Publications by Earth Island JournalResent articles by the "Earth Island Journal" from The Free Libraryhttp://www.thefreelibrary.comen-usFarlex, Inc.Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:06:35 GMT360Free Online Libraryhttp://www.thefreelibrary.comhttp://www.thefreelibrary.com/_/static/TFLbyFarlex.gif17565Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Tree Spiker.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Tree+Spiker.-a0214456442Tree Spiker

by Mike Roselle with Josh Mahan

288 pages, St. Martin's Press, 2009

In the 1970s, as the West continued to be logged, mined, and drilled, a new breed of environmental activists emerged. These conservationists voiced opposition to ecological devastation when the mainstream movement remained silent. They extended the promise of natural rights to the natural world,...]]>Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:00:00 World of wonder: toward a re-enchantment with nature.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/World+of+wonder%3a+toward+a+re-enchantment+with+nature.-a0214456439The biggest environmental victory of the past 20 years is one most of us don't see. It is hidden, dispersed in smaller, seemingly unrelated events that have occurred in different parts of our culture, often in places that are not the normal terrain of environmentalism. Only the parent of a 10-year-old might notice that children's films no longer portray the killing of a beloved pet as a...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Mountaintop removal: senseless sacrifice.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Mountaintop+removal%3a+senseless+sacrifice.-a0214456444I recently spent a weekend in the mountains of my home state of West Virginia rafting one of the world's best whitewaters, the Gauley River. The trip was a much-needed break from graduate school, a chance to unwind and to share with my classmates some of my favorite things about West Virginia. Before negotiating the river's Class V rapids, I enjoyed a few hours of pure relaxation and reflected...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Finding Beauty in a Broken World.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Finding+Beauty+in+a+Broken+World.-a0214456443Finding Beauty in a Broken World

by Terry Tempest Williams

432 pages, Pantheon, 2008

The middle third of Terry Tempest Williams's Finding Beauty in a Broken World is a meditation on the ecology of prairie dogs in the American Southwest, the grassland ecosystem that depends on them, and what would happen if they disappeared. For 14 days, Williams joins a research team to...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Nowtopia.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Nowtopia.-a0214456441Nowtopia

by Chris Carlsson

278 pages, AK Press, 2008

Been daydreaming of living in a vibrant neighborhood where you bike to your community garden to harvest your lunch, volunteer at a bike co-op, and run your computer on free software? According to Chris Carlsson's new book Nowtopia, these kernels of the future are being sown now. Nowtopia touts a green post-capitalism where...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Crude.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Crude.-a0214456440Crude

Directed by Joe Berlinger

First Run Features, 104 minutes

The documentary Crude is obsessed with celebrity. The film is ostensibly about a long-running Chevron-Texaco trial over the oil company's liability for groundwater pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon. But whenever the filmmakers have the chance, they put the spotlight on the famous. Crude opens with a television...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Allah commands: traditional Himas are helping protect fragile areas in Muslim nations.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Allah+commands%3a+traditional+Himas+are+helping+protect+fragile+areas...-a0214456438Early in the 7th century, soon after Muslims established themselves in what is now the holy city of Medina, the Prophet Muhammad surveyed the natural resources in the region--the riverbeds (called wadis), the rich, black volcanic soil, the high rangelands--and decreed that they be preserved and set aside as a hima, a "protected place."

]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Annie Leonard.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Annie+Leonard.-a0214456437In December 2007, Annie Leonard released the online video The Story of Stuff, which, in a lively graphic style, sums up her past 20 years in global pursuit of the truth about the things we buy, use, and throw away. Written by Leonard, and filmed in partnership with Free Range Studios, The Story of Stuff has been viewed by millions. The video's Web site averages 10,000 hits per day, and Leonard...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 The reluctant warrior: at 70, Ric O'Barry would love to be at home watering his bamboo and playing with his five-year-old daughter. Instead, he spends most of his time with people who hate him.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+reluctant+warrior%3a+at+70%2c+Ric+O'Barry+would+love+to+be+at+home...-a0214456436


IT WASN'T NOON YET, and Ric O'Barry was tired. He had circled the globe during the past month, first flying from his home in Coconut Grove, Florida to Taiji, Japan to monitor the start of the annual dolphin hunt, then from Japan to France on a press junket, home to Florida for a brief stop, then back again to Taiji. In a few days, O'Barry would return to Europe to promote the...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Forest medieval.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Forest+medieval.-a0214456435POLAND'S BIALOWIEZA NATIONAL PARK is home to some of the most impressive trees in Europe. Old growth oak, ash, spruce, hornbeam, linden, lime, and pine tower out of sight, their trunks dripping with luscious moss. For millennia these trees (some of which are more than 600 years old) have harbored legions of top carnivores, rare bugs, birds, and plants. Three packs of wolves range the park's...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Toward the end, Genesis.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Toward+the+end%2c+Genesis.-a0214456434The Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado has never been the kind of artist who shrinks from big issues. During his 35-year career, he has specialized in long-term, self-assigned projects during which he spends years traveling thousands of miles to document a single theme. Workers, a seven-year project completed in 1992, focused on laborers in 26 countries. Migrations, which he started in...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Low-hanging fruit: can collecting leftover produce help us re-envision the world?http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Low-hanging+fruit%3a+can+collecting+leftover+produce+help+us...-a0214456433Mike Cohen, executive director of the Bellingham Food Bank in Washington, often gets phone calls from area farmers who have recently harvested a crop. These small-scale organic farmers call to say they just picked carrots or kale or apples from their fields and are ready for the gleaners--volunteers who pick leftover produce and distribute it to the poor. Sometimes these calls come a few days...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 !Golpe! Last summer's right-wing coup in Honduras still threatens human rights and the environment.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/!Golpe!+Last+summer's+right-wing+coup+in+Honduras+still+threatens...-a0214456432The farmers had been barricaded inside the National Agricultural Institute, in the heart of downtown Tegucigalpa, Honduras, for more than three months. There were almost a hundred of them, including women and children, sleeping in the offices and cooking on wood fires in the courtyard. When I visited, in September of 2009, a spokesperson for the Workers Union of the National Agricultural...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 IMMP: mobilizing to stop the slaughter of Japan's dolphins and whales.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/IMMP%3a+mobilizing+to+stop+the+slaughter+of+Japan's+dolphins+and+whales.-a0214456431Since January's Sundance Film Festival, Earth Island's International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) has been a huge whirl of energy. We have organized special events, press conferences, and grassroots public education outreach all tied to the documentary about our work for Japan's dolphins, The Cove. The movie--which opened in US movie theaters in August, and in Europe in September--features...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Urban biofilter: environmental justice via green infrastructure.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Urban+biofilter%3a+environmental+justice+via+green+infrastructure.-a0214456430According to a recent report from Prevention Institute, for every $12,500 in income difference between families in Alameda County, CA, people in the poorer family can expect to die a year sooner. This disparity holds true across the country, and in urban areas the effects are compounded as the poorest families typically have far higher incidences of cancer and respiratory problems due to their...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Bay localize: building resilience.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Bay+localize%3a+building+resilience.-a0214456429The current economic downturn is the worst in decades. Millions are suffering devastating losses--vanishing jobs, foreclosed homes, and soaring food and health costs. Meanwhile, climate instability, species extinction, resource scarcity, and toxic pollution are threatening the basic fife-support systems of the planet. And let's be honest: All of these are traceable to the grow-at-all-costs...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 KIDS for the BAY.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/KIDS+for+the+BAY.-a0214456428On September 30, 2009, KIDS for the BAY received the Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award (GEELA) in the Children's Environmental Education category. The GEELA recognizes individuals, organizations, and businesses that have demonstrated exceptional leadership for voluntary achievements in conserving California's resources, protecting and enhancing the environment, and...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Center for Ecosystem Restoration (CER).http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Center+for+Ecosystem+Restoration+(CER).-a0214456427In October, the Center for Ecosystem Restoration (CER) and its partners made the first step toward restoring migratory fish to an important river system in Massachusetts when the organization completed an engineering study that details the costs and benefits of removing three obsolete dams on the Shawsheen River. The Shawsheen is a tributary of the lower Merrimack River, one of New England's...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Project Coyote.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Project+Coyote.-a0214456426Project Coyote has produced new tools and resources to assist communities with public education and outreach about living with coyotes and other native carnivores. The information can be found at www.projectcoyote.org/ resources.html. Also, Project Coyote's founding director, Camilla Fox, and advisory board member, Dr. Marc Bekoff, have a chapter in the new book New Era for Wolves and People...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Sustainable World Coalition.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Sustainable+World+Coalition.-a0214456425The Sustainable World Coalition is set to publish the first national edition of its Sustainable World Source Book, featuring an introduction by renowned environmentalist Paul Hawken. A "user's manual for the engaged citizen," the Source Book provides a broad overview of the most important issues and aspects of sustainability with an emphasis on solutions and actions. For more information,...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Alec Loorz, the 15-year-old founder of Kids vs. Global Warming and recent Brower Youth Award recipient, went to Congress in November for a press conference with Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry, who are championing legislation to stabilize US greenhouse gas emissions.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Alec+Loorz%2c+the+15-year-old+founder+of+Kids+vs.+Global+Warming+and...-a0214456424
Alec Loorz, the 15-year-old founder of Kids vs. Global Warming and recent Brower Youth Award recipient, went to Congress in November for a press conference with Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry, who are championing legislation to stabilize US greenhouse gas emissions. Loorz told the media and members of Congress that the under-voting-age population of America is very...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Center for Safe Energy.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Center+for+Safe+Energy.-a0214456423Center for Safe Energy supported its partner organization Crude Accountability in a successful bid to win the release of Andrey Zatoka, an environmentalist and civil society leader from Turkmenistan, who was unjustly convicted of assault and sentenced to five years in prison on October 29. The founder of the Dashovuz Ecology Club, one of Turkmenistan's oldest and most respected environmental...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Earth Island Institue is proud to announce its two newest projects.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Earth+Island+Institue+is+proud+to+announce+its+two+newest+projects.-a0214456422Earth Island Institue is proud to announce its two newest projects:

CarbonfreeDC is a grassroots initiative dedicated to mobilizing DC area residents toward one goal: dramatically reducing local carbon emissions. For more information, visit www.carbonfreedc.org.

]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Solving the water and energy crisis ... in one swell poop.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Solving+the+water+and+energy+crisis+...+in+one+swell+poop.-a0214456421Upwards of 3 million people die annually from diarrhea, dysentery, and parasitic diseases--all for the want of clean water. Meanwhile, each year in the water-rich United States, 2.1 billion gallons of the world's most precious liquid are used, not to water thirsty crops or slake parched throats, but to flush human waste from home toilets to municipal sewers. While harvesting rainwater and...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 All together now.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/All+together+now.-a0214456420On October 24, millions of people participated in over 5,200 climate change actions, all centered on a number: 350. Three hundred and fifty parts per million is the level of C[O.sub.2] that some scientists say we need to return to in order to avoid the myriad negative consequences of global warming; currently there are 387 ppm of C[O.sub.2] in the atmosphere. While some have said that 350 is...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Spoiling the view.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Spoiling+the+view.-a0214456419The massive wind and solar installations now in the works are turning up the volume on America's "not in my backyard" refrain. The Associated Press reports that California residents are fighting solar farms proposed in the Mojave Desert while East Coast locals don't much care for the idea of wind farms blocking their views. Brits and Canucks are driving similar backlashes: In the UK, local...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Guaranteed vacation.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Guaranteed+vacation.-a0214456418What if you could get a money-back guarantee of good weather on your next vacation? That's the sort of promise some tourism boards are offering to visitors. They're able to do so because they've purchased climate-based insurance. The United Nation's World Meteorological Organization thinks more people should get in on it--not only can it lead to a clever marketing scheme, but it also helps...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 The ghosts did it.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+ghosts+did+it.-a0214456417More Americans believe in haunted houses than global warming. That's the scary fact revealed by a comparison of the latest Pew poll on global warming and a recent Gallup survey The new stats are spooky. The percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence that global temperatures are rising dropped from 71 percent to 57 percent since early 2008. Thirty-five percent of respondents to the...]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Dammed if you do.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Dammed+if+you+do.-a0214456416In a recent debate in Chile, all four senatorial candidates voiced their disapproval of the pending HidroAysen, a mega-dam planned in the Patagonia region. But whether their voices, or those of Patagonia residents, will be heard over a multimillion-dollar barrage of pro-dam ads remains to be seen.

]]>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 Bolivian big top.http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Bolivian+big+top.-a0214456415It's not just the clowns that make the circus scary. Bolivian lawmakers have declared the use of animals--both wild and domestic--in the big top an "act of cruelty." The first-of-its-kind law prohibits the use of animals in circuses and gives ringmasters until July 2010 to remove beasts from their acts.

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