TO THE EDITOR
BY MARY O’BRIEN
Breaking Three Hearts
Part II: Nature
’
I
ve been walking in rural Ireland for three weeks. The
rainfall, greenery and temperature could be west-
ern Oregon, but there are no natural forests. An
Irish “forest” is dense, rigid rows of Sitka spruce,
Douglas fir, lodgepole or Scots pine. At harvest time,
every stick comes down and the rows are re-in-
stalled.
It wasn’t always so. In 1600, Ireland was heavily
forested with oak, elm, ash, hazel, pines, alder, birch
and willow. By then England had depleted its own sup-
ply of wood, and needed timber to build ships for coloniz-
ing other countries. When the Irish resisted British occupation
from within their forests, Queen Elizabeth I ordered the destruction of all Irish forests.
British empire loyalists were given property rights to Irish land (formerly held in com-
mons) if they would move to the island to “reduce the Irish” and secure timber for
England.
By 1711, Ireland was treeless. “They had not left wood enough to make a toothpick in
many places…” wrote a Frenchman who walked through Ireland in the 18th century.
If you wanted to be an empire in 1600, you needed wood. Now you need oil. Like
Elizabeth, George Bush is grasping a scarce resource for military and economic empire: oil
from Saudi Arabia, oil transport through Afghanistan, oil from Iraq and the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge.
T
he Bush Defense Department argues that complying with environmental laws like
the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Clean Air Act, and Endangered Species Act
interferes with military readiness to do this. In one recent case regarding five
years of military bird-bombing on a South Pacific island, the lead Pentagon attorney,
William Haynes II, argued that the bombing benefits conservationists because it makes
some species like great frigatebirds more rare. “Bird watchers get more enjoyment spot-
ting a rare bird than they do spotting a common one,” Haynes II argued. He lost the case,
but Bush subsequently nominated him to be a federal appeals court judge.
Then there’s coal-burning, another practice pioneered in Britain on an industrial scale.
Bush has stopped the Clean Air Act’s ”New Source Review,” which requires old coal plants
to install modern pollution controls when they expand or make major repairs. “The [old]
rules put up too many hurdles,” Bush told workers at the Detroit Edison plant in Michigan.
“And that hurt the working people.”
However, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency data show that
his gutting of New Source Review will cause 20,000 additional premature deaths per year.
Perhaps Bush figures only non-working people will be the ones killed.
Then there are all the other power plants, the nation’s major source of airborne mer-
cury, which lowers intelligence in children. Bush proposed removing mercury from the
EPA’s list of toxic pollutants, thereby delaying any mercury reductions for 15 years. The
Clean Air Act would have required a 90% reduction in power plant mercury by 2008.
As for chemicals still allowed to be called toxic, the Bush administration has increased
by 10 percent the budget of Superfund for cleaning up the nation’s most toxic industrial
waste sites. But the entire amount will now come from the public, because Bush is drop-
ping the 24-year practice of requiring polluting industries to contribute to a trust fund
that helps pick up the tab when a site’s polluter is no longer operating or can’t be located.
B
ut don’t worry about bad news getting out about these and other Bush anti-envi-
ronmental measures. Bush has proposed that the Office of Management and
Budget appoint its own experts to peer-review the scientific accuracy of all gov-
ernment-issued warnings related to public health, safety and the environment. Bush pro-
poses that only scientists who have never received funding from any federal agency be
considered qualified to participate as reviewers. This leaves industry scientists to screen
all federal agency statements regarding global warming, toxics, drinking water, energy de-
pletion, nuclear accidents, endangered species or forest health.
Forest health circles us back to Queen Elizabeth giving Irish public lands to private indi-
viduals in return for service to her empire. Bush’s Healthy Forest Restoration Act, suppos-
edly geared to protecting forest-edge communities from catastrophic wildfire, includes
“Goods for Services.” This allows companies to cut down and take large trees on public
lands as payment for cutting down small ones.
The list of Bush’s anti-Creation measures is essentially endless. In an age when nations
globally are beginning to acknowledge the dire conditions we humans have brought to
water, climate, soil, ocean fisheries, forests, energy, population, wetlands, pollution and ex-
tinctions, President Bush is accelerating the stabbing of nature in the heart. The effects of
the reign of Bush II will be seen by anyone walking on Earth centuries from now.
Mary O’Brien of Eugene has worked as a public interest scientist since 1981. She can be reached at mob@efn.org
DUMP BUSH
So now the CIA is to blame for the misin-
formation that justified our invasion and
conquering of Iraq. But Bush is still sticking
to his guns saying Iraq and the world are bet-
ter off without a brutal dictatorship there.
My heart and soul can not disagree with
the latter, but the big question still remains,
“Is the U.S. the world’s police and Bush its
chief?” Again my heart and soul say “No!”
The United Nations must take that role,
making and enforcing resolutions that pre-
vent mass genocide and brutal atrocities by
madmen in power in any country.
We must first vote Mr. Bush out of
power, as he seems to be taking his role as
global chief of police way too seriously. If he
follows through on the “Bush Doctrine”
against harboring terrorists (and brutal dicta-
tors), there are several other countries he
must invade and “civilize” with puppet gov-
ernments of the U.S.
Again this is obviously the job of a revi-
talized, resolute and powerful U.N., not a
Bush Imperial World Government.
Whether or not Kerry rises to the chal-
lenge of statesmanship beyond his political
pandering, we must dump Bush.
Michael Mooney
Eugene
THE PLATFORM
I enjoy being part of the grassroots move-
ment MoveOn and supported their airing of
a new commercial about the upcoming de-
bates between Bush and Kerry, using stand-
ins to show who each candidate is working
for.
Corporate executives assumed they were
entitled to the preferential treatment they are
receiving from Bush — after all, they paid
him to do that for them.
Working class people made short state-
ments about important policies Kerry pro-
poses that will restore jobs and provide
health insurance to everyday Americans.
Apparently the commercial was very effec-
tive in moving people’s opinions.
Kerry’s platform is encouraging‚ though
we don’t hear much about it in the main-
stream media. In fact people have com-
plained about how they never hear about his
plans. Are we surprised that somehow the
media is preoccupied with other things?
Kerry has plenty of sound and sensible
ideas essentially putting the well-being of
the people first. Check them out online at
www.johnkerry.com/index.html
Anna Sontag
Eugene
LOSS OF APPETITE
An open letter to Carl’s Jr. restaurants:
Please take down your signs referencing
your hopes that customers will leave in
“shock and awe.” This is a reference to a
war. It conjures up images of spattered blood
and broken body parts. These are not pleas-
ant images to go with my hamburger. I will
not patronize your restaurants while these
signs are up and neither will anyone else of
conscience.
Steve Kyte
Corvallis
WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED?
Ralph Nader decided July 19 to accept
thousands of petition signatures collected by
Michigan Republicans. If that’s the only way
6 AUGUST 5, 2004
he can qualify for the state’s presidential bal-
lot, if that’s not proof that a vote for Ralph is
a vote for George W., what else do you need
to know?
Shawn Bird
Springfield
A DEAD EXAMPLE
When the Dead played up in Portland a
couple weeks back, I was excited to bring my
whole family up to experience the spirited,
ecstatic magic of the music. The playfully
colorful scene was truly a breath of fresh air.
There were multiple generations of loving
people singing, dancing and having fun. The
children there ran, chased balloons and
laughed. Many grinning dads bounced and
swayed to the festive rhythms with toddlers
bouncing merrily on their shoulders.
I am grateful to have this type of bonding
communication that transcends age. I am
also grateful to Columbia Meadows for being
family friendly. Here in Eugene we have the
Cuthbert Amphitheatre that has the potential
to be one of the best venues in Oregon. Sadly
they choose not to be family friendly. They
charge full admission for any child who is
age one or older. I have two children under
the age of three. I would love to sway with
my toddler on my back to the festive rhythms
of the national acts the Cuthbert brings to
Eugene. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford full-
price tickets for my whole family. Children
younger then 10 need to be free. The families
that could then afford to come to the events
would more then cover any lost profits.
It’s my opinion that children dancing and
singing with their families to the spirit of the
music enhances the concert experience. I
found this strongly evident when dancing to
the Dead.
Steve Brown
Eugene
IDEAL LEADERS
With the onset of national elections this
fall, the key to a successful outcome will be
participation in the election. Voting not only
advertises an educated mind, but also shows
how much citizens care about the quality of
leadership of those who represent them. It
will be up to us to ensure this positive leader-
ship in the future. So let’s vote for leaders
who are well read, with diplomacy skills,
compassion, intelligence and ability. Let’s
elect leaders who will listen to the average
citizen; leaders with the drive and energy to
make things happen; leaders who strongly
believe in equal rights and opportunity for
all; leaders who will take on every issue with-
out pause; leaders who believe in unity
through diversity and also as the capability in
quality of all citizens of Oregon; leaders who
will not shy away from difficult challenges,
but embrace them all with a radiant opti-
mistic outlook.
Above all, we need leaders who truly em-
phasize dedication and true servant leader-
ship. Having had the unique privilege and op-
portunity to have briefly worked in the local
offices of U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, I strongly
believe we have been blessed with the kind of
leadership both he and U.S. Congressman
Peter DeFazio have offered us. I would en-
courage everyone of voting age to reelect
these champions of democracy. After all, the
future of our state hangs in the balance. The
decision is ours, let’s make a wise one.
Tom Bush
Eugene