must show those that would put profit
and greed before life that such obscene priorities will not be tolerated. 

What we choose to do every day has an incredible effect in our world.
Choose with your heart and your soul. Don't be afraid - there's more of us
out there than we can possibly imagine. 

RESOURCES

1. Polish your activist skills with the Protest.net Activist Handbook at:
http://protest.net/activists_handbook/ 

2. Learn about scores of activist opportunities at:
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/index.cfm 

3. Use your dollar as a potent activist tool. Check out Coop America's
Boycott Action News at: http://www.coopamerica.org/boycotts/index.html 

4. Keep an eye on the conservative efforts to undo the progress that has
been made from the Conservative Caucus website at:
http://www.conservativeusa.org/ 

5. Stay involved with the organic food movement at:
http://www.purefood.org/index.htm 

6. Keep track of corporate abuses through Corporate Watch at:
http://www.corpwatch.org/ 

7. Make sure the new administration doesn't weaken the Environmental
Protection Agency's Environmental Justice program. Watch it at:
http://es.epa.gov/oeca/main/ej/index.html 

8. Filter your media intake through Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting at:
http://www.fair.org/ 

9. Change your food choices with the help of EarthSave at:
http://www.earthsave.org/ 

10. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them.
Demand that they stay strong and work harder to protect our health, the
environment and animal rights. If you know your Zip code, you can find them
at: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html or you can search by
state at: http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html. You can
also find your representatives at:
http://congress.nw.dc.us/innovate/index.html. 

[Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle. He can be
found thinking about his son who will be born in this new year and what
kind of world will greet him. Please send your thoughts, comments, and
visions to him at jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his website at
http://www.healingourworld.com] 

© Environment News Service (ENS)
 
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David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.geocities.com/davdd.geo/index.html#top
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