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Arrest of Journalists Threatens Press Freedom

Bush and the 'Pathology of Normalcy'

California Creates Family Leave Program

Cotton: World's Most Toxic Crop

Polls Build Public Support for War

Hormone Replacement Therapy in question

Iraq for Dummies

The Struggle Against Neo-Colonialism

No New War Against Iraq

Peru: Bayer Responsible in Pesticide Deaths

Schools Implement Pesticide 'Right to Know' Act

September 11 Families Call for Peace

Starbucks vs Sambucks

Supreme Court limits death penalty

Sweatshop Fashion Statements Not Attractive

Tough Winter for Montana Buffalo

Universal Health Care Pursued by Initiative

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WASHINGTON TRIBES HELP SALMON

(ENS)-Native American tribes in western Washington are changing their fishing practices to help summer chum salmon populations recover. The Quilcene coho fishery, one of the most popular fisheries in sport and commercial circles, is of special concern to the tribes. "The goal of the tribes is to not only maximize treaty harvest opportunities, but is also to sustain salmon runs forever," said the executive director of the Point No Point Treaty Council. The tribes have changed the way they fish so summer chum have a better chance at recovering." The tribes have restricted the practice of setting gill nets and instead they pull beach seines, which allow tribal harvesters to release summer chum.

AIR POLLUTION CHOKING NATIONAL PARKS

(ENS)-The air above five of America's most famous national parks is often more polluted than that of many urban areas, finds a report by three conservation groups. Titled "Code Red: America's Five Most Polluted National Parks." The report, produced by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), Appalachian Voices, and Our Children's Earth, ranks the five most polluted national parks based on haze, ozone and acid precipitation. The Great Smoky Mountains is "our most polluted national park" where ozone pollution exceeds that of Atlanta and even rivals Los Angeles." Shenandoah National Park (VA), Mammoth Cave National Park (KY), Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks (CA) and Acadia National Park (ME) are the other top parks in pollution. The report argues that the Bush administration must implement and enforce existing programs of the Clean Air Act and says new federal laws mandating cuts in power plant emissions are needed. For the full report to: www.eparks.org/codered. For more information on the effects of air pollution on forests and the effects of coal mining on communities and the environment, visit: www.appvoices.org.

AMAZON DEFORESTATION ACCELERATING

(ENS)-Forest destruction in the Brazilian Amazon has accelerated over the last decade, suggests a recent study by a team of US and Brazilian scientists. The study, led by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, said forest destruction from 1995 to 2000 averaged almost two million hectares a year, equivalent to seven football fields a minute, and "it's comparable to the bad old days in the 1970s and 1980s, when forest loss in the Amazon was catastrophic," said the head of the research. The Brazilian government plans to invest over $40 billion in new highways, railroads, hydroelectric reservoirs, power lines and gas lines in the Amazon over the next few years. The research team says, "There's no way you can criss-cross the basin with all these giant transportation and energy projects and not have a tremendous impact on the Amazon. When you build a new road in the frontier, you almost always initiate large scale forest invasions by loggers, hunters, and slash and burn farmers." Lax enforcement of laws combined with a growing population and expanding logging and mining industries also threaten the forest. The findings are described in the journal Environmental Conservation.

PEPSICO has "DISMAL RECYCLING RECORD"

(ENS)-PepsiCo's board of directors was lobbied at its recent shareholder meeting by investors and environmentalists to adopt recycling goals. A coordinator for the GrassRoots Recycling Network said the company's "dismal recycling record and the growing waste problem" must be addressed. The shareholders' proposal calls for PepsiCo to make bottles with 25 percent recycled plastic and achieve an 80 percent national recycling rate for bottles and cans by 2005. Industry data shows that some three-quarters of the used plastic bottles end up in incinerators or landfills. "More than five million Pepsi soda bottles and cans will be thrown away rather than recycled during the course of this meeting," said a spokesperson.

CLEAN UP POWER PLANTS, GROUPS URGE

Recently introduced legislation would cut toxic emissions from power plants in half. Physicians for Social Responsibility and other groups at EnviroHealth Action note that air pollution can be harmful to human health and that children are the most susceptible. Power plants are one of the leading sources of poor air quality. The emissions from older, more polluting coal-burning plants release unacceptable levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury and carbon dioxide. For more info, go to: www.ecomall.com/activism/activism.htm.

NEW YORK CITY PROTECTS COMMUNITY GARDENS

(ENS)-Settling a lawsuit filed by the state attorney general to prevent the auctioning off of community gardens to developers, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has agreed to protect almost 500 community gardens built on city-owned vacant lots in exchange for the right to develop over 3,000 units of affordable housing on 150 other city-owned sites. The compromise enables New York to address its low-cost housing needs and allows for the continuation of the GreenThumb Program, the nation's largest urban gardening program, that helps neighborhood groups create and maintain community gardens. "Since the day this lawsuit was filed (in 1999), I have asserted that New York City residents need affordable housing and community gardens, and this settlement proves that they can indeed have both," said Attorney General Spitzer. "I applaud Mayor Bloomberg for recognizing that these two goals are not mutually exclusive, and for saving so many community gardens, which are a vibrant part of the city's neighborhoods."